Jimmy Hughes Children Center from the mind and eye or Nathan Samuel

Yesterday a group of about 40 of us got the opportunity to go to Jimmy Hughes’ orphanage. While we were there we got the opportunity to meet Jimmy Hughes himself and the wonderful kids that his home is taking care of.
We started the day with a 2 hour bus ride through the beautiful countryside of Honduras. When we arrived at the orphanage, Pastor Salvador met us at the front gate and led us into their rehabilitation clinic. There we sat down and were told a little about how things work and how things got started. We were then introduced to Jimmy and he spoke to us, encouraging us to live with a purpose and to live in our father’s image. He is an awesome guy that has lived life and has a pretty intense story.
We were introduced to Ronnie, and his miraculous story of how he survived and protected his sister’s life while his family was being brutally attacked by the MS13 gang. He was the reason that the orphanage opened its doors.
After hearing what Jimmy had to say and eating a little bit of lunch, we went and helped clean up the new bakery and pizza parlor that will be opening up soon on their campus. These new food facilities will be run by the kids in order to help them make some money and learn responsibility. (cupcakes = AMAZING!)
After we got our hands a little dirty helping out, we were able to meet and visit with the children at the orphanage. These kids are all victims of some type of gang violence, and all of them have amazing testimonies. The children loved showing us their rooms and, like every other kid here in Honduras, loved to play a little futbol as well.
We were also presented with the opportunity to go into a home where 5 young girls had children from being victims of rape. These girls ranged from ages of 10 to 15 and they were very glad to share their young children with us. We were able to play with the babies for about an hour and everyone was uplifted by the experience.
Over all it was an exciting and eventful day! Getting to know some of these kids and what has happened to them at such a young age is inspiring yet heartbreaking. These kids have remarkable stories and are heroes to us all! Please keep the staff, kids, and the efforts to help these victims in your prayers.

2 NEW ENTRIES!

there are 2 new entries below..didn't want you to miss anything!
Peace,
Lori

Build day by Lynn Lowry..Photos by Stephanie Mcnulla

Today began as a very "normal" day, but then I raised my hand "jokingly" to be in charge of building a house.....and of course, Mark saw me and selected me.....I got to select my 1st "foreman/assistant" who happened to be Owen Parrish......We then divided up into teams and our team was taken to the site, which Mark said wasn't too steep or rocky.....but it was steep and rocky and way up a hill....We weren't complaining and we immediately began hauling wood up the hill and others stayed up to begin getting the site ready.....It was an amazing day and everyone was so wonderful.......I had my two boys there, Kris, Tim, Jeanette, Benj., Chris Smith, Will Hutson, Jennifer Commander and alot of others that were awesome...The names I mentioned are from DF, our church, and it was great being with them and getting to know the others better.......The family that we built for was very humble and gracious and watched anxiously the whole day until we finally finished our new house.....Owen Parrish was awesome and he really was the one that was "in charge" the whole day and got us through our building process.....It is amazing what God can do through us and with us....I never dreamed in a million years that I would be in charge of building a house for some family in Honduras.......especially being able to share this with my husband and two teenage sons.........Our God is an awesome God and so are our people who are here with Torch helping those who need so much.......May God Bless Us All.......Continue to pray for our crew, Mark and Lori and by all means, these people in Honduras....In him, Lynn Lowry

Xtreme VBS by Belita Fowler and photos by Abby Tran and Stephanie Brown

Well, I have worked quite a few VBS' in my time but none like today. Think about how we do it "US" style - Look at a catalog, pick out a VBS theme, round up the workers, print up the flyers and distribute them, advertise, work out the food, get the air conditioned building ready, plan the craft projects and execute the plan for a couple of hours for two or three days.

Here's how we do it in Honduras: Tuesday morning Mark says we're doing a VBS in the community where we are building two houses today and to put together a program. Rachael 1 and Rachael 2 (translators) get their group of workers together (about 30) and start planning the whole thing. We get to the community and divide into three groups, each with a translator. Each group starts out in a different direction (all very hilly and very steep and rocky). We stop at each house along the way and invite the children to meet us at the community soccer field. After about 30 minutes we turn toward the field which is about 1/2 mile along a little trail.

By the time we arrive, there are children everywhere!! Even without blackberrys, e-mail and cell phones, word really travels fast here. We gather the children at the edge of the field (a large rectangle of hard dirt with two goals at each end made of old pipe). There is not a shade tree in sight, it is 11:30 and the sun is beating down. The children are lead in two or three songs and then a prayer where they repeat each sentence the leader says. About 80 packages of galletas (cookies) are then given out. Now the real fun starts. BINGO is such a big hit here. The older kids help the younger ones play their cards. Their eyes are wide with excitement when they win and get to look in the prize bag and pick whatever they want. There are team members playing soccer with the kids, painting their faces and fingernails, jumping rope and blowing bubbles. This continues for three hours. Then we start the very long trek back up the hills to the buses.

We are hot, tired and very sweaty. Yet we are so blessed and we have been in the presence of God today. We have seen Him in their eyes, in their touch, in their smiles and in their words "Dios te bendiga" (God bless you).

Most kids love VBS and most of us adults do it out of duty. There are very few I've ever worked that I have felt more blessed than the little ones who attended. Today I did and I thank God for that and I know when I see a VBS poster, I will remember and smile.

The Dump from the mind and eye of Jason Burt

There really are no words that can describe what I saw today and how I felt. Today we visited the city dump. Why would we go there? The answer is rather unreal... we took food to the people that live there. At the local dump, there are over 200 men women and CHILDREN who make their lives there. They live in cardboard boxes and scrounge through the trash not only looking for things of value they can sell, but most shockingly, for the food they will eat that day. Seeing people in such desperation as to be digging through the trash along with with vultures and dogs will forever change me. Several people there had their faces covered with ski masks or shirts not only to block the smell of the trash, but most were probably concealing the glue they were sniffing in order to help curb their hunger. We met a young man who actually grew up in Texas. He was deported back to Honduras but upon arrival found that his father had died and all of his papers such as birth certificate and such are gone. He spoke perfect english and said to us that he was very embarrassed for us to see him like that. That he had been living in the dump for about 6 months. We asked him what he did the other night when we got 5 inches of rain. His answer, "i just pulled up a piece of plastic up over me and laid on the ground." We saw several cars there. People that live in the city will come out to the dump and pay the folks that live there a few lemps to scrounge through the garbage and find them recyclable things and bring to them. Tonight as I was eating dinner, I could hardly stand to do so without feeling guilty and when I took my plate to scrape off the scraps into the trash can I immediately thought of those people and realized that in a day or so, they will be digging through that trash and eating that leftover food and scraps from our meal to feed themselves and their family. Still searching to justify that one in my mind. We are truly blessed in our way of life and I'll never be the same after experiencing that culture. On a little brighter side, it was incredibly rewarding to see the smiles on the faces when we drove up. Meeting such a basic need even if only for a day was amazing. A few of the girls in our group broke out the fingernail polish and painted the little girls fingernails... you could just tell it was giving them back a sense of humanity. Even a couple of the guys there got their pinky fingernail painted too.

A couple of days behind!

Hello everyone,
I know we are a couple of days behind..so I wanted to post and let you know everything is OK. We were without internet saturday night and yesterday we got home to late to get it on. The group is out in an OLD honduran town called Santa Lucia having devo at a 500 year old church..very cool! Sooo I think it will be tomorrow night that we might get up a new post. Alot has been going on..House building, VBS, Hospital visits, feeding at the dump etc.. so there is much to tell but you will have to be patient, but know everyone is well!!

Here is a photo from Devo that I thought I would share tonight, it is not everyone one but 1/2 the room!!!

Peace
Lori

Day 2 by: Alberta Merritt Photos: Jason Burt

I went to Hospital Escuela today. For me "hospital day" is the hardest emotionally but it is also fun in some ways. One way is seeing the kids from infants to teens in pain and knowing that there is nothing you can do tot ease their pain, but you can always make them smile. Even if you can't speak spanish you can still make goofy faces, painting the girls nails, throwing a ball, or even just saying a prayer makes them feel better. The hospital is my favorite place because I get to paint my face like a clown which brings so much joy to the kids and even some adults. It also my least favorite because it makes me feel helpless, but with God's help I survive. Alberta

(today a group of Torchers went to the government hospital for he poor. This is the place you go when you have no money, no insurance and that would be about 85% of the country. People travel from all over the country to come here because for many it is the only option for them. It is a hospital that serves many with next to no resources. It is a place that people go, but unless they can "find" the money to get medicine, treatment then they just don't get 'fixed". For many they spent the couple of dollars they had, to the expense of not eating, to get their child to the hospital. There is no money for medicine, operation or what ever the need. It is a place that needs HOPE. It is a place where people know they are not forgotten. Often all we can do is pray with families, but it is those prayers that mommies and daddies appreciate deeply because they know it is in God they trust and to know others will intercede on their behalf brings the hope they are looking for.)

Day One..From Tyler Priest. Photos by Jason Burt

Ah, here it is late afternoon, and there is already a sense of joyful satisfaction, the kind of satisfaction that will give us fuel for the remaining time here. For myself and several others, it’s our first full day in Honduras with Torch Missions, headed up by the wonderful Mark and Lori Connell.

The weather couldn’t be better. What is supposedly hot for Honduras is a near perfect day for me. No rain so far, a cool mountain breeze last night, along with a beautiful sunset. We made it to Tegucigalpa smoothly, with all of our people and all of our baggage. It was beautiful to see old friends coming back together around the mission of God, and new friendships being forged that very first afternoon. We stopped off at good restaurant to get an autentico taste of Honduras (including some mango appetizers from the back of Mark and Lori’s truck). Then it was on to Villa Gracia, which is a little drive up into the mountains from the city. We got settled in to our spaces, gathered for dinner, enjoyed a time of worship, and then most of us weary travelers hit the hay. Others with untold reserves of energy watched the futbol game between the US and Costa Rica.

We hit the ground running this morning. After breakfast, we split up our 50+ misters and sisters into two teams, jumped on our respective cheese wagons, and for the first time, took a left turn out of Villa Gracia. Instead of turning right and heading back down to Tegucigalpa, we went a bit further up in las montanas, to the small village of Perguin. It was there that Mark had made contact with some very needy families, some of whom are known by a worker at Villa Gracia.

The view from where we worked was quite nice. The nearby green mountains were continually dappled in shadows from the rolling clouds. Banana trees dotted the roadside, The village was agricultural, peaceful, but clearly materially poor, at least according to the norm of Western affluence. We got off the bus, hauled our tools down a dusty mountain road to the worksite, and began to get our hands dirty.

The lumber truck showed up and made it much closer to the work site than we had expected (thanks be to God). We unloaded the truck and started knocking wood around. Owen and Garrett, our group leaders, did a great job facilitating the construction, always commissioning bystanders, getting us all involved, and making it happen. Our ladies, much like those on Garrison Keillors Lake Wobegon, are all strong. I noticed a few guys stepping it up so they wouldn’t be outworked.

Toward the end of the job, I ended up on the roof nailing down corrugated tin with a few others, while there were lots of folks nailing down the floor and such. The whole house was shaking and rattling with the scattered rhythm of the hammer and the nail. It was a glorious cacophony. It feels really good to work with our hands, fully giving ourselves to the needs of others. It’s easy to lose track of me, my feelings, and the stuff I want.

We finished out the house, and Owen called us all inside. We gathered with the children who will be moving into the house later today, along with their grandmother who takes care of them while their parents spend the day working. We huddled up, prayed a prayer, and sang A Shield About me. You’re my glory, you’re the lifter of my head. No doubt, God was lifting the humble heads of a whole family, with the blessing of a new house. And the window view out of the Torch cabana is worth a million dollars.

The few local people I have met thus far have an ease of simplicity, humility, and general gratitude about themselves. What a contrast to myself when I’m caught up in the middle of the stressful week. The complexity of my material life leaves little room for any kind of ease or simplicity that I admire in the local Hondurans. But all that can be so quickly set aside here. The pace of life up here in the mountains makes it easy to lose track of time. The sun looks like it’s close to dinnertime. It’s a Thursday, right?

Building houses makes one hungry. It’s been a hard day’s work, and the smell of something delicious is wafting from the dining hall. These senoritas know how to cook.

We are super thankful for your thoughts and prayers and support. From beautiful Honduras, Grace and peace to you in Christ.

Photos by Jason Burt

First Wave!

Touch down in Teguc.!! The first wave of group members arrive safe in Teguc. around noon yesterday! After a "local" lunch we headed to Villa Gracia so everyone could get settled. Toady the group is off to build 2 houses. We will blog tonight about the day!
Lori

8 weeks..

to touch down in Tegucigalpa!
This year's theme is from Isaiah 58:10. For the next 8 weeks spend time reading Isaiah 58 each day in preparation for the trip!