It’s approaching a week since I completed the STEP program with Brethren in Christ World Missions. I finished on Saturday the 10^th of May and then returned home on the 12^th after visiting family. I want to thank each of my faithful readers for your dedication in prayer and keeping up to date, not to mention the incredible financial support I have received. This will be my final blog about my trip to Honduras and I want to just share briefly what my “returning home” experience has been like.

Upon returning to the USA on the 25^th of April, I stayed with my team at the Harrisburg Discipleship Center for two weeks. HDC provided a good opportunity for debriefing and reflection on our experience, and provided a healthy way to re-enter our home culture. The time was about perfect as I only started getting antsy to finish a few days before the end.

We learned about this thing called “reverse culture-shock”. While I didn’t understand the need for good debriefing and preparation for this, I now do and am so thankful for how the time we spent processing our experience and preparing for re-entry cushioned the landing. Emotionally, spiritually, and physically I feel I have began to re-enter well, though I would like to share a few of the seemingly minor “shocks” I experienced – these aren’t the kind we prepared for.

• While traveling home from Pennsylvania, my sister mentioned that the following day she would have a field trip to Progressive Field. “Progressive Field”, I thought, “where in the world is that?” I quickly scanned through my knowledge base of local baseball and football stadiums and came up clueless. “Umm, where’s Progressive Field?” I shamefully asked. My question was met by both my mom and sister with confusion and surprise, then a smirk of humor and pity for my so very out of touch sports mind. As I was told of this huge change, I was literally shocked as I came to the realization that, “Jacob’s Field is now Progressive Field.” How did the stadium of my favorite baseball team and first sports love change its name in the short time I was gone, and why didn’t they consult me on this?
  

• My next area of, not so much culture shock, but more “change shock” was when I decided that showering would be a good idea on Wednesday afternoon. You see, I chose to skip this daily ritual on Tuesday because --- why not? Upon entering the shower in the bathroom I now share with my teenage sister, I was met with feelings I had never felt in that location. This shower, which I have been using for almost eleven years and was a place of security and warm water, had become a place confusion and terror. I had to dodge falling razors and bottles of every “body condiment” known to man – or woman. In the past, I simply reached for the bar of soap and bottle of shampoo, but now, oh the selection. All the bottles seemed to be screaming names and words at me that couldn’t be anything but French or Italian (couldn’t this have at least been in Spanish?). I had no choice but to use what was in front of me and I am now fearful that all my hair will fall out because I used shampoo for blond hair, shades “honey to caramel”, and my hair is anything but “honey or caramel”. As far as I’m concerned "honey and caramel" are ice cream toppings and coffee flavors, not hair colors – who knew such a thing? At least I know my hair has been triple moisturized and I now smell of every “scent of the rainbow”.

Thanks for sharing in my Honduran adventure and now my Ohio adventures. I look forward to the future the Lord has for me. Please continue to pray for me as I re-enter this country I really do love. Pray that I will adjust well to this “real and changing world” that continues to make me love life.

I will briefly share my future plans. For now I am just trying to find odd jobs to make a few dollars for some upcoming projects. On May 27^th I will be flying to Madrid, Spain to spend two weeks working on a special project for BICWM. I will return to the States on the 10^th of June and begin preparing for a trip I will be co-leading to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The trip to Honduras (including training and debriefing) will be from the 27^th of June to the 26^th of July. Upon returning I will be traveling directly to Ontario, Canada for a week of relaxation with my family. After that, “solo Dios sabe” (only God’s knows). I have learned to trust His leading and call on my life without looking back and though He is calling me do some things I may not enjoy doing (such as looking for more support money for this Honduras trip), I can’t say no to something I know He has told me to do. Plus, most of what He is having me do fits my skill sets and desires.

Blessings to each of you as you continue to live only for the glory of our Lord.

And here we are one final time!!

Going away party and return trip to the USA.

As I write this, I’ve been back in the states for a little over three days. We arrived at Harrisburg Discipleship Center just before 3:00am on Saturday morning, the 26^th of April. We had a relatively smooth transition through customs in Houston, though I nearly lost my Spiderman pillow twice.

Thursday night was our last night in Honduras, and we had a party and invited some of the locals that we had spent considerable time with and had gotten to know well. We had almost 50 people at the house and were very glad we made invitations instead of giving a free for all invitation. The night started off very adventurous and we weren’t ready on time, but thanks to all those that showed up fashionably late, we were able to have a great evening. The night ended in a prayer in which the locals surrounded us and blessed us before leaving. We were also able to thank them and offer a prayer for their continued ministry in Teguz. As people left and I made one final trip to take people home, I felt both a sense of accomplishment and a twinge of sadness. We all slept in Rachel’s house that night and left in the morning for the airport.

At the airport, we checked in and paid the exit taxes (the normal things), then began to wait. Not to our surprise, but much to our delight nonetheless, we had visitors who came and spent our final hours with us before passing through security at 11:30am. My host brother Lemuel, his nephew Aroni, Lemuel's girlfriend Jeannette, and another friend Alejandra all showed up and spent about an hour and a half with us. Andrea’s host family also showed up for a little over an hour to wish us a “Feliz Viaje” (technically “Happy Trip”, though better translated as wishing a “Safe Trip”). It was great to have Lemuel there and he made his sacrifices to spend time with me. He had an exam that day at 12:00pm that he said he was, “Not really prepared for” and he had skipped two classes the day before to spend time with me and run errands for the group.

Here at HDC, life continues. We are continuing the process of debriefing (we started during the last week in Honduras) and discussing and still learning how we have changed. I imagine this will be a continuing process. I am personally trying to understand where to go next with my life. I am learning a lot about how the Lord speaks and how to respond to His call or answer to “wait”. I imagine my next post will deal with this issue and share some of my feelings and hopefully… insights in this area.

As for now, I am grieving the loss of my right flip-flop. It had never broken in years of service and finally gave in to the pressures of my feet. As long as I can keep convincing myself that those are the issues in my life, I’ll get along just fine.

Our going away party.

How much stuff can I fit in one post and still keep your attention?

It’s hard to believe we are coming home on so soon. We arrive on Friday the 25^th of April in Baltimore, MD at 10:49pm EST. From there we will travel to Harrisburg, PA for two weeks of debriefing. We finish on May 10^th. Yea, it’s done that fast.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to update you. In those two weeks we did a lot and I want to touch briefly on a few highlights.

On the 9^th (all of these days are in April of course) I spent the day in meetings with several North Americans and some small shop owners here in Honduras. I was working with a ministry here called “Genesis” in a very poor part of the city. The men I was traveling with were partners in an organization called “Partner’s Worldwide”. They give micro-loans to small businesses here in Honduras and other developing countries in hopes to teach and encourage small business. I was able to learn some about the program, meet some Christian business man that use these loans to share the Gospel, and provide help in translation between the partners and some of the business owners. This organization is doing great things and I have to plans to learn more and explore possible future options with them.

The next day we left in the afternoon with the local BICWM missionary, Nate Burt, to visit two church plants outside the city. We traveled to Nacaome (about two hours out of the city) first and spent a portion of the afternoon inviting locals for a service and kids program we had planned. We made balloon animals (a random skill I have picked up, though I only know a dog, butterfly, and giraffe) for some kids and soon had a small army of children following us. We ended up having twenty-two kids at the service and were able to provide contacts for the ministry team in Nacaome to work with. We left the following morning for Catacamas (six hours from Nacaome but on the other side of Teguz) and arrived in time to spent time with the young pastor from that church. We spent that evening as well as the following afternoon inviting locals to a service and gathering contact information for the pastor. We had a good service the next night and were able to give the pastor a number of contacts (address and phone numbers) of people we had talked to about the church that showed interest. It was this trip that showed me the importance of encouraging an overloaded pastor with a visit. Even if we hadn’t gathered contacts for him, this trip would have been well worth it for the health of this church.

Sunday the 13^th, we had a family picnic and we able to share with laughter and tears a little about our experience here. After lunch, I shared with all the host families that I feel I have many families and while I am excited to go back home and see my first family, I will soon be leaving all my Honduran families and another close family called the STEP team. This was tough to say and think about, but I am glad to have been able to share it and tell the families what they have meant in my life. We finished up with games and a good time of fellowship that I believe will help bring closure to this experience.

The following week (14^th to the 18^th) we spent time working at a school for children from the dump called AFE (I have talked about this before in my blogs). We were able to help in the classroom and sorting a lot of clothes that had been sent. While we were sorting we had children and parents from the dump going through the clothes and setting aside what they could use. It was nice to be able to see them benefit while working along side them as well as being able to play with the children (they seemed to like being tossed into the piles of clothes).

On Friday the 18^th, we made a trip up into the dump to deliver about 200 meals and coffee. This was an adventure and God’s presence was particularly noted. I drove with the team up into the dump and parked in the middle of where a lot of these homeless people were looking for recyclables and things to eat. As we exited the van a wave of people surrounded us. We opened the back and as the girls handed out the food and coffee to the children first, women second, and men third, Andy and I stood on each side of the van blocking the reaching and pushing men from the food bin and the girls. Though no fights broke out, there was a lot of pushing and at one point we had to push the crowd back and enter the van ready to leave until they realized that they wouldn’t get food if they didn’t quite. I remember one man in particular of was extremely high on the yellow glue they inhale (a cheap high to pawn off hunger). He was drooling and repeating hitting and pushing me, though the hits were very dull due to his weak body and completely wasted mind. He was easy to push back, but knowing the savage nature of the crowd, it was easy to imagine a situation that could have been much worst. As we ran out of food, we quickly shut the back of the van with the girls in the hatch, and Andy and I got up front and left as quickly, but as reasonably as we could. I am thankful to the Lord for the protection he granted us and it was one experience I am not soon to forget.

With all of that behind us, we spent this most recent weekend at an intense spiritual retreat called, “Pacto con Dios” (Pact with God). We saw lives transformed, worshiped the Lord in dance in some very lively manners to say the least, and saw the Holy Spirit manifested very powerfully. This retreat was powerful but I feel God has had me on a spiritual retreat for the last 8 months and sometimes I just don’t have too many emotions to give or show! All in all, I am thrilled to have gone and jumped in as much as possible, but more thrilled to be done. One part I want to say thanks for was a package they handed out that contained dozens of letters from both Hondurans and some you back home. This was a time of reflection and enjoying good memories. Thanks to each of you that took time to write a letter of encouragement, you may never know how much that encouraged me.

Being that this is my last blog before I return, I would like to give a quick update on my “feelings and thoughts” about leaving. –I have many good relationships here and will definitely miss some people and the friendships and lifestyle I have adapted too, but that being said, I am ready to leave. I am excited to return home and see what God has next for me. Thursday night and Friday will be a time of sadness and tough goodbye’s, but also a time a joy and excitement for a very impacting part of my life coming to a close!

Thanks for looking at this and sorry I had to pack so much information into one post, but that how my life has been lately, packed – and speaking of packing, I need to get started on that.

Also, you may recall me telling the story about Tony. If not feel free to check the April 22 post on our team blog. I would also love if you could take the time to read a blog the Micah House posted about Tony. Click here and scroll down to the April 4^th post called, “Tony’s Triumph”.

The kids program in Nacaome.

A time of prayer for the church in Nacaome and for the traveling we had ahead of us.

Early in the morning we went up to a lookout to pray for the city of Catacamas and pray by name for each of our contacts we had made the night before.

Part of a drama we performed during out service at Catacamas.


I took a horse ride with my host nephew during the family picnic.


My host brother and I celebrating a victory during the games.


Sorting clothes at AFE with many kids rummaging through for things to wear (as well as helping out).

The Micah House and a trip with Tony.

Last week (M-F being March 31^st to April 4^th) went quickly – seriously, I’m not just trying to be cliché. On Wednesday, my mother and sister returned to the states. I had the neat opportunity to be at a park when their plane took off from the other side of the city – it went directly overhead as it ascended steeply into the clouds over the mountain where the park is located. It was weird to know that I had family inside that specific aircraft headed to another county. Oh well, it was great to have them here and I think (and bet they agree) that eight days was just about perfect. We kept a full schedule, both with my work and the constant traveling we did to eat and fellowship at the homes of five different Honduran families. My head nearly exploded as I needed to constantly translate, but thankfully it is still intact and those days were a wonderful boost to my confidence in my ability to converse in this language.

Last week I worked with the Micah Project (I believe founded on the verse Micah 6:8). The MP is a home for troubled teen boys. They accept boys that desire a change in their current lifestyle to a life of hope and brotherhood. They pull these boys from the streets and from families who can’t handle the drug addicted and seemingly futureless kids.

This project was great to work with because while having new kids that are fairly fresh from the streets, they also have contacts with kids that have successfully moved on and have some older boys in the home whom are getting ready to participate in programs such as YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and attend US universities. It was neat to see how many of these guys have made a full circle. I was able to help tutor some girls that stop in for help (but don’t live there) in math and sociology, as well as teach English classes for some of the older boys. I also got to play basketball with the guys in the afternoon and through that time I developed some great relationships with several of the young men.

Thursday evening, my team was able to bring Tony (the boy Karen Wilson and I have been tutoring) to the “Micah House” to see some of his old friends. Tony said he couldn’t remember the last time he went to the city and many people from the local neighborhoods were shocked to see him traveling (Tony is paralyzed and has very limited use of his hands). It was such a blessing to see him in a state of complete joy and fulfillment. Karen said the next day in her class with him, they didn’t do too much in the way of bookwork because he just kept talking about that precious night. This is a situation in which the goal was to bless him, and we were blessed as well, in a way I can’t express.

That was last week in a nutshell. If you wish to know more about the Micah Project – ask! It’s the type of ministry I would love it tell you about in person and it is a dynamic enough ministry that I really can’t explain its impact in this blog.

Thanks for keeping up with my life, at least the little I can share on this page. I look forward to seeing many of you when I return. I fly back into Baltimore on the 25^th of April and finish my debriefing in Harrisburg, PA on the 10^th of May.

Click here to visit the Micah Project's website.

A Week of "Meaningful Oxymorons".

The oxymorons of my week:

- I was in the dumps all week, yet was happy at the same time.
- This past week was absolutely splendid, busy, tiring and relaxing all at the same time.
- It was a week of glorious complications.

Since none of that makes a bit of sense (hence the name, oxymoron), let me explain.
I spent this past week working for a school called “AFE”. That stands for Amor, Fe, Esperanza (Love, Faith, Hope). This school is very special in that it has changed the lives of many children more than your average school. Day after day, family that live close travel to the city dump and work collecting recyclables and search for things to eat. The children of these families are born into this life and know nothing else. They don’t have opportunities for educations, which in my opinion makes it that much harder to escape this life. Without something to look forward to and without an understanding of another type of life, this becomes the normal and these kids grow up (many become alcoholics and thieves) and then have kids and bring more children into this community for the process to start over. AFE is a school that is for these children. I don’t know the details of how a child gets accepted into the school and who can attend, but I do know that the kids can bathe, eat, and are able to live and play with a sense of dignity they have never known. Along with the education these children receive, they receive good sound influence and have the love of Christ and His story explained to them daily. This fits my view of missions perfectly in that we can’t just give a beggar a Bible and leave him hungry and dirty.

The work we did this week (I say we as I worked with my mother and sister and a group from Minnesota) was to help construct a third building that will eventually serve as a high school. It was exciting to see all that has been completed by the dedicated workers and from the many North American groups that have come to help almost every week.

The combination of splendid, busy, tiring and relaxing was because of the following:

- Splendid because my mother and sister came on Tuesday and I was able to share a significant part of my life that I could never explain in words and photos no matter how hard I try.
- Busy because I had to think about where three people were and try to coordinate our schedule with that of the STEP program, AFE, all the families that wanted us to come visit, and my personal desires to spend time and show my family the things I wanted them to see.
- Tiring because of the above and the physical labor of building a structure made only of cement, block, and rebar – all while trying to dodge the hot Honduran sun (truthfully, we had nice about 80 degree F weather to work in two of the days).
- And relaxing because of the time I got to spend just talking and catching up with the most important ladies in my life.

The glorious complications in my life were just the stresses of all of the above coming together, yet the fact that I wouldn’t have wanted it to be any different.
During my week with my mother and sister we were able to eat with several local families, they were able to visit all four of the ministries in our current rotation, we were able to share in fellowship with work groups from both St. Louis and Minneapolis, which helped them keep their sanity I think (due to language barriers with the locals), and they were able to see much of the city and catch a glimpse of our experience here.

I’ll end with a big thank you to my father who allowed his girls to come spend a week with me, and thank you to those who encouraged and helped them make the trip , and a thanks to the STEP team for spending time sharing and getting to know my family (though I hope and know that my mom and sis were blessings to ALL of us).

This week I am working at a boys home that I am sure to have many stories from in the next week. Pray that I can be a model of Jesus in their lives and pray for the safe return of my mother and sister on Wednesday the 2nd of April.



Me and my favorite girls in front of "Iglesia de Dolores" (Church of Pain)


My sis and I cleaning up at the work site at AFE.

We took a trip through the dump to hand out water to the workers and the people searching for recyclables.

Andy, Aroni (would be a host-nephew if you figure it out, though he lives in another house), and me. My sitting dangerously close to the edge may remind you of a team photo the first week in Tegucigalpa - sorry those of you who scolded me, I guess I just won't learn till I fall ;-)

Latin America Missionary Retreat during Semana Santa (Holy Week)

Greetings from sunny Honduras; the same place that has successfully turned me the color of a cooked lobster in only one days time. I received that laying block and mixing concrete on Monday the 23rd, but that experience will have to wait a week as I want to take this time to share a little about the Latin American Missionary Retreat that took place from the 14th to the 19th of this month.
After a day of working on the 14th, we headed up into the mountains to a little tourist town called Ville de Angeles (Valley of Angels). We spent the next five days with the BICWM missionaries of Latin America in a time of refreshment themed, “More Like Jesus – a Lifestyle not a Program”. Joining the full-time missionaries and us were Marshall Poe (Regional Administrator for BICWM), Matt Lewis (a pastor from Wisconsin), and the Whitt's (the Resource family from Matt’s church).
Just as an FYI bit, the missionaries in attendance were:

The Cassel family serving in Mexico
The Main family serving in Columbia also working in Venezuela
The Bert family serving in Honduras
The Thrush family serving in from Nicaragua working with MCC (Mennonite Central Committee)
The Moyer family serving in Columbia

We were very blessed to have the chance to get to know each family and I especially enjoyed making the acquaintance with Mike Cassel (whose 10 year old son taught me a substantial amount on the guitar for only a few days worth of lessons).
We spent each morning in a session lead by Matt Lewis and then headed into a small group discussion which I really enjoyed. We then would spend the afternoon relaxing in our rooms, swimming in the incredibly cold pool (that’s why we only went swimming once), walking about Ville de Angeles, or playing pick up games of Ultimate Frisbee.
In a nutshell, we enjoyed the time with our fellow North Americans. We were able to share funny stories as well as things from our hearts, spend time together in refreshment both spiritual and physically, and each of us got to spend time seeking what the Lord holds next in our lives – or how He simply wants us to get to know Him a little better.

The group before church on Sunday

Nathan Burt, Matt Lewis, and I pouncing on the candy that fell from the piñata used to celebrate Rachel Bowman and Christina Main’s birthdays. I got a lot of candy, but only ate one piece – I promise.


Us at a local park playing one of my favorite sports – Ultimate Frisbee!!

PS - My mom and my sister arrived today (Tuesday) safely and we anticipate experiencing many goods things together over the next eight days. In fact, my mom just edited this blog here in Rachel's house (she's hopes she did a good job ;-)

My week at CEDER.

For information on this, I refer you to www.step0708.blogspot.com. I wrote the blog this week for the team and it was focused on my week of minsitry. Enjoy!