By Elyse Boggs & Linda Swanson

Greetings fellow Hoosiers, from Honduras,

We started this morning with breakfast at 8:00 am and our devotional from Lee Stanton referencing 1 Corinthians 3:10. The devotional was regarding wisdom and with God’s grace He has already laid the foundation for us. We are here to finish the work He has started in each of us. While finishing up our morning devotional, Pastor Kathy relayed words of encouragement for the team from a Vineyard member back home from Isaiah 12. This was very encouraging for our team and knowing we have brothers and sisters back home praying for us while we are here. 

We loaded the bus to head to Pastor Arqui’s Church. “All gas, no brakes” has now become a “catch phrase” before taking off! Once we arrived someone had pointed out a plant (named sensitive plant) that when touched the leaves will foldup - then after a couple minutes will open back up; it was so cool! Our team then split up into four groups. Two outside groups worked hard in 90+° heat (heat index @106°) on scrubbing the outside walls clean. They then began painting the section that will be used as an outside kitchen area. Several of the team flexed their balancing skills while painting beams on the second story of the building. The two inside groups worked to paint the sanctuary area and side walls. The colors used for painting are so warm and inviting. Rumor has it, the inside painting teams had around 15 fans running to try to stay cool and prevent from getting loopy from the heat and the paint fumes. 

Lunch quickly approached and many of us were quite sad at the thought of this being our last day of eating a PB&J sandwich. LOL

After lunch, we finished up painting as villagers started to arrive by foot, motor bikes, and a school bus for another community distribution. There was a brief prayer by Pastor Nelson and opportunity to lay hands and pray for our Honduran brothers and sisters. The families are required to be invited by Pastor Arqui and his wife Minda and present a ticket to receive their distribution box. The box is filled with things like rice/veggies, beans, salt, a towel, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other basic necessities. Today, they also received a large variety of “goodies” in their boxes from their new gringo friends. We were told that the gifts we bring to Honduras aren’t always played with right away, rather these children guard them and treasure each thing they receive. 

Group photos were taken with others from the church and then it was time to load up the bus and head out. Pastor Kathy treated us to ice cream after a good/hard day of serving. We had Baskin Robbins ice cream. It was so unexpected to also see Popeye’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Little Caesar’s in the same area. 

Tonight, for dinner we had the “infamous” POWER pollo (chicken). We were joined by Pastor Arqui, Pastor Nelson with their families along with all our translators and a couple guests. The meal was a big hit among the whole group and in fact, one on our team said it was “finger lickin’ good!” Great food and even better fellowship.

We ended the evening with saying our good-byes to Pastor Arqui & Minda, presenting them both with some monetary donations from our teams (both World Compassion Network, and the Vineyard Church). With the funds, they will be able to build stairs for the second floor of the outside kitchen area at Pastor Arqui’s Church. They had been praying to get stairs for this part of the building for months. All glory to God! 

From Pastor Kathy: tomorrow will be our “culture day” going to see the waterfalls at Puhlapazak (about 90 minutes from here). Pray that our team (Vineyard & Honduran) will rest, relax, and infuse some of all that God has shown us this week! And we’ll see you in a couple days!

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