STEP Team 2007

2008-05-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

STEP '07-'08, one last time at HDC.

This post marks the end of a major chapter in each of the "steppers" lives. We have learned much and hope to continue our lifestyle of learning. I personally feel that we left our part of the mission complete even though there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done. During our final week in Honduras, we met with a lady who works at Calvin College and during a debriefing session she gave us this writing on which to reflect. Read this and think of how it can encourage each and everyone one of you in your respective walk in life.

A Prayer by Archbishop Oscar Romero

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders;
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

Pacto Con Dios (Pact with God) through the return trip ~by Andrea

2008-04-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

Our last weekend in Honduras proved to us that we were able to experience yet another form of culture shock after being in the country for almost five months. We were able to go to a spiritual retreat that is hosted by the local BIC church for people of the church.

It was a very intense weekend. The first reason being because it was full of sessions where we were listening to Spanish and trying to process everything that they were saying. Even after five months its still hard to understand a speaker speaking to a group. Another reason being because of the packed full schedule. We were not allowed to have watches, so I have no idea how much, or little, sleep we got. It was also very intense because of the spiritual aspect, and the many ways that God spoke into our lives and hearts at many different levels.

Also, on behalf of the team, thank you so much to those of you who sent us encouraging little notes, they were a huge blessing to each of us. And thank you Rachel for orchestrating that. It was a great weekend, and God definitely moved in many ways, seen and unseen.

Our last days in Honduras-- On Thursday we had a day full of mixed emotions as we were able to spend the day with our host families, and then in the evening we had a party to say good bye to our friends. It was encouraging to see around fifty people show up. As the evening came to a close we were able to share with our friends the impact they made on us, and also them to us, and then they prayed over us and we were able to pray for them. It is amazing how God works in ways we don't expect. Then after the party we stayed over at Rachel's and headed to the airport in the morning. It was so great to be sitting at the airport and see some of our friends and some of the host families walk in to hang out with us and wait till we need to go through security.

We left Teguz around 12:30pm, and then arrived in Baltimore around midnight. We were picked up by Mike Holland and arrived in Harrisburg around 3am Saturday morning. Now we find ourselves at HDC for the next two weeks, and after that...only God knows.

Some photos of us and our friends at our going away party.

Let Me Introduce You to... (by Karen W)

2008-04-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

My Good Friend Tony Javier

Tony is 20 years old and has incredibly strong will. Three years ago on June 19th, Tony dove into a river a very talented could-be professional soccer player (literally) and was brought out parapelegic. I have been learning Tony's story little by little while doing my best to teach him seventh grade subjects. Tony is so open and willing to share about his life it surprises me. Every Mon/Wed/Fri I have been tutoring Spanish, Science, Social Studies, and a Holy Spirit devotional. It's a bit funny that I'm so-called "teaching" him his own language, among other complicated subjects, while I'm barely speaking Spanish myself. God has been very gracious in my ability to communicate and be understood and Tony is, thankfully, very patient with me.

The beginning days were challenging and awkward as we just started to get to know each other and were figuring out the best way to teach/learn without us both being completely bored. At times I really didn't understand what the homeschool books we were using were trying to say. Their quality isn't quite up to par. Some days we mostly just chatted about whatever came to mind; music, movies, everything under the sun. I asked him a lot of questions and I was thankful he felt comfortable doing the same. Tony showed me his drawings, he is a really great drawer--he just has to use the pencil a different way.

Tony is also a Christian, praise the Lord. He knows and understands a lot about the Bible. His favorite book is Revelations and he believes the church needs to talk more about the coming future. But Tony doesn't get a chance to enjoy fellowship with other believers. He told me he believes he is the only Christian in his family. He and I have talked a lot about spiritual things, conversations I'm very grateful for and I know have been a blessing to him as well.

Though our (Josh teaches on Tues/Thurs) "purpose" was to teach, we have realized that more importantly we were meant to be there to give him some companionship. Tony has had a very hard life, and his paralysis is only just one part of that hard life. I know that the Lord will use each hardship for His glory and purpose because God works out everything for the good of those who love Him. I believe with all my heart that the Lord has really powerful plans for him. I can see it so clearly. Join me in praying for his healing and that the Lord would use Tony as a prophet of His word.

"Delight yourself in the Lord

and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Psalm 37:4

(Tony's favorite verse)

If you are interested, Micah house posted a great blog about Tony. Please click here and scroll down to the April 4th post titled, "Tony's Triumph". This is picture of Tony and Karen during a class in his dining room.

AFE- Amor, Fe Esperanza- Love, Faith, Hope (by Andrea)

2008-04-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

This past week I spent my time helping out at AFE. AFE is a tuition-free Christ-centered school for children who live in or near the city dump. The school has been open for about the past five years, and has been giving children who wouldn't otherwise have the oppurtunity to go to school the oppurtunity to recieve and education. I think that it is a wonderful ministry that gives kids an education in academics, as well as a wonderful way to learn about God, the source of all love, hope, and faith.
Upon arriving at the school on Monday morning I found out that they didn't have a kindergarten teacher anymore, so I spent the mornings teaching 2-6 children things like the alphabet and how to write their numbers. It was a challenge to try to keep the children's attention, and try to find creative ways to teach them in a way that they will want to learn.
After Monday afternoon there wasn't much for me to do after classes, so I traveled back into the city with some of the other teachers to visit some of the other ministries where some of the other team members was helping out at for the week. I was able to visit CEDER, and spend some time at the Micah House (see previous blogs for information on these locations).
Thursday evening we had the oppurtunity to take Toni (he is paralyzed from his waist down and only has limited use of his arms) to visit the Micah House, where a bunch of his friends live. Because of being paralyzed he has minimal oppurtunity to get out of his neighborhood, so it was a special treat to be able to visit his friends in the city. Josh works with Toni teaching classes and commented that, "It was such a blessing to see him in a state of complete joy and fulfillment. Karen said the next day in her class with him, they didn’t do too much in the way of bookwork because he just kept talking about that precious night. This is a situation in which the goal was to bless him, and we were blessed as well, in a way I can’t express."
It was a wonderful oppurtunity to allow God to use us and bless us at the same time.

Manuelito

2008-03-29T13:53:00.001-07:00

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)

2008-03-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

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)

2008-03-16T11:21:00.001-07:00

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)

2008-03-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

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/

Once again, the past two weeks have been very busy (Andy).

2008-02-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

After saying goodbye to our new friends with the dental brigade on Thursday we went home for a much needed rest. On Tuesday February 12 we headed off for Juticalpa and after three flat tires that made a three and a half hour trip into six hours we finally met up with Pastor Juan Perez to see what was on the schedule for the next three days. Juan and his family have recently moved from Tegucigalpa to Juticalpa to try and restore a church with a problem filled past. It was nice to have the opportunity to help him with this new load he had taken on. For three days we went door to door and discussed the Christian beliefs and church's new leadership. On the last day of our trip we got to see two people come to Christ. It was an experience of a lifetime and I wouldn’t have wanted anything to be different.

After Juticalpa we had a building excitement for the week to come. On Saturday February 16th at 5:30am the bus left the terminal and was on its way to Costa Rica. On arrival we checked into our hotel for four days of “R&R”. Once our time in Costa Rica had come to an end we had headed off to Nicaragua to meet another pastoral family and see one of the B.I.C. churches in the area. We were in Nicaragua for a total of two days and after that we headed home for an afternoon of washing clothes and getting ready for another early morning. On Saturday morning we hopped in the STEP van at 6am to go to an assembly of pastors in Trojes. We spent about three hours there and then headed home for the end of a crazy week.

Well that’s all for now.
God Bless

Hey all, here a few pictures and some videos - enjoy!

Waiting for the bus in Costa Rica.

Karen and Andrea using the bici-taxi between Nicaragua and Honduras.

An update from Andrea.

Us with one of the host families in Chinandega, Nicaragua - thanks for taking the photo Karen H.

A typical scene, this is the van in front of us that looks very much like our van.

The BIC church in Trojes, Honduras.

Honduras country side.

We were on this road of an hour and a half each way to Trojes.

The beginning of another phase… (Andrea)

2008-02-10T11:35:00.001-08:00

The past two weeks have been very busy for us. On Monday, January 28, Mike Holland, and Isaac and Liam Flag (Andy’s pastor and his son) arrived for a wonderful week of mutual encouragement and to start the ministry phase of our time here in Honduras. Starting on Tuesday we had devotions and lessons about evangelism, followed by a time of going out into one of the colonies in the city and going door to door doing spiritual interest surveys. This was a perfect opportunity to discern what people were interested in learning more about God and who was ready to explore spiritual matters while giving us the opportunity to invite people to cell group and church. Mike and Karen H had the wonderful opportunity to talk to a middle-age man, Henry, about the gospel. He was very receptive to what they had to share, and in the end he received Christ into his heart. Praise God!

This past week we traveled out to Villa Linda Miller, just outside of the city by the dump, to help translate for a group of dentists from the states. This was a really neat opportunity to use some of the Spanish that we’ve learned so far. Almost everyone on the team had the opportunity to translate for hygienists, and three of us were able to get our hands in people’s mouths as there was a need for some of the hygienists to have assistants. Some of us were also able to help out with the vacation Bible school that the dental brigade provided for the kids in the colony and we also had the responsibility to man the door to keep people who weren’t waiting in line out of the dentists’ office, along with the abundance of stray dogs that were everywhere. We also were able to have a few adventures on the public buses as the “Busito” (STEP van) broke down on Tuesday morning. We did some bus hopping, waiting for other busses and eventually just hopped in the back of a national’s pickup truck while another time we squished in the back of the dentists’ van.

This next week we will be heading out to Juticalpa to possibly do some vacation Bible school and more door to door evangelism.

Pastor Issac, Andrea, and some of the kids at the orphanage that Andrea worked with earlier in 2007.

The kids program up the hill from the clinic.

Andrea translating and assisting.

Tuesday morning in the back of a random pickup - good morning Andy, here's part of the adventure your looking for!

Get all the blood Karen.

Karen sharing a little about the clinic.

Sometimes, it was the hand holding and reassuring touches that meant the most.

The oral surgeon and dentists side of the clinic - each side had five "lawn chairs".

Yea, Joshua definitely squirted some people for fun.

Joshua getting that dirty mouth cleaned up a little.

Outside Andy really had a chance to connect with some of the kids and other helpers that came with a boys program.

Piñata craziness.

Way to go Andy, give that dental team something to do next year!

The dental team took us all out to dinner which was a real treat!

Random Facts about Honduras Continued: (Karen W)

2008-01-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

6) No matter how full a bus is if you bang your hand against the side of top of the bus while riding it the driver knows that someone wants to get off and he needs to stop. Definitely helpful after you realized you missed your stop.

7) Sometimes for certain issues Hondurans, or latinos in general probably, have a round-about way of telling others to do something in order to not offend. For example, when Andy, Josh, and our friends Carlos and Mike were getting ready to go to Roatan Mike asked/whispered to Carlos to tell Andy to pay him for the trip instead of Mike asking him directly. And they were all even in the same room at the time that this happened. This sometimes is definitely a good thing when trying to avoid offending others, and sometimes it is rather inconvenient but really it doesn't happen super often.

8) To my knowledge there are no exhaust regulations in Honduras for vehicles so you can imagine the walk to and from Rachel's house along a busy highway.

9) It is not strange to hear an occasional slap/splatter against the tile floor. This sound is someone who just blew their nose in their hand and then threw the gunk on the floor. It sounds gross, and is, but they mop the floor several times a day so it's ok...

10) It's normal for husbands or the man of the house to just up and leave his family to start a new one. For this reason there are a lot of single moms and pretty much every family is broken, and yet it's not strange either for the new and old families to know and do things with each other, like celebrate birthdays.

A weekend in La Ceiba and the end of class (Joshua)

2008-01-23T14:02:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the pretty photo Andrea, we miss you in it!

Introduction Video

Last weekend we went on a trip with a local Mennonite church from Tegucigalpa. We packed thirteen people and luggage (some luggage on the roof) into a van and left on a seven to eight hour trip, or so we thought, as it turned out to be about nine hours each way! We made the rule to only speak Spanish in the van and tried to speak it most of the weekend. I get the feeling many times that people don’t understand the difficulty or respect our decision to do that, but we know in the long run it will help us and make the locals feel more comfortable with us. We feel sometimes our personalities come across as very different because of our limitations in speech, but that can be overcome as a smile and laugh translates easily and accurately.

The weekend overall was very draining as this retreat did not believe in sleep, at least that’s how it felt. We fully understand how much change can make a person tired and when something like this happens, we feel the full force of the lack of sleep. The girls were able to put mattresses in the aisle on floor between bunks (we arrive at about 2:30AM Saturday morning, so all the beds were occupied) in the girls dorm and then got trampled on all through the night. Andy and I had to put mattresses in the main passage area between the sleeping quarters and then pulled a chalkboard and coke machine for some privacy (though I was so tired I couldn’t have cared less).
And that’s how the weekend started.

A devotion at 4:00AM Saturday morning started shortly after we arrived.

I think we were all surprised at how reserved others were and unwilling to speak to us. I personally found that it was awkward to approach the girls and the guys weren’t interested in getting to know more guys. We were able to have some conversations with a few locals and some of us were able to understand pieces of the services that were going on all day. We managed to get a break Saturday afternoon to go to the beach which was very close; it was great to have an hour and a half of English town.

Saturday night there was a good speaker who had actually lived in Pennsylvania very close to Harrisburg (where we trained for this trip). Afterward there was a good time of worship followed by some crazy dancing that I didn’t think Mennonites were capable of doing (see video below). This was a fun and confusing time for all of us and we enjoyed the energy but I think most of us were relieved when the commotion and craziness stopped and we didn’t have to dodge people. This was followed by a talent show and we left to hit the sack because there was no hope of understanding and we were zonked.

Here's a short clip of the Saturday night dance worship.

The next morning we stayed through lunch and then left with our group to stop by the beach (might as well being so close). Then we left for Tegucigalpa and got in at about 2:30AM. The weather wasn’t great and we know we were in God’s hand through the long trip and were protected in many ways. We actually saw one accident on the way home that did not look good at all (what an expression, how can an accident “look good”). It felt weird to be with a church group and not stop to help when others weren’t there, but I asked and found out thats how it is here, it’s dangerous to stop as it can be a setup or many other bad things can happen. I felt I had my hands tied, but at least I could pray and I am learning more about the power of prayer each day.

Please enjoy the pictures and videos below! If you have any ideas please email them to joshua.hershberger@gmail.com as I want to continue to make this blog interactive, fun, and informative for everyone! We also love to receive posted comments, though please keep them appropriate and free of information that is too personal as they are publicly posted.

A couple brief saga’s from the weekend:

“Do you ever have trouble pronouncing a foreigners name? Well the same is true here. Saturday morning the MC was calling out the names of every new person at the conference. He was calling out the first and last names of everybody, at least until he got to us. This is how it went: “Andrea … Simmerman, Andee .. Logs… Andy, Joshua ….. …. Joshua, Karen Ess, ee Karen Weelson. For those of you who don’t get it, it is, Andrea Zimmerman, Andy Logsdail, Joshua Hershberger, Karen Hess, and Karen Wilson. Once again, a fun way we can laugh at ourselves in this place that is still so new in many ways”

“We were sitting in our seats while the speaker talked and we are trying so hard to understand. They were calling out the names of the churches and cities represented. As our time neared we didn’t know what we were going to do, cheer or not since we weren’t technically part of the church we had come with. We sort of all had the same idea to wait for the locals from our church to stand and cheer and we would follow suit. Churches were called and people screamed, finally, we heard, “Y Tegucigalpa, el capital!!” – at this point, imagine crickets chirping and people looking around to see the people representing the capital city – finally, three to four of the five gringos timidly rose and gave a weak, faint attempt at a scream. The place burst into laugher, us included. We had been expecting support from the locals in our group which turned out to be absent. Getting embarrassed yet again in front of 400+ people was a fun experience in a way, but the type that reminds us how foreign everything is because we are foreign to everything.”

We only made it to the beach for a little, but that's more than what we had expected. How do you expected us to be so close and not indulge at least a little?

Spanish class is over as of 12:00PM on Friday the 25th of January. Here are pictures of each of us with our incredibly patient teachers!

Karen H giving some information about how our mornings start, the only out of date information is that starting next week, we have no clue how our mornings will start. Then Karen W lets us know about Spanish class, the only problem here is those classes are over (not that we are dismayed).

What's going on "Mel"? (Karen W)

2008-01-15T13:44:00.000-08:00

So I was going to try and give an actual educated and informed report of some of the controversial political decisions that have been made in the past week or are in the process of being made. But all I have time for is my very limited and biased perspective of what is happening with the government. My completely unbiased reliable sources (cough...sarcasm) are my host family and my Spanish teacher, and how I understand what they tell me in Spanish. If you want a more informed version of the political news in Honduras, though probably not less biased, I suggest doing your own research on the internet. So here goes with what I think I know: President Manuel Zelaya, nicknamed Mel, has made changes in the government leadership; such as the leaders of the Police department and the Health department. He is also proposing to reform the election law so that he can extend his term of presidency, which will be completed by 2010--in two years. This apparently isn't enough time to implement the changes that Mel has planned out for Honduras. Obviously you could see how this could create waves among the people of Honduras, particularly with those who do not agree with Mel's style of leadership and decisions.

Also, for a reason I haven't learned yet, the U.S. embassador in Honduras is leaving. I believe he is going to Spain. This has also been on the news a lot, but I'm not exactly sure what the implications of this change are.

We have learned that even small countries like Honduras keep up with the politics of the States. Especially with the anticipation of the upcoming presidential elections this year. Though it certainly isn't a necessity for me, I hope that I can keep myself somewhat informed of what's happening with the possible candidates. And I think it would be good to learn how such a change in our country affects other nations, such as Honduras of course.

One last thing: Honduras has been graced with the presence of Hugo Chaves. Today Chaves, the president of Venezuela, arrived in Honduras. Aparently he and "Mel" are good friends, or at least allies. And the two of them are also allies of Fidel Castro in Cuba. Depending on who you talk to here in Honduras you will find people who really do not like this trio and those who do support them. We are particularly interested in Mel's relationship with Chaves because one of the YES teams is there right now doing there outreach. We got to know and hang out with the YES Venezuela team in particular because we studied Spanish together. It will be interesting to see what happens, if anything, within the government here and it's relationships to other nations, and nations' leaders.

Join us in prayer for the government of Honduras.

Can you find Andy?

2008-01-05T13:43:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo of the new church building on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Happy New Year! (Karen H)

2008-01-05T12:44:00.001-08:00

This has been an unsual week as it has been cold here. One day this week, the high was probably 50 degrees. We as a team were cold, but our host families were wearing multiple layers to try to stay warm in their homes. The homes here do not have any heating system and they are very open. Josh lives up on a hill and he was awaken by his brother because his room had water in it and a section of their roof blew off. The weather that we have been experiencing is more like weather in November so this is unusual.

On a typical day, after we complete four hours of spanish class, we walk to Rachel's house for culture study. A typical smell is exhaust from the vehicles driving down the road, an aroma rising from trash dumped in a creek we pass by, and other dumpsters that are full and overflowing where people sometimes rumage through trying to find something of value. As we walk, we pass many people who are selling things, handing out advertisements, or begging for money. We cross the busy road by means of a walking bridge. On this walking bridge there are people who often sit on the steps asking for money. We see the same two women most days who are handicapped and not able to work. One day this past week, after eating out for our lunch at a Chinese restaurant, we packed up our extra food and headed for Rachel's. We used the walking bridge like normal passing the same lady sitting at the top of the bridge. She is probably in her mid 40's and her leg is disformed. She looks so lonely as she watches people walk past and ignoring her or just drop some change in her box. As I passed, Andrea and I heard her say that she was hungry so we gave her our extra food. If we keep our eyes and ears open, there are many opportunities like this where we can meet someones needs in a specific way, even if it is just a word of an encouragement. Pray with us that we will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and be able to not only show compassion, but share our love that comes from our love for Jesus.

We each brought in the New Year is different ways; Karen W. was able to experience Latin dancing, Andy had Christmas again with the exchanging of gifts, Andrea brought in the new year by praying with her family, Josh ate dinner three times at three different homes, and I brought in the new year by eating at midnight. As the team reflected on the year to come, we realized again that if we miss recognizing Jesus during this time, we miss everything. We want this time in Honduras to be not only of ministering to those around us, but a time where we can each deepen our relationship with the Lord.

The second half of our month here... (Andrea)

2007-12-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

We have been in Honduras for almost exactly a month now, and what a journey it has been. Many of us have gone from barely being able to ask what time it was, to now being able to have conversations with our host families and some of the other nationals that we have been able to meet. The last two weeks have been very busy for the team, and I will try not to bog you down with an extraordinary amount of information.

Early last week we all piled into the busito (van), along with two of our new friends here, to traverse across many mountains driving along a winding, twisting road, having two incidents where we had to change tires, and twice when we had to stop by the llanteras (tire repair shop) to fix the tires again. I would be at fault if I did not first give God all the glory and honor for a safe trip. Through the many hours of driving there were many times when we could've been in an accident, but God was faithful and we were safe the entire time, and were able to see the beauty of God in many things from the gorgeous scenery to learning the story of the Mayans of Copan. We spent three days in the northwest area of the country for a cultural trip to the Copan ruins, the banana plantation, waterfalls, and caves.

Upon our return to Tegucigalpa we all had Spanish and culture class on Thursday and then the guys departed very early on Friday morning for a Christmas vacation with their brothers to the island of Roatan. This was a wonderful opportunity for the guys to have some bonding time with their host brothers, and be able to interact with them in a different setting. While the guys were gone the girls spent Saturday cooking up a storm in the kitchen as we had fun making cookies for our families for Christmas. It was fun to serve our families in this way.

Christmas is very different here, and it was a wonderful opportunity for us to refocus on why we celebrate Christmas, as all of our traditions, families and things familiar to us were absent, and in place we celebrated with our larger family, our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Honduras. Here the celebrations are at their height at about midnight on the twenty-fourth. Each of us went with our families and therefore each celebrated in different ways. I had the opportunity to help my host mom make some of the food, and then at about nine we went over to my abuela's (grandma's) house to celebrate with the rest of the family. We ate some of the traditional Honduran food, which consists of turkey, rice and vegetables, torrejas (kind of like pancakes that are in a very sweet cinnamon sauce), salad, and torta de papas, which I believe is a potato pie. Then around 12:30 we went back to my house and opened our gifts.

Thank you so much for all the prayers, we have felt them as we continue on this adventure of serving Christ. Please keep us in your prayers and may God bless you all! and a late: Feliz Navidad! May you all always remember the celebrate the love of our Father, and the wonderful gift of His Son.

A Las Ruinas de Copan

2007-12-21T18:39:00.000-08:00

The Journey Continues! (Joshua)

2007-12-15T11:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all for your prayer support as we began this journey. Our team has become very close over the last two weeks and we are sure we will continue to bond as these five months pass. Our days currently consist of Spanish and culture study along with group processing and discussing what we have learned living with our host families.

Two of our members had fallen ill this week, those two members being the guys, Andy and Joshua. But thanks to a great leader and quick response, both are feeling better and acting like the kids they are. As far as we know, no one has fallen too ill with the food which has been a great blessing. It is fun to get together and discuss the different experiences we have had.

Our team leader, Karen Hess, celebrated her 29th birthday this week and we were able to celebrate with her and have a good lunch as a team at TGI Friday´s. Karen made it through her birthday without getting her face shoved in the cake which we hear is a tradition. If you hear the words, ¨Bite the cake¨ (probably in Spanish), don´t - unless you want to get to know your cake very personally.

Our Spanish teachers have been giving us a healthy dose of culture as well. Several times this week we ventured out to local shops and street markets and ¨ïnterviewed¨ local venders. This has been uncomfortable for most everyone, but has been good and the venders usually are very enthusiastic to help us. The people here are usually excited to see someone studying their culture and language.

Prayer requests for this week are directed towards travel. On Monday morning the team will be traveling to Copan to study the Mayan Indian (an indiginous group) culture and visit the ruins. We will be returning on Wednesday after a visit to San Pedro Sula and tour of a local banana plant (a major industry here). Friday morning Andy and Josh will be leaving with there host brothers for a trip to the island of Roatan and will ask for prayer for traveling safety as well.

Thank you again for your ongoing support and love, we could not do this without you.

Week #1 Down (Karen W)

2007-12-07T11:16:00.000-08:00

"We also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance..."

This is the verse of the week, contributed by Andy. I know it doesn't fill you with the fluffy mushy gushy feelings that you might get once in a while knowing the affectionate presence of our Heavenly Father. However, these words have been a bit of a reality for us this week. It all started when we moved in with our host families last Saturday (December 1). It hasn't been easy. We have been stripped of everything we know and are familiar with and have been placed in completely new surroundings. We now have to do things in ways we aren't used to and can't insist on doing them our own way. We aren't able to ask simple questions, tell jokes, or communicate what we want or don't want. We have even been, in part, stripped of our own personalities since it is impossible to fully express our style of communication to the Honduran families and friends we are with. And so because of all these trials we have come to realize how much we appreciate every other member of our team and the precious time we get to spend with them turning our tears to laughter and being able to speak English.

Despite it just being hard most of the time, each day has been an easier step and God has been showing Himself faithful to us in very simple and basic ways. It is a huge blessing to have another team member just come over and visit one evening. It's a huge accomplishment to successfully have a five minute conversation with your host mother or brother. It is an answer to prayer when our host younger host sister isn't forcing us to sit through her own Spanish lesson. It is wonderful to know we are wanted by the kids in the family who are excited to have us in their home. It is so helpful to have family members who do know some English. So join us in praising the Lord for his faithfulness and for desiring us to know Him better through perseverance through struggles.

...perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-5

A Few Random Facts about Honduras:

There is no flushing toilet paper. Instead we have to throw it away in a trash can. Some of us have already had to fish it out after forgetting.
Driving rules seem to be nonexistent. If they are, it's not obvious. To put it bluntly, the drivers here are crazy. And using the horn is not offensive here so they use it all the time.
Hondurans point with their lips. Not all the time of course, but when it's just easier or necessary.
All Hondurans who lives in Tegucigalpa are either Olimpia or Motagua. These are the two futbol (soccer) teams in Honduras and they are pretty hard core about it.
There are girls selling tortillas up and down the small alleys/streets where our houses are so every now and then you hear someone who is carrying a basket on their head yelling "Tortillas!...Tortillas!"

(and hopefully more to come)

This is the team at a concert one of the first nights. Accompanying us are some of the locals: Ronal, Anita, Bessy, and Allan

First couple days in Teguz! (Karen H)

2007-12-01T06:52:00.000-08:00

This was written on Saturday, but due to time constraints and internet connections - is just now posted on Monday. We will give another update every week if possible! Thanks!

We have arrived in Honduras after the long anticipated day! Tegucigalpa is surrounded by mountains so as we flew into the airport it was a rather close landing. It looked like we were feet away from the mountains while the airport runway was still far away. Teguz has one of the shortest runways in the world, so it was a rather close and quick stop. After we had landed successfully, I heard it was normal for people clap for the safe landing and it was no different this time.

We were greeted by beautiful weather and Rachel and a friend met us at the airport. Since then, we have been getting a taste of Honduras. We are just beginning to get a feel for the area both in surroundings and food. Just to summarize, there are lots of people, cars, lots of Spanish, and exhaust, which, hopefully will soon become a better smell to us.

We move into our host families today (Saturday) and that will really immerse us into the culture. The technical "orientation" is ending, but it's just really beginning as we will become part of another family today. We will be diving into language and culture learning so the learning curve is about to begin. (Karen W. was fixing her hair in this picture, sorry for the lack of visibility of her face.)

Tegus is about 1.2 million people and here is the team with the city in the background. We actually saw an airplane land and some take off as we were on top of the mountain. Quite amazing.

Praises:

* Safe arrival

* We each met our host families and it seems like each family will be a great fit for us individually

* A more relaxing start than we thought before being immersed into the culture

Prayer Requests:

* For a smooth transition into our homes without being able to communicate. Grace and patience for us as a team and for our host families.

* Health

* That Christ would be reflected in our lives through our actions and facial expressions because we can't speak or explain ourselves yet.

Glimpse into our lives (Andrea)

2007-10-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hello Hello!

The first entry is being written! I know that we set up our team blog site a long time ago, but with our busy schedules among other things we have not posted anything...until THIS ONE! :-) You may want to take a peek at this site periodically in the next six months, especially once we are in Honduras because we will not have as much time to do e-mailing and it will be a convenient way for our friends and family to see how things are going. Training here in Harrisburg has been a great experience so far. We are learning many new things about God, and how to have him in our everyday lives, and have a life of worship to him. I have found that the more i learn about God the more i find that i don't know yet, and want to learn about!
I shall let you have a little glimpse into our lives here at HDC. This last week we had some great sessions about hearing God's voice, and the Father heart of God. This coming week we will be learning about discipling new believers and evangelism and compassion, among other things. We also have language study two times a week. It is a good time for some of us to review the Spanish that we have already learned in school, and for the others to get a good foundation to prepare for the intense language classes that we will be having upon arrival in Honduras, as well as communicating with our host families there. Thank you all for your interest in what God is doing in our lives and what he is going to do!
Andrea

The STEP Team 07-08

2007-10-02T10:23:00.001-07:00