Español, enchiladas y frijoles!

God's Goodness

2009-01-29T13:17:00.005-06:00

It has been SO long since I last wrote. It has been so long that I even forgot how to create a post in my blog :) but today something came to my mind that I wanted to share about as I thought of God's goodness.

Matty came home today for lunch just so he could play with Rebekah in the melted snow/ice. After they got done playing outside I heated up some soup and reminded Rebekah, "isn't your papa such a good papa that he came home for lunch just to play in the snow with you?" and then I proceeded to tell her that she needed to thank him for that. This led to another conversation of God's goodness to us when I told her, "that is how good God is to us, Rebekah." Rebekah and I memorize Bible verses and one of them is Psalm 34:8, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" I try to use the things all around us to help her understand what the verses actually mean. So this was a perfect example for me to use to help her understand the verse and to help her think of God's goodness to us.

I was then thinking dwelling on this beautiful picture. I am so thankful that Rebekah will be able to understand better God's goodness, better than me for sure, because she has a father who cares for her every need, who loves her deeply and who only looks out for her good and best interest. She will be able to see God as a good father who also does the same for her and even more because He is perfect and truly good. She will also be able to trust Him even when things get tough, can't understand or when they don't happen the way that she wanted them to happen because her earthly dad tries to give her only what is best for her even when the best is not what she really wants.

It was just a neat insight that the Lord was giving me today. God is so good in revealing himself to us and giving us understanding of His beautiful Truth.

Home sweet home...

2008-10-03T14:06:00.003-06:00

We are finally back home in Tulsa. It is so nice to be back! There is truly no place like home:) Our trip back was good. The girls traveled really well and we praise the Lord for that. We were able to sleep some in the planes and that helps.

We pretty much just shared about the first half of our trip. So many things happened during the second half with our family and we would still like to share about that. I am going to keep posting about it little by little so that you can have an idea about how it went. We were so pleased by how it all went and how the Lord used this second half to minister to our family but also to teach us many things.

Thanks to all of you who were praying for us. We really felt those prayers and are grateful for the family of Christ. We love you all very much!

10 things we learned from the Arevalos

2008-08-25T23:35:00.005-06:00

How to take showers with salt water
Prayer should be an integral part of our lives and not just a formality before meals and bedtime
Who needs air conditioning, anyway?
A granita (frozen coffee drink) a day keeps the grumpies away
Humility and servanthood
How to get along in a 1,000 sq ft home with 4 children under 2 1/2 and 4 parents
To ask for forgiveness and to reconcile often
Learned some great new childrens songs that Rebekah now loves to sing. Thank you Abner and Kelley!
How to make papaya/banana shakes...uhhmmm! Thank you Kelley!
How to love each other more in spite of our shortcomings

Abner, Kelley, Susana and Abner Daniel, thank you for sharing your home and lives with us for five weeks. We are so very grateful for the times we had. We are better people because of you and how you live your lives for Him. We love you all deeply. Let's do this again in the near future...at our house ;) We hope you can get the stains off your couch...yeah...sorry about those potty training accidents!

What we've been up to...

2008-08-25T22:22:00.015-06:00

This past week was one crazy week. We were traveling through different places as we were making our way to Tegucigalpa. Kelley and Abner dropped us off at Peña Blanca where we were spending a few days with my aunt and uncle. It was a really neat time. The area where they live is up in the mountains and really nice and cool, so we were so grateful to be out of the heat of La Ceiba. We got to rest for a couple of days there. We also traveled to San Pedro Sula with them for a day visit to see my cousin and her family. We were then picked up by my other uncle and he took us to Siguatepeque where we spent another couple of days with him and his family. After a couple of days here, my parents picked us up from Siguatepeque and we are finally home at my parents house in Tegucigalpa. It's nice being back "home" and enjoying my immediate family!

We enjoyed all of our stays so much and yet everywhere we went we also got to see so many needs and family hurting some way or another. It was bitter-sweet, but we were grateful for the opportunities we had to share His Truth and hope with them. We love getting to know our family and being able to share the hope that we have in Him. We had many opportunities to pray with them, encourage them in the Lord, share from His Word and minister to those who needed to be comforted.

We are now at my parents' house and there are also many opportunities to share with them. I told Matty how sad I have felt seeing so much hurt in others and how foreign God seemed to them...how our lives were so different and how only the Lord could truly save them. It has been sad seeing my dad. He seems to be less and less joyful and much more in need of Christ. The problem is that so far he has not shown any interest at all in the Lord. It has been somewhat chaotic, and our hope can remain in Him alone.

Matty and I continue to pray for boldness, courage, and for the Lord to give us the right words at the right time. We continue to live our lives for Him and serve them and love them as they are. God is all powerful and oh so good. Please do pray for us as we continue to shine His light in a very dark place. Our lives are changing so much as we see so many needs and so much work to be done here in Honduras with our family. We are not sure what our lives will be when we get back, but that is up to the Lord. We do know that we want to be more purposeful in truly having a more eternal perspective. We love the Lord so much and we have always desired to live for Him alone, but I think we realize how short we have fallen of living for Him and Him alone. I think many times in the "comfortableness" that we live in in the United States that we become so very self-centered and numb to needs of others. We have seen so much these past weeks and months that we have been here.

We thank the Lord for saving us, for loving us and for guiding us as we seek Him. He is so very faithful and a solid rock in times of uncertainty and turmoil. Thank you Lord for who you are and for the hope that we have in You. Lead us on as YOU desire.

Imagine a life with no yankees...

2008-08-25T10:40:00.013-06:00

Today in Honduras, they are having a ceremony to join Honduras with a latino-american pact called the "Alba". Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, is the leader of this movement and is currently on TV insisting that Honduras needs to declare their freedom from the U.S. and that the "yankees", as Chavez refers to the U.S., are oppressing all of latino-america. Also present at the ceremony are the vice president of Cuba, president of Nicaragua, and president of Bolivia. For the last two hours, these presidents have been ranting and raving about the oppression of capitalism and the oppression by the 'yankees'. Somehow Chavez pins all problems in all of latino-america on the 'yankees'. Sounds like the rant of a certain psychopathic leader of a certain German country of a certain World War all over again to me. It is a sad thing to see Honduras getting involved with such socialistic/communistic ideas and governments.

It is true that Honduras has its economic problems, but it is not the fault of the U.S. Actually, the socialized programs here in Honduras seem to be the ones with the problems. The social medicine system is free, but terrible (and Obama paints such a pretty picture of socializing medicine in the U.S.... There is not a successful model of socialized medicine on earth today. Probably because it doesn't work.) Government-run water is not potable. Government-run electricity continually fails. It doesn't seem to me like a system we want to expand...

Chavez insists that a grand government-run group of unified countries is the way to prosperity and equality for all. Too bad that he doesn't tell the people that equality means that they will all have to work just as hard, but now the government will dictate every aspect of their lives. Instead of getting their pay (meager as it may be) and then deciding how to use it, they will stand in line for a bar of soap and a pound of beans. Their ears will be ringing from the communist propaganda screaming, "patriotism, patriotism, patriotism", and all they will be thinking is, "I wish I choose my soap."

Chavez wants to control all schools, all publications, all media, all businesses, all hospitals, etc. He is a communist to the core and it is scary that so many people are listening and following his lead. Communism has never been about anything but power for the ruling class and oppression of the masses. Once they gain control, they rule with a military grip, killing those who would threaten their hold. Already today, Chavez was shouting that anyone opposed to the Alba is an ignorant fool and an anti-patriot. They brainwash the masses by controlling media and censoring every method of communication, using fear to even control what people are allowed to think. It is looking like 1984 in latino-america in 2008.

There is hope for social and economic prosperity in Honduras but communism is not the answer. Sadly, if Honduras aligns with these politics, the country will be pulled into the pit of economic and social degeneration from which it has been trying so hard in recent years to escape.

Four months old!

2008-08-07T10:50:00.005-06:00

Esther is four months old today!!! Time is going by so fast! She is doing great. She is smiling so much these days and she is starting to giggle too...it is super cute! She has also started to imitate us by doing bubbles with her lips. It is amazing how much they can grasp and do and learn at such young age.

Here are just a few pictures of our little Essie...enjoy them!

Gotta love a two year old :)

2008-08-05T10:57:00.005-06:00

Here are some great and fun pictures of our big girl Kita! She is doing so great. We are so blessed by her life. God is good!

There are some things you just have to laugh about...Enjoy!

Five Years!

2008-08-03T17:31:00.009-06:00

Last Saturday we celebrated five years of marriage. What amazing wonderful five years we have had. The Lord has truly blessed us with a wonderful relationship and wonderful experiences. We now have two beautiful and fun little girls and a house full of adventures.

Matty made the day so very special for me. I was so blessed by the way he showed me how much he loves me and cares for me. But while we were there talking and thinking about five years ago, it brought us back to the Source of life...we wanted to thank the Lord for our salvation. Because He saved us we can have a wonderful relationship and have been able to enjoy so much joy and peace over these past five years and since we came to know Him. His Word says, "taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is he who puts his hope in him." We are so very grateful for His Salvation and as we celebrate five wonderful years of marriage, we also celebrate His goodness toward us. Where would we be without him?? I am not sure of this, but I know that it would not be the full and blessed life that we live now.

Here are some details of our celebration:

Matt took me to a hotel restaurant where we were taken to a private corner balcony on about the 4th floor where he had arranged to have a very nice table for us.

Matt had bought roses earlier and taken them to the hotel for them to set at the table too!

Champagne

A very nice dinner: we ate fresh seafood with the ocean waves crashing on the beach below our balcony

They even made a heart-shaped cake for us

And the nicest thing of all that I look forward to almost every year is that Matty writes me a love letter and they just fill up my love tank!

We had planned to go dancing after dinner but when we went to the disco, we were not too excited about dancing there, so when we got home, Matt put on some Ella Fitzgerald (slow jazz) and we had a couple of dances at home :)

We had a wonderful time celebrating--talking and sharing and just enjoying in the goodness of the Lord.

Well Lidia, that was a great summary, but you left out a bunch... We have been blessed to be in a beautiful location for both our 1st and 5th anniversaries. The 1st was on the Bay Islands of Honduras, and now the 5th was here on the north coast. I have been blessed to have such an amazing wife with whom to share these anniversaries. Sometimes when she is talking to me, I have trouble listening, because I start to think, "how in the world am I so blessed to have this beautiful woman as my wife?" and then I have to pull myself back and remember that I need to be able to respond to her when she finishes and asks me, "So what do you think about what I just said?" :) Lidia is an amazing wife; amazing woman; amazing mom; amazing helpmate; amazing friend. I could not do this life without her and the Lord has used her to get me going on all these adventures! I am absolutely blessed to have a woman who loves the Lord deeply and is continously loving Him more. This makes her love for me possible. She is truly selfless and ever-growing in her love for me and for the girls. The Lord has lavishly blessed me with my Lidia and I am deeply thankful each day that our lives are forever woven together. I love you my poema.

I feel like a 3rd grader

2008-08-02T17:47:00.004-06:00

Learning a language is a very humbling process. The last 6 weeks have been intense and tiring: hours of one-on-one study with my 'maestro' (teacher), more hours of homework early in the morning or late at night, hundreds of mis-spoken sentences, thousands of mispronounced words.

The other day I was studying at Espresso Americano (the local version of Starbucks) and I was reading my Catrachito book... It is a reader for 3rd graders here in honduras and is perfect for where I am at. The stories in the book contain a mixture of all the verb tenses used in a straight-forward way. I usually read the stories, circle all the verbs, and write the tense of each verb so I understand how all the words are being used. The funny thing is, I don't think I could do this in English. I know more Spanish grammar now than I know English. I know the present indicative, the imperfect indicative, the preterite, the future, the pluscuamperfect (a completed action in the past), potential, simple subjunctive, etc. I guess I have learned more about english since I now know what all these tenses mean in english as well. It has been really great.

I am now done with all the main grammar. I have two weeks of school left, which will be mostly practicing all the tenses together. My homework now is mostly writing and telling stories so that I learn to use all that I have learned. One thought that always gets me exctited though is that I am over the hump! The hard part is over and it will continue to get easier from here on out. The important thing now is to have the discipline to speak my new language often and to read and write as much as possible. Lidia and my plan is to speak Spanish at the house when we go back to Tulsa. How exciting it will be to finally be able to say that I am 'fluent'!!!

Living at the Arevalo household

2008-07-19T21:34:00.012-06:00

We have officially moved to the Arevalo household. We have been here for two weeks now and it has been great. I met Kelley about 8 years ago through a mutual friend and she became like a sister to me. The Lord has blessed me with a beautiful friendship in her. We are now both married to two amazing and godly men and have kiddos of our own! Pretty amazing!

Kelley and Abner pastor a small church here in La Ceiba and they offered to let us stay at their house while we were here for Matt's school...they did not know what they were getting themselves into :) They have a two year old little girl and a 8 month old baby. Their house is about 1,000 sq ft (and no AC) so there is not tons of space to move around, but we have somehow managed to get along well...God is good! :) They have been so generous and selfless in that they even gave up their own bedroom for the 5 weeks that we will be here. They are amazing and godly people! We are so excited to be here.

Kelley and I usually take turns cooking. We plan meals for the week and usually go grocery shopping together every week. It is fun having a cooking partner and having extra hands to help out with the kiddos. We are usually busy all day taking care of all the kids, making meals, disciplining, getting ready to go somewhere, cleaning up play-doh, holding crying babies...etc. There is never a dull moment :) Evenings are great because we usually get to sit and talk without interruptions after the kids are all asleep. Many times we pray and share about current parenting issues, marriage issues, etc. and it is great to be able to challenge and encourage each other.

All in all we are doing really well. God is teaching us, breaking us and humbling us as we all live together and live to serve and honor him. The girls are growing and learning to share and just learning to get along and love each other. It is hard for them, but it is good practice for them too. They are doing better each day! God is good. We joke around that by the time the girls are done with this time, they will be able to get along with anyone :) We shall see...;)

Pictures to come!!!

Para Devin y Colby...

2008-07-16T11:12:00.002-06:00

Some time ago, our good friends (more brothers than friends, really) were asking me to explain when to use "por" in spanish and when to use "para". In english, we only have one word, "for" when we want to say, "the gift is for him" , or "I bought this for $10", or "I slept for 8 hours"... in english, the word, "for" can mean many different things or have many different applications. In spanish, there are two words that apply in different situations.

Well Devin and Colby (and I am sure there are others out there who would like to have this cleared up), here is your answer. See below for the 3-page exlanation!

There are some frustrating moments...

2008-07-09T15:54:00.007-06:00

God is so good and gracious to us! He truly has given us an amazing life with Him here on earth. There is always joy and peace even in the hardest of times. Being here in Honduras is no different than being somewhere else...there are hard and frustrating moments.

Not having your own place and the four of us sleeping in one bedroom makes for some frustrating times. Mornings are sometimes especially hard because one of the girls is usually up in the middle of the night (one wakes the other up). We try to keep a good attitude, but to be honest, it's hard sometimes.

We have lived in three different places since we moved here. This coming weekend we will be somewhere else and then we will be with our good friends, Kelley and Abner, and we will be with them for five weeks and then we will be traveling some more.

Rebekah has been especially hard sometimes...just trying and testing us and it is hard having to discipline her all the time. The heat also gets to all of us and it drains all of our energy.

This might sound like whining, but it's not...it's the life that we are living right now. We are so happy to be here and grateful for the many opportunities we have had already to share about our Lord with our family and those that the Lord has placed in our path. It has been neat to see the Lord work in and through our lives. God's work is so amazing...but it does take some sacrifice sometimes as we lay down our lives for Him. We would not have want it any other way though.

Please pray for us when you think of us. It will be your prayers that will refresh and strengthen us when we are weak and tired. We love you all so much!

Three month old Essie and our big girl Kita

2008-07-08T18:44:00.009-06:00

Esther is now three months old. She is doing well. She has been pretty healthy for the most part, but at times she gets a little desperate with the heat here in La Ceiba. We try to keep a fan on her most of the time to cool her off. She is smiling a lot lately...her whole face just lights up when she smiles...it is cute. She notices things more and is just much more alert.

Kita is doing well too. She does not seem to be fazed by the heat. She likes it a lot here. She likes being mostly in her underpants. She loves the food too so that makes a mama happy. She is still very active...always doing something or wanting to do something...or sometimes getting into things that she is not supposed to :) Overall she is doing great. In the pictures below, she is holding some of the biggest avacados I have seen. They weighed about 5 lbs each!

More opportunities!

2008-07-06T21:50:00.000-06:00

Lidia and I have had several God-given opportunities lately to share Christ with her aunt and uncle. It is very exciting to see the opportunities open up and then very exciting to take the next step and be faithful to share what Christ has done in our lives.

Last night, Lidia and I had several hours of good conversation about the Lord, the problems of the world, the cause of pain and suffering, etc with Lidia's uncle. Her uncle doesn't know the Lord and we were able to talk about lots of different subjects, all revolving around life in Christ and a Christ-centered world view. Her uncle struggles with all the pain and suffering in the world and why God would allow that if He is indeed real and good... So we talked about how much pain and suffering is caused by our sin and selfishness. We talked about how God has better plans for us and can help us to respond to the pain around us to make a positive difference in our circle of influence. It was a really good talk and Lidia and I were very excited as we went to bed that night.

This morning (Sunday) we told the family we wanted to have a little 'church' here at the house and just read and discuss a Bible passage. When we were getting started, the whole family came (uncle, aunt, their 3 sons, and grandma) to join us! This was really exciting, but I was nervous b/c I was going to lead the discussion... in spanish. :) I would have been a bit nervous in english, so I was even more nervous in spanish. It was a good thing though b/c it made me very reliant on the Lord for the right thoughts and words. Lidia also helped me explain things when I was having trouble.

The very interesting part (in which we could see Divine guidance) was that yesterday evening we had decided to do our Sunday study in Galatians 4-6, talking about being freed as slaves from sin and how God frees us from sin and gives us new, godly desires so that we can be free from many of the destructive consequences of sin. I wanted to share this b/c I feel like among unbelievers there is a presupposition that the Lord wants to take all the "fun" things away from us and wants to make us live a boring rule-filled life. This passage in Galatians shows us that those things that unbelievers like, are actually hurtful and descructive. God changes our lives and changes our desires to save us from destruction, not to rid us of enjoyment... rather we will have much more enjoyment (without the hangover...) as we live in the freedom that He gives. The amazing part is that later that night as we were talking, it came out that Lidia's uncle's favorite verse is from Galatians 6:7 about sowing and reaping! He learned this verse when he was a child through some neighbors that would teach the neighborhood kids verses and Bible stories (kind of like our Good News Club). He said that this verse always stuck with him. This confirmed to us that the Lord was leading in our selection of that passage, so this morning I started by saying that I wanted to take Gal 6:7 and put it in context... It was really great and I know that they at least heard God's Word and He can take it from there! Everyone was very attentive and afterwards the boys shared what they liked about what we shared from God's word.

The neat thing about sharing from His Word is that His Word is powerful and alive and active and will never return empty...it will always accomplish what He desires. It is not our job to convince anyone, but to share with a sincere heart from His Word and let the Lord do the real work of drawing others to Himself. We have been so excited for these opportunities that the Lord has given us! We pray that He will give us even more as we live here for the next upcoming months. Please pray for my aunt, uncle and family and pray also for us as we share with them.

A light in the darkness

2008-07-04T22:49:00.000-06:00

God is so good to us! It is neat how He places us where we need to be for His glory and purposes. Sometimes it is hard to see why we are where we are, but eventually as we continue to seek and trust Him we are able to see Him unfold His purposes.

I have been able to share times in His Word with Yenni (one of my uncle's maids) and they have been some very sweet times. Yenni is a believer, but a young one in the faith, and I feel like she is really listening and desiring this time in His Word together. We usually meet outside on the front porch after she is done with all the house work and after I put the girls to bed. I have enjoyed "mentoring" her and helping her understand what His Word is trying to tell us. We have conversations about the meanings of passages and how that applies to us today. It has been so neat and my heart is so full after these times together. We end our time praying together and sometimes we just sing praises to Him.

My heart sometimes hurts for people who don't have anything...who are "poor" in material things. Maids here don't make a lot of money (usually about $150 a month for fulltime help) and they work really hard. Most of the time they are treated very poorly and often taken advantage of. What amazes me most though is the servant and loyal hearts that they have toward their patrones (employers).

All this truly makes me grateful for what we have and it makes me more generous. I think seeing how other people live and how they make it makes us want to give more and spend less on us. I also realize that even though these people might not have much materially, they are much more devoted to the Lord and so their hope is in Him. I know that one day we will all be in heaven with our Lord and we will all be happy(no more suffering or pain, etc)...I cannot wait! I love how God is the same and loves all of us the same. He cares about Yenni and her struggles and he also cares about us and our struggles. He is so good to all of us.

Last weekend also as we were talking with my aunt and uncle and they were sharing with me how there was something different about us and they asked me what it was. I told them it was the Lord in our lives. We had been wondering whether we were of any influence in their lives. We realized that we are having an influence because of Christ in us and not anything of ourselves. Unbelievers are always watching us and hopefully Christ shines through us enough for them to see a difference and for them to desire that which we possess. They also commented on how Matt and I relate to each other and the peace that they see in our lives. I was truly taken aback because my aunt and uncle don't open up and share personal things very often, but they had been talking about it to themselves.

God is good! He is faithful. We are willing vessels and we want to serve Him and be a light in the darkness. We trust that He will continue to shine through us and give us more opportunities like the ones He has given us so far.

Our aunt and uncle have been so generous and kind to us while we have been here at their house these past two weeks. They have truly taken us in as one of their own children and have done everything to make us feel comfortable and at home. We were hesitant and did not know what to expect when we came here, but it has been a great experience, especially for Rebekah who has been spoiled more and more lately by her great aunt. They love her so much!

Brain expanding...making room for more.

2008-07-02T14:56:00.000-06:00

Last week I was exhausted after my first 5 days of school. I was feeling frustrated b/c I felt like it was going to be very difficult to keep learning. I felt like if I learned anything more, it would get all jumbled up with everything I had already crammed into my head that week.

This week is going much better. Much of what I learned last week is actually still there and instead of getting messed up, it is like a foundation. I just keep adding piece by piece and it seems to be going better so far this week. On friday, I get to learn the future tense so that will be a huge piece of language for me. Tomorrow, we are going to a place near a river and we will be having school out there and then having a barbeque and then swimming. I am bringing Lidia and the girls, so it should be fun!

While Matt is in school...

2008-06-27T08:50:00.000-06:00

The girls and I get to hang out and play :) We are staying at my uncle's house right now and it has been nice being here. They have maids that clean and cook so I don't have to worry about any of that. I take care of my girls and that's pretty much what I do.

It's nice being able to just focus on my girls and not having other responsibilities. I also get to talk to the maids and spend time with them. They are so sweet and so helpful...truly have such servant hearts.

What Matty gets home from school, we have a yummy lunch made by Guadalupe. She also makes fresh fruit juices every day...some days it's pineapple, other days watermelon juice, or papaya...it changes every day. It is nice! After lunch we usually take our siesta as a family, napping for an hour or so.

The Lord is teaching us so much just by living here and being in such different culture. Life here is so simple and laid back. It truly makes us appreciate more what we have and the opportunities that we have. We in the States have way too much...we are truly blessed and should consider how to simplify our lives and use our excess to help others instead of wasting it on our luxuries.

See gringo. See gringo learn. See gringo learn fast.

2008-06-25T16:11:00.000-06:00

Wow. I have a private tutor for 4 hours every morning from 7:30am to 11:30am. That is the way to learn and learn fast. I feel like Keanu Reaves in the Matrix when he is in that chair and they plug his brain into the computer to learn karate... it is super-intense to be drilled for 4 hours every day and then have homework each night--and I am only 3 days into it.

I already feel like my spanish is opening wide and my ability to speak is SO MUCH better. It is amazing. My tutor (Joshue- pronounced Hohs-way) is a 21-year old college student and is excellent at finding my 'spanish holes' and filling them in. He is really doing a good job. In just two days of spanish lessons, I have already had so many questions answered, that I wonder how we are going to fill up the next 7 1/2 weeks... but I know there is plenty to learn.

Yesterday I learned reflexive verbs, like "to dress oneself" and "to take a shower" etc. In spanish you have to say "I dress myself", to express that action, so there is a special way to treat all of these verbs. Today I learned the preterit, which is how to speak about an action that was completed at some time in the past. This knowledge has loosed my tongue in many conversations since lunch. :) It is very hard to tell people what happened yesterday, when you only know how to say what is happening right now...

Bottom line is that this is really going to be great for me and for our family. It is very exhausting, but I am excited that I am already seeing such results. Thank the Lord for a mind to pick all this up.

Oh, think twice...it's just another day for you and me in paradise

2008-06-23T15:29:00.000-06:00

Lidia's dad went to high school with a man who now owns one of the largest resorts/diving centers on the island of Roatan (see map). Por eso (because of this), we were his guests at his condo on an amazing section of beach last weekend. We also were invited to dinner at his house one evening and met his wife, who is a believer. They are very kind and generous and it was a great experience.

He also arranged for us to swim with their trained dolphins, which was very cool. See the slide show for more pictures (fotos). It was a nice and relaxing time with all the comforts of america, and Lidia wasn't sure she wanted to go back to our former accomodations (no AC)... just the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities...

You hear something?

2008-06-23T15:20:00.000-06:00

This is Rebekah's latest phrase here in Honduras. There are lots of new sounds for her here in Honduras. She usually hears the rooster crow or the trucks and buses go by and will say,
"you hear something?" And then when we tell her what it is she will say, "oh yeah, that's right, a rooster? It is pretty cute :)

Rebekah likes it here. Life here is so different in so many ways, but thankfully she is doing well adapting.

But it's not a dry heat....

2008-06-22T20:41:00.000-06:00

Well, you may have expected that it is hot here in La Ceiba. You are right. It is usually about 90-95 degrees during the day, I think, and then about 75-85 degrees at night. The thing about the heat here is not so much that the temperatures are higher than say, Tulsa, or that the humidity is quite high either. What really makes it seem hot here is that most of the houses are not air-conditioned and so you cannot escape the heat. Our bedroom hovers around 86 degrees each evening and is just as humid as it is outdoors. The windows are open 24/7 and the breeze helps a bit, but it is quite sticky.

At first the girls seemed extra grumpy and fussy, we think because of the heat and humidity all the time. But they are doing better now as we continue to adjust to life here. We still can't believe that we are here for quite awhile. It is a surreal feeling to know that we are staying until September. I start school tomorrow so I am very excited! My prayer is that God would open my mind to be able to learn quickly!

We made it!!!

2008-06-16T14:12:00.000-06:00

After what seemed like LOTS of travel, we made it! Gracias a Dios (thanks be to God) all of our flights were on time and all of our luggage made it (we think... the only things we don't have right now are Essie's carseat and Rebekah's booster, b/c I forgot to get them when we arrived in San Pedro Sula. We are sending someone to the airport in San Pedro to get them and put them on a bus for us).

Here is the itinerary that saved us $900... that $900 seemed to get smaller and smaller, the longer the flights dragged out, but other than the length of our travel time, all went well.

11:30am - Arrive at the airport in Tulsa, get checked in and go to our gate,

2:05pm - Board our plane (we were A49-A51 for you Southwest junkies--not a bad place in line...) and leave for Houston Hobby,
Sit on the plane for about 30 min, move forward for better seats (again, for the Southwest junkies) and then we take off again and head for New Orleans....

Again, sit on the plane for about 30mins, keep our good seats, and take off again for Ft. Lauderdale (FLL).

8:30pm - arrive at FLL, deplane, stack our 4 large duffels (49lbs, 51lbs, 50.5lbs, 49lbs) and our two smaller rollerbags (35lbs, 33lbs), 3 carry-ons, DVD player, stuffed monkey and stuffed puppy on a slightly-too-small luggage cart and take a shuttle over to a different terminal for our international flight.

By the time we arrived at terminal 4 and were checking in at the Spirit counter, Rebekah was exhausted and resorted to kicking and screaming about something and when we put her in her stroller to try to calm her down, she got that much louder... I was checking our 200+ lbs of luggage and mama was holding Essie, so it was a bit stressful. :)
The nice thing was that almost no one flys at 11pm, so the airport was not busy and it was easy going through security at FLL. So we arrived at our gate with about an hour to spare before boarding our final leg of the flight.
10:55pm - we board the flight (we got in on a special deal and sat in the Big Front Seats--Spirit's version of first class, but without the hot washcloths). Rebekah fell asleep on my lap almost as soon as we were in the air and mama and Essie were two rows back and got some rest on the 2hr, 20min flight to San Pedro Sula.
After a few time changes, we arrived in Honduras just before midnight, got through immigration quickly and got all our bags without any problems. Except we forgot about the carseat and booster seat b/c we were so ready to get out of there and get to a bed...
Our good friend Kelley picked us up with her brother-in-law and took us to their house to spend the night (end of travel: 1am or so)

All in all, I think the $900 extra on Continental would have taken us to Houston and then direct to San Pedro, saving us about 6-7 hours of travel time... we were debating on the value of that by the time we arrived in Honduras.

Anyway, we had pancakes in the morning, courtesy of the friends we stayed with, and then drove about 3hrs to La Ceiba. I got to drive part of the way and had fun weaving in and out of traffic (there is much more "freedom" when you drive in Honduras, than in the states).

We are now resting and settling in at Kelley and Abner's house. They have been very gracious and we are looking forward to our time here as a family. Thank the Lord for a safe trip!

Please pray!

2008-06-14T08:08:00.000-06:00

We are leaving TODAY :) Please pray for us as we embark in this adventure. Pray for our girls to adjust well and for health and protection for all of us. Pray for the Lord to use us as tools of His love and grace. Our desire is that He alone will be glorified in and through us.

We love you all so much!

God goes before us

2008-06-13T09:02:00.001-06:00

Something really neat happened this week...truly a God thing. About a year and a half ago when we were doing our Good News Club with our neighbors we were using simple evangelistic tools to teach them the gospel. About that same time we were also planning a trip to Honduras and wanted to use some of those tools to share the gospel with the children in our family (cousins, nieces, nephews). I then proceeded to order 50 bracelets and 50 Spanish tracks but the bracelets did not get done on time so we left without them.

Three days ago a lady from the organization we had ordered these called us and said that she was going through her books and saw that we had ordered these bracelets and tracks over a year ago and wanted to know if we still wanted them :) We were amazed!

Matt called her back and told the lady that we were actually going down to Honduras in four days and that we would need them. God goes before us and He has a beautiful plan and we are so very excited to be a part of. God has already placed in our heart how we will use these...we will keep you posted :)

Ephes. 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Meet the Tumlisons

2008-06-13T08:36:00.000-06:00

This is the sweet family who will be leasing our home while we are in Honduras. The Lord worked this out so perfectly for all of us. This was a HUGE answer to prayer for us and them as well. We serve a powerful and magnificent God!

The Tumlisons will be doing medical missions in Honduras and they needed a place to stay from end of June through October. Cinthya is from Honduras and is a sweet and beautiful girl and her husband Joel is just great! We feel so blessed that they will be able to stay in our house while we are away. You can check out their blog here