Two Perspectives on the Same Trip

It’s always fun to get two perspectives on the same events. Kim Hall was able to give me her unique take on her family’s three week adventure in Honduras and Russell was able to tell me how this affects the Sowers’ daily schedules.

Kim shared about having teams join them to give medical checkups, update information for children enrolled in the sponsorship program, and hand out shoes. Russell shared that this venture requires eleven team members, two Sowers, and numerous translators, photographers, and drivers. The first week with the team required five translators. When six additional people arrived from the States on Saturday, the number of required translators increased to ten. General workers from the Sowers’ crew are also needed to move stuff, fill out necessary forms, etc…

The Halls arrived with letters from sponsors and solar lamps to be handed out as gifts to the children in the Manna 4 Lempira program. Kim spoke about how they have a better idea of what gifts will be appreciated. Umbrellas are appreciated because they are used for both rain and sun. Hammocks are great gifts because people will sleep in them if there’s no room in their house. The group is also handing out shoes brought down by the Edgewater Alliance team.   

They are updating sponsorship forms with new pictures and preferences. As Russell said, “Maybe they've decided they want to be something else when they grow up. Maybe their favorite color has changed.”

Russell said the group is trying to visit around 100 kids out of the 1000 or so in the sponsorship program. As Kim noted, they will be taking many kids to swim at the hot water springs. That means taking about thirty different kids on each of three different days. The team will spend alternate days between house visits and swimming trips.

Several members of the teams sponsor large numbers of children. They are excited to spend time visiting “their” children. This trip is largely about building relationships with the children and demonstrating God’s love for them. That’s exciting stuff no matter whose point of view it’s from!

- posted by Christi

A Journey With Three Legs

Kim, at Hotel Guancascos, being
phone-interviewed by Christi

Kim Hall, of Manna 4 Lempira, is back in Honduras for her longest visit to date. This time she and her family are there for a whopping three weeks. Graciously, she agreed to take time to chat with me before heading out for another busy day full of showing love to the children in the sponsorship program. As you’re about to read, neither rain nor grasshoppers nor swarming bees nor weird toads stays the Hall family from its appointed routes!

First Leg

The first leg of the Hall’s trip centered around spending time with a family they first met through another child sponsorship program. Then they went to Gracias, where they spent days visiting the children they currently sponsor. With so many trips to Honduras under their belts, the family is feeling more confident in their ability to do some things on their own. Kim is also pleased her Spanish has improved.

This is the second time Kim has been in Honduras during a “grasshopper year” (the giant grasshoppers come every three years). Fortunately, most of the ones they’ve seen have been dead. She quipped, “We had to buy umbrellas for rain. They work against grasshoppers, too!”

Kim and family crossed
this bridge that Sowers4Pastors
did NOT build

Traveling with children always brings unique challenges. This time, one Hall offspring was swarmed by bees when he ventured off while visiting a pastor who is a beekeeper. Fortunately  he only received three stings, but it could have been much worse. Another Hall child picked up a random toad and had a reaction after rubbing her eyes. She suffered from blurry vision for about a half hour. Kim said the takeaway lessons were: “Don’t touch wild animals. Don’t go on a roof with bees.” Good advice!

Second Leg

A team arrived from the U.S. to join them after their initial week. This first team consists of four people whose main focus is doing medical checkups. The group is also re-registering the children in the sponsorship program--updating information and making videos of kids who are still waiting for sponsors. Kim said, “Most of them are boys who have been waiting about nine months for a sponsor. We’re working hard on that. I think they like making the videos.”  And Kim likes having the opportunity to talk to the children and call them by name. From the way she said it, I could sense the burden she feels to find a sponsor for each child. (This link takes you to our favorite of these videos.)

Kim got to deliver good news to one little boy who had been waiting nine months for a sponsor. She described his smile and the delight he felt over receiving a letter and photo from his sponsor. She said, “It’s cool to have the privilege to tell a kid in person he has a sponsor. The letter and photo make it real to them.”

Third Leg

A second team, consisting of six people, joined the first team on Saturday. The second group will be staying for one week. They will be doing home visits, school visits, and doing VBS activities. They will also be taking three different groups of sponsored children to a swimming pool in Gracias. Kim excitedly said, “Most of the kids have never been to a real pool. The place we’re taking them has a lake, animals, and a swimming pool. I only hope it warms up a little before then!”

Something tells me the kids won’t care if it’s cold!

- posted by Christi

Manna 4 Lempira - VIDEOS

This summer we have three, back-to-back-to-back weeks of Manna 4 Lempira teams! And there's plenty of work to keep them all busy. Here are videos of the work the teams did while here . . . I will add more as they are created.




Working at the Tablon sponsorship center





Working at the Betania sponsorship center





Working at the Mercedes sponsorship center

Enjoying the Views at MK Retreat

Note: Christi wrote this last week, while the camp was happening. I (Trish) waited until now to post it, so that I would have some pictures to share. Enjoy!

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Break out the sunscreen, mosquito repellent, and marshmallows! It’s MK Teen Retreat time! This morning, Allen called from a campground about 45 minutes from Tegucigalpa, with a view he says is reminiscent of the Smoky Mountains. That wasn’t the most important view to him, though. Allen said, “Everywhere you look, there are groups of missionary kids hanging out--spending time with each other--groups of kids just enjoying their time together.”

From our vantage point, it may seem like the time has flown since last year’s MK Teen Retreat. To the young people who have looked forward to it, the year has likely seemed much longer. As Allen stressed, “Their parents decided to make the sacrifice to become missionaries, but their kids sacrifice, too. They struggle with not fitting into either culture. Even when they are able to visit North America, they are no longer truly North Americans.”

Crafts!

Of course, they aren’t Hondurans, either, which is precisely why they need a special camp to spend time with other teens in their same position. Allen pointed out, “For 50 or 51 weeks a year, they are expected to help with their parents’ ministry. They need this time.”

In case this all seems like a “rerun” from previous years, Allen reminds us, “A lot of times what you do in ministry is a recap or repeat of what you’ve done before. It’s the same old thing, but still very important.”

At least two things are different about this year’s retreat: 1) This year there are more boys than girls, and 2) Rachel is more than six months pregnant--meaning other people have needed to step up to the plate. One of those people cannot be Russell, since he is home helping Kim Hall with Manna 4 Lempira activities.

Games!

This year’s retreat features a lot of new faces.  According to Allen, about half of the people at the retreat have only been on the mission field for two years or less. He said there has been a lot of changes to their missionary community, with a lot of new people moving to Honduras.

Worship!

If you remember the posts about last year’s retreat, many of the attendees were graduating and getting ready to attend college in the U.S. One of those people, Ella, traveled from the States to lead Praise and Worship at the retreat! Her three siblings are in attendance, and her mother is doing the cooking (which Allen says is top notch, with “lots of yummy stuff”).

Crafts are a big hit, as always, particularly with the girls. Some of this year’s crafts include using metal stamps on dog tags, wood burning pictures onto disks cut from tree branches, and string art.

Games are also popular. Teens who seldom see any game other than soccer are enjoying things like capture the flag and dodgeball.

Thirty-four teens and ten staff members are at the 2017 MK Retreat, which started on Sunday the 11th and will end on Friday the 16th. Many people traveled seven or eight hours to be a part of this event, with as many as eight people arriving in one car. Please remember to pray for their safe travels as they return home and begin the countdown to NEXT year’s MK Retreat!

- posted by Christi

Prayer Mail

Recently, Trish wrote a blog post entitled “The (Almost) Lost Art of Letter Writing”, in which she talked about the letters Kim Hall has been posting on the Manna 4 Lempira Facebook Page from children waiting to be matched with sponsors through the Manna program. It seems Honduran kids love to write and receive letters.

Earlier in the month, Kim posted the sweetest of letters from a girl named Lilian, who is currently awaiting a sponsor. (Fortunately, Kim wrote an English translation of the letter, since I barely passed Spanish II in college and my translation skills are sketchy at best.)

Here’s what Kim wrote:

One of the things I know I can never repay to my sponsored children is the time they spend in prayer for me. What a gift!

I am humbled by each letter we receive, filled with prayers that are repeated each night on behalf of our family. I am often comforted in hard times by the knowledge that someone precious to the heart of God is lifting me and my family up by name!

I came across this letter from Lilian, a child waiting for a sponsor through Manna 4 Lempira, and was touched by her earnest prayer for her future sponsor. Dear one, Lilian is already praying for you, even before she knows your name!

"In the first place I thank God for having chosen people like you of a good heart. For the support you have brought to each one of us we give much thanks, from the bottom of our hearts--eternally thankful.

I ask God to guard you wherever you go and each day give you more health. May he bless your lives and home. I give thanks for sending me those lovely gifts.

May God bless you and guide your steps each day. May He clear your doubts and fill you with courage from His Spirit, and overflow blessings in your home and in your life.

May God fill today with blessings--

Lilian "

Think hard. What was the last piece of handwritten snail mail you received? What was the last piece of handwritten, uplifting snail mail, expertly decorated with butterflies and flowers, in which the author asked God to richly bless you with health and courage? Lilian has now been sponsored, but there are more children waiting for sponsorship . . . waiting and praying for you, perhaps?

For $15 a month, you can provide a child with two nutritious meals per week, school shoes, a backpack filled with school supplies, and Bible lessons. It’s an opportunity to bless and be blessed by some sweet letter writer. Think of it as Prayer Mail! More information on the Manna 4 Lempira Sponsorship program, and how you can be a part of it, is available here! - posted by Christi

Sister Churches in ACTION!

This is what happens, when people come up with an idea and, together, we run with it! 

Kim Hall had an idea: start a sponsorship program through the Sowers4Pastors ministry, which would offer the benefits of other sponsorship programs and also help fund the larger feeding program (the majority of the 14,000 children fed by Sowers4Pastors are in locations where the sponsorship program is not available).

Eric Linden had an idea: offer churches in the US a chance to sponsor, as a body, all of the children in one, specific, church-run feeding center in Honduras, setting up a "Sister Church" relationship between the two churches.

Edgewater Alliance Church team

Edgewater Alliance Church in New Smyrna Beach, FL had an idea: help their sister church with a major construction project. The sister church, in Guacutao Lempira, Honduras, had planted a daughter church in a nearby village, and that new church was in need of a building.

In May, a team from Edgewater Alliance came for a week, helped add a roof and a floor to the new church's building, and also spent several days working with children in Guacutao.  This team, with the help of translators and teachers at the school, taught Bible lessons at the public schools around Guacutao!

Maybe YOU have an idea, we could run with?????

Above is the highlights video from the Edgewater Alliance team's week. Don't be looking for Allen in this video - it was during this team's stay that Allen ended up in the hospital. 

 - posted by Trish

The Sowers' Series of Unfortunate Events

Are you familiar with the children’s book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket? Lemony Snicket did not corner the market on A Series of Unfortunate Events, as you will clearly see should you choose to continue reading this epic tale of woeful circumstances, which flowed together to make for an incredibly trying time for the Sowers family. Unlike Lemony Snicket, however, this post doesn’t begin with the line, “If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.” Ultimately, the story of The Sowers Series of Unfortunate Events does not come to a tragic end. For that, we can all be thankful!

Normally, my posts for Allen and Trish are all about what’s going on in their ministry. This week, Trish asked me to share some more personal details. Mainly, she wants me to stress that, although some trying things have happened recently, they are pushing through!

Foreshadowing

When a visiting team arrived last week, Allen and Trish already knew there was potentially something wrong with Allen’s heart. He had a couple of tests done and was planning on returning to the doctor for additional tests and possibly treatment, after the team left.

Never a Dull Moment

Tuesday, May 23rd was a particularly crazy day. Trish was in her house when she heard the dogs barking. While she was looking out the front door, a strange man entered the backdoor. He said someone wanted to kill him, and that they were chasing him! Iris and Trish moved the distressed man out of sight until Russell was able to get there (about 45 minutes later) to contact the police and de-escalate the situation.

The hospital where the procedure was done.

While Trish’s heart was still pounding over that excitement, Allen was completing the construction project with the team - though he assures us that he was only supervising, not working physically. With the construction part of the week done, on Wednesday morning Allen and Trish headed to the hospital in San Pedro Sula, where a scheduled catheter examination morphed into a long procedure to repair numerous serious problems in Allen's arteries. (Details on the hospital events can be found here.) Trish spent Thursday trying to scrape together the money to pay for the unanticipated cost of the huge procedure. (This post gives more details on the "trying to spring Allen from the hospital" part of things.)

This is a photo from the Honduran newspaper,
La Prensa, showing Dr Somoza, who is
Allen's cardiologist.

Allen spent one night in the hospital, in an
intensive care room like this one.

Stormy Weather

On Friday, May 26th, Allen and Trish were in a hotel in San Pedro Sula, where Allen was recuperating from surgery, and Trish was recuperating from being married to a man who just had heart surgery. Russell was away from the property, driving the visiting team from Gracias to San Pedro, to catch their return flight. Even Iris and the kids were away from home for a few hours. That’s when a gigantic storm hit the property. A lightning strike damaged their solar power equipment, leaving the property without power. The storm also blew down thirty pine trees on the property. On the coffee farm, trees are incredibly important for the shade they provide, and these trees will have to be replaced quickly. Members of the work crew ran a generator until the Sowerses returned home--saving the food in the freezer and providing lights for security. Before returning from San Pedro Sula, Russell and Allen purchased several smaller power inverters, which will provide the families with minimal power, as a stop-gap.

In a week or so, another local missionary will be hosting a visiting team. That team will bring a piece of replacement equipment, which, while not as good as what the Sowerses previously had, will be better than what they can purchase in Honduras. As Trish said, “Until the end-of-the-year container arrives, we’ll be limping along with power shortages.”

One More Thing

On Saturday, May 27th, Trish received word Ben had gotten into some trouble at school, as kids tend to do. That meant she needed to stop at the school on their way home from San Pedro Sula. Trish had intended to take Allen home and then turn around and go back to the school, but the stop and overnight stay for Trish prevented her from having to travel quite so much. (Allen and Russell continued home that day - as they were urgently needed to address the solar power situation.) The good news is that Ben’s teachers say he is trying harder in school and has good participation in class. He is turning in assignments and, academically, he is moving in the right direction. He's promises to try to obey the school's rules better, too.

A Happier Ending

Trish pointed out this is not the first time A Series of Unfortunate Events has happened to them since they’ve been missionaries. Just last year, while Allen and Russell were in Haiti on a bridge project, there was a daytime robbery and an attempted nighttime robbery, followed by a damaging lightning strike, in relatively quick succession. But this was the biggest cluster of bad things so far (and that’s coming from a woman who was kidnapped with her son!). For the most part, both Allen and Trish are back on the job. Allen is being careful to not be too physically taxed, which is sort of like expecting the Energizer Bunny to take it easy. He is back to planning, making phone calls, sending emails, and overseeing construction projects.

While the Sowers did not see Allen's heart problem coming, they are profoundly grateful he experienced those small warning chest pains. Those pains kept this post from turning out full-fledged Lemony Snicket, giving it some Pollyanna undertones instead - so that this Series of Unfortunate Events has a much happier ending than it might have had.

- posted by Christi