Light in our Hearts

Christmas Newsletter

2011-12-22T17:06:00.002-06:00

Click on the picture to open a larger copy.

Visiting a church in Comayagua

2011-12-22T12:04:00.003-06:00

The Church of Charity - built in the late 1500´s

Founded in 1537, Comaygua was the capital of Honduras for most of the Spanish colonial era. Some of the of the old homes and churches from that era still standing. They were built using mud adobe bricks, so the walls often had to be nearly a yard thick in order to support some of the taller structures. It also has the distinction of being home to one of the oldest working clocks int he world! The clock in the city´s cathedral was used in Spain until being donated to Comayagua in the 16th century (some believe it originally dates from the 12th century!). There are numerous old structures and museums to visit so you can capture the "flavor"of the colonial era.

But being the colonial capital does not just mean that there is lots to see in Comayagua. It also means that the city is extremely entrenched in Catholicism. In fact, Comayagua is generally considered to be the most religious city in the country. Every few blocks...
in the downtown area contains an old catholic church, most of which are still being used today.

Comayagua is also the site of one of our leadership-training classes. We have men from three different churches attending the class. Amazingly, there are only about five small Baptist churches in this city of about 80,000 people, and very few evangelical churches of any kind. I am very excited about the potential for reaching this city that we are cultivating by training men who will be able to plant and lead future congregations.

The cathedral of Comayagua in front of the central park

One thing that took us by surprise during our visit was...
the realization that the evangelical believers in Comayagua do not give much recognition to Christmas. The church we visited (which is pastored by one of the men being trained through our ministry) was not decorated in the least, no carols were sung, and the services of the coming week (the week of Christmas) were announced as continuing on their normal schedule. This presented a significant contrast with the evangelical churches in our town, which planned services on the 23rd or early on the 24th so that the people could celebrate Christmas in the traditional manner here (staying up all night on the 24th and sleeping until noon on the 25th); that is, I should say, what I thought was traditional.

When we met for class the following Wednesday, I inquired into the sentiments toward Christmas among the evangelicals in Comayagua. It turns out that, although they are not specifically opposed to celebrating the birth of Christ on the 24th, they have essentially distanced themselves from the holiday because of the numerous customs with which they disagree (praying to nativity scenes, celebrating a "patron saint" in each each barrio (neighborhood), etc. Instead, they prefer to celebrate the general truth of the incarnation without placing emphasis upon any specific day.

All of this was just one more reminder for me of the fact that a missionary who comes in from a different country may need years to understand the cultural and religious dynamics of a given area (that is, if he ever does understand them). That is why it is so important to provide biblical training to nationals who already know the circumstances and need only apply the biblical principles to the culture. Thanks for helping us to have a part in just such a process. Please pray for the churches in Comayagua.

Goodbye for now, Noé - by Travis

2011-12-12T11:03:00.012-06:00

For over four months little Noé slept in a small room in one of the public hospitals in the capital city, Tegucigalpa, more than a two-hour drive from his home in Siguatepeque.

Travis playing with Noé in the hospital

His Mom, Reina, slept in the same little room with him (at first on the floor, and later on a small cot that was provided). Reina´s other three small children were kept by various families as our little church strove to meet the needs of one of our church family. We all prayed for Noé and Reina, but the doctors struggled to discover precisely what his problem was. When they finally decided that he had a very advanced form of tuberculosis which would require months of antibiotic treatments, the illness had already so destroyed the little guy´s organs that he just could not recover. It was a heart-wrenching and difficult process for all of us, but of course, none felt the pain nearly so much as Reina. During the last few days before Noé died, she scarcely slept at all, for the little child would only find relief from his discomfort while she held him upright in her arms, and he would awaken each time to tried to lay him down in search of sleep herself. By the time God called little Noé home, Reina herself was exhausted and ill-prepared physically to face the difficult days ahead.

The little casket rests at Mark´s house in the wee hours of the morning

Because of his illness and the fluid that had swelled his body in the final days of his life, the doctors advised that the not be prepared, but rather...
that it be buried within 24 hours. Pastor Melvin and Mark, a church elder, left at about 1:30 AM in order to drive to Tegucigalpa and bring Reina, along with the little body of Noé, back to Siguatepeque to be buried. They all arrived back here at about 5 AM. Needless to say, there were many tears shed as many of us from the church joined them at Mark´s home and began the preparations for the funeral and burial. Since it was a Sunday, the regular services were cancelled as the church family upon demonstrating our love for Reina and her family.

As difficult as all of this was (and death is always difficult, isn´t it?), we have seen God´s grace on display, especially in Reina. She is a single-mom who came Christ only a couple of years ago through the day-care ministry of our church, and this entire ordeal was a great struggle of faith. Yet, she has grown through all of it. She has learned much about resting entirely upon God, and she was even able to stand and thank God for a recent sermon on suffering (delivered by a guest speaker who knew nothing of her circumstances) that helped to answer some the questions in her heart and give her more peace regarding the trials God took her through. We are praising God for the work of grace in Reina, and even more for the calm assurance we have that, because of the victory of Christ on the cross and in the resurrection, we shall see little Noé again someday. Death has no enduring power over the life of God´s redeemed!

We sang songs of Christ´s victory as the bricklayers sealed up the vault

The church in Azacualpita - by Travis

2011-11-15T10:15:00.013-06:00

Not much changes from week to week, or even month to month, in a teaching ministry such as ours. Each week I travel to various places and meet with the men for several hours, then return home to prepare for the following week. It is rewarding work, but there isn't often much to "report" over time.

However, we have recently begun to visit some of the churches where the men in our classes are either pastoring or preparing to pastor. It is our hope to visit one church each month so that we can develop something of a rapport with the people and better understand the specific needs and challenges of the men in our classes. It'll also give me something more to share here on the blog.

Our first church visit was to the little rural community of Azacualpita. It took us about an hour and a half to arrive there from our house in Siguatepeque, and we had several opportunities to test our four-wheel-drive on the muddy, mountain road (we are continually thankful to the Lord for our SUV!). The group of believers that meets in Azacualpita is only a few years old. Until this year they were meeting in a home, but a mission team from the U.S. recently built them a beautiful new building in which to meet (see photo).

This congregation does not have a regular pastor. For now,...
the church is being led by a Honduran, church-planting missionary named Gerardo. Gerardo has been helping to plant Baptist churches in rural regions among the Lenca people. He, along with several of the Lenca men that he is mentoring, are students in my class in Esperanza. On the Sunday of our visit, we had the privilege to hear one of these Lenca men preach. His name is Cayetano, and he has been a very faithful and excited student. He has not missed a single one of the nearly thirty weekly-meetings! Although he is a member of a different church some distance away, he occasionally visits Azacualpita to preach. It was a tremendous joy for me to hear Cayetano preach. He has a tender heart and is striving to be a careful student of God's Word.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time getting to know this congregation of believers and seeing the work that God is doing in the rural community of Azacualpita. Please pray for this church to be a light in their area.

Latest Newsletter - Fall 2011

2011-09-30T13:40:00.000-06:00

Just click on the picture to open a larger copy.

Our little "Summer" break -- by Emily

2011-08-29T08:49:00.001-06:00

We have enjoyed a couple of wonderful weeks off of school. They have provided an excellent opportunity to catch up on so many things that had been piling up all over the house. The family weekly routine is so full, that we generally do not have a whole lot of wiggle room for repairs, major cleaning, or thoughtful organizational planning. My bedroom now looks like a bedroom again instead of a closet!!!!

Our Julianna turned thirteen on Sunday.   We celebrated her birthday with just our family in a quiet way. She chose Fred's Kitchen (sounds American doesn't it?) to dine at for her birthday meal, which was a real treat for all of us. Julianna has enjoyed being here in Siguatepeque. She is grateful for the many friends at church and the other missionary friends too. Her ability to understand Spanish when it is spoken astounds me. She has adjusted well to so many different things over this past year with such grace. We are grateful to say that she has a passionate heart for the Lord and continually blesses us all with her sweet attitude.

Travis was able to meet with the seminary students on Wednesday. There are MANY who are interested in the program that he is using. If things develop well, he could be responsible for overseeing and facilitating numerous leadership-training groups within the next year! At times since Wednesday, he has mentioned feeling a bit overwhelmed with this new commitment. I know that he would covet your prayers, as he organizes and plans for this new addition to his teaching schedule.

We all accompanied Travis to Tegucigalpa this month. Since our return to Honduras in February, we have thought that we had completed everything required to obtain missionary visas numerous times, but we often receive the news of something else that we are lacking (usually one to two days before our existing tourist visas expire). Thankfully,...
we are able to extend our tourist visas by the month. We simply have to take the ride into Teguc. and present our visas (along with a fee) to immigration for a one month extension. This is not super complicated, only costing us some additional time and money.

It had been months since we had all been to Tegucigalpa. Everyone in our family appreciates the incredible beauty the ride from Siguatepeque to Teguc. holds. The road winds through huge mountains and large valleys. The countryside wowed us with its rich green flora sprinkled with the occasional bright orange flowers. The "rules of the road" require that Travis be fully alert and that I NOT watch. Between the scenery and the great adventure of the road conversation abounds!!!

When we go to Teguc., we enjoy spending time with Charlie and Mary Sell, some missionary friends that we met in Costa Rica. On this trip we also also included a visit to Reina, one of the single mothers in our church whose youngest child, Noe, has been suffering from complications with Tuberculosis. They have now been at a public hospital in Teguc. for one month. Mary accompanied me down there on Friday. Even though she lives there, she had still not experienced this hospital; so it was a first for both of us. We finally found a parking place after looping the crazy congested streets many times. I was concerned about how I was going to find Reina in the huge place, when the Lord took care of that problem. He sent her straight to us while we were still trying to find the public entrance. She had been outside of the hospital getting some medicine when she spotted me. The Lord's working was clearly seen here!!

I can not properly describe the poor condition of this hospital. I had been forewarned, so I believe that I was braced to handle the lack of cleanliness. However, my heart still broke when I saw little Noe lying in an old crib in a dimly lit room. He looks extremely weak. Reina says that he does not want to eat again, and he is losing weight. His diagnosis is quite serious. After observing the room containing a little cupboard and two other small cribs, I asked Reina where she sleeps at night. She pointed to the floor. The tears nearly poured out right there. She has been in this dark, depressing environment for a month, waiting for her baby to improve. She waits to receive meals from a friend of a friend; hand washes her clothes at night and hangs them to dry; and uses a small crib mattress to aid her night's sleep on the floor. Meanwhile her other three children, living with different people in our church, have gone through chicken pox during this time without her.   All in all, I found Reina to be stable in spirit and body, smiling many times throughout our visit.

Mary and I walked to a nearby grocery store to purchase some food, diapers, personal items, and a pillow.   I hope that our visit (bringing physical contact, physical necessities, money, and greetings from the entire church) cheered her spirit. The greatest comfort I have is the confidence that our God is with her and can give her daily comfort moment by moment through His presence and His Word. Humanly speaking, no one would want to endure what she is going through. Please pray for Reina, little Noe, and her other children during these trials.

Leadership Training update - by Travis

2011-08-04T11:54:00.001-06:00

I am pretty excited about the things that God is doing through the training ministry. We now have three groups in the area consisting of 19 pastors, elders, and church leaders. Two of the groups have completed the first of the ten training courses (Bible study methods and principles of interpretation) and are ready to begin the next course (Old Testament Survey). Each week they are learning new things and are very excited about the differences that they already notice in their study and ministry. Please continue to pray for these men and their families as they seek to shepherd local congregations toward a more intimate knowledge of the Savior. Also, pray that they will give special attention to their own relationship with Christ and will not be deceived by the notion that they can grow through knowledge alone.

Evangelism campaign – by Travis

2011-07-30T11:33:00.002-06:00

During the week of July 17, I had the privilege to join with a team of believers from the United States and Canada in an effort to assist local churches in reaching their communities with the Gospel of Christ. This type of outreach effort is what our mission calls STAR teams (Sowing, Teaching And Reaping). It generally includes personal, in-home visits, Vacation Bible School, visits in local schools, and teaching in evening services. It is a very full week, but it is always a blessing to be able to invest in the lives of others for the glory of Christ.

This latest STAR Team campaign was in Roatán! That meant that I had the opportunity to see a number of familiar faces and work alongside some of the very same churches that we sought to help when we lived on the island. I was also able to meet some new people and work in a Spanish-speaking church that I had not visited before. The island has numerous mission teams that come and visit each year, so the people are not as attentive to mission groups as people generally are elsewhere. Still, the STAR Team method is very different than most mission team outreaches, and God allowed us to see hundreds of people accept Christ as Savior and hundreds others make different commitments for Christ. Please pray that God will strengthen and nurture the faith of these believers.

Being on the island also reminded me of the great need for leadership training there. Most of the pastors have full-time jobs and do not have many opportunities to receive proper training in the study and teaching of God’s Word. Although we know that God supernaturally intervened in our lives and directed us to Siguatepeque where we are now, I could not help but yearn for some way to help these brothers in Christ. For now, I don’t have any answers, but I am praying that God will connect me with someone who could go to the island and work to train church leaders. God knows the need, and I believe He will provide it in His own time and way

Latest Newsletter - Travis

2011-06-08T15:13:00.002-06:00

Here is our latest newsletter. just click on the picture to see it in a larger format. Thanks for your prayers.

Busy, busy -- by Emily

2011-05-30T14:56:00.003-06:00

Another busy week hascome and gone, as I am sure that all of you can say the same.

First, an update on Jenny, the young deaf girl that is staying with us for a few months. She seems to be adjusting to our familybeautifully, and we love her. She has opened up- a new world for us inSiguatepeque - a new church, new school, new friends, and new activities. A note accompanied her home from school on Wednesday informing us thatthe first quarter parent teacher meeting would be held on Thursday at2:00. Thankfully, our calendar was open to be able to attend thisimportant meeting. Thursday afternoon found our family in the schoolroomalong with a room full of parents. Soon, a notebook began to be passedaround for "signing in." It was at this point that Travislooked at me and asked me what Jenny's last name was. The lights went onfor both of us, we did not know her last name, and really were not even surethe correct spelling of her first name. We wrote our names down as theparents/guardians and wrote beside it our child - Jenny. We soon foundout that we had guessed right for the spelling of her name!!!! About an hour later, we got to copy her full name right off the front of herstraight A report card. Now, we are in the know!!!!! Legally, wehad given over our passport info in order to take custody, and I had found outall the things regarding her schedule, likes and dislikes, health issues,etc... but, we somehow had failed to get her full name.

Friday night, the deaf students at her school were invited to sing at anoutdoor city expo. The girls were supposed to wear flowers in their hair,and the boys added the typical cowboy hat and red handkerchief to theirdress. The group looked wonderful in their brand new school uniformshirts. Our family enjoyed meeting all of her friends and learning theirsign names while we waited for the program to start. There are five otherseventeen year old girls in the school. What a blessing it is for themall to have each other to enjoy life together. Their school was the firston the program for the evening, and the performance was charming.

The two men's groups that Travis is teaching seem to be progressingnicely. Last Saturday, the men in Esperanza were very excited to learnsome basic principles in Biblical interpretation and allowing the Bible tointerpret itself...

The lights seemed to come on for them all, and theyloved being able to answer some of their own questions that arose from thehomework assignments. This Tuesday, Travis is planning on meeting withanother pastor friend concerning starting up another training group.

Tuesday afternoons have become quite lively at our place. Around Easterweek, two ladies from our church approached me about helping them withEnglish. One lady immediately started coming over for classes. Then, a couple others heard about this and asked if they could beinvolved. It appears that our group will consist of four ladies for thepresent. The plans are to spend half the class in teaching the phoneticsounds and how to read English. The other part will be used forlearning and practicing new words. It will give me great delight to plansomething really fun through which we can all grow together and laugh alot. Last week, Charity and Caroline made chocolate chip cookies duringtheir morning time together for all of the afternoon company, and they werequite good!! The afternoon company includes several of the children ofthese moms too. This class is great for all of us to build friendshipstogether.

Travis also has been having guests. He has been consistently meeting witha couple of Mormons each Tuesday afternoon for a month. I can notremember their names, only that I now understand that they must go by Eldersduring this time that they are sent out on their missions. Our individualappointments overlap some, so I have gotten to join in on a part of themeetings with the men. Last week, the men handed Travis the silverplatter for him to put the authority of the Word of God on. The afternoondiscussion had been about personal experience. They believe that youshould pray for God to show you if the Book of Mormon is true or not. Travis said that he simply could not do that because he had seen differencesbetween the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Therefore, he felt that hisexperience with the Book of Mormon could not be as valid as the authoritativeWord of God. They calmly and sincerely wanted to know what thedifferences were. So, Travis got to share a couple of things that werevery clear that he had come across in his recent readings of their book. They were truly amazed. Just like they had been a few weeks earlier whenthe explanation of justification had been explained through theScriptures. They said that they still wanted to come back nextweek. So........ Please pray for these souls. As I washed dishes, Ireflected on the "testimony" of the one guy who has been raised in aMormon family that dates back to the beginning of this religion. Myinitial thoughts were that there was no way that he would change; then,immediately, God reminded me of what I had taught the previousSunday. He had changed Saul to Paul, and He can changeanyone.

Hallelujah, what a Savior!!!! - by Emily

2011-04-25T10:38:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday, we had a visiting speaker give themessage at our church. The message was given in English and translatedinto Spanish for our congregation. It was a treat for me to understand everysingle word, and to enjoy listening to the wonderful translator as well. Thisman led us through a beautiful panorama of our Savior Jesus Christ. Hehad divided the message into sections highlighting different facets of Christ,concluding each one with the congregation responding with this phrase,"Hallelujah, what a Savior!" This worship service was a greatstart to our Semana Santa which is translated Holy Week.

In Latin America, the tradition has been to have this week off from work andschool to emphasize the crucifixion of Christ. Although, Honduras is becomingmore secular of late, as many businesses are only closed on Friday, the schoolsare still off and the government offices are still closed for the entireweek. Our children were begging for some time off from school likeeveryone else here, so we enjoyed Thursday and Friday off.

This week is considered the height of the Honduran summer. Because of thevacation time, it is very common for the people to frequent the beaches, publicswimming pools, or parks along lakes and rivers. Our church took a triptogether on Friday to a beautiful piece of property about an hour out fromSiguatepeque. We were told to meet at the church at 8:00 am.Honduran time (we left the church atjust a little before 10:00). This extra time allowed for all to get to thechurch, including the family that was bringing the meat for the activity! We piled into all of the cars, and we packed eleven into our 7-seater. Iasked... the mother of four that was riding with us if her kids got carsick. Her response was "no." However, after about 30minutes of mountain climbs, dips, and curves two of her children along with ourAshleigh had their heads in bags. Thankfully, a brief stop by the side ofthe road refreshed all for the remainder of the way without anyincidences.:) Our destination was a lovely piece of property with alarge covered pavilion. The children played soccer and an assortment of othergames despite the rain and the cool weather. Some adults tried to keepwarm around the grill while the meat was cooking. I was positioned at theend of the line of ladies helping to assemble plates of food once the beefstrips were done. So, my position allowed me to meet everyone and put alot of names and relationships together. Friday provided a wonderful timeof visiting with each other and getting to know everyone better. The mostspecial part of the day was the worship time spent singing, reading the accountof the trial and crucifixion, and participating in the Lord's Supper together.

Before returning to Siguatepeque, all of the cars went in caravan toEsperanza, another city nearby. Although the city is about the same sizeas ours, it is much more Catholic than ours and has a very differentfeel. On that morning, two of the Catholic churches in Esperanza hadparticipated in a procession including a mannequin of Christ on the cross. This had finally been placed at the top of a large set of stairs leadingup a large hill in the middle of the city. When we arrived there late in theafternoon, there were still a lot of people surrounding the cross. Ourgirls made mention of seeing a man praying over his boys while touching thecross. They wondered if he thought that the cross had some kind of poweror something. All of us from our church climbed the stairs and followedthe paths on the "mountain" back to some trails, waterfalls, andswimming pools of sort. We got back to Siguat. around 6:00 PM,thankful for a wonderful day spent outside the city with some preciousfriends.

As for Easter morning, the girls' choir was asked to sing at the sunriseservice for all of the CAM (Central American Mission) churches. Thisservice was scheduled to start at 5:00AM. Yes, Travis and I were up at3:45 this morning. I imagine there were over 400 people there. It was wonderfulto see so many believers out at such an early hour. We only stayed therethrough the choir singing and then scooted out to make it to our own churchsunrise service at 6:00 AM. Ours was a great service with a lot ofspecial music and a well-prepared message on our justification. Afterward, we enjoyed a typical Honduran breakfast. On Sunday night our church did not have a service, so we thought it would be a super idea to invitesome American families over for a testimony and song service in English. It was a very uplifting time, and a great treat to worship together in our "heart language."

Sometimes my being outside of Americanculture still seems so fresh and new to me. This week I have beencontemplating much the gods and forms of religions that exist now and haveexisted throughout all of history. Some people follow them with greatintensity, tradition, and seriousness; others choose to rather live for the nownot seeing any point to the ardent devotion of a perceived emptyreligion. Julianna just wrote a comparison between Shintoism andChristianity. How sad to learn that their followers often switch toBuddhism at death because their own beliefs do not contain much concerning theafterlife. Living here in a country steeped in tradition and religiouspractices has given me the opportunity to see in yet one more way howoutstanding my faith is. It is not awesome because of MY devotion,heritage, family beliefs, religious traditions, emotion, or such. Forwhen all of those things are stripped away, I am left with an authentic Word ofGod. A Word so perfect, clearly explaining the reality of God, thehistory of man, and the story of redemption concluding with the RisenLord. He promises His return someday, and I have no reason to doubt thishappening, since all of the other prophesies that could take place have beencompleted just as was said.

"And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and becameobedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ThereforeGod also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above everyname, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, andof those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue shouldconfess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:8-11

Kid's Korner

2011-03-30T21:38:00.000-06:00

Community Choir - by Julianna

Greetings from Siguatepeque, Honduras! As most of you know, our family has switched locations of ministry. We are now on the mainland of Honduras and are quickly catching on to the culture and customs of this beautiful country. We have also been making lots of friends and getting involved in the community.

One of these “community outings” is Tuesday night choir. This is a free program that is led by an older missionary couple. They both are pretty fluent in Spanish and the husband is what I would call “fluent” in practically every musical instrument. The choir practices are completely in Spanish, so we girls get to practice and learn more while having fun. Right now we are learning Easter songs to sing during Semana Santa, or Holy Week. The choir does concerts to celebrate special holidays. I am very excited about the up-coming one for Easter.

Please pray that we will use chances like this for God’s glory. We are meeting lots of new people and have the chance to examples and witnesses to them. Thanks you for all of your prayers and thoughts. They mean a lot.

DIng Dong! - by Emily

2011-03-29T13:44:00.004-06:00

As you all know, the Lord led us to a larger home when we visited here in December. One of the things that I liked about it was that it is situated in a way that the community can see us. I had hoped that this would allow us to make contact with many people. Well, this is indeed happening.     We have our doorbell ringing constantly with a variety of questions. It is tough to discern how we should deal with many of these needs/requests. We are trusting God to direct us daily.

Thankfully, over the weeks, we have developed an acquaintance with several regulars. Every Thursday for the past four weeks, David has come to work in our yard. It started with his request to cut the portion of grass on the outside of our gate. We agreed upon a price, and he did a good job. The following Thursday, he returned and asked to do the other side. We decided that section was not important to us and opted to trust him inside of our gate to help out in a much needed overgrown area. This courteous, hard-working fourteen year old is becoming very special to us. He confesses to know Christ, attends another evangelical church, and has no problem talking with us concerning this. It is our delight to be able to help this youth to earn a good pay each week. Travis found out... that he knows how to read and enjoys it, so we are going to lend him some of our missionary books that we have in Spanish. The first one will be on the life of Nate Saint.

For two weeks now, Franklin has come on Wednesdays. He wanted me to give him clothes and shoes. I told him that I did not have any clothes for boys, but his response was that it did not matter because he could always sell them for others. I asked him to return in an hour. This allowed time for me to get the girls to bring me anything that did not fit. Sure enough, he did return for the things that we had collected. Ten minutes later, he returned wanting more. and asking for money. I told him that it was not our custom to give money, but to check back at a different time for some possible shoes. Last week he returned and I had one pair of jeans from Caroline. Again, he wanted money and food. I asked him a little bit about his life, finding out that his dad is dead and his mom washes clothes for a living. I told him that I would like to follow him to his house sometime in the future and meet her. Before he left, he wanted to know if he could work for some money, so I said that the following Wednesday we could give him some work. I am waiting to see what will come of this situation.

Two brothers Joel and Victor have picked up trash outside of the fence twice now for a price too high. Travis allowed them to do this when we first moved in and gave them a certain amount. Granted there was more trash then, and we were brand new here and still "green." Well, they came back when Travis was away and told me that he had previously agreed to this work and this price. I brought out water and bags and returned inside the house only to hear the doorbell ring only after five minutes. They announced that they were done. I checked the work and corrected some of it, then, I told them that they had not even done the one side. Their response was that would cost me more money. "No, " I said. I told them that a different boy works very hard for an hour and a half   to earn what they would be getting. They nodded their heads in understanding and agreed to finish. Very soon, I was out paying them their money. I also informed them that I would be talking about this with my husband but probably they would not be getting that much money for the same job in the future because it was not fair to the other boy.   They seemed agreeable and suggested another job that they could do. I had some time to talk with the boys over a piece of fruit that I gave them. I must say that I do not trust their stories completely, but if God should allow, we would love to have the opportunity to have some influence in their lives. When I relayed the account to Travis, he completely agreed with my assessment.    Victor saw us on Sunday, and Travis told him that he could come on Tuesday for a different job.

We also have people that come and sell us things regularly - an elderly lady that makes bread and tomales, several children with empanadas, and an older gentleman with fruits and vegetables. ( For those wondering, I can not bring myself to eat the bread yet, but the tomales were too hard to resist tonight, so Travis and I dug into one (We will see if we get sick or not). One other kind of visitor has been the drug addict. How it broke our hearts to watch one man. He left our gate, stumbled a few yards, fell, picked himself back up, and did the same thing two more times before he left the front of our property.

There are moments in the days that I wish I could slap a NO SOLICITING sign out front, but in reality this is one way that we can demonstrate and communicate the love of Christ in a very visible and tangible way. We will not be able to help many more youth with jobs because we only have so much outside work, plus we want to have deeper relationships with these few. I am considering writing up verses and short devotionals to pass out each week when we pay them. Also, we learned of the Word of Life camp in Honduras. A young couple in our church worked there last year. Over lunch this past Sunday, they were telling us some things about it, and that the price is about $20.00 for the week. We might even consider an incentive program of sorts to send these different boys to camp.

Pray for us to have wisdom to know how to deal with different things. Pray for David to grow in his knowledge and love of Christ. Pray for the others to understand their need for Christ.

A quick peek - by Travis

2011-03-18T11:08:00.009-06:00

Yes, the word “peek” does imply that there will be some visuals along with this blog.

The girls on the "bucket crew"

...mixing, loading, hauling...

We recently had a work day at the church. It was time to pour the concrete roof on our new education building (a team from the U.S. had already constructed the walls), and that was quite an endeavor. Although we hired a dozen or so young men to help us, it still required the whole church’s participation. Every square inch of concrete for the support beams and roof had to be passed along in buckets, from one person to the next, up the temporary scaffolding and then onto the roof. The empty buckets were then passed back down through another line (the kids helped in this line) where they were refilled and passed back up to the top. Much of the mixing of the concrete had to be done by hand, also, so we had people stationed at the gravel pile and the sand pile, filling buckets and hauling them the needed locations. It was exhausting work for everyone. We began at about 7:30 a.m. and continued to after 4:00 p.m. Needless to say, I’m still moving a little slowly!

As far as the teaching ministry is concerned, things are progressing as might be expected. There are several pastors who desire to have their church leaders trained, and I am in the process of setting up schedules for this and arranging to have the training manuals printed here (that could save us a lot of headaches when it comes to shipping). I know of several pastors who would like to receive training themselves, and this is just the niche I believe God wants us fill. Please pray that God will help me to make contact with more such men who are already leading but who are in need of more biblical preparation.

The wonderful house with which the Lord has blessed us.

We hope some of you will come and visit us sometime!

Holding steady – by Travis

2011-02-25T09:48:00.002-06:00

There is not a lot to report on right now because we have had too much illness in the family to make significant strides in anything. Emily was laid up in bed for the better part of five days as she battled what turned out to be a bacterial infection. The symptoms were near enough to the rota-virus (which were informed has been making its rounds here) that we did not go the doctor until day four or so when thing were not improving. Tests concluded that it was neither a virus nor an amoeba, so that only left bacteria. A few days of antibiotics has her feeling much better and on the road to recovery. Thanks for your prayers for us even when you did not know the specific situation.

We have been able to get the house almost completely organized now. We will need to purchase a few pieces of furniture in order to complete the process, one of which will be a nice big bed for the guest room (hint, hint).

I have been teaching some lessons in church and will be preaching in a couple of weeks. The process of preparing these lessons and sermons is helping me tremendously in remembering and rehearsing how to express certain thoughts and truths in Spanish, so I am thankful for the challenge. I pray that in a few more weeks I will be very much “back in the groove” and able to speak more directly from the heart.
I know that I promised photos soon. They will be coming.

Safely here and settling in - by Travis

2011-02-08T18:05:00.001-06:00

Hi, everyone. I am cramming this little update in because I know that many of you have been praying for us during our move and for the many particulars which have needed to fall into place. This quick note is just to let you know that God has been wonderfully answering those prayers. I arrived in Roatan on Monday, and, although we had to load the container a day and a half later than expected, we had good weather and good help. Emily and the girls arrived very early on Saturday morning. Aside from severe exhaustion, they were all doing well and had had a good trip. God answered my specific prayers for them by providing some very helpful people to assist with the 15 enormous pieces of luggage that they brought.

I went to the port early on Monday morning to oversee the transfer of our household items from the shipping container to the truck. By late afternoon on Monday, the the truck had completed the four hour drive and arrived at our house. God blessed us richly with an "army" of wonderful people (from our church and a "sister" church) to help us unload. It was finished in about 35 minutes!

We are still arranging, assembling, washing, etc., and that will doubtless continue for a time; but we are here, and are very nearly able to live in the home (we have been staying in some rooms at the seminary).

That's all I have time for now, but we'll post more soon (and I'll try to have some photos ready by then). Thanks for all your faithful prayers.

The Stretch Run - by Travis

2011-01-11T10:05:00.003-06:00

We hope each of you had a wonderful holiday season and that your new year has gotten off to a good start. Our family had a delightful time with family in Ohio (although we did "share" some kind of stomach virus that just kept on "giving"). The girls even got to play in the snow and do some sledding, all of which was a bonus.

As far as our return to the mission field is concerned, we are running down the homestretch, so to speak. My ticket has been purchased for the 31st of January. I will be heading down to Honduras about a week ahead of the rest of the family so that I can oversee the shipping of our household items. I have to find some way to get our stuff from the island to the mainland and then to Siguatepeque. It does not appear so easy as just picking up the phone and calling a moving company. Please pray that the Lord will help me to find some company that can help us to get it done.

As for Emily and the girls, I plan to pick them up at the airport the following week. We are all busy packing up our things and making some last visits with friends and family. We are going to bringing down some things that we had left in the States before because we knew the first house on the island was very small. Emily is very excited about having more of her "pretty things" in the house and making it feel more like a home. However, it does create a logistical problem: We are taking back more than we brought here, so we have to find the luggage space to get it there. Shipping options to the mainland are not very good, so it is better to pay for extra luggage weight than to try to ship something separately. So, we are comparing the prices and luggage allowances of multiple airlines and trying to cram as much as we can into our trunks. It's a little like a giant puzzle!

Thanks for all your prayers for us, and please keep praying. We still have many decisions to make and things to do, and we need God's strength and discernment.

Answered Prayer - by Travis

2010-12-23T09:46:00.000-06:00

Emily and I returned safely late Wednesday night from our survey trip to Honduras. I delayed writing a summary of the trip until after we had the opportunity to review the trip with the leadership of our mission.

Thanks for your prayers for our safety and for clear confirmation from the Lord regarding the many things that we sought guidance concerning. Those prayers were certainly answered. Each one of the questions we had in our hearts as we began the trip were answered in a manner that we knew God's leading:

1) The seminary that already exists there is excited about the call that God has placed upon us to help train church leaders who are not able to attend the seminary for one reason or another. As we spoke with them,...
it was evident to us all that we share a common goal and that we believe in accomplishing that goal through the same biblical methods. Emily and I are truly excited about being able to serve the Body of Christ in a way that will come along behind the work of the seminary in a supportive role that helps to equip greater numbers of pastors in Honduras.
2) During our survey trip, we were privileged to stay in the house of a friend and to attend the church that he pastors in the area. We felt at home in the church and even took a day to help them paint. We are looking forward to being there and helping to serve that body of believers with our gifts and calling.
3) In just a short time Emily was able to develop relationships with several of the ladies in the area, including the pastor's wife and the wives of several other missionaries in the area. These missionary families also homeschool, so Emily is excited about the potential of close friendships with like-minded ladies.
4) The Lord even allowed us to find a house that surpasses our expectations. Actually, we had already settled on one that we felt could work for us, and we were kind of tired of looking at homes. But God surprised us. Our pastor friend has sent an e-mail inquiry to a listing on the internet, and he actually received a reply. Although we did not know it at the time, the turned out to be for a house that we driven by several times and about which we had even commented that it looked the ideal house for our family! Since there were no signs posted at the house, we had all assumed that it was no longer for rent. Once we were able to go in and see the home, we knew that it was where we should be. It was truly exciting.

Needless to say, we are all very excited about getting back to Honduras and laboring to strengthen the believers there. It is not that we want to leave the U.S. We have enjoyed our time with family and friends here, and we are grateful that we are able to be here for the holidays, even though the circumstances that brought us here were difficult. No, our joy comes rather from the assurance that God has gifted us, burdened us and led us to help the particular needs of Honduras. It is the joy and peace of knowing that we are where God wants us to be. It is difficult to put into words, but it is priceless.

Thanks for your prayers for us. It is the power of God unleashed through the prayers of His people that will make the difference in Honduras (and anywhere else).

Merry Christmas!

Official Newsletter - December

2010-12-07T09:52:00.000-06:00

Here is our latest newsletter. To view it, simply click on the page icon and you will be taken to a bigger version that you should be able to read easily.

pg. 1

pg. 2

Amped up – by Travis

2010-11-22T11:43:00.001-06:00

OK, so the term “amped up” may not be a very sophisticated way of saying it, but I am definitely excited about the prospects of our ministry in Honduras.

Last week I attended a Teacher-Training Workshop for the Biblical Training Centre for Pastors, the material that I am favoring for use in training pastors in Honduras. Up until that point, I had only been able to see sample excerpts of the provided course materials. Now that I have seen all of the teaching material, I am very pleased with the program. It seems to me to strike a good balance between providing needed and useful training for pastors and church leaders while keeping in mind that many of them have never completed high school and will need material that builds gradually from the bottom up.

The courses include topics such as: Bible Study Methods and Rules of Interpretation, Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey, Survey of Bible Doctrines, Preaching Biblical Messages and Pastoral Ministry, etc. There’s even a Survey of Church History. Best of all, the manuals are very affordable (only $10 each for foreign fields) and it is already available in Spanish.

Emily and I will be taking our survey trip to Honduras in December (8th-15th) during which time...
we will discuss the possibility of partnering together with Biblical Seminary that is already operating there. We would like to work them in a cooperative manner to help train pastors in more remote regions of the country. Because of this potential partnership, the final decision on whether we will be using the BTCP materials I have reviewed cannot yet be made. Please pray with us regarding this trip. We and the seminary staff will need God’s wisdom and discernment in all of our discussions.

The family went with me to Georgia for the training workshop, and we had a great time. The leaves were beautiful (especially for Florida Crackers who have been living in a tropical region for a few years)! Here are a couple of photos.

So, what’s next? – by Travis

2010-11-11T06:32:00.002-06:00

When we left the island of Roatán back at the end of June, we were pretty much focused on surviving. Emily was very ill and we were all exhausted from the weeks of scrambling to keep things together on the island during her illness. So, while we may have thought about what our future plans might be, it was certainly not the focus of our attention. However, since the baby died and Emily has recovered, we have had more time to ponder, pray about, and discuss our next step.

But why should there even be a question? Why would we not simply return and pick up where we left off?

Well, many of you know that my big burden has always been to help local pastors in areas where there is little or no opportunity to receive good, biblical training. It is a burden that began during a trip to India many years ago, and one that has grown as I have pondered more specifically how I can help. So, while I went to Roatán to help with the radio station there and try to get the facilities in good shape, the goal was always to spend more and more time with the local pastors and assist them with training that would develop their study and teaching of God’s Word...
Our forced return to the U.S. has caused us to re-evaluate our situation and the direction of our ministry a little sooner than we otherwise would have done, but it seems like the natural time to do it.

This time in the U.S. has been a big blessing in many respects (some of which I mentioned in a previous blog entry), one of which has been the time and resources to research and select some training materials. The Lord has allowed me to locate a series of courses that really target the specific needs of these pastors, and I believe it will be a great help to them. Perhaps the best part is that it has already been translated into Spanish and used in some areas of Central America, meaning that I won’t have to do so much “pioneering” work; I can build on the good work of others. Please pray as I continue to evaluate this material and finalize a decision on whether to use it or not.

So, how will this ministry focus affect our future? Well, besides the obvious element of what we will actually be doing, there is the question of where to begin this ministry. I have been in frequent consultation with the leadership of our mission, and in much prayer regarding this matter. Although there is good reason to return to the island and work with some of the pastors there who have already communicated a desire for such training, there are several things that lead us to believe that this ministry needs to be started and “based” on the mainland. It may be, after some years, we will be able to extend this training to the Bay Islands; but it does not seem like the best place to start.

What all this means is that we are now preparing to return to Honduras and to live on the mainland there. There is still some work to be done to settle on where we will “set up camp” for a while. There are numerous things to be considered, and I ask you to please pray for these deliberations. And there are plenty of logistical details to be ironed out and numerous one-time expenses as we make a survey trip and transport our things from the island to the mainland. These are also great prayer concerns that we ask you to keep bringing before the Lord on our behalf.

Finally! An update – by Travis

2010-11-01T10:01:00.003-06:00

Well, it certainly has been a long time since either of us wrote to give an update on how we are, what we are doing, and where we are headed. I’m sorry for that. I will attempt to fill you in on all three of those topics, but I will save the latter one (where we are headed) for the next journal entry.

Let me first say thanks to all of you who have continued to pray for us and support us at every turn. You have been a great blessing to us.

I can truly say that we are well-healed from the emotional and physical stresses that we faced a few months ago. Emily and the girls are very much... into a rhythm with homeschooling. They have all enjoyed this time in the States with their friends and other homeschooling families. And, of course, we have all been very blessed to spend time with family and loved one here.

God provided a place for us to stay through some friends in our church. They own more than one home, and one of them had been empty for a while. It is within driving distance to the church and mission offices (about 45 min.) and is large enough for us to both live and do homeschooling. It has been a tremendous blessing and we praise God for the provision.

Emily’s parents have very generously allowed us to use their second vehicle for the past several months. It is just large enough for all of us to fit, and we are so thankful to have the transportation. It is so expensive to rent vehicles for several months that it actually makes better sense to just buy one!

Although I (Travis) have been spending some time in preparation for returning to Honduras (more on that in the next blog entry), most of my time is being consumed with writing the opening and closing announcements for a radio program that is produced by Bible Basics International (our mission board) for broadcast here in Florida. It’s a responsibility that I shared with another missionary on the island while we lived there, but I have temporarily assumed full responsibility for it while the staff down there is short-staffed by furloughs and by our departure. Since this task does not fit my gifts very well (I am not good with “creative” writing that involves catchy quotes or stories), it’s a little bit like a trip to the dentist office every day. However, it is one way that I can “pitch in” during this time in the States.

We have been refreshed here: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We have been very blessed by God to be able to attend our home church, Keystone Bible Church, during these few months. It seems that the Lord is doing great things in the lives of our church family, and we have felt His loving inspection of our hearts, as well. In our family devotions, we have shared some powerful and tearful times of confession and prayer as we talk about the attitudes and habits in our lives that God is calling us to change. He is at work in us, and that is exciting.

God's Timing - by Travis

2010-08-18T18:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday morning my Dad had quadruple-bypass surgery. Thankfully, it was not a surprise surgery, but rather one that was scheduled after some testing revealed that he had a good deal of blockage. We are rejoicing and praising the Lord that the surgery went very well and that he is recovering nicely.

I know that there will probably always be some things that God purposed to accomplish through our recent experiences that we will never understand fully. Still, it has been a great blessing to Emily and me to see how our presence here in the U.S. at this time is working out for good even though it took some hardships to get us here. One such thing is that I have been able to be here for my Dad’s operation and recovery. I have been able to help with some things around the house and yard, and I anticipate that I may be needed more when he comes home in a few days.

It is so good to serve such a wise and loving God Who is able to accomplish a variety of purposes at the same time.

Family - by Emily

2010-08-12T15:06:00.002-06:00

Travis asked me if I would write this blog. Usually, I love writing blog entries…. but it has been a while. my emotions are still crazy, and the formulating of my thoughts in a cohesive manner seems almost impossible still.
So…. here is my attempt

Thankfully, I have been able to see and touch some them already. My sister Ellen and her precious children Emma and Will joined up with my folks in Tennessee at a family reunion. They came back to Orlando to spend some time with all of us for a couple of weeks. We have had a whole lot of fun. Of course in the middle of summer in Florida, we have taken advantage of the pool, the splash park, and the beach. One morning of Gran Camp for the little ones and an “under the sea” birthday party for Ashleigh, Julianna, and Emma provided fabulous memories for all of us.We also mixed in lots of pretend play, park time, puzzles, movies, and computer games. Little ones are just cute. They say the best things and have the craziest movements.

I would definitely say that the hardest part for me about being in a foreign country is...
the huge hole in my heart caused by the absence of family. I am sooo thankful for modern conveniences such as a computer that allows for e-mail, Facebook, and Skype phones (when our internet is available and functioning at a strong enough signal.) That being said though, there were many times that I longed to be able to just touch those that I love.
For those who know my family, you will readily agree that I am one blessed girl to have an immediate family that is very loving. My folks opened their arms and home when we came home sick, hurting, and needy. Mom and Dad sympathetically took care of me day and night for weeks, cleaning up my messes, fixing any food that was thought to be something that would stay down, chatting, watching slides, leg rubs, movies and gameshows – anything that could provide a distraction to my pain.

God also has given me amazing in-laws. They took the responsibility of our four girls for weeks – even helping out on the gigantic job of trying to finish our school year. My mother-in-law excelled in restoring order and routine to the girls after a month of chaos in Roatan. Mom and Dad Mitten were there to wipe tears and encourage through some rough days. My in-laws are such gifts of love to me as well. It does not stop with just parents; for Travis and I have sisters and brothers that we consider our best friends. All of our family members know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and they love Him. What blessing it is to be surrounded by such family!

The LORD gave, and... - by Travis

2010-07-24T11:15:00.001-06:00

I have returned from my two-week trip to Honduras, and I want to thank each of you who were praying for my safety and strength during this time. God blessed our evangelical outreach with much spiritual fruit (you can read more about it here when the official website is up), and we were able to finish packing and cleaning our house in only a couple of days (thanks to the incredible help of some friends on the island who had already done most of the work). By Wednesday, I was beginning to show my brother and his daughters a little bit of the island.

And that was when I received the message that Emily was trying to reach me. I returned to the house where we were staying and gave her a call. I was not prepared for what she had to say...

In her doctor’s appointment that morning, she had learned that the baby had died. It just didn’t seem possible! After all the Lord had brought us through, we were certain that the next major hurdle would be the blood incompatibility. Emily had just felt the little life moving inside her a day or so earlier – that familiar fluttering feeling of early baby movement. But there was no doubt about it now. There was no heartbeat, and the ultrasound confirmed that the heart was not functioning. Our little “surprise” was taken just as unexpectedly as it had arrived.

Now there may be some people who read the words of Job that I referenced in my title (The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD – Job 1:21) and think that they are just too pat, too accepting, too simplistic a perspective for such events as these. And I do not want to give the impression that we are not battling waves of emotions and questions about just why God had chosen to work in our lives in this manner, because we are. But I chose this verse to express our final conclusion, not our natural response. When all of the tears have been shed and all the questions have been pondered, we still conclude that our God is perfectly and eternally Good. “He is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” We know that this Good God has loved us with an everlasting love, and has demonstrated His love in that while we were still sinners, He sent His own Son to die for us and to make His own. And we recognize the immensity of this proclamation of His love. Neither His love nor His loving intentions can be logically doubted. As Paul concluded, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? …Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” [Romans 8:32,35, 37]. And so now we wait in hope (and confidence) for the fulfillment of the promise that this, too, will work together for His good purpose in us [Romans 8:28].

Thank you for your prayers for us. It is God’s Spirit who has given us this peace, and you are playing an important role in all of it. Please continue to lift us before the Lord and ask that He might give us comfort, and that we might remain steadfast in the hope in which we stand.

Holding steady – by Travis

2010-07-08T08:14:00.003-06:00

It has been more than a week now since Emily was released from the hospital. She has been able to keep about 60% of her food down during that time, so she is getting enough nutrition to be maintaining her basic health. In fact, she actually gained a few pounds! She is still staying with her parents in Orlando, and is still in bed (or on her back somewhere) throughout the day, but we praise the Lord she has not needed any more IV treatments. On Tuesday she had an appointment with her doctor, and the baby seems to be doing OK, so that is a praise. The doctor also changed one of the anti-nausea drugs she was taking because it had been causing severe headaches.

The girls have been with Travis’ parents (a little over an hour away) since July 2. They were able to see many of their cousins during the holiday weekend, and that made them very glad. Julianna was invited...

to a junior camp during this week, and she decided to go. She was a little nervous, since this is her first camp and none of her girl cousins were going, but I think her Mom and Dad are even more nervous for her (It’s a bit of new and eerie feeling for me as a dad to be worrying about what my near-teen daughter will encounter and how she will respond)!

I am leaving on Friday to return to Honduras for two weeks and put our things in order. It was my expectation that I would be packing up the entire house and putting it into storage. However, some friends of ours on the island have already packed up nearly everything for us! What an incredible blessing. Now, I will only need to retrieve a few things that we need in the States, make a few simple repairs, and clean the place up. I will be joined by my older brother and his two teenage daughters. They had already purchased tickets to come down during these weeks so that they could visit us on the island. Now we will all be participating in a week of evangelism and outreach on the mainland (our mission’s regularly scheduled STAR Team campaign) before heading to the island to tie up loose ends.

Many of you have been earnestly praying for Emily and for the entire family, and we thank you. Thanks also to those who have contributed to our financial needs. We have been blessed and encouraged by each gift.

Here are a few specific things that we ask you to pray about now:
1) Strength and health for Emily and the baby
2) The entire family as we deal with being separated from each other during this time.
3) Schooling for the girls (it will be a tag-team effort from their Grandma and their aunt).
4) A place to stay long-term (until at least February) in the Tampa or Orlando areas.
5) A vehicle on loan or for rent during this time (it needs to be a mini-van or something like that).

Mitten family in the U.S. - by Travis

2010-06-28T08:09:00.005-06:00

For many of you, the subject of this note is a complete surprise. Others, who have been able to see some of Emily’s Facebook updates, know that we have been having a real battle these past few week. For you this may be more expected. I will try to summarize our situation to bring everyone up to speed with our current status.

About two months ago, Emily learned that she is pregnant. It came as a surprise to us, and we were concerned with how it would affect our ministry. Emily has always had very difficult pregnancies, and our family history of blood incompatibility (similar to the Rh factor, but not as simple to fix) meant that we would probably have to return to the States for the last few months of the pregnancy so that the baby could receive proper care. However, Emily’s nausea and vomiting progressed rapidly, and she went about eleven days with almost nothing to eat...
because she could not keep anything down (not even a sip of water). She had to receive IV fluids around the clock, and has been flat on her back for weeks now. Even with the IV fluids, dehydration was affecting her heart. Simply put, it was a situation that could not be sustained. We could not maintain care for her and for the kids (even though the other missionaries helped as much as they could) and the medications that she needed were not available. Our family flew back to the U.S. on Saturday, June 26. Emily has been in a hospital in Orlando, and she is recovering nicely. We expect that she will be released within another day or so.

During all of this time, I just could not find the time to update our blog. I am sorry that we so long without letting everyone know just what we up against. Still, I know that many of you have been faithful in lifting us up in prayer, and God, Who knows our situation perfectly, has sustained us. Actually, although we were stretched and nearly overwhelmed in many ways, our Father strengthened us and supplied for us in amazing ways. We had Christian doctors who visited and helped, missionary friends and nurses who helped with everything from cleaning house and washing clothes to starting IVs and administering medical care. A team of young people from Ohio came, and several of the ladies cooked meals to put in the freezer (an incredible help during our most difficult week). God even supplied a missionary nurse who was traveling to the U.S. on the same flight that we were, meaning that Emily could keep the IV in during the flight! All along the way, God gave us just the encouragement and strength we needed.

Some of you have already inquired about the cost of tickets and travel expenses. I thank you for your desire to help. Even more, I thank you for your faithful prayers.
Please continue to pray for wisdom as we evaluate and discuss our future ministry in Honduras. There is much work to be done there, but only God knows just what our role will be and when. We are asking Him for patience as He unveils His will for us, and humility to accept it gladly no matter what it is.

Not just "old wives tales" - by Travis and Emily

2010-05-24T15:05:00.006-06:00

We want to share a few episodes that we have encountered here on the island. They are not intended at all to make light of the people who believe these things. In fact, most of the people who have told us these things are very dear friends whom we love very much. However, we feel that these accounts will help to explain the great need that exists for our ministry here in helping Pastors to better understand and teach the Bible. As you read these, keep in mind that these are people who faithfully attend church and who truly love the Lord.

Back in January, Emily was around several new babies that had recently been born. She soon noticed that they all wore a red beaded bracelet no matter the sex. In asking one of the Moms regarding the significance of the bracelets, she was told that it is to ward off “the evil eye.” Evidently, the color red... is the key to the necessary help. In fact, red socks are often worn on the babies as well.

More recently, one of our girls found an unused match sticking in a baby’s hair. The girls were shocked and immediately told the mother. She laughingly asked if they had found “the other one.” She continued by telling us that if you take two matches and put them in a baby’s hair in the form of a cross, then the baby will sleep better.

We also learned that planting was a good thing to do on Good Friday because the plants would grow better if planted then. Plus, if you have a plant that is not growing well, then you should take a stick, strike the plant a certain number of times, and tell it to yield its fruit.
On another occasion, while having dinner with a young couple and their baby boy, we learned that the reason why Honduras has not suffered lately from the hurricanes or earthquakes. It seems that they occasionally gather with other believers from their church and go down to the ocean to pray. Then, seven stones are covered in oil and thrown into the sea in faith, asking for God’s mercy on our land.

Our children are very glad to be the happy owners of a little kitty for many reasons, but one is to dispel the belief that if you give a cat a bath it will bring on a hurricane.

Now, as you can see, these are not just the simple yet debatable “health tips” that we have been used to hearing all our lives from both old and young alike. They are more akin to the superstitions regarding walking under ladders and breaking mirrors. Yet, some of them even are superstitions of a very spiritual category. For example, the conversation that Emily had with a mother about the color red included much talk about spiritual warfare and the reality of demons. Of course, it always a concern when people are controlled by superstitions, but it is especially troubling when it is God’s people who are following so many beliefs that are founded in superstitions (both good and bad). Travis sometimes goes out of his way to walk under ladders, stop on the number thirteen, etc. just so to make the point that our God is bigger than all of that stuff. He is Ruler of the universe (not some black cat who just walked across your path), and His will cannot be thwarted. But neither can His power or blessing be conjured up with ritualistic acts and prayers, even if they are done in “faith.” He is independent and sovereign, and we should all be thankful for that.

Please pray for us we strive to help God’s people know and walk in the truth.

Neighbors - by Emily

2010-05-11T14:21:00.001-06:00

A while back we had our neighbors over for dinner. The man’s living is made from owning several tour buses and driving tourists all over the island. During the evening with us, he offered to take us to a beautiful, more remote beach on the east side of the island. We planned for a particular date, but sickness and bad weather stopped us from going that morning. Several weeks later, the offer was repeated. Antonio and Shellie have two children of their own, but their three nieces live in the upstairs portion of their home with Shellie’s sister. With their five and our four, plus one other girl, we had an ecstatic group of kids. The day arrived, and the weather was beautiful. There were so many bags to be loaded into the big bus. What a treat to have so much room though. We drove for...
about two hours, stopping halfway there to pick up some packets of Andrews powder. This was a new product for me, but one I am certain to use again for cases of curvy road trips and queasy tummies. We finally got to beach at Camp Bay and were completely amazed at the beauty that awaited us. Travis and I decided that it was our new favorite spot on the island. The nine girls had so much fun playing for hours in this picturesque place. We all loved sharing the good food and were so thankful for the kindness of Antonio and Shellie. The amount of travel time was part of the extraordinary day too because we were granted the ability to deepen this friendship with all of them.

One week later, at a little past two o’clock in the morning, we were awakened to find out that Shellie needed to be rushed to the hospital. Antonio was out on a job, and Shellie had experienced an asthma flair-up and could not breathe. So, Travis took Shellie and her sister to the emergency room and then waited while Antonio arrived (His experience there caused him to tell me that we did not ever really want to go THAT emergency room unless it was a matter of life or death). Travis mad a couple of more "shuttle runs," helping Antonio get drivers and buses in the proper places for the next day's tours. Throughout the next week, Shellie had to hurry off to the hospital several more times. We were granted the trust of watching the five children including their five month old baby. I have been so excited to see this friendship build in depth and trust.

We just had the girls over for a movie night just a few nights ago. When Shellie came to pick them up, I asked her how she was feeling. She told me that she has been doing fine. This is a big praise.

Where did the month go? - by Emily

2010-04-28T15:22:00.000-06:00

I apologize to all our faithful blog readers, I am sorry to have disappointed you with the absence of news and happenings from us. I will try to get back “in the groove.”

The absence of blogs is not because there is an absence of news. Actually, we have been very busy with the mundane and the extraordinary as well. Our dear friends and co-workers, the Petersens, have been in the States on a two month furlough. So, with them gone, Travis needed to learn how to do one more radio program to free Peter on his day off. This is the Sunrise Serenade opening the English broadcast daily at 6:00 AM with a variety of songs, a devotional, and short vignettes by common radio names. The early mornings are considered a treat for Travis in many ways. He has enjoyed being a part of this program - especially the opportunity to write his own devotions on the topic of prayer for his “air” day on Friday. A water pipe project near the station has also been...

keeping him busy outside. This work is hot and hard, but it is also on the TO DO list. One benefit has been the opportunity to get to know Victor, a Christian young man that often does manual labor work for the radio station. This has been a great opportunity to speak a whole lot of Spanish, especially on biblical topics. Probably the highlight of the last few weeks for Travis was the privilege to teach a discipleship series in a local church on Wed. nights. Teaching and explaining the Word of God is, of course, his passion and love. Some typical March fun did not totally escape him. Thanks to the internet, he was able to keep up with the March Madness scores. He and Peter had fun with their brackets and enjoyed watching the Final Four -- complete with their very own private pizza party (Better luck to you next year with your brackets, Peter).

As for the girls and me, well we are still plugging away at this year’s school books. Reading began to click this past week for Charity. Yeah!!!! She also recently lost her first tooth, followed two days later by her second bottom tooth. So, she seems even more adorable of late. (How can that be?) The other two have had to step up to the challenge of some pretty tough academic stuff to try their brains. All the girls endure school pushing through it each day so they can be freed to run and play outside. They love the chickens, the dog, and the neighbors. Their big project this past month has been to coax Daddy on his day off to help them build their tree house – a dream come true for them. By saving their money and pooling it together to purchase the supplies, they have shown such excitement and responsibility. So far, we have an incredible floor done. I must say that I am impressed since the one side is suspended in air by a heavy duty chain. This suspension allows for the house to sway in the cashew tree with the breezes.

I am not personally working on any new thing, just keeping up with the housework, and schoolwork – TRYING and hoping to model a sweet spirit as we work in an extremely hot home. I pause here to say that I am glad for the years that I watched my dear friend Mrs. Mock enjoyably live in her un-airconditioned Florida home. What a fabulous memory and example for me. Although we have great big windows, I have found that wind must be present to make them mean something. During the day, under our tin roof with no insulation the house REALLY is an oven. We are searching out how to get some venting into the roof and maybe even some insulation before we can consider some kind of an AC unit. Electricity costs about 4 times the amount here as what we paid in the states. So, extreme caution in how you use this precious commodity is needed. I hope something happens soon. We have been enduring a number of successive days in the low to mid-nineties. When you account for the super-high humidity and lack of breeze, the “feels like” temps have been between F110° and 123°!

For the "extraordinary," read the next blog.

Newsletter - Spring 2010

2010-04-02T15:54:00.001-06:00

Just click on the images and you will see them in a size large enough to read.

Friday Morning Field Trip - by Emily

2010-03-21T01:01:00.003-06:00

I was outside hanging up laundry this morning, while the girls were finishing up breakfast. I noticed my neighbor and granddaughter in their backyard. I gave the "good morning" wave, but proceeded on over to the fence to see what they were doing. Friday is Miss Esmie’s day off of work, so it is always good to have a little chat when we see her. Anyway, she was busy preparing the ground for a fire for the purpose of roasting cashews. She took a whole bag full of old cashew hulls and...
dumped them in the midst of some concrete pieces and large stones. Then, she covered the mound of cashews with oil. What a fire started and very quickly too! About this time, I decided that school needed to be postponed for a Friday field trip -even better when it can be done on the cuff, in the pajamas, and without spending any money for entrance or gas. Ha!!!

I must stop here for some background. First, I was thrilled to hear that Roatan was an island full of cashew trees, because I have been a lover of those delicious nuts since a young child. I was just certain that having them grown here in Honduras would mean I would be able to eat them at a fraction of the cost. Well, not really, if I bought them. For example, we bought a jar of roasted cashews from the famous “Cashew Lady” and our beloved friend Miss Norma for 300 lempiras which is about the same as $15. I will admit that the taste of those cashews is extra special. Anyway, I have heard the work involved in harvesting cashews is quite extensive and one must be incredibly cautious because of toxins the nut contains. I understand that these toxins will blacken anything they touch – for good and burn your skin fairly severely. In fact, several Hondurans have told me that I should not do it. I probably wouldn’t do it, except….. Our entire yard is full of cashew trees. This means I won’t have to buy those nuts after all. J What has been told to me is that we will have more cashews than we will know what to do. As many of you can relate, the first year of living someplace completely new to you is always interesting because you do not know what to expect about virtually everything. Thoughts go through my head concerning how long these cashews will fall from the trees, and how many clothes will the children spoil with the black stain through this season, and how will we get through this time without getting hurt, since everyone cautions us so much. Vamos a ver or I guess we will see.

Returning to my story, today, we got to see the first step. Miss Esmie brought out a gigantic flat pan made especially for her for this purpose. She was very proud of her pan made out of an old piece of refrigerator. She poured probably two bushels of cashews still in their shell into the pan and began to stir with a big stick she had found in the yard, cautioning us to not get too close in case of spitting. Before long, the nuts themselves had caught fire due to the large amounts of oil contained in them . She kept stirring and occasionally dousing the fire on top with some water. After about 10 minutes or so when the nuts were brown in color and no longer had any green, she removed the pan and dumped all of the shelled nuts onto an old piece of roofing tin. That is where things were left when we went back to “school.” She told us she would show us the rest later.

Maybe there will be a part two of this blog in the future.

Surprises - By Emily

2010-03-14T22:37:00.003-06:00

Last Friday, I needed to run some errands including a trip to the big store of which I have spoken before. I had not gone since my trip a month ago, when I helped the boy with school supplies. So, the girls and I set out early in the morning. On the way into town, we noticed that some American friends were driving behind us. ( A little side note: This was at the same time that I got waved over by the police. This always makes me a bit uncomfortable because of the unknown. All they have done for me on the two occasions that I have been stopped is to ask for my license and car registration. However, one time Travis was told that he was breaking the law because he did not have a Honduran driver’s license. The police man wanted a certain large amount of money on the spot, and wanted to hold his license while Travis took the trip to town and the bank. Travis informed the officer that he had been told that you could not obtain a Honduran license without first having a resident visa, which we do not have. He also told him that we did have renewed tourist visas, so he should be okay. The officer then lowered the price, but eventually the superior officer came to the window, looked at all of the paperwork, and waved Travis on his way.)   Back to my story, at a stop in town, I got out of my car to say hey to our friends behind us. They informed me that there would be an airshow at the “tourist beach” that day around 2:30. I thought that sounded like a lot of fun. Plus it would provide...
a nice break from the norm and the extra time that we had spent in the house due to Caroline’s recent chickenpox. Therefore, we proceeded with the errands in hopes of finishing the day at the airshow.
On the way to the store, I had prayed that the Lord might grant us a good shopping day – with a store fully stocked. The last few times that I had gone shopping at any place, many of the normal items had been missing. Indeed, it was a great day. I was so happy to find full bins of produce, meat, bread, dairy, and canned goods. After spending a bundle, but very excited for all that we were able to get, we headed home. On the way down our street, we stopped at the neighbor’s house to see if Jeniva wanted to accompany us to the airshow in a bit. As I started to unload the groceries, I realized that we had no electricity once again. Okay, this had been very normal for that week, but it would mean that I would need to be quick and careful as I loaded all of this new and good food into the fridge/ freezer. I rushed to get everything in leaving many things even in their plastic bags, so as to not keep the doors open very long. We went on and got ready to go to the airshow. I was not super concerned about the No Power since of late it had been coming on only after a couple of hours at the most. I figured it would surely come on soon, since it had already been off for awhile .
We picked up Jeniva, and all of us had a fabulous time watching the planes zoom past us very close to the beach line. Then, the planes would climb high, turn off the engines, and take a bit of a free fall. Very fun, especially if you add the opportunity for some sand and water fun. As we drove home, cold, dirty, but happy, I chuckled inside thinking of the irony that THIS time we should have electricity to which to come home since it had already been off for the day. It has been our story that almost every time that we have gone to the beach, we come home to No electricity – of course we are dirty, sticky, and usually wet and cold. Well, to my great surprise the electricity was still OFF. By this time, I was beginning to be a bit concerned for the food items.   Feeling confident that the electricity would be on when I got back from picking Travis up from work, I still did not stress. Simply, started heating water on the stove for the baths. In fact, I did not even mention this to Trav when I picked him up, for I was much too excited about the events of the day. BUT, we got home to still NO ELECTRICITY. I complained that it had been off all day. Travis looked at me with a horrible face as he realized the reality of what really had happened, since he knew that the generator at the station had NOT been on all day. Our electricity had actually been turned off!!!!
Remember, it is now Friday around 5:30. Of course, the electric company is closed. There is no such thing as an after hours hotline either! This was not a fun moment, realizing that not only had we not had electricity all day, we were not going to have it all night and into at least part of the weekend. We also had, thankfully but not excitedly, an entire fridge/ freezer stocked full of food. I called Mildred, and because they were whittling things down for their furlough to the states, she had a lot of room to help me out. So, between Sandy and her, we squeezed almost everything in their refrigerators, and Sandy sent me home with some drinking water for the night.
I had had plans for making our Friday night pizza. Instead, Travis said that he was going to take us to the outdoor pizza place where they make pizzas in a stone oven. After enjoying that, we went home to pass the evening reading by candlelight.
Peter had informed me that RECO, our electric company was open on Saturday mornings, and that we should be there first thing. So, I made the long trip up there while Travis stayed to begin working on a major leak that had developed with our water pump. The office experience was pleasant, and the lady I spoke with had informed me that our electricity would be on at 11:00 that morning!   I was so excited – great news, and I had even done this in Spanish. Back on the homefront, 11:00 came and went. Around 12:30, Travis called someone to inquire, and he was perceived as the impatient gringo. Not at all the kind of character that he had wanted to portray. As 4:00 neared and still no word, I began to think that we would probably go through another evening in the dark, but the man showed up, clipped the little wire on the box and flipped a simple switch.    YEAHHHHHH!!
You are probably wondering why our electricity was turned OFF. Well, though we have lived on the island for a while, we have only lived at this home for two billing cycles. The week before Travis had asked me if we had received the electric bill because we should have gotten it by then. My simple answer was “No.” A few days later, Travis called me from work one day and asked me to go out to the electric box and see if there was a bill there. Yes sir, one that had somehow survived wind and rainstorms and was now three days late! I was somewhat shocked that our electricity had not already been cut. Travis immediately got the bill and went off to pay it. Usually, a bill will not be accepted at the bank if it is close to the due date.   However, the bank did accept the payment and marked the bill paid. Travis was glad that he had not had to drive the additional thirty minutes to and from RECO. ONLY…. three days after the fact, the electricity was cut. The lady at RECO apologized to me that she had never received notification of payment from the bank, and I explained why our payment to the bank had been late to begin with, that when the man delivered my bill the previous month, I had been outside. So, he had simply handed it to me. I now know to check the pole where the electric box is attached from the 13-16 each month. It’s on the calendar!!!!!! Have I said, things are different here????

This week while doing school, the girls noticed a funny looking bird. As they approached the window, they began to see the bird eating ants. ANTS yes, those same kind that had invaded our home several months back. I told the children to stay inside while I went out to see. I was amazed; those marching creatures were almost completely surrounding my house already. They had already climbed up the two feet of wall and were at the moment crossing onto my porch. The yard was crawling with their trails. I would not be exaggerating to say that we had literally tens of thousands. Immediately, I yelled for the girls to get the dog and bring him in the house something we NEVER do.   I thankfully knew what to do to keep them from getting in. I got the special powder and went out to put it all around the house. As I poured, I had to keep a silly “dance” up to keep those things from climbing up my feet and biting me.
Okay, I know that these stories are humorous and sometimes absurd, but they have served to challenge us on many fronts and provide opportunities to strengthen our Christian faith. First, I want you to know that we praised the Lord that He allowed the girls to observe all of this when they did. Another thirty minutes and those ants would have been all in my house, and Scout might have been hurt. As for the electricity, we were all very thankful for the surprisingly cooler weather that we experienced on those days and following. I do not think that I would have noticed such a praise had we not had the previous days of almost unbearable heat and humidity. Once again, God also used this experience to reveal just how much of a self love we have. Travis had just changed his day off from being on Monday to being on Saturday. We had all been looking forward to enjoying a family movie night. When expectations are not met, oh how the heart turns ugly. This world is going to be full of pain, suffering, toil, loss of dreams or just simple expectations, as in this case. These things, painful, irritating, and frustrating as they can be, are actually acts of mercy on the part of God.   They drive us to the ONE Who really satisfies, Who never fails, and Who has promised us the Hope of eternal life – which is a confident expectation of which we can be assured.

Kid's Corner

2010-03-08T14:35:00.010-06:00

A Birthday Party – by Ashleigh

We got to go to a neighbor’s birthday party at 4:30 in the afternoon at her house. Julianna, Charity, and I went to the party without Caroline and Mommy because Caroline had chicken pox. We did not know about a present, so we gave her a card and a bag of chocolates.

There were probably about fourteen other children there. We played a bunch of games outside. Some were familiar to us, like Red Rover. However, Duck, Duck, Goose has a different twist here. In most Spanish parties they have piñatas, and so did this one!! It was very big, but had hardly any candy in it. Then we each got a piece of tres leches cake, a bag of chips, and some soda.

When we got home around 7:00 PM, we found out that the power was out. We heard that it had actually been on and off again one other time during the party So, we decided that we needed to get used to no electricity again!

I am glad that we have those neighbors!

A wonderful opportunity... - by Emily

2010-02-26T10:02:00.004-06:00

I got to go grocery shopping the other day without any of the children. For all of you moms out there, you know what I mean when I say that this was a treat. I decided to make the thirty plus minute drive to the largest grocery store – the one with the most American products as well. As with all stores around here, you never can count on particular items being there. So, no matter where you go, it takes quite a bit of adjustment to a “list” if you should choose to try one. If you do find a particular item that you love, you should probably stock up on it, because you may not find it again for months. (For example: frozen peas – I took the last three bags. We have been looking for those things forever.)

Anyway, I was about halfway through my shopping spree when a young boy of about ten approached me...

and asked me if I could get him some food. I have mentioned this before in my blogs, that the English here can be very difficult to understand. Therefore, I had him show me what he had in mind. He took me to the cereal aisle and handed me a big bag of generic cereal. It was not the super healthy kind, but as he pointed out to me, all the healthy kinds were really expensive. He wanted some powdered milk too. Then, he asked me if I could get him some school supplies since school was starting in two days. He eagerly informed me that he could tell me his nine times table. Of course, I listened to him rattle them off in a rapid and accurate manner. I was still uncertain of completely how I was going to handle this boy’s request. However, I told him that I would need to finish my shopping before I could purchase anything for him. So, along the way, I asked the security guard about him. Then, I ran into the pastor’s wife from the Spanish speaking church that we attend on a routine basis. I asked her about the situation. She seemed favorable to the idea of me helping the boy, so I proceeded by allowing the boy to tell me what school supplies he needed, and together we chose wisely. I had opportunity to explain that even though I was American I did not have a ton of money. When we got to the notebooks, there were some top of the line ones that he picked up to look over, and I explained that those were just too expensive, that my own daughters had wanted those very ones a few weeks before, and I had denied their request for simpler, more economic ones. A teenage girl had appeared on the scene as well and had informed me that she was his friend. She watched but never asked for anything. She had heard my “lessons” on economics, and I had overheard her say as she longingly fingered the fancy pink notebook, “I do not know how I am going to get the money, but I am going to get this book.”

It took me probably thirty more minutes of shopping after we picked out the school supplies. All of this time, I was wondering what was going through these kids heads, as the boy was pushing my cart for me and watching me put various items in it. He commented several times near the end that I was done because the cart was very full. We finally did finish. By now, it was nearing sundown, and I asked them if they would like a ride home. I was happy that they agreed because then I could know where they lived as well. The boy helped me put the purchases on the conveyor belt in an orderly fashion, while the girl helped too and patiently waited the rest of the time – always watching quietly. As the cashier rang up the last item, I felt the Lord was urging me to get that notebook for the girl. So, I added one final purchase with tears in my eyes as I paid the bill. As I was pulling out of the parking space another boy joined us for the trip home. When I got to the field in front of their house, the first boy thanked me. I told them that God had given us some extra, and that He did want my family to share. I got to tell them to study hard in school because the most important thing about school is to be able to read the Bible because it tells all about Who God is, His love for us, and His Son Jesus Christ. I told them all goodbye, only for the new addition to tell me that he needed to go back to the store again. WHAT?? Evidently, he had only been along for the ride. Have I said it before – LIFE HERE IS SOOO DIFFERENT? Maybe some Sunday when we go to church up there we can all stop in and see them.

The earnest prayer and desire of my heart is to be ready to do God’s bidding each day -ready by my actions to show love, by my mouth to speak boldly of the glorious Gospel and our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. This usually is played out and tested before the dearest ones to me - my four precious daughters, but at times others too.

My First Roatan Funeral - by Emily

2010-02-17T16:20:00.000-06:00

I was driving out of our dirt street the other day, when my neighbor greeted me with the news that during the night another neighbor, an elderly gentleman, had died. As the day progressed, I learned that the funeral would be at 3:00 that day. Although I had not met the man, I had just been introduced to the daughter with whom he lived. It would definitely be a good thing if I went to this funeral.

Mildred agreed to keep the girls until Travis got off work. So, I drove over there, left the car there for Travis, and caught a taxi to a church that was new to me. The service, being almost 100% in Spanish, was at times difficult for me to understand everything, especially because so many things were done differently than I had ever seen. From what I understood, the message did include Truth, I am just uncertain that it was free of additional things. Some excellent passages of Scripture were read, and much liturgy was used. A group of boys played a type of drums. This instrument was so unique in its sound and very pretty.

After the service, we all followed on foot behind a pick-up truck carrying the casket...

to the cemetery which was a ways down the road. Upon arrival, I heard some comments from some of the ladies with whom I had been walking. They were going to stay at the foot of the large hill, but I was informed that I was young and could probably make it.:) Indeed I did – it really wasn’t that much of a climb – I thought that the slippery slope on the return trip was the more challenging. At the top of the hill, songs were sung as the casket was lowered and all of the six feet of dirt returned.

I was standing just feet away from the daughter at a position where I could watch her throughout this process. My thoughts traveled to the confident truth explained by Paul in I Corinthians 15 regarding the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ. “If Christ be not risen from the dead, our faith would be in vain.” I also thought of the incredible act that will one day take place as the dead bodies are raised to meet Christ in the air. How fanciful this idea must seem to the person without faith. In fact, how unbelievable are many things spoken of in the Bible to those without faith. Yet, creation speaks His majesty; death, itself, is an evidence of the sin that the Bible tells about; the world is full of testimony to the worldwide flood; the prophecies of kingdoms were fulfilled just as Daniel recorded; the Messiah came as had been proclaimed by the prophets before; and hundreds witnessed the power of the Son of God on earth ending in His own triumphant resurrection as the firstfruits for us. Hebrews 11:1-6 is a favorite of mine. This passage ends with, “…. Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder to those who diligently seek Him.”

As I walked home, after all of this, my neighbor girl that is Julianna’s age passed me riding her bike. As we talked, she told me that she had not slept well the night before. Upon enquiring why, she responded that whenever she hears of a death, she cannot sleep well. Oh, I was sooo ready to meet her with some good news because of the process I had been going through in my own mind. Unfortunately, we had company coming for dinner that night, so our in-depth conversation had to wait one day. The next day, Jeniva and I sat down and had a wonderful talk about the gospel. She said that she understood, thanked me, and wanted to wait a bit. She shed some tears at one point in our conversation, and I never was able to learn exactly why. Please join our family in praying for Jeniva to become a Christian. Our girls knew about what was happening during my talk and wanted to know all about our conversation. I believe they might be very instrumental during this next week as they play and talk with her.

Kid's Korner

2010-02-17T16:17:00.000-06:00

Our New Home – Julianna

Our new home is a very big praise. It is immensely larger (which is exactly what we needed for homeschooling). The living room is two times larger than the one at our old yellow house. Another prayer request was answered when we got our couch. At the other house, we did not have room to keep our trunks hidden so we had to make furniture out of them. This included an uncomfortable couch made out of six trunks. Now, we have purchased a set of three pieces and a table. They were remarkably inexpensive for island prices, and we all love doing school on the couch.

The kitchen is very large. It has a lot of countertop space and cabinets. Mommy is especially happy that the sink has two tubs, not one.

We have a very small section in the living room reserved for homeschooling. It is just big...

enough for a plastic table (our desk) and all the school books. I am very glad that the books are not in my bedroom anymore!

The house has three bedrooms, so Charity and Ashleigh share one, Mommy and Daddy (of course) share one, and Caroline and I have the last one. I am glad that I can decorate my own room. Decorating and organizing are my favorite things to do, and my bedroom in Roatan has been the first time to have a room in which to do it. The house had no closets, so Daddy made a wall of shelves in their room. All of our clothes are in their bedroom.

Our new yard is wonderful. It won’t be hard to tell that we live on a tropical island when I say the list of fruit trees in our yard. Cashew, breadfruit, papaya, banana, mango (but it doesn’t produce yet because it’s small,) coconut, zapote (a sweet orange fruit,) and avocado. The cashew trees are great for climbing, and we girls want a tree house. The large yard is perfect for Scout, and he loves having room to run away from us. (For those who do not know Scout is our German Shepherd puppy.)

We all love the new house, and I feel spoiled because of God’s continual love towards our family. Please pray for our renters in the States, for they currently can’t pay their rent. We may need to get other renters.

What we do on Sundays - by Emily

2010-02-01T10:46:00.001-06:00

Well for a while now, I have wanted to write about the churches that we attend. As you know, the burden that God has placed in Travis’ heart is for the pastors of Honduras. Because of this, he felt that it was important to routinely visit a handful of churches, for the purpose of developing relationships with a variety of pastors. He gave me the option of attending the local congregation with the girls each Sunday or of going with him. For now, the decision has been made to accompany Travis to the different churches each Sunday. We all would prefer to be together as a family.

The positives to this arrangement are that we get to be introduced to so many different members of the Body of Christ, and we also get to stay up on some of the biggest praises and concerns of each of these churches. The downside is that it takes a little longer to develop deeper relationships since we are not in the same place week after week. The children have their own way of identifying each church. For example:...
on the first visit to one church a little girl approached our girls and told them that she wanted something of theirs. So, they call that church the “I want that” Church.

We have a current rotation of five churches. However, we have heard of a couple more Spanish congregations that we will probably be visiting as well. Of the five churches, four of the churches are comprised of islanders that speak English. This English is a bit different in sound than what we are accustomed to. In fact, Julianna said that she needed to go to school to learn that language, too. The services in downtown Coxen Hole are done in both English and Spanish at the same time. We will sing a song in English and then one in Spanish. The choir at times will sing the same song in both languages, and everything spoken from the platform is translated from one language to the other. Another church is located about an hour drive away in a beautiful fishing village. The final church on our regular route is a totally Spanish congregation. Their morning services are strictly for Sunday School. The classes are all divided for the first part, and then the second part is a joint session during which each class reports back to the others what they have learned. We have all been impressed with the demeanor of each class as the people are so responsive to the things being shared.

Each of the congregations is unique and is becoming very precious to us as we get to know them. How exciting it was to hear the testimonies and witness the baptism of three individuals and then return weeks later and see the converts thriving! What a thrill to work with the children’s home kids and then be able to see them in a different context on the Sundays that we visit Coxen Hole. This past Monday evening I attended an annual Ladies’ Day program – an evening full of songs, recitations, and skits. One church hosted it and several churches attended. I thoroughly enjoyed watching all of the ladies have a wonderful time together that evening. The English-speaking Baptist congregation in our neighborhood has begun Spanish services on Sunday evenings, and we have decided to regularly be a part of this new ministry. On Wed. nights, this same church will probably be going through the discipleship book that Travis wrote. I believe that he may be teaching it. Of course, he looks forward to that opportunity.

Occasionally, we visit an international church on the island. You may have seen pictures on my Facebook page of the day the girls and I made cookies with Melissa and her twin boys. Melissa’s husband pastors this congregation. Well, today was actually my first Sunday attending that church, since the previous time I had to stay home with sick children. This ministry is difficult in the sense that internationals often are on the go. Therefore, Jeremy and Melissa are being forced to view this ministry more like a chaplaincy, for now. We have a wonderful time together and are glad for the opportunity to be mutual encouragers.

So, if you ever come visit us, you will need to stay for quite a while to get the opportunity to meet all of our Christian friends.

As a side note, Travis has been spending his early mornings beginning to write the classes that he hopes to begin by this fall. Please pray for the preparation of the studies and the details of how best to go about accomplishing of these sessions. As I have made the circuit, I have grown increasingly excited to see how the Lord might choose to use the passion, the gifts, and the experiences He has given to Travis. Whatever happens, our greatest joy can and must come from knowing and enjoying our Christ more fully. From this, He can use us best for His pleasure and glory!!!

We've Moved! - by Travis

2010-01-10T09:54:00.001-06:00

Well, it has been a good while since we wrote in the blog. I hope you will understand why when you read this blog entry. By the way, Happy New Year to you!

Sometime in the early part of December, Emily and I decided that we should look into renting a different home for the family. Our primary difficulty with the home we were living in was the simple fact that it was just too small for our family, especially when you factor in the need for extra space for home-schooling. Not only was the living space kind of small for us, but there also was not place to store anything – no garage, no attic, no shed – only two small closets in the entire home. We had tried everything we could to make things work there. We even skipped...
buying a sofa (we knew while we were in the States that this home could not accommodate it) and we used our black shipping trunks as a kind of “deacon’s bench” with storage inside. It was far from comfortable, but we desperately needed the space. Still, try as we might, we could not bring any real order to the home. Even when were not involved in any projects like making repairs, or sewing curtains, we were still constantly tripping over tools and other items that had not proper place.

Anyway, we prayed about the matter of a different home. We did not want to play the spoiled Americans with God, yet we really felt that more space was becoming a necessity for what we need to do as missionaries, and it was not just a luxury that we wanted. God allowed us to locate a home that provided the space we needed. It is about a mile away from the mission offices, so walking there will not be the norm, but it is a much larger home and it has a nice, big yard that the girls have already enjoyed greatly. It is even owned by friends of our missionary radio station here, and they have been very kind and helpful in making the several repairs that needed to be made before we moved in. The only real drawbacks to the home are the fact that it has only one bathroom and it has no air-conditioning. So, we are still not living in the lap of luxury – it only feels that way to us! We are so excited to be able to spread out just a little and find a place for things. We are truly praising God.

So, as you have probably already guessed, we spend our holidays in true restful fashion – packing and unpacking, cleaning and repairing, all during a one-week stretch of rain and more rain. There is nothing quite so relaxing. However, we praise God that we had some great help from our fellow missionaries here. The Silseths and Petersens each took much time on their days off (practically the holidays that the missionaries get each year), so that they could help us. The men helped me with various things that needed to be fixed up. For example, since the new house has no closets, I spent the bulk of my time planning and constructing a large, closet/organizer for all the clothes. After seeing the price of plywood here on the island (I think it must have some gold in it somewhere) I had to make a number of time-consuming revisions to the plans, so the entire project consumed the best part of the four days. We also had to install the gas stove and the gas water heater, replace the pressure tank for the water pump system, and do a little re-wiring (Jerry’s electrician’s senses could not abide the dangerous “Island” style wiring we encountered. His expertise is greatly appreciated)

Meanwhile, Emily and the other missionary wives did most of the packing and unpacking. The closet/organizer I was building was critical to setting up in the new home, so I was not able to help with the packing much at all. Furthermore, nothing could be done in the kitchen until the termite-infested cabinets were removed, the house was sprayed, and the new cabinets installed. You ladies can probably understand that Emily was feeling just a wee bit overwhelmed! Sandy and Mildred’s help was a big boost (Actually, I don’t know how we could have managed the move without the help of our friends). Emily and the ladies took multiple truck loads of stuff over several days, and we hired a truck on the final day to move the large items. Sandy and Mildred also helped Emily with lots of cleaning, and they prepared a few meals for us during those hectic moving days.

So, that brings you up to date on the move, more or less. We are still settling in, and there remain a few “projects” to do, like installing shelves in the laundry room (I forgot to mention we have a laundry room – no more worries about the rain destroying the washing machine. Yeah!), and things like that. But we already feel like we are “at home” here, and we know that God has blessed us greatly in providing this place. We are looking forward to using this home as an instrument for Him in our outreach and ministry.

We want to thank you for your prayers for us. Even though most of you did not know that we were moving, God did, and He provided the help that we needed, along with grace and strength needed to get things done here.

We have a vehicle! - by Travis

2009-12-22T17:52:00.008-06:00

As most of you know, we have been praying and looking for a vehicle that we could use here on the island (you can read what we wrote about this in our last newsletter here). God has finally seen fit to provide one for us, and we want to be sure to pass the news along to you so that you can join us in praising Him. It is a 2001 Mitsubishi Montero, with fewer than 80,000 miles on it. We were able to get a good deal on it, so even with the costs of having it transported to the island, and the costs of some minor repairs, we are still at about the $15,000 we projected for a vehicle. Thanks to everyone for your prayers on this matter, and special thanks to those who have given financially to help make this possible. A friend has offered to float us an interest-free loan for a year, so we have a little bit of time to try to raise the remaining $6,000 needed.

There is, true to life on the mission field, a story that goes with this bit of news. You can read on for the details...

We actually began trying to locate a reliable vehicle while we were still in the States several months ago. We found one that was advertised on the internet, but our contact on the mainland of Honduras could never seem to get together with the owner. We had several people on the island Roatán who were looking for us as well, but there just did not seem to be anything that fit our needs. We were praying for something that would have a combination of BOTH enough seating for our large family (at least 6 passengers), and 4 wheel drive capability (pretty much a must for many of the steep dirt-mud roads here).

Finally, our friend on the mainland told us that several possibilities had been located in the nation´s capital, Tegucigalpa. So I made plans to go there and choose from one of the three possibilities there. Jerry Petersen, one of the other missionaries serving with us here, kindly offered to go with me to the mainland and help drive the car back to the coast. We bought one-way tickets to Tegucigalpa and got ready to depart a few days later.

Now, Jerry has a saying that I have altered just a little and kind of adopted as my own. It says, “Nothing simple is ever easy.” I can tell you that that saying is twice a true here! When Jerry and I arrived for our flights one Monday morning, we discovered that the airline employee had booked Jerry´s ticket for a different day. We were both standing there at the same time on the same day when we bought the tickets, but we were booked for different flights (In fact, he had actually booked Jerry for the flight that had already departed on the morning that we purchased the tickets!). Our friend on the mainland had already driven a couple of hours to meet us in Tegucigalpa, so we could not just cancel. We would just have to hope that a flight arriving in the afternoon would give us enough time to see all the vehicles.

Once on the ground in the capital, we learned that there were now only two cars from which to choose, and there was a difference of $4,000.00 in the prices! We went and saw the less expensive one first, and determined that it was the car for us. It had everything that we needed, and was actually priced below what we were anticipating. There were a couple of hang-ups, however. First, although the owner of the car lot had been notified several days earlier that we would be flying there to see the car, he did not believe that we would be there (It is very common in this culture to commit to things without any chance of actually doing them). So, they were only just beginning to get the vehicle ready for sale. They needed to change tires, change fluids, replace the battery, etc. So we were not seeing the car in the condition in which we would be buying it. Secondly, it had recently come from U.S., and it was not yet registered in Honduras. The car lot owner sent someone to the government offices to get this done, but the computers were down.

So, Jerry and I, along with our friend Mario, decided to spend the night in Tegucigalpa and pray that everything would be ready to go in morning. Needless to say, it was not. The government computers were still down, and there was still some work to be done on the car. We waited about in town for as long as we could before we had to begin our return trip. Mario offered to drive back (about two hours’ drive for him) and complete the sale whenever the car was ready. He would then drive it over to the coast (about seven hours) and put it on a ferry for us. It was an amazingly gracious offer, yet it was just one on a long list of things that Mario did in order to help us get a vehicle. The Lord certainly blessed us tremendously through him.

Well, once back on the island of Roatán, we waited for word that the paperwork was finished. ….And we waited. The national elections were coming up over that weekend, and apparently, any government work that was not connected to the elections came to a screeching halt (This was understandable, since these were perhaps the most important elections in the short history of this republic.). All told, we waited nearly three weeks before the paperwork was finally finished, and the car made its way over to us.

We are learning that it does not pay to have expectations here. You should never get excited until the thing you planned is totally complete. I am continuously amazed at how many things not only can go wrong, but actually do! It’s kind of hard to express the way that all of these "curveballs" seem to beat on your psyche. God’s sustaining grace is our only hope. Of course, that is always true, but we are really feeling it now.

Thanks you all very much for your prayers. We are very thankful for the vehicle that God has given us, and we ask you join us in praising Him.

I am a translator!!! - by Emily

2009-12-18T21:17:00.001-06:00

My Friends that speak Spanish are going to laugh......

Why.... because I am a TRANSLATOR!

You know it is bad when it comes to this. What is happening, is that I have been minding my own business still teaching the devotions two days a week over at the Children's Home. However, this is the time of year that all the Northerners want to have some time basking in the sun and not shoveling snow. So, a nice Carribean cruise sounds perfect. While thousands of people visit our island each week for one of their day excursions, some want to see an orphanage. There are those that have had previous contact somehow with our particular home, but then there are some that just brought things to give to any underprivileged group on the island. Some people are sweet Christians, while others have their own reasons for wanting to bestow goodwill. I have enjoyed meeting two different groups. It is very interesting to be a part of this fun. I am grateful that God has provided for the home through many gifts of all kinds.

Though BBI does not work directly with this home, our radio station shares property with it. At times, the man in charge of the home will call someone from the radio station to go and greet the visitors/tourists that want to see the home. Yesterday, Travis was called upon twice. Today, I was finishing up a Christmas craft with all the kids in the home, when...
a tour guide came rushing in and wanted me to come out and meet the van load of people. A couple from Canada had brought a bunch of food, school supplies, books, clothes, and toys. A couple of others from New York and Miami joined them on their visit today. Well, this unexpected, yet expected visit put me in the place of translator between the visitors and the two ladies who run the home yet only speak Spanish. I do not think that the group today were Christians. Many times the responses to my open comments were lacking that bond of unity that we as Christians experience.

In speaking of this visit with our daughters afterward, I was able to express how God can use the women serving in the home, the children residing there who know Christ, and the history of the home to be a testimony of God's provision and character to all who visit.

By the way, my lessons have needed to go to Spanish because since the kids have been out of school, they no longer have any English exposure. I was losing them with my English Bible lessons. So, I have been reading my stories from the Betty Lukens' Spanish book. At times offering my small comments along the way. What a difference this has made in the attentiveness!!!

A big thank you to all those who helped us through encouragement, prayers, and finances to be blessed to spend the year in Costa Rica focusing on learning Spanish. That learning has been such a tremendous blessing here.

Invasion! (part two) - by Travis

2009-12-04T21:43:00.004-06:00

We thought we had ‘em licked. By lunchtime, the battlefield was pretty-well cleared of the dead and wounded. Pots, pans, and platters still needed to be returned to their proper places, but that would not be too great a task once the shelves were properly wiped and cleaned. I had squirted the poison powder in all the places that I thought had carried heavy traffic during the conflict, and I was quite optimistic that, from that point on, we should not even see as many ants as we had been accustomed to seeing.

Was I ever wrong! Just as Emily was getting ready to prepare dinner, we noticed some advance troops and knew we might have another big problem. Once again, it took about ninety seconds for a huge line...
to be formed across the counter. I quickly fetched my trusty poison spray and headed outside to face the foe. It was dark now, so I needed my flashlight; yet even with that, I did not see any lines of ants entering the home. Oh, there were some stragglers here and there – and they soon realized that they straggled out at the wrong the time – but there was no activity worth reporting. It seemed that the horde we were presently seeing was coming from somewhere within the house itself.

Back inside, I studied the situation under the sink and counter. Then I saw it. There was a ball of ants clamoring from out of a gap between our sink and the counter. You see, our sink is one piece of stainless steel, and it includes a section on the side that functions as a drip-tray (It’s a very common style in Central America). The problem with this style is that they only cut a hole for the sink, while the drip tray just rests on top of the counter, providing a nice little shelter for whatever critters discover it. Well, our resourceful little invaders had of course located this piece of strategic real estate, and they were now using it as a staging ground for this second attack.

I decided that this was no time for dilly-dally. I reached for my most effective weapon and spray several shots into the bunker. The effect was not exactly what I had expected. Although many ants began dropping from the poison, the remaining ants poured out from several other locations. It was now apparent that there quite a few of them that had quietly passed the afternoon there under our sink as they planned their next assault. Thankfully, though, the numbers were nothing like what we had faced earlier in the day, and our girls jumped into the hand-to-hand combat like battle-hardened veterans. All in all, the only casualty was a considerably late dinner, so we came more easily than in the day’s earlier attack. In the tumult of the morning’s skirmishes, Emily had lost her nice glass pitcher as it fell and struck the unforgiving tile floor.

Now, I have had fun writing these reports, but you need to know that this was actually a very tough day. The ants were only one of several tough things that happened today, and I think that some of our emotions were just raw from being tired, and being homesick at this time of year. It’s nice that we can look back and laugh at it now, but at the time it tasted like a very real battle, except it was a spiritual one. Our struggles here have differed greatly from those we experienced in Costa Rica, but they have been similar in this regard: They have been so numerous and so closely packed together that the accumulative effect has been quite potent. We sure are glad that so many of you have been praying for us. We are excited about the opportunities that lie in front of us here. There is much to do; and much, I think, that we can do to strengthen the churches and the people of God. But we do occasionally get stressed, exhausted, discouraged, impatient, etc., so your prayers are extremely important. Thank you.

Invasion! - by Travis

2009-12-04T21:42:00.001-06:00

PREFACE – I know that I haven’t written much on the blog lately, and I need to warn you that this entry is hardly substantive as a ministry update. Still, it is a snapshot of life here. I hope you enjoy it. I’ll write something more serious at the end. Also, my appologies for the fuzzy photos. We realized too late that camera was set on the wrong setting. We were a little busy at the time.

When we awoke this morning, things seemed pretty fine. We actually had BOTH electricity AND water, (which is almost grounds for celebration lately) and we went about our morning business without any issues to speak of. Emily made pancakes and we all sat down to eat a great meal. When breakfast was over, the girls went off to finish their chores before school was to begin, I got ready to walk to the office, and Emily cleared the table and began rinsing the dishes. And that’s when we noticed it. A horde of ants had assembled on the doorframe on the exit door in the kitchen.

Now, we have had plenty of trouble with ants here, so we are not easily impressed with an ant horde. In fact, one day, not too long ago, Emily told me, “Well, I finally found out how to keep the ants off the counter… ‘Just be sure to leave plenty on the floor for them to eat!” I had to laugh. It seemed that little Caroline had done quite a bit of wandering about with her cracker, or cookie, or something, and now here were little congregations of ants faithfully attending services all over the dining room and kitchen floors.

So, this horde that we saw this morning was quite a bit more substantial. The largest of the groupings...

was about four inches wide and eight inches long. They were all ants of the smaller variety, the kind that we have known for months are living all throughout the baseboards of our little island home, and who have the courtesy to occasionally visit the generally ineffective bait traps scattered about the house. They were all huddled very closely, holding their eggs and larvae in their mouths.

We wondered what had caused them to suddenly “come out of the woodwork” and gather in plain sight with their young, but we were not left to wonder for very long. We began to notice some large, black ants crawling out from the holes under the sink and behind our counter. (You have to understand that that our countertops and cabinets are about what you’d expect in a boathouse, or a rustic cabin, so there holes and cracks a plenty.) In a matter of ninety seconds, our countertop was literally lined all over with these black invaders. We peaked into the cabinets under the counter and were aghast to find the shelves crawling with uninvited guests. There seemed to be an endless supply, and they were aggressively seeking new routes about the kitchen. So I went out the door and instantly had my fear confirmed. These ants were not just long-time residents who were suddenly restless. They were part of full-scale invasion launched upon our home, and the supply lines were stretched out for dozens of yards in several directions!

I knew we would not stand much of a chance if we did not stop the thousands of reinforcements from entering as well, so I went to the workshop and brought back a couple of mostly-empty cans of poison to spray on the advancing columns. Being limited in my munitions, I concentrated the bombardment on the places that looked like points of entry. I soon had a sizeable pile of wriggling, writhing insects outside (yes, I thoroughly enjoyed it!), but the battle was only just beginning inside. The fumes of the aerosol poison were too strong to use indoors, and we did not have any powder poison to place in strategic locations. Meanwhile, the massive army indoors was conquering new territories every ten minutes or so. Emily decided there was no choice but to call off school for the day and concentrate on the defense of our lands and properties. It was time for hand to hand combat. She, along with the help of the older girls, began to pull things out, swat off the ants, and smash them with a shoe the ole’ fashioned way. In my opinion, it does not have nearly the thrill as blasting them with poison that effortlessly renders them helpless, but I must admit that it was crudely effective.

Seeing that Emily and the girls were gaining the upper-hand for the time being, I thought it was good time for me to borrow a vehicle and get re-stocked with my Weapons of Mass Destruction. This time, I was sure to buy some power with boric acid in it, knowing that this should be a pretty effective long-term guard against another invasion. By the time I returned from the armory (the local hardware store) the battle was essentially over. Only occasional skirmishes remained. Of course, there was plenty of clean-up still to do!

NEWSLETTER - FALL 2009

2009-12-01T20:06:00.001-06:00

Just click on the images and you will see them in a size large enough to read.

More than just faces - by Emily

2009-11-30T08:09:00.002-06:00

Okay, I first have to explain why there was not a new blog posted last week. It boils down to the fact that the computer genius that I am neglected to do something very important once she was done writing her blog. Yes, you guessed it – I did not hit SAVE. So, why did Travis not read my mind and know that I did not save the document that showed up on his computer? After all, he knows how illiterate I am when it comes to this language. So, here goes round two of the same blog with an added update at the end.

I think that many of you know that there is a children’s home located between our house and the radio station. When we first arrived, we would wave hello and say simple greetings to the children as we passed by their fence. I was very eager to get to know the two ladies who run the home and of course to meet all of the children.

About our third week of being here on the island, I was introduced to a local teacher at a church. I enjoyed the short visit I had with her at the church since we both had a love for education, and she enjoyed being able to speak to me in Spanish, broken as it was. Well, she arrived at my house one Sunday afternoon to invite me to join her as she went over to spend some time with the children at the home. I gladly went along excited for this opportunity to get to know everyone a bit better. That afternoon, I was there while...

the two ladies and this teacher discussed a plan to organize a schedule for the upcoming break from school for all of the kids. (Remember, this is the time of year when the Honduran children have a three month break from school – equivalent to the US summer break.) While I was simply standing there listening, the ladies wanted to know if someone at the radio station could do some devotions for the children.

I came home and discussed this with Travis. The schedules for the other missionaries were already full, but I was granted the okay to do a devotional twice a week. I was elated as this was a specific answer to a prayer of mine. I was not only prepared in spirit but also with materials since a special friend had bought me a set of the Betty Lukens Flannelgraph a couple of years ago specifically for our mission work. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning the girls and I have been going to the home. I started teaching the lessons from the beginning of Genesis, and for each lesson we also have a new Bible verse to memorize. We now know all of the children’s names varying in ages from 7-14. There are only four girls and around 15 boys that are present for the lessons. Some of the kids are fun to be around and others are a bit more difficult. I love it when you see their eyes soaking in a story or a truth about God. The children speak English, but their mother tongue is Spanish. This means they memorize all of their verses in Spanish. I long for the day my Spanish will be good enough to reach their heart in their heart language.

We have had a lot of fun with the kids outside of this time as well. The girls have come over to the house and played a couple of times. These invitations of course produced the natural desire on the part of the boys to come to our house as well. So, last week nine of the boys came over to spend some time in our small little house full of girls. You know, the time passed rather quickly while we played a bunch of games and laughed a lot.

I have this wonderful story to close on. Saturday, I went to town and bought some groceries. I strapped Caroline on my back, and we made several stops along the way to purchase some needed supplies. By the time I was done grocery shopping my back was overly tired, Caroline was in the same boat as my back, and I had bags and bags of groceries and other things I had purchased. I made the mistake of getting into a van that runs from the main town to the other smaller towns. I have used this system coming home from this particular store a couple of other times; however I have either had the other girls with me to help carry some of the items or such a few things that it did not matter. I say it was a mistake because I should have taken a taxi. A taxi will take me all the way to my home, but the van only makes stops on the main road. I did not realize what I had done until I was already loaded onto the van and ready to head out of town. All of this is still somewhat new to me, new money, new stores, new rides, new roads, etc… There is one other major detail that I forgot to tell – it was raining buckets at this time. As I realized what I had done, I tried to call Travis on the cell phone thinking that he could come meet me at the main road to help with all of the bags. Only, he never answered -- he was out in the pouring rain helping to lay a tarp on a lealy roof at the station. So, I was dropped off by the side of the road in the rain with about 15 bags or so and my bundled baby. After standing there a moment to decide what I would do next, I looked up to see about five of the boys from the home walking down the road toward me. I asked them what they were doing, and they said, “We came to help you.” I smiled at them and started to cry. They had seen me unload from the van and decided that they would walk down to me help! I was so touched by this gesture, for they walked quite a ways in the rain. They each took at least two bags and carried them down the dirt road, across the little creek, and up the hill to our house.

So, you can see the kids have become more than just faces to all of us!!!!

Kid's Corner - by Julianna

2009-11-15T23:19:00.002-06:00

Living and Learning in my Neighborhood

Roatan is mostly an English island, but in the past ten years more and more people are coming from the main land. These people are often quite poor and come here looking for a job at the resorts or on the cruise boats. These hard working people live in small shacks with little a.c.
Soon after we moved here a family moved into the house( actually a shack) near us. We met a girl who was Ashleigh's age and apparently the lady who lives in the shack is her grandmother. The girl would be staying with her grandma, so we said she could come over and play sometime. A few days later we went over to the house to ask and see if she wanted to come over and play. The grandma was happy to see us and showed us around their house. Mommy went inside the shack while I ran around chasing the chicks they had in their yard.
After we left, mommy told me about the house. There were
two beds, one double and a twin, that five kids were sharing. Two were grandchildren, and the other three were her own kids. The grandma had her own bed and she was quite excited because she was getting a single, small fan over her bed. Outside in a lean-to they had a small clay oven which is their only source of cooking besides a small stove top.
Well, the two youngest kids came to our house. When they came inside they said, “Your house is beautiful!” They played with our toys until their sister came to pick them up. Since then we have played with them a lot. The next time I want to complain about the food, I need to remember that some people only eat beans and rice their whole life. When I think that I am hot and wish I could have another a.c. unit, I need to remember this family who only has one fan. When I am walking down the toy aisle and am wishing that I could have some more, I must be reminded that a lot of kids in the world have not dreamed of having the amount of toys I have in my own room, much less want more. So, I should be content with what I have and thank God for what He has given me.

Showers of Blessings (and some Showers of Ida too) - by Emily

2009-11-08T23:27:00.001-06:00

If you want some news that made us smile, keep reading.

The first blessing was that Ida only ended up bringing us a few days of heavy showers. We also received a huge blessing in the form of our propane water-heating system that arrived from the states the early part of this week. Travis worked hard to install it ASAP. He had to do some makeshift plumbing since all of the pipes in the house are buried in concrete, but he managed to pull it off. We have all tremendously enjoyed the comfort of a warm shower again. Then, on Saturday, we received word that the washing machine part was also at the post office. Travis was working on repairing our machine when I left for grocery shopping. We were prepared for the disappointing reality that this part might not really even be the culprit to the broken washer. Well, Travis and I were elated to see that the washer did begin to function again beautifully. So, we immediately ran some line in our living room and got two loads clean that evening. Dad Mitten had suggested this particular model because of how fast it spins. This would enable the clothes to dry faster. We sure do appreciate your wisdom Dad. The final blessing that I am going to mention came in the form of an obvious demonstration of God's protection on Travis' life.

As the story goes, Travis was returning from a short trip into town for a simple item. We have been graciously permitted to borrow the other missionaries' vehicles from time to time. So, just as he was nearing the radio station in Peter Silseth's SUV, he felt the back end of the vehicle
drop. As he was trying to figure out what happened, another huge drop occurred at the same time that he watched two tires roll across the street and into the ocean. Yes, the two driver side wheels had rolled right off of the SUV. Thankfully, the car received only minimal damage, the tires were fished out, and some of the lug nuts were even brought back to him by some amazed viewers. The vehicle had been in the auto shop the day before to receive four new wheels, but these wheels were different than the ones that had been on previously. The new wheels needed to have a longer type of thread for the nuts, but the shop did not have any, so the mechanics did not screw the nuts on tightly enough. Of course, nobody realized this until after the fact. This accident was going to happen, it was just a blessing where, when, and how that it occurred. It was clear to Travis, as he got out totally unharmed, that this was a huge demonstration that God had prevented a possible disaster.

Building bridges - by Emily

2009-11-01T13:22:00.001-06:00

So, what is happening with us on the island?

Travis was able to preach on Sunday. He spoke in English with a translator beside him; although, He did open up with a greeting and introduction in Spanish. He later explained to me that he must use these opportunities to continue to build his confidence and his ability to use Spanish. I was very impressed with his fluidity and ease. God kept him humble though with an obvious mistake - announcing to the congregation that we had been married for more than four years. Thankfully, the translator knew this could not be since we had an eleven year old daughter. He whispered to Travis the error that he had made, and it was corrected with a laugh.

Travis did more organizing, a bunch of painting, and some radio training this week. The pastor of the church that Travis spoke at last week is a leader on the island,and he has already expressed interest in having Travis do a regular study with some of the other pastors on the island. Travis is somewhat anxious to get
a vehicle so that he might be able to begin to develop some friendships with these local pastors. So, be in prayer about that.

The children have completed another week of school. This week one of our assignments for history was to make a cuineform tablet with our own message for Daddy to decode when he got home. He had no problems deciphering our statement "Gravel Bay is great." (Gravel Bay is the area of the island in which we live.) Travis must work on Saturdays for now, so we have decided to skew our school week to be the same as his work week. This meant that on Monday, we worked around the house for a while, and then in the late afternoon, we all enjoyed some playtime at one of the beautiful beaches. What a thrill to spend the sunset together there!! On Thursday morning, the electricity went out, which is a fairly normal occurrence. However, the stagnant, humid heat was getting to us; so, we decided it was time to flee to the radio station for a break (they have a big generator there). It turned out to be a wonderful field trip. Karen Avella, one of the missionaries, was preparing to go live on the radio for the request and dedication hour. So, the girls enjoyed watching all of her prep. They even stayed quietly in the room with her when she opened the hour up on the air. We also got to see the huge generator running - since there was STILL no electricity. Then, we enjoyed cracking open some almonds off the ground and eating some "hog plums".

I am amazed at the friendships that have already been established among the children. We share a backyard space with two boys. These boys have a passel of cousins that live nearby. The girls have been very excited to share their soccer ball with all, and we had one colossal community fort built out back. The new favorite past time is to spend time together on our roof. It is a flat concrete roof. Yes, even I got up there to participate in the fun. We actually did science up there that day. Right now, the children here on the island just got out of school until February - it is their equivalent to the US summer break. So, my girls are just chomping to get out and play when school is done for them each day. Recently, I counted six boys outside with my girls. The boys seem very mannerly, helpful, and seem to watch out for everyone. On Friday,I was excited to meet an eight year old girl that seemed very friendly. Her mother is a Christian and is vocal about her dedication to church. We told the girl that she could come play on Monday, when she comes to stay with her grandmother, who is our neighbor, for a few days. Of course, we want to demonstrate the love of Jesus shining through in our lives to all of these new friends, but we also want to be able to share in words and explanations the saving love of Jesus as well.

As part of our Bible time, each girl must present a flannelgraph Bible story every week. We decided that we would do this part of our school outside on the concrete slab. It is early in the morning, but we are hoping to get some curious eyes. Last week, we had a couple of adult eyes. I was able to use the death of a little bird to tell one young boy about what the Bible says concerning God's care for the birds and even more so for us. Please pray for these kind of opportunities as we live and play with our neighbors.

As far as our living situation, we are waiting on a call back from a friend from the mainland regarding a vehicle. He thinks he knows of a good one. We are praying for direction and some more funds. We are still without a washer. It turns out that something broke right after we installed it. I am hoping that Travis does know what part really is causing the problem. He ordered that part, and hopefully by next week we can run our washer again. In the meantime, Mildred continues to be a blessing by sharing her washer with me. Travis thinks he may have a good method of installing a propane gas heated water system into the showers. This way we would not be drawing anymore electricity because frankly, this house can not handle what it already is drawing. Julianna and I even know how to go throw the main breaker outside back on since it so frequently gets thrown.

There are days that the lack of electricity or water gets rather old, but all I need to do is look around to find a lady cooking outside on a wood stove, another one washing her clothes on a rock,or the many who never have the blessing of a room cooled by an ac unit. Then, I am reminded that my sin of complaining or discontentment is ever before me.

Joys on the island - by Emily

2009-10-21T21:52:00.007-06:00

As many of you know, one of our earnest requests was to be able to meet Spanish speaking folks to keep what Spanish we had and continue to improve. Well, we live literally a few feet from their door. The house next to us has several generations and different extended family members living together. The mom and youngest daughter live on the bottom level. They have really taken to the girls, especially Caroline. They primarily speak Spanish and are very friendly. The street we live on is loaded with children. Whenever the girls and I walk down the street instead of taking the shortcut through the back of our property to the station, we make quite the spectacle. Yesterday I imagine I passed at least twenty children. I also met a lady who spoke very good English and seemed to really enjoy an opportunity to visit. The Honduran people, in general, are very friendly. Pray for the relationships that are already being built among our neighbors and how the Lord would want us to minister among them.

The beauty is breathtaking. We can walk up a hill/mountain just a few yards from our house and see the ocean. In fact, twice a week we can see the cruise ships docked right up the road. The children absolutely love the terrain. They so look forward to climbing to their special “places” that they have already claimed as their own. We have been able to go to several different beaches. They are all so different and gorgeous - a true tropical paradise-just like the magazines. We stopped at one resort on the way home from church. I was thoroughly in awe at the peaceful ocean lagoon that anyone on the island could enjoy if you simply ate lunch at the very reasonably priced grill on the property.

For those of you familiar with my girls, you know that they truly enjoy animals. Well, this is a fabulous place for their love. We have chickens and roosters everywhere. (I guess I could have put this under the hardship category for Travis because they do start their crowing extremely early in the morning, and Travis is such a light sleeper.) A duck family numbering over 15 wandered nearby the other day. We see pigs hunting for food as well. On a particular Sunday morning, we watched a boy chasing a hog to catch it. I feel as if I am living what I have read about in books. –HA! There are a ton of dogs, even some puppies, but the favorite animals for the girls are the horses. At times, we see a few of them. One morning two ran right by their window. What excitement!!

We ALL like our home and know that this is where God has us. Of course, there are moments when we all long for Florida and the dear ones that it holds. The children and I are really enjoying being able to homeschool again. Wow, the teachable moments are irreplaceable, and the availability to listen to their hearts is a treat. Travis is beginning to learn a few things around the station. I think that he will be doing more maintenance type stuff for the station for a few weeks.
I have one more item to mention. We have visited three of the island churches thus far. The first one was an English speaking church. The second one was bi-lingual. The pastor actually preached in both languages, saying a sentence in one language and then repeating it in the other. The third one was bilingual done with a translator. The worship services and tones were different in all three. I enjoyed meeting wonderful Christians in all of the churches. Without being specific, I can say that I have seen first hand why Travis has the burden he has. I also understand why the radio station is so appreciated and needed. This coming Sunday, Travis has been given the opportunity to preach in the church in the largest town on the island. Please pray for him as he prepares.

Hardships and Adjustments on Roatan - by Emily

2009-10-21T21:49:00.005-06:00

The first night Mildred offered us the option of staying with them for a few days while we began the unpacking process. Travis allowed me to make the decision of where I wanted to settle for the first few days. I chose to go on over to our house. I knew that would afford me to utilize early mornings and late nights after Caroline had gone to sleep to concentrate. After being in different places for the six weeks in the states, I also felt it would be better to have all of our things under one roof. This decision may have been a mistake. Oh well. The boxes were soooo many and the stuff had no real order since the packing had been done during three separate times. Mildred graciously provided all of the meals for a few days until we had things unpacked enough to purchase food, store it, and eat on our own things. After a week of hard work, we found most of the boxes unpacked and thankfully there was a space for most of our things. Even Caroline found a good place to nap.

The first few days were intensely hot for us, in part, because they were just HOT, but also because there was so much activity. Furthermore, we have one room air conditioner, so you have to decide what is better – run the one ac and have part of the house feel cool, or cut the air and open the windows. Most of the island has a nice breeze, but where our house is located that just really is not the case. So, we have gotten to be experts at setting up the three fans to keep the cool air traveling down the hall toward the living room and kitchen. There is one more complication to this system though. There are times when the windows have to be the option because we lose electricity too!!

This heat can be balanced out though when we take a nice refreshing shower because we do have cold water. In fact, that is all we have right now. Then, there are times when we lose that unfiltered water as well. Okay, you can see the adjustments in the first few days were many as we worked on getting everything unpacked.

Week two saw the beginning of another school year, the hiring of a man to make some bed frames for the girls’ trundle beds and the purchase of our cell phones and internet. I must admit the system Travis has to get us hooked up is amazing. If it seems that I am not on the computer much, it is simply because I never can remember the five things that I have to do to connect. Then, inevitably something goes wrong – It is totally out of the realm of possibility that I could come up with the right thing to fix the problem. My lack of computer expertise really is a true thorn in my flesh right now. By the end of this week, Travis had located an ultraviolet water filtering system. We were able to get it, and he installed it. What a blessing it is to have a source of filtered water in our home. The frequent walk up our road with the five gallon tank was quite the workout for him. In addition to everything else, I learned during this week that our brand new gas oven would not ignite. A disappointment -yes, but how thankful I was for a functioning stove and my beloved skillet.

At the beginning of week three, I was so excited we had the bedrooms set up, a week of school done, and even a full refrigerator. I had the hope of getting my washer hooked up and running. This would be placed outside on a concrete slab. This meant that not only would I get a washer and not have to take all of our clothes to Mildred’s house to do laundry, but that we would also get the huge monster out of our small living room. Double yeah!!! I was down doing laundry for the morning, when I got the bad news, “our house is covered in concrete dust.” Travis and Jim were going to have to add another electric box and carry the wiring from the dining area through the kitchen and outside in order to get a safe hook-up for the washer. However, the eight solid inches of concrete through every wall spit fine concrete powder everywhere. Just when I thought we were getting everything clean and organized! Sheets and towels went on everything for days as this project lasted several. Then, the clothesline had to be built. It was finished just in time for 2 ½ days of non- stop rain. I have been assured that this is not the rainy season yet, so I guess it is practice for how to handle the rain when it does start. Concerning the laundry, I was able to get three loads of washing done most of it being dried inside the house before the brand new washer decided to NOT work anymore. To add to all of this, Sunday, we had an electrical problem where we were only able to run ONE electrical item at a time or the entire box shorted. AC off, curler on; AC off, iron on; AC off , skillet on; Ahhh AC on, everything else off. Yesterday, our neighborhood lost power for about 11 hours (and water too for most of that time). We made it into an adventure. We even joked about having a romantic candlelight dinner. Today was very encouraging for me because we had water, electricity, and my oven got repaired.

Do pray for us that we can totally get settled. I can say that these things have been challenging at times, but mostly a source of laughter at the absolute craziness of them. We have been healthy other than an unusually low blood pressure for me for several days, but other than that – NO SICKNESS, for that I praise the Lord daily.

Arriving on the Island of Roatan - by Emily

2009-10-20T20:30:00.000-06:00

Sadly, it has been almost three weeks since we have blogged. As you can see from Julianna’s blog that we did make it safely to the island - exactly one week after our initial flight plans. This of course was due to the sudden re-appearance of Zelaya, the ousted president, and the havoc that caused. As she wrote, our flight day was exhausting and full of wonder; however, we did make it all the way to our new home in one day and all of our things either were already waiting for us or made the entire trip with us. What an amazing praise!!!!

The two other missionary men with BBI greeted us at the airport. We somehow were able to get everything into their vehicles and arrive at their home for a much appreciated home-cooked meal shared with the two welcoming couples. Jerry and Mildred Peterson live here all the time. Jerry is in charge of the radio station while the station manager, Peter Silseth, and his wife Sandy are in the states for a three month furlough. The other couple, Jim and Karen Avella, is down for a couple of months to “sub” while the Silseths are on their furlough. Both of these couples have had a lot of on-the-field experience, so their expertise and words of wisdom have been very much appreciated. These couples could not be sweeter and have helped to get us settled in every way possible. We have all enjoyed getting to know them!!

The next blog is going to be about the hardships of life on Roatan but the following is about the joys. Read whichever part you want to in whichever order. For us, they have been intertwined throughout our days for which we are grateful to our precious Heavenly Father.

Kids’Corner - by Julianna

2009-10-18T21:43:00.000-06:00

Our trip to Roatan

My family and I were going to move to Roatan, Honduras, which is in Central America. In order to get there we had to take four flights starting in Orlando, FL. We made our first flight without a problem, but our second flight was delayed one hour. They told us one of the computers wasn’t working; so, we’d have to switch planes. Tired and discouraged we waited in line for 15 minutes to catch another plane to Honduras. By now, Daddy was sure we would miss our next plane.

We got on the new plane and started our flight. Near the end of the flight, the flight attendant moved us to first class seats so that we had a chance to catch our next flight. We were among the first to leave the plane. We rushed through security as the flight attendant was calling” Mitten family, last call, last call.” A woman ran us across the runway and onto the plane. We had made it! The flight went smoothly, and we arrived safely at our destination.

A New Development – by Travis

2009-09-23T14:52:00.000-06:00

A couple of days ago, on September 21, the ousted president of Honduras, Manuel Zalaya, suddenly reappeared inside the Honduran capital. His unexpected appearance inside the compound of the Brazilian embassy in the capital city, Tegucigalpa, has brought a new wave of civil unrest to the small nation. Zalaya has spent the past few days calling upon his followers to rally around him near the embassy and has tried to portray himself as a hero who is risking everything for the sake of the poor people of Honduras. In reality, he has repeatedly fled from anything that might result in his arrest, attempting instead to construct a scenario in which his followers, along with rising pressure from the international community, might force the current government to return him to power. These recent developments have only served to accentuate his refusal to permit the country to peacefully recover from the difficulties of the past few months and elect a new president in November.

All of this has effected a change in our arrival date. The airports in Honduras were closed on Monday and Tuesday (the 21st and 22nd), and we knew they might close on Wednesday, too. However, when it came time for us to head to the airport early in the morning, we confirmed our flights with the airline, and everything was still going to proceed as usual. We arrived to the airport in plenty of time to check our luggage (ten big trunks, everything else had already been shipped), and we even enjoyed some breakfast with Emily’s parents before saying our goodbyes. We continued on through the security check, which is usually an adventure with small kids and a stroller, but was comparatively easy this time, since there were very few people and we felt no rush. We arrived at the gate just in time to hear them announce, in Spanish, that those who were planning to connect in Ft. Lauderdale to proceed on to Honduras needed to reschedule their flight because the airports in Honduras were closed. We are truly praising God that, in answer to our prayers, this happened BEFORE we left Orlando. We could have been stranded in Ft Lauderdale, perhaps without our luggage. As it turned out, our luggage was sent to the baggage claim area, and we were able to remain in Orlando with Emily’s parents. We were not permitted to reschedule our flight to Honduras for any date earlier than September 30. So, we have another week to spend with loved ones, and another week to live “in mid-stride,” waiting until we can put our foot down.

Thank you for your prayers during this time. As mentioned earlier, it was a real blessing that we were not stranded in Miami or in some other city. That was an answer to prayer. Please lift the nation of Honduras up in prayer, that there might not be violence there. Pray for the leaders that they might have the wisdom to know what they should do, and the courage to do it. Please pray especially for the believers there, that they might have a good testimony throughout this time, and the cause of Christ might even be advanced during this unrest.

Visiting in the States - by Travis

2009-09-10T05:40:00.000-06:00

These have been some very busy days here in the States, but we sure have enjoyed them! Our family arrived in Florida on August 18, and we immediately got to work purchasing items we will need in Roatan, Honduras, and organizing all that we have. With only five days to get everything and get it shipped out, we were definitely in "scramble" mode. We did not have time to methodically evaluate how much space we would have for shipping, so when the day came to pack everything into the shipping container, we discovered that we could have utilized a lot more space. Unfortunately, by that time, it was too late go out and buy anything more, so we will just have to go without some things.... except, of course, for the coffee maker that somehow was missed! I will definitely find a way to get that there if I have to pack it in little pieces!

We are very grateful that the Lord provided a good team of people to help us load the container. In fact, they had to come twice to load it, because the shipping company was very late sending the container. Once it arrived, we had two hours to load it and get everything secured. Thankfully, as I mentioned earlier, we did not have as much "stuff" as we could have had, so there was no real squeeze on time. As I write this, the container has already arrived in Honduras!

As soon as we were finished loading the container, we had to get ready to fly out to Detroit. We got a ride over to Orlando, which is where out flight originated, and flew out the next morning. Thankfully, everything went very smoothly, and we were soon embracing family and friends in Michigan. We spent several days in Detroit with one of Emily's sisters and family, then both of our families drove a couple of hours south into Ohio to visit the other sister. She had just delivered her first child, a little boy, only a week and a half earlier, so we were very excited to meet this new member of the family and to spend time with the others. Emily's parents were also there, so it was a full-fledged family reunion. We had a wonderful visit there and only regret that the time was short.

Once back in Florida, we enjoyed a few days with all of my family together. We have been repeatedly reminded how richly blessed we are to have been raised in Christian homes and to have parents and siblings who all love the Lord and love us. Our moments together have truly been sweet.

Besides packing up our belongings and spending time with families, we have also been visiting with friends and supporters, and speaking in a few of our supporting churches. We had a wonderful homecoming celebration at our sending church, Keystone Bible Church, and we enjoyed seeing many other friends at an open house there some time later. We are excited to report that the Lord has allowed us to add another church as a monthly supporter. Our other church visits have been very encouraging. It has been a great blessing to be with these believers who have kept us in their prayers.

In one week, we should be in Honduras! We are obviously very excited about that. We are still collecting a few items in the US that may be more difficult to locate there, so please pray for us to find what we need. Also, we are still trying to find a vehicle in Honduras. Because our family is large, and our ministry there will need a four-wheel drive vehicle, our choices of possible vehicles are few. Please pray with us that we will find just the right one that will fit our needs and will last us for many years.

August is Here! Woo hooo! – by Travis

2009-08-01T21:04:00.000-06:00

Well, August is finally here, and the whole family is VERY excited. We have all been looking forward to this month for some time. After all, What’s not to like about August? We have two birthdays in August, college football will begin soon,… and… it seems like there is something else important…… Oh, yeah!.... We will be finishing language school and visiting the U.S. for a month before we move to Honduras!

Although we will not be leaving until August 18, some packing has already begun. Even as I type this, Emily and the girls are sorting through various items to see what they will take back to the U.S. and what we will try to sell in the student sale here at the Institute. After coming here to Costa Rica with only twelve, large trunks, we have purchased and received numerous items to help make life here a little easier or more enjoyable. So, once again, we find ourselves “downsizing” before we leave.

On one wall in our living room, we have our “Countdown Calendar.” The girls spent some time drawing a little picture for each of the days remaining before our return to the U.S. When they first put the pictures up a few weeks ago, they covered a large portion of the wall. Now, there is only a single line of “days” stretching across the wall. Excitement mounts each day as another picture is removed from the “calendar.” We are definitely looking forward to seeing many of our loved ones in just a few weeks.

Exhale - by Travis

2009-07-30T21:03:00.000-06:00

We just completed our exit exams at the Language Institute! We still have nearly two more weeks of classes, but the exit exams were completed a little early because many students leave early before the end of the term. Although the exams are not required for a grade, they are even more important to most students than the grades themselves because they offer an official evaluation of one’s language proficiency. Some mission agencies require their missionaries to achieve a certain proficiency before they can leave for the field, so doing poorly on the oral exam could mean staying for another term for some people. And passing the written, grammar exam means receiving a certificate that is basically equivalent to a college minor in Spanish. It isn’t necessary for service, of course, but it gives a good feeling of accomplishment if it can be achieved. So, needless to say, Emily and I are very glad to have these exams behind us. Even though we don’t yet know how we fared on them, the pressure is off.

These last few weeks were very busy, not only because of the exams, but also because our two oldest girls, Julianna and Ashleigh, had a unique opportunity to participate in a cultural dance program that was designed to celebrate one of the national holidays of Costa Rica. They were two of only a few “gringas” (North Americans) to participate, and they practiced long and hard to learn the dances. Emily labored diligently to sew a traditional skirt for Ashleigh since we could not locate one her size to borrow (Of course, this dress-making pulled her away from studying for the exams, but she felt it was more important).

There were two performances for the dances. The first was before the student body at the Institute, and the second was at a “street party” hosted by the director of the Language Institute. The girls had a lot of fun. In fact, when the street party was over, Julianna told me, “I wish I could do it again. I enjoyed it.” The family enjoyed it, too, but we are also kind of glad it is over. There are some other things to focus on now.

The Political Situation in Honduras – by Travis

2009-07-09T11:55:00.000-06:00

As a missionary, it is probably best that I not “get involved” in the situation that has brought so much unrest to the country of Honduras and which has brought so much international scorn and pressure upon the small nation. However, I have been frustrated by the fact that the overwhelming majority of the media coverage in the U.S. and in other parts of the world seems to be very one-sided. As I have listened to CNN and Foxnews reports, and read articles on the internet about the situation, it seems that the only perspective being recognized is that there was a military coup in Honduras and that the ousted president needs to be reinstated. It was at least a week after the events occurred before anyone mentioned the fact that then-president Manuel Zelaya had been acting in direct contradiction to the constitution, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. Although some may dispute, as Zelaya himself has said, that he was justified in acting illegally because the laws of the land were designed with only the wealthy in mind, the fact cannot be escaped that he was acting in contradiction to the constitution.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the military is not governing the nation right now. The current president, Micheletti, had been the president of the Congress, and was, constitutionally, the next in line to ascend to the office of President in the case that the President could no longer serve. In fact, Micheletti is of the the same politcal party as the ousted president, Zelaya. The government has not been dissolved, and the Congress and the Supreme Court continue to function in their constitutional roles.

I point these things out, not to imply that all has been done properly, but rather to point out that it is not merely some military coup that will be resolved by reinstating the ousted president. The Congress, the Supreme Court, and the military, all feel that the Zelaya was seeking to destroy the nation’s constitution, and, thereby, the nation itself as we know it. These groups will not recognize his legitimacy to rule. He will have no power but to stir up civil unrest to force his policies upon the nation (a tactic which he seems already to be trying to employ).

I have posted a few photos of some of the large, peaceful demonstrations that have been made in support of the current government. As I watched and read the news during the week or so after the crisis began, I saw coverage of several pro-Zelaya rallies (frequently, it was looping video of the same group of several hundred demonstrators), but I did not see any coverage of the large demonstrations in favor of the present government. People getting their news from within the U.S. only have been left to think that the military has a stranglehold on the government and is not relinquishing control despite the fact that the majority of the nation opposes their supposed coup. In fact, the majority of the people in Honduras support the measures taken to remove Zelaya because they feel that these were done in order to preserve the constitution and the nation. I post these photos in the interest of "balanced coverage".

Finally, I would like to ask you all to pray earnestly for Honduras and its leaders. This is a complex situation with no simple remedy. The international community appears to have made up its mind on what needs to be done, but they will not have to live directly with the consequences of reinstating Zelaya. Perhaps the elections in November will lend legitimacy through a new government duly elected by the people. The question is whether the nation, and peace within that nation, will hold out that long.

A "little" reminder- by Emily

2009-06-20T21:58:00.000-06:00

My Jesus loves me this I know, but what about the others in my life today? Do they know my Jesus? He is the best thing that I could offer that other person. I must tell them all about my Jesus and introduce them to the One Who is ALL! I was thankful for the question of my little Charity today.

As we have ridden in different taxis, the children have observed many different crucifixes hanging from the rearview mirrors. At first, they thought that meant that the driver was a Christian. They were sad to understand that many times it was simply a religious symbol with no true personal relationship. Now, Charity always wants to know if the driver is a Christian, so she will ask me if I will ask him. Today was no exception!!! His response to her question was, "Some days", when he acts good. I shared what the Bible says, that we cannot work to go to heaven, and that Christ came to earth to pay for our sins. I never know what seeds, once thrown, will land on fertile ground. Oh, if they knew the love of my Jesus!

Rom 5:6-9 - For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

Our visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels - by Emily

2009-05-12T21:55:00.001-06:00

There is a large Catholic basilica in Cartago, a city that was once the capital of Costa Rica. We had seen the outside of this ornate building before but had not gone inside. On the way home from the volcano we stopped in to see this important site as well.

When we first got there, a mass was being held; so, we walked to another part of the building and saw numerous display cases containing charms. They were fashioned to resemble body parts, airplanes, children, houses, and such. These were bought and pinned up to represent different things that people have prayed for to the saint of this Basilica (the virgin Mary) and received answers considered miraculous. It made me think of similar things we as evangelicals could put up as memorials of answered prayers; although, one huge difference would be that we pray to our Heavenly Father while those in this situation prayed to the Lady of the Angels. The Bible teaches us that we as Christians can come boldly to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ our one and only Mediator.

After seeing the displays, we continued to walk down to a place where there was “healing water” pouring continuously through some pipes. There were always quite a few people collecting this water or splashing it over their heads. Next, we proceeded into the basilica. Of course, it was extremely ornate with much gold, many statues, and a tangible sense of formalism. In the center of the front part was a gigantic structure with a glassed in section containing the original La Negrita (which is a stone figure of Mary and baby Jesus. There is a huge story connected with this figure which led to the founding of this particular basilica). As we all walked to the front, very quietly and respectfully, we passed many who were still praying and sitting quietly. One indelible memory is of two ladies well into their elderly years inching their way down the long aisle on their knees. So much ritualism, traditionalism, and devotion exist, yet there is such ignorance to the life-giving words of the Bible. Many definitely believe in the Trinity; they definitely know that Jesus came, died, and rose again for sins; but do they have a relationship with God personally? Throughout the last few weeks as we have talked with our maid, spoken to our teachers, experienced the Holy week, and had our Catholic neighbors over for dinner, we have learned more of the traditions and the perspectives of the precious Catholics surrounding us. My heart breaks for them. I have always loved biographies and autobiographies – the story of Martin Luther stirs excitement in me greatly right now. I am so grateful that God used him and others to open the eyes of many to the errors of the Catholic church. We in North America had our primary heritage rooted in Protestantism; unfortunately, the people of Central and South America were founded by Roman Catholics. Even though many have come here through the years to share the Bible, the roots of traditionalism remain strong. I am thrilled for the opportunity to be able to speak of, live out, and explain the life-giving Hope that is in me.

What does our faith rest in and in what are we growing? II Peter 3:18 “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”

Volcano Irazu - by Emily

2009-05-01T22:44:00.000-06:00

Back in the early 1960’s Irazu erupted around the same time that an important visit by President Kennedy to Costa Rica took place. The destruction caused by the eruption was great. Most of the hot lava and rocks fell to one side of the mountain. Today, you can still see huge boulders far down the nearly 10,000 foot high mountain where they came to rest.

Recently, our family went with another family to the top of the mountain to see the huge craters that remain. We were encouraged to leave early in the morning before the clouds roll in for the day to block the view. Upon arrival, we were slightly discouraged because it appeared that this was just a cloudy, overcast day and our visibility was not going to be very good. However, as we were walking to the overlook, the clouds lifted. We were left with a clear view of the vast barrenness of black volcanic ash on a large plateau nearly at the very top of the mountain. Romping all over this plateau was a whole lot of fun. Of course, Ashleigh and Charity loved getting as dirty as they could get. All of the girls enjoyed climbing some small hills as well as finding different sorts of rocks. We especially enjoyed the light airy ones produced by molten rock cooling inside the volcano before being shot out. The girls soon learned to be careful about how much energy they expended in running because the air was much thinner that high up; dizziness, fatigue, and a throbbing head were at sometimes experienced by some. The vegetation was an interesting blend of flora that reminded me of desert and rainforest areas alike. Two different times we had close and personal encounters with some animal (I forgot the name of it.).

The largest crater (some 300 meters deep and over 1000 meters wide) was outstanding in beauty. Layers of rock and dirt of varied colors led down to a hole filled with gorgeous green-blue water. The overlook was breathtaking. Where we stood overlooking the lake, there were obvious remains of a previous construction almost completely destroyed and buried by the last activity. Experts expect that another eruption will occur very soon. I think there will be some warning beforehand; and, I sure hope there is, because there are many people that live on this mountain. The soil is very rich and many of the fruits and vegetables we buy at the market are grown up there.

Cause for celebration – by Travis

2009-04-28T11:42:00.000-06:00

Well, we officially made it through our second trimester of language school here in Costa Rica. To those who have been praying for us, “Thank you very much!” Our second term was different than our first in many ways. First, we were more adjusted to our surroundings here, so that made things a little easier. Of course, the fact that the weather was much sunnier (just like the weather in our home state of Florida) played a part in our feeling more comfortable here, as did knowing a lot more of the language.

Secondly, our family was not nearly as ill as we were during the first trimester. This might have been related to weather, also, but whatever the reasons, we give thanks to God that we enjoyed better health. As you know, poor health can impact practically every dynamic of one´s life and home.

Thirdly, we decided that Emily should keep the younger two girls at home instead of placing them in the kinder-care provided at the school. In order to accomplish this, Emily decided to change her schedule from being in classes for four hours a day to taking a single hour of concentrated, one-on-one study. As a result, she was able to make good progress in school while still being able to home-school Charity.

Finally, our family was also able to hire a maid. With help in cooking and cleaning and washing laundry, Emily and I were both able to concentrate more on our studies and on our family. It has been a tremendous help, and furthermore, we enjoyed conversing with our maid, who speaks only Spanish. Our family has been able to develop a friendship with her. In fact, we had a little birthday celebration for her just a couple of days ago.

All in all, this was a rewarding school term. The entire family was able to make good strides in our adjustment to the culture and language of Central America. As we prepare for our final term here, we are excitedly anticipating more progress in these areas, as well as more opportunities to use our gifts in ministry here. We a looking forward to arriving in Honduras sometime in September, but until then, we hope to enjoy this time and take advantage of our unique situation so that we may be as effective as possible when we reach our field of service. Please continue to pray both our hearts and our minds we will be continually developed for the service of Christ.

Our first visit to La Carpio - by Emily

2009-04-05T16:14:00.000-06:00

During our orientation months ago, we heard about a ministry that the students have continued through the years passing the leadership down from one person to another upon graduation. Every week a group travels about thirty minutes away to an area consisting mostly of Nicaraguan refugees. The people of this area do not have much money. At times, the children there can not even go to the public school because there is not sufficient money for the purchasing of the uniform or for the $.25 bus ride to and from school. About a half mile down the main dirt road through the community is an “all purpose facility.” This consists of a concrete slab with a half wall and fencing the rest of the way up to the tin roof. A small bleacher area is also within the enclosure, and is separated from the “court” by a chain-linked fence. The entire enclosed area is probably about ¼ of the size of a basketball court.

Each Thursday, a group from the school ministers alongside of a couple of other missionaries (one national and one American) who work regularly with the people of La Carpio. At times, the Thursday afternoon program has around 50 children participating. The program consists of a playtime, song time, Bible story, craft, and a snack. Last Thursday, Travis and I decided it was time to visit and take along Julianna and Ashleigh as well. On this particular Thursday, a problem with the van forced the usual thirty minute ride to be changed into an hour plus of riding public buses and walking some too. Upon arrival at the community center, we were all filled in on the happenings of the area for the last week. Then, we were instructed on what the Bible story was going to be about and how to do the craft.

Next, came the fun; we walked into the play area where happy children immediately came and grabbed hands, jumped on backs, and went crazy with playing. We had brought six balls, a few jump ropes, and a few sets of Jacks. These objects kept everyone plenty busy and very happy for about thirty minutes. A lot of the time was spent holding various kids and swinging them around. Those children love all of the attention and have very little reservation. I fell in love with one girl who would ask me for a certain activity, but had to see it demonstrated by several others first before she would try it for herself. For example, she wanted me to spin her around and around, but she wanted me to do it to several other girls first, including Ashleigh. Julianna and Ashleigh were immediately accepted and much loved by many of the girls. As the mommy, I rejoiced to see the gigantic smiles on my girls’ faces as they joined right in with the various activities.

After playtime, we had songtime. I was very thankful for the posters with the words written on them since I have not learned very many children’s songs yet. Our Bible story was about Jesus choosing some of His disciples and calling them to be fishers of men. The Bible story was acted out while being read. Then, we broke up into small groups by age. We had a craft that reiterated the Bible story. I loved this time of helping the girls and enjoying their personalities. At the end of this, as a demonstration of their friendship, a couple of the girls gave Ashleigh and Julianna their crafts. We decided since the craft included the story written out, that our girls should reciprocate and give them their own crafts. What a beautiful memory.

Travis and I waited to see the response of our kids – both wanted to definitely return!!!! As for us grown-ups, we agreed with their sentiments, as we had fallen in love with some of those children. I am hoping that sometime next trimester, I might even get an opportunity to tell the Bible story.:) Someone with us on our trip took these pictures. When Charity saw them, she said, “Are those Ashleigh’s friends?” I said, “Yes, they are.” Charity replied, “I want to go next time, so that I can have some more friends too.” We will see about taking her along too next time!!

Flowering Trees - by Emily

2009-04-01T14:41:00.000-06:00

God’s creation is beautiful, stunning, majestic, organized, detailed, etc….!!!!! I know that you local Tampa people will know what I mean by my mentioning the Channel 10 advertisements showing beautiful pictures of FL scenery and saying, “Enjoy it, we do.” Sometimes, when I would see a FL sunset or see the beach or some other place, I would jokingly (but kind of seriously) mimic their line. Living here in the city has been challenging for me at times. I remember one time we saw one single wild flower growing out of a drainage pipe surrounded by concrete. It had such beauty there!!! However, recently we have been treated with a daily dosage of God’s beauty displayed in a grand way. There are three different flowering trees that have graced our days with amazing color. There was one of a bright orange, another with a true purple, and one more with a delicate pink. We had one street with many of the purple trees lined up together and another street with the pink ones. The orange flowering trees were so big and vibrant that one solo tree was simply stunning. These trees have often brought to my mind a grateful heart for the beauty that God has created for us to be able to enjoy. I have also been thankful for my eyesight to be able to behold these refreshing sights. There is a huge contrast for me between the beautiful sunshine we are experiencing now along with the stunning trees, and the backdrop of the mountains compared with the rainy days of last trimester. Those dreary days were without these beautiful flowers and the mountains were frequently hidden by clouds. Knowing that I am a Florida gal since birth will allow all to know that I have never experienced the dreariness of a northern winter before. This new “seasonal” experience makes me ponder the correlation to the seasons of life that God provides in our personal lives too. At times, it can be challenging to continue on being thankful for all things and to recognize that this season also is accomplishing good we may not appreciate right at the moment. At other seasons, God wows us and refreshes us anew with His amazing splendor which has not ever changed regardless of our view!

The Empty Blog - by Emily

2009-03-28T14:32:00.000-06:00

So, what happened to the Mitten Blog? Didn’t they get a maid? Isn’t Emily home now? Shouldn’t there have been more time for keeping up such things as a blog? Well, the obvious answer to these questions would be YES! However, due to the immense amount of pressure on our entire family throughout last summer; the fact that we had a baby when we came who was still nursing and sapping nutrients from me; and the number of days and nights since we have arrived that I have been needed to care for sickly bodies, my health really hit a BUMP in the road. (All this was in addition to adjusting to a new culture and trying to learn a new language.)

The months of January and February were very tough on me physically, and I lived with a dizzy feeling almost constantly. My brain did not seem to function the same way; and, in addition, I began to have problems going to sleep even though I was exhausted. In the middle of all this, Charity and Caroline acquired a nasty virus. They had such stomach problems that Charity had to receive IV treatment for dehydration, and Caroline was close to having the same. I am so grateful that God had already provided us help through our wonderful maid. We also had many missionaries here praying for us – some knew that the insomnia had reached a serious level. During this week, our missionary friends ministered to us by bringing meals to us during the weekend. When our maid showed up to work on Monday, I shared with her how absolutely sick the girls had been and told her she should go home. She looked at me and told me she would definitely stay if I wanted her. I thanked her, and she blessed us through the next few days helping out with even the dirtiest things despite all of the germs.

All of the stresses on my body forced Travis to have to really pick up the work that I usually do with the children and errands. Therefore, NO BLOG!!!! I am happy to write that I am feeling incredibly better. I am sleeping, I have energy, and I am hardly ever dizzy anymore. We have also been without any real sickness for over a month now.

I have the greatest love in my heart for you our friends and supporters. I hear from many of you that you pray regularly, even daily, for us. I am humbled and sooo grateful for this necessary intercession on our behalf. I know that you are not on the ground here with us, and I know that at times you have been even more in the dark than now on how to pray for us. Still, our omniscient God has used your prayers immensely!!!!! We praise Him for the victories whether they are spiritual, emotional, or physical.

As I was going through some of the hardest days, I wondered what was wrong with me and sometimes feared the worst. The message of the first part of II Cor 5 was a comfort to me. II Cor. 5:4-5 “For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee…” Our ultimate end of this life simply means the beginning of our life in the presence of Christ. God has prepared it and guaranteed it!!!!!

Just your average Christian…DOG? – by Travis

2009-02-25T15:02:00.000-06:00

Every school day, our family walks to school. It is not a long walk. In fact, at those times when the gate at the south end of the campus is open, it is only about a quarter of a mile or so. On any given day, we adults may make two to four round trips, so we are very thankful that our house is located so near to the school. Each day we take the same route because the alternate routes are much longer. This means that we pass by the same houses, stores, and intersections multiple times each day (about thirty times each week).

One of the houses we pass each day has a dog that we scarcely ever see walking about. The dog sleeps in a box at the top of the inclined driveway, and it seems to be in that box no matter what time of day we pass by. In fact, our family went months without seeing the dog in a standing position! We speculated about the dog’s health and wondered whether it was on death’s doorstep. But, one day, the girls came home very excited, saying that they had not only seen the dog up and about, but that it had been outside the gate and had nearly been hit by a car (not a good way to spend what we considered its inaugural trek outside). Since then, we have seen it up a few more times. Perhaps it was indeed recovering from some illness.

Anyway, what caused to me write about this dog (Deep, meaningful blogging, is it not?) was something that happened to me a couple of days ago. While I was preparing to pass by this particular house, the owner was opening the gate so that she could drive her car in. As I walked by, the “sickly” little dog became very animated, rushing to the gate and barking loudly! It was as though it had just finished off a bowl of espresso coffee. Then it hit me. The only other time I had ever heard that dog bark had been about a month ago, and it was also when the owner was outside. I smiled as I pondered the duplicity of the dog’s behavior. Ninety-five percent of the time it appeared to be almost dead to the casual observer. However, when the “boss” was around outside to see the people passing by, it was very faithful in doing the things dogs are supposed to do (I suppose).

I walked a little further and turned around to discover that the dog had actually followed me down the sidewalk for a short piece. It had apparently taken the opportunity to get out while the gate was open, and it was determined to make a good showing! I was actually laughing out loud as I turned the corner near the school. It was then that the thought struck me that what was strange behavior for a little dog would probably be considered normal for many Christians, and I know that I am guilty of the same behavior at times. It is very easy to relax away the days when those who are important to us are not taking notice. And it is equally natural for us to suddenly find a surge of energy and interest in spiritual things when we know that others are taking notice, or when we perceive it may reflect poorly on us if we do not. My prayer is that I (and all of us) would be truly conscious of the fact that our Lord is always watching and always noticing. May we strive continually to please Him.

A Sobering of our Perspective - by Travis

2009-01-11T22:02:00.000-06:00

We have learned that the earthquake we experienced Thursday was measured as a 6.1 on the Richter scale. That's enough to do some real damage if you live near the epicenter. As God would have it, the epicenter was about 20 miles north of San Jose, while we live on the south end of the city. We were, by God's grace, cushioned from the worst effects. However, although we live 30-40 miles away from the quake's center, we are still grieving in a personal way. This is because the "vacation" we took several weeks ago was in the same village where the earthquake occurred! The little village of Vara Blanca was devastated (as were a few other nearby villages). Many of the houses that we "hiked" past have been leveled or buried, and the house in which we stayed has been badly damaged. Hundreds of people have been trapped under their homes or under landslides, and we just can't shake the thought that some of them were ones we said "Buenos dias" to just a few weeks ago. I have not yet heard whether the couple who acted as caretakers of the guest house are O.K., but I do know for sure that the man who owns the home has lost several friends.

It sure puts a new perspective on our supposed "difficulties." Why do we so easily neglect to see the "big picture" of life on earth and life in Christ?

Please pray for those who have lost much, for those who are giving aid, and for those who may, through all of this, come to the Rock from whom they may have life that can never be shaken.

Shaking Things Up - by Travis

2009-01-08T19:33:00.000-06:00

Today, we experienced our first bona fide earthquake! We have expereinced numerous little tremors over the past few months (the kind that you barely noticed unless you were sitting still). However, today was very different. We were standing in our "garage" preparing to leave the house when everything started shaking quite a bit. We could see the wall of the house moving, as well as trees and poles along the street, and this continued for... oh, about twenty or thirty seconds. I did not do not much because it did not really hit me that this was a serious earthquake. I thought that it was still part of the "typical" Costa Rican experience, just a little on the strong side. I was actually thinking to myself, "Hey, this is pretty impressive! This is what I call a real tremor!" It was not until after we began to walk down the street that I noticed how the locals were responding. They were definitely not treating this as a run of the mill thing. It shook some of them up pretty badly (emotionally, I mean).

We are thankful that we are all O.K., and that the house where we are staying appears to have weathered the quake O.K. We received reports of a few shattered windows and some cracked walls, but it looks as though not much else has happened in our neck of the woods.

We give God glory for His protection.

The New Year was a Blast Here! – by Travis

2009-01-07T21:45:00.000-06:00

One thing that has kind of taken us by surprise here in Costa Rica is the fact that New Year’s Day, and the celebrations surrounding it, seem to have taken on more significance in the culture than Christmas Day. To be sure, Christmas is a pretty big deal (as I mentioned in one of our earlier blogs, decorations for Christmas began to go up in mid-October), and various parties on Christmas Eve went well into the morning. Still, we noticed that most of the local stores were open for at least part of the day on Christmas Day. New Year’s Day was very different. Almost everything was closed for the entire day, and the streets were amazingly quite (remember that we live on a road that is generally very busy and noisy). We also noticed that most of those who planned extended vacations planned them around the New Year. So, it seems to have taken on a little more significance. As in the U.S., the New Year is ushered in with grand displays of fireworks. However, there is one enormous difference: in Costa Rica, these grand displays are being fired off from all the surrounding houses! Our family stood outside and watched while neighbors all up and down the street fired off enormous pieces of fireworks. Obviously, they do not have the restrictions on such types of fireworks that many states in the U.S. have. But they must also be getting much better prices! I did not attempt to purchase any, so I can’t say what things cost here, but I don’t see how anyone could afford to purchase the types and amounts of fireworks we saw unless they were getting much better deals than we generally get in the U.S. (if this is true, then fireworks would be one the few items that are less expensive here). Anyway, we enjoyed seeing all the displays on New Year’s morning. We did not enjoy hearing them so much on the following evening, and the next, and the next…. but that’s life in Costa Rica. We hope that you had a great start to your new year.

Christmas in Costa Rica – by Travis

2009-01-04T17:55:00.000-06:00

Without a doubt, one of our dearest memories of this holiday season came on Christmas Eve. Through the marvel of modern technology, our entire family was able to watch the Christmas Eve service being held by our home church, Keystone Bible Church, back in Florida. It was a tremendous thrill to us to see the familiar faces of our church family, to listen to their singing and music and dramatic readings, and to join them in the corporate worship and praise of our great God and His amazing Gift to mankind. Toward the end of the service, Pastor Andrew asked the church to pray specifically for our family during our first holiday season overseas. While speaking of us and our present task of language acquisition, he surprised the entire church by having the live video feed of our family projected onto the projection screen at the front of the church. So, there we were in Costa Rica addressing our church family in Florida, being able even to see them and their responses to our words. It was not quite like being there in person, but it was the next best thing. After the service was over, the church had a time of refreshments. This enabled time for us to see and speak with numerous friends as they came to the camera one by one. We were encouraged in great measure through all of this time of interaction. It was a tremendous gift to the family.

On Christmas Day itself, we exchanged and opened gifts. Several of our family and friends had lovingly sent us some gifts, and we were also able to buy a few here. It was enjoyable to watch the girls open and enjoy their various gifts. Still, as a dad, the highlight of the gift-giving was the fact that the girls were themselves giving gifts to each other and to us as parents. Julianna, our eldest, had accompanied me on a trip to the local toy store, and had deliberated much upon how she would spend her own money for her sisters. My heart filled with joy as I noted her desire to please them and her excitement over the gifts she had chosen for them. Of course, as any parent knows, the way that the other children respond to these gifts can be a discouragement at times, so I was relieved to see that the younger girls received their gifts with gratefulness and joy. I do not want to give the impression that our family came straight out of some Hallmark film! We have our problems, and several arose even on Christmas morning. Still, it was a pleasure to see girls living out some of the Christ-likeness for which we are all striving and praying. Truly, our Lord is beautiful, and the reflection of His glory, when visible in the lives of His children, is sweet.

As we had done on Christmas Eve, we took advantage of the ability to “look in” on loved ones far away. We were able to catch Emily’s family in Detroit during the time that we (and they) were opening gifts, so we got to enjoy a little bit of the fun generated by our little niece as she opened her gifts. Emily’s parents were also able to see our girls open some of their gifts, and to just enjoy the smiles and laughter of Christmas here in Costa Rica. To be certain, we missionaries today are spoiled by the capability to have such intimate contact with our families back home. We are more than happy to be spoiled in such a way, but it certainly does accentuate the sacrifices made by those who have gone before. May God grant to us the grace needed to rely upon Him as fully as we ought, even though our sense of need may be dulled through our many technological advances!

Later in the day, we gathered together with three other missionary families that had remained in Costa Rica for the holidays. Because of the language barrier, it has been very difficult to become close to any of the local churches here, so the missionary families at the language school have become like a church family to us. It is from them we receive the bulk of our fellowship, encouragement, and exhortation, and this Christmas season was no different. Our family enjoyed a wonderful time together with these other brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are very grateful to God that He has provided so many friends here with whom we are able to walk down this road of language and cultural integration.

Perhaps it is a result of our present circumstances, or perhaps it is more a result of getting older; but whatever the case, the treasure of relationships here on earth has become more valued to me this Christmas. I am very blessed to have so many people in my life who are not only friends or family, but who are also brothers and sisters in Christ, able to share a depth of joy and fellowship that is only possible through life in Christ. As much as I may tend, in my flesh, to isolate myself, I am very glad that God has not left me to live the Christian life alone. I trust that you have also enjoyed such rich fellowship in some measure this time of year. But, even more than that, I pray that our experience of fellowship here, whether it be in bounty or in scarcity, will cause us to look toward the only One in Whom we find all that we desire and need. May the fullness and richness of Christ Himself be our passion and prize this new year.

Our “Vacation” - By Emily

2008-12-19T19:12:00.000-06:00

Well, the semester ended last Friday. We limped across the finish line with tired and sickly bodies. We were excited for the break from school and the stress of our rigid schedule. About a month ago, Travis had heard about “Casa Shalom.” This is a lovely home on many acres near one of the beautiful tourist hotspots of Costa Rica – a gorgeous waterfall and gardens. The home was built with the purpose of being a respite for tired missionaries. It is located in the middle of beautiful and isolated farmland, and is made available for a very reasonable price. So, Travis had arranged to secure this home for us for a few days during our Christmas break. We were all ecstatic.

Last week Caroline was sick with another ear infection that did not respond to the first antibiotic so she had to have injections three days in a row. For this, I would go to the pharmacy across the street where they had a little room in the back where they would give them to her. However, on Sunday they closed early so we had a friend who is a nurse come over to administer the last injection. All this was a very new experience for me. Anyway, by Sunday, I was feeling pretty good about Caroline’s health. However, Charity was now running a substantial fever and feeling weak all over. I was also fairly certain that I was getting something, but I felt our symptoms were different than what Caroline had.

After prayer and deliberation, Travis and I decided that we were going to still attempt to go on this much-anticipated and much-planned for trip. With the help of some Tylenol, Charity seemed enthused Monday morning and really wanted to see the tree house that was on the property where we were going. We were relieved to find ourselves sitting on the correct bus Monday afternoon with our four children, four bookbags (full of all of our stuff), and backpack carrier for Caroline. We even had a few minutes to spare. To get to this point had already been a lot of work and quite a bit of stress, but the trip looked promising.

About thirty minutes into the bus ride, we began to add so many passengers that they would need to stand over the top of our seats as they were crammed into the aisle. We traveled up and down mountains on curvy narrow roads (so narrow that I truly could have put my hand out the window and grabbed handfuls of dirt from the hills beside us). After about two hours, we stumbled and shoved our way off of the bus at our stop. We found ourselves standing at a small gasoline station in the middle of nowhere. I was so relieved that none of us ended up losing our lunch because of nausea that some of us experienced due to the fun bus ride. As we began our mile and a half walk to the house, I must admit that I was nervously feeling like sitting ducks as we walked down the road. It was obvious that we were traveling gringos. As we walked, we tried to enjoy the adventure of seeing the beautiful mountainside farmland. We soon passed a small barn with cute little kittens; that experience was followed by nearly stepping on a decaying calf head by the side of the road. We occasionally passed little homes with laundry drying in the sun all over the yards. The people we saw seemed friendly.

We knew that we were on the right path because we were passing the locations marked on our map, but we were shocked at how long a mile and a half seemed. Our adventure lost its glamour as exhaustion came on all of us. Charity became too sick to walk; so, Travis had Caroline on his back and carried Charity on his front. I had two and sometimes three book bags. Julianna had her book bag and would often relieve me of the third. Ashleigh was just doing well to keep walking; she could not handle the heavy book bag as well. We were thrilled to make it to the house. Soon, a neighbor lady who cleans the home arrived to open the home for us and show us around. This is when we learned that we had gotten off at one bus stop too early and had actually walked 2.96 miles (Let me add that the last ¾ of a mile was all uphill.).

As we were settling in and trying to communicate with her in Spanish, we were told that the car that was made available with the house for a small charge was BROKEN!! This was the car that we had planned to get us to the store that very night to purchase all food that we would need. We were also looking forward to using it to take us to nearby La Paz – the famous waterfalls and gardens. When I asked if there was any food in the house, I got the answer I had suspected. NO! Thankfully, the lady arranged for someone to come and pick Travis up to get some needed food items. Without a car, I was also feeling a bit uneasy considering the fact that Charity was really not doing very well physically. When I asked about any way of communicating with someone if there was an emergency, she responded that the house had no phone, so since we did not have a cellular there was no way to communicate. She told us that the gardener would be by at 7:00 to speak with Travis. I figured they would be able to work something out with the car.

You can imagine my shock when I got a knock at the door about 20 minutes after Travis had left for the store. It was the gardener. Amidst my uneasiness of being out there alone, frustrated that my husband was not home for this all important meeting, and my uncertainty that I had clearly communicated in Spanish with this gentleman, I burst into tears as he walked away.

Now, I must stop here to say that we all could have still enjoyed our time at this home immensely as it is well equipped and is in a gorgeous setting of solitude. However, a few more things made this trip a real test of faith and of gratitude for us all.

The home was in the mountains, and so it got quite cold. Travis, who is usually quite good at building a fire, could not get the small woodstove to keep a fire going. So, for the first night we had no heat other than the heat produced by the motor on the dehumidifier in the room that the girls shared. Plus, the house had an open set of steep wooden stairs leading down to a basement. We tried to blockade it for Caroline, but she was still able to climb over it, so we had to watch her like a hawk. This concern was further complicated by the fact that we had not brought Caroline’s pop-up (We had felt that we could arrange something when we got there, and besides, how were we to carry a pop-up through the bus station and on the walk?). She is still a bit too young to stay on a blanket on the floor – especially if, when she rolls off, she is on a cold tile floor. She is also not used to sleeping with us, and, as we learned, she would NOT sleep with us!! We were finally able to get her to go to sleep in her backpack; this provided a safe and warm place for her since we put her in her backpack in the room with the humidifier/heater. Still, our biggest challenge, Charity’s illness, remained. She consistently ran a fever near 104 degrees and an alternating combo of Tylenol and ibuprofen was necessary around the clock. With no car and no form of communication, we just had to continue to medicate and pray that everything would be alright.

The next morning, the pre-arranged horseback rides were not possible because it was rainy. We asked about the availability of a doctor. However, a visit would have required getting someone to take us about an hour ride away because the local doctors would not see foreigners. (Even then, with the ride, I knew that there would be a wait-time and then probably an ordeal in obtaining medicine.) So, since Charity seemed a bit better, we decided to ride it out, hoping that we would be able to still enjoy the local area. We spent that morning mostly indoors due to the on again off again showers. The two older girls did get some enjoyable time in the tree house, and Travis was even able to slip in a quick hike with two very happy girls, even if it did end in a downpour. He was also once again waiting for the one available ride to town. This time it was to get more Tylenol (since we were using it regularly) and diapers (I had forgotten to tell Travis that necessary item the day before when he had to take the quick trip to the store). Thankfully, the housekeeper had been able to show Travis the trick to keep the woodstoves burning, so we were able to have some much appreciated heat on that cold, rainy second day. We tried to enjoy the beauty of the mountainside and the opportunity for family game time afforded by the situation.

Throughout the second night it became obvious that we must get Charity to a doctor. Her fever was not changing. We were now on day three of round-the-clock meds, and she was constantly complaining of her throat, head, and stomach. We prayed that God would provide transportation for us to get back to San Jose so we would not have to wait for the two o ‘clock bus (which would require not only the two hour bus ride but also waiting for an hour to make certain that we did not miss it).

The next morning we told the caretakers that we could pay $80 if someone could take us back to San Jose. They returned to tell us the one person available could only take us half way because he did not have the specific tag on his car needed to drive in San Jose. This boy’s help would still get us into San Jose around lunch time we figured, and we were grateful. We ended up riding a fast trip out of the mountains in the boy’s car (very rough on a sick little gal), getting on a bus to San Jose, walking a number of blocks downtown, and obtaining two taxis to take us home (many taxi drivers will no longer take all six of us because the traffic rules are becoming stiffer).

Upon arriving, I called a doctor we have grown to appreciate. He is a Costa Rican who has come to our home on two occasions so far. I told him we would be willing to go to his office 15 minutes away if he had any openings, but he said that he was already out and would come to our house. Just 30 minutes later he was checking all of us. Charity and I both had strep. I felt weak and tired (but who would not after the past month?) and Charity was very sick. I was sooo glad for God’s provision of this doctor and some much needed medicine.

I must admit it was difficult for each of us to not be disappointed in what we had expected for this vacation. For the girls it was the horseback riding, the waterfall, and more time in the woods. For Travis it was the total vacation he had planned for the family, and for me it was the rest and relaxation I thought that I would get. I had also found this experience to be frightening with a sick child and the isolation felt with no form of communication and no vehicle available nearby.

Upon reflection, I know that God was exposing me to much that I only knew about from a distance before now. God safely protected us on our trip and provided for our every need. He ordained this mountain get away for reasons we did not plan. It exposed the ugliness of my demanding heart and the lack of trust by my fearful soul. I am very thankful for new perspectives that the Lord is pressing on me as my world has changed so much. I know that this can be said of many of you too, as God continues to change us into the image of His dear Son. Are there situations for you that challenge you, press you, discourage you? Romans 8 reminds us of His unfailing love no matter the situation!!!!!

TRAVIS’ THOUGHTS:
I am ashamed to say that I did not at first handle all of these challenges very well. That first night was full of exhaustion and frustration for me, until I was able to come to grips with the fact that my greatest frustrations were linked to my own feelings that we deserved to have a better vacation. The Holy Spirit just seemed to keep pounding that thought home, and I had to have a time of repentance and prayer, yielding myself to humbly (and even gratefully) accept whatever my loving Father determined was best for me and my family. Although our second day there was still filled with stresses and disappointments, so far as my plans were concerned, our whole family enjoyed the day much more than we had the first day. I am certain that this was largely because of our commitment to be grateful for whatever was there.

In many ways, this vacation trip was a microcosm of our first four months in Costa Rica. It had it all – sickness, rain, feelings of isolation, exhaustion, frustration with the language barrier, and, sadly, frustration and lack of patience with each other. It was, I think, like a final exam from the Lord, and I know that I did not grade very well. It seems that I will need to be continually taught to humble myself to His sovereign plan and recognize that I am privileged to be His servant and His son. Thankfully, just as He had been through the previous months, God was patient, merciful, and faithful to us, even when we didn’t “get it.”

Cheers and Tears – by Travis

2008-12-14T19:10:00.000-06:00

Well, so far, so good. We officially ended the first trimester of our language training here in Costa Rica. As you have learned from previous entries, these past few months have certainly not been without their share of challenges and difficulties; yet we have enjoyed some tremendous blessings, also. As we look back upon are brief time here, we realize that we have indeed been able to learn much of the language in this short space of time. There is a great deal more to learn, and the process of learning it promises to continue to be filled with obstacles, but we are truly thankful for much as we head into this holiday season.

One of the sweetest blessings we have experienced here has been the forging of new friendships. The Language Institute has a unique blend of missionaries from a variety of different mission boards and church backgrounds; and they bring with them differing philosophies and even doctrines. Yet, for all these differences, there is an amazing camaraderie among the missionaries. I suppose it is because we have all been walking through similar episodes of faith-building tests and patience-building difficulties. Whatever the reasons, Emily and I have found it to be very easy to meet new friends and feel as though we have known them for years. Indeed, it not overstating the matter to say that our new-found friendships have been a major source of comfort and aid during these past few months. God has worked through many others to strengthen and lift our spirits.

Alas, several of these friends are now departing us. They have completed their studies here and they are now leaving to go to the fields to which the Lord has called them. This past Friday, we attended the graduation ceremonies at the school, where those who passed a certain level of language proficiency were awarded a certificate. It was something of an emotional time as we all celebrated the accomplishment of the task at hand and commended them to the various tasks before them.

I don’t guess that anyone likes to say “goodbyes.” I think that parting from loved ones is one the most difficult things about life. We had to do it when we left the States, and we continue to do it here. It’s just one of those things we cannot avoid, even we would like to. But, oh, how sweet heaven will be! I wish that I could visit each of these friends in their fields in a few years, and see how God is using them, but that simply will not be possible. Perhaps that sort of “catching up” is one of the things we will enjoy doing for all eternity?

Yes, we study; but, we do more than that too!!!! – by Emily

2008-12-09T15:24:00.000-06:00

Like many ministries, the staff and faculty at our school also wear many different hats. Charity’s kindergarten teacher has, as one of her many jobs, the responsibility of being the high school basketball coach. This has been a huge task for her as there has not been a competitive team before this year. She has not only been in charge of coaching and setting up games but also obtaining referees for the games.

Our family has been a proud supporter of our school’s basketball team since the beginning. After all, we want to support our beloved teacher, watch our sweet friends that play and cheer, and also get to have a fun and safe family outing. On one night, the students played the fathers at the school; so, of course, Travis participated then. The girls were loyal to their father bringing signs to hold up on his behalf. He made us all proud with his basketball skills. As of late, he has been helping out by refereeing some of the games. The school hosted a tournament recently, and he refereed all three games. I think he made some enemies that day; but, as he pointed out, they were on both sides . During the third game, I worked the score board (which consists of numbers on a flip posterboard) with Caroline on my hip.

A big highlight for our entire family came the day after Thanksgiving, when over 85 children from the Robealto Children’s Home came to our school campus. Evidently, there is a long standing tradition for the children of this home to come to our school for a huge party every year at this time. We received information concerning this party about six weeks prior to the event; as the time got closer and the information got clearer, the more excited I became.
The director of this large ministry came and spoke in our chapel. We found out that the children come to live there while their parents go through counseling to become capable parents. The goal is to eventually to restore the children to their homes. These kids come from terrible situations, and they are desperate for love, security, order, and wise instruction. I was so impressed with the focus that the entire staff places on the Word of God and on the transforming power of a life with Jesus Christ. The home has been around for 75 years and has an incredible success rate. Most of the time the children are only allowed to stay two years at Robealto.

So, for the party, the school organized carnival type games that all of the children got to enjoy in an organized rotation. Our family had agreed to run one of the games. Travis had made our version of PLINKO – El Plinco. Our girls handed out a piece of candy to every child that came through, and then Ashleigh gave a pack of twist – up crayons to the winner of each rotation. The girls got to have personal contact with each child. The school provided a meal for the guest children. During the meal, I encouraged our girls to go sit near some of the children. Before long I noticed that two of the young boys were sweetly sharing their food with our girls. This brought big smiles to all - the givers and the receivers. After the meal, we all enjoyed playing a group game together. Also, as I have learned, a party is just not a party without a piñata ; so, there were four piñatas stationed in the corners of the gym for the different age categories. To end the party each child received a gift specifically chosen for them by someone at our school. Different families, staff, teachers, and classes had selected individual names and bought and wrapped a gift to bring for their child. What a joy it was for our girls to see the delight on the face of the little boy for whom we had bought a present. We watched without him knowing as he continued to study the box to see exactly what he had gotten!! Julianna’s class had also picked a girl and a boy. Jules got to see the girl open her gift, and she was actually able to tell the girl that her 5th grade class had gone in together to get her gift. That girl was very appreciative and thrilled. While we were standing around for the closing, Travis and I noticed Julianna crying. When we asked her what was wrong, her reply was that she was just so happy. The memory of this night will always be special.

It’s beginning to look (and feel?) a lot like Christmas – by Travis

2008-11-26T10:59:00.000-06:00

Holidays, as you might expect, are different here. That was evident rather quickly to us when the country celebrated its Independence Day just a couple of weeks after we arrived here — in the middle of September! Perhaps the strangest part has been the significant absence of the special days to which we have grown so accustomed (I mean, not the days themselves, but the celebrations that generally accompany them). Of course, this has not always been a bad thing. When Halloween rolled around, we were actually kind of relieved to discover that it doesn’t have any real importance (their “night of the dead,” a few days later, seems to have a very different significance, and it was sans all the costumes and house décor that have become so popular in the last few decades in the U.S.). Our family enjoyed a quiet evening at home without the first request for candy.

Of course, they do love holidays and special days here. Within a few days of our arrival we discovered that fireworks may be fired off on just about any given day. It seems that each little barrio, or community, has some kind of special day to commemorate its foundation (or to just celebrate its existence), and these days are not marked on our “gringo” school calendar. Our introduction to this discrepancy was an enormous “BOOM” just outside our front door one evening. We had only been in the country a few days, and now we were wondering if a bomb had gone off outside! I carefully sneaked a peak outside and saw a tremendous amount of smoke in the middle of the street; but, as the smoke cleared, I noticed that the traffic resumed its normal “flow,” and the pedestrians walked on by with only the most casual glances at the spot in the road where the explosion had taken place. It seemed apparent to me that whatever had just happened was more or less commonplace here, and we were going to have to adjust. Sure enough, subsequent weeks have proved that deduction more or less correct, as other “fireworks” are fired off nearby nearly every week or so.

Although the absence of the usual “celebration” of Halloween was no great loss to us, I have to admit that its absence did strike me in an unexpected way. It seems that the sale of all those Halloween trinkets in the States, and the Thanksgiving goodies to follow, does have a significant effect upon when the Christmas decorations go up. Here in Costa Rica, without those two holidays to occupy the stores, the Christmas theme becomes pronounced far sooner. We were shocked to find Christmas trees and other Christmas décor in some of the stores by the middle of October! Now, since I am from Florida, it is not unusual for me to see Christmas decorations while I am still wearing short sleeved shirts, but I was still not prepared for Christmas in October. Before long, our kids were coming home singing some of the Christmas songs which they were learning in Spanish.

I have already mentioned that being from Florida has skewed my perspective of Christmas season weather. I am quite accustomed to caroling in our neighborhood, just days before Christmas, in shorts; and I can attest that things such as eggnog and apple cider are almost as enjoyable as ice cream as they are as warm beverages. So, you will have to take my thoughts on this matter with a “grain of snow.” Still, there has been a cooling in the weather here that is making things feel a bit like the winter holidays. It has “dipped” into the sixties several times (I know, how awful), and coupled with the winds and the dampness (a near-permanent mist seems to hover around these days), it is downright cold, at least in the mornings and evenings. I imagine that it won’t be long before we have our first cup of Christmas season hot cocoa (if we find the stuff to make it).

Of course, the approaching holidays also cause us to think even more about our families and friends back in the States. Thanksgiving is here now, and it just will not be the same to be apart. But we are very thankful to God for each one of you, and we look forward to the time when, in God’s good pleasure, we are in your company once again. Happy Thanksgiving!

Caroline’s First Birthday - by Emily

2008-11-18T11:32:00.000-06:00

We postponed the celebration of Caroline’s first birthday for a week because of the events of the previous week (as you got to read about on our last entry). This new date worked out much better because we were actually out of school this past Friday. We had some breathing room to shop, clean house, and prepare for our special brunch. Our house is not super big – you can probably gather that from the pictures – but I LOVE to have company. We invited three families over. The children all got along beautifully, and I enjoyed hearing all of the chatter and excitement. The sun was shining, and it was a lovely day. This allowed for us to be able to open up the front door and the back doors and extend the eating and visiting area to both the “garage” and the back porch. The children all enjoyed eating on the back porch, which of course included special seats on the hammock.

We planned a brunch because I thought that time of day would be good (night activities are not as popular down here) plus I figured that brunch food would be more fun and easier to serve. Our family really enjoyed the food because we splurged on some items that are too costly for our normal budget. It was the first bacon and cheddar cheese that we had bought since being in the US (Two items that we enjoyed at home).We also had some fruits that I do not generally get. Combined with the sweet treats, we were thrilled.

Little Caroline was adorable. She walks with such ease and seems to be on quite the determined path at all times (Does this sound like any of our other girls?). She was a hoot to watch as she purposefully strutted all over the house joining in with the different groups playing different things. Although there were no other children her age, she fit right in with all of the activity. She is definitely used to this!!! Julianna worked hard on a poster-sized clown for us to play “pin-the-nose-on-the-clown.” Even Caroline put a nose on that clown.

Caroline had gotten a taste of the cake when I was putting it together, and I knew that she was not going to hesitate for long with her own piece later in the day. Sure enough, she grabbed at the cake when I held it up beside her for the picture, and I think before I had served all of the children, she was probably done with her piece. She woofed that thing down!!!! Julianna watched as Caroline finished her cake, eagerly hoping that Caroline would pick up the dirty plate and put it on her head like her sister Ashleigh had done. I was thrilled that Caroline looked fairly clean considering we were talking about chocolate icing and a one year old , so I promptly rescued Caroline and myself from that possibility!

We missed having with us our family and friends from home for this special day. As I read the card sent from my mom, tears welled up in my eyes. This was a first –to not have family. We have been so blessed in the many birthdays before this one to have been able to share them with so many family members. I am very thankful for the modern day technologies that do allow for such fast and clear communication – even being able to converse live in pictures through Skype. That makes this separation so much easier.

We continually thank God for the blessing of our sweet Caroline in our lives. She has been such a gift to us all. We were overjoyed to be able to celebrate her life, and we were thankful for some very good friends with whom to share this celebration!

A Weekend to Remember – by Travis

2008-11-10T21:03:00.000-06:00

I know that there is a Christian ministry that hosts weekend retreats for couples, and they call their retreats by the same name as that which I have used for this entry. Sadly, the weekend to which I refer was definitely NOT one of those retreats. No, this one was memorable for reasons on the opposite end of the spectrum from those happy couple retreats.

Our weekend began shortly after school was out for the kids on Halloween Friday. We hurried home and got the kids dressed for a party with some other missionary families. Upon arrival, Emily informed me that she felt very nauseous (a symptom we have experienced enough times here to know it probable means trouble), but the party was fun, and afterward we headed home without incident.

When we arrived at our house, I paid the taxi, gathered Caroline in my arms, and exited the car, all the while observing Emily and the other girls as they exited the back seat behind. I wanted to be certain that they did not leave anything in the taxi (we’ve done that before) especially since it was dark outside and the interior taxi light was not functioning. Within just moments of waving goodbye to the taxi and letting ourselves into the house, I realized that my wallet was missing! Somehow I had neglected to put it back into my pocket after paying the taxi driver. I rushed outside to see whether I could find it on the ground where we had exited the taxi, but it was not there. Since taxis frequently line up just a few blocks from our house as they wait for passengers or calls, I hurried over to “taxi row” to see whether our driver had gone there to wait; but my search was to no avail. So I trudged home with a prayer on my lips and a resignation in my heart that we were powerless to do anything about our situation. It would truly take a miracle to recover the wallet. After an hour passed, we realized that God had not chosen to do a miracle this time, and I began the process of cancelling our credit cards.
By this time, Emily’s nausea was progressing toward a full-fledged stomach virus with a fever and headache. Had it not been for the fact that Charity had already had the virus the previous weekend, we would have suspected food-poisoning. I was beginning to not feel well myself, so we got the kids to bed and tried to get some sleep. For Emily, it was a very long night.

In the morning, I could tell that I was not going to escape this “bug” for long. I was able to make pancakes for the kids (something that Emily generally does on Saturdays), and also to do a few other small chores around the house, but by 11:00 a.m. the virus had forcefully announced its presence. Emily was already miserable and had kept to the bed most of the morning, so I joined her there. I’ll spare you all the details and summarize the rest of the day as one in which both parents were laid up bed without any desire to see or smell food. The older kids were a real blessing as they played together, watched some movies, and helped to keep an eye on Caroline. Somehow, Emily did manage to fix something for the kids to eat.
I don’t recall much about how the evening was passed, since I slept fitfully through the afternoon and evening, but I do remember that Emily and I prayed frequently that God would spare the children from getting the virus until we felt well enough to care for them. He graciously answered that prayer for us. Caroline did not get ill until early the next morning, and although Emily did not feel anywhere near well, she commented that when she awakened, she felt for the first time that she could actually manage to care for someone else.

The weekend ended with Caroline under the power of the virus (which meant many changes of clothes and diapers, and much cleaning). However, there was still one little “cherry” to add to the top of our special weekend. On Sunday afternoon, while Emily was giving little Caroline a bath just about every hour or two, our hot water heater broke. We learned to appreciate our water heater more while we boiled water on the stove in its absence.

The sickness did not end with the weekend but carried way into the week for me and added Ashleigh too as one of its victims. Somehow, Julianna escaped what everyone else had.

To add to these events, little Caroline fell in the nursery on Thursday her first day back. She managed to hit her nose pretty hard on a rocking chair. This left her with a gigantic multi-colored nose. We were told to awaken her every two hours throughout that night to make certain that she was not suffering from any internal head injuries. Thankfully, she was fine other than a really funny looking face for her first birthday

Now, it is very important that I end this entry on a positive note, because God brought these trials into our lives for a good purpose. Although we felt weak and tired during these trying days, I cannot understate the reality of the joy in our hearts at the present while I write this blog. God has faithfully brought us through another storm so that we may glorify Him through our response and our dependence upon His grace. We are not unusual in our trials. I know that many of you who are reading this face even more difficult battles on a regular basis. I pray that you will know God’s sustaining strength during your time of testing, and that you will rest in His perfect plans for you, no matter how difficult the road.
Thanks for your prayers.

A Typical Day in Language School - by Travis

2008-10-31T15:08:00.000-06:00

It may seem that this entry is just a “laundry list” of the things that we do in a typical day, and there is some truth to that. Still, I feel that I should share this with you for several reasons. First, some of you have inquired into some details about language school, and so this entry will help to answer several people at once. Secondly, we feel somewhat badly when we are not able to follow-up with correspondence and phone-calls as we would like, and we want to explain why we are not always able. Thirdly, we truly need you to lift us up in prayer, and this will give you more details on how to pray. It is hard for me to relate how exhausting the school week is, both physically and emotionally, so we regularly feel as though we are just “pushing through the next hour.” Your prayers and encouragement are a great help to us, so we thank you.

A typical school day for me (Travis) begins at about 4:00 a.m. This is because, as you will see, it is the best time for study (unless you are a night owl, like Emily). Sometimes, when there is much work to do, I get up at 3:00 (On those days, I can’t seem to get the pot of water to boil quickly enough for coffee!).

I awaken Emily around 5:00 (sometimes a few minutes later if I have lost track of time) and we each send some separate time with the Lord before coming together to pray. The kids are awakened at 6:00. While they make their beds, get dressed, and comb their hair, I make breakfast and Emily gets their lunches ready. We generally eat breakfast at about 6:30, and we have a few minutes after breakfast is finished before we have to pack everyone up and walk to school. Classes begin at 7:30, so we are glad that we are only 5-7 minutes away from the school.

Generally, a day of language school courses consists of four classes of fifty minutes each. There are six class periods in the day, so everyone has two free periods each day. One period is regularly used for optional bible studies and chapel services. The other is truly “free.” For us, the free period is the last period of the school day, so this means that we are actually finished with our classes early, at about 12:05.The instruction in all of the classes is given almost exclusively in Spanish (in fact, several of the teachers have very little knowledge of English whatsoever). This fact makes the mere act of listening to be something of a challenge. Of course, it is best in the long term, because we are also getting practice in hearing native speakers speak the language; but it does place a great drain on one’s mind. We are, therefore, quite thankful to be finished around noon.

Two of our four class periods are dedicated to Grammar. We study the parts of speech, the different verb tenses, and we learn how all these parts of the language are used. Of course, as with any new language, the trick is to comprehend how different functions may be similar to functions in your native tongue and yet avoid trying to force everything into some form of equivalence. Another class period is called Language, in which emphasis is placed upon vocabulary and proper oral usage. Here, we are supposed to “iron out” the concepts we have learned in Grammar. The final class period is dedicated to Phonetics where we learn the proper pronunciation of syllables and words and how speak the phrases and sentences with good inflection and emphasis. In future trimesters, this Phonetics period is replaced with another period of Language study.

After the last class, we pick Caroline up from the nursery and head home for lunch. Most days, we are able to catch a short nap after lunch, but sometimes this is when we must make certain phone calls back to the States. The three older girls remain in school until 2:30, so one of us returns at that time to pick them up. Once we arrive back home (generally at about 2:45) the kids begin on homework while Emily and I busy ourselves with either helping the kids or maintaining the house (The Institute strongly recommends hiring a maid, at least part time, to help with cleaning, cooking, and laundry, but we were not able to because we were waiting for our house in the States to rent, and money was tight). Often, because our refrigerator/freezer is very small, one of must make mid-week grocery trips to a near-by store. We also try to get dinner started soon, because our daily rhythm requires us to eat at about 5:00. Any later than that, and we fall behind for the night.

Once the family is finished with dinner, we begin to prepare for bed. The business of the daily schedule requires everyone to pitch in and help, so the kids do some household cleaning chores while also taking their showers in rotation. Julianna’s duty is sweep the dining room and living room each evening. Ashleigh dries the dishes while Daddy washes them. Mommy is usually giving Caroline a bath during this time. And Charity must dump the trashes in the two bathrooms (a job which, in a city that does not flush paper down the toilet, is a pretty big deal for a germ-conscious four-year-old).

When the chores are done, it is generally close to the time when we have family devotions, somewhere between 7 and 7:30. So we put Caroline down for the night, and meet together in the older girl’s bedroom. During this period in our lives, when our family understands only portions of the church services on Sunday, the time together as a family in devotions has become even more critical for spiritual instruction and for maintaining a family cohesiveness. We often “go into overtime” as we discuss principles and concepts from the Bible lessons and pray over particular concerns.

By the time family devotions are through, it is time for bed (indeed, little Charity often does not make it that long). The kids generally go to sleep around 8:00, although the two oldest may occasionally need to put some finishing touches on homework. For Emily, this is often the first quiet moments she has had to begin to focus on her own studies! For my part, I am usually turning into a pumpkin by this time. Any attempts at studying in this condition are futile, and I try to “clock out” early so I can begin fresh, early the next morning!

Still, with all of the helter-skelter of these weeks, we are grateful to be able to say that we are more than halfway through this first trimester! God does continue to strengthen us and to help us. In fact, the overall health of our family’s spirit is very good. We give Him glory and thanks, and we thank you for faithfully lifting us before His throne of Grace.

Kid’s Korner – Transportation

2008-10-14T15:45:00.000-06:00

by Julianna

There are three major ways that we get around. The first and most used way is by foot. We must be careful to not step in dog “gifts,” or trip on the cracks and holes in the sidewalks, or fall into the “gringo traps” (storm drains without grates).

The second was is by taking a taxi. In order to get to the church that we have decided to go to, we must use a taxi. There are two rules about taxis. You are not allowed to get the taxi at the back of the line, but you must walk to the front of the line and take the first taxi. This makes it fair to the drivers [who have been waiting longest]. A second rule to remember is to NOT slam the doors [they close very easily].
We can spot a taxi pretty easily here because almost all the red cars are taxis. If there is not a taxi stop nearby, then we have to wave our arms whenever one comes by; and, hopefully, they will stop for us.

We are not required to wear seatbelts inside the taxi. Mommy holds Caroline when we ride.
The third way to travel is to catch a bus. In order to get on one we must wave our arms just like we would do for a taxi [if we are not near a regular stop]. Hopefully they will not be too full. Everyone pays a small fare [less than 50 cents] to get on the bus. Once you are inside, you either sit or stand, depending on how crowded the bus is. In order to get off, you pull a cord attached to the wall by your seat. Sometimes the bus driver does not close the doors, so you must be careful not to fall off.

The Spanish Language Institute – by Travis

2008-10-13T11:51:00.000-06:00

El Instituto de Lengua Español, or ILE (ee-lay), as it is known to the students and faculty, has a very long and established record of effective language training for missionaries. This is one major reason why we decided to come here. They have trained several generations of missionaries, so they have this whole thing down to a science. Still, though, they recognize that it is a ministry, and this was something that became very apparent to us during our first days here. As incoming students, we were required to attend several days of orientation. During this time, we were methodically instructed in everything from what to expect in our classes to how to observe and adapt to cultural sensitivities. We learned about security precautions, how to handle medical needs, and many other such useful instructions. But there were also some very serious challenges regarding moral purity and the need to be cautious in our relationships. Emphasis was also placed upon the need to maintain and strengthen our relationship with the Lord. In no uncertain terms, we were warned by several staff members and former students that the next year could very well be the most difficult of our lives. There are many different stress factors that converge in this type of setting, and we will need to rely daily upon God to get us through. We covet your prayers for us to this end.

All entering students are given both an oral interview and a written examination. These “tests” help the school determine how much Spanish a given student understands already, and they place them with other students that will be on comparable levels. This means that not everyone starts at the “beginning,” because some of the missionaries only need to “brush up” on some grammar while others need to begin with the alphabet. After two weeks of classes, the placement of the students is re-evaluated upon the more thorough knowledge from their performance in the classes. Some students are moved around to different classes, but for the most part, the initial evaluations are pretty accurate. Emily and I were placed in “middle of the pack” classes, and we do feel that they had us pegged pretty well. Although we do not share classes, we do have the same schedule, so we can enjoy our breaks together.

Almost all of the instruction at the Institute is given in Spanish. And although the teachers do try to adjust their vocabulary, grammar, and pace to the suit the classes they are teaching, it is still hard work to listen if one is not accustomed to it. If you lose focus for a moment, you will miss what is being said, and it just might be very important. You cannot subconsciously “clue in” to key phrases as you can when the language is natural to you. Because of this, the first few days, or even weeks, are exhausting simply from trying to listen intently to understand what is being said. Of course, there is much other work to do, so we are very glad that the school days are only half-full with classes.

Our First Days in Costa Rica (August 21-24) - by Emily

2008-10-12T11:04:00.000-06:00

I must say it was a very exciting and sobering feeling to know that the sights being viewed as the airplane wheels touched down were things that would be a part of my new home and not just a “vacation. Flying over Costa Rica had been really special as well. You could see mountains and rivers. One river was quite large and very brown in color. As the plane came down, I noticed the outskirts of San Jose – those parts seemed wealthier denoted by big homes and spread out spaces. Then, I began to see home on top of home with all kinds of metal roofs; this area did NOT appear wealthy. Before I knew it, we were touching down. We were greeted at the airport by our “Big Brother” –Doug Amundson – a very likeable man easy to spot with red hair and an eager smile (He and his wife are currently third trimester students who made the arrangements to secure our home for us, and they were responsible for helping us get settled in here.) Doug greeted us and led us to a van that would take us to our new home. I wondered if this small van was going to be able to get all eight of us and twelve trunks to our new home. As we drove through the town, it was tough to see all the many signs in another language. The city was a typical BIG city. I believe that some of my shock might have been equal if I had driven into the heart of a large city in the US. I had seen a few pictures of the inside of our new home, but I did not know what the outside would look like. I had braced myself for bars on the windows; however, I was not fully prepared for the amount of bars and razor wire everywhere in the neighborhood. We pulled up to our new home – a sweet white home with red gates and bars. We had a welcoming committee, for which I was sooo glad. We finally got to meet Heather Amundson (after having spent hours on the phone with Heather in preparation) and their two children, Hannah and Caleb. Eileen Jarvis and her two children, Erin and Nick, were also there. The Jarvis’ are actually from Tarpon Springs and have some close friends in common with us. These two families made our initial transition to Costa Rica much easier and sweeter, since I already felt like I had relationships with each of them. God was gracious to provide us with these blessings.

The next few hours were a blur of activity. One of the first things we learned was that you must throw away all toilet paper instead of flushing it down the toilet; evidently the sewage system cannot handle all the waste otherwise. This would prove to be quite the adjustment for the kids to get used to and break the normal routine of wipe and throw in the toilet. Charity was so scared of doing it wrong that for days she wanted me to wipe her. Just ten minutes after arriving, we were introduced to another normal occurrence at this time of year in Costa Rica - rain in the afternoon. On this first day, God held off the rain until we were completely unloaded –another big blessing. We soon found out that the usual time of starting is about 1:00 and that it continues until at least near dark.

The ladies introduced me to the colones, the currency of Costa Rica, and taught me how to do some quick figuring to find the approximate cost in American dollars. I was then whisked off to the local grocery store (called Jumbo) to purchase what I would need (By the way, what did I need?). The grocery store was definitely overwhelming to me. First, there is a different smell, due to the meat, to which I have still not gotten accustomed. I had heard that some vegetables and fruits would be more dangerous for foreigners to eat (Was this true?). And not only were the prices and currency different, but most of the brands and packaging were completely new to me as well. Furthermore, everything was measured in grams, kilograms, liters, and meters. This little excursion also introduced me to the local taxis. My “Big Sister” had gone with me to the store, and as we went, she threw out names of stores and places we would need to visit. She spoke to the taxi driver with great ease and maneuvered her way around that store in an amazing fashion. I kept thinking, “I am going to have to do this for someone some day. Will I ever be familiar with this stuff? Will I ever be able to go anywhere by myself?”

The next two days were packed full of visiting three other stores and the local farmer’s market (I can now say that I can pronounce the names of these stores, and am able to get to all of them by myself. I had to take taxi ride after taxi ride to them all to see where I could find different things). One of the favorite stores for the missionaries here is a place called Pequeno Mundo (this means “Small World”). I would call it a cross between a dollar store and a Big Lots, but in a warehouse style (Travis calls it “Big Lots on steroids”). Here I was able to buy 5 plates, 6 glasses, 2 blankets that act as our bedspread, and some needed cookware and plastic containers. Needless to say, there was much to take in and much to learn in those first few days. It was both exciting and terrifying all at once. But God got us through all of those adjustments, and these very same things don’t seem so big any more.

Travel Day (August 21, 2008) – by Travis

2008-10-10T08:57:00.000-06:00

We did not get much sleep that night before we left. After staying up past 2:00 in the morning making sure that each of our trunks was the proper weight, we had to be up at 5:30 in order to get to the airport on time. Some good friends of ours had been allowing us to stay the last few days in an apartment above their garage, and now they were willing to drive us to the airport with all of our trunks stacked in their truck. They were a tremendous blessing to us. Emily’s parents were also taking some family members with them in their van, so we crammed the whole family and all our luggage into those two vehicles. Our party embarked just a few minutes later than I had hoped (which wasn’t bad considering everything and everyone we were trying to get moving), but then we encountered heavy traffic that was so bad we were forced to turn back and try to get to the airport via a different route. In my heart, I was a little concerned that we would be too late to get safely checked in at the airport, so I was praying that God would enable the second route to be clear and free of traffic jams. He did, and we were able to arrive just a little bit behind our desired schedule.

Once at the airport, we saw God do something that greatly simplified our check in process and made up for lost time. A baggage attendant helped us unload the trunks and cart them into the check-in line, and then he vouched for the weight of the luggage to those at the counter. I guess he had enough experience that he could tell the trunks were not over 50 lbs. (although we had intentionally stuffed each one 49 lbs.!). As a result, we did not have to weigh a single one of our trunks. They just labeled them and sent them through. I had never had an airline do that before, and I was expecting them to pretty particular since the airlines were beginning to charge extra for baggage on domestic flights. But God knew we needed those bags to be checked through, and He brought everything together perfectly (I only wish we had gotten more sleep the night before)!
The girls traveled very well. Only Julianna (10), had any memory of flying before, so it was a pretty big deal for Ashliegh (7) and Charity (4). There were some butterflies as we taxied for takeoff out of Tampa, but by the time we took off from Miami on the second leg of our journey, they were acting as though they were quite experienced. For much of the flight they looked out the windows and marveled at how small everything looked.
It is perhaps just a much a wonder that all of our baggage arrived with us as it is that the baggage was checked in so easily. In fact, by the time we had worked our way through immigration, our trunks were sitting off to the side, neatly stacked upon one another. An airport baggage assistant loaded them up on a cart and we made our way to customs. Now, we had heard that just about anything could happen at customs, depending on the mood of the customs officials. We had a letter from the language school that explained why we were bringing so many things with us, but we were not to use it unless necessary. While we braced for a thorough search and perhaps even some tariffs, the customs official was busy telling our baggage assistant that he only needed to send half of the trunks through the x-ray machine. Not only did we not have to open any of trunks for further search, but half of them were not even examined in the least! Now, I suppose this sort of “security” could concern me if I pondered it long, but I did not. We were just grateful that everything we had carefully packed was now with us in Costa Rica. We gave thanks.

The Big Send-Off (August 17) – by Travis

2008-10-09T08:26:00.000-06:00

In the weeks before we left for language school, we were blessed to be able to see many friends and family. Several dear friends helped us finish off some repairs on our house so that we could take a trip to see some distant family members one last time. When we returned from our trip we had only a week and a half before our departure. We felt that we were stuck in a whirlwind as we tried to get everything finished, but we were still very glad that we had been able to take that trip. It was a great blessing to our hearts, and the labor of friends that made the trip possible was a real answer to our prayers.

On the Sunday before we departed the country, we enjoyed another tremendous blessing. Our sending church, Keystone Bible Church in Odessa, FL, had planned a special day to demonstrate their love and support for us and to reassure us of their faithful prayers on our behalf. Our lives have been very enriched these past couple of years through our local church family. Few things have caused our hearts to rejoice so much as the privilege to see this church growing and strengthening into a healthy church once again. Now, on this day, I had the joy of communicating to them once again our affection for them and to challenge them to labor diligently for the eternal things of God. Our family soaked up the love which they shared. It was a very special and memorable day.

After the service was over, there was a dinner at the church. This provided us the opportunity to speak at greater length with many people and to share final “farewells.” Although we would have enjoyed more time, we were very thankful for a setting in which we could say our goodbyes all at once. In fact, our church had sent out invitations to many of our friends in the community, inviting them to a cake reception after the dinner (there was not room in the church for everyone to come to the service). We were all but overwhelmed to see all those who came and to know in our hearts that they each were really saying by their presence, “We love you guys and we are praying for you.” We continue to be encouraged and warmed by the memory of this special day. Even now, as I type this account, months later, I am smiling. “Thank you” to each of you who came, and each of you who communicated in other ways your support for us. And “Thank you,” dear family at Keystone Bible Church, for putting together such a special “send-off.”

Packing (August 08) – by Travis

2008-10-08T13:55:00.001-06:00

Packing for “the Big Move” was a particular challenge. Our family was not just going to be moving to Costa Rica for language training, we were also planning to spend 6 months or so for training with other missionaries hours away from our final destination of Siguatepeque, Honduras. This meant that we needed to plan for three moves, not one! Everything needed to be organized and packed according to when we would be able to use it again, so we had to think of everything in the house and decide whether we would need it at language school, whether we would need it during our field training (where Emily will once again be home-schooling the girls), or whether it is even practical to ship it to Siguatepeque when the time comes for us to settle in there.

We had already decided that we could not afford to store furniture and other large items for years on end, so we secured a small, 5’x5’ storage unit and began to fill it. We sold some items in our garage sale, but the bulk of it we simply gave away. After all, most of the furniture and such had been given to us over the years, so it seemed appropriate to pass it along so that others could be blessed by it. The whole family had to repeatedly go through the process of letting go of different items that just could not be kept. Little by little, the house was emptied. It seems as though we made a hundred trips back and forth to the storage unit. Each time we added some items and rearranged things for the best possible fit. The ladies who supervised the storage facility were very amused (and amazed) at all that we crammed in that little space. Honestly, I don’t think I could have packed that well again if I had been given a dozen tries. But God knew just which items we needed next, and he allowed us to have the right-sized items at the proper time. As my brother said, “God is much better at playing ‘Tetris’ than we are.” Still, even with all our downsizing and careful packing, we still needed to utilize another small space that was provided by a friend.

Perhaps the greatest “fun” in packing was in preparing our trunks for language school. We had been warned that we should pack everything that we might need in our check-on baggage because shipped items often arrive months later, and they can sometimes be costly to retrieve. So, with God’s help, we found some durable, plastic trunks at Walmart that were exactly the maximum size allowed for checked baggage without penalty. We rounded up twelve of these for the family (since baby Caroline had to have an airline ticket, also), and we played another round of ‘Tetris’ with our items -- only this time on a smaller, more repetitive scale. Using the bathroom scale as a guide, we packed, weighed, rearranged, swapped items, reweighed, etc., countless times in the days before leaving, and we were still doing it at two a.m. on the morning of our departure. Even the girls got into it as they were only allotted one trunk for their dolls, horses, doll clothes, and such. We are proud of the way they valiantly let go of various valued possessions that they simply could not bring with them. God used the whole process to refine our perspectives on material possessions and to help us to fix our gaze on Him and His Kingdom. It’s a lesson I’m sure we will have to repeat time and time again.