Early Christmas

Now that all of the sorting and distributing of Magi boxes to churches across Honduras is completed we began actually handing out boxes to churches in our region. Today, the first day to hand out, we were in Duyure. It was, as always, a real blessing to be able to see the smiles on the kids faces when they get their Magi box. For most of these kids they'll not receive any other gifts. Being able to be a part of this project makes being away from our family at Christmas time well worth it! This year Healing Hands International brought a group of folks led by Cindy Herring to help with the distribution. This group of folks also play a major roll in the collecting and packaging of the gifts stateside. Stay tuned for more pics and a video in the new future.

Camping in La Botija

We decided to go camping the other day. It's the perfect way to get away from things and spend some good quality time with the family. So, where did we go, down to the Francisco Morazan state park?? Well, not quite. No parks around, and especially no parks with camp sites! So, we headed up into the Botija mountain range. A protected area where the ML coffee plantation is located. After about 1 1/2 hours of rough 4x4 driving, with Sol and Levin asking if we were there yet, we finally arrived. We were not sure if we would make it, the road we took had been badly washed out by this year's rainy season, at some places there was no more road, it had become creek bed and at other points large trees lie in our path. But, none the less, we made it. We had a great time setting up our site, collecting rocks for our fire ring, then collecting fire wood to build a fire. We set up the tent, and then we settled in for a little fishing. Unfortunately nothing was biting, other than the minnows that kept steeling Levi and Sol's worms. So, then we decided to do a bit of exploring and hiking around the surrounding mountains. We wore out pretty quick since Levi insisted on being carried! We made it back to camp and decided it was time to cook supper, about 5:30 PM. So we roasted hot dogs and ate them and then it was on to roasting marshmallows! The kids thoroughly enjoyed that. It was pitch black by 6 PM and since we go the cheap site there was not an electrical hook up!! So, we went to bed. Well, we got in the tent at least. It was quite a while before anyone dosed off. And then Ally and I were awake most of the night. The wind in the night was incredible, it was like tent camping in a hurricane. That added to a full moon that made it feel like someone had a spot light on us all night, well, we did not sleep much! But, we had a great time. And, there will be many more trips to come. Enjoy the pictures.

Christmas Time in Honduras

Every year Healing Hands International base out of Nashville, Tennessee, gathers, sorts and ships Magi boxes to Honduras for Christmas. These small boxes full of love and toys and such are the only thing that most of their recipients will receive in a year. Mission Lazarus has the opportunity to be the organization that distributes these boxes to churches all over Honduras and other countries like Nicaragua and El Salvador. This year 9500 boxes were shipped to Honduras. Due to delays in customs the container did not arrive at our warehouse until late Saturday evening, Dec. 6. Once the container arrives we unload every crate of presents and "fill orders" according to the lists that churches have sent us. It was a huge team effort but in less than one week all 9500 presents were sorted, repackaged, and shipped off to the locations. Thanks so much to everyone who helps make this project possible in the US. We'll have another report after Christmas with pictures from the hand outs.