It´s true! The baby came two weeks ago already! Time wasn´t flying when I was in bed for about two weeks but now that I´m out i´m sure time will go by faster. The baby is so beautiful of course and doing very well. I can´t get out much. I´ve had lots of help but our ¨maid¨ left for the police academy and my great friend Amber came from Teguc this wekend to help but goes back today. I will be crying a lot this week i´m sure, trying to take care of the baby and cook and clean, which i havn´t had to do much of for quit a while now.
the story of my experience is better left told at another time and i will post pictures soon. it took my two weeks to get to the internet so it´ll take a few more days for me to organize pictures and such.
we´ve moved to a small apt. on church property. the old house is going to be worked on by the landlord and is very dusty and cold. our one room apt. is smal but hopefully we´ll only be there till early may. beto´s visa apt. is now april 28th so we are pryaing he gets it and we can fly to guatemala the second week of may to see his family and from ther wé´ll fly to the states.
thanks for all your prayers.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 09, 2009
feb. newsletter
February 2009
“Because you have these blessings, do your best to add these things to your lives: to your faith, add goodness; and to your goodness, add knowledge; and to your knowledge, add self-control; and to your self-control, add patience; and to your patience, add service for God; and to your service for God, add kindness for your brothers and sisters in Christ; and to this kindness, add love.” 2 Peter 1:5-7
In this month we announced that our baby is a boy and his name is Josue Santiago, which is pronounced “ho-sway sahn-tee-ah-go” and means Joshua James, but we’ll call him Santiago.
Because we are expecting to go to the States, Beto did not accept work in either school this year, but he has been very busy in the ministry and painting. He has finished four paintings that he is going to sell and was hired by our doctor to paint his new office. He also is finishing up painting the logo at church and other projects. He continues to preach every Thursday at the alcoholic rehab center which is the highlight of his week. Every week men are strengthened in their walk and it is always a great time of fellowship for them all.
Laura finally finished translating into Spanish a 102 page document, which is also a great source of income and convenient as she can work from home. Now that I’m finished, anyone need anything translated?
The ladies at church gave us a baby shower. They came to our house and decorated and brought all of the refreshments. It was a real blessing.
We hired two new girls this month to keep the business going, slowly but surely. One only sells on Saturdays but she sells in bulk, and it is a ministry from us to her and her daughters as well. We also asked one friend from church to come one day to help me bake for Saturday and we ended up hiring her full time. She is wonderful and has been a huge help here at the end of my pregnancy when it is difficult for me to even pick up something off of the floor. She is very proficient in baking and goes out into the neighborhood twice a week to sell goods, and cleans very well too. We are very blessed to have her and also feel that we are able to minister to her as she is in a time of need right now.
We both were called by a missionary friend to be witnesses for her as she had to have a confrontation with a mother of some children in her neighborhood. She has known the family for about 8 years and the mother didn’t want her children in the local school but had them walking 3 hours a day to a school farther away because supposedly it was better, but because sometimes they wouldn’t make it to school, they (two boys) failed this past year. After about an hour of emotional discussion, because the situation is very complicated and the mother is very difficult, she finally agreed to let our friend pay for them to go to the closer school. That was her only option besides having the kids taken from her care and put into government care, because she does not care for them at all, nor does she work. Now the kids are faithfully going to school. We appreciate your prayers for this family and for our friend who works so hard to help this family in so many ways.
One thing we love to do and have more time for now is making house visits. We have visited people who we can minister to who we still would like to see make a decision for the Lord and some who have recently left the church. Please pray for them and for us as we seek wisdom as to how best to minister and pray for them. One friend always comments on how Beto always arrives just at the right time, and they ask, “How did you know we were having a bad day and needed a visit from you today?” That’s God!
Finally, Beto has his VISA appointment for the 23rd of March at 8am. Please be in prayer for us both and that he will be able to get a VISA that is for 10 years. We only plan to be in the States about a year but when we come back to Honduras and then want to return to the States for visits, it would be convenient to not have to go through the whole process again every time.
With love and appreciation for you all,
Beto and Laura
“Because you have these blessings, do your best to add these things to your lives: to your faith, add goodness; and to your goodness, add knowledge; and to your knowledge, add self-control; and to your self-control, add patience; and to your patience, add service for God; and to your service for God, add kindness for your brothers and sisters in Christ; and to this kindness, add love.” 2 Peter 1:5-7
In this month we announced that our baby is a boy and his name is Josue Santiago, which is pronounced “ho-sway sahn-tee-ah-go” and means Joshua James, but we’ll call him Santiago.
Because we are expecting to go to the States, Beto did not accept work in either school this year, but he has been very busy in the ministry and painting. He has finished four paintings that he is going to sell and was hired by our doctor to paint his new office. He also is finishing up painting the logo at church and other projects. He continues to preach every Thursday at the alcoholic rehab center which is the highlight of his week. Every week men are strengthened in their walk and it is always a great time of fellowship for them all.
Laura finally finished translating into Spanish a 102 page document, which is also a great source of income and convenient as she can work from home. Now that I’m finished, anyone need anything translated?
The ladies at church gave us a baby shower. They came to our house and decorated and brought all of the refreshments. It was a real blessing.
We hired two new girls this month to keep the business going, slowly but surely. One only sells on Saturdays but she sells in bulk, and it is a ministry from us to her and her daughters as well. We also asked one friend from church to come one day to help me bake for Saturday and we ended up hiring her full time. She is wonderful and has been a huge help here at the end of my pregnancy when it is difficult for me to even pick up something off of the floor. She is very proficient in baking and goes out into the neighborhood twice a week to sell goods, and cleans very well too. We are very blessed to have her and also feel that we are able to minister to her as she is in a time of need right now.
We both were called by a missionary friend to be witnesses for her as she had to have a confrontation with a mother of some children in her neighborhood. She has known the family for about 8 years and the mother didn’t want her children in the local school but had them walking 3 hours a day to a school farther away because supposedly it was better, but because sometimes they wouldn’t make it to school, they (two boys) failed this past year. After about an hour of emotional discussion, because the situation is very complicated and the mother is very difficult, she finally agreed to let our friend pay for them to go to the closer school. That was her only option besides having the kids taken from her care and put into government care, because she does not care for them at all, nor does she work. Now the kids are faithfully going to school. We appreciate your prayers for this family and for our friend who works so hard to help this family in so many ways.
One thing we love to do and have more time for now is making house visits. We have visited people who we can minister to who we still would like to see make a decision for the Lord and some who have recently left the church. Please pray for them and for us as we seek wisdom as to how best to minister and pray for them. One friend always comments on how Beto always arrives just at the right time, and they ask, “How did you know we were having a bad day and needed a visit from you today?” That’s God!
Finally, Beto has his VISA appointment for the 23rd of March at 8am. Please be in prayer for us both and that he will be able to get a VISA that is for 10 years. We only plan to be in the States about a year but when we come back to Honduras and then want to return to the States for visits, it would be convenient to not have to go through the whole process again every time.
With love and appreciation for you all,
Beto and Laura
Friday, February 27, 2009
still waiting
well, maybe the boy will turn out to be a march boy after all. still no sign but there´s two days left in feb.
things are going well. beto has a lot of jobs on his plate right now, painting pictures to sell that people have already hired him to do, and painting letters and the logo on our Dr. office new building.
Our new help is a friend from church and a true blessing from God. She works real hard, knows how to clean(like i like), bake and she has gone out to sell thelast two days house to house, which has helped us out.
Beto has bought his VISA PIN so Monday he will call to make the appt. It will probably fall somewhere at the end of March. Please be praying for him as we have to go through the same process as the first time. Hopefully though this time we won´t have any problems becuase we´re married and will have Santiago.
Here´s hoping to see our friends and family in CA by mid-late april!
things are going well. beto has a lot of jobs on his plate right now, painting pictures to sell that people have already hired him to do, and painting letters and the logo on our Dr. office new building.
Our new help is a friend from church and a true blessing from God. She works real hard, knows how to clean(like i like), bake and she has gone out to sell thelast two days house to house, which has helped us out.
Beto has bought his VISA PIN so Monday he will call to make the appt. It will probably fall somewhere at the end of March. Please be praying for him as we have to go through the same process as the first time. Hopefully though this time we won´t have any problems becuase we´re married and will have Santiago.
Here´s hoping to see our friends and family in CA by mid-late april!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
any day now
THnks all for the comments. we went to the dr. eysterday. this keyboard sucks.
my blood pressure is good and he said the baby is already in position. we think he´s going to be a feb. man instead of a march one. FINE BY ME! the orig. due date was march 15. yea right! now they think march 5th and we think he´ll come early.
we have a new worker girl who is the best and came at just the right time. she will be leaving around the same time as us for another job so God planned it just right as always. she even already knows how to bake and is really good at it so we will have her sell outside the house for a couple of months.
my blood pressure is good and he said the baby is already in position. we think he´s going to be a feb. man instead of a march one. FINE BY ME! the orig. due date was march 15. yea right! now they think march 5th and we think he´ll come early.
we have a new worker girl who is the best and came at just the right time. she will be leaving around the same time as us for another job so God planned it just right as always. she even already knows how to bake and is really good at it so we will have her sell outside the house for a couple of months.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
He´s a Boy!
And he shall be called...........
we weren´t going to tell until he was born but here goes........
Josue Santiago....(ho-sway sahn-tee-ah-go) or joshua james, but we will call him Santiago.
Josue Santiago Perez Speaks Monterroso
we weren´t going to tell until he was born but here goes........
Josue Santiago....(ho-sway sahn-tee-ah-go) or joshua james, but we will call him Santiago.
Josue Santiago Perez Speaks Monterroso
From last week
Today did not start out very good. I had a rough night last night because I was up late baking after the electricity came back on around 10pm. This morning Beto went to preach at the alcohol rehab center at 6 and when he returned our worker who sells for us was here early. She came to tell us she didn’t want to work for us anymore. Thanks for the two weeks notice! Yea right! So since we had no one to sell and the weather is too nasty for me to sell and we didn’t have much product to sell nor ingredients to make more, we went back to bed!
At around9am our good friend and missionary calls us to ask if we can do her a favor. The situation goes a little like this. There’s a family…a single mom with 5 kids all by different fathers. The oldest is 18 and the four youngest are something like 8, 6, 4, and 2. The mother pretty much never works and if she does it’s to some extreme of like 12 hours a day so she isn’t ever home with her kids. She relies on the oldest daughter who also goes to school. The oldest has worked with our friend for many years and the mother is always asking her for money and depending on her for everything, and if she doesn’t give her money she gets unreasonably angry with her. The other day the mom asked for money for food and instead went and bought a pair of unnecessary sneakers for one of her sons, instead of at least buying the pair of shoes he needs for school.
So that brings me to today. The mother has been sending her kids to a school far away. It takes the kids an hour and a half to walk to it one way at 6am and again in the afternoon. What doesn’t make sense is that there’s a school only about a 10 minute walk away but she claims that the teachers aren’t as good and that the kids stay after and get in fights. So for the last two years she’s been sending her kids to the farther school. But because sometimes they wouldn’t show up they both failed this past year. But she still says they are learning more than they would at the closer school.
This year both of her boys didn’t pass their respective grades because they arrive too late or just don’t go to school but tell their mother that the teacher didn’t show up or some other excuse. If that really is the truth how are the teachers any better at the farther school? Anyways, so our friend was fed up with this mother because school starts Monday and she hadn’t gone to enroll them or buy them any supplies or uniforms. So our friend went yesterday to the closer school to enroll the two boys, and she told the mother that she was going to do it.
Well, the mother got very angry and was yelling at her oldest daughter and threatening to do something rash with her anger. So that’s when our friend called us this morning and asked us to go with her as witnesses to talk to this mother. Well, she wasn’t at home. So we hunted her down and found her, of course, at the farther school trying to enroll her kids there. It turns out it’s good she was there because there were two other teachers as witnesses who agreed with us and who didn’t want to let her enroll her kids in the school because they know the situation and that the kids had failed. The mother claims that the closer school is also more expensive (I don’t think so, it’s just another public school) but she claims that she gives them money for food and to ride the bus. So either way she’s spending money, but about riding the bus, that’s not true because they have to walk by our house to get to school and some days they’d be so tired, dirty, and sweaty, walking in the street, almost getting hit by cars. We’d bring them in sometimes and give them food and water.
We had a looooooong discussion with her this morning at the school and it’s just unbelievable why she doesn’t want to accept help from someone. It doesn’t make sense to us to send her kids so far away. So finally she was given two choices: send her kid to the closer school and our friend will pay for everything, or we go to the judge and the kids get taken away to live in the orphanage. She finally decided to put them in the closer school but booooooooooooooooy was she mad! When we left she wouldn’t even look at our friend and had such an angry look on her face. I don’t get it.
Well, after that fun filled episode, we, Beto, our friend and I, did our grocery shopping and then she invited us out to lunch at the nicest restaurant in town. Let me tell you, I thought I was going to explode I ate so much. It was so good.
And this is what I learned today.
God is always faithful. His mercies are new every morning, and yet I sometimes wake up wondering, “What is God doing?” in a doubting sort of way. And He always blesses us, like today. We weren’t happy when we weren’t able to open the business today, but God always goes before us and has his plan. Today we were able to help a friend and spend time with her and have a day of blessings.
At around9am our good friend and missionary calls us to ask if we can do her a favor. The situation goes a little like this. There’s a family…a single mom with 5 kids all by different fathers. The oldest is 18 and the four youngest are something like 8, 6, 4, and 2. The mother pretty much never works and if she does it’s to some extreme of like 12 hours a day so she isn’t ever home with her kids. She relies on the oldest daughter who also goes to school. The oldest has worked with our friend for many years and the mother is always asking her for money and depending on her for everything, and if she doesn’t give her money she gets unreasonably angry with her. The other day the mom asked for money for food and instead went and bought a pair of unnecessary sneakers for one of her sons, instead of at least buying the pair of shoes he needs for school.
So that brings me to today. The mother has been sending her kids to a school far away. It takes the kids an hour and a half to walk to it one way at 6am and again in the afternoon. What doesn’t make sense is that there’s a school only about a 10 minute walk away but she claims that the teachers aren’t as good and that the kids stay after and get in fights. So for the last two years she’s been sending her kids to the farther school. But because sometimes they wouldn’t show up they both failed this past year. But she still says they are learning more than they would at the closer school.
This year both of her boys didn’t pass their respective grades because they arrive too late or just don’t go to school but tell their mother that the teacher didn’t show up or some other excuse. If that really is the truth how are the teachers any better at the farther school? Anyways, so our friend was fed up with this mother because school starts Monday and she hadn’t gone to enroll them or buy them any supplies or uniforms. So our friend went yesterday to the closer school to enroll the two boys, and she told the mother that she was going to do it.
Well, the mother got very angry and was yelling at her oldest daughter and threatening to do something rash with her anger. So that’s when our friend called us this morning and asked us to go with her as witnesses to talk to this mother. Well, she wasn’t at home. So we hunted her down and found her, of course, at the farther school trying to enroll her kids there. It turns out it’s good she was there because there were two other teachers as witnesses who agreed with us and who didn’t want to let her enroll her kids in the school because they know the situation and that the kids had failed. The mother claims that the closer school is also more expensive (I don’t think so, it’s just another public school) but she claims that she gives them money for food and to ride the bus. So either way she’s spending money, but about riding the bus, that’s not true because they have to walk by our house to get to school and some days they’d be so tired, dirty, and sweaty, walking in the street, almost getting hit by cars. We’d bring them in sometimes and give them food and water.
We had a looooooong discussion with her this morning at the school and it’s just unbelievable why she doesn’t want to accept help from someone. It doesn’t make sense to us to send her kids so far away. So finally she was given two choices: send her kid to the closer school and our friend will pay for everything, or we go to the judge and the kids get taken away to live in the orphanage. She finally decided to put them in the closer school but booooooooooooooooy was she mad! When we left she wouldn’t even look at our friend and had such an angry look on her face. I don’t get it.
Well, after that fun filled episode, we, Beto, our friend and I, did our grocery shopping and then she invited us out to lunch at the nicest restaurant in town. Let me tell you, I thought I was going to explode I ate so much. It was so good.
And this is what I learned today.
God is always faithful. His mercies are new every morning, and yet I sometimes wake up wondering, “What is God doing?” in a doubting sort of way. And He always blesses us, like today. We weren’t happy when we weren’t able to open the business today, but God always goes before us and has his plan. Today we were able to help a friend and spend time with her and have a day of blessings.
Baby Shower
Here are just a few pics from the Baby Shower the ladies threw for us at our house last wednes. the 11th. We were going to have it at church with more people but i got very sick with dizziness in the morning and spent half the day in the clinic. the ladies insisted to still have it to ¨cheer me up¨ but on a smaller scale. that´s why there´s no pics of me..i definately wasn´t looking pretty for the camera. but i was feeling well enough to accept gifts of course.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
A Very , very good Friday
PROLOGUE...THIS IS FROM A COUPLE FRIDAY´S AGO...JAN.22 I THINK...
A Very, Very Good Friday
First let me start with a story that didn’t happen today but goes along with the continuing theme in our lives: God’s faithfulness and provision.
About a month ago we opened a second location thanks to our friends from church who lent (for free) us a space in front of their very prominent business in the center of town. The night before we were to open we were discussing how we were going to haul the big things there that we needed, that wouldn’t fit on the moto. Things like a table and chairs. We thought of a friend who could help us but we didn’t have any phone minutes nor the money to buy them, so we kind of just let it go, hoping for a miracle. About 8pm that night, the same friend we were wanting to call called US and asked if he, his wife and one year old daughter could come over. “SURE!”, we said. They came and brought 2 cans of fruit cocktail! What a treat! They stayed and chatted awhile, we served them a light dinner and then we prayed together. It was an incredible blessing. And of course before we left we asked if Samuel, the husband, could help us haul our stuff to the center the next morning, and of course he showed up on time the next day. Praise God!
Ok, so that brings me to today. Well, we have been struggling financially. All businesses seem to be struggling this month, being after Christmas, and not much traffic passing our house because school isn’t in session yet (starts early February) and many people aren’t working, etc. The business in the center has been a life saver and we realize that God gives us what we need, after talking to some friends who also have their own businesses and learning that some days they make nothing or close to that. We have been praying for a couple weeks that God help us pay a debt and start to save some money. We save our tithe for the month here in the house and give it at the end of the month. We had to begin dipping into the tithe a lot and were going deeper into “the hole”. It’s one thing to owe a person but to owe GOD! That is a bit more stressful. I mean, we owe him our lives, souls, hearts, minds, but I am digressing here. So we didn’t do too bad at the house today. Best day we’ve had here in a few weeks. Around two o’clock(which felt like 6pm), a car drives up with three people and I recognize only one. One gets out and asks what we’re selling and after I tell him he asks if the house is ours and if he can go inside and see it?! I’m thinking, “What?” He speaks perfect Spanish but he could pass for a gringo. Then he explains that he used to live here 12 years ago, so Beto takes him, his sister and friend inside. When they come out we find out they have lived in CA for 10 years, are perfectly bilingual, Hondruan, and their parents were missionaries here. We had a great conversation and we hope to see them when we visit CA soon. As they’re leaving, he quickly puts some money in my hand and says, “Here, this is not from me, it’s from God.” I didn’t look till they left but it was the exact amount we needed to get out of “the hole”! I started to cry I was so overwhelmed.
We also had a good day in the center so that FINALLY we put some money back into the savings and had some left over.
But I’m not finished!
Around 6 I get a call from a family from church. At first they say they want to come over now for dinner. I’m thinking, “uh, Ok, how many?” She tells me and then adds that they will bring the dinner. So then I’m like, “Oh yea! Come on over!” Wow! Just when I thought the day coulnd’t get any better, they came and brought a tooooooooon of food, cooked it and cleaned up afterwards.
But wait, there’s more!
They brought us, oh I don’t know, well, A LOT of groceries. When I saw all the bags I put my hands up to my cheeks like that kid in “Home Alone”, but not so dramatic, and asked her, “How did you know?” She replied, “Jesus told me!” I said, “Well, I’ve been telling Jesus.” There was everything from pasta to toilet paper, even a variety of cleaning supplies (hint hint?), and “luxury” items like paper towels and real Heinz Ketchup! Everything left over from dinner they left with us, practically everything I had on the list for shopping the next day. Beto and I were so overwhelmed we didn’t know whether to scratch our watches or wind our butts (ever seen Steel Magnolias?).
Oh, and I almost forgot! Beto went to take out the rent money today and there was ANOTHER deposit (we think from where he teaches Bible) that 95% covers our rent for February, which I’ve been praying about because we were going to have to rely totally on the business to pay the rent, which was a bit (ok, a lot) daunting.
So that’s just one day. We’re so overwhelmed we don’t know what to say. Thanks to all of you who are praying for us. We certainly feel your prayers! They are more valuable than anything!
How bout you? How have you seen God provide in your life lately?
All glory be to Him!
A Very, Very Good Friday
First let me start with a story that didn’t happen today but goes along with the continuing theme in our lives: God’s faithfulness and provision.
About a month ago we opened a second location thanks to our friends from church who lent (for free) us a space in front of their very prominent business in the center of town. The night before we were to open we were discussing how we were going to haul the big things there that we needed, that wouldn’t fit on the moto. Things like a table and chairs. We thought of a friend who could help us but we didn’t have any phone minutes nor the money to buy them, so we kind of just let it go, hoping for a miracle. About 8pm that night, the same friend we were wanting to call called US and asked if he, his wife and one year old daughter could come over. “SURE!”, we said. They came and brought 2 cans of fruit cocktail! What a treat! They stayed and chatted awhile, we served them a light dinner and then we prayed together. It was an incredible blessing. And of course before we left we asked if Samuel, the husband, could help us haul our stuff to the center the next morning, and of course he showed up on time the next day. Praise God!
Ok, so that brings me to today. Well, we have been struggling financially. All businesses seem to be struggling this month, being after Christmas, and not much traffic passing our house because school isn’t in session yet (starts early February) and many people aren’t working, etc. The business in the center has been a life saver and we realize that God gives us what we need, after talking to some friends who also have their own businesses and learning that some days they make nothing or close to that. We have been praying for a couple weeks that God help us pay a debt and start to save some money. We save our tithe for the month here in the house and give it at the end of the month. We had to begin dipping into the tithe a lot and were going deeper into “the hole”. It’s one thing to owe a person but to owe GOD! That is a bit more stressful. I mean, we owe him our lives, souls, hearts, minds, but I am digressing here. So we didn’t do too bad at the house today. Best day we’ve had here in a few weeks. Around two o’clock(which felt like 6pm), a car drives up with three people and I recognize only one. One gets out and asks what we’re selling and after I tell him he asks if the house is ours and if he can go inside and see it?! I’m thinking, “What?” He speaks perfect Spanish but he could pass for a gringo. Then he explains that he used to live here 12 years ago, so Beto takes him, his sister and friend inside. When they come out we find out they have lived in CA for 10 years, are perfectly bilingual, Hondruan, and their parents were missionaries here. We had a great conversation and we hope to see them when we visit CA soon. As they’re leaving, he quickly puts some money in my hand and says, “Here, this is not from me, it’s from God.” I didn’t look till they left but it was the exact amount we needed to get out of “the hole”! I started to cry I was so overwhelmed.
We also had a good day in the center so that FINALLY we put some money back into the savings and had some left over.
But I’m not finished!
Around 6 I get a call from a family from church. At first they say they want to come over now for dinner. I’m thinking, “uh, Ok, how many?” She tells me and then adds that they will bring the dinner. So then I’m like, “Oh yea! Come on over!” Wow! Just when I thought the day coulnd’t get any better, they came and brought a tooooooooon of food, cooked it and cleaned up afterwards.
But wait, there’s more!
They brought us, oh I don’t know, well, A LOT of groceries. When I saw all the bags I put my hands up to my cheeks like that kid in “Home Alone”, but not so dramatic, and asked her, “How did you know?” She replied, “Jesus told me!” I said, “Well, I’ve been telling Jesus.” There was everything from pasta to toilet paper, even a variety of cleaning supplies (hint hint?), and “luxury” items like paper towels and real Heinz Ketchup! Everything left over from dinner they left with us, practically everything I had on the list for shopping the next day. Beto and I were so overwhelmed we didn’t know whether to scratch our watches or wind our butts (ever seen Steel Magnolias?).
Oh, and I almost forgot! Beto went to take out the rent money today and there was ANOTHER deposit (we think from where he teaches Bible) that 95% covers our rent for February, which I’ve been praying about because we were going to have to rely totally on the business to pay the rent, which was a bit (ok, a lot) daunting.
So that’s just one day. We’re so overwhelmed we don’t know what to say. Thanks to all of you who are praying for us. We certainly feel your prayers! They are more valuable than anything!
How bout you? How have you seen God provide in your life lately?
All glory be to Him!
just pictures
a variety of pics I know. of the three dogs fighting over an old sock that fabio took out of the trash...we were taking care of the pastor´s dog during new year´s holiday when they went out of town.
Fabio and Mateo show they love each other in such strange ways!
Miguel and Beto after eating dinner andbefore going to men´s Bible study.
and then there´s me...Miss DAni, the shirt´s for you!
the bottles are beto´s garden...lettuce, so the dogs don´t eat them.
the men playing football are from the alcohol rehab center where beto has the soccer ministry on saturdays.
oh and finally the one with fabio´s rear in the air...ther´s a big hole wher beto originally was going to put his bottle garden. we threw food down in the hole so we could get this great picture.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
New Thoughts
Well, since my last negative blog, much good has happened and I wish my fingers could type as fast as my brain! I have been thinking of what I want to say for many days now and now that I'm at the computer, the caffeine has kicked in and I can't organize my thoughts(I know the pregnant lady shouldn't have caffeine, but with coffee with the name of Sinless Pastry being served, How could I resist one little cup?)
We were blessed, as I mentioned, by our friends with a new location in the center of town and last week went very well. We still havn't gone out and gotten crazy, like buying cereal and ice cream(although i crave it, so if anyone has access to come dry ice, i can give you our new mailing address where it won't get stolen!), but we are breathing a little easier now and have started to put a little money aside for the future. And it's funnny, the more we save, it seems like the more we have to spend on food! Funny how that happens.
God has taught me a LOT this past week. I remember praying a few times within the last few years...similar to Apostle Paul...Lord, give us just enough for everyday. I don't want to be so rich that we forget you or so poor that we steal."
Let me tell you, DO NOT pray that prayer unless you are prepared to have it really happen! I am a Costco girl...I like to make one trip a month (save time and gas) and stock up for the long haul. Not here. We make daily trips to the store and with just enough money to buy that night's dinner. I hate that! But we always have just what we need! And even when we don't, God uses people to bring us food, not even knowing our needs, or to give us money and telling me to spend it on grapes, which i did. mmmmmm...And even though I pray for certain things to happen and for God to provide for us, when He does, I am surprised, like the church people in the Bible who were praying for (was it Peter?) their friends release from prison and when he actually showed up and knocked on the door, they didn't believe it!
Some days, I am really discouraged and stressed, wondering what we are going to eat for dinner, but so much in just the last week I have seen how God always comes through. And you know, I wouldn't trade this chapter in our lives for anything, becuase we are learning so many lessons we may not learn any other way.
I know there are many difficult situations through which we learn, and many of you have experienced much worse than this or than I may ever experience. But for today I am just sharing ours with you.
I have learned not to complain, becuase for now I would really like to be in the States, eating Lucky Charms, Breyer's Ice Cream, and watching TV. But then I know that after a few months in the states I would be complaining about the fast paced life and the TV would get boring and I would be fat from the Lucky Charms and Ice Cream. And so I think, I need to get it right right now...Be content in whatever circumstance, at all times. Because complaining doesn't bring blessing, it only brings strife! And we have so much to be thankful for!
thanks to those who are praying. We can feel your prayers and God is changing us daily for the better and are content.
We were blessed, as I mentioned, by our friends with a new location in the center of town and last week went very well. We still havn't gone out and gotten crazy, like buying cereal and ice cream(although i crave it, so if anyone has access to come dry ice, i can give you our new mailing address where it won't get stolen!), but we are breathing a little easier now and have started to put a little money aside for the future. And it's funnny, the more we save, it seems like the more we have to spend on food! Funny how that happens.
God has taught me a LOT this past week. I remember praying a few times within the last few years...similar to Apostle Paul...Lord, give us just enough for everyday. I don't want to be so rich that we forget you or so poor that we steal."
Let me tell you, DO NOT pray that prayer unless you are prepared to have it really happen! I am a Costco girl...I like to make one trip a month (save time and gas) and stock up for the long haul. Not here. We make daily trips to the store and with just enough money to buy that night's dinner. I hate that! But we always have just what we need! And even when we don't, God uses people to bring us food, not even knowing our needs, or to give us money and telling me to spend it on grapes, which i did. mmmmmm...And even though I pray for certain things to happen and for God to provide for us, when He does, I am surprised, like the church people in the Bible who were praying for (was it Peter?) their friends release from prison and when he actually showed up and knocked on the door, they didn't believe it!
Some days, I am really discouraged and stressed, wondering what we are going to eat for dinner, but so much in just the last week I have seen how God always comes through. And you know, I wouldn't trade this chapter in our lives for anything, becuase we are learning so many lessons we may not learn any other way.
I know there are many difficult situations through which we learn, and many of you have experienced much worse than this or than I may ever experience. But for today I am just sharing ours with you.
I have learned not to complain, becuase for now I would really like to be in the States, eating Lucky Charms, Breyer's Ice Cream, and watching TV. But then I know that after a few months in the states I would be complaining about the fast paced life and the TV would get boring and I would be fat from the Lucky Charms and Ice Cream. And so I think, I need to get it right right now...Be content in whatever circumstance, at all times. Because complaining doesn't bring blessing, it only brings strife! And we have so much to be thankful for!
thanks to those who are praying. We can feel your prayers and God is changing us daily for the better and are content.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Beto's sermon and Happy new Year!
Because our pastor was visiting family for the holidays, Beto was asked to preach. He preached a wonderful sermon(if I do say so myself) on King David from Samuel and the Psalms. It was a good teaching sermon that God used to touch lives. Praise Him!
As I'm writing this on New Year's Eve, we are about to go to our church's celebration, held in the Alcohol Rehab Center. We are expecting lot's of snacks (a pregnant woman's DREAM!) AND a time of committments to the Lord for the New Year and time for testimonies. I'll let youknow how it goes. I'm really looking forward to it.
As I write I can hear lot's of firecrackers going off outside, which happens a lot anyways, but more than usual today. The tradition here is to make a big scarecrow and then burn it at midnight, symbolizing the "old father time" passing. If i can get a picture, i will post it!
This past week was especially difficult for us. On Monday I felt really attacked, from the mometn I woke up I felt depressed, which is highly unusual for me, and to top it off it was our anniversary! I mean, I wasn't depressed because of that but what a day to be attacked by the Enemy! All day I was down and stressed becuase of our business not going as well lately. Sometimes we make $5 and with that we have to pay our help, buy more ingredients to make more product,and buy food, which is becmonig more of a commodity lately. I mean we eat but not carelessly like we used to be able to. Later that night we watched our wedding video (thanks Joey Heida!) and that lifted my spirits a lot. It was so great to see many of you and hear your well wishes for us.
The rest of the week went better. One friend from church (the one who's family I went Christmas shopping with in Teguc.) offered us a space in front of his business (which is right in the center of town) and we will start selling there too this Friday. When we have hard times and think God isn't helping, He really is with us and always comes through. Hard times are part of life but they are not the whole.
Praise God for His Son Jesus and we pray you all have a wonderful New Year!
Blessings and lOve
from laura nd beto
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Christmas and the business
there's beto with his new manly power tools (grunt grunt) he got for Christmas. he's building himself a work table. there I am, only 2.5 more months to go! And with the special box sent from my parents, most of which (chocolate) is all gone already! And we just got it two days ago!
Also are pictures of our business...we called it "Romaine's Bakery" and Beto finished (nearly) the "galera" wehre people sit and enjoy their food and coffee. And our poor dogs who have to be fenced in all day. For a week we are also watching our pastor's dog named Spike who is already fighting like a brother, especially with rebellious Fabio. Poor Mateo doesn't know what to do with the two immature ones!
Praise God for helping the business to grow.
Happy New Year!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
merry Christmas!
hey everyone! Merry Christmas to you all!Here in Honduras they celebrate today, the 24th but Beto and I are also celebrating tomorrow so we kind of get 2! Tonight in church there will be a tamale (what else?) dinner and tomorrow i'm surprising beto with dunkin donuts for breakfast, but i'm picking them up now at the internet cafe.we don't have an actual dunkin donuts but the internet people bring them from teguc. Very exciiting!
Our business is still goin although we'd appreciate your prayers for more customers! Beto nearly finished the kiosk and it looks great, with table and chairs. we hope business picks up in Jan. and Feb. People here don't eat sweeets for Christmas, only tamales, so they were spending their money on that.
Our former employee Lilian,well, is former now. She failed to show up so we hired another who is only 12 but very good! and she stays all day. we have had some mishaps with her, like making TAnG with tap water, and me drinking it becuase i didn't find out till the next day! but i'm stillalive and didn't have any stomach problems. guess i'm more used to dangerous food and water now.
the little girl I tutor in english is a riot! she is very funny and repeats nearly evertything i say which is why she learns so fast. she's very intelligent. she reminds me of Laura heida, in all the good ways. chipper, funny, latina, pretty, intellligent, hyper,,,i know those two would get along very well.
well, this is a random blog and not much to say except Merry Christmas and hope yours is very nice.
Much love
p.s. we don't know if our baby is a boy or not, that was just a generic "he" like used in the Bible, people. calm down. but we'll let you know as soon as we know!
Our business is still goin although we'd appreciate your prayers for more customers! Beto nearly finished the kiosk and it looks great, with table and chairs. we hope business picks up in Jan. and Feb. People here don't eat sweeets for Christmas, only tamales, so they were spending their money on that.
Our former employee Lilian,well, is former now. She failed to show up so we hired another who is only 12 but very good! and she stays all day. we have had some mishaps with her, like making TAnG with tap water, and me drinking it becuase i didn't find out till the next day! but i'm stillalive and didn't have any stomach problems. guess i'm more used to dangerous food and water now.
the little girl I tutor in english is a riot! she is very funny and repeats nearly evertything i say which is why she learns so fast. she's very intelligent. she reminds me of Laura heida, in all the good ways. chipper, funny, latina, pretty, intellligent, hyper,,,i know those two would get along very well.
well, this is a random blog and not much to say except Merry Christmas and hope yours is very nice.
Much love
p.s. we don't know if our baby is a boy or not, that was just a generic "he" like used in the Bible, people. calm down. but we'll let you know as soon as we know!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Teguc shopping
Well I got to go toTeguc again thispast weekend and it was wonderful. Hot, but that´s good. It was nice to be on only paved roads again. The trip there was looooong becuase they are working on the road all the way there, and of course evryone in Honduras wanted to be on it at the same time. I went with a family from church. Beto had already been asked to lead praise team on Sunday by the guy who´s family I went with, so he couldn´t go, but it was better becuase I was shopping for him. Amber so graciously took me around and of course after going to like 6 stores looking for his tool we ended up back wehre we started, just as the stores were starting to get packed. I thoroughly enjoyed a very large roast beef sandwich from Quiznos, which was the highlight of my time there(sorry Amber.) We had a run in with a very , literally crazy old man who thought parking his car in the middle of the driveway of the Sears parking lot was oK, since he drives a mercedes. Amber was trying to get out and he comes out of the bank and starts yelling at her that he´s going to hit her car. Oh, and even though Amber speaks perfect spanish, he insulted her by yelling at her only in English, like she didn´t know anything. Well we weren´t going to his his car but if that´s his fear he should´nt have parked it in the middle of the way of everything! So he moves his car but parks parrrallel taking up 3 spaces and as amber is bakcing out he´s honking at her incessantely. we both rolled up our windows to avoid any more shouting matches. aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.....i think he may have worked for Hitler at one time.
We got all the shopping done and we were both pooped! But it was a lot of fun to buy American candy and see the malls decorated so prettily.
Merry Christmaseveryone!
We got all the shopping done and we were both pooped! But it was a lot of fun to buy American candy and see the malls decorated so prettily.
Merry Christmaseveryone!
Monday, December 15, 2008
It´s the most wonderful time of the year!
The dogs we let inside some at night, not to sleep all night, but when we watch a movie they fallasleep on the floor. We have to keep them locked up now all day in a small space since we leave the gate open for the business and don´t want them to go out into the street with the other gross street dogs. So we feel guilty and try to pamper them at night.
Last Friday was Lucia´s birthday. She works at the business inthe mornings and said no one in her family had ever done anything for her bday becuase her older sister is the favorite. I made her a cake and we surprised her,but after using nearly awhole box of matches trying to light the candle outside, we finally tookit inside.
Yesterday, Sunday, our Georgia missionary friend Rhonda invited us over for Christmas dinner, we even had ham and turkey! I think the baby nearly felt suffocated from all the food I ate. He hasn´t moved as much since lunch yesterday becuase there´s not alot of room for him now! She has a really beautiful house close toours and we had a fun, full afternoon. Pray for her husband, Tomas, who is getting treatment in theStates until March, perhaps. That he can come back here soon!
P.S. Notice my shirt, Beverly?
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Educatodos Graduation
Yes! Finally, he is done! He is so relieved and so am I. It was a lot of work this year but here is his graduating class. We are both glad he will have more time to work at home on the business, and relax.
The business and Beto´s bday...33!
I am so happy that Beto has more time now to work at home! He has bought tons of wood and cement and has started building the little galera to put tables and chairs, make a menu, and make the business a little more formal. In the future we are thinking of putting smoothies and other snack foods, like Baleadas, a sort of quesadilla with refried beans, white cheese and sour cream. Anywho,
we also celebrated his birthday the 7th! It was a lot of fun and we put him on the ¨Hot Seat¨and all his friends told him what they appreciated about him. It was really special. He only put 7 candles on his cake becuase it represents perfection. It was symbolic.
oh and the last picture, there are the boys anxiously awaiting to see what present he will open next!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
our onions
Thanks mom for the seeds! These are what Beto planted and we enjoyed inour omelet this morning! the best.
Thanksgiving, Honduran style
We invited all our gringo friends, and some latinos becuase we like them too, for Thanksgiving at our house Sat. the 29th. We had chicken instead of turkey, but we all closed our eyes and pretended and it tasted just the same. Besides, you know what they say about other meats...."tastes like chicken". The same is true for turkey! Everyone pitched in and we even had stuffing and apple pie! There's Brian doing the honors and then there's me,cutting the pie. Doesn't look like I need to be eating any more pie!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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