Hedgepath's Happenings

Forget

2009-10-22T17:59:00.002-06:00

Did you think we forgot about you? I have not blogged in a while. I am getting ready for my weekend class at Lipscomb. We have a short paper due tomorrow night.

Chad

Early Morning Phone Call

2009-07-27T09:54:00.003-06:00

Shelly and I were heading to the 8 am worship at Berry's Chapel yesterday when my cell phone rang at 7:35 am. I answered it and Dewight Lanham had forgot to get a class teacher for the Hispanic congregation because their preacher is out of town. I was preaching for them last night due to that. He asked if I could do the class and I said sure. I knew we would be "winging it"...in Spanish. They are actually studying a book with many Scriptures so we built the class together around that.

I returned last night to preach for them and enjoyed that very much. With my new job, I need to sharpen up my Spanish so this was a great start. I am preaching all day for them next Sunday. At least I know I am teaching class beforehand.

I was impressed with the 4 individuals in worship last night. Out of the 4 of them, one had been baptized 2 years and the rest under a year. They were so young in their faith but so knowledgeable of God. What a credit to them for studying and knowing what is most important in life. I look forward to class with them on Wednesday night and worship all day next Sunday.

Chad

New Job

2009-07-24T05:29:00.002-06:00

Many of you have been praying about my job search for the last 8 months and I greatly appreciate it. After many interviews with non-profits, churches and the business world, I have accepted a job with Metro Nashville Public Schools at Cole Elementary off Nolensville Road. The position is a No Child Left Behind Program Specialist (Title I Coordinator/Family School Coordinator). I will be keeping up with Federal money for the school and putting together a program to reach out to parents and get them involved in the school. Since the school's population is 40% Hispanic, it will give me an opportunity to put my experience from Honduras to action.

I have also been given a Memorial Fund Scholarship at Lipscomb to have my Master of Divinity fully paid for over the next few years. I started my Masters before we left for Honduras. I have 27 hours done of an 81 hour degree. This is a HUGE blessing! It is about a $50,000 gift. I will start classes again in late August.

I am looking forward to this opportunity and ask for your continued prayers in the transition to something I have never done before. I believe this will be really good for me right now and God has had a hand in putting me at Cole Elementary.

I just wanted to keep you informed since many of you ask me on a weekly basis what is going on in this front. I appreciate that more than you realize. God bless you.

Chad

One More Class

2009-07-21T14:16:00.003-06:00

I have been in a Graduate Education class for the last 3 weeks which meets on Mondays and Wednesdays. This is to get my teacher's license renewed. Tomorrow is my last class and hopefully my license will be up-to-date.

I have been working with a Metro Nashville Public School to get a position this year in a special area and a local church in Franklin, TN about preaching for them. It looks like both these positions are coming to age at the same time. I might be able to work one full time and the other part time for the first year or so. We will let time tell...and God do His work.

A few months ago I gave up searching for jobs. I put it in God's hands. After that, these two positions fell in my lap and seem to working out for the best. God knows where He wants me and will make it happen. I ask for your prayers in my continued job search.

Shelly has started to go back to her school for a few hours a day to get ready for the upcoming school year. She has to be back full time in a little over 2 weeks. She is ready to get in there and get busy again. Please pray for her new year and new Kindergarten children.

It looks like it is about to start raining outside so take cover and enjoy the rest of the day.

Chad

I almost forgot...

2009-06-18T17:18:00.001-06:00

Shelly and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary on Tuesday. We spent the day together and had a great lunch at Maggiano's on West End. If you like Italian, you must eat there.

Chad

This is for Tiffany!

2009-06-18T17:10:00.002-06:00

I was reminded last night at Woodson's VBS Homemade Ice Cream Grand Finale that I had not updated our blog in a while. Shelly and I told her that means either we have nothing going on or we are too busy. I can tell you that it is not the first one for sure!

Looking for a job is the pits! I have had some extremely frustrating times with churches and some HUGE disappointments. Next time we are together, feel free to ask me about those. They are too long to type. I have basically put it in God's hands. He will provide. I am a little tired of looking and being disappointed. I do have some leads but I am letting God take the controls. Maybe it will work that way.

Shelly and I have decided to enjoy the time we have together with no jobs to go to. Shelly is on summer vacation from school. We usually can sleep in and then ask each other what we want to do that day. Part of me likes that but I am READY for a job to show up to. I have been asked to speak at several local churches on Sundays and Wednesdays so that keeps my brain going. I enjoy sharing the Word of God with others.

This week I am helping my friend Larry Crockett build his little daughter a play set. We are actually building the border around it and leveling the ground. The rubber mulch to put in it arrived today so that is tomorrow's job. It is so HOT outside. It is amazing the difference in the heat between Honduras and TN. The same temperature number, but the humidity will kill you here. Larry and I usually take a break each hour or more and take on water and shower ourselves with the water hose.

Things are going well though. Tiffany, I hope this catches you up with what is happening with us. I will try to stay on top of this more. Have a great summer night!

Chad

Surprise Party

2009-05-18T05:41:00.003-06:00

Does Shelly look another year older? Well, she turned 30 on Saturday and my Mom, Lynn and I planned a surprise birthday party for her that night. We had about 90 people show up at Woodson for the party which was a GREAT turnout. For all those who came, thank you very much. Shelly was excited to see everyone but really appreciated her teaching team at Kenrose being there. Thank you ladies for coming!

Instead of gifts, Shelly wanted to give money to Honduras for a project in Limoncillo which is the northeast part of the country. In her cards, Shelly will be able to send about $1,500 to them to continue the skill trade school. Thank you very much for making that happen!

I told Shelly a few days ago that she had a surprise on Saturday as part of her birthday because she was getting curious about what was going to happen on her birthday. I surprised her by telling her that we were going on a shopping spree to get her a new outfit for her present. She thought that was the end of the surprise since we had planned on having her family party that night at her parent's house.

At 4:30 pm, Lynn called Shelly and told her that we needed to run by Woodson to pick up her dad since they were running late from a trip they took with them. Shelly got suspicious at that point and started to pester me for the next hour. We showed up at Woodson to open the fellowship room doors to be welcomed by a room full of people and singing of Happy Birthday. Shelly was surprised. At that point, I was so glad the surprise was over. It is hard to keep that kind of surprise a secret.

I want to thank my Mom and Dad and Lynn and Hugh for helping put this together. The 4 of them showed up early on Saturday to set everything up and cook the delicious spaghetti. It was all perfect. Also, thank you to Wanda Lovell for the wonderful birthday cake. If you were there, you know what kind of treat that was.

All in all, it was a great day for Shelly and a great PARTY!

Chad

Birthday Time!

2009-05-15T11:41:00.001-06:00

Shelly will turn 30 years old tomorrow (Saturday).

If you have time, give her a call at 615-943-8253 to wish her a happy birthday! I will fill you in on the details of the day next week.

Chad

Being Sick is No Fun!

2009-04-29T15:22:00.002-06:00

It seems like I have been in a doctor's office more over the last 2 weeks than ever in my life. A few weeks ago, I got the stomach bug that was going around and was out for a few days. The doctors really did not give me anything but suggested the same old thing for stomach issues. It finally went away. I thought I was heading up when I came down with a scratchy throat a week ago and started on allergy medicine. I normally do not have problems with allergies but thought I would fight it with that anyway. It has not gotten better and keeps me up most of the night with a horrible cough. I visited the doctor again today and I have a sinus infection. She gave me some meds and I hope to be 100% in a few days...I hope.

I am excited to be able to preach on Sunday morning at Berry's Chapel. It will be like the good old days. I pray that I encourage the congregation that morning since my lesson pertains to that. Services are at either 8 or 10:15 am. Join us at Berry's Chapel on Sunday morning!

Baxter, our puppy, has a new best friend. He loves Brooklyn, our niece, and she loves him. She can not say many words but know how to say Baxter's name. They just play, play, play. It seems they were made for each other.

I am still waiting for a job. I have to admit that it is getting a little frustrating but I have to keep in mind that God is preparing something unbelievable for me. I am talking to 4 congregations in Tennessee. Please keep my search in your prayers.

Chad

Easter Sunday

2009-04-13T09:18:00.004-06:00

We enjoyed our Easter Sunday with our families. Shelly and I went to Woodson Chapel to worship on Sunday to be with both our families. After the morning worship, we went to my parent's house to have the traditional Easter lunch with ham and then had our first family Easter egg hunt. Brooklyn started walking last Thursday so she is mobile now and was able to walk around the front yard searching for eggs. Baxter tried to beat her to most of them. He was able to collect 2 eggs. Brooklyn got the rest. Brooklyn and Baxter became friends on Sunday as you can see in the picture.

Sunday night after worship, we went to Shelly's parent's house to have hamburgers. We received a great Easter basket from Lynn and Hugh of household items. Nathan and I played until he was red in the face and he has officially renamed me "Homer." None of us know where that came from. We stayed at their house late and it was tough getting up this morning. Shelly returned to school after her Spring Break week. We plan on going to bed early tonight.

We hope you had a great Easter with your family.

Chad

Meet Shellycita!

2009-04-09T06:20:00.003-06:00

I wanted to share some recent pictures of Shelly who was named after my wife, Shelly. She is the proud little girl of our great friends in Honduras, Mary and Elvin Espinal. Elvin preaches at a church outside Choluteca and Mary is the director of one of the Mission Lazarus schools. Shellycita (means little Shelly) is 4 months old now. You can tell she follows in her father's footsteps with her Honduras soccer uniform. I just wanted to share her with you as it is a great honor for my Shelly to have her in her life.

Shelly and I had a great weekend in Atlanta and Peachtree City. We met some wonderful brothers and sisters there and enjoyed our time with Pat and Ron Brown. We learned more about the position China Missions needs to fill and taking that into consideration. We enjoyed our Monday in downtown Atlanta going to the aquarium and the Coca Cola Museum. If you ever go to the museum, make sure to try the Italian Beverly. How delicious...!?!?!

Many of you are keeping up with my job prospects. They have been narrowed down to the following.

Preacher at Maryville church outside of Knoxville.

Education Minister at Mt. Juliet church.

Office Manager at Hendersonville church.

Preacher at Hartsville Pike church.

Preacher at Franklin (KY) church.

Fundraiser with China Missions.

Please keep us in your prayers as we work through this process. It is much longer than I anticipated but God is in control and will lead us in the right direction. Have a great day...outside. It is to be a good one!

Chad

Weekend in Atlanta

2009-04-03T13:24:00.002-06:00

Shelly and I are heading to Atlanta tomorrow for the weekend. We have supper with the elders and preacher of Peachtree City church of Christ and Pat and Ron Brown of Chinese Agape Foundation on Saturday night and then I am preaching on Sunday morning at the church. I am talking with the Chinese Agape Foundation about fundraising for them. I would be able to work out of Franklin, Tennessee and work the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi.

Please keep our weekend in your prayers. I am excited about learning more about them and seeing if my talents can help them out.

Shelly and I will enjoy downtown Atlanta on Monday as we plan on going to the Coca Cola Museum and Aquarium. Shelly will be on Spring Break as of 3:30 pm today and she is VERY HAPPY about that.

Have a great weekend!

Chad

Meet Baxter!

2009-03-27T07:56:00.003-06:00

Meet Baxter Hedgepath. He is Shelly and my new puppy. He is 11 weeks old and weighs about 3 1/2 lbs. A few months ago, Shelly started getting the itch to start looking for a new dog. Many of you know that Tristan died a year ago in February and it took a while for Shelly to get ready for a new dog. If you knew Shelly and Tristan, you knew that they were best friends.

I called Shelly one night while I was in Honduras a few weeks ago and she said that she thought she found a new puppy for us. She said that a woman from Mt. Juliet was going to meet us near the airport the day I arrived from Honduras. We met the lady 30 minutes after I landed, I looked the puppy over and she had all the papers. The next thing I knew, we had a puppy in our car and were heading home.

He is nice to have around...when he is sleeping! Just kidding. Going through the whole training process again is tough but he will get it one day. He starts obedience school tonight at 7 pm at PetSmart in Cool Springs. We have class with him for the next 2 months every Friday night. We will see how intelligent he really is.

I forgot to say that he is a Maltese and very healthy. Tristan had his favorite duck and Baxter has his favorite stuffed giraffe which you can see in the picture above. Many people have heard about Baxter and I wanted to take this chance to introduce him to the world. Enjoy.

Chad

Good Breakfast

2009-03-25T15:04:00.002-06:00

I met Will Baxter for breakfast this morning at the Cool Springs Cracker Barrel. We had a great meeting and caught up on the things going on in our lives over the last few months. Will is looking for a job also so we are in the same boat. Unfortunately, his wife, Lacey, just lost her job also so they are a little on edge.

I then ran errands around Nashville and Cool Springs. I came home to finalize my lesson for class tonight and am ready to be encouraged. I really look forward to class every Wednesday night because I think we have a great group of people at BC studying together and encouraging one another.

I have a meeting with Randy Steger tomorrow at Healing Hands International. I am interested in hearing what they need and how I might be able to help them out.

I did not tell you that last Thursday, my niece, Brooklyn (Angie and JJ's baby) celebrated her 1st birthday! We had a great party on Saturday for the special event. She did pretty well making a mess out of her cake.

I am getting better at blogging but I need to add some pictures. I will start that next.

Enjoy your Wednesday night class...or come to BC at 7 pm for my Encouragement class in the basement. You are more than welcome!

Chad

Judas vs. Peter

2009-03-24T09:59:00.002-06:00

I am teaching a Wednesday night class at Berry's Chapel this quarter from the book "The Barnabas Factor" by Aubrey Johnson. The book is about encouragement and I am really enjoying the class and participation. We have about 20 in the class.

We just finished the chapter that talks about discouragement. There are 2 common causes of discouragement: misfortunes and mistakes. Misfortunes are things that happen to you and mistakes are things that you cause. Aubrey talked about a great comparison which really made me think.

What was the difference between Judas and Peter. Both denied Jesus in their own way but ended up reacting differently to the guilt and sin of doing it. Judas turned Jesus in to the authorities; Peter denied Jesus repeatedly. Judas hanged himself; Peter went on to be a great preacher for Jesus. What happened that caused the two to take two totally different routes in life after their sin?

Let me encourage you to look back in the Gospels and read the stories of Judas and Peter. Look at their response after their sin. Judas lost hope. He thought that he could not overcome the sin which he committed. Peter dealt with his pain and sin and made the most out of it. He learned from his mistake and changed his life to be different.

How do you deal with sin in your life? Do you believe that you have no hope to get by it and do great things? Do you feel like you need to just lie down and die because you can't handle it anymore? Are there too many things being thrown at you which you feel you cannot handle? It is easy in life to get overwhelmed with the negatives in our lives and think that we cannot make it. It is easy to give up, to throw our hands in the air and forget about it. It is easy to roll over and die.

That is not an encouraging person though. We have a Savior who died for us and gave us life. We have hope because we have a God who is on our side. We can be encouraged by learning from our mistakes and building upon them. How do you deal with your sin? Let's be encouraged. Let's share with one another. Let's put aside our masks and encourage one another in our struggles. There are people in your church who are struggling with the same sin you are. Judas did not utilize his brothers and sisters. Peter pulled them together and built upon them.

Encourage someone today. Share in their struggles.

Chad

Updating

2009-03-23T16:02:00.002-06:00

I am going to get back into blogging.

Just want to update you on my job search. I am still talking to several churches and non-profit organizations. The list follows:

Chinese Agape Foundation
Maryville church of Christ
Franklin (KY) church of Christ
Hendersonville church of Christ
Youth Encouragement Services
Healing Hands International
Mt. Juliet church of Christ
Baxter Institute

It seems things are moving better but still very slow. I hope that with the warm weather coming in, things will pick up. It seems everyone has been in hibernation for a few months. I ask for your prayers for my search. Shelly is doing a great job at Kenrose and is the bread winner right now. I am very thankful for her.

We have moved to an apartment in Cool Springs (as of last week). We moved out of Lynn and Hugh's (Shelly's parents) house to get on our own. It has been a good move for us. We greatly appreciated the time with Lynn and Hugh and the generosity they showed us.

I promise to do a better job with our blog. I plan on starting a daily devotional thought tomorrow on this blog. Let me know what you want to study.

Chad

Good interview

2009-01-26T15:33:00.002-06:00

I felt that the interview on Saturday went well. I enjoyed my time with some of the Board Members and we will see what happens. It is in God's Hands.

I enjoyed preaching again last night for the Hispanic congregation at Berry's Chapel. We had about 15 there and they did a great job participating. They have hired an interim named Beto and I will be praying for him. I heard that Alejandro, the preacher for the congregation, has an appointment at the Embassy today. He is having to get his American Visa renewed before returning to the States. His wife and young son will be meeting him in Venezuela on Thursday.

I am running around and getting things done on my checklist. I am babysitting Brooklyn (my sister's baby) on Thursday. I am looking forward to 2 hours of playing.

Have a great day!

Chad

Please pray

2009-01-23T15:05:00.002-06:00

I ask that you pray for me tomorrow (Saturday) as I have an interview with Youth Encouragement Services which is a non-profit organization in Nashville, Tennessee who works with youth in the inner city. I am really interested in this job and ask that you pray for a successful day.

God is in control and He knows what He wants me to do. Thanks.

Chad

It seems like a new day

2009-01-20T09:29:00.002-06:00

I am enjoying watching the Inauguration today. There is a great excitement in the US today which is good. Even though I do not agree with everything the government does, I do respect its authority under God. It is attractive to me to see all the excitement surrounding this special day for the US.

I want to update you on what is going on with us. Shelly is working at Kenrose Elementary in Williamson County with Kindergarten and gotten into a routine and enjoys her job. She is doing a good job. I am still looking. This is not a great time in our country right now with very limited jobs and tons of people looking. I am hoping to hear from one organization this week. Please pray for that and all those looking for jobs at this time. It is tough!

I did have the opportunity to preach for the Berry's Chapel Hispanic congregation on Sunday night. I will be helping them off and on with PM lessons until their Hispanic minister gets his VISA worked out in Venezuela.

Enjoy the day. Take time to pray for our government and the incoming and outgoing Presidents. It is a special day for the US no matter how you feel about our government. We are blessed to be here...but with that comes responsibilities as Christians. Let's take on that responsibility head on! God bless you.

Chad

Her first day at Kindergarten

2008-12-08T10:31:00.002-06:00

Shelly started her first day with her new Kindergarten class this morning. I dropped her off at school because we only have 1 car right now while my truck gets a new engine put in it. Long story. I felt like a proud father taking their child to their first day of school. Neither one of us cried so that was different than taking a child.

We spent most of the day on Saturday getting her classroom ready. It looks really good and seems to be ready to handle the children. This is a tough transition for them and I ask that you pray for them and Shelly as they get to know each other over the next two weeks before Christmas break.

I am still searching for a job. I have two good leads; one permanent and one interim. I am about to start making some more phone calls in a minute to see what else I can find.

Chad

A good day

2008-12-04T11:01:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was a good day in the hunt for a job. I got some positive leads which made the day seem productive.

Shelly went to Kenrose this morning to familiarize herself with the school, her classroom, the staff and the kids in her class. I know she is excited about it. We will go to the Central Office this afternoon to sign all her papers and make her official.

Hopefully we will have some good news about my job in the near future. Stay warm...have a great day!

Chad

We are home

2008-12-02T09:33:00.002-06:00

Shelly and I have moved back to the States. Our job in Honduras was complete and it was time to move back to Tennessee to start the next "adventure" in our lives.

We do have new cell phone numbers and email address so please make note of those below in your address books.

Shelly
shellylynn516@yahoo.com
(615) 943-8253 cell phone

Chad
hedge33@yahoo.com
(615) 943-7041 cell phone

We are currently living with Shelly's parents in Brentwood off Concord Road. Shelly will start her Kindergarten teaching position at Kenrose Elementary in Williamson County on December 8th. I am looking around for a job. Once we get settled with those, we will look for a place to live.

We ask for your prayers as we transition. We are in a reverse culture shock right now being in the States. It is taking time to get back in the groove. We will keep up our blog...hopefully better than the last few months. It has been EXTREMELY busy.

Thanks for your support of us. We will talk to you again soon...or see you face to face!

Let Your Light Shine!

Chad

A Day of Service

2008-10-06T12:20:00.005-06:00

Something special happens when you put children with our older generation. Last Saturday, the children of Mission Lazarus Refuge participated in Service Day and traveled to San Vicente de Paul Nursing Home in Choluteca. They spent time singing to the residents, playing board games and enjoying cake and juice with the 20 saints from the home. What a special time to see the two generations interact with one another and enjoy the day together.

A Day at the Beach

2008-09-29T14:05:00.003-06:00

Every month, we take the children at the Mission Lazarus Refuge on a field trip. Last Saturday, we went to the beach in Cedeño which is 45 minutes outside Choluteca on the Pacific Coast side of Honduras. For 10 of the children, it was their first time to the beach/ocean. As they walked nearer the ocean for the first time, their eyes were as big as quarters and they said, “!Que grandisimo!” (How HUGE!) They were amazed at the size of the ocean and how it seemed to go forever. We enjoyed a few hours swimming, playing in the sand and sharing a picnic lunch.

It was a GREAT day for everyone!

Chad

2008-08-28T13:35:00.005-06:00

Well, I am sitting in my parents' office at their house checking my e-mail while I am waiting for some chicken to boil. I am making dinner for my sister and her husband because I have a new nephew!!! He was born Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 8:35 p.m. I am excited that I am here with my sister and her husband during this special time. Wayne, my brother-in-law, specifically aksed for poppyseed chicken for their first night back home after the baby was born.

I am also getting to know my new neice, Reagan, who was born July 26th. My nephew Nathan is growing up so quickly. I am having so much fun with my family and playing with the kids.

Chad is heading to Roatan tomorrow. I am glad he is getting to go and enjoy some time off. He really deserves it. He has worked so hard this summer with all the groups and I just really hope he enjoys himself and gets some "Chad time".

It was great to be at Berry's Chapel Sunday night for the Honduras trip presentation. Mike Hayes and Mac Hughes did a wonderful job leading the service and sharing about the things they had done on their July trip. Mac, if you are reading this, you did an outstanding job! Thank you for sharing your heart with us and most of all with the children of Honduras! You are so special.

Have a wonderful Labor Day!
Shelly

Don't Worry

2008-07-02T09:14:00.002-06:00

We have not blogged lately because we are EXTREMELY busy. With groups in right now, our mornings begin early and our evenings end late. I thought I worked a lot in youth ministry but this puts that to shame.

As I tell my Mom, we are alive and doing well. We are running all over the country of Honduras on a weekly basis but just wanted to let you know that we are still here and that we do not have much time to blog but will catch up once our busy season is over...the end of August.

Have a great 4TH OF JULY!

Chad

I have been planning...

2008-05-28T18:46:00.008-06:00

I have been planning this blog for a few weeks now and it just seems to get longer and longer as the days go by. Interesting, huh! New things happen each day and I just add those to the blog list.

Well, going back to the week my parents were here. We had a wonderful time with them and I am so glad that they got to come visit Honduras and see what Chad and I have been talking about for so many years now. We drove up to the coffee plantation, visited all four of the Mission Lazarus early childhood development centers, toured the ranch, and introduced them to many people and friends that Chad and I know.

One day we drove out to the beach to visit a church building where Mission Lazarus has a cafeteria where we feed lunch to about 100 children daily. On the way there, I said to mom and dad, "We should try to get some shrimp while we are here and have that for dinner." Great idea, right? Well, I called a friend that I have out there and asked if he could help us get some shrimp and of course he was willing. I hung up and mom said, "Are these shrimp going to have heads?" I called Roberto back and asked him to have the heads removed before he got them. "O.k.", he said and so I thought nothing else about it. When we met up with him, he gave me the cooler and I took it and off we went toward San Marcos. Mom and I got ready to prepare them, opened the cooler and there were whole fish, eyes and all, crabs, and wouldn't you know, shrimp with the heads still on them. We gave the fish and crabs away to a friend of mine that has a restaurant here in San Marcos. While we were there delivering the fish to her I asked her how to best prepare the shrimp. She told me all we needed to do was break the heads off with our hands and then the shell and legs come off easily. Mom and I got back to the house, began the process like Carmen had explained and we gagged for the next hour trying to get the shrimp cleaned and ready to cook. We finally decided we needed to cut the heads off and boy was that so much better. After we got them peeled, I bet I washed those things 8 times before I felt like I had all the gunk off of them. We skewered the shrimp, rubbed them with garlic and butter and threw them on the grill. They were the best shrimp I think I have ever eaten. And oh so FRESH!!!

Mom and Dad, thank you for your visit. It was great getting to show you what all we do and experiencing Honduras with you. I am so blessed to have parents that love me the way you do and that are interested in what I am doing. Thank you also for spending my birthday with me. It was the best birthday gift I could ever receive. I love you both very much.

Last week the rain began here in Honduras. We were so ready to see it because it has been so dry and dusty for six months. It was a matter of 2 or 3 days that the landscape, the mountains and plants just returned to life. It is so green and picturesque here now. Last Thursday I was driving to the office and I had to stop on the side of the road and take this picture. After I took it I thought oh, I'll add that to the blog that I am planning to write too. It was so beautiful that I couldn't pass it up. All I could think when I looked at it was how truly AWESOME God is and how He provides us with His "artwork" every day for our pleasure.

Our summer interns arrived Monday. Chad, Meredith and I drove to Tegucigalpa early Monday morning to meet them at the airport. There are 8 right now, one more will arrive next week. We have been showing them around all of the Mission Lazarus projects and getting to know them over the past few days. They are a great group and I look forward to working with them this summer.

Today, Meredith, Jarrod and I drove to Nicaragua to a place where about 5 women make pottery. This place is absolutely in the middle of nowhere. Actually when we were driving in, Jarrod said, "I bet you guys are wondering how in the world I ever found this place." Yes, I was wondering because it truly is a hidden town down a dirt road. It was fun just getting spend time with them talking, catching up and crossing the border.

I hope all is well where ever this finds you. Our next group arrives Saturday, so keep us in your prayers as we travel to pick them up and as we continue through the summer. BLESSINGS!!

Shelly

Exciting day at the airport

2008-05-13T19:23:00.003-06:00

Shelly and I were in the Tegucigalpa airport on Monday to pick up her mom and dad. We can walk through the airport with our eyes closed because we have been in there so much so to see something new and interesting stirred our curiosity.

First, the deportation plane from the States arrived before the normal flights to stop on the runway away from the airport to make the people on board walk off and down the runway to some area away from everyone. I wonder what happens to them once they do arrive on their native soil?

Second, as we were waiting for Hugh and Lynn to get through customs, I noticed a lot of very large guys coming through. I initially thought that they were US military coming in to serve for some time in Honduras. That is pretty common in the airport. I didn't think much about it until we were waiting for luggage to come along on the belt when I looked up and saw the head football coach at the University of Georgia. He had on his Georgia red logo shirt and I made the connection. The very large guys were football players and they must be on a team mission trip. At least I hope that is the case. If it is true, I respect him for doing that. We were out of there pretty fast with Lynn and Hugh's luggage so I did not get a chance to ask the coach any questions.

It was a pretty interesting day in the airport in Tegucigalpa on Monday. It is amazing what you will look for in the most common of places. We are having fun with Shelly's mom and dad. They are seeing the town and taking it all in for the very first time. We grilled hamburgers tonight and ate on the patio outside. The burgers were excellent!

Only 3 days until Shelly's birthday...the big 29. If you want to send her a card, you can email it to shelly@missionlazarus.org. She would love to hear from you.

Chad

Let the Groups Begin

2008-05-07T14:08:00.002-06:00

Yesterday officially started our busy season. A group from Lipscomb University is the first group here as of yesterday and we have groups everyday until August 16th. My job is to keep up with them the whole time.

I picked them up at the airport yesterday and we loaded all the cars and I told them to wait for me to pull out of another parking lot to meet them and they follow me to San Marcos. We pulled out of the parking lot to find out that they were no where in sight. Where did they go? Did they decide to follow another white truck to who knows where? My heart sank. Luckily, they were forced out of the parking lot and turned the wrong way but had enough sense to come back to the airport after a few miles. Rule 1 - When lost, always return to your original place of departure. I only had to wait about 5 minutes before they returned. Did I say that they had no way to communicate also? It could have been a very bad situation.

After we reunited, we headed down the road about 10 minutes and one of the SUVs they rented stopped running right in the middle of the street. We pushed it over to the side and called the rental company to rescue us. I thought that we were doomed. How can you start your first group of the summer out like this within 15 minutes of their arrival? We waited about 45 minutes for a replacement vehicle and headed down the road again.

No more mishaps. We made it to the ranch within reasonable time and had supper, orientation, devo and then went to bed. They are working hard today. My goal this summer is to keep you informed of what is happening with all our groups...and their mishaps that only happen in Honduras...on our blog. Enjoy the stories. I just hope not all groups start out like this one.

Adios.
Chad

My aunt and uncle's visit

2008-04-09T11:33:00.008-06:00

Here are some pictures of our adventures with my Aunt Sue and Uncle Terry over the weekend. They were in Nicaragua last week working with their church from Greenwood Park in Bowling Green, KY. They decided to fly up to see us for the weekend. We cannot tell you how much fun we had with them. Thank you for visiting!!

Chad

Pictures of what's happening

2008-03-28T12:49:00.005-06:00

Top picture: Shows a beautiful sunset on the island of Roatan in the Carribbean off the coast of Honduras during Holy Week (Easter).

Middle picture: Several students from the University of TN came to Honduras for their Spring Break under the leadership of Molly Hayes to work on the homes and do an art project with the kids on the ranch one day after school.

Bottom picture: The Meek family visited us last week for their Spring Break. They did an excellent job painting the Mission Lazarus school in San Marcos. They stayed in our home for the week and we thoroughly enjoyed having them. We had a great week.

Chad

A Tough Week

2008-03-28T09:44:00.005-06:00

We have had a tough week here in Honduras. Gloria (the sick mother with 7 children who Mission Lazarus is helping) passed away Tuesday morning. She had been fighting congestive heart failure for a few years. She was bit by a bug called a chinche here in Honduras when she was young and the symptoms didn't show up until about 15-20 years after.

Gloria was in a lot of pain through her life with her sickness but always had a smile on her face. I will miss seeing her encouraging smile. She has 7 of the most beautiful children I have seen in Honduras who Mission Lazarus will continue to support.

Please pray for the children as they grieve their mother's death.

Chad

Two New Homes

2008-03-03T13:39:00.002-06:00

We have failed as bloggers. We have not kept you up to date on what is going on with us and for that we apologize but hopefully you will see what we have been up to since our last blog with this entry.

I can not tell you how overwhelmed I have been over the last two weeks. We have had 2 churches (Berry's Chapel and Maple Hill) here building house #2 and #3 on the ranch. Mission Lazarus Refuge now has 3 homes sitting on the ranch which is hard to actually concieve. Can you beleive it, 3 homes? 84 men from the United States paid to come to Honduras to build something that they may never see what it produces in the future. I take my hat off to the men who came and built. You guys are amazing. I admire you for your skills (and lack thereof) and for your willingness to make a difference one child at a time in Honduras.

To see both homes go up piece by piece was awesome! To see the skill and understanding by a core group of men to make sure the house will stand for years to come was awesome! I am overwhelmed with the fact that 2 more homes sit on the ranch and within a few months, children will fill them and their lives will forever be changed.

I want to thank Mac Hughes, Mike Hayes, Mike Johnson and Justin Latimer for their willingness to put these groups together. Thank you for your hard work before, during and after the trip. I appreciate you so much. Thank you to the other 84 men who came and conquered. Do you know how special you are to our Lord? I was able to see a glimpse of it while you were here. God bless all of you!

Chad

True Orphans

2008-01-09T15:45:00.001-06:00

I cannot imagine what it must be like to be a child of 10 years old and have no Mom and Dad. We are working on getting the paperwork for 2 little boys, Oscar-10 years old and Victor-7 years old, to move to Mission Lazarus Refuge very soon. Oscar and Victor are not brothers by blood but have lived together their whole lives. They are actually cousins but Victor was given to Oscar's mom when he was a baby. Oscar's mom and dad (and Victor's) have died. They were living with an aunt who has died also. They are without family.

We went with Oscar yesterday to his old home in hope of finding someone who knew where his papers might be. After an hour driving on a long dirt road with many bumps along the way, we entered his parent's old house to find no papers and not much information. As it was getting dark, we arrived back in Choluteca to drop him off at his foster parent's home.

Oscar is a very smart young man. He has only finished the 1st grade and is 10 years old but he is wise beyond his years. He said two lines yesterday that I will never forget:

"No tengo nadie" meaning "I have no one."
and
"Dios es mi padre" meaning "God is my father."

How powerful! I am looking forward to getting to know Oscar and Victor more and I ask that you pray for their paperwork as it is never an easy job to find all that we need.

Chad

Feliz 2008

2008-01-05T18:14:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! I am going to go on the record right now and say that 2008 will be our best year. I really believe that this year will be our best for Mission Lazarus and the missionaries here. We are on the verge of some great things and 2008 is already getting off to a great start. I hope you are challenged by the new year with new beginnings and will make it your best year also. Let's shoot for the stars!

Shelly and I have just spent some time in the States with our families for Christmas. What a great refresher to be with family and friends! We needed the break and feel energized and ready to start again here in Honduras. Shelly is a bit under the weather right now but will jump back soon. Staying with Honduran tradition, we arrived in our apartment with an inch of dirt/dust on everything and the electricity going out soon after we settled in. We have only been here 24 hours and the electricity has gone out 3 times. The wind is very strong here right now which caused the trees around the lines to interfere with them and cause an outage. Welcome back to Honduras!

Shelly and I have the best families. I want to publically say that we have the best Moms and Dads that anyone can ask for. I am willing to put ours up against yours any day of the week. Thank you to our parents for making our time in the States so special. We love you very much!

Everything is good here. We are ready to hit the trail again on Monday morning bright and early. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, appreciate the electricity that you have (because I am typing in the dark right now) and start the new year off with a BANG.

Let Your Light Shine,
Chad

Wrapping it up

2007-12-11T09:35:00.000-06:00

Do I have a wonderful wife or what? Her blog yesterday made me break down and cry. I am so blessed to have her and I take advantage of that. Life is so precious and we need to take time to share with those who are closest to us.

I am back in San Marcos now. I arrived back last night after spending the day with Sandra and the brothers. We went to Gerardo's office at Baxter first to find some things which was difficult. We then went to the hospital to pay his bill which ended up being about $1,100. The family is putting together a list of funeral costs so that we can help. I will share that with you when I receive it this weekend.

My guesstimate is that the total cost for Gerardo's expenses will be about $3,000. If you are interested in giving to that overall expense, you can make a check to Berry's Chapel church of Christ and mail it to 7052 Sunrise Circle, Franklin, TN 37067. Please designate on the check that it is for Gerardo Flores. I will personally make sure it is put towards his expenses.

Please keep Gerardo's family and especially Sandra in your prayers. This is so tough for them because Gerardo was such a special person for the family. He will be missed.

Chad

Greater love hath no man...

2007-12-09T22:57:00.001-06:00

I just want to express my thoughts and feelings on the events of this past weekend. I am in TN right now and Chad is in Honduras. Chad called me on Thursday telling me that our brother and precious friend, Gerardo Flores, was in the hosptial again after many previous visits this year. I prayed for Gerardo that day asking God to comfort him and give him the relief from the horrible pain that comes with his illness each time. Friday, Chad called me in the middle of the afternoon, which was weird because he usually calls me later in the evening to tell me about the events of his day. I answered the phone and Chad said, "Shelly, Gerardo died!" I immediately lost it and asked questions about what happened and was trying to get a grip on what was going on. Chad remained very calm and walked me through the details. He told me he would let me know when he knew more.

He called me about an hour or so later with new information and still very calm and collected. I told him that I wanted to fly to Honduras to be there with him and with Sandra, Gerardo's wife and his family. We decided that would not be necessary and we left it at that. We talked a couple more times that afternoon and evening.

Saturday Chad went to Tegucigalpa and spent the day with Sandra and Gerardo's family making sure that they were taken care of. He was there comforting, offering his help, and just there as a a shoulder for them to cry on. I received calls throughout the day on Saturday and then again on Sunday catching me up on everything. All he could talk about was making sure that Sandra and Gerardo's family were taken care of.

I write all of this to say that my husband, Chad Hedgepath, is truly a servant of God. I cannot express how proud I am of him and the way he has poured out his heart to this family in their time of need. Chad was very close to Gerardo and has lost who he considers his best Honduran friend, but instead of asking for comfort from others, he was there to comfort others. Gerardo was a servant just like this and I think that is why he and Chad understood each other so well. It did not matter if he was sick or having difficulties in his own life. He was always "laying down his life" and looking out to help carry someone else's burdens. I know Gerardo is smiling at Chad and saying, "you are such a man of God, thank-you for taking care of my family."

Chad, I cannot thank God enough for blessing me with you as my husband. I am so blessed to have you in my life. You are such a strong hold for me and the greatest example of what a true servant really is. You give of your love to whoever needs it. Not just to those that you choose, but to all that God puts in front of you. Thank you for your example and for being that support for me and so many others. Know that even though I am not physically there for you right now that I will always stand beside you and support you in everything that comes our way. I love you so much.

Shelly

A Great Man

2007-12-07T17:34:00.000-06:00

The world lost a great man today. Gerardo Flores passed away this afternoon after suffering from sickle cell anemia his whole life. He was only 35 years old. He has been in and out of the hospital all year and was there when he died. His family will have his body in their home tonight and will move it to their church building tomorrow morning. They will bury him on Sunday afternoon. Please keep his wife, Sandra, and his family in your prayers.

I will never forget Gerardo. He was my best friend in Honduras. I loved his smile. I loved the way he shaked his shoulders when he laughed. He was always so optimistic and happy. He would do anything to help you out. I have never met anyone like him in being so giving all the time. He would make the time to spend with you and made you feel like the top of the world. I love him. I will miss him. I cannot believe that I will not be able to see him face to face any more. I have so many memories of him that I will cherish forever.

Thank you Gerardo for being so special in my life. Thank you for being so encouraging and teaching me more than you will ever know. I want you to know that I will do whatever it takes to see that Sandra and your family are taken care of. I can't wait to see you in Heaven.

Chad

The Right People at the Right Time

2007-12-06T16:31:00.000-06:00

Baxter Institute (a Christian university in Tegucigalpa) is having their graduation on Saturday. They had groups of Americans start arriving yesterday and I traveled to Teg to pick up two men who wanted to see the projects of Mission Lazarus firsthand. Little did I know that it would be one of those great life moments. I did not know they men and had to have the President of Baxter introduce them to me. We rode for 3 hours to San Marcos getting to know each other.

We woke up this morning and left the house at 6:30 am to go to the ranch for my weekly devotional with the workers. I showed the men around the ranch and talked about what God was doing through Mission Lazarus. We then traveled back into San Marcos to see some more things and pick up their luggage from my house so they could travel back to Teg this afternoon.

I wanted to take them by Gloria's house to see her and her 7 children. Gloria is dying of congestive heart failure and they are some of the poorest of the poor in San Marcos. They have no running water, not bathroom facilities, no electricity and many times no food and live in house which is not even considered a shed. They are filthy dirty but have smiles on their faces all the time. I love this family and strive everyday to provide their basic necessities. While we were in the house, I asked if they had any food. THEY HAD NOTHING! Not even a crumb. One of the men caught onto it. He handed me $20 as we walked out the door and said to do whatever we could with it to help them out.

We immediately went to the grocery to purchase a $20 provision which is enough food for 2 weeks for this family. After we delivered the food to the house and the men realized that they had just helped this family beyond what we could ever imagine, we got into my truck and drove off. I told them that I strongly believed that God put them in that place at that time to help that family. These men came to Honduras for a graduation but felt compelled to visit San Marcos de Colon and was introduced to a family that needed their help at that very moment. I thanked them for being there and for providing and for making a difference in that family's life even though it may only be temporary.

The man in the back seat starting saying something in response and then got choked up. In a cracked voice he said, "We are the ones who are truly blessed. That family made a difference in me." Isn't it amazing how God works? He puts us in situations to be a blessing but transforms us through the process.

God was present today in a big way in my life. I am so grateful to have been in Gloria's house today and allow God to work in the lives of those two men. What a blessing! Be careful to not pass up what God might be asking you to do today. Thanks Thomas and Raymond for visiting!

Chad

Heading Home...

2007-11-16T18:54:00.000-06:00

We have been BUSY! In the past week, we have moved another family into a Mission Lazarus home, had our last day of school in our 3 schools, taken the children from the refuge on a field trip to Tegucigalpa, had the district final evaluation in our San Marcos school, visited Duyure where we plan to open a new school next year, celebrated Chad's 31st birthday and tomorrow is our Kindergarten graduation. We have just crammed it all in haven't we.

The children at the refuge especially enjoyed celebrating their "tio Chad's" birthday.

Monday we are flying home to see our families. We are so excited about the time we are going to get to spend there. Hopefully over the next few weeks we will get caught up on our blog. I just want to wish everyone a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Enjoy the time with your family and make sure to tell each and every one of them how much you love and appreciate them.

Shelly

I want to post pictures, but...

2007-10-23T10:13:00.000-06:00

Our internet is not working great today so I cannot put the pictures I want to share with you on the blog. I will keep working on it this week.

We are doing fine. It has not rained in 2 days which is BLESSING. We need lots of sun right now to dry things up a little. Everything is soup. Mission Lazarus is helping with food bags to those effected by the floods 2 weeks ago. Bags are going out on a daily basis for families. That is encouraging.

We are just working hard at this moment. Hope you are also.

Chad

Flooding Pictures

2007-10-12T19:00:00.001-06:00

It has now been raining for 96 hours straight. Some of it is just a sprinkle, but for the most part it is pretty much a steady rainfall.

The above 2 pictures are of a bridge that you have to cross over to get to Jarrod and Ally's house. There were people on the other side telling me to bring them food because they could not get across to go to the market. Of course, I wanted to help, but obviously couldn't.

Shelly

Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Another Day!

2007-10-11T17:53:00.000-06:00

It has been raining for the past 72 hours. It is unbelievable how much water the clouds hold. We have been told there is a tropical storm around and it is supposed to continue raining for the next 3 days. Chad goes to the ranch every day with his rubber boots on. There is so much mud and water, I think it will be a while before this place dries out.

Yesterday, Meredith Jones and I trekked up the mountain in San Marcos to visit a little girl from school that has been having seizures. There was no other way to inform the mother of the doctor's appointment that she has without visiting her at home. We could not get the car all the way there, so we parked and walked. Let me begin by saying that we had been in the office all day in Choluteca and I definitely was not planning on going mountain climbing in my Merrell slip-ons. It had already been raining for 2 days, but there was a break in the rain so we decided to go for it. We walked, or should I say slid, up one road and had to look for the trail that leads up to this family's house. We found it and I am not kidding, it is straight up. It was beginning to drizzle somewhat but we thought, hey we've gone this far why not continue on. The lady that lives on the corner told us it was not the best idea because the rocks we would have to walk on were slick. Ignoring her advice, we decided we could make it. Very slowly, one step at a time, we made it and there were two little boys at the top applauding us as we arrived. We found the house and went in to talk to the mother. As we stood in the canopy area talking to her it began to pour. We visited for while and then said our good-byes. We were already muddy and wet, so we decided just to deal with it, head back down and not worry about the rain. About half way down, one of the little girls brought us an umbrella, but by that time we were already soaked and were more concerned with each step that we took as to whether we were going to end up covered in mud. Neither of us wanted to slide down on our rear end so were were taking it very carefully. I remember Meredith making the comment that going us she never thought about having to come back down. We finally reached the car again and all we could do was laugh. It was an experience that I will NEVER forget. Meredith called me this morning and we were still laughing and reminiscing about the rainy adventure that we went on.

Tristan cannot stand the rain nor getting wet. Here is a picture of him that Chad's mom took last week during "bath time." You can tell he was just so excited!

We are trying to stay dry for the most part. I do ask that you pray for the many families here that do not have cover for their heads and for those that are in danger of flooding. Please pray for their safety. Our friend Gerardo Flores is also very ill and I ask your prayers for his recovery. If anyone knows of a specialist that could help him, please let us know. We are very concerned for his health. He has sickle cell anemia, but we believe he needs other tests due to the severity of his illness.

Shelly

The Time of our Lives

2007-10-09T14:48:00.000-06:00

We had a great time with my Mom and Grandmother. They will never know how much it meant to us for them to be here for 5 days with us. We saw everything and they went home with a better understanding of what we do exactly. Pictures do not do justice to this place. You have to see it to believe it and understand it.

After touring everything, we enjoyed a night in the Marriott in Tegucigalpa on Sunday night. It was sad to see them leave on Monday but we appreciate the time they spent with us. We will remember it forever.

Mom and Memaw,

Thank you for spending your money and time to fly down here to see us. It meant the world to us for you to be here sharing with us. You will never understand how much. We enjoyed sharing with you what we do on a day-to-day basis and experiencing with you some of the poorest situations in Honduras. We love you very much! Thank you for coming and we look forward to seeing you again really soon.

Love,
Chad and Shelly

Mom and Memaw

2007-10-04T20:24:00.000-06:00

We are having a great time with my Mom and Grandmother right now in Honduras. They are seeing everything and enjoying getting to know what we do everyday. Mom just bought a digital camera and she is taking a ton of pictures. She will have a great diary of photos when she gets home if you want to get with her to see them.

We just finished supper. All the ladies made chicken enchiladas, rice, guacamole dip and Rocky Road candy. It was delicious. I also just finished writing my devo for the ranch workers in the morning. I look forward to sharing with them in the morning. It is such an encouragement.

I will write more later with some pictures of my Mom and Grandmother. Have a great night's rest.

Chad

Almost October

2007-09-30T10:33:00.000-06:00

Can you believe that tomorrow will be October? Time is flying by. We have been busy with my cousin, Amy Lofton Hartford, and her husband's visit with us last week. They took their vacation to spend a week with us. We showed them all the projects going on early in the week and then went to Roatan for the last half of the week. They left yesterday. We thoroughly enjoyed them being with us for the week. It is awesome to have family (and friends) around you sharing in what you love to do. Thank you Amy and Sam for your visit and come back really soon!

Roatan was great. It is the Caribbean island off the shore of Honduras. It is the biggest revenue producer for Honduras since it is totally geared toward tourism. They have 3 or 4 Carnival cruise ships dock on the island for the day which produces major money for the country. They have been voted the top 5 dive sites in the world. The weather was HOT and the water was crystal clear. Sam and I spent one morning snorkeling and seeing the beauty of God's creature below the surface. What a sight!

I began Amy and Sam's visit with a bad cold. I had a 102 degree fever, cough, headache, pains in my body for 2 days when they first arrived. I was not very fun to be around. I still have my cough right now but it is getting much better. I am on medicine and think that all will go away by the first of the week.

We are gearing up for my mom and grandmother's visit this Wednesday. They will be here for 5 days and we cannot wait for them to see all the projects. We will have to put some incriminating photos of them on the blog for everyone to see while they are here.

It is a sunny day here and we are catching up on rest and computer work today. Enjoy your day and let us here from you soon!

Chad

Update

2007-09-19T10:02:00.000-06:00

We have been extremely busy lately with day to day activities that I have not had the chance to actually sit down and update our blog. I do want you to know that we moved our children into the new house last Friday and it was a day I will never forget. Their faces expressed every emotion I could ever imagine them having. Just to give you one little hint of what it was like...we played in the sinks for an hour with the HOT water. They were amazed. Their showers will never be the same. What a blessing!

I am putting together a full report to send nationwide with pictures and such but wanted those who read our blog to actually know that the children are in their new house thanks to the work of our skilled laborers on the ranch and our home congregation, Berry's Chapel. I cannot wait until the next one if finished so we can experience that great day all over again with some new children. Maple Hill is building that one and are ready to work.

We also celebrated Independence Day in Honduras last Saturday in the new house (it is the biggest house out of all the missionaries). We invited Doris Corrales, our Director, and her family who have a rich history in the San Marcos area and the ranch itself. We had a spread: tacos, pasta salad, beans, tortillas, brownies, cookies, coke...the works. It was awesome! The kids enjoyed the leftovers on Sunday also.

I am sorry that I do not have pictures to post but Shelly has the camera in Choluteca today. I am working here in San Marcos. I will be sending a massive email out soon with all the details of the new house and the children. Thanks for your prayers in our start-up and making this dream become a reality. Talk to you soon.

Chad

Children's Day

2007-09-16T15:13:00.000-06:00

We celebrated "Children's Day" in our schools on Monday, September 10th. The entire country celebrates this day every September 10th to honor the children. It is such an exciting day for the children. The mayor's office and the bank in Choluteca even donated pinatas and candy for us to use. There were 20 pinatas, 456 packs of cookies, 500 lollipops, and no telling how many pieces of candy that just the children in the Early Childhood Development Centers enjoyed. There is no telling how many tons of sugar the children in the entire country consumed in this one day.

One mother donated her time to make these yummy cupcakes for the children.

There were games planned for all ages.

And, even the smallest of the children had a great day!

This day was the highlight of my week. Although I was unbelievably tired when it was all over, it was absolutely wonderful and fun. It was discussed numerous times during the day that in the United States "Children's Day" is not celebrated or really even thought of because really every day in the US is children's day. We take for granted parties, celebrations, candy, and treats that these children only see once a year. I cannot imagine attending another party without thinking of the faces of these children when they were celebrating their special day. Thank you to those who donated money or materials for us to use for this special day!!

Shelly

A night at the theater

2007-09-08T09:07:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a big day for Mission Lazarus Refuge. 4 representatives of IHNFA, Honduran child protective services, visited our homes to inspect them and see if we are ready to open. WE PASSED ALL INSPECTIONS! They were thrilled with our new house and were excited for the children that will move there. We also took them to visit a brother of the Beltrands who wants to move with them. He chose not to move last year. He is 16 years old and very quiet. It will be the beginning of a new life for him. We then ate lunch together and then visited the Beltrand children in their house. They were pleased to see the difference in them.

Last night we went with some of our friends (Doris Corrales and her family and Sabastiana, our social worker for the home) to a theater in Choluteca to support a children's home there who was selling tickets. It was a one man play about drug addiction. It lasted about an hour. The actor did a good job by himself. But only in Honduras do you visit the theater and see people eating corn on the cob while they enjoy the show and pull out their flashlights when the lights go out to continue the play. Near the end of the show, the electricity went out and there was a pause for about a minute and then 4 or 5 flashlights were brought out to continue the show. It will be a memory forever.

All in all, yesterday was a great day! It was intense but great to spend time with some representatives from IHNFA who we are becoming friends with. We are looking to move the children next week into the new house. What a day that will be.

Chad

Back to Business

2007-09-06T14:57:00.000-06:00

We are back to business here in Honduras. The storm has passed and is a thing of the past. Truthfully, nothing happened besides about 30 minutes of extreme rain. No flooding here, no damage. We will wait for the next one though. It is that time of year.

Today our Mission Lazarus doctor visited San Marcos to check up on the children in the nutrition program and as an outreach of the church. We took all our children to him for a check up because with that many children, somebody is always sick with something. They all checked out pretty well. We need to have some other exams done on two of them but they will be fine.

I did meet some of the cutest children today. We are helping another family who has a sick mother and 6 children. 2 more do not live with them since they are a little older and can take care of themselves. I told this family last night that I would be at their house around 7:30 this morning to go to the doctor so everyone needed to be ready to go at that time. When I pulled up this morning, all the girls were dressed to their best in their cute dresses and had smiles that are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. They loved riding in the car. Remember, they went to see the doctor and they were THRILLED. They were able to get treatment also and take home some medicine to feel even better.

There is something about this family that makes me want to help them. They were first brought to our attention because we were told that the mom was dying and that they had nowhere to go when that occurred. We finally found them (which is more difficult here) to interview the mom and see what the situation was. It was not as bad as we had heard but still needed our attention. The mom is sick and is very poor. They live in a shack which does not even have complete walls. She is a good mom though. She tries her best, she is just poor. It is not a situation where the kids are mistreated or anything like that. They are a neat family and we are going to continue to help them in any way we can. It may be building them a new house or just supplementing their food. The mom has a doctor's appointment in Choluteca at the hospital on Sept 15 to find out specifically what is wrong with her. That will give us an avenue as to what to do next with her.

The sad thing is, we are bombarded every week with situations like this. We want to help all of them but we just simply can't. But for those who think the church of Christ is not doing anything in this world, know that the church here in San Marcos de Colon, Honduras is making a difference in the lives of the poor. The mom has never been to church but had a huge smile on her face when I dropped them off (after getting cookies and coke for everyone because they behaved so well) and said, "Everyone today was so kind to us. Thank you."

My challenge to you is to go out and be kind to someone before the day ends. You never know what kind of impact that will be on them.

Chad

Update on Felix

2007-09-05T07:29:00.000-06:00

We are safe! We stayed in a hotel in Choluteca last night very safe and secure. It was a concrete building with a generator so we had power all night even when the electricity went out. It rained extremely hard for about 30 minutes last night and then gently rained the rest of the night. No damage was done but we are still trying to find out exactly where it is now. There are conflicting reports on the internet and television of where it is exactly and what it is doing. The sun is trying to pop out here in Choluteca right now.

Thanks for all your prayers and concerns. It was a stressful night but we made the most out of it. All of us ended up watching Evan Almighty last night since it seemed appropriate due to the amount of water coming our way. We are back in the office this morning working. Talk to you again later when we hear more.

Chad

Hurricane Update #2

2007-09-04T17:11:00.000-06:00

Hello to Everyone!
It is 5:18 p.m. on Tuesday evening. We wanted to let you know that we are safe and sound in our hotel. It is a concrete building and we are away from the river. It is raining pretty hard here right now and the wind has picked up quite a bit. Just wanted to let those of you who are checking the blog that we are o.k. Please continue to pray for our safety.

We'll write more in the morning.

Blessings!
Shelly

Hurricane Update

2007-09-04T12:55:00.000-06:00

As of 12:55 pm (Mountain Standard Time) we are safe and preparing for Hurricane Felix to come in. The southern part of Honduras is directly in front of the storm which should pass over tonight or early tomorrow morning.

It has just begun to rain here. Shelly, Jarrod Brown, Alli Brown, Meredith Jones and I (our missionary family) are moving to a hotel in nearby Choluteca (1 hour away) to be close to one another and closer to the capital (2 hours away). This will allow us to keep track on what is going on closer to our offices in case there is a need for a relief effort.

Everything is calm right now. No major wind, just rain. I anticipate the rain to pick up over the next few hours before tonight. The bad thing is that with a few days of rain mudslides will occur which effect those in the mountains who are extremely poor. Please pray for their safety as it is extremely difficult for them to leave.

Thank you for all your emails asking about us and we ask that you pray for this country and the people living here. This storm is bringing up bad memories of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 for many of them. We will keep you posted on this blog with what is going on as long as we have internet connection and a cell phone signal.

Chad

Pictures

2007-08-30T07:52:00.000-06:00

Tristan is ready to ride a horse. I am trying to get more pictures on the blog of our past week but am having trouble getting them to download. Give me time and I will have more pictures to show. Have a great day!

Chad

Great Meeting

2007-08-23T11:58:00.000-06:00

We just finished a great meeting with all the "Directors" of Mission Lazarus. It started at 8 am and ended at 11:30. There were 22 people present from all the areas of Mission Lazarus which covers a good portion of the southern portion of Honduras.

It was the first time for this type of meeting where we get everyone together to talk about what is going on in their area and how we can help each other. I thoroughly enjoyed the meeting. It was great to see everyone's face in one location sharing with one another.

It also reminded me how big this mission is and how much it has grown just in the last year. We have some great people working for the Lord here in Honduras. A big lesson I am learning is that there are great, Christian men and women all over the world who are not necesarily like me. We live in two different worlds but they are children of God just the same. We just need to give everyone a chance to introduce themself.

It makes the children's song "Jesus Loves the Little Children" come to light for me:

Jesus loves the little children,

All the children of the world,

Red, yellow, black and white,

Jesus loves the children of the world.

The question for all of us is, "What are we doing to develop a relationship with those who are not like us?" Let's step out of our comfort zones and get to know someone new...not like us!

Chad

A week with the men

2007-08-16T10:33:00.000-06:00

We have had a great week with Mike Johnson, Ken Schauer and Justin Latimer who are from Maple Hill church in Lebanon, TN. I took them back to the airport yesterday after they have spent the week with us in our house working on the electricity in the cabins for our visitors. Tristan even made some new friends with them and did not know what to do without them there this morning.

Our groups are pretty much over and we have some "scouting" trips set up for the next month by those who are interested in working with us in the future. We will take time to show each of them around the Mission Lazarus projects. It has been an extremely fast paced summer. It really seems like yesterday it was June 1st and now it is the middle of August.

We are catching up on office work now and getting back to our regular routine if there is such a thing in Honduras. I know it is extremely hot in the States right now and I just want to let you know that we are officially cooler than there right now. I cannot say that many times through the year. Stay cool and keep praying for us and the mission here. Hope to hear from you soon.

Adios.
Chad

Pictures

2007-08-01T07:49:00.000-06:00

A cute little girl on the island last Friday with her bag of new clothes.

A boat (canoe) full of interns going to the island.

The interns conducting a VBS at the island.

Baby hammer-head sharks.

Nohelia and Gabriella (two of our children) with their cute hairdues.

Is that Shelly hitting the pinata?

Eventful Week

2007-07-29T13:36:00.000-06:00

This has been an eventful week in Honduras. We said goodbye to the 12 interns by having a grand cookout at their house Thursday night. Jarrod and Ally prepared grilled steak, chicken and shrimp for everyone. It was delicious. It was a great night just to be together and wrap up our time together.

On Friday, Shelly and I took the interns with Ronald Millon to an island to conduct a VBS and women's health seminar. We loaded everyone on small canoe-like boats to get to the island and all the interns kept saying they felt like they were on an African safari. It does come across like that. They did an excellent job spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to those on the island on their last day in Honduras. We ended the visit to the island with an announcement to the residents that Healing Hands International is going to help run pipe to the island to provide water. They have never had this and it will be a blessing to everyone.

Shelly and I then said our goodbyes to the interns and headed to another island with Ronald to find out what their needs are. They are in need of a bridge (which we are going to provide) and some septic systems. We hope to work with them more in the future.

Saturday was the biggest day of the year for San Marcos de Colon. It was the final day of the fair and the biggest party day. So many people were in the city. Shelly and I were tickled last night because just as the music was to begin and the party to kick it up to the next level, the electricity went out and a monsoon came through the city. That shut everything down. About an hour later, the rain passed and the electricity came back on and the next thing you knew, everyone started coming out of their homes and shelters and heading to the party. When we went to bed at 11 pm, the music was loud and going strong. We have heard that they went until 4 am.

The fair is over now and people are beginning to head back to their regular lives which is great for us. Maybe things will quiet down here. We have lived in a constant state of loud sounds this whole week. We have a group arriving on Wednesday to do some medical work. We will host people until August 15th and then settle back down into our regular schedules.

Let us hear from you soon. Email us: chad@missionlazarus.org and shelly@missionlazarus.org. We want to know what is happening with each of you and where you live. Remember that we are in the middle of nowhere and anything new and exciting is great to hear.

Chad

The San Marcos de Colon Fair

2007-07-22T01:04:00.000-06:00

Well, I have finally found some time to blog. We have had groups here since June 1st and that has kept all of us pretty busy. I don't know what it is going to be like when it is just Chad, me, Jarrod, Alli and Meredith. We are not going to know what to do with ourselves. I am sure there will be plenty of things for us to get in to.

Yesterday was the opening day of the San Marcos de Colon Fair. It was an exciting day. Chad and I began our day with breakfast at about 9:30 and from then on we were with friends and had such an amazing day. The parade was to begin at 10:30 a.m., so we invited the 12 interns and the Beltrand children and their caregivers over to watch (the parade went right in front of our house.) The interns showed up around 9:45 and frosted the cookies while I made coffee and got other things ready for the kids to come at 10:00. We all enjoyed a wonderful refreshment time with cookies, rice Krispie treats, coke and coffee until the parade began. It started right on Honduran time, 11:15 a.m.

There were floats and everything. The best thing about parades here is that they not only throw candy from the floats, but they also throw bags of frozen chicken and homemade cheese. I about got knocked out by a flying bag of cheese.

After the floats they had some really nice cars and then horses. They were all really cool. The horses were the neatest to watch. Some just trotted right on through and stayed in line. The best ones though were the ones dancing. We had a horse from Las Palmas that participated in the parade along with one of our ranch foremen, Holman. Don't they look good?

A little side note; Chad and I just found out this past week that we are going to have another baby horse. We are very excited. This white stallion is the daddy.

After the parade, we took the kids and went walking around town. I do not have any more pictures from the day because it was not really safe to carry the camera with us due to the crowds of people in the streets. We walked to the other street where the parade was going through and got to see the horses again. There was a pick up truck bed full of men playing instruments and the horses were dancing and prancing to the music. Then, it started raining, so we went and hid under some trees in the park for a while until the rain slowed down.

We went up to the holding area where the horses were eating and the riders were having a celebration. There were also some little shopping booths and some fun stuff for the kids to do. The little kids jumped in a blow up elephant and the big kids played on a big blow up slide. They had so much fun that they had to of course have something to drink and a little snack afterward. They needed to leave, so Chad and I stayed and walked around a little bit and then decided we would go watch the bull riding.

It was so funny. The bulls would come out of the shoot bucking and kicking for about 10 seconds and then they just stood there with the rider on them. There were 3 men that were dressed up like clowns that had red cloths and spears. They were teasing the bulls to make them run around some more. Up in a little booth there was a live mariachi band. Latin America culture is to have the speakers set so loud you cannot hear what is being said. The music overpowered everything. A little while later, the MC guy announced that they were going to have a soccer game in the middle of the corral. He began collecting money from the crowd to pay the winning team. Some people were giving $5 and $10. He ended up with about 3,000 lempiras, about $150.

They began the game with a large bottle rocket. The object of the game was to get 5 goals. The guys played for a few seconds and then a large cow with huge horns was let loose into the corral where the men were playing. Everyone went crazy. It was so funny watching the guys try to get away from the cow and the cow trying to figure out which one she was going to go after next.

It was a fun day. We were beat when we got home. It was really neat to see the similarities and differences of how they put on a fair here. There were parts that reminded me of being at the Williamson County Ag Center at the Fair.

Thanks for reading!
Shelly

We are still here

2007-07-19T09:34:00.000-06:00

Don't think that we have fallen off the face of the earth. We are still here trying to catch up now after several groups. Give me a few days and we will post some new writings. Adios.
Chad

Pictures

2007-06-28T09:17:00.000-06:00

The "old" house renovated.

Downstairs will be a house for some new children

while the upstairs will be offices, a library and a storage room.

Current state of our first house built.

(Elvin and Oscar) Two happy workers

One happy student at school.

Two of our "tias" (aunts) who take care of the children.

A Great Day at the Beach

2007-06-17T14:13:00.000-06:00

Last week was kind of like spring break here in Honduras for schools. Friday we took the Beltrand children and their caretakers to the beach to have a vacation day. It was a beautiful day. The children had NEVER been to the beach. We left their house at 8:00 that morning, stopped at the ice factory to fill our cooler and headed to Los Delgaditos. When we got there the kids did not know what they were supposed to do. Everyone was hungry so we all ate ham and cheese sandwiches and enjoyed yummy cold cokes. Then Chad ran and got in the water. Soon after him, everyone had found their way into the water too.

They had so much fun. Iris is the only one that was not too fond of the water. She would go in but did not like to go where she could not stand up. We buried Gabriella in the sand, Geovani and Leonel made sand castles, Diana rode the waves, Nohelia and Iris played in the waves as they broke, and everyone had a great time. Doris, Danilo (our driver) and his two children went with us also. At about 11:00 they all went on a walk down the beach because the "lanchas" were coming in with their catches from the morning. They went down and visited with the fishermen and Danilo came back with fish and shrimp that he had bought to take home for supper. The rest of the time we were there we kept a count of all the boats that were coming in with seafood to sell.

The 2 Claudias got into a sand fight. It was great getting to see them all pitch in and throwing sand all over the place. Little Claudia was covered in sand! We got some great pictures of the day. We took a break at noon to eat lunch. Claudia had made a big pot of rice, veggies, and chicken. Chad had made brownies the night before to take with us. We ate and then decided we better get ready to leave. We had a 2 hour trip back to San Marcos. Chad decided he would drive us back to Choluteca because he wanted Danilo to have some time off from driving that day. We all loaded up in the van and backed up about 10 feet and we were stuck. Chad got the van stuck in the sand. Danilo, Chad and Doris all went and found rocks to put under the tire that was spinning to give it some traction, but that did not help. Eventually the man that runs the area where we were came over with 2 shovels and we dug out the sand and tried some more rocks under the tires. Chad went across the street to get someone to bring a truck over to pull us out and while he was there, Doris, Danilo and the man from the beach got the van out. We were able to head back toward home.

We stopped in Choluteca at Wendy's and got everybody a Frosty. We were all sitting there quiet. We were all so tired that we just sat there and ate our Frosties. After eating their frosties, the little ones went to the play ground to play for a while.

We had a great day and I think the children will never forget the experience they had that day. We hope to go again soon.

Shelly

Funday Sunday

2007-06-10T18:10:00.000-06:00

This morning we woke early to join up with the Mayfair church of Christ (Huntsville, AL) group to go to Choluteca for worship. We had an area wide meeting today in the Central Church in Choluteca. There were 12 congregations present with 760 in attendance. We have 2 groups of North Americans here right now and they were all there along with the 10 interns and all of the Mission Lazarus team members. It was great to see some old faces that we do not see on a normal basis.

After worship we took the Mayfair group to Cedeno to the beach for lunch. We arrived around 1:15 and ordered our food. At 2:30 our food was brought to the table. It was so yummy! Chad and I had fresh fried shrimp and freshly peeled french fries. Everyone enjoyed the time we spent there.

This Mayfair group is spoiling us. They have rented out a restaurant here in San Marcos to cook all their meals like at church camp. They have invited us to join them whenever we can. Yesterday we had BBQ sandwiches and chips. Last night for dinner we had very yummy spaghetti and garlic bread. We are heading there now for chicken salad sandwiches. We think we will be hanging out with them the rest of the week.

Shelly

Update

2007-06-08T12:44:00.000-06:00

We haven't forgotten about you on the blog. We have just been that busy and have not had the opportunity to sit and type. We have a group here from Crieve Hall church in Nashville, TN and another arriving today from Mayfair in Huntsville. We are swarmed with people on top of our regular day to day activities. It is fun to see the groups here interacting with the locals and practicing their Spanish. They really do help us out to get things done faster.

Well, the book. We finished the first copy of the book and had a group meeting about it last Tuesday night. Everyone is looking over it and revising it as much as possible and we are to meet again Monday night. It is thick! It is a great accomplishment that will help us in the future. It is still a work in progress though.

We will have another IHNFA training seminar on Monday for all our teachers and care givers for the children. It will run from 8 am - 3 pm. We will serve everyone lunch again. It is so beneficial for our employees to get this kind of training in children's rights. We are expecting 50 again.

The interns are doing great. They are working in all our areas and doing a lot of helpful things. We plan on joining them tonight to make homemade pizza. It is becoming our Friday night tradition with them.

Everything is running smooth right now so we must be thankful for that. I have just spent the last 3 hours looking for and repairing the motor on my truck's door to lock-unlock the door with the security system. The motor went out 2 days ago. It is not easy to find things in Honduras. You have to get use to that and understand that it might take several hours to get the simplest things back in the States. I found one though and the lock is fixed.

We are about to head up the mountain back to San Marcos to work up there this afternoon. Have a great weekend and we want to hear from some of you. Let us know what is going on in your lives. My email is chad@missionlazarus.org.

Chad

The rain is here

2007-05-31T08:59:00.000-06:00

It is raining "cats and dogs" in Honduras today. We have basically been without rain since October of last year and are just beginning 6 months of the rainy season this week. It rained most of the night and is continuing now. It is good to see a lot of rain. It does produce mud all over the place but the fresh air and coolness the rain brings is worth it. You just have to wear rubber boots wherever you go. Shelly and I bought some heavy duty plastic mats to put in her truck on Tuesday in Tegucigalpa which will keep the mud in the proper place.

We are still working on the BOOK if you have read previous blogs. It is coming along very well. I am proud of the work Ronald and Doris are putting into it. It will be a very valuable resource to have once it is finished. By the way, they have begun painting both of the homes on the ranch so we are only a few weeks away from opening them.

We have a big seminar for all our care givers and teachers tomorrow with IHNFA (Honduran child protective services). It starts at 8 am and goes to 3 pm. We have 3 speakers on the rights of children, lunch, a question and answer session and a finale with diplomas. I am excited about the day.

10 of our interns arrived on Tuesday to work for 9 weeks. 2 more will come in June and July. They are from all over the country and are excited to be here. They will spend time in all areas of Mission Lazarus and really get to work one on one with the locals and find out what it is like to be a missionary in a third world country. We are glad they are here.

Chad

Teacher Appreciation Day

2007-05-27T18:53:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful celebration Saturday with our teachers, cooks, guards, and other employees from both our Early Childhood Development Centers. Our theme was "You Are Special" based on the children's' book by Max Lucado. We began at 10:00 in the morning with a devotional and Chad had planned an activity for everyone to do. First he showed the movie of the book, but the computer battery went out in the middle of the movie so we had to finish it after lunch. Due to the computer quitting, we went on and did the activity. Each person had to get with a partner and talk about things that make them special and then they each had a sheet of paper to write why their partner is special. Those were all read aloud to the group and then each person got to take the paper home that was written for them. We rewarded all the men with a lantern spot light and the women with a coffee mug filled with goodies. Then, we had lunch. It was a very enjoyable day and everyone had a great time.

It is so important anywhere to make your employees feel appreciated. Most of all we wanted to make sure that they know that they are important in God's kingdom and in the work here on this earth that they are doing. I know that the activities of the special time we had together will have an impact on them for a long time.

Shelly

The Book...

2007-05-25T11:17:00.000-06:00

Doris Corrales (our Honduran Director of ML Refuge), Ronald Millon (our Honduran Director of ML) and I are working hard on completing a book that no one has ever done before. We want to be the first (or maybe one of the first) children's home in the world to have a book that outlines every aspect of it...from discipline, daily schedule, rules, contacts, medical, you name it-it will be in there. We want to be able to hand this book to all our employees and they fully understand their role and what needs to be done at what time and what needs to be done if something goes wrong. It is a huge undertaking but we are taking it one step at a time.

We have been working on various aspects of it for 2-3 months now but it is crunch time. We have set the date of June 7th to have it completed. We got serious yesterday. Doris and I leave San Marcos at 6 am to travel 45 minutes to Choluteca (where our office is located). We start with a prayer with our other workers at 7 am and then hit the computers. We do not leave the office until the assigned project for the day is complete. As of day 2, it is working well. It will be a complete book when we are finished and one that will help our children's home run smoothly (or as smoothly as possible).

We had a meeting with IHNFA (the Honduran child protective services) this morning and they are coming to do a seminar on the rights of children for us next Friday. We are inviting all our tias (aunts who take care of our children) and teachers from the schools. We will begin at 8 am and go until 3 pm. Each person in attendance will get a diploma which is great to have on record for our workers. I am excited to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and some real progress being made.

Shelly and Roxanna (the director in the school) have put together a Teacher's Day tomorrow for all the teachers in our schools. I will lead a devo at 10 am and the party will go until 2 pm. They will have lunch also. It should be a great day. I know Shelly is excited about it.

Pray for our efforts in working on the book. It is a huge undertaking but something that is very necessary.

Chad

Update

2007-05-23T12:02:00.000-06:00

Shelly and I are back from the States. It was great to be home, celebrate Mother's Day with our moms and be a part of my cousin's wedding. Emily and Jared were officially married on Saturday and the whole day was wonderful. It was an honor for me to stand before them and marry them. They are in Jamaica this week. Pray for their safety and the start of their new marriage. They will be living in Gallatin, TN.

I am running around today checking up on things. Shelly traveled to Choluteca today with Roxanna, our school director, to purchase some items for the Teacher's Day on Saturday. They have asked me to do a devo for it. They are taking time to just show our teachers how much they mean to Mission Lazarus and how glad we are to have them a part of us. They will have a delicious lunch for them and several other activities. It starts at 10 am Saturday.

It is warmer here than in TN. We have had to adjust back to the heat. It was 93 yesterday but it did rain hard for about 30 minutes last night. We are adjusting back and getting back into the routine of things. Our 12 interns show up next Tuesday for 9 weeks. I am excited about them and the experiences they will encounter.

Thanks for reading our blog. Let us here from you: chad@missionlazarus.org

Adios.
Chad

In the States

2007-05-14T16:43:00.000-06:00

Shelly and I are in the States right now until the 21st. I have the opportunity to perform my cousin's wedding next Saturday in Bowling Green, KY. I also had the opportunity to talk to the congregation at Maple Hill church of Christ last night in Lebanon, TN. It was a great evening and great to see their enthusiasm for Mission Lazarus. They plan on paying for and sending a group of 40 men next February to build our next house at Mission Lazarus Refuge.

Shelly and I both got to spend Mother's Day with our moms which was special for everyone. We also spent today at the lake with Shelly's family on their pontoon which is always enjoyable. We have many people to see and much work to do before the 21st here in the States. We will get back with you on our blog when we return to Honduras.

Oh, I almost forgot, I got word today that one of our children we take care of, Diana (13 years old) was baptized last night in San Marcos de Colon. She has been thinking about it and finally made the decision last night. What a great announcement! I am so eager to get back to Honduras and give her a big hug and help her start her Christian walk. Please keep her on your prayer list. God is good!

Chad

Pray without ceasing...

2007-05-09T16:36:00.000-06:00

We as Christians can do just that. Over the past 10 months that Chad and I have been here in Central America there have been a lot of prayers offered on our behalf. I just want to take this time to thank each of you for the prayers. I had a little accident while horseback riding a few weeks ago and know that if there had not been those "never ceasing" prayers of so many of you things could've turned out a lot worse for me. Each day in our Early Childhood Development Centers we talk to God with the children impressing on them the importance of petitioning God for blessings as well as thanking Him for the life He has given to us. We have this one little boy, Luis Sernando, at the school in San Marcos that reminds me so much each day during our devotional time that God wants me to be as a little child and come to Him with the slightest little things and He will be there to listen. Luis is 3 years old, but look at the example he is to so many. Just a little food for thought. God bless you!

Taking Another Step Forward

2007-05-08T18:16:00.000-06:00

Today is a historic day for Shelly and me. I am sitting in our apartment writing our blog on the internet.

What is so special about that? WE HAVE INTERNET IN OUR HOUSE!

I thought this day would never happen. Our internet connection before this was 45 minutes away in Choluteca but with the advancement of cell phones in Honduras, we now have internet over a cell phone connection. This will give us the opportunity to stay connected more and have a convenience in our life.

Nothing is convenient in Honduras...except internet service now...when it works. I try not to get too excited about things because you never know what might happen in Honduras but for now, I am celebrating.

Thought I would share my enthusiasm. The little things that make you happy in Honduras are amazing!

Chad

Los Photos de la Semana

2007-05-02T14:14:00.000-06:00

Got enough cushion?

Priceless face of a boy on an island we visited last week.

These eggs have not been colored for the picture. They are ready to be cracked for lunch.

Shelly took this picture on our way up the mountain from the office in Choluteca.

Dia de los Trabajadores

2007-05-02T11:36:00.000-06:00

Monday was Labor Day in Honduras. We have spent since last Friday showing our employees of Mission Lazarus that they are special and we do care about them with pool parties, cookouts, and visits to the beach. It has been enjoyable to get the workers out of their normal day to day jobs and spend time with them in other places in Honduras with their families.

We are busy this week doing all that we do. I am asking myself, "What do I do to keep me so busy?" But as Shelly said last night to her mom on the phone, "Staying busy keeps life interesting." There is not a dull moment here in Honduras. Between spending time with the children to keeping up with paperwork to working on the ranch, time flies by here.

I do ask that you keep our very good friend, Gerardo Flores, in your prayers. He is in the hospital again for the second time in 3 months with his sickle cell anemia. He is very sick once again. We are searching for more definite answers to what is going on and may have to consult with some doctors in the States. Please pray for him and his wife and family as they are very worried about him. We plan on visiting him tomorrow in Tegucigalpa.

Chad

A new roof for an old house

2007-04-26T07:29:00.000-06:00

We are in the process of putting a new roof on the Beltrand's current house because we had a thunderstorm last weekend which flooded their home. The clay tiles did not hold up which I expected anyway. We are putting tin down first and then putting the tiles over that. It will be much better. The men should finish today.

We have a heat wave today and tomorrow in Honduras. Businesses and schools will be shut down tomorrow because of the Spring Equinox. I never cared much about it before but in Honduras, the sun's rays are extremely close to the earth and it causes an extreme heat wave and is dangerous to be in the sunlight too long. They are to cut the electricity for 2 days here starting today sometime. The temperature is to get up to 115 degrees. It is HOT! It has been raining a few days this week which means the rainy season is very close. The rain helps out everything so I am excited about seeing it more often.

We had yet another birthday party last night for Doris, our Honduran director, and Danilo, our bus driver for the kids. I forgot my camera so I do not have photos. We had two cakes so that each could have one. Shelly made them. The kids loved them. They were chocolate and strawberry. We all had a great time.

Keep up your prayers. Thank you for keeping up with us. Send some cool weather our way!

Chad

The Ranch is Coming Along

2007-04-19T12:12:00.000-06:00

Above are the pictures as of Tuesday of the new home on the ranch at Mission Lazarus Refuge. For those who worked on the septic tank, you can not see that both of them have been capped and are ready for their special substance. We are shooting for the middle to end of May to have our inauguration of the first two homes (one of them being the old house which we are renovating). We are currently taking care of 11 children off the Mission Lazarus property where they will call home. Please pray fervently that these two homes can be finished quickly and we can move the children to their new home.

Chad

Meet our Tias

2007-04-19T11:52:00.000-06:00

Meet our two newest tias (aunts). Their names are both Claudia so it makes it easy for everyone to remember. I call the one on the left Claudia #1 and the other Claudita (small Claudia). They are a blessing from God. We have had 2 other ladies in the house with the Beltrand children and they have not worked out. For the first time, we decided to go ahead and put 2 ladies in the house with them since that is what we will do on the ranch. It has worked beautifully.

They are great at helping the children with their homework and making sure they are doing what they need to be doing. They know how to discipline with love but still make a point of behaving. God has blessed us with these two ladies. Please pray that we will continue to find women like them to serve in our other homes. We will be interviewing some more women for future jobs on Monday. Please pray that that goes well.

Chad

Muchas Fiestas

2007-04-19T09:43:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOHELIA!

We had another party Tuesday night for the now 10 year old Nohelia. Her smile on her face when she got her new shoes was priceless! We limited each child to one piece of cake this time since we had a disaster last week. It worked out much better and everyone enjoyed the whole night (even after the party).

Another Birthday Party

2007-04-13T11:08:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SELVIN!

We had a great birthday party for Selvin Leonel last night. He turned 11 years old. He has been begging for a new back tire on his bike since he wore out the other one. I surprised him with a new seat also which was needing replacing. As you can see, he is smiling from ear to ear. After we gave him the bike, we did not see him again for the rest of the night because he was riding it all over the place. He is one happy rider now!

We did learn one thing last night. Never give children 3 pieces of cake each. They kept asking for more last night and it ended up that half of them were up vomiting because they had eaten so much. Next time, we will only give them one piece that night and they can eat the rest for breakfast the next morning. Oh well, they loved it though! Everyone is fine now.

Chad

Pictures of the BC crew

2007-04-13T10:53:00.000-06:00

Shelly and I with Gail and Jerrie Barber

Will Baxter, Jerrie Barber and me

Returning to Honduras

2007-04-10T08:34:00.000-06:00

Shelly and I return to Honduras bright and early tomorrow morning. We ask that you pray for our safe flight. We have had a great time while in Tennessee visiting friends, churches and family but look forward to getting back in the "swing of things" in Honduras. I am anxious to see what has happened since we have been gone. I will let you know in the next blog.

I spoke to David Lipscomb Elementary School's 2nd Grade this morning thanks to the infamous Regina Lankford. They are a great group of boys and girls. I had the opportunity to show them our new Mission Lazarus promo video and speak about the wise man building on rock and how that translates into our lives spiritually. Regina is a wonderful woman who does not get enough credit for taking something on and running with it. With her initiative and the other teachers in the 2nd grade, the children and their families have collected all our bed linens and will begin later in the month to collect all our supplies for 2 kitchens on the ranch. Thank you Regina and the 2nd grade at David Lipscomb Elementary. You are making a difference in Honduras!

Adios.
Chad

Happy Holy Week

2007-04-02T09:40:00.000-06:00

We are in Tennesse right now until the 11th. We had a Mission Lazarus Board Meeting to attend last Saturday and Jerrie Barber, the preacher I was working with at Berry's Chapel, retired Sunday and we did not want to miss that event for him and BC.

Jerrie Barber is my mentor and someone I deeply admire. He taught me so much over the years I was at BC and I appreciate every minute I had the opportunity to be around him. We had a retirement party for him yesterday at BC which lasted from 8 am until 3 pm. Jerrie said it was the longest party he has ever had and if you know him, you know that he has had a lot of parties. Shelly and I thoroughly enjoyed our time at BC yesterday. Getting to talk to our church family was encouraging. Knowing that there are so many people out there praying for you is such an encouragement and keeps us going. Thank you Jerrie for your example to me and thank you BC for a great party yesterday for everyone.

Do you like your shower at home? I have to drop a line and say that the showers in the States are absolutely GREAT! Having pressure and hot, hot water at the same time is a dream come true. Don't take your shower for granted!

We are enjoying our time with family and friends but look forward to returning to Honduras and getting our hands dirty again. I will post a picture of Jerrie, Gail, Shelly and I soon.

Adios. Chad

PICTURES

2007-03-07T11:42:00.000-06:00

#1 - The new house built by the men at Berry's Chapel.

#2 - Doris Corrales, our Director, doing construction at the new house.

#3 - Milk from our ranch being pasturized at the school for the kids to drink for breakfast.
#4 and #5 - Coffee harvesting on our Coffee Plantation in the mountains.

AGUA

2007-03-07T11:38:00.000-06:00

I have never been so happy to have water in my entire life. We went 7 days without water in our house. The motor to the pump burned out overnight and it took that long to get a new one. Fixing things in Honduras is not easy. One person tells you one thing, while something else is done. After we took it upon ourselves to buy a motor in Choluteca, our water was turned on. I learned a lesson from all of it. If you want something done, you have to do it yourself. I am thankful for our water though. Life without it is a little more difficult...and smelly!

OCUPADO = BUSY

2007-02-28T13:33:00.000-06:00

The word ocupado in Spanish means busy in English. Boy, do we know that meaning of that word. It seems that 2007 has already flown by with this being the last day of February! Where does time go? We had 33 men from TN and TX here last week working around the clock to build our first home at Mission Lazarus Refuge. They completed 75% of the house and it looks great. Thank you men for your GREAT work!

We escorted them to the airport on Friday and came home to find out that we did not have water. Have you ever gone without water for a day? Don't misunderstand me, I mean no water anywhere. It is hard to clean yourself, make food, wash dishes, maintain life without water. We have a man coming to our house at 4 pm today to fix the problem. This will be his 3rd visit. We will see what he comes up with this time. The motor to our pump burned out.

Life in Honduras makes you wonder how people do it around the world. People without anything get by with nothing. Have you ever thought about that? I don't know how they manage. It has been a pain living without water for 5 days, think about for your whole life. Did I mention that you cannot even flush the toilet? I admire those who have nothing. They are truly stronger than I am. I will not be taking water for granted as soon as we have it. Enjoy yours for me for right now. Adios.

Chad

February ML Newsletter

2007-02-06T11:44:00.000-06:00

"Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me." Psalm 27:10

Many people have been praying fervently for Mission Lazarus' Children's Home and those prayers are beginning to be answered. It is with much pleasure that Mission Lazarus announces the following...

You may not recognize the name Mission Lazarus Refuge at Las Palmas, but you are familiar with the name Las Palmas Refuge. The name for Mission Lazarus' newest project has been officially established, the Mission Lazarus Refuge at Las Palmas. The clarification in the name gives ownership and identity to the home as a Christian community outreach while maintaining the historical name of the community where the Refuge is located.

The Mission Lazarus Hacienda is a 1,200 acre working ranch and is home to the Mission Lazarus Refuge. The Hacienda is fully functional with crops, cows, horses, pigs, turkeys, chickens. Our goal is for the Hacienda to play a major roll in providing for the children's home. We are excited about the development of Mission Lazarus Refuge at Las Palmas and what God is going to do for the children living there!

It is a thrill to announce that after 3 months of working directly with IHNFA, the Honduran Government’s Child and Family Protective Services, on Thursday, January 11th, we received official notice that Mission Lazarus Refuge at Las Palmas has been approved by the government to operate as a children’s home.

The Director of IHNFA was very impressed with our facilities and our future plans. This approval has taken similar projects many months to obtain but God has blessed Mission Lazarus. We are grateful to all of you who have been praying for this project.

On Wednesday, January 17th, Doris Corrales accepted our offer to be our Honduran Director of Mission Lazarus Refuge at Las Palmas. Doris lives in San Marcos de Colon with her husband Raul and 8 year old son Raul Jr. Doris' education is in Primary Education and she is very excited about joining our Mission Lazarus team.

Doris has a lengthy job description since we are in the beginning phases of building Mission Lazarus Refuge. Please continue to pray for her and her family as they make this transition in their lives and as we work together to make a difference in the lives of children in southern Honduras.

We currently have 2 homes under construction at Mission Lazarus Refuge. The existing house is undergoing extensive remodeling to accommodate 10 children and their care givers with an addition of new bathrooms and kitchen facilities.

On February 16th 33 men from Berry’s Chapel church of Christ in Franklin, Tennessee; Maple Hill church of Christ in Lebanon, Tennessee and First Colony church of Christ in Sugar Land, Texas will be arriving to begin putting the walls and roof on our first new home. This will be the first of ten homes built in a community style setting. Our Honduran masons have been working hard for a month to have the foundation ready for the men in February. These houses will become homes to many of neglected, mistreated, abandoned and orphaned children for years to come.

As soon as we finish the construction of both homes, we will begin to receive children at Mission Lazarus Refuge. We will move the Beltrand family (6 children who Mission Lazarus has been taking care of since their mother died and their father abandoned them late summer last year) into one of the homes and bring 10 more children to the Refuge for the other home. At that point, we will be responsible for the upbringing of the children at Mission Lazarus Refuge. We need your help to accomplish that task!

You can sponsor a child at Mission Lazarus Refuge for $250 a month. Sponsorship is a great blessing for the children of Mission Lazarus Refuge and for you. It is an awesome responsibility not to be entered into lightly, without prayer and thought. Children may be sponsored by individuals, families, groups, classes or congregations. You may also partially support a child for as little as $50 a month. We will group you with others to provide full support for a child. We have been informed by the local director of IHNFA that there are currently 37 children in the nearby city of Choluteca who are waiting to be placed in a home. Will you help us help them? We need child sponsors imediately to ensure that all is taken care of when it's time for the children of Mission Lazarus Refuge to move in.

With your help, Mission Lazarus is empowering local men and women to show God's love, to plant seeds of hope, and to grow their own churches. Your financial support is appreciated and always needed, but it is your prayers that are blessing the work in southern Honduras. On behalf of the Mission Lazarus staff and American missionaries, Muchisimas Gracias!

Chad

The Arm!

2007-02-01T07:47:00.000-06:00

My arm is doing better. As you can see from the picture, all the skin has pealed off my forearm and it is as smooth as a baby's bottom! I keep a lot of cream on it to keep off the infection and wrap it when I am at the ranch or in a lot of dust which is hard to stay away from here. I only have a little pain with it from time to time but it is much better than a week ago. Luis' arm and Danilo's leg are improving also. Thank you for your prayers!

Our friend, Gerardo Flores, who we also mentioned in our prayer request, has gone home and is improving significantly. He received 4 bags of blood while in the hospital. We plan to visit him tomorrow in Tegucigalpa.

Oh yes, Tristan is doing well also. He could not stand to be left out of an opportunity for his picture to go out on the internet.

Thank you for your prayers! They mean so much to us. By the way, did Tennessee get snow last night? It definitely did not snow here. Send some our way.

Chad

Chad's Burns

2007-01-29T10:00:00.000-06:00

Many of you may already know that Chad and 2 other Mission Lazarus men were burned on Thursday night while unloading a container. Everyone is healing, but still in a lot of pain. Thank you for your kind words through e-mail and mostly for the prayers on their behalf. This is going to be a long recovery, but God is with us and will comfort us through it.

Here are some pictures of Chad's burns. Please try not to get sick.

A birthday party to remember!

2007-01-18T13:13:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIANA!

Last night, we celebrated Diana's 13th birthday. The beginning of her teenage years. We had cake and ice cream and presents. She received some perfume and a new bike. All right...enough with the details. It sounds like a "normal" birthday, huh?

I have to say that it probably was the best birthday party I have ever been to because of who it was for. Diana is one of the Beltran children who Mission Lazarus has been taking care of since the middle of last year. Their father abandoned them after their mother's death. There are 6 children who God has put into our care. Last night's party was probably the first one Diana and her siblings have ever encountered.

To see the looks on their faces when Ally brought out a homemade chocolate cake with ice cream to go on the side was amazing. Have they ever had cake before? Had they ever celebrated any of their birthdays? You could tell they were a little overwhelmed but really did enjoy the party for Diana.

The Beltran children will be the first family to move to Mission Lazarus Refuge and I was thinking last night that that event will be one of many we have at the Refuge. I don't want a birthday to go by for any of our children at the Refuge without a delicious cake and love. I can only imagine what was going through their minds last night as they ate and ate and ate until their bellies were overwhelmed with sugar. That kind of birthday is what every child deserves and I want to make sure we give that to all of them.

I don't know when the next birthday is, but I am waiting eagerly. I want to see their faces get excited again and watch them slowly enjoy all that cake and ice cream. Nights like last night remind me of why Shelly and I are here.

Chad

Is that Levi or Tristan?

2007-01-11T14:11:00.000-06:00

It is coffee harvesting time! The first two pictures are of our new machine at Finca San Lazaro which is the Mission Lazarus coffee plantation. It takes the shell off the coffee bean. Jake Tincher, our Director of Agricultural Development, is taking notes from our coffee foreman, Gregorio, on how to work the machine.

Is that Levi Brown, Jarrod and Ally's son, in Tristan's crate? I believe he has found a new playroom! By the way, Ally celebrated her 29th birthday on Wednesday. Happy Birthday, Ally!

Chad

P.S. If anyone knows how to rotate pictures on Blogger (as above), please advise me. Thanks.

Pictures of the New Year

2007-01-09T14:30:00.000-06:00

1: Ben Osborne, our engineer friend.
2 & 3: The Abilene Christian University Marketing and Business students.
4: Picture of the land where we are building the children's homes.
5: Tristan, the fearless Honduran dog.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-09T13:49:00.000-06:00

Yes, I know it is a little late, but this is my first interaction with the internet since we arrived back in Honduras December 28th. Things are up and running smoothly for Mission Lazarus in this new year. We have some new employees here in our office that are already hitting the road running. We have a new office manager as well as an accountant, both Hondurans, that have been added to help with organization within the day to day routine of Mission Lazarus.

We had a wonderful time in the states for the holidays. It was great to get to see many of you and catch up what is going on. It has been a little challenging getting back to reality here, but we are doing very well. The time has just flown since we have been back here. Ben Osborne, an engineer friend of ours, came back with us to work on surveying the land we are building the homes. Then the day he left a group from Abilene Christian University flew in to work with us for a few days on marketing and advertisement of Mission Lazarus and now we have David and Janice Goolsby, from Healing Hands International, here working on satellite imaging of the Mission Lazarus Refuge property.

Thank you to all of you who have offered prayers on our behalf. We continue to ask for those prayers for the work we are doing as well as our safety in our every day life here in Honduras. Please pray that our work will be to God's glory and that the people here will be blessed because of the work God is allowing us to do.

God bless you in all you do and again Happy 2007.

Shelly

Where are you?

2006-12-21T12:19:00.000-06:00

We have not posted in a while because we have been in the States for Christmas and been very busy. Let me update you on what we have been doing.

I returned home on December 7th only to leave on the 8th with Shelly on an all-expense-paid cruise to the Bahamas which one of our friends generously gave us for Christmas.

We returned on the 11th and I went to Bowling Green, Kentucky for the rest of the week to help my aunt and uncle decorate the church for my cousin's , Amy Lofton, wedding. She married Sam Hartford. They are at Disneyland right now on their honeymoon and I am sure they are enjoying the Christmas spirit there.

I have been running around this week trying to get residency paperwork done and all the other things we need from the States which we cannot get in Honduras. We will be returning to Honduras on December 28th. Ben Osborne, an engineer friend of ours, will be returning with us to get right to work laying out our children's homes in the field which we will build them. He will give us his expert advice on the best places to build them. I am excited to see what he suggests. It is going to be a great place to live for those kids!

Shelly and I have had a whirlwind 2006 and look forward to God's blessings in 2007. We want to wish all of you who continue to read our blog a Very Merry Christmas and a blessed 2007! Let us continue to work together to make a difference in this world. Thank you for all your love and support of our mission. Check back with our blog after the 1st of the year to read what is happening then.

Adios.

Chad

Skype

2006-12-01T13:59:00.000-06:00

We have discovered a new way to communicate for FREE! You can't beat that. Go to www.skype.com and register and download the software and be able to talk to anyone in the world who has skype free of charge. Your computer needs to have a microphone and it works just like a telephone except over the internet.

Once you download it, try to reach me at chad.j.hedgepath. If I am at my desk, I will answer and we can talk. Hope it works for some of you! You can use it as an instant messenger device also.

Pictures

2006-12-01T13:50:00.000-06:00

December 2006 Report

2006-12-01T13:41:00.000-06:00

We have been on the mission field for 4 months now learning Spanish and working with Mission Lazarus and it has been challenging yet rewarding at the same time. We left our comfortable jobs where we knew how everything worked and moved to a country where organization does not exist and started from scratch on learning the ends and outs of Mission Lazarus and the work being done here. It is an honor to be one of God’s servants and help make a difference in Honduras even if it is simply by providing a poor village man a job for a day to provide food for his family that night.

Since this is our first report, we want to start off by thanking each person who is praying for us, giving financially for our support, or writing us an email or personal card. You have allowed us to do this work without wondering what will happen next because we know that God will take care of us. Thank you for supporting us! We want to make sure you are aware of what we are doing since you are investing in us. Even though we cannot put everything in this report, we will make sure to inform you of our specific areas of responsibility.

Shelly has been working closely with Mission Lazarus’ Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) in San Marcos closing the year out and getting prepared for next year. The children are out of school from December until February for “summer break.” There will be a new Director of the school in San Marcos next year which excites Shelly as they both work together on new ideas and strategies to make sure those children are given a quality, Christian education. She has also been sorting through hundreds of boxes of donated school supplies which are desperately needed in all the ECDCs. There has been a resource room established at the Mission Lazarus office in Choluteca and the organization of it has begun to be better utilized next year. Thanks to the cows on Las Palmas Ranch, all the children are receiving at least a glass of milk a day which provides needed protein to their slim diets. What a blessing that has been to those children!

We have given more identification to the Mission Lazarus Children’s Home. We have named it Mission Lazarus Refuge at Las Palmas and I continue to work on our paperwork for IHNFA, the Honduran Child Protective Services, for approval. So far, it is a 22-page packet of information which consists of an overall plan, budget, discipline plan for children and workers, credentials of those who will be working with the children, and much formal information needed for approval. IHNFA is extremely excited about Mission Lazarus Refuge and look forward to allowing us to open the doors as soon as possible. We are in the process of interviewing a lady from San Marcos to be our Honduran Director as she is well qualified for that position. We have put together a list of people within Mission Lazarus who will be working with the children on a regular basis and I am excited about what that holds for each of those children in providing for their spiritual, educational, and medical needs.

As far as the physical home itself, since Honduras has begun the non-rainy season, we have taken off the room of the middle part of the “big house” which existed when Mission Lazarus purchased the land and the roof of the back of the house which allows us to raise the walls to make more headroom for the bunkroom upstairs. We are looking to finish this project in the coming months with a new roof, new bunkroom upstairs, new bathrooms, new staircases, new kitchen and new dining room for the children to move into. What a blessing this house will be for the children! We are eagerly awaiting a group from Berry’s Chapel church of Christ in Franklin, Tennessee to come down in February to build our second home in the location where the rest of the homes will be located. We have an engineer coming the end of December to help us lay out the homes in the field to better utilize our space.

There is so much going on around Southern Honduras that Mission Lazarus is working hard to make a difference in. From building a Children’s Home from scratch, attending the medical needs of Hondurans in Las Pitas, vaccinating cows on Las Palmas Ranch, teaching children the Bible through school to helping Jose, a homeless man on the side of the road near San Marcos, we are thankful to be God’s servants and have an opportunity to be a part of the work of Mission Lazarus. We encourage you to research all the areas of Mission Lazarus by surfing the website at www.missionlazarus.org. Please continue to pray for Mission Lazarus and the team of missionaries (including Ally and Jarrod Brown and Jake Tincher) here as we try to make a difference in Honduras. You are helping us do just that. God bless you!

Chad

They are great when they work...

2006-11-27T13:58:00.000-06:00

Computers are great...when they work! Landon Roeder and Jonathan Smith traveled down on Thanksgiving Day from Nashville, Tennessee to spend 5 days working on our computers at our office. They have thrown around words and numbers that I have no idea what they mean but have produced a much better internet and network system for us at Mission Lazarus. They even wired and helped us get ready to make three additional computers available for our preachers and others who need to stop by to use a computer. Landon and Jonathan have put together those 3 additional computers which are on the shipment from Nashville which should leave very soon. I have enjoyed having them stay with me at the apartment. We have been to all the local restaurants which are safe to eat at and they have enjoyed some authentic Honduran food.

Shelly left for the States last Wednesday to be with her family for Thanksgiving and I will join her later for Christmas. If you get a chance, stop by Bath and Body Works at Cool Springs Mall in Franklin, Tennessee to say hello to her while she works. She is working there as holiday help to earn a few extra dollars for Christmas gifts. She was reunited with her baby, Tristan, on Wednesday also and sounds much happier now. Tristan has been in the States for 5 weeks without her.

Thank you Landon and Jonathan for repairing our computers! You have helped us more than imaginable. I think we have the best network in all of Honduras now!

Chad

Pictures of the past 2 weeks

2006-11-21T11:29:00.000-06:00

1) Picture of the stage area at our annual area-wide church service where 800 people were in attendance.

2) Shelly made me a birthday cake for my birthday on November 12th. We had a party with our Mission Lazarus Team.

3) New school building built by the men from Indiana for a community near Mission Lazarus Refuge at Las Palmas Ranch.

4) Water heater for the house on our new coffee plantation, Finca San Lazaro, in the mountains.

5) Early Christmas at our Mission Lazarus school in San Marcos de Colon.

The MAGI BOXES have arrived!

2006-11-21T10:49:00.000-06:00

A large truck full of Magi boxes pulled up to our warehouse late yesterday afternoon to be unloaded for children who have no idea that a gift is awaiting them. For the many of you who put together a box for these Honduran children, simply saying "Thank You" is not enough but you can know that you will make an impact on them that they will never forget. We are talking about thousands of children who will receive a gift this Christmas because of the caring hearts of so many individuals. Our warehouse is full! Thanks to you.

Christmas time in the States is a time for family for many and a time to give a gift or two to those you care about. Navidad in Honduras can be a day just like any other day, nothing special, but for those children who receive a gift, a simple box, it is not just a normal day. It is a day where those who pass out the boxes get to see the biggest smiles on children's faces because of someone in the States who took time to make a difference in their life. This opportunity for Mission Lazarus is one where relationships are built and the opportunity to share Jesus with others is started.

Thank you for investing in the children of Honduras. Thank you for caring about Mission Lazarus and our outreach. Thank you for sharing Jesus through a simple box!

Chad

It's not just milk. It's not just a cow.

2006-11-17T13:24:00.000-06:00

We had a group of 11 men here this week from Indianapolis, Indiana building a school building in a nearby village from Las Palmas Ranch. They did a great job and have really helped us begin to build a relationship with those people. We have not been in the office all week so that is why we have not updated our blog until now. I did want to share the below quote from one of our school directors about the importance of milk for our school children. Our cows on Las Palmas Ranch are producing the milk for the children which many of you have helped purchase. You won't look at milk the same if you read the below.

I do have to say, "GO VANDERBILT. BEAT TENNESSEE!"

"Milk is a powerful nutrient. And it becomes so much more powerful when it comes with all the love with which you have sent it to us.

The way in which you have decided this day to help us, is a blessing that we do not have in our homes. But this blessing is now present in our school!

Each and every day we drink a glass of fresh warm milk. Some days we have extra milk to make caramel, cheese, or cottage cheese, all foods that we could not make before at our school, and are absent in our homes.

You should know that we never want to wake from this dream of always drinking a glass of warm milk each day and sharing homemade caramel with classmates during recess! At the same time, we know there are many children in our community that have the same need for milk as we have.

The Mission Lazarus Refuge at Las Palmas does a great work and we are very thankful to God for these projects and for you for seeing using the eyes of Christ and sending us this cow, knowing as you do that this cow is not just a cow."

Karla Moncada
Director Early Childhood Development Center
San Marcos de Colon

The New Barn

2006-11-08T13:55:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we had a group of 10 guys from Lebanon, TN and Houston, TX come down to build the barn that we need for hay, tools and tractor storage. They put the roof on the barn and laid the concrete floor in the storage area. They also laid concrete flooring in the storage shed where all the horse supplies are kept. Here are some pictures of the work they did. Thanks guys for all your hard work!