wrapping up the 2006 trips

I know, I know, it has been a while since I have blogged. But I have been incredibly busy in so many ways. I guess the biggest, and most apparent, was our recent move from Sarasota, Florida, to Nashville, Tennessee. While in Honduras I was contacted by Friendship Christian School. They were looking for a Bible teacher/campus minister who could coach soccer. To make a long story short, they made an offer I could not refuse and here we are!!! Life is a grand journey and we have made yet another move as we travel down the pathway of adventure. So far, so good, I love teaching again and I am looking forward to even more time to do mission work from here.

Many have been waiting to get the final results of the trips this summer. As always, the trips this summer was fantastic, God was good to us while we were in Honduras. The teams worked hard and we were able to accomplish a great deal this summer with the 4 teams that went with me to Honduras. We had one team that went in May and 3 teams that went in July, nearly 250 mission volunteers in all. The following list gives the totals of what we did while in Honduras this year.

•We built 20 new houses this summer, in San Miguel (Mololoa), Nueva Oriental,
and Comayagua.
•We packed and delivered 1,150 boxes of food (1 box provides food for 3 meals a day for 6 people for 2 weeks), or 248,500 meals.
•We conducted 14 days of VBS’s in San Miguel, Valley of Angels, Comayagua, and Choluteca, with 675 kids in attendance.
•We had 14 adult bible studies in the same locations with 350 attendees.
•We had 5 baptisms.
•We went to the hospitals 12 times for visitation (Hospital Esquela, Hospital San Philippi, and hospital Santa Teresa)
•We had 9 visits to orphanages and children’s homes.
•We visited 3 schools.
•We painted 12 houses, 2 church buildings, 1 school, 1 classroom at a church, and the children’s wing at a hospital.
•We spread 5 tons of gravel at the Comayagua church of Christ.
•We mixed (by hand!!!) 6 tons of concrete at the Mololoa church of Christ.
•We made 2 visits to a retirement center.
•We conducted 7 medical clinics and saw approximately 700 patients.
•We donated 320 sets of bed sheets to 2 different hospitals.
•We gave away 20 chalk boards.
•We donated 250 chairs to 3 different churches (Mololoa, Valley of Angels, and Santa Ana) and 50 chairs to a school.
We built a two tower playground at the Good Shepard Children’s Home with 9 swings, 4 slides, a fireman’s sliding pole, monkey bars, and cargo climbing nets.
•Had a pizza party (80 pizzas!!!) for a children’s home.
•Had a banquet for Jesus (600 McDonald hamburgers) for a children’s home.
•Built a 1,150 square foot wooden church building in Choluteca.
•Gave away hundreds of boxes of clothes, shoes, toys, stuffed animals, and school supplies.
•We had 95 devotionals and attended 5 Sunday morning worship assemblies.

I am sure I have left some things out, but I think it is clear that we did a lot of work and accomplished a lot of good in the name of Jesus this year. My thanks goes out to all of the team leaders that organized their groups this year. You guys are awesome and I could not have done it without you. Thanks to the Crew, as usual, you did a great job assisting me. And a HUGE thanks to all of our translators, you did a magnificent job this year!!!!

Plans are already in the work for 2007, it is not too early to start thinking and planning. Hope to see you all again next year. Until next time, may God hold you in His hand.

Your fellow servant,

TR