All in one week

In just one week, so much has happened here! As many of you may have heard in the news, there was a devastating fire in one of the prisons about an hour and a half from here. It has been hard to hear the different speculations and the stories! I don’t know the truth, but around 300 people lost their lives in the fire. Yesterday, another large fire broke out here, in the downtown market area of Tegucigalpa. Many vendors lost their possessions and businesses in the fire and from looters. From working at the ministry, I understand the hard life that these vendors live, and to have lost everything in the fire will be hard to come back from. Try to picture a market in the third world, that’s the location of this fire, with everything close together and made of wood. I still have not heard the cause of this fire. That’s the major news of the country for this week.ith the Casa de Luz teachers we had the opportunity to attend a teachers seminar so that we can become a certified kindergarten. Here in Honduras, children cannot start first grade without a kindergarten diploma. Since we have children up til age 7, it makes it easier to keep them in the program longer. Up until now, the kids have gone to pre-K at age 5 and kindergarten at age 6, and in the afternoon they would return to the program for lunch and we would watch them in the afternoon. We are still in the process, but this will save the families the money of sending the kids to public school, which requires uniforms and supplies. By having kindergarten in our facility, they would not be required to purchase a uniform or bring their own supplies. I will keep you posted on this exciting development!

Three of my kids told me a heart touching story last Monday that I wanted to share with you. Gabriel walks in on Monday morning and excitedly tells me, “We went to the prison yesterday (where their father is in jail, not the same prison with the fire) and sold stuffed animals. My mom made $50 and we got to go to the grocery store!” Then the little brother and sister chimed in to tell me about their trip to the grocery store. With wide eyes they told me they got to buy chips and juice. It touched my heart that going to the grocery store was a treat they were not accustomed to. They live from day to day by going to the neighborhood shop or market and the kids eat most of their meals at the ministry. So next time you are at the grocery store, remember not to take it for granted.

In the last blog I informed you about the truck being sold! After selling the truck, we looked in the paper and visited every car lot in the city. We also told our mechanic what we were looking for, in case he heard of a suv with 4x4 in good condition. On Saturday night the mechanic called me and said he found what we were looking for, he had checked it out and it was in great condition. We drove over and checked it out, and prayed about it over the weekend. Although it cost more than the truck, it is reliable and will not have problems! On Monday I bought it and it has already been a huge blessing for driving people around. I can fit more people and it is a lot more comfortable than a pick up truck. I will try to take pictures sometime this week. Thank you for your prayers, I am grateful to have found a great vehicle for the ministry!

If you would pray about helping me financially, specifically for this vehicle, I had to spend more than I had budgeted. As it turns out, finding a 4 runner with 4x4 is very difficult in this country. I considered other vehicles too, but the parts are not as easy to find and can be expensive when found. I am so thankful to have found a car in such good condition here!