Yes, I know we all 'loved' the name YOMER, but it does make it a lot easier when referring to all of us at once. What this post is for...
I'm creating this post for everyone that went on the trip to leave comments on. It will be your chance to 'blog' about your experience while in Honduras. If you went on the trip and would like to share with everyone that has been reading the blog what it meant to you, just leave a comment.
In Day Four's blog it was mentioned that we would be climbing a mountain to have a prayer meeting at the top and though it was raining we all decided to do it anyway. That blog was written prior to us actually going, we had taken a vote and decided, but when it came time to actually go some of us had changed our minds. We sounded like the Children of Israel when coming out of Egypt on our climb up the 568, yes you read that correctly 568, steps to our destination.
Following are clips and pictures to give you a glimpse of why this event received it's own blog. Many of you will probably hear the stories and the experience, but there are thirty people (plus members of a church in Catacamas) that can say we literally have a mountain top experience in our lives.
The Climb
Prayer
We prayed for the city of Catacamas and Santa Maria, the two cities we could look out over from the top of the hill. We bound the strong holds that were in the cities. We prayed for the pastors of the church's in those cities, we prayed for one another, and then we had the pastor from Catacamas pray that we would have the burden he does for revival.
Just as the Children of Israel were probably happy when they reached the Promised Land, those of us that complained on the way up were happy that we made the trip.
Ah, time to go home. Mixed feelings...want to go home where we can drink water out of the faucet, eat lettuce and any other vegetable and fruit we want, and sleep in our own beds. But on the flip side of that we have to leave our friends that we have made on our trip and the missionaries and friends in Honduras.
We were up and out of the hotel by 10:00, and headed to the airport. Due to security issues, it took a long time to get through customs and checked into our flight. We said goodbye to the Shreckhise's and Ramon and his wife at the gate, and then went through security. Many of us received our very first 'pat down' by the agents...they were very thorough when checking us and our bags. We flew to Miami (on time) only to have a two hour delay at the Miami airport. So we had some more 'together' and a lot of 'will our plane ever get here' time.
It's been awesome! I hope all of you have enjoyed living vicariously through this blog to get a small taste of Missions, and to keep up with your kids and friends.
The following awards were handed out during 'Last Night Testimonies'...if you have questions, just ask, because there is a story for them all. Some people were so good that they received 'two' awards and some awards were shared. --grin-
Sleeping Beauty, I poo poo peanut butter award -- Amy Levine The energizer Bunny Award -- Danielle Lakwaski Where in the World is Honduras Award -- Nick Spencer The Lost and Found Award -- Nick Spencer The Poo-Poo Pedicure Award -- Natalie Donnell The Muy Bonito Award -- Tim Johnson The What's that (stick) man doing on my bathroom door award -- Cheramy Moore Two hands on the can award -- Shawna Buckley The 'I Don't Know Award' -- Erica Littles I'm Going "Batty" Award -- Erica Little and Tara Sprouse Just take this stupid horse home award -- Jessica Hale The Honduran Headless Horseman Award -- Tara Sprouse Dumber than a popsicle Award -- Tia Meadors and Jeremy Halley "Here's Your Sign" award -- Tracy Gold No Hablo English award -- Justin Lee "Is this the bus to Nicaragua" award -- Sarah Johns 'Joe Danzo' award -- Chuck Carr Trippin out for Burger King award -- Brittany Morrison Play it again Sam award -- Jereomy Perry The Julio Inglasis award -- Johnathan It really is a bass award -- Mike Jackson
This morning we were allowed to sleep in for awhile, breakfast was not until 9:00. We had to be at church by 10:30. We went to church in Teguc at what is called Central Church. The crowd was pretty good, and they were in a new building. There were three that testified, then a group sang 'Open the Eyes of my heart' in Spanish (Roman's, a guy that was our walking dictionary this week, wife Sonya said they did very good and the pronunciation was very good).
After they finished, Bro. Shreckhise asked for the choir to come and sing 'When the Spirit of the Lord' again for this church. We all did what the song stated, and they danced and worshiped like David. It was awesome. Bro. Luke preached about 'You shall receive hope'. There were several visitors there and several that needed the Holy Ghost (according to the raised hands). By the end of the service there were twenty-two that received the Holy Ghost. We had several YOMERS that prayed their first soul through to the Holy Ghost...and Roman's daughter was one of the ones who received the Holy Ghost. We were all Happy!!
During the service, blankets the church in Hillsboro made (Sarah Meek's church), were handed out to children. (Blankets were also passed out in Catacamas)
After church we raced back to the motel and spread out throughout the neighborhood and grabbed fast food for lunch, and then headed to Valley of the Angels. Valley of the Angels is a huge souvenir place where you can barter with the shop owners to get the best deal. They have some great wood carving pieces. When we got back to the bus the bus driver was saying 'Muy Denerio'...because everyone was loaded down with packages. Honorable mention goes to Danielle Laskowski for getting the best deals and having time to ride a horse. She utilized her time the best while there.
Upon leaving Valley of the Angels, we went back to the motel for about an hour to drop off our goods and then headed out to dinner at El Patio, a famous restaurant known for the steak (according to the Shreckhise's they are listed as one of the top four restaurants in the New York Times). The steaks were big enough that two people shared one and there was a lot left over. We sent all our extra home with Ramon for their dog (we taught him a new term 'doggie bag'). We treated the missionaries, Ramon and his family, and our bus driver and his wife to dinner to thank them for all they did this week for us.
While at El Patio, the sponsors hired the Mariachi Band to play for us. The band played two well known songs (La Cocaracha and Feliz Navidad), along with just some basic music. It was neat. A lot of the YOMERS did not know that cocaracha is a song aobut a cockroach. We all sang along with Fliz Navidad...the rest of the restuarant probably thought we were a little weird.
When we went back to the hotel we went to a conference room for 'Last Night Testimonies' and Awards time. It was awesome getting to hear the testimonies of all the YOMERS and how this trip has impacted their lives and changed them forever. There were many that received direction, callings, and peace about decisions that they have made over the past couple of months. This week has been great! We've become a family, with all our own inside jokes and stories. We will always be the first MO YOM group...and we will never forget the mountain, popsicles, poo-poo, and bonito.
After we were dismissed from the testimony time, the majority of us went back to our rooms to pack (remove all the 'banned' items from our carry-on bags), and get some rest. But there were those that had that 'last night out' syndrome and didn't get to bed until early morning.
We have one gallery available at this time. We will be getting more very soon, however depending on their connectivity we may have to wait until everyone is back. For now enjoy these photos of the gangs first two days in Hondouras.
Another early morning...we had to be up and in the lobby of our motel by 7:00 am. Crazy stuff, but all part of life. Today is the day that we have all been waiting for, THE CRUSADE. As the blog below says, we went out yesterday and handed out candy and invited children to come to the crusade...now we get to see the fruit of our labor.
We ate breakfast and then headed over to the church. It rained a little more this morning, when they say 'rainy season' they know what they are talking about. If you visit Honduras in August make sure you bring an umbrela and rain boots. But at least their gardens and rain barrels are getting water.
We arrived at the crusade a little behind the first bus, but we had two more to wait on before we could start. The children just kept showing up. They bused the kids in from different parts of the city...by the time we started there were close to 500 people there (counting adults and all). It was awesome! There were 260 chairs set up, then they filled the bleachers on either side of the floor and some were left standing. Some YOMERS participated in the service doing puppetts and songs. We also had our very own Clown (Danielle), she did a great job keeping the kids entertained while we waited for the bus to show up. If someone from Honduras comes and suggest to sing Father Abraham, just know that you will definitly get your work out. They don't stop at 'nod your head, turn around, sit down'; they take it to a new level by 'nodding your head, turning around, and jumping' (while your arms and legs are going too). I have found a new exercise regime. --grin--
At alter call the children, many of whom had never been to church before, came forward. The pastor led them in repentence, and worship, and then we all started praying for them. At the end there were 'at least' sixteen that got the Holy Ghost. It was AWESOME!!! We handed candy out to all the children when they were leaving...talk about a mob scene. Many of them came back for more, telling us they hadn't gotten any, meanwhile they had sucker sticks hanging out of their mouths. We just kept saying 'uno'.
After the crusade we went back for one last mean in Catacamus. Then we piled on the bus for the three hour trip to Teguc. It took FOREVER! Despite the car sickness (our bus driver thought he was in the Indy 500)and the desire being strong to reach our destination, we stopped off at the local mall to relax by shopping and eating in their food court. After that we went to the motel and crashed.
We got to sleep in today! The bus didn't leave until 8:15am. After eating breakfast we headed to the Tabernacle of Life Church for outreach. We broke up into 7 groups and were joined by some of the church members of Catacamas. We canvassed the area around the church doing surveys and inviting children to the kid's crusade taking place in the morning. We passed out candy and flyers and the Hondurans helped us with the surveys. Once the word was out that the Americans had candy, the children came from everywhere. We went house to house and stopped trucks and bicycles all along the way. One group was allowed to go into a school and they were immediately swarmed by the children. In that stop alone there were at least 100 kids and we're going back this evening. Within a couple of hours we had invited hundreds of children and acquired 46 Bible studies for the Church of Catacamas to follow up on.
Lunch was interesting today to say the least. The menu was fresh Tilapia, real fresh. It was served to us with both head and tail still intact and if you wanted to eat you had to put up with the fish staring at you. Many fasted, but those who tried it, said it was delicious. Justin Lee ate an entire school of fish!
After lunch, we all wanted to hit the streets again, but it started raining. We ended up at the school where we will be conducting the crusade. The area we have rented is a open air Gym, that is a concrete floor with a tin roof and two soccer goals without nets. We decided to play a soccer game for country pride. After 30 minutes of running, the Hondurans were ahead 9 goals to 1. Shawna Buckley scored the only American goal and we immediately stopped the game satisfied that at least we weren't skunked! Bro Carr and Bro Levine needed CPR before getting on the bus.
Tonight we are climbing to the top of a mountain that overlooks the city. It has a large cross erected there and we are going to pray over the city of Catacamas and for tomorrow's crusade. The forecast is still calling for rain, but everyone voted to have the mountain top prayer meeting come rain or shine. We all believe something powerful is going to happen up there.
As you might have noticed it has not been easy getting internet access here, and we are sorry for the delayed information. We have found an internet cafe, but we can't always get connected. You thought dial up was bad, fall on your knees and thank God for it ~ you're blessed! We will get you more news as we are able.
We woke up early this morning and took another 3 hour ride to City of Catacamas. Our driver is keeping us all prayed up as he insists on passing while on curves and climbing mountains. The countryside is beautiful, and the village was much more typical of Honduras than Teguchigalpa. Catacamas highways are dirt roads and can be very challenging to navigate. We visited the caves of Talgua an ancient burial ground with bones dating all the way back to 600BC. We walked through the 'jungle' on a narrow path to the entrance and then took a one mile tour through the cave on a rickety walkway made from pipes. After coming to the end of our tour, we had to turn around and walk back. The caves beauty was worth the effort and we all lost 10 pounds due to the exercise and humidity. On our way to the caves our bus got stuck in a "small" mud hole. Everyone had to disembark and after many tries our courageous driver made it through without slipping over the edge of the road and doing minimal damage to the front end of the bus. The door has become extremely temperamental and has to be opened manually instead of automatically.
We checked in to our Hotel at Catacamas and quickly discovered what it means to be on a mission's trip. The Hotel was no Marriott and you were thankful to have a "lukewarm" shower. No wash cloths were available and towels were scarce! We keep telling ourselves, this is what it's all about!
The people here in Honduras are very friendly and they all smile, wave or honk when they see you. Also when they are passing you while in a curve going up a hill, they give a honk to let you know they are trying to committ suicide. We all speak just enough Spanish to make them think we know the language. They begin speaking rapidly to us and we have all learned well the phrase, "no comprehendo".
That night we went to church at the Tabernacle of Life in Catacamas. The church was an open air sanctuary that had just expanded and we worshipped together on freshly poured damp cement. Even though the sanctuary was dimly lit, and the night was extremely hot, the Spirit of the Lord was definitely moving. We couldn't understand everything they were saying, but we felt it! Many of our young people testified and the entire group sang a song in Spanish. We sang, "When the spirit of the Lord moves on my heart, I will dance like David danced", and did we ever dance. At that point, it was definitely an international service, with Hondurans and Americans singing and praising God together with all our might. Three of the trips young men preached for the first time with an interpreter ~ Jeremy Halley, Jereomy Perry and Mike Jackson. Bro. Jackson gave an altar call and the front filled up as the Spirit of the Lord exploded on us! We all agreed it was one of the most powerful services we had ever been in, and it was hard to decide who had ministered to whom. We felt just as touched as our Honduran brothers and sisters. We have headed back to our resort hotel.
This is just to let you guys know that we are fine. Bro. Chuck and I will be updating the blog later this afternoon...night. We made it back to Telguceapa and now have Internet service. There are many awesome things that have happened that we have to tell you about. It's been an experience of a life time.
Hello everyone! This morning started bright and early...we were up and at it by 6:30am, that is what time we had to meet in the lobby and go to breakfast. Some of the YOMERS (YOMERS = Youth On Missions Person) did not know there was such a time in the morning. We had a 'very good' breakfast at the motel...they had empanadas which made me very happy. We are having a small language barrier, Jeremy Perry asked for 'apple' juice twice and ended up with 'pineapple'...but it's all good. You learn to smile and say 'gracious'.
After we got everyone fed, loaded, and ready we headed off on our three hour bus ride to Lake Yojoa. To start the day off, Bro. Mike Jackson from Springfield did the morning devotion and since Tia Meadors was the last one on the bus she got to lead us in a song. After about twenty minutes into the ride, the bus driver probably thought that everyone had drank special kool-aide and went peacefully into 'deep sleep'...it was very quiet on the bus since everyone went to sleep.
We woke up at the lake where we went swimming, horse back riding, boat riding, ate lunch, and played some ping-pong and pool. It was awesome time of relaxation and 'get-to-know-you' time with the YOMERS. After leaving the lake we drove back to Tegucigalpa (this city has many pronounciations by the YOMERS) and went to Bro. and Sis. Schreckhise's house. They let us invade their house for supper, we had paposes (sp?), ice cream and cake. It was awesome! Then we got to play with their children on the trampoline and game box. I found out that I'm a little old to be playing 'tag' on the trampoline after eating a large meal.
Below will be some clips from our travel today. The pictures that I said would be on the moyouth page are in transit...I was not able to get them transported last night. They should be there later tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it!
Mike Jackson saved from an allegator:
Yomers Swimming
Bro. Brad took these guys out into the water where it was about 80 ft. deep and let them swim around. They did this because there are allegators up in the marshy area by the shore, and they didn't want us to come home minus a few fingers or toes.
While these were swimming others of us went on a boat ride out to the Talapia farms, where they raise fish to be shipped out. The lake was beautiful!!
Wow! What a day...as the previous post states, we left St. Louis this morning around 7:00 and then went to Miami to fly to Honduras. We arrived in Honduras around 12:00-ish, and met up with the Missionary (Bro. Brad Schreckhise), who took us to eat and then to the hotel.
Meet the Missionary:
Us at Lunch:
That's when the fun began. After getting our rooms figured out and trying to 'rest' before heading off to La Cumbre for supper, we were surprised by a loud noise, yelling, and eventually a band. The teachers were on strike and they were marching down the road by our hotel. When we left to eat, we had to walk about five blocks, through military/police baracades. It was a very interesting experience...we have plenty video and pictures. --grin-- Parents, don't worry, we had US Marines in front of our Hotel...everything is going to be fine. Actually tomorrow it's supposed to be over and they will go back to work.
Watch the 'march':
After getting to the bus, we rode up the mountain to La Cumbre, had some awesome food, got to see the lights of the city (you can catch the pics on the mo youth page), and got to relax. We also got to walk about 1 kilomoter up and down the 'hill'. Dodging the mud puddles in the dark was kinda interesting.
We wrapped the night up with orientation and song practice at the motel. We sang a couple of worship songs to open the orientation, and the Spirit of God moved into our 'conference' room. So far we've had a very interesting and LONG day, but I'm really looking forward to what's to come.
Hey everyone! We left STL this morning around seven. First time flyers made the trip to Miami interesting, turbulance got some 'ahhhs' throughout the cabin. We got the joy waiting on the tarmac due to a delay with a South American flight...nothing like sitting in a plane. We are going to have to run to catch our connection to Honduras. Until latter...
