Full to Over Flowing

Greetings,

So much has been going on since I last wrote. We had a small team that came from my church to be with us at Christmas. They were wonderful and helped us get all the gifts and things ready to go. I don't know what I would have done without them.  They arrived a day earlier than I did and I got here to the mission the next afternoon and we jumped on getting all the gifts together. I was so tired after riding on my red eye flight on Spirit Airlines. However, this is the first time that they didn't have their normal luggage nazi working at the counter. It was a great flight and even though in times past, I said I would never fly with them, but I believe I probably will.

 

 

 I had a hotel shuttle pick me up and I went to bed about 3 a.m. We apparently waited an hour at the airport for another traveler to arrive. They never did arrive and by the time I checked in at the hotel, and gave them my information, it was late. I slept for 3 hours and I was off againat 6:30 to catch a bus. Because it was"officially" the Christmas season in Honduras  The bus was full to overflowing.  People were stuffed in the aisles, packed in like a huge Christmas present going to La Esperanza.

 

 It was the 22^nd when I finally arrived and we had little time to spare to get a Christmas ready for 35 girls and other of our grown Honduran Girls who brought their children. We also had a supper for our workers and the community on Christmas Eve. The team and I had to get the girls to town to buy their secret friend gift and the team took the girls, who were divided into two shopping teams, out to Dom Pollo on their day of frienzied shopping. The girls had a great time, loaded up on Chicken and Fries, and lots of coke. I had to go to the bank before it closed for the holidays to get enough money to pay our workers and their end of year monies, buy groceries and extra gifts for the extra folks we always seem to have show up.   

The team from Crosspointe Church out of Valdosta Georgia, had received so many generous donations, from clothes to coloring books, shoes for school and tennis shoes, candies and two huge 20 lb spiral Honey Cut hams. I don't know how they got them through customs, and I didn't ask questions, but they did and it was a huge blessing. The girls here had never had a spiral cut ham and didn't know what it was, but we had plenty of meat and the girls ate like it was their last meal. We had two turkeys that I bought here in Honduras. One was a Butterball that I paid entirely too much for and the other was a more economical Honduran turkey. The Honduran turkey was hands down the best of the two and it didn't have all the additives of the other national brand. The girls made nacatamales for the day before Christmas which is the 24^th, the traditional day they celebrate Christmas. WE were full to over flowing  We go to the mission house and have our secret friend party first and then we open gifts. I believe it was the craziest Christmas ever.

Harold

After the team left, we started picking our coffee.  Here you pick the ripest coffee beans every 15 days.  We all worked hard and we try to fix a big meal, so that the girls will look at it as harvest time and look forward to the food as well as the work.  All the while we are doing paperwork for the beginning of the year that is required for non-profits here in Honduras. We are also getting prepared for our season of teams.  We are going to be super busy, it appears, but teams have become a way of life of us and even though it is a lot of work on both sides, in the States and here at Project Talitha Cumi, we wouldn't have it any other way.

Wesley and Suzanne got back and they have the House of Nain up and running.  House of Nain is the new project that Such of the Kingdom Ministries have been working on since 2013.  It looks great!  We have fresh water and the fencing is up.  We hope to be able to get the boys of the families who have been disrupted for one reason or another. Normally we get the girls, but the boys are usually abandoned to work in other homes.  They don't go to school, they just work for the host family.  With this new home the children will be able to see each other at school and at church and at holidays.  Our hope is that emotionally they will be more settled and stable knowing their siblings are close by.

So we are having water problems again.  The tank is not holding water.  We thought we found the problem.  One of our little girls, whose name I will withhold to protect the guilty party.  I know if you have ever been here, there are 4 girls that pop into your mind that might could have pulled this off.  They are full of mischief. They all have kind of a Denis the Menace air about them.  Whoever was the first girl that popped into your mind, you are probably right.  They were supposed to be raking and then this girl with the amazing ability to get into trouble, started touching and turning valves.  We have two tanks with a float valve and it is complicated as plumbing can be, but we started losing water, somewhere.  We just couldn't find the large amount of water was going.  Our water was running into the tanks, but not filling up.  Later this afternoon we figured she had opened the irrigation tanks to be filled with our fresh water.  The fish needed some good water because those tanks hemorraged into the fish pond.  Be praying that the tanks hold water tonight and don't escape into another pipe that I have no knowledge of.  WATER is source of life. 

As I was walking all over the farm, trying to find a leak, I got to thinking about those tanks.  We have a storage facility, where the water is pumped.  We use it to sustain life.  But sometimes we open a valve that are not meant to be open and our source leaks out to parts unknown.  My anger valve drains my tank, my disobedience valve drains my tank. My pride valve drains my tank dry, and then I am wondering why God isn't keeping me filled up. Water is flowing in, so He is doing his part.  I just need to investigate where certain valves are draining the the life giving flow that God is putting into my tank.  No good thing will He withhold to those who walk uprightly.  Water is a good thing.  He is faithful.  Blessings from the water seeking, valve closing, Honduran MOM