The stench of marijuana, alcohol and sewage filled the air......

The stench of marijuana, alcohol and sewage filled the air as I walked down the dark path to Bebe's house.  It's not quite the scene you expect to be entering for the first night of a community bible study.  I found Bebe who said that the other guys were coming, but we needed to go get them from the pool hall.  They had just started a game of pool and had already paid and put up their bets.  They threw out a few complaints, but Bebe quickly responded, "hey bra, whats more important, playing pool or learning the bible?"  The other guys quickly put their sticks away and we headed to the house picking up 4 more young men along the way.  After 3 hours of reading scripture and discussing every topic a young man wrestles with, I had to cut them off and say my goodbyes until next week.  God has opened this amazing door for us to have a bible study in the center of one of the darkest places on this island, pray for His light to spread and illuminate the lives of these young men and this community!

Generosity, Newest members of our family!

Oscar lives in a 10x10 cement room that he built by hand.  There is no running water or plumbing and he does not have a steady job.  He is extremely poor by the worlds standards, yet was able to show us amazing generosity today.  You see, Oscar raises chickens in his yard and one day, Kendall mentioned to him that she wanted chickens.  To our surprise he immediately responded, "I got 2 for ya right here, come and get them whenever ya ready". Today was the day, we finally went by after church with a cardboard box and our Sunday best on.  Little did I know that I would be chasing the chicken down and wrestling with a dog to get the chickens in the box.  After a few minutes and a muddy shirt, we caught the chickens and were on our way.  We offered to buy the chickens but he refused to take our money.  This type of generosity is humbling when we consider all that we have been blessed with and how much we give.  I'm so thankful for Oscars generosity and friendship.  We now have 2 hens below the house and are looking forward to some fresh eggs.

Creative Ping Pong in Honduras

So life on the island is wet right now, very wet.  Rainy season is in full swing which is not so good for a PE teacher without a gym.  So, Ping Pong it is.  I came down with 16 paddles and about 15 ping pong balls because I was told that the school had 3 ping pong tables!!  little did I know that they are about 10 years old and have been exposed to the abuse of teenagers and humid salty air for all 10 years.  Needless to say, they are not quite functional....

We have had to get creative with our tables and learn how to play the cracks in the picnic tables.  The kids don't seem to mind and I think it actually makes the game a little more interesting.  As of now we have games being played on 4 ft long picnic tables, a sheet of ply board and long skinny cafeteria tables.  The ply board table has definitely become number 1.

God's Spirit in the last days!

"Jesus' disciples came to him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things happen and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?'  And Jesus answered and said to them, 'See to it that no one misleads you.  For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will mislead many.  You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.  But all these things are merely the beginning of the birth pangs.  Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.  At that time, many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.  Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.  Because lawlessness is increased most peoples love will grow cold.  But the one who endures to the end will be saved.":

Matthew 24: 3 - 13

Jesus was asked, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

We are living in a time that looks strangely similar to the above description given by Jesus.  There are wars and rumors of wars, famine, unimaginable natural disasters, increased lawlessness along with the rapid decline of morality throughout the world.  Whether you believe we are living in the last days or not, you must agree that we are living in a very dark time in history.

It is easy to get wrapped up in the doom and gloom or the fear and propaganda fed to us from mainstream media, but I would like to remind us of the way light shines in darkness!  If you light a candle with every light in house on, the brightness is barley recognized.  On the other hand, if you light the same candle in a pitch black room, the brightness fills every inch.  

We are living in darkness, but you and I are the candles!  

God says in Joel Chapter 2, that He will pour out His spirit in the last days!  The darkness seems to be increasing by the day with terror attacks, war, deception, immorality and so on, but God says His Spirit will be poured out.  It is being poured out, The body of Christ is alive and well!  We are taking ground for His kingdom and welcoming new believers into the family daily.  You are on the front lines and the light of Jesus can touch every life around you if you will let it.  Rocognize that God sent His son to die in our place so that we could know Him and have life now and eternally.  THIS MESSAGE IS URGENT! Please accept the call to

Preach the Gospel

Make disciples

Love God 

Love you neighbor

Pray for the lost and suffering 

God has not given you a spirit of timidity but of power and love and a sound mind! 

Discipleship Roatan!

Jesus' final words to His disciples were: "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.."

- Matthew 28: 19-20

The Lord has not only called us to preach the Gospel, but also to make disciples!  As Christians, we often strive to share the message of Christ with the end goal of leading them to accept the Gospel and receive eternal salvation.  This is extremely important to initiate a relationship with God, but many times we leave new believers there and they do not know where to go next so they fall back into their old ways and just live the way they have always known.  It's like giving someone a gym membership who has no idea what to do, then saying "ok, here you are, go get stronger and skinnier...,,". That usually wouldn't work too well.  They may wander around the gym or try to copy a few other people, but ultimately they would probably feel lost and defeated then go home and not return.  They must be taught, they need to know where to begin and how the machines work.

Jesus tells us to make disciples!  He wants us to lead others into a relationship with Him and into a lifestyle of worship to Him!  We are all called to disciple,  we all have something to give! 

We kicked off our discipleship program with the high school boys at our school last Friday!  We will be splitting all of the high school boys into groups of 4-5 with each male teacher who will mentor and disciple them!  So far we have 100% participation from the young men (25 young men).  We will spend time outside of school building relationship with these young men, sharing our lives with them and showing them how to live as Christian men!  Pray for God to be glorified in our time with them and for God to lead us as we lead these young men!  

Doors Open with Paola

Since we have been on the island it has been a process of adjusting, settling in, becoming a part of the community here, and trying to assimilate as much as we can. Harrison has seamlessly adjusted to working at Kingdom Bilingual as a PE and history teacher. The kids are VERY excited about PE and Harrison has even had parents tell him students are going home to do exercise! This is truly exciting because exercise does not have much importance here. He is truly impacting these children's lives.

Meanwhile, we have hired a nanny for Isaac so that Kendall can begin working at Clinica Esperanza. We looked high and low at several daycares here and none provided care for the hours we needed. One of our good friends, Sarah and Roberto, that live down the road from us suggested interviewing Paola, the sister of the nanny they hired. Luckily, Paola has worked for Sarah before at her daycare and so the reference was very exciting for us. We interviewed Paola and told her what we needed and what we were looking for and she seemed very excited to have a job. So we hired her to start the following week.

Kendall has been staying at home with Paola to show her how we desire for Isaac to be treated, our routines, things that Isaac normally does in a day. It has been great for Paola to get to know Isaac and Kendall and they have really begun to develop a fruitful relationship with one another. Paola says Isaac is "tranquilo", which in Spanish means calm/relaxed. We laughed when we heard that!

Paulo has recently been opening up to Kendall and inquiring more and more about our move back to Roatan. Kendall was able to share with her how God spoke to both of us and told us to move back to Roatan to do ministry with people of the island. She said "WOW, REALLY?". She has asked that same question over and over again, so we think she must be really intrigued at the idea that God talks to his children.

Paola also asked Kendall how many boyfriends she had before Harrison "Cuantos novios tuviste antes de Harrison"? Then she asked "How did you know he was the one to marry"? or "¿Cómo supiste que Harrison era la de casarse?". Through this story, Kendall was able to share how the Lord spoke to her that Harrison was the person she was going to marry. She also shared that God spoke the same thing to Harrison. This had her very excited and she asked "How do you know that God is speaking to you"? Wow-- thank you Lord for placing this opportunity in our lives to open up and share how you've brought us to this place and the ways you have spoken to us. The Lord is definitely stirring Paola's heart and we are so excited to be a vessel that pours into her life an she continues to question what we are doing here and her own life as well.

Pray that the Lord continues to open doors so that we can minister to Paola and be a Light in the Darkness to her and her family. Pray that she loves Isaac well and that our trust and relationship can continue to deepen and thrive as we hope that she will be working with us for a long time.

Fisica

PE in Roatan is super fun and super hot!  The kids are obsessed with Soccer and have really started to enjoy volleyball.  So far we have only punctured one soccer ball which I consider a victory.  When I was here the first time, I went through about 10 in the first month.  I have learned that "american" soft soccer balls last about as long as a balloon would.  I have to buy the hard plastic ones from the local stores.

  The kids are really excited to have actual PE class; before I arrived they didn't have any equipment and were just sitting around during their PE time.  We have now completed a month of fitness testing and started a volleyball unit!  After our first class of sit-ups and push ups, I had parents asking me what I had done to their children.  They were going home and complaining about sore muscles....  We have a long way to go.  

I am now in the process of developing a biblical, Sex Education curriculum for the school with the help of some local doctors and another teacher!  Keep us in your prayers as we plan and prepare to implement this program.  

Also, the students are dying to start soccer and volleyball teams.  I have had some experience with this before and its not as easy as it sounds.  I am hoping to have some teams together by Christmas.