Home safe and sound.

Just thought I'd follow up quick and let everyone know we made it back safe. Most of us had to jump right back into our busy work schedules, hence the lack of update. But hopefully soon a few of us will be able to post some more pictures and maybe some reflections on the week. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers. We had a great time, but at least for me, it's nice to be home.

Cheers!
-Brandon

p.s. Please continue to pray for the students, teachers, and construction workers that are still there. The project we were working on is still ongoing, and the first semester is coming to a close soon, so it's just overall a very busy time for everyone.

Santa Rosa/End of Construction

This is Joe Van Walbeek writing the blog update on this Friday, November 1st.

What a week it has been. All this week has really given me an appreciation for how easy of a life I have in Wisconsin. When working construction I would work 50 hours without an issue, but here in La Unión I workd from 8AM to 3 PM and I would be totally exhausted from the heat. There was alot of man power needed for the construction where as in the states we had a lot of tools that would make the job a little easier. It was also very warm during the days where heat exhaustion was a concern.

Today, we were able to have at least 7 rows of blocks layed on all walls of the cafetería. It was nice to see the cafetería taking form after a week worth of work. We also had two great translators from the school. One was a 7th grader who wants to become a doctor and we also had a 12th grader who wants to become an Electrical Engineer and is applying to Dordt. (Go Dordt) One of the best blessing for me this week was the kids. We were able to play soccer and volleyball with the kids along with having two different translators everyday. At two o clock we loaded up an SUV and a truck and headed to Santa Rosa. We crammed 6 in the SUV and 5 in the cab of the truck. The principle of the school is driving the truck and is taking his two kids with him and we head to Copan to see the ruins as they had never seen them before. The kids were in the back of the truck along with two other girls from the school. They were crammed between the cab and the our luggage. The two other girls go to the Christian School in La Unión, but there parents live several hours away. We dropped the girls off in Santa Rosa with their parents as they do not see them very often. The girls stay with their Aunt in La Unión so they could go to the Christian School as their parents thought this may be their only shot at a better life as the majority of the senior class is apply to Universities in the states. The one catch is the Universities will need to sponsor them as the majority of these kids will not be able to afford an American University.

I thought I would share a few highlights as I am currently at a hotel that had internet. If we have internet we will try and update you one more time before we return state side. 

(Sorry if there is any mispelled words as this computer spell checks in spanish.)

Last Full Day in La Union

Cafeteria Update - Walls going up.

This is George writing tonight; hope all is well state side.

Today was another big day for those who were working on the cafeteria. More of shoveling dirt, making cement and laying block. Lots of progress was made and it is pretty amazing how far the project has come in just four days. I was lucky enough to get to teach today with Leah. Even though I was anxious getting ready to teach, all in all it went really well. It was a blessing in itself getting to help teach, the best we could, and getting to really see the kids in the school.

This afternoon we rode the Moto taxis up to the top of a hill where a church bell tower sat. The view over the town was breath taking. We were up there just as the sun was setting behind a mounting top and clouds rolling in. It was so peaceful and amazing to see all God created. After a nice long walk back we had a pleasant Honduran meal; beans, rice, pork and fresh salsa. Followed by a wonderful birthday surprise for Ben V. celebrated with a piñata, cake, and chocolate caramel ice cream

George Teaching 4th Grade

. It was a wonderful evening.

Now relaxing and recalling the events of today, I am truly at awe of how amazing God is and how blessed we are to have this opportunity not only to help out but to experience something new. I suppose only a few more days and we are back in the states.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Ben's Birthday Party Group

We will try to update the blog the rest of the way if we have internet. Tomorrow we are working half a day and then preparing to travel to Capon to see the ruins on Saturday. Then Sunday travel back to San Pedro Sula to fly back home.

Wednesday Update - Skit, Moving Dirt, and Volleyball... oh my

Hola mi amigos,

Brandon here again for today’s blog update. We had another successful day despite some very sore muscles.

We started out the day with getting to participate in the K-6^th grade devotion time. We sang/clapped along during their time worship. And then Jake had asked if we would create/perform a skit about the story of Samson and Delilah. So we did just that. Carol narrated the story while Ben (Samson), Jenna (Delilah), Joe, and Brandon (the Philistines) acted out/repeated what Carol said. It was a big hit. The kids loved the story. Ben became quite the celebrity being called out by students as Samson.

Jenna and Leah taught the 4^th grade class today, which went well. While the rest of us worked more on the construction site. Today we had help from Darwin and Sara, and as usual they were a great help. We moved more dirt, but today went a little bit better since we decided to use the wheelbarrows instead of trying to throw the dirt over the already growing dirt pile. Due to the rain we had to construct a make-shift road out of wood and stone. It required lots of maintenance, but it provided a nice change of pace from the constant digging and throwing we were doing the past few days. We believe we are close to done with the digging. We managed to level off almost the whole area next to where the cafeteria is going. It’s hard to believe we were able to move that much dirt w/ just some shovels and a wheelbarrow. The only digging we may have left is digging some trenches for footings for the cement slab going there and possibly some piping. The Honduran workers got the foundation layer finished today so tomorrow should also include building some walls w/ cinderblock and cement.

After working we stayed at the school to play a little volleyball. About 5 students (including Alan and Darwin who helped as translators for us already) and one of the Honduran teachers showed up as did several of the American teachers. So we had a grand ole time playing us w/ the American teachers vs the Honduras team. The students won the first few games and managed to slip in one win at the very end.

We came back to the church to relax a bit before dinner, grabbed some showers, and relax. I watched and played a little soccer w/ some kids on the futbolita court. We then headed over to someone’s house and were able to eat on their roof overlooking a town square/park. It was a gorgeous night to be outside. And dinner was again amazing.  We had Baleadas (I think) which was kinda like a quesadilla but better.

We then got a tour of a house where some of the teachers live. The highlight for me was the doorways were quite low and kinda reminded me of a hobbit house, sans fully circular doors. Needless to say it was funny to watch some of the taller team members and Jake walk through the doorway. We then ended the night w/ some homemade ice cream made by a girl here in Honduras who is hoping to open up her own shop. We had oreo coffee ice cream and Reeses ice cream. It was delicious! In terms of hand dipped ice cream, I’d say in even rivals Whitey’s Ice Cream in the QC. And that’s saying something. Then after ice cream we had devotions and everyone is now heading to bed.

So yeah, that was our day. Lots happened, but for me it was nice cuz it wasn’t quite as exhausting as the other days. I’m still sore and tired, but I never hit the wall of utter exhaustion/energy loss like I did on several occasions. Plus it is really cool to know some more of the students, not just by name, but to be able to joke around with them and have fun. It really adds the personal connection to La Union.

Some prayers for us would be for continued endurance. I will say that I did not want to get out of bed this morning. I’m glad I did, but I had the break down moment where life felt terrible. Almost all of us are dealing w/ sore muscles or lack of energy. George couldn’t even work given his back and neck our just completely out of wack. So beyond just endurance, pray for healing as well. And most of all pray that we can continue to meet more students and people living here and to have an impact on their life. Tomorrow is our last full day of working at the school. We’ll again be sending some people to the classroom and some continue construction.

That’s all I got. So thanks for all the love and support.

Cheers!

-Brandon

p.s. Just one side note. It is a very small world indeed. There is such a large Michigan tie to this random town in Honduras. And especially Holland cuz I just found out some friends are related to one of the teachers. Such a small small world. 

p.p.s. Another cool thing we saw was how some of the teachers interact with their students in the free time. For example one teacher was helping her student fill out college applications. Very exciting to see these kids start to have dreams and goals bigger then staying put in La Union their whole life and then to see the teachers help these kids to attain their dreams. 

Continuing to be God's Hands

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

John and Carol are privileged to write today’s blog.  After recuperating from slight health issues, we were back to normal life in Honduras today.  The fourth grade teacher here is off work due to her health and I (Carol) enjoyed substitute teaching today.  Someone jokingly asked me yesterday, “so, are you on a vacation?”  to which I responded, “I thought I was taking a week off teaching, but I think God had other plans.”  Leah and Jenna are teaching tomorrow.  I also wrote a skit on the story of Samson and Delilah for our team to act out in Chapel tomorrow.   Grading all those 4^th Grade Abeka papers for Julia has paid off.  The students in my class were great and I loved it.  The rest of the gang did different tasks in the construction of the Cafeteria.  Joe and Brandon continued excavating (by shovel, picks, and pry bars), while George and Ben were taught how to mix concrete on the ground. They carried buckets of concrete and helped finish pouring the footings.  They also were able to help lay the first layer of block.

Leah was cutting wire for the rerod support baskets that go in the concrete.  Jennah and John helped put the rerod baskets together with our 8^th Grade translator.  As the day progressed, George, Leah, and Jennah took turns screening sand for concrete for laying block.  The screened sand was also used for a long jump that the PE teacher was making.  Walking our mile back to our “home” at the church in the rain, God sent a local who gave us a ride the rest of the way. “No charge!”  God has moved our hearts for those students have very good English to find sponsors to be able to do an International Student Exchange.  The students and people have welcomed us into their friendly community.  We are thankful that God moved our hearts to take this trip and enjoy this part of his creation.  PS.  We are purchasing coffee from Jake and the principal’s coffee farm to bring back for you all to sample.

Making cement, sifting sand, and building re-rod baskets

Still digging and digging....

4th Grade class working hard

Monday Update

Hola mi amigos,

It's Brandon here doing today's blog update. It has been a very full day. Today was the first day of the actual manually labor part working at Abundant Life Christian School. The construction has been ongoing for quite a while, so we are entering into the work midway through the process.

Today's tasks included moving dirt piles with shovels, breaking up and moving concrete and cinder blocks, cleaning the floors of the soon to be new bathrooms since we were expecting to get in some ceramic tiles to be laid potentially later this week, and then moving the shipment of ceramic tiles and toilets that arrived at the end of the day up to bathroom area. Needless to say, it was an exhausting day. But we had some great help. The Honduran workers there were great. We were also assigned two students that served as translators, Alan and Lucelli. And they dove full in in helping us do all that manual labors. On several occasions putting us to shame. We lucked out with some good weather. The rain held off today and it stayed decent workable temperature, though some of us did get just a bit too much sun. May need some sunscreen tomorrow. Overall it was quite a successful day of work.

Later that evening we went back to the church where we are staying and played up some pick up games of futbolita (or something like that) with the kids playing there. It's basically soccer, but on a small court and smaller ball. We held our own, but weren't really in to win necessarily. But just get a chance to play and live life with the kids there. And a really cool part for us was that Alan, our translator from earlier in the day, came and played with us. So it was nice to spend some extra time with him.

We ended the night with a great meal with a lot of the American/UK faculty of the school. It was one of the teacher's who works at the school birthday. Her name is Rachel. So we had a special treat of BBQ chicken pizza, nachos, and cake/cupcakes. So it was a great time getting spend time celebrating with her and getting to interact with the faculty and learn more about their background. It was really fun for me to just here about why they’re there and where their passions lie.

So it was a great day/night. Not just in that we had a successful day of working. But we really got to begin to interact with the people, both the students, teachers, and members of the community. And that’s really what this trip is all about. 

Continued prayers would be for health. We’ve had a few people dealing with colds or not the greatest reactions to food.  Also just for endurance. We are all very sore already and it’s only day one. So prayer tonight’s rest will be rejuvenating so that we can continue full speed w/ the work the rest of the week.

Cheers!

First Full Day Filled with Church, Food, Love, Coffee and Great People

This is Ben here on the first full day of the mission trip! This morning we were able to wake up to roosters crowing and a refreshing shower.  Everyone was thankful to have a full night of sleep after a full day of travelling.  We began the morning with a delicious breakfast made by Alicia. She created this wonderful fruit car that consisted of watermelon, cantaloupe, papaya, lime, and pineapple.  There was also egg, toast, and beans.  Following breakfast we spent some time talking about 1 Corinthians 12 and prayed together for the day and the week.  We went to church together that began at 9:30.  It was a great way to worship together with the Hondurans.  The majority of us did not understand the pastor and the band, but it was awesome to see their passion for Jesus Christ.  After church was over, Alicia invited us over for lunch at her house.  This consisted of fried chicken, boiled potato with guacamole inside and a side of rice.   Not too long after we finished lunch, Jake and Rachel took us on a tour of La Union and the school we will be working at during the week. Following the tour of the school, we walked over to a beneficiary (I believe this is where coffee beans are taken to prepare for roasting).  By the time we got back from the tour, it was close to supper time.  We had some time to spare before dinner was served so our group grabbed some drinks and Joe, George, and Brandon played some soccer in the street with the Hondurans.  We made it to dinner and talked about our day afterwards. 

A few thoughts on our first full day….  First, the coffee crops control the finances for much of the population in La Union.   The coffee plants have been hit with a disease and it made a major negative impact on the crops.  This has hurt many families since it is their main source of income.  Second, it was great to see the school we will be working at for the next week.  There has been much progress made over the past five years and it will have its first graduating class this year.  We will be helping to finish up a bathroom, begin the project for the new cafeteria, and there will be some substitute teaching opportunities throughout the week.  Thirdly, the Hondurans are quite content with what they have.  It is a great reminder how easily we can have a desire to consume, consume, consume in America when many of the Hondurans live with much less are content.  Finally, today has shown me the importance of relationships with others and how my relationship with Jesus Christ affects my relationships with others.  It has been important for me to continuously remember what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me.  This will help me to focus on the needs of others and instead of mine.  This will also help me to remember that the importance of the Honduras hearing the gospel and seeing it lived out. 

That is a summary of our day and a few quick thoughts I have had throughout the day.  We would appreciate prayer for our time here in Honduras.  Some specific requests are that we would be able to be a blessing to those here in Honduras,  our safety, health, we would take opportunities to build many relationships with the Hondurans, gospel opportunities, that we would represent Christ well and this would be used to change our lives as well.  Those are a few things and thank you for your time!

A coffee bean plant, who knew it was in the cherry family!

The old cafeteria on the right and future cafeteria on the left with the future new bathroom on the second floor that we will be finishing

Honduras Arrival

Food stand along side of the road. There were many stands that we went by.

We were able to wake up at 3:00AM, park the cars in the parking garage, and make it to the airport by 4:00AM. We took off from Chicago, made our connecting flight with only one hour of a layover in Atlanta. We were able to hang out with several other mission teams on the plane. We were welcomed in San Pedro Sula with warm weather and a great blessing when we found out that our check in luggage arrived with us on the plane.  Jake and his friend picked us up in their truck and SUV and we drove for 4.5 hours on pothole filled cement and dirt/rock  roads. We were able to see the magnificent views from the roads on the mountains. We were able to wave to several Hondurans as they yelled out “Gringo” with excitement. We were able to see the coffee fields and a lot of different construction houses. I will show a few more photos of our trip in a following blog. We arrived in La Union, found out our beds, ate Spaghetti, reviewed the game plan for the week. It is now 7:30pm and we are ready for bed as it is raining outside and we are quite tired.

View of the Mountains when we were driving on the dirt roads.

I give God lots of praise for a smooth day which could have been very filled with issues.  Everyone says hi and we thought we would let you know that we made it safely. We can’t wait to see what God has planned for this week. If it is anything like today, great things are going to come from this week.

Arrived in Chicago

Giordano's

All 8 team members have arrived in Chicago. We all hit some road construction and it took a little longer to get to the hotel. We then went out for some Chicago style pizza as one last good American meal before we head out. Returned to the hotel and started to pack up all the school supplies, books, and sports equipment that was donated. 10:30 PM and we are ready for bed. We will be leaving the hotel to find parking around 3:15 AM so we will get our 4 hours of sleep before we make it to the airport. Thank you everyone for the support. We are truly blessed to have such great friends and family. Please continue to keep us in your prayers for safe travels and that everything will run smoothly as we do have a few things that need to continue to go without any hiccups. I know Satan is ready to make us stumble as we are ready to go God’s work. I will send more out later, but it is getting late and I need some sleep.

Count Down Begins - Less than 3 weeks

Less than 3 weeks and the team and I will be in Honduras. There is still a lot going on in these final three weeks. We have just wired the money down to Honduras this weekend. Jake will now be busy down in Honduras getting everything ready for us down there. Some of the things he will be getting ready include such things as finding us shelter, food, and buying building materials. As I was talking with a few people this past week of why they needed the money three weeks before we arrive, I mentioned that Honduras is a third world country and where La Union is they do not have a lot of retail shops in this area. From what I remember the main retail shops were about the size of Casey’s- Holiday gas station (I put both as one is popular in Iowa-Illinois and the other in Wisconsin.). As you would think with such a small area they do not carry a lot of building materials. These extra few weeks will give them time to pay for the supplies and get the supplies to La Union and make some of the things we might need ahead of time (such as cement blocks). This will also give the three people that Jake will be hiring some time before we get there to help prepare the site, possibly making footings for the building. We will wait and see in three weeks what is done and what we will be able to do.

Pillowcase Dress

I was down in Blue Grass, IA where I grew up throughout this past weekend. While I was down there, I went to Community Fellowship Church this was the church that I grew up in. When I was at the service I found out the junior high and high school girls are starting a group called Ignite. The reason I mention this name is that I have been part of a small group in Valleybrook with my current church for people in their twenties and thirties. This group has been a great blessing to me and has made an impact in our local community and will be making an impact internationally. Besides me there are three others from this group going down with us. The Community Fellowship Church Ignite ladies wanted to help out those in Honduras as well. They came up with a brilliant idea of making pillowcase dresses. While I was there, I was able to see a prototype of what they will be making. **If you are in the Quad City area they are looking for donations of pillow cases, thread, and a special type of ribbon that I do not remember. (For more information, please contact me, and I will find out for sure they type of ribbon and supplies) The young ladies will be giving these pillowcases to us to bring down to the young girls of Honduras. I thought this was wonderful as these girls are showing Jesus’ love to other girls they do not know and may never meet. In my opinion there is no better lesson to teach anyone besides teaching them how to show the love of Jesus Christ.

I also wanted to mention to keep our team in your prayers. This is very big as we are going down with 8 people, and I would love to come back with 8 people that are safe and we were not robbed. I also would like prayer that the Holy Spirit is just burning through us as we love on these kids. I know when the Holy Spirit is involved mighty things happen.

Once again thank you for your support, encouragement, and the love that everyone has shared.

School Picture for 2013

Labor Day is only a few days away, thus the start of fall. This year I have been trying to become a better listener to what God has for me. I have referenced myself to Samuel in the Old Testament, and how he was listening for God is how I want to listen for God. This year God has really had several things fall in place that I cannot explain, and some of it God really needed to yell at me to make sure I took the right direction. 

August 2013 School Picture

As I have told several people over my lifetime, life is a bunch of choices that you make. The majority of my choices I do not hear God saying drink this drink or run this mile, but is choices that I make based on where I am at in my life. School teachers, coaches, Sunday school teachers, family, parents, friends, co-workers, pastors, people I meet on a random basis, and most of all God has impacted me on what choices I make. 

Because of the great people I have surrounded myself with; I have made several great choices in my life. God gave me these people throughout my life for me to gain wisdom. 

The reason I mention this is this group that is going down to La Union is going to be helping some of these kids gain wisdom & knowledge for choices they will make. The other thing that we take for granted is the ability to dream about the future. When you ask the kids what they want to be when they grow up most of them do not say police officers, fireman, and president.(Some may say they want to be a professional football [Soccer] player) In America we take this for granted that many of us thought everyone in the world dreams about what they will be. 

Current School Cafeteria

I was thinking about that today and I thought I would share it as I have pictures of the kids from the school for this year and the picture of the cafeteria. As you look at the picture please pray for these kids as they start their school year that they will gain knowledge and wisdom to help their future along with gaining a love for Jesus. If you could also pray that we will be able to share our love to these kids as like every kid in the world they should feel loved.

God Bless,

        Joe Van Walbeek

Plain Tickets are Purchased

I thought it may be time to make an update on what is happening with the trip since the last posting was in June and it is now August. Sorry about the delay, as I know a few of you wanted more updates. 

Our team currently consists of 8great people. (Brandon Thomas from Lansing, MI, George Brown from Eau Claire, WI, Jennah Engen from Mondovi, WI, Ben Van Walbeek from Des Moines, IA, John & Carol Van Walbeek from Blue Grass, IA, and Leah and I from Eleva,WI) We all now have our plain tickets from Chicago, IL to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I believe the flight is taking off at 6:00 AM Saturday, October 26^th, and we will return to Chicago November 3^rd around 4 pm if my memory is correct. This means we will have a short Friday night Friday as we will all gather in Chicago and several of us will be traveling around 3-5 hours after work. Along with the plain tickets Leah just got in her passport and she was the last one on the team to receive it. (Praise God that everyone got it a few months ahead of time.

We have also found out that we will be building a cafeteria/kitchen for Abundant Life Christian School. Right now they serve the food out of a two person shed. It reminds me a lot of the concession stand when I played at Emies baseball park in Davenport, IA. I know the school has changed some, but when we were down there the kids usually just ate out on the grass or the steps. They did have a few picnic tables that were under a lean-too. I am guessing that when it rains they would either eat in their classroom or sit under the lean too as they have no hallways that are inside. Each grade has its own classroom, which is nice if they did eat inside. Each year they would add a grade and when they added a grade they would add another classroom building on. I believe this next year the school will be either at 11^th grade or their first senior class. 

I have also heard how generous everyone has been even with donating school and sports supplies. A few of the team members have received a few soccer balls, pens, scissors, crayons, book bags, sporting equipment, and I believe someone was picking up art paint as that is hard to come by. (Paint is considered a luxury item) We will accept any of these donations until we leave. Has anyone received a pink soccer ball for the girls? The girls loved the pink soccer ball we brought last time. Also thank you to those who have been giving the monetary donations to help cover the trip expenses as well. 

Everyone on this team is really excited. There will be some challenges as we go into a new culture and we will need to adjust to their way of life. As you see someone from the team please encourage them as it is nice to hear the support from friends and family.

 As the time gets closer I will try and update you with more information. Feel free to ask me or any of the team questions. If we do not know an answer we will find out for you.