An Unfinished House

I'm not gonna lie, Daddy misses his Hondie and as a result I've been loathe to come here too much and post. This is a blog about Honduras afterall. Girlfriend's been keeping me abreast of events as they transpire and been providing plenty of photos but there just hasn't been a whole lot to post here since Christmas. So I as I began looking over the few photos that I do have, I was struck with all of these events and people that I would not be a part of were that I in Honduras as I normally am this time of year. That's not really wholly consolling, I would prefer to be South of the Border right now, nevertheless I've felt blessed by the following:  my sister megan and my grandma. ok, maybe not them exclusively, rather family more generally. i've missed them. kent (with kai) & jordan (with harrison) turns out all of my friends have children...and wives too we got together, those two families, along with the meckbach's and o'dwyer's this p...

Girlfriend wrote me this: A sad end of the year in Los Laureles. Kevin, just 9 years old, was called home to Jesus to be in his arms. His passing this 31st of December left a great space in our hearts, we lost one of the most special children that we have come to know in this community. He suffered from hydrocephaly but during his short life he never presented a serious abnormality other than slight learning disabilaties. When he was 8 years old he had an accident at school and hit his head on pavement; this incident caused his family to stop ignoring his problem and the delicate state that he was in. Medical attention was sought and the doctors determined that he needed an operation as soon as possible. The family was too poor be able to afford the operation and hospital stay but with the help of the community, the Mennonite Church and various missionaries the money was raised and an operation for Kevin achieved. In the beginning he recovered well from the surgery but he had ano...

So, I know I've been a little lax around here as of late and it's not been for lack of stories or photos, Girlfriend has been emailing them to me by the gigabyte. The week from Christmas to New Year's though proved to be one filled with family, friends and cheer and so I decided to wait until activity around the Keiser house had died down. It's dead here now. The following then is how youth from the Mennonite Church and some families from Los Laureles spent Christmas Eve Day as recounted by Girlfriend: This Christmas Eve, thanks to various donors, we were able to share food provisions with some of the families of the community of Los Laureles. Amor Viviente Church (a church related to the Honduran Mennonite Church) donated Christmas dinners to us that included food and gifts for the children. Amor Viviente asked us to choose between 80-100 families of the poorest in the community to receive this gift, it was a job that gave us some mixed emotions. It took the youth f...

It's been a while since I've seen something like this... and when I got EMM's Christmas Card in my email I noticed some familiar faces. Click on the link and see if you can name all of the Laureles-related folk bringing you International Yuletide Cheer. Eastern Mennonite Missions' Christmas Greeting

So the other day I told Girlfriend that I needed some photos from Laureles so that I could update the blog. Yesterday the youth from the Mennonite Church trekked out to Los Laureles to have Bible School with the little children there; apparently it was an impressive Bible School because she emailed me the following this morning: In the Spanish-speaking countries the tradition of Christmas gifts is somtheing that is mainly represented and linked to the Child Jesus and The Wise Men - Santa is known and growing in popularity but tradition says that gifts come from the former. Curiously though in this past week's Bible lesson not one child mentioned the Child Jesus and much less, The Wise Men when I asked them about Christmas and our reasons for celebrating it. Some of their responses were as follows: - Christmas is for setting off fireworks and rockets ( very good observation ) - Christmas means that the fairy godparents bring gifts to the children. ( "fairy godparents"?...

Some of you may have been wondering why my posts have been so few and far between these past few weeks, and in that October, November and December tend to be some of my most prolific months in terms of blog posts, your wonderment would be well-placed. Well that's because I've been here: in the rolling mountains and valleys of Central Pennsylvania  hunting wild animals to survive the Winter Ok, not exactly. Since just before Thanksgiving I've been in Pennsylvania and I expect to be here at least until the end of January. A month ago Eastern Mennonite Missions, my home congregation and I began talking about the future, about the work in Los Laureles thus far and about how to best serve the community there while at the same time being the best stewards of the resources entrusted to us that we can. It was decided upon by all of us that it would be best that I take a short sabbatical for a time of rest, renewal and discernment for the future direction of our work in Los Laure...