Greetings from Honduras!

We are glad to be back home.  We enjoyed our visit to the States.  It 
was refreshing to see friends, family and Saints again.  We really 
enjoyed attending the last of the Guthrie meeting, and most of the 
Loranger and Monark campmeetings.

A young man broke into the mission house while we were gone.  He was 
caught entering.  He would climb up a bar door which was being stored 
outside, using some sewer vent tubing to hold onto, and enter a small 
upstairs bathroom window.  We do not know how many times he got in, 
and we were very worried since we did not have a way to evaluate the 
losses.  We were very relieved to discover that little if any thing 
was taken.  Tools and Lenita's camera, which was hanging in plain 
sight, were still here.  He forced the pantry door open which was 
locked with a hidden piece of rebar.  He rummaged through things.  It 
appears he was looking for food and money.

The downstairs bar door lock was broken and the wooden door was 
forced open.  The one responsible for entering is a deaf mute boy who 
lives next door.  His brother beat him after he was caught in our 
house.  All of this happened while we were away.  The ironic thing is 
that this is the same boy who has been in our house many times eating 
meals and in whom I took a special interest, teaching him to work and 
spending time communicating with him.  I tried to show him love that 
was so badly missing in his home life.  He is one of eight children.  
His mother has never been married and is extremely poor.

We have a meeting planned here on Roatan Oct. 1 - Oct. 8, and welcome 
all the Saints to come who would like to support the meeting.  I 
believe some young men plan to come early to help with a chapel 
roofing project the week before the meeting.

We have one of the strangest cats I've known.  He has played with the 
dogs, putting his front legs around them, tumbling, biting, and 
running.  He playfully tackled a puppy one time, making it yelp with 
fear.  He likes watermelon and even eats cantalope rind.  He would 
sleep on top of the parrot cage, in spite of getting some nips from 
the parrot, who was unhappy about having his space invaded by a cat.

A lady who died had requested that her body not be placed on ice 
because she saw the effect of ice on her husband's body.  It was hot 
in Honduras when she died, making decomposition rapid.  They had to 
go ahead and seal her in the tomb and then have the funeral service 
there at the graveyard because the decomposition was beyond the point 
of allowing for a funeral with the body on display.

A man in Olancho chopped his 41 year old wife, 16 year old daughter, 
and 7 year old child to death.   Olancho seems to be an especially 
violent area of Honduras.

I was headed to Oak Ridge some time ago and saw a number of public 
school students in uniform with their teacher beside the road.  They 
had a rope stretched across the road and were stopping vehicles 
asking for contributions.  This type of fund raising is common here, 
and people don't seem to mind being stopped too much.  The school 
funding is pathetic in Honduras.  More recently the teachers have 
been on strike for weeks.  Teacher protests in the capital city 
escalated to violence and a few deaths.  Roads were blockaded by 
protesters.

I had to go to the bank one day.  From the time I entered, stood in 
line, and did my banking, it took an hour and a half or so.   The 
transactions were simply depositing a check and withdrawing some 
cash.  The amount of processing they do is amazing - typing into the 
computer, printing out forms, stamping paperwork, having me sign 
several papers , checking my identification, typing more information 
into the computer, consulting with another teller, and so on.  One 
customer went to the lockers by the door, opened one with a key, 
withdrew a pistol, stuffed it in the waist of his pants, and walked 
out of the bank.  He was probably carrying the pistol to guard 
against robbery.

The small sail boat pictured below was used by 18 Cubans escaping 
their country to come to Honduras.  They built the boat secretly in 
the wilderness before undertaking the voyage.  They landed at a small 
island just off Roatan.  The boat had an 18 hp British diesel engine 
in addition to the sail.  That took some bravery.  This is hurricane 
country!

We appreciate your interest and prayers.
Christian Love,
Doug and Lenita Wall and Family