Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A Time of Joy and Sorrow

The Joys -

Praise God, the team from Grace Point arrived on Sunday, most having had little sleep on that red eye from Portland.  I kidnapped my friend Nancy Brannen to ride with me in the car to Metro Mall for a quick lunch (with the group).  It was a good thing she was loopy from lack of sleep or she would have been screaming instead of laughing as I tried to follow David Hawthorne, driving very Hondureno to the mall.  After lunch they piled into a 30 passenger bus and headed for the small mountain town of Gracias.  Locals had begun working on the church and now after 2 days with our team helping out they are just about ready to put a roof on it. 

Let me brag on my son for a minute.  Michael is 12 and was part of the puppet ministry team back home in Oregon.  We told him to learn all he could so he could put it to use in Honduras and he is doing just that.  He picked 2 songs to perform at VBS in Gracias, figured out what props and items were needed, and created a piano, mixing board, and mic out of cardboard and paint.  Today when there was no power they improvised a short skit and tomorrow, with batteries running the CD player, they will perform the 2 songs he coordinated. 

I talked to him last night and he was a little bummed out, felt like he didn't do much other than get bit by a monkey.  But today he staked his claim, grabbed a pick ax and there was no stopping him.  Way to live out your faith Michael!  I'm so proud of you!

The Sorrows -

Just before leaving for the airport to pick up the team Hectorcito was taken to the ER with a 104 degree temp and a suspected case of Dengue Fever.  We're in the midst of a nationwide state of emergency for Dengue with 3 times as many reported cases year to date as compared to last year.  Doc Ferrell told us before we left about dengue, "it won't kill you...you'll wish it would, but it won't."  But people are dying, approximately 22 so far this year, most of them young and here in Tegucigalpa. 

Instead of writing anything more about Dengue, I hope you'll read a post by my friend and fellow blogger Laurie Matherne. 

Starving kids.  People dying from Dengue.  Young men being shot on the steps.  Sometimes life here gets to be a little overwhelming.   I couldn't agree more with Becca Bell's Facebook comment:  We heard gunfire this afternoon and ran downstairs to find a 22-yr-old guy from down the block shot dead on the steps of our apt building in the falling rain... yesterday he was chatting with John and today they took him away in a body bag. "Lord have mercy..." Your kingdom cannot come soon enough.

Yes, Lord, have mercy.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

How nice of you to link to me. And I am praying for the young man with Dengue.

Unknown said...

Laurie, I love you friend! Your post was wonderful. I hope everyone reads it and, hopefully, thinks a bit.

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