Off to Trujillo…….

Hi All!  We wanted to give you an update before we head out on a journey to meet potential partners in ministry in an area called Trujillo.  We will be leaving tomorrow afternoon after school and will spend about four days in that area.  The above map just gives you an idea of where we are now (La Ceiba) and where we are headed.  Before I go into great detail about all of that, I want to fill you in on what’s been happening this past week.

School is coming along nicely, but beginning to get a little harder, yet more interesting.  We now have the same teacher, as we thought that it might help us, help each other.  It has worked out nicely for the past week, but within the next few weeks we will probably go back to separate teachers.  They switch teachers as you progress into the next level, so this week we got a new teacher.  She is a little older and really pushes us to do more.  Last night we had more homework than we have had our entire time here thus far.  Oh well, it is good for us, but it sure has been a long time since we had to buckle down and study!  

Grant never ceases to amaze me with his ease of sharing the gospel with people.  Even though he doesn’t speak fluent Spanish, he is constantly using what he does know to talk about Jesus.  Every time we take a taxi, he uses that time to find out if they know the Lord.  He is most definitely a good steward of the time that he has been given, especially when it comes to the time spent in a taxicab.    We both have had numerous opportunities to share our faith with the teachers at our school and share the vision for Voyage of Hope Ministries.  We have established a good relationship with the director of the school and he is willing to assist us in anyway that he can.  Good relationships with the locals are a must for a successful work!

The Lord tends to work in mysterious ways and sometimes in the most common of places.  Take the supermarket for instance.  Last week as Grant and I are standing at the end of an aisle trying to decide what flavor Tang to buy, we hear a voice speaking English.  We look around to see a northamerican gentleman at the meat counter with a great big smile and a “hello.”  Andy is from Memphis and is working as a field missionary in Trujillo.  He and another missionary friend, Brian, “have come to town” to buy groceries.  As we began to talk, I realized that I was familiar with their work and the area that they lived.  Just several weeks ago, I had been surfing the internet for missionaries working in and around this area and came upon the blog of Brian’s wife. 

Brian and Sara are missionaries from New Hampshire working with a mission called Little Hands, Big Hearts in Trujillo.  LHBH serves special-needs children and their families and shares the light of Jesus Christ with villagers in the area.  They spend their time, along with short-term teams, in construction efforts, teaching children, providing food to impoverished families, and encouraging the local people to follow Christ.  Andy and Lori are missionaries from Memphis and are the directors of Rio Negro Missions in Trujillo.  RNM  is a Christian mission effort .  Their mission is to provide opportunities for others to grow, heal and give in ways that you never dreamed possible.  They are working with many ministries and organizations within the Trujillo area to bring the love and hope of Jesus Christ. 

It was such a joy to listen to these men talk about the unity among their ministries and other organizations in their area.  They were excited to hear about our plans for VOH and how we might partner in the work that they are doing.  They have invited us to come and stay in an apartment and visit the works going on and to also visit with a short-term team coming in from the States.  We are very excited about this opportunity and can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for us.

Please continue in prayer for us and especially protection during our travels.  We won’t have internet or phone capabilities in this area, so we won’t be able to post until we get back next week.  We look forward to sharing with you our experiences during this time and greatly appreciate your continued prayers and support.

 

 

 

 

For the past week or so……….

Hola Amigos y Familia!  We wanted to give you an update of what’s been going on with us in Honduras for the past week or so.  We are still attending classes everyday and were able to attend afternoon classes last week as the school needed to change some things around.  That was a good change for us, as we really enjoyed being able to sleep a little later. However, it doesn’t leave much time in the evening to do much else as school doesn’t get out until 5:30 and it was usually raining by then. 

We were invited to have dinner at a Honduran friend’s house on Tuesday night and enjoyed the best Honduran meal that we have had thus far. I (Hope) met Andy Chirrinos when I spent some time in Honduras in 2005.  He is a nice, Christian, young man who loves the Lord, serves in his church, attends the local university and works as an appliance technician.  We were able to meet his entire family (photo above, minus his siblings) that evening.  He has two younger brothers and one younger sister and a precious mother and father.  We spent the evening conversing in SPANISH as Andy is the only one who can speak English and his vocabulary is limited.  Andy has recently started playing the guitar and singing at his church and has been eager to meet Grant so that he could learn more about music from him.  Grant was able to show Andy and his brothers some chords on the guitar and we all sang a few praise songs in English and Spanish………..it was a beautiful time.  I was certainly awestruck when during our visit, the mother, excused herself from the table to go and pray.  Andy told us that everynight she goes into her room at 9:00 p.m. and prays for one hour.  The boldness that this woman had to leave her company at the table and choose to go and sit at the feet of Jesus should be an example for us all.  I know that I was changed from the experience!

This past weekend we celebrated Grant’s birthday on Roatan Island, one of the Bay Islands off the coast of northern Honduras.  It is a very beautiful Caribbean island and has been called “the up and coming Hawaii.”  However, it is still pretty primitive and not as commercialized as most Caribbean islands.  We did have a great time and were able to enjoy a few days of R&R before heading back to school.

Even though Roatan has some beautiful scenery there still lies a very dark side to this island.  Behind the crystal clear waters, the white sand beaches, and the tropical foliage live some very poor, sick and lost families.  As in most of Honduras, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and the same applies in Roatan.  We were able to visit an orphanage and a very poor area called “The Swamp.”  Our driver, Omar, is a Christian and is eager to help us with any transportation needs that we may have for traveling to Roatan for future mission trips.  The owner of the resort that we stayed in is from Idaho and has much experience with housing, feeding and transporting mission teams in Roatan.  We were able to discuss with him plans for mission work in the area and he is more than willing to help us with whatever ground work is needed for our teams.  We are very excited about the relationships made during this weekend trip and look forward to seeing what work the Lord would have us do on Roatan Island.

So, now we are back in La Ceiba and are attending morning classes again.  Above is a photo of where we live.  We live on the top floor and the bottom is the home of the family that owns this complex.  It is a very beautiful place and we are enjoying our stay.  We are progressing fairly well in our Spanish classes, however, the real key to learning is practice, practice and more practice.  The more that we go into the community and communicate and associate with the people the more we actually learn. Practicing within the community is most definitely the best teacher. 

As of today, Grant is not feeling well.  It seems as though we go a few days with a good stomach and then something happens and we are back to square one again.  We have decided to be MORE careful about what and where we eat and drink.  It is very difficult sometimes to know what is safe and what is not safe and usually our stomach lets us know real soon.  Please pray for healing for Grant and for continued protection for us.  We know that Satan is lurking to steal, kill and destroy anything that we might do for the Lord, so intercession on our behalf is very important.  We also covet your prayers for open doors for ministry and for the hearts of the people here.

Thanks again to you all for your continued support and prayers.  We would love to hear from you so please email us at voyageofhope@gmail.com  You may also leave comments on this site if you would like.  It would be great to hear from folks back home.  Lots of love and blessings to you all.  Hasta luego!

One Week in La Ceiba, Honduras!

Hi Everyone!  Well, we made it to Honduras safe and sound without any big issues, mishaps or blunders.  We have spent this first week settling into our apartment, scoping out our surroundings and attending school.  It has been a really busy week along with all of the adjustments to living in a third world country.  Needless to say, we have also experienced the beloved upset stomach that most get when traveling too or living in a country such as this.  I am VERY pleased to announce that we are on the mend and doing very well! 

We have been so blessed with a very nice apartment in a really nice, clean and safe neighborhood.  We have all of the modern conveniences except for the fact that our water gets turned off around 8:00 every evening.  We have internet access most of the time, but it has it’s moments and usually cuts out right about the time you start to press the send button on your email.  But, we certainly can’t complain as you see from the photo above the view from our patio is absolutely beautiful.  Actually, behind that rainbow and the smog, lie the Pico Bonito Mountains.  The rainy season just started here and we have certainly gotten to witness it first hand.  It has rained everyday and sometimes all day and all night.  I just happened to take a break from studying one afternoon and looked out the patio window to see this glorious sight!  

Our days are filled with walking, speaking and studying Spanish!  It is about a mile to the school and 3 miles to the mall or to the grocery store.  Our classes begin at 7:30 and end around noon everyday.  We both have a seperate, private teacher, so it is a pretty intense 4 hours of one-on-one.  In the afternoons, we spend time within the community strengthening our speaking and listening skills and building relationships with the people.   It is a great experience for full immersion learning.

Within the next week or so, we will be finalizing our plans to visit some orphanages, children’s homes and other ministries.  Please be in prayer as to how Voyage of Hope may assist these groups with the work that the Lord has put before them.  There are many orphaned and abandoned children here in Honduras and the task to help these children is great.  We will post information about these meetings and partnerships as they come to fruition.

We want to thank you all so much for your continued support of us.  Please continue praying for protection, direction and guidance and as well for the hearts of those in Honduras to receive the Word of the Lord.  We will post updates on a weekly basis and more if necessary.  Until then………..Adios!