It's a Long Windy Road

It's been a long day...our journey began a little after 5 this morning. Unfortunately, not long after we were making our way up the mountain one of the buses broke down. Those of us on that bus packed into the other two buses and continued our trip up and stopped to eat breakfast. There we took our time eating and waited for the new bus to make it's way up to where we were. Finally, about 11 we were all good to go.  Our day which began picture perfect, turned into a mix of clouds and torrential rainstorms. Thankfully, we arrived at Los Lagos, our hotel by the Arenal Volcano, ten minutes before we were hoping to! The buffet was ready for us when we got here so after we checked in and received our wristbands for the weekend, we sat down to eat. Then, devo and announcements followed, and we are currently unloading luggage from all of the buses so everyone can get to their rooms and go to bed. Exhaustion has really set in for a lot of us...and because of that, what happens on the bus, stays on the bus...or at least I hope so. A relaxing day is ahead of us at the Baldi Hot Springs tomorrow and I know we are all looking forward to it. Glad to have made it safely to our destination. Thankful that God had His hand in all that happened today and kept us safe.

God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

Leah

This World is Not My Home

We are thankful to announce another baptism took place today! We were all happy to welcome our new sister in Christ, Katherine! She is the twin sister of Kimberly who has been a member of the church at Buenos Aires. They both have been a joy to be around this week and Katherine has 2 beautiful children Ian and Kiara who will now be growing up in the Lord! Many prayers have been answered today.

It has been a more laid back day. The VBS crew had to throw together some skits last minute since our appointment at the school changed from the afternoon to the morning, but thankfully we were able to use most of our previous skits. Considering our unprepared state, things could not have gone better. The kids laughed and enjoyed everything we did and hopefully learned a lot along the way.

The medical team spent the day at the hotel sorting the leftover medicine so it could be donated to the local pharmacy and put to good use. Some of them took a break to take an excursion to downtown Buenos Aires where they ran into the Red Cross in the park. A few of the nurses were asked to participate in an egg race (racing each other with eggs on spoons in their mouth). I know they got quite a laugh out of it and some pictures as well! One of our nurses, Jennifer Staggs, celebrated her birthday today and was one of the lucky nurses who won the egg race!

Cristian delivered an amazing lesson to wrap up our gospel meeting this week. His topic was Living a Life of Hope and he used the scripture in John 14:1-6. We have hope through Jesus Christ. We have hope because 1) God loves us 2) This world is not our home 3) Christ left but He will come back 4) God has given us the necessities to get back to our Father's house. Christ is preparing a place for us. The question you must ask is: Are you preparing yourself to go with Christ?

Tonight was one of mixed emotions. We were happy to have had another great day working for the Lord, but we were also sad to have to say goodbye to our brothers and sisters here in Buenos Aires. After spending a week together and really begin to feel comfortable here with everyone, it's time to leave. As a treat to the ladies who have been cooking for us this week, we all went out for pizza this evening with the members of the church--Our treat. It was a good time for all of us to eat and spend some time saying goodbye. But along with many of the "goodbyes" were "see you laters". I was one of those who told everyone I hoped to see them next year on the trip. It's already hard to say goodbye, but it's even harder if you think you may never see them again. I am thankful for Cristian's lesson tonight though because he reminded us that this world is not our home. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we will see each other again very soon in our home in heaven if we do not have the opportunity to meet again on earth. I'm reminded of the hymn "If We Never Meet Again" which says "if we never meet again this side of heaven, I will meet you on that beautiful shore." I pray that we are all reunited one day in heaven with our brothers and sisters here in Costa Rica.

My goal is to gather pictures from everyone this weekend so I hope to post some of everything that has been done starting tomorrow! I know everyone is eager to actually see what work has been done! We are leaving before the sun comes up tomorrow...5 AM!!! So I currently have about 4 hours to sleep...and a long journey ahead of us tomorrow. It's "supposed" to be about an 8 hour trip to the volcano, and we're all hoping it won't be longer! Prayers for safe travel will be greatly appreciated and I will be back tomorrow night to let ya'll know we made it safe!

God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

Leah

Halfway Point

We had a fantastic end to our day! The first baptism since the gospel meeting began took place after the lesson. We are happy to welcome Julie as a sister in Christ. She was a neighbor to the previous church building they had. Daniel mentioned how hospitable she was while they were doing construction on the original building. This has been a two year long process for her and we are overjoyed that she has decided to finally give her life over to Christ! Praying that she grows in her faith and that others will follow her example in the coming days. Sometimes all it takes is the encouragement of another person, and a push in the right direction, to make you take that final step.

It has been a slower day for some of our members. The VBS crew stayed at the church and had a program for the children of the congregation, as well as, the ones close by. We all had a great time playing and laughing with the kids, but they definitely have much more energy than we do. Most of us were worn out after 20 minutes of playing soccer with them, and we still had 2 more hours that needed to be filled. I think our efforts with the children payed off because there were 60 in attendance for the children's class tonight during the meeting. It made things tough on those trying to keep them all busy and in one area but we are thankful for problems like that. The day went by quickly. The ground breaking for the children’s classroom took place. It has not gone up as fast as we were hoping, but there’s a good start and it will be finished tomorrow. After the daily rain shower following lunch, those who were not working on the classroom headed out into the streets to invite children and families to the classes tonight and tomorrow. There were also some more bible studies going on this afternoon. The long days and short nights are beginning to take it’s toll on some. I can’t believe we only have one more work day left! It seems like yesterday we were flying in to San Jose but we’re actually at our halfway point in our trip! God is working in everything we do and hopefully we can continue to have good attitudes about all that is happening here, no matter how tired or sick we are. God is able to supply us with the strength we need to continue our work here so we do not become slack towards the end of the trip.

On the other side of the spectrum, the medical team has been working incredibly hard the past 2 days doing the clinic. Today they saw 60 people and according to Dr. Matt Bolton most of them weren't simple cases. They have been seeing complicated medical issues and have tried their best to find some relief for those that they saw. We have an awesome group of medical staff with us and while we wish they could do the clinic for another day, the work they have done already is more than commendable. 

I asked a member of our medical team, Amy Patterson, to write a paragraph about what they did. This is from Tuesday:

The medical team arrived at the reservation in the morning and met the Costa Rican health care team members. Then we set up stations for the nurses to triage, the doctors to see patients and the pharmacist to dispense meds. We began to see patients and figured out their problems working through the translators. The nurses took vitals, then sent them to either the doctors or the dentist. We saw about 90 patients. It was really hot, but in the afternoon it rained and cooled everything down. We were working hard but it was interesting and fun. God was certainly glorified in our work!

Noel Cherry led us in our devotional thought tonight. He spoke about some of the experiences he knew about through working with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. We also had the privilege to hear another great lesson from Joe Roberts tonight about seeking our salvation. If we want it, we have to go after it ourselves because Jesus is not going to come back and die for us again. One important thing to remember is that our value in God's eyes does not change because we have been dirtied by sin. God will always love us and wants us to be saved so we can spend eternity with Him someday soon!

God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

Leah

Do Not Fear

There was an early start to the day for the majority of the team members. Most of us had to get up, catch the bus to the church, eat breakfast, and be back on the buses to leave at 7:30. The medical team had a long ride to the Indian Reservation where they spent their entire day. They were able to see around 90 people and wrote prescriptions for those who needed them. From what I heard, the adults and children all lined up in an orderly fashion and everything went smoothly. However, because of the quantity of people, they arrived back to the church sometime after 7 and the gospel meeting had already started. We have a great group of medical staff with us and I'm thankful for all the hard work they are putting in. I am hoping to get some pictures soon of the clinic to post for all to see, as well as, some more details about what has happened so far.

The VBS team had the pleasure of performing 3 times today. We had an early start and arrived at the first school at 8 this morning. This school split their children up into two groups and we worked with each one for about an hour and a half. Today was without a doubt our best performances and the kids were laughing coming into the gym and leaving it. Evidently, they were impressed with the job we did because the principal asked us if we could come back on Thursday! We are not sure whether our schedule will allow it, but it would be great if we could share more of the gospel with them. We are already reaping the benefits of the VBS--tonight we had 42 children in the class for the gospel meeting!! This is double what we had just last night! The Lord is working in the hearts of these children. We hope He continues to and opens the hearts of their parents as well. 

Furthermore, our smaller groups did some very important work today. We had a team of six who volunteered to move tires to prevent mosquitoes from breeding for the Minister of Health. They loaded about 300 tires in around 45 minutes. While they didn't brag about this...I think they did a pretty commendable job. This project was completely last minute and we are hoping the connection we made with him will help us in the long run. There were also six girls who stayed back at the church in the morning to prepare lunch for everyone so the ladies of the congregation could attend the women's class. During the afternoon, 3 Bible studies were held with people in the community and those who were left at the church went door-knocking until the afternoon downpour began. 

Tonight, our gospel meeting was continued by Joe Roberts. He spoke about fear and how it hinders us in our walk with Christ. What if we lived a life by faith, not by fear? Our fears only feed our doubts...Live a life without fear. Jesus will be our source of strength and power. 

"Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Isaiah 41:10

To go along with our lesson tonight, we learned a song during our devotional time called "Do Not Fear." It is based off of Isaiah 43 and it is a beautiful song that is an encouragement for all of us to hear! My favorite part about every mission trip I go on is always the singing. I love to be a part of wholehearted singing that comes from being with those who have chosen to volunteer their time to further God's kingdom. What is even better is singing praises to God with our brothers and sisters in Spanish. Sharing the same songs but in a different language is a unique and irreplaceable experience. I'm thankful we are able to do it every day here!

Another busy day is ahead of us tomorrow. Prayers are greatly appreciated and are what is getting us through this trip. God is certainly good all the time and all the time, God is good. 

Dios es bueno siempre.

Leah

God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

That's a fact that no one can deny. For a few of our leaders it was a long and tough day. Terry, Minor, Joe Roberts, and Matt Bolton spent over 8 hours in meetings. All of our medical plans for the week depended on these meetings with the mayor and other officials in the city so it goes without saying that it was a very important day. According to Terry, Satan threw everything he had at us trying to keep us from helping the Indian Reservation. But through all the stumbling blocks that were thrown our way, God conquered them all. All the permits we needed, we now have. Everything is a go for the clinic to begin tomorrow! Let us all thank the Lord for overcoming what would have been impossible without Him. However, tomorrow is another day and we do not know what is in store for us, but no matter what comes our way--GOD is GOOD. 

Today was also a pretty full day for all the other team members. We had our first performance of our Vacation Bible School for our first school in Buenos Aires and had about 40 children in attendance. Kim Fussell wrote an awesome lesson for our topic--Peter. The primary lesson we are using for our VBS at the schools is about Peter's calling to Christ. We are all thankful that Kim took the time to put together this lesson for the Costa Rican children. Garrett Best narrated our lesson in Spanish for us. The key roles were played by: Logan Hollinsaid-Jesus, Blake McCaskill-Peter, Maggie Sinak-John the Baptist, Cooper Anderson-Andrew. The kids greatly enjoyed the skit we did and we should get better at it the more times we perform! We also taught them some songs and had them sing along with us. Our translators, Kattia, Nadja, Katherine, and Andrea, were a big help in keeping the attention of the kids and coming up with more songs to lead. We ended the VBS by inviting the children to the gospel meeting and encouraging them to tell their families about it. The men's and women's Bible studies also began this morning. Wayne Scott will be teaching the men's class for the week and Linda Moran is teaching the women's class. They both had a great number of men and women in attendance and they all seemed to be uplifted by the encouraging study. Those who were not attending the classes, or preparing lunch, went back to the hotel to complete the sorting of the medicine. By the end of the day, all of the sorting, counting, and labeling was done! After lunch, there were also some groups who continued the door-knocking route. Moriah Allgood was a part of a group led by Kattia Barrantes who did a Bible study while they were door-knocking. The family was immediately receptive and very thankful for the opportunity to study God's Word. I hope that all of the groups that have been door-knocking have come into contact with people who are open to hearing about God and that we will all make an impact in the city by reaching out to them. 

For those of you who are wondering, the food has been great so far! The ladies at the church have been working so hard to prepare our meals for such a large group and I haven't heard any complaints yet! Rice and beans is a part of every meal of course, but I expected that. We've had spaghetti, grilled pork, sandwiches and lots of fresh fruit and juices. For supper, we had watermelon juice, one of my personal favorites, which I've only found in Central America. Pineapple has also been very popular at the hotel for a snack. Oh, and you can't forget about the coffee...for those of you who don't know, the coffee here is so good that I only drink coffee while I'm here in Costa Rica. Sunday morning I had my first cup of coffee since my trip to CR last summer. Coffee is also the only souvenir I was asked to bring back to the States. 

Day 2 of the gospel meeting tonight was an excellent lesson given by Joe Roberts. It can be summed up in one quote: "God is good all the time. All the time, God is good." God will always be good. We must put our faith in Him and know that there is good in every situation and trial we face. There are sure to many more trials this next week, but with God all things are possible. 

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." 

Romans 8:28

In Christian love, 

Leah

Enjoy a picture of the church building and the view from it :)

Live a Life Worthy of the Calling

God has called us all to do great things. Whether they be to venture to a foreign country to spread His Word or ministering in our own towns, it is up to us to follow Him. He does not except our excuses. He created us so He knows who we are and how much potential we have. Who are we to say "No" to God, when He knows what good we are capable of, if only we give Him control. When God leads us toward opportunities throughout our lives, we are to respond as Isaiah did in Isaiah 6:8, "Here am I, send me!" Trust in Him because He knows our abilities better than we do. We are not to fear for the Lord will lead us in the way He has planned. I think it's safe to say that all of us here in Buenos Aires were called to be here. We heard about the trip through various people and God made it possible for us to be here because we put our trust in Him and His plans.

Our first full day in Costa Rica has been a great one! The morning began with our first trip to the church building for breakfast and then Sunday morning Bible study followed. Garrett Best presented a great study on the book of Ephesians which he translated part of himself. After singing both songs in English and in Spanish, Daniel Chavez preached an excellent lesson--which I summarized in the opening paragraph. This was an uplifting service which prepared all of our hearts and minds to be the servants God has called us to be. This afternoon we split our team into 3 groups. One was our medical group, which went back to the hotel after lunch and spent their time organizing and preparing medicine to be given out as prescriptions later this week. The next group was the VBS team who established parts in the various skits they will be performing. Then, they practiced their performance since they will begin tomorrow morning with around 250 children at the first school. Our last, but certainly not least, team was sent door-knocking throughout the city. Everyone was split up into small groups with a translator, and went from door to door delivering flyers advertising the gospel meeting and encouraging everyone they spoke with to attend. The goal for the week is to knock on every door in the city, so there will be groups out spreading the word every day. 

Eduardo Rodriguez was our speaker for the gospel meeting this evening. He is the preacher at the Coronado congregation here in Costa Rica. His lesson pricked the hearts of many tonight, and two people came forward and are interested in studying more of God's Word. God is good!! 

Thad Butts concluded our thoughts tonight with a devotional centered around 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. We are to be joyful always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances! We are working to uplift this congregation and bring more souls to Christ, and in the process are building up our own fires for God which I hope we all take back home and continue to feed. 

To be in a place where my sole focus is all about God and spreading His word through my actions, without having to worry about my hectic life back home is such a blessing! Praying for another successful day at work tomorrow! Some big things will be happening very soon and it's all in God's hands from here! Please be praying that we all ARISE to God's call for us this week and for the safety of everyone here. 

God bless---Leah

WELCOME TO THE RICA

To begin, let me introduce myself:
I, Leah Wright, will be your blogger for this 10 day adventure in the beautiful country of Costa Rica. I am currently a junior at Freed-Hardeman University majoring in math and education. This is my 4th trip with TORCH to Central America and my 2nd year in Costa Rica. Last year I had the privilege to be one of Terry's interns and I'm blessed to be back working with the wonderful Christians here in Buenos Aires.
Enough about me...let's get to what's happened so far today.

Every one of our members have arrived safely in Costa Rica, or as some like to call it "The Rica."  2/3 of the group has made it to the hotel and are in their rooms--sleeping, showering, etc. The other 1/3 is on the road and will hopefully be arriving in the next half hour. Joe Roberts group from Cookeville, TN unfortunately ran into some delays at the airport and are running a little behind schedule, but we are thankful that this was the only mishap of the day!

Many of us began our day quite early this morning, with times ranging from 2 AM - 4 AM so that everyone could catch their first flights of the day. We had people flying out of Nashville, Memphis, Pensacola, and Huntsville to name a few, with connecting flights in Miami and Charlotte. All of us arriving in San Jose, Costa Rica to be greeted by Minor Perez, one of our Costa Rican translators, as well as the others who arrived a day early-Jessie Pitts, Malvin and Moriah Allgood.

The greatest blessing of the day was the ease with which we made it through the airport and customs. We had no problems going through customs individually. Everyone claimed their bags, then they were all piled on a cart, and rolled to our buses! The most work we had to do was to help load all the luggage on top and inside the bus. The Lord was on our side today and we pray that He will continue to watch over us as we work to spread His Word here.

We were able to see some beautiful sights as we made our way up the mountain this afternoon! Even though we ran into some rain along the way, the view from the mountains was breath-taking, especially for those who were here for the first time. The best way to introduce you to Costa Rica is to show you the beauty found in it's landscape. God's creation cannot be grasped in pictures, but is best beheld with your own eyes. We are certainly going to be seeing some gorgeous scenery while journeying through this country and I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I do!

I'm happy to announce that while I'm finishing up this blog, Joe Robert's group has arrived at the hotel and we will be giving them a shortened orientation so we can all get to bed and rest up before we start full swing tomorrow! We have a full list of things to do--Bible class, worship service, sorting medicine, organizing VBS and door-knocking!

On some funny notes: Garrett Best is the rule breaker of the year--Flip Flops are not allowed anywhere but at the hotel and he managed to make it the whole trip with them on...May the foot fungus have mercy on him...We also discovered there are a range of topics you can cover on a bus trip with people you've never met before--the most popular one was childhood television shows.


We ask that all of you back home in the States continue to keep our efforts in your prayers and check back in tomorrow for another nightly update.

"Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’  For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."Matthew 6:31-32


I'm thankful that this trip is in God's hands and that He is providing for all of our needs. 


In Christian love,


Leah Wright

Here we go!

GOD IS GOOD!
We are about 24 hours from departing for Buenos Aires, Costa Rica for the first of three mission trips this summer.  The past 2 weeks has been as crazy as any I have seen.  For real!  Our trip down south to take supplies to load in the container at Islamorada was crazy and will go down as one of the more memorable trips I have taken.  It will be a funny story in the future but blowing up the engine in the church van (literally, as the song goes, "Great Balls of Fire!") at 2:00 in the morning during a torrential down pour was anything but a laughing matter (on Mother's Day no less).  Meeting Pete, the tow truck operator, who got himself stuck in the mud while trying to rescue us, was interesting to say the least.  Being from Alabama and Joe and Steve Jones being from Mississippi, you would think we would be able to understand southern/country accents pretty well... but Pete was in another league of his own!  It took 2 additional tow trucks and the State Troopers shuting down I-65 for about 45 minutes (don't you know how popular we were for the drivers backed up for miles!)  However, on the flip side, we got the container loaded in a record 1 hour and 15 minutes, including Steve Schneider's last minute run from Mobile with 141 boxes of supplies!  To make it even more amazing, the truck left Islamorada at 11:00 am on Wednesday AND THE CONTAINER WAS IN HONDURAS FRIDAY NIGHT!  Has be be an all-time Torch record for fastest delivery!!!  GOD IS GOOD!

After getting back my job was to finish the journal, which was about about one month late.  I wrote the first 6 days to the journal with no problem but then finals, school ending, closing the door, and a multitude of other things (including writer's block) set in and the journal just sat on the computer, staring back at me daring me to finish it.  This past Monday (4 days ago) I woke up, took the bull by the horns, and conquered the rest of the journal in about 6 hours.  I got it to the printers at 9:00 pm on Monday and they said my 230 copies would be ready Thursday afternoon.  Cutting it close, but hey, I am used to that!  To my amazement, I got a call Wednesday afternoon around 3:00 from the printers telling me the journal was already done!  GOD IS GOOD!

But the biggest stresser in my life has been the government of Costa Rica.  During spring break we met with everyone that was anyone to find out exactly what we had to do to get our medical team and medicines into Costa Rica for the mission trip.  They gave us the list, told us to have it to them 30 days before arrival, and I set out to do all the things they asked for with the help of many people, including Minor Perez.  We turned everything in 30 days in advance, and began the waiting game.  1 week ago they dropped another stipulation on us that caused us to scramble once again.  Wednesday (2 days ago) we still had not received the paperwork needed and my stress level with to code red.  Then Thursday night, 1 phone call changed it all.  Minor called and said he had the needed documents and sent them by email to me.  I forwarded the documents to everyone carrying meds in by suitcase to make sure copies of the documents were in each one, and now, less than 24 hours before departure, everything is done!  GOD IS GOOD!

So, Saturday, May 26th, 54 begin the mission trip to Buenos Aires.  During the trip we are going to conduct a 4 day medical clinic at 2 different Indian Reservations; 5 days of VBS at 4 different schools (about 1,000 children total) with Kim Fussell teaching; 5 day gospel meeting with Joe Roberts preaching; 4 day men's seminar class with Wayne Scott teaching; 4 day ladies seminar class with Linda Moran teaching; 5 day children's class with Debbie Kirk and Brooke Smith teaching; building a classroom for the church; door knocking; and other projects I don't even know about yet that Daniel Chaves, the preacher, has planned for us!  It is going to be a busy trip to say the least! 

Keep us in your prayers.  GOD IS GOOD  and he is faithful.  May He alone be glorified in what we do.  ARISE!

TR

loading up

This morning the container going to Honduras is being loaded.  Little Joe and his dad Steve traveled with me with a trailer full of supplies to Islamorada Key.  We arrived Monday afternoon after a 46 hour ordeal of breakdowns and rescues.  Thank you Brett and Judy Mitchell for being the heroes of the day by providing a vehicle for us to use to get down here!  We are staying at Ken and Sandi's house and we have had a great time visiting and talking about the trip this summer.  Steve Schneider, from Mobile, is doing an all night drive and should be arriving within the hour to deliver his supplies to go on the container.  All in all we have collected nearly 500 boxes of supplies for the two teams from clothes to playground equipment.

We will leave here to travel to Sarasota to see Nate and Karen and the Florida gang.  We will be picking up the Torch tee shirts there too.  It will be the first look at the shirts and i am excited to get them.  When I get back to Henderson I will finish the last couple of pages of the journal and get it printed.  Journals and tee shirts will be in the mail very soon.

Tuesday Little Joe and Garrett Best will come to Freed-Hardeman to sort and pack the medicines that will be going down to Costa Rica.  Once that is done all of the major things will be done for the trip.  We are now just days away from departure and the excitement is building as I am receiving multiple emails everyday asking last minute questions.  And, believe it or not, we are still waiting on paper work from some of the team members.  And flight information.  Yep, procrastination is alive and well in Torch land.

Time to go.  The truck should be arriving within the hour and we have a lot to do before it gets here.  Take care and I will post more information soon!

TR

Medicine and supply updates

We have a new total for the medicine donations: $8,890.00!!!  We are now only $1,110.00 away from the $10,000.00 needed for the medicines.  The additional $4,000.00 is for the Bibles and I don't have a total yet on the money that has come in for that yet.  I am very excited that we are so close to our goal and I hope that additional people will consider giving to help us reach our target goal. 

Supplies are being collected like crazy for all of our teams.  The Costa Rica team has gathered a lot of over the counter meds and hygiene supplies for the medical brigade we will be doing down there.  The 4 day clinic will be held on 2 different Indian Reservations and project to see over 1,000 patients during those days.  Since we are carrying our supplies down in suitcases it won't be long before we start figuring out who will be carrying what as far as the extra luggage is concerned.  Just like the good ol' days before we started shipping containers to Honduras!

The Honduras teams are also busy at work.  Steve Johnson and the Bell  Shoals team collected and boxed 80 boxes of supplies and have already delivered them to Ken Haab down in Islamorada Key where the container is going to be loaded.  Ken's group from Island Christan has collected and boxed 64 boxes so far and have more coming in.  Jenny Lovell's team from Nashville is packing their supplies to day and will give me her total tonight.  We have plans on packing the supplies here at F-HU sometime within the next week or so... and we have a lot.  Katie Wells (Memphis) and Sarah Hinson (Centerville) have already brought supplies over.  

The T-shirt design is done and shirts are being ordered tonight.  I am about 1/2 done with the journal and should have it done by Friday and take it to the printer this coming weekend.  

Just a few reminders:
1. Please send me flight information when you get it... still waiting on SEVERAL!
2. STILL WAITING on some some paper work... you know who you are... I am about to send Margaret out after you!
3. Costa Rica final payments are due in about a week.  
4. The supplies from here going to Florida for the container is rolling out on Saturday, May 12th.  If you have anything that is supposed to go down there get it to me ASAP.  Otherwise I hope it fits in your suitcase!!!

More to come.  Thanks everyone for the hard work.  ARISE!

TR

Medical donations reach half way point

We have officially hit the half way point in our donations for the medical supplies for this year's medical clinics in Cost Rica and Honduras.  The target of $14,000 is still a ways off but donations come in everyday and I am beginning to get a bit hopeful we will make it!  Medicines will be ordered this weekend so I am about to launch out on faith and order the full shipment of medicines, minus the over the counter medicines and supplies that all of our groups are (hopefully) collecting. 

The medicines that will be going with us to Costa Rica will be carried down via suitcases.  I will be sending out specific information concerning this in the next few days to the team.  It has become apparent that US Postal, UPS, and FedEx are going to charge WAY too much for us to be able to ship directly to Costa Rica.  Now we are waiting for the Minister of Health to give us our permits and letters to be able to bring the medicines in by suitcases. 

Medicines going down to Honduras will be boxed, labeled, inventories, and shipped down to Honduras in our 40' container that is going to be loaded on Wednesday, May 16th.  Bar unforeseen obstacles, this part of the medical shipment should be fairly easy.  Tim Hines and Mark Connell will be in charge of getting the container out of port in Porta Cortez and trucking it to Honduras, but they have done this dozens of times and as long as we do our paper work right we will be good to go.

Contact me by email (reeves.tl@gmail.com ) if you would like to make a donation to help pay for the medicines.  Our medical teams are planning on seeing about 2,000 patients this summer and we could use all of the help we can get.  All donations are tax deductible and 100% of your donation will be used for the medicines and the clinic supplies.  When we say we are a non-profit, we mean it!

Thanks to all that have given, and I have to give a special shout out to my friends and high school classmates from Huntsville / Madison Academy, you guys are awesome!  Take care and keep Torch Missions 2012 in your prayers, amazing things are going to happen this summer.  Arise!

TR

67,000 mph!

I walked out of my graduate bible class this afternoon with the last comments seared into my brain, "2 weeks of class meetings and then finals." WHAT??? 3 weeks until school is done? A quick look at my day timer and I confirmed the obvious. It really is Tuesday, April 17th. The earth is traveling at nearly 67,000 miles per hour around the sun... and I can feel every spit second of it right now! Man, time is flying!!!

So, let me get some dates in place to make sure everyone is aware of the time and the schedule and the details of what is going on for our trips this summer:

Monday, May 7th: Final payment due for all those going on the Costa Rica trip. This is also the deadline for all paperwork to be turned in (applications, notarized rules sheets; notarized Spanish release forms (Anyone under 18), photocopy of passport, 2 photos).
Friday, May 11th: All supplies being trucked to Florida from Tennessee for the Honduras container must be boxed, labeled, inventoried, and in Henderson.
Monday, May 14th: Steve Kemp and I begin the insane drive from Henderson to Florida Keys!
Tuesday, May 14th: All supplies going to Honduras should be At Islamorada, Florida Keys
Wednesday, May 16th: Container for Honduras loaded in Islamorada and sent to Port Everglades to be sent to Porta cortez, Honduras.
Monday, May 21st: All flight information for Costa Rica must be sent to me for arrival plans to be made and ironed out.
Saturday, May 26th - Monday, June 4th: Costa Rica Mission Trip
----------
Thursday, June 7th: Final payment for Honduras mission trips due. Also, all paper work for both mission teams due (applications, notarized rules sheet, notarized Spanish release form (everyone under 18), photocopy of passport, 2 photos)
Monday, June 18th: All flight information must be sent to me for arrival plans.
Tuesday, June 26th: Advance team / Interns arrive in Tegucigalpa
Thursday, June 28th: Honduras team #1 arrives and departs for Catacamas.
Sunday, July 1st: Team #1 returns to Tegucigalpa to work
Saturday, July 7th: Team #1 departs to go home to the States; Honduras team #2 arrives and departs for Choluteca.
Wednesday, July 11th: Team #2 returns to Tegucigalpa.
Monday, July 16th: Team #2 departs to go back to the States; Intern retreat begins
Thursday, July 19th: Interns return back to the States.

For those collecting supplies for the Costa Rica trip, I will have more specific information for you about how we are going to get everything down very soon. Keep collecting the supplies that I sent you!!! I should be ordering the medicines for the medical team later this week! Dr. Schwartz and I have already gone over the list of medicines and he is in the process of putting together another order that is going to Nicaragua and once he has that completed he will order our medicines. I am still waiting for confirmation letters from the Minister of Health concerning our clinics that are scheduled... hoping to get that email sometime this week.

T-shirts will be ordered in the next week or so... as soon as I get the artwork done. Journals will be printed in about 2 weeks. Once all of that is done it will just be a matter of getting shirts and journals to all of the group leaders and individuals before we leave for the trips.

It is going to be a busy time for all of us as we get closer and closer to the trip. Please contact me if you have any questions at all... now is the time to ask. God bless you all as we get ready for an amazing summer. Can't wait to see and work with you all! Arise!

TR

Hallelujah!

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside then. In their fright the women bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said the them, "He is not here, HE HAS RISEN!

final meetings and the wrap up

This week has been a whirlwind of activity. God has not just opened doors for us, he has created a revolving door! By the time we finished one meeting another one opened up. We have barely been able to keep up with the pace since we arrived in San Jose. And even though we have accomplished a lot we have found that there is still a lot to do before we arrive May 26th. 2 months may seem like a long time but we will have to really get after it to get everything done that is required before we bring our team into Costa Rica.

We arrived in San Jose Monday night to find that we had a meeting with the Vice President, Alfio Mesen, at 3:00 on Tuesday. Before we met with the Vice President we had 2 meetings to secure information needed before the meeting at the Presidental House. Our first meeting was with Roberto Chacon, Director of Human Development for the City Council of Guatelupe. He specializes in community development and gave us information about Christian foundations and donated goods. In order to bypass a lot of the "red tape" Torch / IRC needs to apply to be a NGO (non-governmental organization) foundation. Once this process is completed bringing in medicines and other donations into the country.

After meeting with Roberto we met with Mariano Ocampo , a local lawyer who has worked for many years helping groups establish foundations. We met over lunch at a local seafood restaurant across the street from the Munincipal Building. During the meeting we covered all of the forms, applications, and requirements needed for a group like ours to establish a foundation. Let's just say it is a lot of requirements and we will not have time to complete everything before our mission trip this summer. So, this summer we will have to do things the hard way. Other than picking up the lunch tab Mariano did not charge us for his time (and all he had was a glass of papaya juice!).

The meeting ended at 2:00 and it gave us 45 minutes to find the Presidental House.We arrived at the Presidental House at 2:30 and passed through 2 layers of security before we gained access to the main building. We were led to Senor Mesen's office at 2:45. The Vice President's executive assistant greeted us and took us from the waiting room into the office. Our meeting lasted nearly 2 hours! Nearly an hour was dedicated for us to introduce ourselves and stating the purpose of our visit. Tim explained in great detail what we have done in Honduras and what we would like to be able to do in Costa Rica in the near future. After our presentation we had about 45 minutes of questions and answers and a stategy was outlined. We left the meeting feeling very confident about the results from the meeting and look forward to working more with Vice President Mensen in the next few weeks!

Wednesday we met with the office of the Department of Health. We met with Ronny Munoz Salazar, the lead lawyer for the department. The meeting focused on how to bring our doctors, nurses, and medicines into the country this summer. This meeting lasted nearly an hour as he laid out all of the things needed as far as documents, lists, permissions, and legal documents that will have to be completed before we arrive. After this meeting we went to meet with Agnes Guiterrez Rojas, the director of the College of Nurses. We met with her after being referred by Seno Salazar. This 45 minute meeting focused on the requirements needed from our nurses and the process of being appointed an overseeing nurse from Costa Rica that will work with us during our clinics in Buenos Aires. Our oversseing doctor from Buenos Aires has already been apointed.

Thursday we traveled north to La Fortuna where we will be having our retreat. We met with Fortuna Welcome, the company that is handling our reservations. Our initial reservations by phone / email had problems so we met with the office staff personally to work out the details and pricing. This paid off since we were able to met with them face to face. Our contract is now in place and everything is set up for our retreat. Since we were there, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the Baldi Resort and enjoyed the thermal springs (sacrifices must be made). It rained most of the day and the volcano was covered by clouds most of the afternoon. Finally about 4:30-5:00 the clouds broke and we were able to get photos of the volcano. Locals told us that Arenal has been dormant for the past 11 months and is "asleep." Even without any fireworks from "monte del fuego" it was really beautiful (and very hot!).

Today we spent most of the day looking at different hotels that we could stay the night before the group flies home. We met up with Diego Rojas and his girlfriend Katherine, and looked around the area of Heredia, where Diego lives. We found a beautiful hotel that has villas (private houses) that we negotiated a very good price. I had to go to a local ATM to withdraw enough money to pay the deposit to secure our reservations. tonight we are going to go the one of the malls and eat at the food court. We have early flights in the morning so we will be calling it a night early.It has been a very productive trip. We got a lot done and we put hundreds of miles on our rental. We traveled the southern part of Costa Rica, drive along the Pacific Coast, drove throughout the cetral part of the country, and drove to the northern part as well. Only the Atlantic Coast was missed in 6 days.
We are tired and ready to get home and eat some home cooking and sleep in our own beds again. This week was very much needed to get ready for the Costa Rica trip. On top of that, Tim and I did a lot of planning for the Honduras trips as well. The first trip is 2 months away with the Honduras trips not far behind. It will be here in a blink and the pressure to get everything done ahead of time increases. A lot more to come, so stay tuned! Dios te bendiga!

TR

The photo is of Minor Perez, Vice President Mesen, Mayor Don Carlos Mora (Buenos Aires), myself, and Tim Hines at the Presidental House

meetings, meetings, and more meetings

Sunday morning we had an early morning meeting with the mayor of Buenos Aires and his wife at their house. We met over coffee and sweetbread. We met for nearly 2 hours and talked about a wide variety of subjects and listening to the different needs of the city and the people. Even though Buenos Aires is a small town the mayor oversees over 60,000 people in his area. The needs in the area are many and I forsee work for several years here, not to mention other areas of the country.

After our meeting we were able to go to church services at the church of Christ in Buenos Aires. Daniel preached an excellent lesson on having a clear vision of God's will in our lives and to act upon it. Minor led the singing and did an awesome job. Tim and I both led prayers and we had a great visit with church members we met last year. We were able to get lots of photos of the new church building and also had time to show Tim around town and introduced him to the reposteria (bakery) that we found last summer! Yep, it's still good!

After worship we went to the local TV station and met with the station director and got a copy of the footage they shot Saturday during the President's visit. The station also is need of a lot of equipment and training and I am hopeful to be able to find help back at Freed-Hardeman when I return. Our TV station at school has a lot to offer and I am hopeful to recruit some staff to go with us this summer to do a training class on editing and camera work, along with tech information to make their news broadcasts more fluid and professional. After that meeting we took the western route along the coast to Jaco, which is on the Pacific Coast. We spent the night there at a local hotel that is actually run and owned by people from the States.

Today we spent the day looking at several different hotels that might serve as a retreat at the end of our future trips. The coastal area is really beautiful and there is a lot to do here. We looked at a couple of hotels that are right on the beach and we also looked at some that were up in the mountains. Zip line canopy tours, horseback riding, waterfalls, and beaches are just of the few things to do here. from Joco it normally is about an hour drive to San Jose and we left about 4:00. We arrived in San Jose around 7:00 tonight (we would have been here a lot sooner if it had not been for a fender bender on the main highway coming into town). We are staying the rest of the week at the Best Western Hotel which is near the hotel.

Tonight we got a letter via email from the President's office. Our offical meeting is set up for Tuesday at 3:00. The President is not going to be able to attend due to several things that have come up since our first meeting on Saturday, but the Vice-President will head up our meeting. We are so excited that we have already scheduled the meeting and we are very hopeful that the meeting will be very productive. We are also meeting with members of the San Jose city government in the morning along with lawyers to discuss some of the legal requirements we will need to know before going into the main meeting in the afternoon. Wednesday we will be meeting with a local preacher who is going to take us to the Bible camp owned by the church to see the layout and discuss ways to use the camp as a staging area for our containers and supplies that will be eventually coming into the country.

I will keep you updated as the week progresses. Things have fallen into place very well and we are getting a lot of things done. God is good!

TR

The photo is Daniel Chaves, Tim Hines, Minor Perez and myself with President Laura Chinchilla this past Saturday in Buenos Aires

Amazing start to our trip!

God is good. He is so good. He is down right amazing. The first 2 days of the trip have been a whirlwind and there are lots of things to report!

The first amazing thing took place Friday morning. Our (Minor and I) flight from Memphis to Houston left a tad bit late (about 10 minutes) which normally is no big deal. BUT, when you have a 49 minute connection time 10 minutes is HUGE. Especially when you arrive in terminal B and you depart from terimal D. However, we were able to get to our gate as the last group was boarding! More shocking was to find our suitcases in San Jose when we arrived. That was totally amazing.

The second amazing thing was going to rent a SUV. We did't reserve one ahead of time... not knowing what a popular destination Costa Rica is during spring break. However, we were able to get one with little problem (just kidding) and we left the airport to go to Buenos Aires, normally a 4 hour drive... unless the road going up Cerro de la Muerte is under construction. We had a dinner meeting with Daniel Chaves and Carlos Mora Vargas, the mayor, at 7:30. At 5:00 we were still on the north side of the mountain and it did not look like we were going to make it. However, Tim "Jimmy Johnson" Hines manuvered the mountain like a cruise missle and we got to the restaurant 5 minutes before The Chaves and Vargas families! We ate at Giovanni's Italian Restaurant and had a wonderful meal of new York style pizza, cheese bread and cheese sticks!

Our meeting with the mayor was amazing. We were able to cover a lot of stuff and had a long Q&A session. Tim and I answered questions and brought up additional points on issues we are working through for this summer's trips and more. And, amazingly enough, we scheduled another meeting with the mayor today (Saturday). Costa Rica is in dry season and Buenos Aires is battling many wild fires out on the reservations. It is so bad that Colombia is sending in firefighters and equipment to help. However, the reason we were invited to meet again with the mayor had nothing to do with that, but was because the President of Costa Rica was arriving to see the fire fighting efforts first hand. The mayor knows we are trying to schedule an appointment to meet with her and he was going to help us meet her. (what are the chances?)

The preident arrived at 10:00 am by private plane and was scheduled to take a helicopter ride to view the fires. We arrived about 9:45 and was admitted into the airport by use of our handy dandy IRC badges! Gringos in shirts and ties with official looking badges has its privilidges. When President Laura Chinchilla arrived the mayor came to our car (we stayed in the SUV to enjoy the airconditioning!) to tell us that they were going to another location for a press interview and he asked us to follow them. However, we did not attend the press conference (refer to the AC reference mentioned earlier). After the conference the group went back to the airport for the helicopter ride. We were motioned to follow again and we went back to the airport. During the helicopter ride the mayor, who stayed behind, came and told us that he has arranged a meeting when she returned from the flight!

20 minutes later President Chinchilla returned and was swarmed by reporters and photographers. The mayor already had us in place to talk with her, right in the middle of the media frenzy. Questions swirled in the crowd who the grigos with the shirts and ties were and what we were doing in Buenos Aires! We were able to talk with the president for about 10 minutes to introduce ourselves and to schedule a meeting with her in San Jose next week. She was quite impressed with what she heard and we will hear within 48 hours from her office for details. She is going to schedule additional people to be at the meeting including the Vice President and several members of her staff including the Secretaries of different agencies. "Like I mentioned earlier, God is awesome!

Tonight we were watching the local news and there was a huge story on the events today. Several photos of us meeting with the president made the news along with some live video. It even made the national news channel later tonight! So, in less that 48 hours in Costa Rica, we have met the mayor of Buenos Aires for a meeting, met the President of the country, scheduled a meeting with her next week, and made the news. We still have 6 more days to go, at this point there is no telling what might happen. This afternoon we went to 2 Indian Reservations to take photos of the places where the medical clinics will take place. BTW, the roads are still as bumpy and rocky as ever. Even Tim said that Costa Rica would give honduras a run for the money as to which country hs more rocks!

We have another appointment to meet the mayor at 8:00 before going to worship services with Daniel at the local congregation here. After services we will start back to San Jose for several days of meetings. It is going to be a very busy week! More to come, stay tuned!

Puttin' my travelin' shoes on

Spring break is upon us. And none to soon if you ask me. We have all experienced a mild winter and are now witnessing the blooming of Bartlet pear trees, dogwoods, redbuds, and other beautiful flowers and the urge to get out and enjoy it is evident everywhere. Taking a break from studies, doing spring cleaning, or just getting some R&R are just some of the things going through people's minds.

Freed-Hardeman students are gearing up for mission trips both stateside and abroad. Mission trips are planned for Alabama, West Virginia, New York, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Paraguay, and other places I can't even remember right now. Our sister schools are doing the same thing too. it is exciting to think that so many of our college students are using their spring break time to go on a mission trip instead of so many other things out there. If you ask me this is one of the biggest reasons why attending a Christian University is such a good decision.

Tim Hines, Minor Perez, and myself are going on another kind of trip. it is certainly related to missions, but we are not leading a team and we will not be doing the typical things a mission team would do. We are going to Costa Rica for spring break. We have very specific plans and an agenda to accomplish. Part of the week will be used to finalize the plans for the trip this summer when our team goes and works with Daniel Chavez in Buenos Aires. Hotel rooms will be reserved, tents and chairs will be rented, TV and radio advertisement time secured, supplies purchased, and all of the pre-trip deposits will be paid. Daniel will have a chance to finalize his plans with us and it will be left to us to figure out how we are going to do them.

However, the bigger part of the week will be spent in San Jose. We have plans to meet with several key political figures to discuss a wide range of things that pertain to this summer's trip but also for future trips and plans we have in Costa Rica. A couple of weeks ago we mailed a 3 page letter with a 24 page document to the President of Costa Rica to introduce Torch and IRC to her and to ask for a meeting. We also intend to meet with the Secretary of Health, Secretary of Commerce, and the College of Medicine to discuss all of the requirements we need to meet to bring medical teams and medicines into Costa Rica. We also will be meeting with lawyers and shipping specialists and pharmaceutical representatives. Tim figures to play a key role in the discussions since he has been through all of this in Honduras and has an unbelievable wealth of experience in this area. I am bringing the specifics of this summer's plans and Minor brings knowledge of Costa Rica along with tons of contacts and resourcing information.

So, instead of a full suitcase full of shorts, t-shirts, and sandals, we are packing suits, dress shirts, ties, and dress shoes (very foreign to me I must say....). Don't get me wrong, we will have shorts, t-shirts, and sandals, but I do not expect to use them nearly as much as I would like! We are hopeful that these meetings will be very productive and that we will be able to begin building a working relationship with the government similar to that in which we have in Honduras. The meetings next week hopefully will open up doors for projects in the future that our only dreams right now. Dreams do not become reality until acted upon... so here we go! The future begins today!

Keep us in your prayers. When I get back the pace will quicken and plans for the summer will be in place and we will begin the count down to the mission trips!!!! Take care and I will post again soon. Dios te bendiga mi amigos!

TR

Top 10 reasons NOT to go

Most of the time you hear all of the reasons why you should go on a mission trip... but how about the top 10 reasons why you should NOT go on one? Here they are:

10. It will change the way you look at the world! Seeing the world through the eyes of the good ol' USA is good enough. It might be totally distorted and inaccurate, but it is normal for you. Don't mess yourself up and go and see how the rest of the world really lives...keep thinking everyone is just like us.

9. You will be harder to deal with! Your likes and dislikes will change. Friends and family will not understand nor appreciate your sudden change in attitude towards things. Stay home and blend in.

8. Your priorities will change! You might start thinking of others WAY too much and even decide to do "church stuff" more and more. Making yourself happy needs to be your top priority... remember, it is all about you.

7. You will feel uncomfortable with the things you hear and see! Certain jokes, TV shows, movies, music lyrics, will suddenly seem inappropriate. Don't mess up a good thing!

6. You will experience suffering like you never have before. After seeing how people really suffer, you will see how shallow complaining here at home can be and how good we really have it. You might even feel a bit guilty about all of the stuff we have. Why subject yourself to that?

5. you could get robbed! It is dangerous over there. Some countries have crime rates nearly as high as some of our inner cities. Don't take any unnecessary chances going somewhere unsafe.

4. You could get sick! Don't take any risky chances, stay home where you never get sick.

3. Your faith might get stronger! This might lead to all kinds of life changing decisions that might cause you to become like a Christian radical or something....

2. You might convert someone to the Lord! I know this is a noble goal and all, but it might cause excitement and joy that might create further interest in Christian service... you might feel obligated to do it more and more. Where and when would it ever stop?

1. You probably will go again! Once you go you will be sucked into thinking about doing this again... and again. You will probably sacrifice time off from work, not to mention money it would cost to go on these trips. Come on, what is valuable to you anyways?

Want my advise? Stay home and stay comfortable. It is too late for me, save yourself! Focus on numero uno and you will be just fine. Otherwise you might end up looking like.... well.... you know..................

March 1st is rapidly approaching!

Before I forget it, Happy Valentine's Day! Unofficially, the Hallmark Card Company in conjunction with the Global Flower Growers Guild and the Union of the Chocolate Makers of the World got together and created Valentine's Day a long time ago... at least that is what I heard....

OK, seriously, we have a lot to cover in this blog. Minor Perez and I have been working hours and hours emailing various people in Costa Rica getting information about the requirements for the medical team that will be working this summer, finding out importation requirements for the medicines, required paper work and documentation for the medical personnel, etc. It has been CRAZY trying to get all of this information and we are learning a thing or two about governmental run a rounds... it reminds me so much of Honduras! We have also been working with Daniel Chaves getting plans ready for the team this summer. Daniel, the king of organization, will not allow me to shoot from the hip at all.... he is already got this trip planned out to the minute... just like last year! The good news is we already have hotel reservations in Buenos Aires, buses rented, the house rented for the cooks and guests, the hotel reserved for La Fortuna and the thermo resort at the Arenal Volcano, and radio and TV air time to promote the gospel meeting, VBS, counseling, and seminar classes. Yep, welcome to my world! And I am trying to work and take classes too!

It looks like Time Hines and I will be taking a group of us to Costa Rica the 3rd week of March to continue setting things up for the trip this summer. The spring break trip is going to focus on meeting various local governmental leaders of Buenos Aires to high ranking government leaders such as the Secretary of Health and hopefully even the president. This is such an important trip this summer with our medical team going into Costa Rica we want to make sure we have done everything correctly and that we make connections in the government so that we will be able to expand our efforts in Costa Rica in the near future. We would like to think we will be able to do in Costa Rica what we have been doing in Honduras. Hopefully the things we have learned in Honduras will go along way to establishing our work in Costa Rica.

March 1st is only 18 days away. March 1st is the deadline for applications and deposits for anyone going on any of the trips this summer. nearly 100 met the early bird deadline and was able to save $50.00 on the cost of the trip. Anyone who did not make the early bird deadline must get applications and deposits to me by March 1st. The 2nd and final payment for the trip is May 1st ($550.00 for the early bird registrations and $600.00 for all others). Additional paper work (rules sheet, Spanish release form for anyone under 18 years of age, and photocopy of your passport) is not due yet and I will be sending out information about when all of that is due later on. Please let me know if you have any questions about the applications or 1st payments. Hopefully by March 1st we will have a fairly accurate roster of who is on each team.

I hope you are shopping for airline tickets. Please send me your flight information as soon as you book your flight. See my previous post about flight information for details. Prices have stayed pretty constant so far so I am not sure if we are going to see much of a change in prices. I personally am holding on and waiting in hopes of getting a good deal. So far I have only received a handful of flight confirmations. We still have plenty of time so don't feel rushed. Again, please let me know if you have any questions.

If you are collecting supplies for the container, it looks like our target date to ship this year will be the 1st week of May. I will give you more details as soon as I have them. I feel pretty sure the container will be shipped out of Florida at this point, just don't know where the loading will take place. It is possible we might piggy back again, especially if I can share a container being shipped out of Nashville from Healing Hands International. I hope to know something soon.

I am still trying to recruit a few more for the medical teams this summer. I am still looking for 1 more doctor and 2 nurses for the Costa Rica trip and 1 doctor and 2 nurses for the 2nd Honduras trip (July 7-16). If you know anyone please let me know or have them get in contact with me. We have teams in place but I am trying to get additional personnel to make each medical team stronger. We are in the process of getting medicines secured for both trips and that should be completed soon. Right now we are really stressing hygiene supplies from all groups. We have additional needs this summer since we are going to have a medical team in Costa Rica and Honduras. We literally need to try to double our collections from last year.

Well, we are already half way through February and spring break is less than a month away. I don't know about you but it just seems like time is flying by faster everyday. I hope you are getting excited about the trips. I met with the Honduras team from Collegside Church of Christ in Cookville, Tennessee (Tim O'Dell's group) this weekend and they are pumped and ready to go! I will be meeting next weekend with Mark Adam's group from the Old Hickory Church of Christ in Nashville and I will be meeting with the team from Western Hills soon after that... my weekends are pretty much booked all the way into May. No wonder time seems to be going by so fast!

Take care my friends and keep in touch. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you as you get ready for the trip. It is going to be an awesome summer and I can't wait to see and work with you all. Dios te bendiga mi amigos! TTYL

TR

Courageous

This past weekend Freed-Hardeman showed the movie "Courageous" at the campus theater. The movie packed both theaters during the 2 showings and it caused quite a buzz in my dorm afterwards. Just about everyone I saw last weekend were talking about it. And I am here to tell you it was one of the best movies I have ever seen. Not because of the acting, lighting, camera angles, special effects, stars, or computer graphics. Quite the opposite. I loved it without all of the things I just mentioned.

This film was produced by Sherwood Pictures, a ministry of the Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. This is their 4th film to be released. The other 3 are Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof. Those following these movies will quickly point out that each movie gets progressively better in film quality, acting, writing, and story line and Courageous is the best so far. Over half of the actors are members of the congregation and all actors are volunteers. In an era were movie film budgets can well exceed $500 million in production costs it is a breath of fresh air to see a movie with such a wholesome message being shot and produced under a reported $2 million. The movie opened in over 1.000 theaters nationwide and grossed nearly $10 mission dollars. To date the movie has grossed nearly $35 million with the DVD release just now taking place.

There is great humor throughout the movie, good action scenes, and many a Kleenex moments in the movie. Focusing on the lives of 4 police officers and their families, the movie hammers home the theme of the movie which is fathers taking up the responsibility of being a Christian father and doing everything it takes to be the man God wants us to be. It is such a powerful movie and it approaches life from so many different angles that nearly anyone can relate to it in some way. The predominately student body crowd at the theater was totally into the movie with roars of laughter and audible crying during several scenes. The movie certainly took everyone on an emotional roller coaster ride.

My favorite character by far was Javier Martinez. Anyone who saw the movie knows who he is and are probably laughing right now at just the mention of his name. My favorite funny scene was Javier riding in the back of the police car as the leader of the infamous "Snake Kings." My favorite "tear jerker" scene was when Adam Mitchell returned to the place where he completed a dance that he did not do with his daughter prior to her sudden death in a car accident. My most inspirational scene was when Nathan Hayes took his daughter out to a fancy dinner and challenged her by giving her a purity ring. Best action scene was the shootout and arrest of the drug dealers and the best line was during Adam's sermon, "I will!"

If you have not yet seen this movie you need to get a copy and pick a movie night to watch it. Be ready to laugh, cry, hold your breath, and applaud. Be ready to be challenged because this movie hits home in many different ways. You will not be disappointed and you will probably do just like me and feel the need to spread the word.

TR

Up, up and away!

Even though it is only mid-January many are already searching for airline flights to Costa Rica and Honduras. Some have already bought tickets and have sent me their flight itineraries! So this blog will cover flight information for all 3 mission teams going with me this summer.

Costa Rica

The Costa Rica trip is Saturday, May 26th - Monday, June 4th. Each person or group is responsible for booking their tickets and may use a variety of carriers. The main stipulation is that everyone MUST fly into San Jose and they must arrive no later than 2:00 pm on Saturday, May 26th. There are several choices on airlines and arrival times. Since team members will be leaving from different cities around the country I cannot give you specific flight information. However, I can give you a list of carriers that do fly to San Jose and have flights that arrive before / around 2:00.

American Airlines: typically connects in Miami. From Miami AA has 2 flights, #971 and #937 that arrive before 12:30 pm.
Delta Airlines: typically connect in Atlanta. From Atlanta DA has 1 flight, #415, that arrives at 11:55 am.
Continental Airlines: typically connects in Houston. From Houston CA has 2 flights, #1096 and #1055 that arrive before 2:15 pm.
US Air: typically connects in Charlotte. From Charlotte USA has 1 flight, #1707, that arrives at 11:05 am.
Spirit Air: typically connects in Ft. Lauderdale. From Ft. Lauderdale SA has 1 flight, #755, that arrives at 11:40 am.
Copa Airlines: Departs from Miami. From Miami there is 1 flight, #491 / 795 that arrives at 11:31 am after 1 connection.
LACSA: Departs from Miami. From Miami there is 1 flight, #691, that arrives at 9:44 am
AeroMexico: typically connects in Miami. From Miami there is 1 flight, #429 / 656 that arrives at 11:20 am after 1 connection.
United Airlines: United has multiple connection points so flight information varies. from Miami there is 1 flight, #7484, that arrives at 9:44 am.

Research your flights thoroughly! Most likely you will have connections, make sure you have enough time to make the connection between flights! Also check checked bag policies... they all vary. Some allow 1 bag free, others charge for every bag. Some might even charge for carry on bags. Once you have selected a flight it is very important to let me know your flight information so that we can be prepared in San Jose. Everyone will wait at the airport until everyone arrives. Once everyone is on the ground we will load the buses, eat lunch, and drive to Beunos Aires!

Return flights work in a similar manner. Everyone will need to fly back from San Jose on Monday, June 4th (morning flights if at all possible). We will be spending the night in San Jose at a hotel near the airport. Once we have everyone's flight information we will figure out transportation to the airport. The later your flight the longer you will probably sit at the airport. The system works well and it allows our team members to shop around to find the best deals. Good luck!

Honduras trip #1

The 1st Honduras trip is Thursday, June 28th - Saturday, July 7th. It is very important that everyone arrive on the 28th because we will be loading up our buses and heading straight to Choluteca for 4 days of work there (Thursday - Sunday). We will return to Tegucigalpa Sunday evening and will work there until our departure on Saturday the 7th. It is important that your flight arrives before 2:00 pm. You have several flight options:

TACA: Departs from Miami. From Miami TACA has 1 flight that arrives before 2:00 pm. It is flight #314 / 254 that arrives at 9:25 am after 1 connection. (the other TACA flight lands in the late afternoon and cannot be used)
COPA Airlines: Departs from Miami. COPA has 1 flight, #491 / 426 that arrives at 11:55 am after 1 connection.
American Airlines: Typically connects in Miami. From Miami AA flight # 953 that arrives at 11:15 am.
Delta Airlines: Typically connects in Atlanta. from Atlanta DA flight #849 that arrives at 11:45 am.
Continental Airlines: Typically connects in Houston. From Houston CA flight #1540 which arrives at 11:10 am.

Return flight will be on Saturday, July 7th. Check flight information concerning additional charges for checked bags. Once your ticket is booked please send me your flight information so that we can be ready for your arrival in Tegucigalpa!

Honduras trip #2

The 2nd team will arrive in Tegucigalpa the same day that team #1 is leaving (this is going to be a busy and exciting day for the interns!). So as we are saying goodbye to one team we will be welcoming the 2nd team. Like the 1st team, it is very important that everyone on team #2 arrive on Saturday, July 7th. We will also be loading up the buses and heading to Choluteca to work for 4 1/2 days (Saturday - Wednesday morning). Flight information is the same as team #1. Team # 2 returns to Tegucigalpa on Wednesday afternoon and will work in Tegucigalpa until the return flight on Monday, July 16th.

You can buy your airline tickets any time you want. Prices are going to go up and down like a roller coaster so check the websites and be ready when that great deal comes. If you get a great deal let me know so I can pass the information on to other Torch team members! Flights will fill up, some very quickly, especially to Honduras. there are a lot of mission teams that work in Honduras and tickets will go quickly. Depending where you are flying from will determine cost to a large degree. Ticket prices might range from the high $400s to high $700s or even more. With fuel prices jumping around and with rumors of price hikes expect airline tickets to follow.

I hope this information is helpful and that you have good results in buying your tickets. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck and happy shopping!

TR

Calculating the cost before laying the foundation

2012 is not messing around. It seems to be pedal to the metal because the new year is off and running at full throttle and leaving those who are shuffling along on the sidelines. 9 days into the new year and I am just now posting the first blog of 2012. As I merge onto the 2012 speedway lanes I will try to get quickly up to speed so that I can keep up.

Most already know, but during Christmas break I had surgery to remove a tumor that was found on a scan about 6 months ago that was growing on my neck near the saliva gland. Dr. Netherville, the top ranked surgeon in the southeast and a member of the church at Harpeth Hills, did the surgery. Dr. Netherville is a long time medical missionary to Honduras with Steve Davidson's group and Lipscomb graduate. he did a great job and my stay at Vanderbilt was a good as you could expect (Sleep just didn't happen because it seemed like every hour the nurses needed something!). After an allergic reaction to some of the bandaging they used on me, I am finally on the mend and back to "normal." During break I didn't do much since I was on pain meds and was very limited on what I could do. Thankfully I am healing well and the pathology came back negative! Now I am off to the races, so to speak, and will be putting in a lot of hours this week and next getting the 3 missions trips in order and really getting them going.

The first item of business is the upcoming January 20th "Early Bird Registration." Anyone that can get their applications, paper work, and deposits in to me by this date will save $50.00 on their trip. The cost is $800 per person plus airfare, but early bird registrations get a discount because the early registration money will help me get deposits in earlier at some hotels which will allow us to get a better rate for this summer. Last year's teams depleted the Torch account to the point that we just didn't have any "jump start" money for the 2012 trips. So, whether you are going to Costa Rica or Honduras, let me encourage you to get your stuff tome in the next 10 days to get the discount.

Second. For those who just can't make the January 20th date, deposits and applications are due no later than March 1st. All of the trips are near maximum capacity so anyone who contacts me at this point will more than likely go on a waiting list. After March 1st anyone on the waiting list will be able to get on the trip if any spots are open so make sure you get your stuff in by this deadline so that you do not lose your spot! Final payment for the Costa Rica trip will be May 1st and the deadline for the Honduras trips will be June 1st. Everyone needs to book airline tickets as quickly as you can, try to have them booked by the end of March if possible. I will be posting airline flight information in my next blog that will come later this week.

Third. I have been gathering photos from past trips to help me get ready for some writing I will be doing this fall. A few years ago I wrote a book called "The Mountaintop Experience" looking through the history of Torch Missions from my 20+ years of trips. I want to totally rewrite the book and update the material. I am looking for photos from the different trips that will help in this undertaking. If you have any I would love to get copies of them sent to me. So far I have received over 400 photos and they have been great! However, I am wanting a lot more than that and I hope to get many more.

Fourth. Also, along with the photos I am receiving, I am wanting to get current photos of all the trips this summer. I would also like to get video as well, so if anyone has a video camera I would love for you to bring it. Since working at Freed-Hardeman I have learned that I have a wealth of talent and resources right here. From professional photo editing software to TV studio production facilities, proof readers to professional voice makeover personnel, I have a lot of resources here to use. This summer, once we get back, I am going to work on several PR type projects for Torch Missions. Pamphlets, brochures, booklets, and DVDs are just a few of the things on the agenda. I hope to produce a full line of promotional materials for booths at youth rallies and Bible lectureships. The materials will be designed to be used at schools, churches, youth groups, or even professional organizations to help promote who we are, what we do, and how people can join up or help. I am really excited about this and believe we will be able to produce some really high quality, professionally make materials that all teams will be able to use.

Finally. Plans are being put into place. Research is going on right now to see what needs to be done and where we will be working during our trips. This time of the year reminds me of a story Jesus told in Luke 14: 28-30 - "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to finish it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, 'This person began to build and wasn't able to finish." Now is the time we estimate the cost of the trips and the projects that we want to do and accomplish. We want to make sure the things we plan can be paid for by the money we are paying to go on the trip along with the additional money that is raised for the work fund. Our planning right now along with the fund raising we do, will determine how many houses we will build, how many bags of food we will give away, and how much supplies we will have to distribute. We don't want to make plans that we will not be able to do. But we want to think big and dream big. Somehow during the next couple of months the 2 will merge together to form our plans.

In the end we put it all in God's hands and we will do what He wants us to do and we will go where He wants us to go. God constantly puts things into our lives to challenge us and to move us to do good works. Every year is different (ask any of the Torch veterans, they will tell you!) and I personally can't wait to see what this summer has in store for us! Arise!

TR