Manuelito

Last week, I (Karen H.) spend the week at Manuelito which is an orphanage and in the same building there is a school and church. This particular orphanage is a transition house where the children are able to mature a little and then they move to the other orphanage that is a couple hours away but within the same organization. I worked with the three babies and helped the nanny with whatever she needed. She had a really big week as the other nanny was on vacation so she was with the children for 24 hours and for 7 days straight. Because there was only one nanny this week, I was not able to help with the school. The other team members where able to be apart of the school and teach English.

One morning last week, we took a 15 minute walk to the park so the children could run around and play. They really look forward to those days to get outside! It is really sad for me to think that their world is so limited to the park and building, but as I think about the life they would have had on the street, I realize that this life is much better.

Josue, Christopher and Duncan were the three boys - Christopher and Duncan are brothers. Below are some pictures of the children.

LAMR (Rachel Bowman)

First of all, due to the LAMR we had to celebrate St. Patty's Day a couple days in advance--the cake was an amazing blob of a green gooey mess!!! I love any reason to celebrate that calls for cake!

Second of all, I want to say this team is amazing! My prayer had been that God would work in their hearts and that through this program they would be blessed. This ties in with the retreat, because for the first time I was able to hear testimonies from the STEPpers of how God has impacted their lives during this time.

All of the BIC missionaries that are serving in Central and South America gathered together for a time of refreshment here in Honduras, for a time known as the LAMR = Latin American Missionary Retreat. I sensed that it truly met it's goal as a time of refreshment as each one of us spent time in fellowship with one another and with the Lord Himself. We had time to rest at His feet and allow Him to lead us through this process of sanctification. For some it was a time of looking back into the past allowing God to heal wounds; for others, a time of seeking forgiveness in a deeper manner; a few, took the time to search direction for the future; and for still others, a time to just be with Him. The one thing we had in common is that we met together at the foot of the cross of our resurrected Savior.

As STEP, we were given a time to share about our experiences over the past several months. I was touched to see each one of the team members take this time seriously and open up their hearts to reveal what God has been doing in them. Of course this meant tears, laughter, embarrassing stories...etc! But WHAT A BLESSING it was to me to see that Jesus truly has touched each one of them, molded them, used them, challenged them...I guess I should be saying "us", instead of "them". However it was their testimonies that made me realize how important this program really is, even with all it's so-called "imperfections". Praise the Lord that He has chosen to use us!

CEDER (by Joshua)

This week Karen Wilson and I worked at ¨Centro de Día y Reposo¨ (CEDER), or Center of Day and Rest. This is a home for the elderly, mostly found off the street with mental problems such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. Karen and I have a little different set up as we are tutoring a young man in the mornings (we rotate mornings) and then work together in the afternoon. The home has about twenty people living there and while it was a good experience helping and gives us a wider variety of ministries for which to work, it was a challenge that I am glad to have behind me.

The facility does not function like you would expect. There is a staff of four girls and a nurse. The four girls and the director live at the facility (the director with his wife and two kids) and spend most of their time there. We were very surprised that the seniors living there really had no options for entertainment. A daily schedule seems to go like this. Wake up at 5:30a, eat breakfast later in the morning, drink juice at 10:30a, eat lunch at 12:00p, drink coffee at 2:30, eat dinner later that night and then go to bed. One resident said, “All we do is sit around and wait to eat.” It was really sad realizing how accurate this statement really was and how the staff is occupied throughout the day cycling them through the shower and caring for them, as well as spending time alone trying to have some essence of a personal life since they live at work.
In addition to helping with some work, such as shaving the men which was an experience for me, Karen and I felt some sort of need to bring some activities to the residents. We tried different activities such as the card game “Uno”, drawing pictures for them or letting them draw, blowing bubbles and letting them pop them, and trying to engage in conversation though understanding was a challenge. I actually remember one time when a helper looked at me because she didn’t understand one lady. She asked me what the lady had said and of course I didn’t know, and was thinking, “How could you not understand and think I even had a chance at understanding what she said in your native tongue?”

We did get to visit a facility that is being built outside of the city. This facility will be much nicer for the residents when it is complete, but that could be years based on the fact they just build a little at a time as money comes in to fund the project.

We were able to provide some activities for the adults this past week and hope our group can at least bring some light into their lives through the four weeks we are serving.
Currently, we are relaxing and spending time with other missionaries in a little town outside of Teguz called, “Valle de Angeles”, or “Valley of Angles”. We hope to continue to be refreshed in the Lord and to be able to enjoy each others company as well as engage and participate with the other missionaries here at the retreat.

The week of March 2nd, Andrea worked at CEDER; here are two of her pictures.

The Micah Project (by Andy)

Dear "ever faithful" readers,

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to work with the “Micah Project”, a boy’s home in the heart of Tegucigalpa. I was able to teach a few classes, hand out food to young boys who live on the street, and just spend quality time with the boys in the home. On Monday I was able to teach English to three classes, which by the way is very easy considering some of the boys I was teaching are completely bilingual. On Tuesday I met Wilmer, a 13 year old boy who is less then a year off the street, and was given the chance to teach him Spanish. The week continued with me trying to teach someone a language which I am trying to learn myself. On Thursday we headed to a busy market with some plates of food for the boys who were living there. This experience was one of the hardest things I have had to do thus far on my STEP experience. High on glue and begging for attention the boys were very excited to see us arrive. When we found a good place to sit and talk with the boys we gave them their food and drink and watched as they took a few bites of food and gave the rest to the dog from "The Micah House". We sat and talked with the boys for a good hour and then we headed back to "The Micah House" to re-group. On Friday I came to "The Micah House" to find out that Wilmer had ran back to the streets on Thursday night. It was a sad day for me and it was hard to think of the life in which he was retuning. Later that day I had to say goodbye to the boys and give another person a chance to work at an amazing ministry, and by Gods grace I found out that on Saturday afternoon Wilmer returned to "The Micah House".

God bless, and thanks for reading
-Andy-

For more info on the Micah Project go to www.micahcentral.org/