This is Arturo. He is the pastor of our church, a teacher, a father of two daughters, a husband to Ruth, and the head of the family we live with. He works very hard, pastoring the sheep of our church well, loving his wife and family very well, and working very hard at school to take care of his family. I am writing about him because I am asking for you to lift him up in your prayers. In the past two months, his sister was diagnosed with cancer, the church flooded, the teachers of Honduras went on strike and he was out of a job, and last night, his wife Ruth had to go to the hospital because she has an infection that may require surgery. Arturo loves us like his own children. He makes sure we always have what we need and if he was not here with us, our transition to Honduras would not have gone as smoothly as it did. He fights for us in this city, making sure we are not taken advantage of, making sure we have what we need. And so I ask you to life him up in prayer. Pray for continued strength from the Lord. Pray that his heart would not be discouraged, but strengthened. Pray that the Lord will provide for him all of the things he needs and that the Lord will bless him. And, just a note, this picture is from his 40th birthday party, he does not often don this hat.

I thought I would post an update of sorts about the goings-on the past few days. In keeping with tradition, I will use bullet points. 

• Yesterday, we met with a missionary from Teguc who works with a non-profit called "Heart to Heart". They do disaster relief efforts and have sent a package of over 2500 hygiene kits to Honduras, which we will distribute next week. They are also looking into sending more, as well as clothes. It is always a blessing to meet other people who love this country like you do, especially ones that aren't weird. Some people who move to other countries are weird, as are some missionaries, so meeting relatively normal ones is a nice surprise.
• The inside of the church is clean. We are waiting only on the fumigation and disinfection to happen. It will probably at some point need a new coat of paint, but it is not a pressing need. The outside of the church will take a long time to restore. It is mud right now, the fence is down, the lights are down. The members of the church managed to save two tables, a handful of toys, and some other odds and ends. It is not anything that I think needs to be saved because it is all trashed, but we cannot waste the resources we have when we do not know if more are coming. Case in point, we have a half used package of construction paper laying out to dry. I would throw it away, but it is laying out to dry and will probably be used at church. 
• A person or persons from Hillside Community Church donated $5000 to our church. We also received $500 from Hillside. I am constantly amazed at how God can reach into someone's heart and open it. Generosity is a wonderful thing, and I think the best thing we can do with our money is give it away. (after we pay bills and take care of business, of course)
• This past weekend, we went to Miami for visa reasons. It was a hard trip for us because we both struggled to be there. We felt guilty for leaving (even though we had no choice), and seeing all the work that was completed over the weekend, I feel like I am doing nothing here. I am struggling with feeling useless, all I can do is sit here. The work is being done, and donations are on the way, so now we just wait, and it sucks. I am also waiting for our suitcase to get here, so I cannot leave the house until it arrives, doubling my feeling of anxiety and uselessness. 
• American Airlines lost our suitcase on our way back here. We found out today that it will be on it's way here either today or tomorrow between 12:30 and 3:30. This means I will have to sit in our apartment and wait for it, while everyone else goes out and helps people. AAAHHHHH!I am glad that they found it, however, because we had lots things in there that we cannot find in Honduras. My running shoes, Red Sox hats, Red Sox shirts, medicine, vitamins, a Justin Beiber T-shirt to give to someone for Christmas. I mean, these things are important. So, praise God that He is a God of found suitcases and mandatory rest periods. 
• And, last but not least, a very important notice. I finished reading The Twilight Series. I will say some things about Twilight that may upset some. First of all, Bella is completely co-dependent with Edward. Not a healthy relationship, if you are willing to kill yourself to be with someone, you need professional counseling. If you are willing to kill someone so they will be happy, you also need professional counseling. If you are Jacob, you are very well adjusted and should have been the one chosen, but we often choose mates at our same level of dysfunction, so naturally, Bella and Edward would find each other, because that is often what happens with co-dependents and addicts. She should have gone with Jacob. At least he can go in the sun. Also, this book taught be that if I become a vampire, I will be instantly beautiful and thin, have great skin, loads of cash, a humongous closet full of clothes, and a fast car. I think it glorified it a little much, because I think I would get bored. So, I am glad that I have read these books so I can see the movie, but I do not love them like everyone else. They are not nearly as good as Little House on the Prairie.

I have never seen anything like this before. I have seen flooding on the news, I have seen it in movies, and I have seen some of the after affects, but this what unlike anything I have ever seen. There was mud everywhere. We picked it up with shovels, we pushed it out the doors with pieces of wood, we used brooms. The water rose up about five feet. It destroyed everything in the church. All of the sound equipment is gone. All of the toys and children's things are gone. No more books. The Sunday School curriculum is gone. The computers are gone. All of the crafts and supplies Hillside and Tennessee brought us...gone. All of it. We pushed the mud out of the doors, and it should have gone down the stairs, but the stairs were buried under more mud. The fence is completely ruined, broken. Roger, the worship pastor, who also guards the church at night, well, his motorcycle is destroyed. He may not be able to afford another one for quite a while, as he is quite poor.

This will take many months to clean up, if not an entire year. 

I am frustrated. I am sad. All of the work that has been done. The blood, sweat, and tears of this church body and so many others, all just gone. I am trying to look on the upside. The building is still there. None of the new construction was destroyed. We may have managed to salvage the seats, at least some of them. 

It has been reminding me of the song about how the wise man built his house upon the rock. The rain came down and the flood came up, but the house it did not fall. So, we know that God is in charge of everything. We know that God planned this to happen right before JD and I are to leave for Miami. We know He saw this coming. We know He is good. So, we may not know why, or how we will rebuild, but we know He is faithful and sovereign to care for His children. 

We are unsure right now of the best way to get supplies and aid here. We will let you know as soon as we can how you can help. But for right now, pray.