Greetings from Honduras!

Early Saturday morning, Corvin Connor and I took the yacht (ferry) to the mainland.   Corvin is a very sincere young man who speaks Spanish well enough to serve as an interpreter.   It was raining, so we were not able to stay on the open deck above.   We took a taxi to the bus station and boarded a bus.  

We sat on the bus for an hour or so before departure.  As we sat on the bus, there may have been twenty to thirty vendors that came aboard selling gum, candy, pop, caramel popcorn, plates of food, CD's, vegetables, and an assortment of other things.  "Mangos, mangos, cinco la bolsa, mangos....".  The vendor was offering  green sliced mangos with what I think was salt and your choice of chili sauce for about 27 U.S. cents per bag.  Even children under 10 years old were selling.  One man was in the front of the bus and it sounded like he was preaching, but it turned out that he was advocating the benefits of the vitamins he was selling.  After his little speech, he went down the aisle handing out boxes of vitamins.  I think he made some sales.  

Beggars came aboard too, including a one legged man.  Another man got up front and began in sing-song like voice, but this speech had a distinctively more pitiful tone to it.  He was urging the audience to give anything they could to him for his family, 20 Honduran cents (about one American penny), 50 cents, or one Lempira (about a nickle).  He was quoting scripture about the Lord rewarding us openly.

The bus trip from La Ceiba to Rio Esteban is an adventure.  It is a former school bus with benches sized for children.  If I sit with my knees straight ahead, they are jammed into the seat in front of me.  The bus gets more and more crowded as we go.  The bus stops for anyone along the road that flags it.  The attendant keeps urging people standing in the aisle to move on back to make room for more.  The bus slows to pass through one of the several clear, fast running rivers lined with rounded rocks.  Horses wading in the river shy away from the bus.

It is common to pass horses pulling carts, mules laden with metal milk jugs, and Spanish men on horseback with machetes and cowboy hats.  Men carry long sticks of fire wood on one shoulder with the machete lodged into one of the sticks.  The wood fires in clay ovens blacken the thatched roof above the outdoor kitchens.

We were warmly welcomed in Rio Esteban, a sea side Garifuna community with a mixture of concrete block houses with tin roofs and mud and stick houses with thatched roofs.  Meeting was held that night in a chapel where Sister Eleardina Rodriquez attends.  The Garifuna people love native African drumming.  With the drumming, the turtle shell and stick, the rattles, the keyboard, and the singing amplified to a high volume, we had a very loud song service.  The congregation is quite emotional.  They stand up during singing, swaying, clapping, jumping, and raising their hands.  During the service, a lady went around the audience with a jug and a glass, refilling the glass for those who wanted a drink.

The message that night was on "Holiness".   Many churches teach about Jesus, but not many teach "holiness unto the Lord".  We are to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.  Any other type of worship will be like Cain's sacrifice - rejected by the Lord.  John was privileged see a vision of the throne of God, with beasts worshipping God day and night, crying "holy, holy, holy...".  Something about the presence of God strikes awe into our hearts when we see His holiness.  Isaiah also saw the Lord sitting upon the throne and said "Woe is me...for I am a man of unclean lips...".   Sinners are afraid in the presence of a holy God, and like Adam and Eve, try to hide.   Sinners will be crying for rocks and mountains to hide them from the presence of God when the last trumpet sounds.

I had an opportunity to speak to a man with a drinking problem about his soul.  He said he had never been saved but would like to be soon.  He has a wife and young children.  The consequences of sin are so sad.  Sister Eleardina's son Eddie was on a fishing boat which is due to return in March, so he was not there for the meeting.

We went to get on the bus at about 5:45 am the next morning.  Men were working on the bus, but we got on the bus left after 20 or 30 minutes.  The driver stopped shortly, and went around examining the bus.  In a rural spot a few miles out of the village, the driver stopped and turned off the engine.  He took off the front wheel and began chiseling a large retaining nut to loosen the nut.  His bearings were shot.  He then began chiseling the bearing housing.  Fortunately another bus came, and we were able to continue our trip.

Later that morning, we stood in line waiting to be cleared through security to enter the Granja Penal prison.  A lady was holding a small cake.  I wondered if it was to help a prisoner celebrate his birthday.  In looking at the faces of the relatives waiting in line to see their loved ones, I saw emotions that touched me.

While standing in line, I could hear the highly amplified voice of a preacher coming from within the prison.  His voice would rise to a crescendo, ending with "a su nombre" (to His name), and the audience would respond with "Gloria!".  We were given an opportunity to speak to the prisoners about the hope that we have in the Lord.  Corvin gave his testimony of deliverance from sin.

As soon as the service was over, prisoners began approaching, wanting to shine my shoes, begging for soap and small amounts of money.  The begging was so intense that it interfered with my attempt to deal with a man I know named Gary about giving his heart to the Lord.  Gary was involved in drugs and stealing to support his habit.  Another young man who was a neighbor here in Politilly requested tooth paste, soap, and some shirts.  If they do not have the money to buy from the prison store or someone does not bring them some of these things, they simply do without things that we consider essentials.  The difficulty in taking them things is that the begging would grow even greater, and there is a problem with deciding who gets what.  It is hard to know what to do sometimes.

Some of the locals tell some snake stories that sound like tall tales to me, but the tellers of the tales are serious.  We have boa constrictors here, and they tell of very large ones.  They say some snakes that are really big grow combs like the comb of a rooster and that some snakes crow like roosters.  Brother Dennis and Raymond did see a large boa while crab hunting one night, but did not report hearing any crowing.

The trash men came a week or two ago.  That is a notable thing, because I believe it has been months since they've been here.  Meanwhile, there have been trash piles in the streets.  Some people loaded trash into trucks and took it different places along the road and dumped it.

The new school addition is being stuccoed.  The man I chose for the job was the low bidder by a huge margin and I am very pleased with the quality of his work.  It is exciting seeing the building progressing.  Once the wall finishing is complete, I should be able to install doors, windows, and bars.  Once the building is lockable, we can rearrange things that are being stored and make the building more useable.

Kaylee (age 5) has restarted Spanish school.  The first day, she left class.  She was bored because the teacher had them sitting there doing nothing.  That is common in the government schools.  Children will be talking and moving around with no signs of learning in progress.  It is sad because there is such an educational deficiency in Honduras.

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