hear ye, hear ye

Wednesday, June 20. It has been hard to switch gears from Brazil to Honduras. So many thoughts and memories are racing through my head the past few days. I want to share one more story with you before I focus my writings on Honduras. The last day we were in Brazil was a Wednesday. We went to the orphanage and then headed over to the church building for Wednesday night bible study. Randy Short had told us that the members were going to be preparing a farewell dinner for us made up of typical Brazilian foods. I thought this was a really nice thing since most of the Brazilians are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.

That evening after worship we were served a huge variety of breads, cake, and meat dishes that were made of corn. Although not exactly what we had been eating all week it was quite good. When everything was cleaned up and put away and the main group had left, we had McDonalds delivered to us. (There is a huge difference in culture on this point. For Brazilians, the big meal of the day is lunch and dinner is just a small meal where in the states dinner is the big meal.)

While we were eating Big Macs and quarter pounders with cheese Nayane shared with us something that really made an impact on us. The day before (Tuesday) we had been in the area of the church building delivering food for families that was really in need. The families heard that there was going to be a fellowship dinner on Wednesday and they were invited to come. Not only did they come, they brought food for the dinner. Food cooked from the gift box that we had given them the day before. They used part of the food that we gave them to give us. As Jim Casey would say, “Wow.” That is a memory that will long live in my mind. And, as Paul Harvey used to say, that is the rest of the story.

News update from Honduras. Nathan spoke with Tim Hines, who is in Honduras right now with Gayle Davidson and Ken Ellis’ groups. Tim said that Honduras is getting pounded with torrential rain and that widespread flooding is happening all over Honduras, especially in Tegucigalpa and the surrounding villages. Mudslides are imminent are prayer requests have been sent out. Some of you might remember the horrible problems we had just a few years ago out in San Miguel / Mololoa with mudslides. Please pray that the rain will stop and that damage will be minimal. Also pray for the Torch team that is down there right now and for the work they plan on doing for the next 2 weeks.

For us, we are less than 2 weeks away from heading down to Honduras. Those of us in Nashville have had our last group meeting and are now scrambling to get last minute supplies collected for the trip. WE NEED Polaroid cameras and film for the trip. please try to bring film with you; we can’t have too much. We are going to help some of the churches down there create pictorial directories for their buildings. We will also take photos of families to give away as well. We are also making an all call for more Pepto (chewables if possible) and children’s vitamins. Bring as much as you can.

God is moving among us and great things are happening. For those of us privileged to go on this trip, we have an incredible opportunity to serve God in ways we can only imagine right now. I hope you are excited, I know that I am. I am looking forward to seeing you all down there and working with you. For some, this is a grand family reunion, of sorts. For others, this is your first “rodeo,” and you are in for the ride of your life and you don’t even know it yet!!! Yes, the veterans love having rookies on the trip. For many reasons…

Thanks to all that are involved with the trip. There are hundreds of people that make Torch go and we couldn’t do it without all of you. I hope all of the team members have already said a lot of “thank you” to those who have helped make this year’s trip a reality. It will be here in a blink of an eye, hope you are ready! See you soon.
Terry