OUR FIRST DAY!

It all began with a short night – at least for some of us – well at least those in the “guys’ room.” But the “gals” were up relatively quick – 2 hours later.

It was time to get accumulated to our home by re-arranging the bags of supplies we brought with us. I did the best I could do by staying out of the way, writing the blog for our journey, and watching the display of energy that exuded from the LTI students.

Pastor Alfredo had already buzzed around the corner of the block and returned with some Honduran delicacies to hold of starvation for the guys. For me the seemed the same as the deep fried meat inside dough that we had the night previous, but this time with chicken. The gals and maybe Cody tackled the traditional North American delicacy of pancakes. And with those calories at work we began our day.

All things were ready and so we waited for the hosts from The Harvest Church to arrive and share with us the activities of the coming two weeks. Arrive they did, not on time according to my schedule but according to theirs and since this is their country and we are only guests, we had no problem and just took it easy. They shared with us the schedule through Monday and dropped the request from Pastor Milton Valle that I preach the evening service while the LTI team ministered to the children.

We then loaded our bodies into the work van – a panel van without any seats except for a driver and rider. So we quickly through in two 36 inch benches from the porch of a friend across the street and also utilizing the spare tire we headed to the mall with a short stop to meet our “banker.” He was waiting on us in his black auto and a quick exchange of dollars for Lempiras and we were on our way.

I like the feel of the “wad” of Lempiras I received. The exchange rate is 18.80 Lempiras for one US dollar. That made our lunch cost almost 1,800 Lempiras. When you are not accustomed to the rate of exchange and see a salad listed as 190 – you almost decide not to eat. However we quickly rectified our mental image and indulged in a meal from Appleby’s. Then it was a quick walk around the mall to the grocery store to stock upon some staples so we could survive by eating one meal a day at “home.”

I had a STRONG URGE to leave the group before eating and head back up stairs at the mall. I had seen a “POPEYE’S” and the juices were turning. But using my normal discipline and was able to thwart the urge and maintaining my normal cool composure remained with the team. I will tell you though, they sure were giving me the hassle – this time reminding me that Popeye’s was upstairs and I was not. (Anyway it went something like that.)

Six PM came to quickly for me. I had a battle with my printer and after wasting much of my sermon paper and creating frustration I laid my 50 year old body down for a quick siesta. (Well that’s the age that I have been assigned by several of our hosts, so I might as well accept it. There is no way I would tell them that is not the truth. Don’t worry I told them!)

I was informed that they have about 3,500 people in attendance. And the Church had been renting a large gym type building just a few blocks from our home here but were forced to leave because they owner wanted to do some renovations. So they had to expedite their work and plan schedule and last week moved to their new location. It is a building on their property about 15-20 minutes from the edge of La Ceiba. It is large! Probably the best way to describe it is to tell you that it is the size of 4 of our facility in Ft. Myers. At this time that is my best guess. They have been building it on a cash basis for some time. The only closed in wall is directly behind the platform – a section of about 40 feet.

The sound system is still hung from the ceiling on “straps and pulleys.” The platform was being bolted together right up until 5 minutes before the worship leader took the stage to lead us in a time of prayer and intercession. All the chairs are plastic.

I watched as 14 buses began to arrive and unload the congregation. That is how they get the people from the city to the service. Of course many drive but the majority have no transportation. Further descriptions will have to wait because only pictures will give you the complete scene.

By the time I was introduced and everyone departed from the platform I had less than 30 minutes to share the Word – through my interpreter, who was doing this for her first time (I found that out after the service.) But she did an excellent job and both of us would have had an easier time if they had been able to complete the sound system and get it balanced. However the service ended with 9 coming forward to receive Christ and a ministry time of 20-30 minutes with the 200 plus who gathered around the altar.

The report from the LTI students could be seen easily from their faces. They arrived to meet us in the auditorium with smiles and words of excitement about their time. Their interpreters were two youth. One was 12 and the other 18. A brother and sister who attend a bi-lingual school.

We completed the evening with a time of fellowship with Pastor Milton and Mayra Valle at one of the special restaurants – The Ponderosa. It is an open air restaurant under metal roofed cabanas. The food was great and we headed back home to collapse for the night.

Continue to check the blog and I’ll give my fingers some rest by assigning an LTI student to begin to share some of their experiences with you on the next edition.

God bless,
Dr D, Marilyn, Pastor Alfredo, Cody, Stacie, Katie, Lindsay