Greetings from Honduras.

We thought it may be time to write a few words about our experiences this year as 2013 is coming to a close.  Pat and I are not writers of any importance, so please overlook any grammatical and punctuation errors.  The intent here is to just share some thoughts with all of you.

Pat's sewing ministry has been very popular and successful.  I am impressed with her courage to teach a class to Spanish speaking ladies in our church when neither of us can put a full sentence together in Spanish.  Christy Patterson assists her with translations and instruction.  The ladies have made several projects for themselves to include aprons, handbags and blouses.  Most recently they have started making baby clothes.  A group of Christian ladies from Riverbend church in Florida came down for a week and donated more than 10 yards of soft diaper flannel and helped us make more than 87 cloth diapers of varying sizes. 

 
These diapers are being distributed mostly to a small village about a fifteen minute drive from our town where our church is helping out with a new church plant.  Those mothers there were so very grateful for the diapers because they were using rags for diapers and/or letting their babies run naked.

Pat is planning a new class for the teenagers of our church during their school break.  For our regular group of sewing ladies, the next plan is a service project to make school uniforms for all the Dayhome kids for the next school year starting in January. Eventually, we would like to see some of the ladies from her sewing class reach out and teach others how to sew. Ideally we would like for them to become proficient enough to support themselves with a little cottage industry. (I know that's way too North American)

Pat also helps Emily Mitten with the Wednesday evening classes at church for the little kids.  She has helped the Montoya family make Christmas stockings, and done some mending for a couple of families.  She has also made curtains and pillows for our home and several other projects.

I participate in a men's devotion Monday through Friday at 7:00 am with the other MEDA workers with Mark Patterson as the facilitator.  We are currently reading through the entire Bible in Spanish.  I am also involved in a men's group study of the book of Ephesians facilitated by our Pastor Melvin Romero on Wednesday nights.  Pat and I both are part of Mark Patterson's small home group study on Friday nights also done in Spanish.

Somehow, we find time to maintain the flower beds, pull weeds, rake leaves, cut up fallen trees and plant new trees. I have been mowing nearly every day for the past three four months.  We are nearing the end of the rainy season so I will be able to mow maybe once every other week for a few months.  We always try to do a little extra before the Seminary students return for their two week modules and before each three day conference.

We are not officially enrolled in a Spanish class so we learn through our conversations with the Spanish speaking public.  We enjoy singing the worship songs in Spanish, Digno es el Señor (Worthy is the Lord!) and we keep a dictionary handy.  The Hondurans are very merciful and patient with us.  Several of the Hondurans want to learn English but find it very difficult so they empathize with our struggle to learn Spanish.

Our transition to this new culture has been mostly easy.  We love the food, the people and the scenic landscape.  Honduras is very mountainous with lots of pine trees.  Several of the flowers native to Florida can be found here.  We have several fruit trees in our yard including, tangerine, orange, avocado, mango, banana, and more.

We have a spare bedroom for those of you who would like to visit and experience for yourselves the wonder of Honduras.

Siguatepeque is cooler than San Pedro Sula (North of us)  and Tegucigalpa, the capital city south of us.  However, it does get hot March thru June.  So, come and visit.  Please continue to pray for our sanctification, health (physical and Spiritual) and for our ability to speak Spanish.