El Carrizo

Do you know who the baby is in the picture, Dr. Juan?

Santa Marta and the Sharefish Library

Sunday Worship at Iglesia Bautista Huerto Getsemany

The Pastor's broad smile and way with the kids; our team singing "Alabare", the song Egla taught us this week; presenting the Pastor his new study Bible from the team; Egla leading the children as they sang the songs she taught them this week including "God Is So Good" in English and Spanish; doing the chicken dance with the Pastor as the kids and adults roared with laughter; Dudley's powerful preaching; Tom and Egla's beautiful rendition of "Amazing Grace" in Spanish and English; laughter, joy, fellowship, hugs, tears and the moving of the Spirit --- Worship!

Saul: The First King of Israel

We did not meet him until Saturday. He walked up with Nelson, the Sunday School teacher. He had a hat pulled down on his head. He was quiet and soft spoken. He picked up a shovel and started helping mix concreto. You could tell he was not as physically strong as the others --- he even made a joke about it --- but he worked just as hard. He was at first shy and soft spoken, and when Steve asked him his name, Steve could not make out what he was saying and so asked again. This time he answered more forcefully and said in perfect English, "Saul --- like the first king of Israel." A short while later he began to sing in a quiet but beautiful tenor voice Casting Crown's "Because of Jesus" in English. As the day went on he played gently with the children, worked hard, laughed and played with the other workers as they mixed the concrete. He quoted scripture, talked about how he learned English, a little in school, mostly by reading, and by listening to American music, including contemporary Christian music. We discovered he, like Nelson, with whom he was obviously a close friend, taught Sunday School. Steve shared at devotion Friday night how he had been touched by this young man and the song he had sung, and we read the words to the song.

Then came Sunday morning. As people were still filing in to the worship service, Nelson and three other young men took up their instruments and began to play. One young man whom we had not met began to sing with a beautiful voice. Those who were already there, including us, began to worship. After the first song, the young man who had sung moved to the piano and began to play and in walked Saul. He had no hat but a full head of hair meticulously styled. He was no longer shy as he stepped confidently to the stage with a broad smile. He picked up the microphone and began to sing, and boy could he sing. Now his voice rang out as he led worship and sang in Spanish an American praise song, "Because He Lives", Latin American contemporary Christian songs, and more traditional North American and Latin American hymns and songs of worship. He lifted up our our hearts and minds to God as all of us, Americanos, Honduran children and adults, clapped and sang with him (when we could), accompanied by the driving beat of Nelson's bass playing and the rest of the excellent praise band. They had graciously invited Bob to join them, and Bob played his guitar with them forcefully and rapidly with a huge smile on his face. Together we made a joyful noise to the Lord, as talked about in the Psalms of David, the second king of Israel. The spirit moved and we worshiped excitedly our true King together.

We are amazed every time we come to this poor country how God is working here, through young, talented committed Christians like Nelson, Egla, and Saul. We are honored and humbled to meet them, work with them, serve with them and worship with them.

Jill, This Is How Bryan Deserves to Be Treated Everyday!

He is a special guy, and we treat him special. We thought the fresh cut flowers were an especially nice touch.

(This ad was paid for by Bryan Simpson)

Our Helpers!

These young men mixed and hauled our mezcla and concreto all week, backbreaking work, with smiles, high fives, hugs, songs, and laughter. We could not have done it without them. Today we worshiped joyfully with them. God bless them all.

Pastor G!

Pastor G is the man with the hat. Pastor G is the man with the million dollar smile. Pastor G is the new construction site coordinator for all of the Baptist Men construction teams. Pastor G speaks almost no English, but the two English words he knows and uses best are: "No problem." Pastor G can look at a mess made by a foolish gringo who thought he knew what he was doing, and with a hug, a smile, a "no problem" and a fast and efficient demonstration teach a new way of doing things and quietly, joyously fix the problem and put the gringo back to work. When we leave Colonias Unidas we will have built the walls, doors and windows of a substantial, two room block Sunday School building. But the work we will have done will have been better, easier, and more fun because of a little man with a big hat, a big smile and a big love for his God. We have been blessed, led and taught by Pastor G and we thank God for him.

By Popular Demand

The overalls came out on Day 4 which was a serious block-laying day. Our goal for next year: Wiley in overalls.

We miss you, Kristen!

Kristen,

We have missed you all week, so yesterday when we went to the market we made a special side trip just for you to see the turtles. Next year in Choluteca!

In His Love,

Team One

Day 5: The Answers for Inquiring Minds

The answers to your questions:

A) Yes. Day 4 (Friday) was a long hard day of work because we wanted to get six courses of block up so we could pour the stablilizing band of concrete on Day 5 (Saturday). We did not leave the work site on Friday until almost 6:00. We were so tired we canceled our planned trip to the MaxiBodega. We ate, had a great devotional and went to bed to get a good night's sleep. That is why the Day 4 blog was short. Before bed we decided we would get up early to be on the work site by 7:00 a.m. in hopes of getting the band poured by noon so we could spend the afternoon playing soccer and going to the market in downtown Choluteca. Those plans first went wrong when Bob woke us all up at 4:15 in the bunkhouse looking for the key to get into the Mission House. Then it took us until 2:30 to get the band poured and the tools cleaned up. Because Jose, our driver had to catch his bus home at 4:00 the soccer game had to be postponed to Monday but we did get to spend an hour at the market in Choluteca, a Team One tradition. By devotion we were all spent, and everyone went to bed early, except for Bob whose mattress that he had commandeered from Jose early in the week went mysteriously missing leaving Bob only boards to sleep on. The exhaustion and activity led to a decision to do the blog this morning.

B) Yes. It wasn't midnight, but we did make a MaxiBodega run after Rosa's chicken and rice (it was awesome as always, JB) to get the omelet supplies and to corner the Choluteca market on vanilla for a certain former team leader's wife. When the MaxiBodega had no vanilla, we were forced to continue our quest by traveling further to La Collonia where we purchased all the dark vanilla they had, and most of the white. That threw us behind and made our devotion later than usual. So you see, Dennis, it is really your fault that there was no blog post last night!

C) No, but Bob did fall asleep during the devotional he was leading. We quickly awakened him ("No siesta, Bobo!") since after our early morning wake up call we had repeatedly warned him during the day that if he even attempted to take a nap, he might die in his sleep. He woke back up in time to discover his mattress missing and then was late getting to bed as he searched for it. Somehow it had migrated to the bus.

All of that made for a full, blessed day. The concrete pouring meant we all worked hard in spurts with some downtime which led to blessed time with the young men who had been our coworkers (more on that tonight). We got good rest to prepare us for worship today. We will worship this morning at the church where we have been working. We will worship again at 4:00 with our brothers and sisters and children in El Carrizo! In between a trip to Altos de Santa Marta. We are excited and ready to go, but we will miss Kristen, Dennis, and David most today, but you will be in our hearts and minds. Next year in Choluteca!

Day 5?

OK, it's after midnight and there is no update on your Day 5 progress. Is this because:

A) You are all exhausted after another day of block laying, concreto mixing, and futbol playing.

B) You had to make a midnight run to the Maxi Bodega so Steve could get the suppplies he needs to make Bryan his traditional Sunday morning breakfast omelette.

C) You are following Bob's leadership and everyone fell asleep at 9:00 during the evening devotion.

?? Inquiring minds want to know...

Time for Fun, Too!

Kids! The soccer balls come out (much more tomorrow). Wiley pancakes Orifilio!

A Seriously Productive Work Day!

Ten hours. Six courses of block off the ground on the walkboards. Doors and windows up and set. The building stands at eleven courses. Everyone tired but proud. A huge pot of spaghetti and a huge pot of sauce devoured. Milkshakes and Frostys at Wendys. Early bedtime for a 7:00 a.m. start tomorrow. A typical workday in the life of Team One. The pictures speak for themselves!