Getting Started!

Sunday night we made it into Santa Rosa de Copán just as Church was getting started at the Iglesia de Cristo. Jenny, a girl in her late teens that I remember well from last year, greeted me like a long lost friend, which made me weep a little. The service was all in Spanish, but I picked up a few words here and there, enough to guess that the preacher was talking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. I picked up a few more words in the songs (since the words were on Power Point), but even if I didn't know what I was saying I was praising God in my heart as I joined in with the Hondurans' enthusiastic voices.

After the service everyone wanted to shake our hands to greet us. There were so many familiar faces and it was such a joy to see the love they expressed to us and to each other. I'm guessing there were around 150 in attendance.

Monday morning I sat in on a basic English class led by Phil Waldron, one of the missionaries here, while some of the others shopped for groceries (we are staying in a house and have to cook some of our own meals). I enjoyed meeting the Hondurans, and it was fun to watch how enthusiastic they are to learn English. The LST team who was here before us started the basic English class, and one of their readers has been recruited to continue it starting today!

At lunchtime I met up with the rest of the group at the small men's Bible college that Mission Upreach runs, and their wonderful cook made us a delicious lunch. The Bible students were very shy, but a few allowed us to take their pictures.

After lunch we had a meeting with Phil to discuss the transition between the last LST group and ours, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening calling and e-mailing readers to confirm and schedule appointments. The readers we talked to on the phone were very eager to come and meet us and continue their sessions. We also ate delicious spaghetti made by Meridith, and spent time getting to know each other better and bonding as a team.

We are all looking forward to a day filled with beginning relationships with readers! Thank you all for your continued prayers. It is amazing to see what God is doing already.

(And I'm also happy because I got my yummy Honduran coffee and my Zambos (plantain chips).)