Our Visit From The IMB Media Team

We have spent some time this week hosting a group from the IMB that work in the media department.  They came to do a story on the agriculture work in Honduras and our partnership with it.  They also interviewed us for a possible article in AmericasStories.  In addition to those they were doing a segment on children to learn about life here.  It's been a fun few days for us and we enjoyed our time together with them.

Our group- Ben, Cruz, Jessica, John, me, David, Ann, Kelly, and Dan

Tuesday was spent at our home in Chiquimula.  They set up their equipment in our dining room and interviewed both of us.  It took about an hour each to do the interviews.  The afternoon was spent filming our family interacting and playing.  Thankfully my boys are used to videos and pictures being made of them so they thought nothing of it.  I, on the other hand, felt a little awkward and definitely prefer to be on the other end of the camera, ha. 

David getting ready for his interview

On Wednesday we traveled to the village of Lagunetas.  They wanted to see some of the agriculture projects the people there have been doing.  They also wanted to learn about our Bible study there and  how the agriculture work helped open the door to get it started.  We spent some time visiting a few farms and interviewing the project participants.  They were able to meet and interview the family that hosts us in their home for Bible study.  We also did a short Bible study for them to film and show.  Here are some photos from our day there-

The boys played soccer with Noe while we waited to get started that morning.

I snapped this photo of some locals walking by carrying wood to their homes.  I'm thankful that I do not have to gather wood and carry it long distances to my house in order to cook and provide for my family each day!

doing a little greeting for the camera

John filming Cruz in the tree.  If I can't find him while there I have learned to always look up.

my little monkey

some of the precious kids I get to teach there

hiking to visit a farm

of course my little guys had to stop and do a little rock climbing along the way

Dan being interviewed about some of the crops there

David and Noe talking about the Ag projects there

on the trail again

 beautiful scenery all around

 Stopping along the way to take a break.  It was a hot day but we did have some great breezes.

 a video of us hiking

 David translating an interview with some of the Ag students.

One of the team members took this photo of me while I did a short Bible study with the kids.  Most of the children that attend my Bible study were in school that morning so I had a small crowd but we still had a fun time.  This photo shows what I love doing best- sharing God's Word with the precious children here.  What an awesome privilege I have!

our road back down the mountain

 views along the way

Our time with the team ended on Wednesday afternoon and they will spend the rest of their week in Honduras with Dan and his team.  I cannot wait to see how they piece it all together and edit a week of photos and videos into a few short segments.  I don't remember much of what I said to them in interviews but I hope that my words will reflect my heart and passion for what we do here.  I'll be sure to share with you any footage that they pass along to us. 

All that goes well, ends well

Monday morning started with breakfast at our place. We invited Miss Fran to join us and visit with the team.

After breakfast our goal was to pack up the car and head towards the city. Most everything was packed and Glynn was checking something in his bag. David didn't realize it and he started our diesel vehicle. Well, Glynn's leg was right next to the exhaust pipe. It blew black smoke all over his leg and shoe. Now this might not be funny to any of you but it had us cracking up all day!!!

We then took time to let him change and Rock took charge of scrubbing and washing out his pants. He did a great job and I think his wife needs to let him wash clothes more often, ha!
After getting cleaned up we drove into Guatemala City. We stopped for lunch at Taco Bell, dropped off our things at the mission house, and then drove on to Antigua. We spent a few hours there shopping in the market.

We ate dinner at Nais in Guatemala City. It was delicious!

We dropped them off at 5:00 am this morning to fly back to the States. We were sad to see this team go. We really had a great time with them. They were such a blessing to us and we will look forward to working with all of them again sometime soon.

Team Photo

We will be leaving mid-day today driving down to the Pacific coast. We will be there a few days celebrating (early) our 13th anniversary. We will post updates from that once we return home on Friday.

Team Update- Sunday Service

Sunday morning we drove to the village of Se' Mox ya'al li car. There are four families of believers there and we met in one of their homes for our service. It was nice to have a simple service with no sound equipment, speakers, or loud noises. The only instrument they had was a guitar. We had Sunday School and a worship time with them.

Inside the home where we met

They were not prepared to feed us a meal, so after the service they gave us coffee and bread. This is the pastor serving our coffee. We had already eaten Caldo three times so this did not hurt our feelings.

I had to take a photo of this baby. Her name was Regina. :-)

me with the pastor's wife Bro. Federico, David, and Bro. Domingo- the pastor

A LOOONNGG Saturday!

We left the hotel in Chisec around 7:15 Saturday morning. Bro. Federico wanted to make a few prayer visits during the day. We are learning that the K'ekchi' translation for "a few" doesn't mean the same in English. haha

This was our first stop of the day at Secauchil. We prayed there with the pastor and his family. Some of us with the pastor, Bro. Abilino, and his wife
We then traveled to Camposanto 2 and met with the pastor's family here in his house

Bro. Federico LOVED Jody! They got along soo well together. But, he couldn't pronounce his name and called him Yoni. We have had a lot of laughs with that!
Rock in the hammock
Bro. Federico wanted us to stop at this cave so the team could see it. It was huge!

This next photo was taken around noon. The day was just getting started, ha.

We visited this church in Xuctzul. They fed us a delicious Caldo lunch.

After lunch we traveled to Bro. Federico's house in Santa Marta. This is the church beside where he lives. He pastored there for 14 years before becoming a missionary.
His oldest son recently had a birthday and he wanted us to have a small party with him. We had coke and tres leche cake. It was yummy!

Bro. Federico, his wife, and his son, Dario

He has 5 children. This is a photo with his wife and three of his kids.

We visited this church in Sesajal as well as a church in La Cuchilla on our way to our final village for the day.

We finally arrived at Cambayal. This is where we showed the film. We first ate Caldo at a believers home. There are now 4 families of believers there.

They have cleared out a piece of land where they want to construct a church building. We had a prayer of dedication on that site.

The crowds gathering for the movie. We had several hundred come out to watch "The Passion" Some of the crowd

We did not make it back to our hotel in Chisec until 11:00 pm!!! We were exhausted!