On the Terrace …

…or terraza as the case may be.

Because things got busy as they sometimes tend to do around here I ended up stashing this note in ‘drafts’ and forgot about it. I saw the title and questioned ‘what is that?’ … it was an evening out  with ‘our’ young married couples and it is from way back but it’s worth mentioning and so, I digress to the past – like Saturday May 5th!

For well over a year and half Lowell and I have opened our home to several of the young married couples of the church here.  We’ve read books together, studied great lesson series, watched and participated in the Fireproof movie and lessons, and just had some wonderful fellowship including cook-outs around the campfire and meals around the table. In all, there’s seven couples that have participated. Now to get us all together … that’s a rare occurrence … but each have been  in and out of our home numerous times. Juan Jose and Claudia are neighbors and friends of Juan Jose and Mirty. They  were regulars at church services and our home even before they had become Christians – what a day of rejoicing when they made the decision to be baptized!

So, this Saturday night mentioned above was really very, very special –  we all gathered at the home of Juan Jose and Claudia and they and Juan Jose and Mirty hosted an asado (cook-out) on their terraza! Wow! there’s was some delicious food – chicken, beef and sausages grilled out and the usual ‘sides’ of Honduras – churros (chips), beans, grilled tortillas, and chismol  (fresh salsa). It was so neat to be sitting up on their ‘roof’ and it was the night of the ‘super moon’ with an actual break in the typical cloud coverage so we could see it! We laughed and visited and just had a perfect time – as good friends should and do. One neat thing too is that neighbors were invited that are regular attendees of the Friday night small group that meets in Juan Jose’s and Mirty’s home.

Let me say, this is a good group of folks – they are a valuable part of the church in Santa Rosa. The men are beginning to be active in worship participating in prayers and Lord’s supper and represent the future deacons and elders of the church here. The ladies – four of which have children – are wonderful Mommies and wives – they will be teaching children and ladies in years to come. Each of these couples are getting in on the ‘ground-rules’ of what makes a marriage great and are understanding the hard work, daily, that it takes. The discussions have been thought-provoking and valuable.

I love this family of God!

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Good Things

There’s been some very good things going on here …

like:

The medical brigade with the Burnt Hickory folks in Yarushin. Over 800 people were served over the four days. There are always moving stories at our clinics – and you know some stand out more than others. This time there was a lady who had lived years with a mysterious bacterial infection that now has an answer and ‘remedy’ of sorts (and definitely a better life), and a number of small children were seen that had serious anemia problems. One little girl was even taken to the hospital in Santa Rosa and had to have blood transfusions. Thank God, some of the visiting folks were not only the right blood type but were willing to share their blood so this little one could get a new lease on life. We truly saw the fingerprints of the Father in these life stories.

And, last week, Scott and Tim returned (from Atlanta) for yet another basketball clinic and this time, guess what? among others, it included kiddos from our neighborhood! yay! Remember our post on Basketball – it’s not just a game? Well, from when this started “(Lowell) Got drafted into the NBA – Niños Basketball Association. Will be helping teach basketball skills to 9 – 12 year olds but interspersing Biblical teaching. Should be fun and its always good to guide kids to the Bible.” until now, there’s been almost weekly basketball activity with at least 5 different schools. The kids are learning valuable lessons about not only sportsmanship but also, pertinent lessons from the Bible and the value and necessity of prayer. The kids are growing in valuable ways that they can take into their everyday lives.

Also,t this week, with a little different twist, a group has gone back up to Ojos de Agua (where we’d had a medical/vision clinic a month ago) and a team of young folks from CO and Atlanta are holding basketball clinic in this mountain village. Fun times, encouraging moments and definitely great contacts for the Lord’s church in that area.

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Belize #3

We went to Belize – another of those 90-day exit thingies – ah, the things ya gotta do. *sigh*

This is LAW’s from facebook page:

“Connie Monsees

16 hours ago

How was Belize? 

Lowell Anthony White

Getting there was a bit rough but once there it was nice. We missed the boat in Puerto Cortes and had to travel to Puerto Barrios (4 hours in buses) in Guatemala. The small boat over was rough riding but it was cheaper and we missed a storm by not getting to Placencia til the next day. Had three nice days and then the boat back was on the biggest rolling waves I’ve seen. Fortunately, it was a bigger boat (45 passengers) so it was kinda cool. Got back home worn out. Thanks for asking. Sorry we missed saying goodbye to you all.

16 hours ago”

May I say, this is abbreviated in the extreme… so…

here – still in summation – is the rest of the story:

We left the house a little after 6 a.m. … ended up waiting for the 7 a.m. bus … well, we missed the boat because we were on the slowest Sultana Bus EVER! It was jammed packed – even though we got on together, Lowell was in the 3rd or seat, I was kind pushed with the crowd and ended up in the back of the bus in front of the rear bench seat and finally, rather than stand, I got to sit on a little 4-legged plastic stool with my backpack on floor in front of me. It was the first of my ‘wild’ rides – keeping balance while dodging pot holes was a challenge.

After unloading we took a taxi instead of a rapidito (small transit van) to Puerto Cortes – try as he did (a truly valiant effort) our taxi driver just missed the boat. So, after a potty break at a nice restaurant, we got some friendly advice from a waiter and walked 2 blocks over to catch a rapidito to the Guatemalan frontier. Hot is an understatement but, we were on our way albeit in the midst of  ‘Plan B’. Thankfully, through the years, Lowell and I (and our company of kids) have always dealt relatively well with ‘plan b, c, f or k’ … this world is an un-dependable place at times and you just gotta roll with the punches.

So, 2 rapiditos to get us to the border, (stopped at immigration, got our stamps) and one more rapidito once we crossed — this one was loaded! we had 20 or so people in a 15 seater van and stopped and picked up 7 men who just got off work – the door was open and they stood in and almost out, just holding on for several miles til we dropped them in their little village up the road. Amazing. So, this guy was really very, very nice and for 15 more queztales took us all the way to the dock at the ocean – which was excellent because Nemo was just about ready to head out – had we walked the 5 blocks as planned we would have missed him. (Lowell was able to do immigration a block away)  As it was, we bought our tickets right where we could also get baleadas and Gator Aid to go and we ate on the boat.

Nemo’s boat – man! it was a very, very rough and wild ride – it was so windy and the ocean was choppy as all get out. Besides Nemo and us, there was one of his sons, and a little Belizian family. Their little guy was very offended at the ocean spraying him every whip-stitch. Our boat would raise up and you would just steady yourself to be ready of the loud clap – like a gunshot and then the crash down. Oh, our backs and bottoms were so sore after this ride. However, it was lovely – silver sky and sea and the wind felt marvelous after the heat of the day.

Finally, we arrived about 5 or so in Punto Gordo (means ‘fat point’ – what a name) –  did what we needed to do at immigration, we talked about staying in someplace new but, call us old fogeys or whatever, we were content to go back where we had stayed with Jake and Daniel on our 1st trip – so, we had the room next to where we’d been and had a good rest. It stormed so big in the night and I commenced to praying hard that we’d travel fine in the Hokey Pokey water taxi the next morning. And we did – the rains stopped by morning, we loaded on our very nice bus with bookoos of others and we made it to Independence in the nick of time. As we got off the boat a taxi driver asked us if we needed a ride, we said we’d just walk to the Hokey Pokey and it’s a good thing because he ended up calling them and they had just pulled out and came back to wait for us. Thank You, God! Otherwise, it’d been a several hour wait til the next. We ended up settling in to Miss Julia’s cabana before 8 that morning! Finally!! and because they had a storm the night before, they had some leaks in the room we were supposed to stay in and we got to stay in a cabana for the same price.

We felt blessed.

We thoroughly enjoyed our 3 full days of sand, sea and sky – spent time swimming, sitting on the beach, reading, walking the shore, tooling about Placencia, praying, and meditating. Every day the sky was marvelous! The seashore is one of my favorite places in the world – I feel so close to God and can see, hear and sense his greatness and majesty.

We headed back to Honduras on Friday, 9:30 a.m. aboard the D-Express exited Belize – got in to Puerto Cortes traveling over some high seas (yikes!), did our thing at immigration – an additional 90-days! and by 2:30 or so, got on board a rapidito … a long, fun ride to San Pedro’s terminal, by 6:30 rode Hedman Alas back home to Santa Rosa and walked in the door a little before 10 p.m. – whew!

We went to Belize – another of those 90-day exit thingies – it’s a week later and it hardly seems  like it happened at all.

Feel free to view pictures here.  Belize #3

Changes … can be fun, and a little unusual … :/

When Jacob left here a number of things had to change – at least for me (Robin).

One thing was inevitable – I would no longer be walking everywhere as before. Daytime journeys out to the pulperias (little grocery stores) could still happen but not in the extent as they did with Jake around – the loads are just too heavy for me to carry on my own.  Taxis are available sometimes but not always when you need it and as often as not, we would walk all the way home with our cargo.  And too, just having a male presence made things more comfortable. There’s so much construction going on and the cat-calls and remarks (a way of life here) are a little harder to deal with on my own.  Also, I am more cautious by myself  even here at the house … for example, locking the front gate and the doors when I’m not downstairs.

Walking to church gatherings on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings is out … in the past, generally speaking, Jake and I walked by ourselves and met Lowell at the building. Well, I don’t walk anywhere by myself after dark and have kind of lost confidence even in daylight to go far afield. For example, the usual way I used to go to the building changed because of road construction.  A couple of times of being really spooked ended that a while back.

So, what has happened is this:   A month or so before Jacob left Lowell got a motorcycle (exactly 46 days ago- he just had the 45-day-check-up) . The purchase of the bike was due to the generosity of 2 very special families and he got it when he needed it the most – he had developed Plantar Fasciitis and was suffering with severe foot pain. The pain has greatly reduced since he’s been able to give his feet a break from all the walking. On the motorcycle Lowell was pretty much solo while Jake was here but now, I’ve hopped on board.

My rule is: if it is a combination of dark and rainy, I stay home. Otherwise, my wardrobe choice has drastically altered – this lady who has worn skirts or dresses probably 70% of the time for years and years now dons her jeans or pants for trips out.  We discovered mighty fast that side-saddle riding may have been fine on the long, straight roads of Nigeria but here on these rut-filled steep hills it is just not feasible or safe. (although… I have learned what long, full skirts I can get by with on a Sunday night – you know for riding astride yet modestly ).

Oh, just fyi, I always feel safe with Lowell’s driving and I trust his every move … not necessarily the other guy though! So anyways, we just glide along, bumpity-bumpity- BUMP, glide, slide bumpity-bumpity-BUMP, GLIDE  and move in, out and around these Honduran roads. If you’ve never rode a motorcycle on a cobblestone street, you should try it sometime!

Our helmets are bright red … we’ve been told they look happy (thanks, Richard) and like they look like ripe tomatoes. They put me in mind of the veggie tale character, Bob, the Tomato. I call us the ‘tomato heads.  Even with the bright tomato-red helmet, I think Lowell looks pretty cool on his motorcycle.

Not bad for a pair of old fogies, huh?

Blessings every one … we’re outahere!!

Zoom-, bumpity-bumpity- BUMP, glide, slide bumpity-bumpity-BUMP, GLIDE … zzooooommmmm

Hither, Thither and Yon part 1

Literally that means ‘all over the place’ – which aptly describes our wanderings the last few weeks, or even months.

Lowell, Jacob and I wander from here to there mostly because we have brigades come in to work with us and they’re from all over the US. If I’m counting correctly I guess we’ve had at the minimum six different groups come down already this year meaning that we’ve had medical brigades, work details, seminars and great times mingling with all these super people. Honduran lives have been touched and changed in incredible ways because of these people with servant hearts.

You see, we’re (Lowell, Jacob and I) the privileged ones – more often than not, we get to participate not only in the initial encounter, the work but then too, get to see and experience the follow-up. I like that – I really like to see the impact that a short-term mission trip has on an area. We’ve been to any number of little villages – up to 3 hours away and each has its own story of people and interactions that lead to great things being accomplished for the kingdom. There’s some really cool stories going on!

For example: Las Sandias (a little village 45 or so minutes out of Santa Rosa) … we first went to hold a medical brigade with Pine Tree folks back in February. A couple of weeks later, their Youth group came back and painted the schools where that medical brigade was held, and then a little later we were able to go back and do scenery painting on that Kinder and Primary school. This was all done by so many different people!! But the connecting fiber was Jesus Christ and right now, there is some great evangelism happening in this village. A couple of the men are close ones to responding to the gospel call. Their families are being studied with on a regular basis. Their feeling after all these weeks is that ‘they matter’ – in this world, in the eyes of God …  they feel they matter because it was demonstrated by folks who are acting as the feet and hands of Jesus Christ.

I see the fingerprints of the Father all through these wonderful days …

here’s a taste of our days with Las Sandias:

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