Tuesday, October 13, 2015

another project complete

My work here in Honduras continues.  I've been quite busy making initial preparations for upcoming groups and resuming construction on the new building at San Juan School.  The sewer line from the original school building collapsed and backed up, so I've been working with some local church members to get that replaced.  I have also applied for residency papers.  And I'm going back to school at 62.  Spanish school!  I wanted to share with you a project we recently completed at San Juan's.

Several months ago, the city of Siguatepeque repaired the bridge, which had three large holes in it, and paved the road adjacent to the school property.  Although the paved road and new bridge are a huge improvement, when finished it was a foot higher than our gates leading into and out of our circular drive, making it inaccessible.



With a generous donation from St. John's Montgomery and the help of those who regularly support my work, I was able to pay for the installation of some new drainage pipes,


and install two new concrete access drives.



Now we are once again able to use our driveway, allowing parents to pull onto the school property to load and unload their children safely.



My contractor was kind enough to give us some sod so we could green up the space in between.  Now everyone on the street is sprucing up!

We are making great progress on the construction of the new cafeteria building at San Juan's as well. 
When finished, we will be subdividing the space with temporary sheet rock walls to provide three more classrooms.  We are bursting at the seams here.  Hopefully, with God's help, we will be able to build a new classroom building in the next couple of years, the temporary walls will come down and we will be able to quickly turn this new building into a really nice cafeteria for the children.


I can't thank you enough for your continued support of my work in Honduras.  God bless

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

School Begins

Classes resumed at San Juan Episcopal School here in Siguatepeque on Monday.  It was a most festive occasion and our 70 students were very happy to be back at school.



We were hoping to have a new building by the beginning of this year, but although the foundation work has been completed, we don't have the $40,000 needed to complete the building.  We are making do until the funds are available.  A little disheartening, but we are keeping the faith.


The city finally paved the dirt road along side our property, which is great.  Unfortunately the new road is about a foot above the base of our gates making our circular drive inaccessible.  It is a very busy street and not safe to unload children for school.


This is similar to what we need to construct in order to be able to access our driveway again along with some drainage piping underneath.  I need about $1300 to construct these access drives.  It is an immediate need.  If you would like to help us out with that, contact me and I can tell you how.

I had four groups pretty much back to back in June and July.  I spent 5 out of 36 nights in my own bed.  It was a bit exhausting, but at the same time, I had an opportunity to work with some really outstanding Christian folks, including those wonderful people from my own church, St. John's Montgomery.

Incarnation from Dallas was a really fun group and very kind, generous and supportive to me.  They helped to construct a roof/floor on a church in Copan and held a medical clinic in Santa Rita.  They paid for and poured a mess of concrete and saw hundreds of people in their clinic.  There were 40 people in the team and one of those teams that really make me thankful that I am finally here doing what I felt God called me to do.  Love those folks.  Many thanks to Rev. Carlos Garza for being such a joy to work with and the most wonderful Rev. Concepción Santos for his help with the clinic.



We had a team from the Diocese of San Joaquin, CA hold a medical clinic in the mountain village of Matazanales.  The  people there were great and had everything set up for us upon our arrival saving us a lot of time.  We saw 500 plus in the clinic including an elderly woman who had a horrible infection on her legs.  Helping her alone was worth the trip.  There is no medical service in that area at all.  We had a few set backs.  We ran out of some of the medications, but we were able take my truck back to San Pedro and pick them up.  The bus got stuck the first morning out.  But thanks to be God I have four wheel drive and was able to pull it up the hill.  I got lost with three members of the group in the truck.  All those mountain roads look just alike.  But God came to our aid and we found a little tut tut taxi who agreed to lead us back to where we needed to be.  They are already planning for next year and I look forward to their return.

St. John's first week included doing some much needed painting on some new construction work and some existing stairs.  Reverenda Olga Barreara assisted in VBS which was just huge fun.  Second week for St. John's included holding clinics in several locations.  Hundreds of people seen.  We saw one young man in Centrinella who had a motor cycle accident when he was 14 and had been struggling with infections and a bad wound for years.  He could barely walk.  We met him when the church bus blew out two of its four tires and were able to get some help.  As always, I am so thankful for St. John's and their continued support of my work in Honduras and thanks to the staff and proprietors of Cesar Mariscos Hotel in Tela for being like family to us.

In the midst of all the groups, the well pump at San Juan's decided it needed to burn itself up.  Many thanks to Steve Rodgers of Incarnation for so generously replacing it with a new one.  This last two weeks I have been working on a list of repairs and improvements required to make the system work better.  That work is almost completed.  Just awaiting a chance to get the water tested.

I am happy to announce that Father Francisco Lone is the new rector at San Juan Church and Christian Education Director at the School.  Great guy, good friend, beautiful family and a real inspiration to me.  Truly embodies the joy of the Lord.   And fun to practice the English/Spanish thing with.

I'm headed home tomorrow to renew my passport and celebrate my sister's birthday.  I missed it last year.  Happy Birthday Anniebeez!  I'll only be home for a week this time, but I am really looking forward to being in St. John's Church on Sunday and seeing my friends there.

God has been so good to me, keeping me safe, filling all my needs, and blessing me with the "company of faithful people."


Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Proyecto Mirador eco stoves

Yesterday I had the pleasure of witnessing the construction of one of Proyecto Mirador's dos pro tres eco stoves here in Siguatepeque.  Rev. Francisco Lone, the new rector of San Juan Church here and an old friend of mine from Tela had the stove built in the back area of the rectory.  There had been an old wood burner back there previously, but it had crumbled and was removed.  Francisco had his friend Manuel from Tela come and construct the new stove.  Manuel is a licensed contractor with Proyecto Mirador and has built over a hundred stoves and trained others including my friend deacon Jamie in Matazanales.  Francisco was formerly the rector at one of our churches in Santa Barbara where the  main office and production plant for Proyecto Mirador is located and has been involved with the program for 6 or 7 years.  In addition, Doña Emilla Mendoza, project Director for Honduras, is the wife of Father Mendoza, the new dean of the Santa Barbara Deanery.  So the Episcopal Church is well represented in this very worthwhile cause.


The base is provided by the recipient.  Manuel begins construction of the stove.

While we watched Manuel work, Francisco explained the three phases of the process: Education, Preparation and Construction.  The education phase includes seminars with the potential recipients involving the many health and ecological benefits of the stove.  Proper operation and maintenance of the stove is also taught.  Preparation involves the family's construction of the base for the stove and some of the materials, bricks etc.  Proyecto Mirador produces and provides several specialty parts including the chimney vents and griddle.  The actual construction of the stove is carried out by trained technicians such as Manuel.

Father Francisco assists in the installation of specially manufactured, fired elements that form the fire box of the new stove.

Since 2004, Proyecto Mirador has installed 100,000 stoves in Honduras, greatly reducing the carbon footprint and improving the health of many families.  I have personally witnessed the
improvement in health through working with medical teams in areas where these stoves have been built.  Assisting people with eyeglasses since 2005, I have witnessed fewer complaints of burning eyes and have heard doctors speak of less respiratory problems.  Other benefits include using less wood.  The dos pro tres creates more heat with a third as much wood saving time and resources.  I've also seen kids out gathering stacks of wood during the day when they should be in school. Using less wood frees them up to attend classes more often.
Interior of the stove

Since I have several teams considering taking part in this program, I was very thankful for the opportunity to actually witness one being constructed.  Start to finish in about 2.5 hours.  Cost is about $125 a stove.

Manuel and the nearly completed stove.

For more information about Proyecto Mirador, please visit http://www.proyectomirador.org

time out

Haven't blogged in a while because I have been really busy.  For the last 6 weeks or so I have had back to back groups and spent only 5 nights of that period in my own bed.  I had Incarnation of Dallas in Copan on a construction and medical mission.  40 some odd wonderful folks that were a joy to be with and treated me with such kindness and generosity.  They saw some 500 people in the clinic and another 100 in the dental clinic.  The construction team financed and took part in the pouring of a huge slab at a church we have been working on for some 12 years.  Too many people to thank on that group, Larry, Martha, Lynn...just too many, not to mention our Honduran hosts, Carlos Garza and Rev. Concepción.  Great trip!

Had to leave near the end of their trip and  make the 5 1/2 hour trek back to Siguatepeque to take care of a burned up pump situation on our well at the school.  Many, Many thanks to Steve Rodgers for providing a new pump for us. Further improvements to the system are underway.

A day later, back in the road to hit it back to San Pedro to pick up the Sequoia Deanery Medical Mission team, from California.  They were returning to Matanazales after a four year absence.  They saw another 530 plus people in five days.  Very successful and a great team.  Thanks to Sue and Betty for all you do.  And for the loving people of Matazanales for having everything set up and ready when we arrived.  That was huge blessing.

I had a few days off and then my own beloved St. John's of Montgomery AL were with me.  Construction and VBS for the first week and medical for the second week.  Two very nice weeks in Tela.  This is the team that made we want to move here and work full time with the church.  I loved being with my old friends in Tela as well as the "newbies" on the team.  There was some new construction at the school which we were able to get painted.  VBS was such wonderful fun with these beautiful children and Rev. Olga.  The medical team saw something like 1200 people in 5 or 6 days.  And the people at the church as well as all our good friends at Cesar Mariscos Hotel were as loving and welcoming as always.  God bless St. John's for their incredible support over this past year!

People ask me sometimes about the effectiveness of short term mission teams and if they make any long term difference.  I understand their questions.  Teams plan an entire year for a 10 day trip.  (That idea boggles the minds of most Hondurans who don't plan for anything more than two weeks out.)  The groups breeze in and do their thing and breeze back out, back home to the multiples of things we enjoy as North Americans, multiple cars, multiple houses, "bonus rooms," multiple opportunities, and such an abundance and variety of food sources it is unbelievable. The Hondurans go back to their standard menus of rice and beans three times a day and their lack of quality health care, opportunities and education, transportation and clean water.  But I will tell you this, any progress made on any construction project is due to the generosity of the visiting groups.  The people here are more than willing to do the work and to work with us, though we are basically unskilled, but they just don't have the money to buy the materials.  And as far as the medical teams are concerned, they are providing much needed medical care to people who otherwise, just don't have it.  The state of medical care in Honduras is deplorable.  92 million DOLLAR deficit this year.  Without the help of the teams, health care basically doesn't exist.  So I have learned to leave the long term results up to God himself and just pray that He helps me help these teams accomplish that which He wishes for them to accomplish on any given day.  And it does make a difference!

So I'm resting up from some jamb packed days.  Still got some things going on, but also taking care to take care of myself.  I'll be home in Alabama for a week on the 20th of August to renew my passport.  Please pray for the construction of the new school building at San Juan School.  It has stalled as a result of a lack of funding.  Pray for the teachers and the administrators.  Pray for me as I continue to learn and grow into this position and that I find help when I need it.  I need some language training and need some help getting my residency papers.  And please pray for the Bishop, the clergy, lay leaders and missionaries working in the Diocese of Honduras.  Pray also for my dear friend Avis.

God bless,  bob

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

San Juan School

The foundation of the new school building at San Juan has been completed.  We are now at a standstill awaiting further funding.  The principal at the school has moved out of her office and we will using that space for which ever class has the fewest pupils.  Not at all the desire we wanted when we started the design phase of the new building in hopes of having the new building by the beginning of this school year.  Please pray for funding for the school.


Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Construction begins at San Juan School

5/15/15  Excavation of existing soil and infill of new construction grade soil completed 6/17.. Many thanks to Good Shepherd Dallas for helping us get to this point.  All I need now is about another $45,000.  got to have this baby finished by August 15th.



Ground breaking at San Juan School

The ground breaking at San Juan School  took place on Friday, June 12th.  The custom here is to dig a little trench and lay in two concrete block and bless them.  We are on our way!!




Friday, June 5, 2015

San Juan School News

A word from the first graders at San Juan to all who helped bring about the installation of an all new computer lab


Today we received the bid for the new cafeteria building that we hope to have finished before the beginning of the school year on August 15th.  $56,000.  We have no space left for additional classrooms and our fifth graders will have no classroom next year if we don't get this building completed.  The plan is to build the cafeteria building and to temporarily subdivide it into three new classrooms using light gauge steel studs and sheetrock walls which can be removed later when we get a new classroom building built.  If you would like to join in the effort by contributing funds, let me know and I'll show you how you can make it happen.  In the meantime, keep us in your prayers.

San Juan is a bilingual, faith based, Episcopal School.  The teachers are very dedicated and love the children.  They make an average of $300 a month.  The parents of these children are thrilled with the school and really want to see it continue to grow.  All the kids call me Meester Bob.  I love it.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Celebrations

Boy did I have a great weekend!  The annual conference of the Diocese of Honduras was to be held in Tela at Espiritu Sancto Church on Saturday. May has been a pretty brutal month with a lot of planning for upcoming groups, the installation of a new computer lab at San Juan School in Siguatepeque, plans for the new school building at San Juan, retrieval of a large medical shipment that has been held up at customs for 3 months, and a ridiculous amount of travel all coupled with a nasty respiratory infection I’ve had for over three weeks.  I needed a break.  So I took off to Tela on Friday. 

I arrived at Ceasar Marisco’s Hotel on Friday afternoon and it was like showing up unexpectedly at a family reunion.  “ Ah! Meester Bob!”  Lots of hugs and kisses all around.  Tela is where my love affair with Honduras began and all the people at the hotel where St. John’s mission group has stayed for the last four or five years just love me.  After a little car trouble where the entire staff joined in to help, I was able to settle into my room and later spent some time with a Salva Vida at the pool.  Dinner at the hotel with fried shrimp with coconut was as wonderful as usual.  Went to bed early and went right to sleep.

Saturday morning I had breakfast on the beach and was having my second cup of coffee on the balcony overlooking the weekend activity when there was a knock on my door.  “Meester Bob, someone is looking for you.”   Ana Reid had arrived.  Ana is an area coordinator for short-term mission teams in the Omoa, Puerto Cortez area and a very dear friend of mine.  She had arrived along with her mother, a friend from San Pedro Sula and a friend named Maria from Omoa, who I love.  It was too early for them to check in, so we put their bags in my room and Ana and I took off to the conference.

The conference was very well attended and I was able to catch up with many of the priests I have worked with over the past year and many of the delegates whom I’ve worked with as well.  Lots of love there on Saturday.  Everyone was in pretty good spirits and the conference went well.  It ended at four and Ana and I returned to the hotel, caught up with her crew and got everyone checked in.  I was resting in the pool when Ana’s mother came up rubbing her belly, “we’re hungry.”  So I took them to one of favorite spots for dinner.  It is called Maya Vista and is a French Canadian Restaurant /Hotel built way up on a hill over looking Tela Bay.  Ana had never been there before.  We had a beautiful dinner and a great bottle of Argentinian wine while enjoying each other’s company and a fantastic breeze.  They enjoyed it very much, which did my heart good.  We returned to the hotel where a huge wedding was taking place on the beach.  Very entertaining and then off to bed.

Sunday morning Ana and I had breakfast with Steve Robinson who is to become the new administrator for the Episcopal schools in Honduras.  He and his wife will be moving here in July.  I had never had much of a chance to talk to him before and I was very impressed.  We talked about the new building at San Juan School, which is supposed to finished mid August.  I don’t have the final plans yet and I’m not clear as to whether or not we have the money to build it, so I’ve been a little anxious about that.  Steve gave me some assurances, which helped.

We dressed up and went to church and it was just great. The Church was all decorated for Pentecost Sunday with red balloons and white doves on the ends of the pews and big star shaped metallic red balloons at the front of the church.  The place was packed.  The Bishop gave a great sermon about how none of us are perfect.  The church is not perfect.  But God loves us in our imperfection and he loves the church.  The people were very engaged.  We celebrated Eucharist together and then the party started.  Pentecost Sunday is the birthday for Espiritu Sancto.  101 years old this year.  Big birthday cakes were carried to the front of the church by two young women, followed by Omar, a young friend from the school, and a buddy of his who had, what I thought, were rolls of wrapping paper.  We sang happy birthday to the church and at the end of the singing, Omar and his buddy pushed a button in the bottom of the tubes and they shot confetti over half the congregation.  Lots of laughter and applause!   We ate cake after church and I caught up with my wonderful Doña Maria, who must be 100 years old by now, and a lot of the church members who I have known for years.

After church, we changed clothes and I took Ana and her crew out to Triumpho de la Cruz, a Garifina village 20 minutes out of town.  We tracked down a place on the beach for lunch, picked out the fish we wanted and then settled into a wonderful thatch roofed hut and relaxed in the breeze.  It was great.  Lunch arrived awhile later.  I had a whale hanging off both ends of the platter with fried plantains and enselada.  We ate until we couldn’t eat anymore and the ladies handed their plates off to some little boys who were playing near by.  I was last to finish and my plate went to an elderly woman who we learned didn’t have any children and sometimes went days without anything to eat.   That plate came back to the table completely cleaned.  Even the fish bones were gone.  She was happy.

After lunch, our cook, Moni, came to the table.  I thought she was just going to deliver the check, but she pulled up a chair sat down.  We talked to her about the community and her family.  We talked about their water supply and the health of the community.  It was all good.  She said they had had an increase in teenage pregnancy and I asked what she thought had led to that.  She said it was lack of teaching and discipline.  She said she ruled in her house.  She said she gave a whipping to one of her sons when he was thirty years old.  She was hilarious and we laughed until my face hurt.  We visited with Moni for about an hour and then a friend of hers showed up with a big basket of bread on her head.  The garifuna women are known for their pan de coco.  This woman was big.  She was tall and had the most prominent cheek bones I’ve ever seen and a smile that was absolutely contagious!  She said that she had put both her sons through engineering school in Tegucigalpa with her bread making.  That’s a lot of bread!

We spent most of the afternoon there.  It was beautiful.  Moni insisted on walking us to our car and we made it back to the hotel where Ana and friends prepared for their return trip to Omoa, and I was showered and in the bed at 8:00.

This morning, the one year anniversary of my moving to Honduras, I awoke early to sunshine and the sound of the surf.  By 6:00,  I was on the beach.  I walked and swam for about an hour with a heart full of thanksgiving.  The water was perfect and I swam for a long time.  I haven’t been able to swim since the last time I was in Tela a year ago and it felt great.  I ate breakfast and checked out.

On my way out of town, I stopped at the church in hopes of visiting Olga, the priest, who I have known for a long time.  I hardly had a chance to speak to her Saturday or Sunday.  We visited for over an hour.  We talked about our challenges and how with each day we have a choice to make.  Each day is a day that the Lord has made, and we have a choice to “rejoice and be glad in it” or to stress over the challenges we face.  We agreed that challenges are blessings because they provide us with an opportunity to learn to trust in God, who never fails to show up and answer when we turn to Him.  There was no formal prayer, but the time we spent together was a prayer in itself and I loved every minute of it.  Olga is woman of God and she is doing great work with the church and the school.  I love Olga, and I love Tela.

I headed back to Siguatepeque with a truck full of mosquitoes, who were equally glad to see me.  But even they and that crooked road sign that sent me off in the wrong direction for an hour a half, and the subsequent hour and a half back, did nothing to quench the joy and thanksgiving I had from the weekend in Tela.  It was a beautiful afternoon for a drive and I like my friend Rick Harlow always said, “You’re not lost until you run out of gas” which I didn’t, thank God.  I made it home before dark, which is always important.

So I have been here for a year.  If you were to ask me how it’s been, the first word that comes to mind is “difficult.”  There have been a lot of challenges.  Spanish is still a challenge, though I’m getting better at it.  North Americans’ sense of time is totally opposite from that of the Hondurans who seldom see any great need to hurry up and plan for anything.  As far as my job goes, I’ve been winging it.  It’s like learning how to swim by being thrown off the bridge.  I sometimes work very long hours and the technology challenge is ever present.  But I have also been blessed.  Thanks to St. John’s, for the first time in my life, I don’t worry about money anymore.  I have a great little place that is safe.  I have a huge amount of friends and I get to work with some outstanding Christians, both North American and Honduran.  I pray every day to be channel for God’s love in the world, and in return, it seems everyone here loves me!  I have been protected through all of my traveling.  I think my guardian angel is probably a work-a-holic.  I’ve been given everything I need when I need it.  And I have learned that having to wait for it is a blessing, for the waiting provides us with time to rest in God’s presence and grow our faith.  I’ve learned that when I’m struggling, I need to recognize that the struggle is of my own making.  I recognize that my faith is floundering when I’m trying to do everything on my own and that leads to struggle.  I’ve learned that I need to think more about pleasing God, rather than people and that it is not my job to make other people happy.  I’m very blessed.

Thanks to Bishop Allen for giving me this opportunity and to all of my Honduran friends who look out for me and love me.  And many thanks to the people of St. John’s Montgomery who continue to support me financially and with their prayers.  I can’t thank you enough.  I’m living my dream and I’m a happy boy!

Now may God bless you and keep you and make His light to shine upon you. 


Love you all,  Bob

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Thanks be to God for things accomplished

I've been extremely busy over the last 3 weeks since my return from the States, but thanks to my good Honduran friends Fredy, Amilcar and Josue, and the grace of God, I've gotten a lot accomplished.

I had a wonderful team of 40 medical professionals here in February including doctors and nurses, an eye clinic, dentists and veterinarians. This team from Mississippi has been working in the mountain town of San Joaquin for many, many years and they rent our big yellow school bus and send it out every morning picking up patients from some 20 surrounding villages bringing them to the clinic and taking them back home in the afternoon.  Because they see over 250 families, they send down a large shipment of medications and medical equipment every year.  This year, unfortunately, their shipment hit a snag in customs and we have been trying to get it out ever since.  Upon my return from the States, I learned that it had finally been released.  I spent 5 days hanging out at the airport in customs trying to get everything inspected and payed for.  We were finally able to get it loaded up and Fredy and I took off to the clinic in San Joaquin, where we were able to store it until next year.  Luckily, we only lost one box of Ibuprofen due to expiration dates.  George Jackson, the team leader, and I had gone to customs in San Pedro everyday for four days trying to get the shipment.  When we learned it wasn't going to happen, we had a little cry together and some prayer, then set about acquiring as much medication as possible with the money they had brought to pay the duty on the shipment.  Despite the set back, the team had a very successful mission.  My thanks to George and all the incredible people on the team for their patience, understanding and most of all, for their faith and ability to be flexible.  Good work guys!

Three days after the Mississippi group left, I had a team from Good Shepherd, Dallas here in Siguatepeque.  They did some great construction work and held VBS classes every day.  Upon learning that almost all of the 13 computers in the school lab were dead, they sent down some money and with the help of Trinity Episcopal Church of Newport, Rhode Island, we have been able to re-wire the lab and purchase 20 new computers and a new 3 in 1 printer.  The office staff at the school is much appreciative and the children are incredibly excited.  Thanks to my friend Josue, the IT guy at El Buen Pastor who helped me make the purchases and spent three days at the school getting everything up and running.  I'll purchase a new router this Tuesday and when that is installed, we will be up and running.  My thanks also to Brad Fink and Kathy Nelson from Good Shepherd and Tom Jansen from Trinity and all the good people who made this possible.

I have been working with Jack Melvin (a SAMS missionary) and Inscape Publico, a non profit architectural design firm from Washington D.C., on a new building at San Juan School.  It will be a cafeteria building, but we will be using steel studs and sheetrock to temporarily divide the finished building into 3 new classrooms.  The school is growing and we are absolutely out of space.  We have made some progress on the design and will hopefully have some finished plans here in the next couple of weeks.  I have shown the plans we have at present to my local contractor and he is ready to run. We have to have this building completed by August the 15th and we are really going to be cutting it close.  So please keep that in your prayers.

I have also been burning up the road and Yahoo preparing for two back to back groups coming in June.  One will be helping to build a church in Copan and holding a medical clinic in nearby Santa Rita.  The other will be providing medical care in Matazanales, a quite remote little village in the mountains that is just a little slice of heaven.  Hope to have those ready to go pretty soon.

I have some really good news too.  My old friend, Reverendo Francisco Lone from Tela, has been transferred to San Juan Church here in Siguatepeque.  Everyone is really excited as am I.  He is great guy and has a beautiful family.  I worked really well with him in Tela for 3 or 4 years and he is very excited about partnering with the school here.  He is one of those guys who is filled with the joy of his salvation and just a pleasure to be with.  He will be added local support for me and I'm very thankful for that.

So I have been very busy, I'm tired, and I'm back in the road at 6 in the morning, but I am so thankful for having been found worthy to serve God and his people in this beautiful country.  There is no way I can thank the good people of St. John's Church in Montgomery for their continued generous financial support and prayers.  God bless you, I miss you, and I love you every one.  It is sometimes hard to believe that within just a couple of weeks I will have been here for a year.  It's been very challenging, but my faith continues to grow and I'm happy.  Thanks be to God.


Saturday, April 25, 2015

Time's almost up

It is hard to believe that I have been home in Montgomery for a month.  I've been really busy doing my taxes, replacing the HVAC unit at the rental house, medical exams, and a list of other things.  But I am so thankful to have had an opportunity to help out my dear friend Nancy Buzzard and to take part with a Rebuilding Together project with St. John's church.  I thankful to have had the opportunity to catch up with old friends, though I did not get to everyone I wanted to.  I'm thankful for my beautiful sister Ann and her husband Tony who housed me and fed me so well during my stay home.  Easter at St. John's was so beautiful and inspiring and I thank you for all that you have contributed towards my work in Honduras, both financially and in prayer.  Hot water AND good water pressure, electricity 24/7,  phones that actually work, being able to communicate so easily with out having to mentally translate all the time, the ease of transportation, and the abundance of everything has really been nice.  And I'm thankful for being to get some rest!

I return Monday to an incredibly busy schedule, preparing for incoming groups and getting ready to start construction on a new building at San Juan School.  I have to get the computer lab at the school rewired and then buy all new computers and get them installed (thanks to the financial help of some incredibly generous folks.  And of course I have to do it all in Spanish which continues to be a challenge for me.  But I thank God for the chance to serve him in such a beautiful place and with such beautiful people.  The challenges keep me ever aware of my need to put my trust in Him.  Please keep my in prayers, for my continued safety and the success of our endeavours in Honduras.  Pray for the Diocese of Honduras and all who seek to serve God in His church

Love you all,  Bob


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Jack Melvin and I hosted the architects from Inscape Publico a couple of weeks ago per the last blog. After church on Sunday, we had the afternoon free and decided to go down to Comyagua, the original  Capitol of Honduras.  We toured a 1725 Cathedral which was beautiful.  It was a gloomy day and dark inside, and since there were people praying, I didn't want to use the flash, but the interior behind the altar was huge and all gold gilt.  They had what I think are the most beautiful stations of the cross I have ever seen.  They looked like porcelain in wooden frames.  In the park in front of the Cathedral the stones mimic the shadow of the church.


We toured what was "reported" as being the tallest bell tower in Central America



And the view was beautiful


Not only of the town but of the building itself





Thanks to Greg, Stefan and Kevin for the good company.  I really enjoyed the day with you.  You too Jack.  I look forward to working with all of you in the future on San Juan School Project.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

San Juan School

I'm living in Siguatepeque at the Bishop's request, in order to supervise the construction of a new school here at San Juan's Church.  Actually, San Juan's is where my love for Honduras began.  It was one of the churches I worked on here, during my first trip in 1989.  I've been here for eight months and other than doing a lot of emailing with folks who are interested in supporting the project and getting some soil samples taken, not much has happened.  However we made a big leap week before last.  Jack Mevin is a SAMS missionary and architect working with the  Diocese of Honduras.  Great guy and a good friend, who's swamped with work.  Jack made contact with a company named Inscape Publico out of Washington D.C. and we hosted their architects for a week.  Inscape Studio is a profit making architectural firm, but two years ago, the owner Gregory A Kearley, AIA, started the "Publico" branch of the business in a desire to give back.  They have done work for non-profits all over the world and helped them to raise the funds to have their buildings built.  I am so excited!

Jack and I took Greg, Stefan and Nathan to visit two existing schools in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro.  Kevin had been a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras for two years, four years ago.  (Said he felt like he never left)  We met with school administrators and teachers and gathered a lot of information about the schools.  We had meetings with contractors and city officials, took a mess of photographs and measurements, had a meeting with Bishop Allen and Steve Robinson, the new administrator for Episcopal Schools in Honduras, and just got a lot of work done in the short time they were here.  They will be drawing plans for the entire school campus and then a set of plans for the first building which we hope to have ready for next year.  

San Juan School has been in business for 7 years.  We have twice as many students as we did last year and we are growing.  It is a faith based, bilingual school as are all the Episcopal Schools.  We have 5th graders this year who have been with the school since it started and who will have no 6th grade classroom if we don't get something built by August.  My faith was getting a little wobbly till these guys came along.  No doubt they can help us get this accomplished.  And on top of that, they were just really cool guys that spoke English and I really enjoyed hanging out with them.  What a pleasure.  On Sunday afternoon, we went down to Comyagua for lunch.  I'll tell you about that in another blog.




Thanks be to God