Growth in Honduras (19 Jan 2011)

Today in Remoleno things continued to be difficult with our pumps and engines, however God is good all the time! The reaming went well once we had circulation. The casing was set by lunch as we had hoped. We spent the afternoon developing the well. Gravel was put down the hole outside the casing to prevent clogging. Chlorinated water was pumped in to rinse and clean it out, and then a plunger was attached to the drill stem and run down the well to again run water in and out of the screen. We blew air in to develop a bit of pressure and clean it out again. Concrete was mixed to seal the hole. The well is a good well, there appears to be water about 17 below the ground and the casing goes down 100feet! We will know more tomorrow about how much water it can produce but things look promising. Many of the ladies on the Hygiene team went to the river where the local people had been getting the water they use. This was an eye opening experience.


Tomorrow will be spent completing and dedicating the well and we are headed back to La Ceiba. We have all experienced growth and gone outside of our comfort zone, whatever that may be for each person. Some of us worked on the well that would not have normally been mechanically inclined. Some of us lead devotions or did the blessing for a meal. Many of us attempted to speak Spanish. We all have shared a piece of our selves with each other and with the people of Honduras. Tomorrow is going to be hard as we say good bye to the people we have come to love.

Sorry not photos yet internet is very slow and waiting for unsuccessful uploads have taken several hours. Will have lots to show when we return.

All the time God is good.

Los Quatro Gringos stop traffic in Guatemala City!

No, that wasn't the headlines ... but we did feel very safe as armed guards accompanied us today as we visited America Latina.  This school is the Christian school founded by the father of Becky (Zapata) Fernandez in 1954. This school has 2 campuses with a total of nearly 1500 students. We were treated to the "executive tour" by Becky and one of the administrative assistants, Carol. Besides being inspired by the vision and passion to provide Christian formation and education to Guatemalan children, Dave was especially impressed by a visit with the "ice cream man" ... who has been providing the kids with sweet cold treats for 47 years!! He is the only ice cream man allowed to sell ice cream in the school!  Check out the NEXT International blog for more ... and some video!

Oh, and our Guatemalan brothers and sisters aren't too happy about Honduras winning the soccer match!

Honduras Wins v Guatemlla(18 Jan 2011)

Today was a very energetic day with the Honduras team. We are all experiencing growth, and learning about our new friends and each other. We are working well as a team and doing much along side the people of Remoleno. The children were 'appy' to see us. They did very well with their lessons today, participating actively in the Salvation Bracelet lesson and made Tippy Taps. They spent the day teaching us to play soccer. They kept up with our spanish lessons and are eger to continue learning English. The women did the Diarrhea Doll lesson and the Oral Rehydration Solution lesson. On the drilling front, things were a bit of a different story. We had hoped to set the casing before we left today… All went well as we reamed the hole in the morning. We were ready to begin setting the casing but we got the screen on and down to where the second piece attached but could not get it to go any farther into the ground. So we had to remove it and attempt to ream the hole again. Unfortunately we had a series of technical malfunctions and were not able to complete any more today. Fortunately we have been able to solve several problems we did not know we had... We are ready to go straight on in the morning. At this point, the prediction is we will set the casing before lunch tomorrow. It is amazing how in the face of several set backs that we encountered today the laughter grew and we came closer together. PRAISE GOD! 




Kaylyn has helped us to know that laughter and love are the same in every language. We enjoyed fellowship over dinner with the Honduras national futbol team on their way to creaming the Guatemalan team (3-1 GOL!)

Lunas en Honduras (17 Jan 2011)

Today es Lunas and we have returned from the village of Remolino, the people welcomed us and had the prepared drill site waiting. The soil in this area is very much clay so the digging is difficult. We spent the morning getting the engine on the drill rig running, and mixing the mud used for circulation. Drilling began after lunch and we went 100ft down before we had to quit for the night. We have found about 35 feet of good aquifer. Tomorrow we ream the hole and will most likely get the casing set before we must leave our new friends. Pray that we will get the casing in to the full 100 feet for a great water.  We have been blessed with a village that has a good understanding of much of the hygiene topics. The ladies had a great time with the local women and were blessed to have time to get to know each other and share life together.  The women have been praying with the local women for the schooling of the children.  There are about 30 days of school out of a recomended 200, many children in this area are lucky to get an education beyond second grade.   Honduras on avearge has about a 6th to 9th grade education. 
There were 40 children who enjoyed their time learning, or rather teaching the hygiene lessons. The activities were extremely fun. The children added an element of acceptance and love that made the day exceptionally wonderful. After the lessons, we spent our time painting finger nails and dancing, the children took off with Kaylyn to play futbol, dance, and take many pictures. The children were very receptive to learning English and very patient in teaching Spanish.

Jen says we slept with small bugs and we liked it!
We are enjoying the numerous ways the plantains are prepared. They are great and the oatmeal is still available.

Hey Chris, we missed the feasibility study and were not able to get the numerous permit filled in triplicate, but the hotel is equipped with an alarm that will wake us at whatever time the rooster crows.

No matter what it is just the way we like it.   

Domingo (16 Jan 2011 Honduras team)

Today is Domingo and we attended a very charismatic service and were moved to dance and sing! We were treated to a view of the local futbol stadium, almost as important as Lambeau... After the service and our fellowship in the "lobby" (the dirt road out front) we had lunch and had a beautiful drive through the mountains and over multiple rivers. There has been a lot of rain in the past few weeks and had a short detour as the road had washed out. We got settled in to our hotel (nicer than hotel Ejectivo and only two blocks away) and have been getting familar with the local staff who are great people and very friendly. They are busily preparing us for tomorrow. Bill continues to try to sell us his Oatmeal ;). We are all excited to get to work and are staying healthy, physically.

In addition to the above we have been enjoying our time with the live stock (horses, chickens, goats, dogs, and cattle).  

Please continue to pray for us tomorrow and through the week as the team that was here last week was unable to complete the well due to the weather.  Your prayers are appreciated!

A la playa! -or- To the beach!

Hola Cedarbrookers!

We have a week of building under our belts.  The pipe has been laid, the showers are installed, the sinks are in, and we have a bunch of columns ready for the large filtered-water-collecting-basins-of-Chile.  More and more of the locals are joining in with the work and our successful progress is due in large part to our fluency in Spanglish-Mime.

Today we honor the Sabbath at the beach (it's not far, for you Pharisees out there in the blogosphere).  We began the day at our host Covenant church.  We sang songs in Spanish for one verse and in English for the next.  Christine gave a rousing sermon, complete with wild hand motions that the translator had trouble mimicking (turns out she's been holding back with all of her sermons in North America).  We had lunch as couples with members of the church.  Wow, have we been eating well.  The fruit is as fresh as it gets.  Please have our gym memberships renewed for our return.

A few more days of building left, then we'll have to face our goodbyes.

The parents miss their children.  They are looking forward to being home with them soon.

Chao!
Matt and the rest.

Hoy es Domingo!

Yesterday (Saturday) we were together with the Fernandez family; getting to know them and their life and ministry here in Guatemala.  Their history is a strong testimony to God's faithfulness and we were very encouraged to talk and share meals with them.

Becky Fernandez

Becky Fernandez showed us the house that they are considering remodeling.  It seems as though God has put some great ideas into Enrique and Becky's minds as to how this house could be used for future ministry.  It will be exciting to see how this all comes together!


Today we will be attending church with Becky and her family.  Dave has been asked to give a greeting to the congregation, so it will be a great joy to greet our Guatemalan brothers and sisters with a blessing from the Cedarbrook community!



We are all so thankful to have you all thinking about and praying for us!  We are praying and connecting with the other CB teams in Honduras and Chile (only a little!!) as well.  Please pray for Christi Johnson (Dave & Joyce's daughter) as she started not feeling well last evening.  We are hoping that the "tummy troubles" are short lived!  Have a great day worshiping our Lord!