Swimming, Thanksgiving, Spiders, and a Box of Goodies

Dear family and friends,

We had a nice Thanksgiving Day, but I must admit I heaved a great sigh of relief when the last guests left. There were a lot of people for the space. Ed thinks our home is about the size of our garage in Syracuse. Thankfully it didn’t rain so the children were ablt to play outside. However, it was around 90 degrees and humid. Having the oven on for almost 5 hours plus the gas burners for boiling the potatoes, etc., made for a sweat-filled day on my part. I just wanted to get off my feet after scurrying around all day. We were able to get a ham and a turkey from La Ceiba, plus the fixings for mashed potatoes and dressing. A cucumber and tomato salad sufficed for a vegetable, and for dessert we had cake and apple crisp. No one left hungry, and it was a pleasant time of fellowship.

The Grigg’s brought a family visiting them from Canada. The wife, Jane, was suffering from an acute attack of diarrhea and spent most of the day scurrying between the bathroom and the water cistern. She mostly lay on the couch and was unable to have even one morsel of food. We laid hands on her and prayed for the Lord to touch her. Laurel also went to the pharmacy and bought a drug that kills amoebas (you don’t need a prescription here for any drug). After she took it she vomited. Believe it or not, she started to feel a bit better after that and they left.

One of the things I love about living here is that there are no expectations of things being “just so”. In the States there is always room for improvement. If you just put forth more time, money and/or effort, there seems to be no end to how something can be made or done better. Here we all live with the same limitations and there is simply no way of getting around it. This is why it didn’t faze me at all to have a Thanksgiving dinner for twenty-one people in a small space. Everyone’s expectations are low and “winging it” is the name of the game. As a result, there’s very little stress involved. In fact, it becomes a kind of enjoyable challenge.
A few hours later Chaela complained of feeling nauseous. She said she ate too much and decided to lie down in her bed. Gabrielle thought she heard her cry out. We went into her room to find that she had vomited up her entire Thanksgiving dinner. She followed that act with diarrhea.

The next day Ed visited the Griggs. Jane’s husband, their four-year-old daughter and the Griggs’ daughter Megan, all had the diarrhea/vomiting bug. They Griggs determined it was something they contracted the day before Thanksgiving. They had all gone to a beach to swim about a 45-minute drive away. They brought Bethany and Michaela with them. They think it has something to do with the water they swam in. Neither Laurel nor Ray swam but everybody else did. Bethany and Zachary were the only ones not affected that swam. Possibly, they were the only ones to not ingest any water. This sickness is violent, but short-lived. I’m SO relieved it’s not due to something they ate at Thanksgiving! If Jane hadn’t arrived already sick, we probably would have thought Thursday’s dinner was the culprit.

Now for a spider update. We had our first visit by a humungous spider one night last week. We believe the rain drove it to squeeze under the front door and then under the couch. It dared to come out and just stand in plain view. Bethany was the first to see it, and initially thought it was a crumpled up piece of paper. When I saw her head turn to look at it, I looked to see what had caught her attention. In a nanosecond, I was out of the chair and standing in the middle of the room. My sudden movement caused it to scurry back under the couch. We were amazed he could fit. He was grapefruit size but flatter than he was round. Of course Ed, our master critter killer, was not at home. We arranged our chairs so we could watch the couch and be assured he stayed put. When Ed arrived home, we put him straight to work. He lifted up the couch and there it sat. Bethany ran to get her camera so we could take a mug shot. Then, Ed pummeled it with a shoe. The rest of us safely watched from the top of the kitchen table. Yuck!

The cockroach that had taken up residency in our bedroom has also met with a shoe. I heard it chewing in the middle of the night on two different occasions, so I knew he was alive and well. One morning last week, as I straightened up some books in our bedroom, I spied him. I asked Ed to please come and kill it. Once he did, the dead roach was evidence that they do indeed fly. Bethany had tried to convince me that they flew as one night we watched a huge beetle fly around church, land on the floor and walls, then run like mad. I hadn’t believed her, thinking the insect was a different sort of beetle. Ed was under the impression that cockroaches couldn’t fly as well. But, this dead one was smushed in such a way that his wings were exposed.
Ed continues to be blessed, especially by the outreach to the prisoners. Four of them have asked to be water baptized and one of them has aspirations to be an evangelist. The group continues to ask many good and thoughtful questions and delight in studying the scriptures. One of them told Ed that they are so grateful to be able to study the pure Word of God without any underlying agenda.

We finally received the box of delights Jamie sent us from Syracuse in September. Thank you, thank you, and thank you, to all of you who contributed to it. We are thoroughly enjoying the spices, salt, crackers, oatmeal and candy. The chocolate (dark with hazelnut filling) was oh-so-good, but left me feeling like a slug for many hours. I think we’ve partially detoxed our systems from processed sugars. The newspapers were a huge hit and we devoured every word even though the news is a couple months old. It’s so hard to imagine a crisp autumn day when you’re surrounded by a blanket of 90-degree humidity. Thank you also, to all those who put in letters. They’re precious.

With love and peace in Christ Jesus,
Karen

Prison Praise Report

Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ
Just a quick praise report.

Today after finishing our study of Chapter One of the Gospel of John with the prisoners, one of them approached me asking to speak with me alone. He is very shy. For a moment I thought he was going to confess some heinous crime. Very quietly, and with his head bowed, he told me he wanted to get baptized. My smile stretched from ear to ear. I cried out to the rest of the prisoners, “Hey, who else wants to get baptized?” Two raised their hand. I asked if they could leave the prison to get baptized at church since it’s only two blocks away. One of my students who is the prisoner in charge of all the others, said no. He said the last time someone got baptized they used one of the big cisterns on the prison grounds. We walked over to it. Sure enough, it’s large enough to fit an adult in.

Before today’s meeting began, as we were waiting for everyone to arrive, one of the prisoners told me he and another student had been talking last night about the possibility of one-day visiting Israel. Yesterday I had taken time to show them where Israel was on the map in the back of my Bible. I pointed out Joppa, Caesarea, Jerusalem, Galilee and Nazareth. He said he and his friend were hoping, despite their past as criminals, the Lord would allow them to be evangelists someday.

When I asked one of the men to pray at the close of today’s lesson, he said in part, “Thank you Lord for allowing us to learn the pure word of God without an agenda.”

Please join me in thanking God for His marvelous works! He’s alive and still able to set the captive free!

Br. Ed

Quick Hello from Michaela

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello everyone its us in Honduras! Wow the time is going so fast down here it is already Thanksgiving! This year we are sticking to tradition with turkey, ham, and mashed potatoes. We are truly thankful for all that God has done in our lives and we continue to thank him as opportunities to share His word keep on coming our way. I miss, of course, everyone back home. I know that this is a short letter but there’s not much to tell, so bye for now and happy Thanksgiving!

Michaela

Thanksgiving 2004 - From Honduras

As I walked home today in the pouring rain, I began to think of all the things for which I am grateful. I was heading home to my wife and three daughters. We have been together in a three-room house the size of my garage since the 14th of September. We have no running water. We bathe by pouring a plastic coffee mug full of water over our backs. Karen and I share our only bathroom with three teenaged daughters. I burn our toilet paper each night in the back yard. We all sit at one kitchen table, the only useable table in the house. We pump our drinking water by hand. We wash our clothes by hand. We walk everywhere. We sleep under mosquito nets. Everything we were stupid enough to leave outside at night has been stolen, including our hammock.

Despite all this, or perhaps because of it, we’re happy. There is peace in our home. There is laughter in our home. The girls play together constantly. Often they stay up late into the night talking in their bedroom-- giggling, laughing, crying. The other night while listening to music, Gabrielle and Michaela jumped up and spontaneously began dancing with one another. They had us in stitches. My wife has never looked more beautiful to me. She has told me this is the happiest she’s ever been. We walk downtown everyday to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. She holds my hand like she used to when we first dated. I’ve watched her change from a woman who hates to cook to a chef delighting in yet another way to make tortillas. Her tortillas now far surpass the local’s. She doesn’t want to go home. Oh, she will of course, we all will. Forced together in such close quarters, we’ve bonded in a way that in today’s fast-paced lifestyle is nearly impossible. The tension in the faces is gone, as are the curt replies. The need to rush is non-existent. In fact we when get to church on time, we’re nearly always the first ones there-by a half an hour! Visitors pop in anytime, all the time and are always welcome. There are no intrusions. There are no thoughts of, “Gee, I really need to get back to work.” We’re blessed to have befriended two wonderful American missionary couples and their children. They’ve gently taken us, the floundering chicks, under their wings. As a result, we’ve grown incredibly close in an unusually short amount of time. We get along splendidly. Best of all, there is time to pray, to read and meditate upon the word of God. There is joy unspeakable which results from spending so much time in the presence of the Living God.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior. For He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.” (Luke 1:46-50)

Don’t forget to say “Thank you” today!

Shalom,
Ed Eagan

Language

Language is probably the greatest hurdle I have yet to cross. My dad intercedes for my sisters, mother, and I, but he is usually not at home between 9:00 A.M. and 5:30 P.M. save for lunch. Comprehending written Spanish is by far the easiest because of its similarities to English words. Understanding Spanish when spoken is harder because the natives often speak so rapidly that it’s hard to distinguish between words. By time you’ve figured out what they were saying a minute ago, they’re off on another subject with you in distant pursuit.

Though I hope to be somewhat fluent in Spanish when I leave, I highly doubt that I will be able to speak even basic Moskito. A few simple words and pleasantries will probably be all that I master. Unlike Spanish, however, Moskito letters are pronounced the same way as in English. For example:

Apostel Storka 3:16 (John 3:16)
Naha sim Jisuska ninara kasak luki ba mita sika naha waikna wapaia karnika brin naiwa man nani sut bui kaikisma na. Jisus ninara kasak lukan laka ba mita sika naha waikna aiska pali rawan na, bara man nani on namkra ni kaika bangwisma.

As you read that passage to yourself a second ago, you were probably pronouncing the words the exact same way a native Moskito would. Whereas in Spanish, i is ee and e is a and ll is ya and so on.

I practice my Spanish with Yeymi (8) and Tania (11), the two girls from the carpenter’s shop right outside Digna’s complex, when they come to play volleyball. They won’t correct me though, unless I ask them to. At 5:00 P.M., Jolani (14) comes and teaches me Spanish. She writes down about 15 verbs and nouns and uses them in sentences with vocabulary that I am familiar with. I then write a sentence. If I use it incorrectly, she rewrites the sentence showing me the correct usage. We then try to make conversation (with the dictionary handy). Slowly but surely, I think all of our Spanish is improving. May it do so until our departure in June!

Sincerely,
Bethany

Prison Ministry Update from Ed

7 prisoners prayed today to receive the Lord as Savior. They’re a great group—highly motivated to learn God’s word and since I meet with them everyday, I can see real progress. Isn’t God amazing?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Br. Ed

An Offering of Thanks from Karen

With Thanksgiving Day just a couple days away, I’ve been thinking a lot about the many blessings from the Lord that I’m profoundly thankful for.

I thank God for this place, Puerto Lempira, and that in His sovereignty He has seen fit to bring us here. It is the beginning of the fulfillment of a 25-year old desire of my heart that has never faded. I give thanks to the Lord for His unwavering faithfulness.

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen,
to the glory of God through us."
2 Corinthians 1:20

“Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.”
Psalm 37:4-5

The scriptures have always leapt off the page to me about the poor, needy and oppressed, and those who inhabit the coastlands and the ends of the earth. (Isaiah 42:1-4, 51:5)

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And recovery of the sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke 4:18-19

Thank God the Father, for sending His Son, Christ Jesus to fulfill this prophecy from Isaiah 61:1-2 The Father promised the Son-

“I will declare the decree;
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.’ ” Ps. 2:7-8
(this is why Matt. 4:8-10 was truly a temptation)

Christ’s charge to His disciple’s is-

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” Matt.28:18-19
For, in the future it will be sung-
“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” Rev.5:9

I’m so thankful to the Lord for His Word and His gracious Hand upon my family. He has kept us and blessed us in His abundant loving kindness. Lord God, I thank you for who You are!

“Yes, all kings shall down before Him;
All nations shall serve Him.
For He will deliver the needy when he cries,
The poor also, and him who has no helper.
He will spare the poor and needy.
He will save the souls of the needy.
His name shall endure forever;
His name shall continue as long as the sun.
And men shall be blessed in Him;
All the nations shall call Him blessed.
Blessed be the Lord God,
The God of Israel,
Who only does wondrous things!
And blessed be His glorious name forever!
And let the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen and Amen.” Ps. 72:11-13, 17-20

I’m so thankful for the privilege and honor of serving the Lord, here in Honduras, with my family!

The scriptures exhort us to…

“Rejoice always,
pray without ceasing,
in everything give thanks; for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thes. 5:16-18

I hope you have a thanks-filled Thanksgiving as you acknowledge and recount the many blessings of the Lord in your lives.

Love in Christ Jesus,
Karen and family

From Karen 17 November 2004

Everything continues to go well here. The girls are drawing near to the end of the first quarter in their home schooling. It’s quite a challenging program and it takes up the better part of their day. All three will be involved in giving weekly piano lessons to some children at the church. Last Sunday, Gabrielle and Michaela helped out with Sunday school. There were amazed how LOUD the children were. When asked to recite different scriptures the teacher kept saying, “mas fuerte”, that is “louder!” Gabrielle said she now understands why the music is so loud at church. The people start to abuse their hearing at any early age. Bethany stayed with us in the meeting because the pastor really looks to her to play the piano before and after the Word. She does an excellent job creating impromptu melodies as background music while the pastor brings the meeting to an end.

Since my first cockroach sighting, last Sunday, I’ve already seen two more. One was a good 3 to 4 inches long. It just appeared one night above the back door in the kitchen. Ed wasn’t home. The girls and I monitored his/her exact location at all times. Gabrielle was going to walk through the door underneath it, but she said it looked at her, so she walked out the front door and went around to the back of the house to get a bucket of water from the cistern to flush the toilet. Ed finally came home. He walked right in under it. Of course we asked for it’s death, but Ed got a cup, captured it and released it outside instead. Its antennae were as long as it’s body. As Chaela says, it was disgustible! My only comfort is, I’d rather have a cockroach than a tarantula or a poisonous snake in the house.

Last night, I went into our bedroom, and turned on the light to see another moderately sized (2 ½”) cockroach on the table. I tried to hit it with a shoe but it scurried too quickly. I thought it went into my toiletry bag so I picked it up with a shovel and carried it out to the back porch where I emptied out the entire contents. It wasn’t there. I don’t like knowing there’s one in our bedroom. I hope I get another opportunity to do him in.

The Engle family left for the States yesterday.. In their absence Ed and I are to carry out Katrina’s plans for three groups of children who need get to Tegucigalpa or La Ceiba for various surgeries. One group is comprised of burn victims, another group is children with cleft palates, and the last one is a child in desperate need of back surgery. Katrina took one girl with them yesterday to go as far as Tegucigalpa. Her left leg is severely deformed from the knee down. The gospels speak of “withered “ limbs, and that’s an apt description of this girl’s lower leg. Her left foot is about half the size of her right one and is curled around like the letter C. This foot only comes to the mid-shin of her good leg. She’s never walked without a heavy wooden crutch. In Tegucigalpa she will have the left lower leg amputated and be fitted for a prosthetic limb. This will enable her to walk for the first time in her life.

Our other responsibility will be to disseminate baby formula or boost. The doctor at the local hospital will give those in need of supplemental nutrition a piece of paper , which they in turn give to us in order to receive a week’s supply. Katrina has found that if she gives more than a week’s worth at a time the likelihood that it will be sold for money is much greater. When Katrina had received a big donation of powdered milk and put out a call for all malnourished children and orphans to come to her for supplements, she had 70 year olds coming to her claiming to be orphans. In their culture, if both parents are deceased, you are considered an orphan no matter what your age.

Through Katrina, we have been exposed to some shocking physical conditions. In our high tech, medically advanced, US of A, we’re insulated from the crude and shocking physical deformities and abnormalities we see here. There was a small child at her house with her mother awaiting transportation to Tegucigalpa (the only way out of here is by plane). This child was born without an anus. Katrina took off a patch that was on the little girls left side so we could see the raw opening that had been made in order for her to eliminate her wastes. This is the second child born with this condition we have met here. Another little girl had a huge tumor growing out the side of her neck. Katrina told us that before her first surgery it looked like a tire around her entire neck. The surgeons were able to remove it but it has now started to grow back. There is nothing more the doctors can do. We laid hands on her and beseeched the Lord for His mercy. The babies with cleft palates are also a heart-wrenching sight. Some of them die of starvation before Katrina can arrange for help. Visiting charitable groups like Operation Smile perform many of the surgeries. A lot of the children needing medical help live in outlying villages with names like, Tuburus, Koraswatla, and Warunta. Some even come from as far away as Nicaragua. Ed and I will use the local radio station to contact these villages and let the families know when they have to be in Puerto Lempira so they can get the medical attention they need. Please pray all the details work out and we don’t mess up in a way that may cost someone their life.

The Miskito language was given an alphabet that corresponds phonetically with our English alphabet. To get a sense of what the language sounds like, here are verses 10 and 11 from the gospel of Mark, chapter one-
“Bara kais, li wina taki aula kan bara, Jisas kaikan kasbrika pura ba kwawan, bara Spirit Hulikira ba, butku baku ai purara bal iwan. Bila baikra kum sin kasbrika pura ba wina naku wisata: ‘Man ba yang Luhpi laitwankira sma; man ba bak saki mai briri’.”

A Miskito (the people call themselves Miskito, not Moskito) woman came to our house last Saturday asking for something. She spoke more Miskito than Spanish so I was at a clear disadvantage. I gathered that she was from Cauquira and hadn’t eaten for three days. I wasn’t sure if she had no food or couldn’t keep it down. Hesitant to give her money (you hear some very creative stories requesting money, which is then used to buy crack or alcohol), I decided to give her a Ziploc bag of rice. She looked a little disappointed. I later found out from Laurel, that most every Miskito household has rice and beans on the stove at all times. They let it cool then just reheat it for the next meal. The rice I gave her hadn’t even been cooked yet. Oh well, I tried.
Ed has found his beloved mandioca here at the local markets. He fell in love with it in Paraguay. It’s also called yucca (here) or cassava. We’re all converts now (except maybe Bethany). It’s a tuber with brown skin and a dense white flesh. You can boil it, or boil and then fry it. It tastes like french fries, only better. The ketchup here is, in my opinion, much better than Heinz. It has a sweetness to it, and is delicious with some salted fried mandioca. Maybe now Ed will stop losing weight!

Speaking of food, we went out to dinner with the Griggs last Saturday night. When you order, you’re often told they don’t have this or they don’t have that, so you should be prepared to order a few different things. I ordered a chicken and vegetable shish kabob. I’d ordered it one other time there and it was delicious. This time however it came with only two vegetables-beets and beet colored cauliflower. Not only were there some blobs of chicken but also many blobs of steak fat. At least the french fries were good. Ed however had a delicious meal of grilled fish, rice, French fries garnished with a tomato and lettuce.

The bank in town always has one or two guards at the door armed with rifles. The bank isn’t open all day like at home. When it is open you can stand in line for hours. The currency here is the Lempira (our city’s namesake). Eighteen Lempiras (or “limps” as the locals call it) are equivalent to one US dollar. I have the multiples of eighteen written down for easy reference. Food is pretty expensive here. I spend just a little less than I do in Syracuse for our family to eat here. Ippolito’s Nicaraguan restaurant charges just 15 limps per bag dinner. I can’t feed the family for less than that. The high cost is due to the fact that most everything has to be either shipped or flown here to sell. The only exceptions are rice, beans, plantain, mandioca, bananas and oranges. These items are very cheap.

Next week is Thanksgiving. Hope you all have a wonderful time with friends and family. We’re going to try to celebrate with as many of the traditional foods as possible. You’re in our thoughts and prayers.
To Him alone belongs all thanksgiving and praise!

Love,

Karen and family

Shipping Opportunity

If someone has a small package they want to send us they can send it to the address below. This missionary couple live here and will be traveling back to the States this month returning in early December. They can hand-carry something for us. They’ll be going home to surprise Jim’s parents on their 50th wedding anniversary.

James & Paula Anthony
Global Outreach
PO Box 1
Tupelo, MS 38802

Blog Blast from the Eagans

I received a number of email entries for the blog this afternoon. In The Rainy Season, Karen describes some of his day-to-day activities and customs of the people she is working with. [BTW, the camera card appears to be damaged but I'm mailing it to Stan Ottman for one more try]. In Wild Life in Honduras, Bethany gives us a first hand look at the various critters that inhabit their world. Or is it the other way around? Michaela gives her version of the move from Cauquira to Puerto Lampira and finally Gabrielle gives us some insight into her daily routine.

Also - be sure to read the note about some Canadians that may be visiting the Griggs. If anyone has parcels there may be an opportunity to coordinate a shipment.

Potential Shipping Opportunity

Our friend the Griggs are expecting a Canadian couple to visit arriving this Friday. If any of you are holding onto a package to be sent here please email me back today and let me know what it is, how big it is and how much it weighs. I´ll try to find out their contact numbers so perhaps we can get something sent down here.

From Bethany - Wild Life in Honduras

The insects range from the miniscule ant to the enormous tarantula and cockroach. No matter their size, they make their presence known. At first, we naively tried to battle the bugs- and found out just how strong the winning side was.

As soon as we moved into are house in Puerto Lempira, a colony of ants joined us. Sometimes their line is so thick you can’t see any of the white wall underneath them. The ants are not usually a nuisance unless, that is, you accidentally step in their line. Suddenly you’ll find a hundred ants crawling up your leg. Red ants are not that numerous and only my dad has been bit.

Due to the compost pile not 3 yards away from our home, we have many, many flies. I can hear a constant “Shoo! Shoo!” from the kitchen as my mother tries to keep the flies from landing on our food. Also, because of the cistern on our back porch, we have a problem with mosquitoes.

At night, the large spiders, cockroaches, and praying mantises come out to feast on the bugs congregating by our porch lights. Fifteen lizards, about 6 inches long, seem to come out of the woodwork to join the killing.

Another night visitor is a black street cat who comes for dinner. Slowly but surely the tiny cat is allowing us to pet it. In Cauquira, the Millers had found a gray cat who was extremely friendly and all of us loved having her around. However, within a week of moving to Puerto Lempira, she became sick one day and disappeared.

There are many emaciated stray cats and dogs roaming the streets. The dogs are not usually aggressive, and only one time have some tried to attack Chaela, Dad, and I when we were walking back from piano classes. Digna, our landlord, owns a small dog whom we named Corgee. He sleeps on our porch now and follows us around town. In Honduras, the idea of treating a dog nicely is a novel one.

Chickens and roosters are always strutting along the sides of the road and at this time of the year, are followed by many little chicks. That roosters crow only in the morning is a complete fantasy. They crow all day and, for that matter, all night.

Wouldn’t you love to visit Honduras?

From Gabrielle

‘Ello everybody! I want to say right off that my sisters and I are doing great (and no my parents are not holding a gun to my head =] ) I don’t know what to write about since my parents have written to you about all our exploits and now that we’ve settled everything’s kinda ho hum so… I’m going to write about our (or my) everyday life. I wake up whenever I feel like it (one of the major perks to home schooling), which is usually around 7:30. I’m always the last one up (shocking I know) and usually start on yesterday’s homework first thing. I’ve found this works the best because I can do homework while the power’s off and consequently the laptops are unusable (they last a whopping 5 minutes on battery.) I’m usually done with homework around ten and by that time the power is on and I can start my school day. I get ready for the day again whenever I feel like it. Some days it’s right after homework or for others not at all. For example, I’m writing this e-mail at 5:40 p.m. and am still in my PJ’s. I have a good reason today because I don’t have any clothes to wear. I have to wash all my clothes by hand, which is pretty time consuming, and so I wait and wait until I have hardly any clothes left to do my laundry. My family doesn’t call me the Great Procrastinator for nothin’. Admittedly not the smartest way to go about it, but many days I do school up until dinner trying to catch up. It’s dark by dinnertime and you can’t leave any clothes out after dark, as they will get stolen. It’s also been raining the past couple days so I couldn’t do laundry even if I wanted to. I’ll have to do them tomorrow rain or shine and will just make room for them on the clothesline that stretches from one side of our room to another. A bunch of our skirts and stuff are piled up on the clothesline (which also serves as something to hang our clothes up on) right outside my mosquito net and hang down in big blob. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night and thought there was someone standing over my bed. Oh! That reminds of a little story I bet my parents haven’t told you yet. It was late at night a couple of weeks ago, and everyone had been asleep for a couple of hours. I couldn’t fall asleep however, and was glancing around the room when I saw the outline of a man as he walked by our window. This happened not long after our whole generator theft experience back in Cauquira so I was alarmed. “Bethany,” I whispered, “are you awake?” “Yeah,” she whispered back. “There’s a guy walking right outside Chaela’s window!” I’ll explain the layout of our room briefly so you’ll know what I’m talking about. As you walk in, Bethany’s right up against the left wall. I’m in the middle and have two sets of windows at my head that look out on our little porch. Chaela’s against the right wall and has another set of windows that looks out on the side of our house, which leads out to the main road. Anyways, a couple seconds later I saw another guy walk by. “Did you see him?” I asked Bethany. “Did you see him this time?” She hadn’t, but a minute or two later she saw two guys walk by. Both of the figures walked by the window from left to right and so appeared to be circling the house. “I think they’re going to try to rob us!” I said. We were both kind of freaked out by this point. Bethany then saw six men walk by our house at the same time. Two guys trying to rob you is bad enough, but six! I crawled out of my bed and got in with Bethany because I didn’t feel safe by a window. We could hear them talking by the corner of our house. I expected to hear them break into our house any minute. “Should we wake up Dad?” I asked. Now this is no light thing. When I was little, I once woke my dad up in the middle of the night because I had had a nightmare. When he woke up he spanked me and told me to go back to bad. I’ve been scared for life ever since. Waking up Dad can sometimes resemble waking up a sleeping bear and so neither of us was very willing to volunteer to be the one to wake him. We decided, for the moment at least, that we would rather face the robbers than Dad. The figures started again when it began to rain with flashes of heat lightning suddenly lighting of the room. Somehow it made the situation seem a lot worse. Bethany and I decided to go into the kitchen and see if we could see them from that side of the house. We crept out of our room into the inky darkness. As we were slowly inching our way to the kitchen windows, I noticed two forms looming in the darkness and walked around them. Bethany obviously hadn’t seen them because a crash behind me told me she had knocked over one of the chairs. We froze, waiting for someone to wake up. When nothing happened we crept to the window and waited… and waited. No one was coming by this window. Bethany went to see if she could see them through the window in the bathroom. When she came back she knocked into another chair. “What the heck are you doing? Be quiet! You’re gonna wake Dad up!” I whispered as loudly as I dared. When she came beside me she said, “What if Dad thinks we’re burglars and comes out with a hammer or something?” It wasn’t a very comforting thought. I asked her about the situation with the bathroom window. “The window is too high up but if I stand on your shoulders maybe I can see out the window,” she replied. After much consideration, we decided it would be unwise to try to get her to stand on my shoulders in the darkness and try to not knock over the shampoo bottles, body wash containers, etc. that littered the shower floor. We crept back to bed. We saw a couple more figures walk by the window but by this time the figures had ceased to scare us. We were tired and wanted to go to bed but first wanted to make sure no one was going to rob us. Minor detail. So we crawled on our hands and knees to the window. The window was closed and so we couldn’t see anything except shadows. We decided we should wake up Chaela and filled her in on the night’s happenings. I asked her if she was scared. “Ah, YEAH!” was her response. We decided that the window must be opened if we were going to see anything. You must understand this was a highly dangerous maneuver. With robbers circling the house, they might become a little suspicious if the window they were walking by suddenly opened up and three pairs of eyes glanced out. Bethany was chosen to be the window opener. She slowly, ever so slowly opened the window, while Chaela and I lay flat against her bed. She glanced out. “I don’t see anything” and then, as she changed positions, “Wait! Oh my gosh, there’s man right by the side of our house! I can see his shadow!” We all screamed and dove for the bed. Cautiously, peered through the window to see for myself. “That’s the tree’s shadow, you goof!” I exclaimed. We all discussed about what should be done next. Rather loudly, I might add. I finally told everyone to quiet down because the robbers would hear us, if they hadn’t already, as the came by the window. After about 20 minutes of this, we gave up. We were simply too tired (it was probably like 3:00 am) and didn’t care. We figured they would have robbed already if they were really going to, seeing they had been circling the house for at least two hours. The next morning we all told Dad about what had happened. The first thing he did was point out that the both doors had two locks on them as well as a chair in front of them if someone did miraculously manage to break through solid wood doors without anyone hearing them. Oh yeah, we had forgotten about that. Oh that’s right, all our windows have wrought iron covers on them too. We went outside and showed Dad where we thought the “robbers” and walked. There were no footprints. Dad said it probably the shadows of people walking on the road that runs by the gate that surrounds the complex that we live in the. The road is slightly elevated which make the shadows seem like they were right by out window. I told Dad that we almost woke him up. He said it was good thing we didn’t. I definitely agreed, as I imagined waking up Dad to find that the “robbers” were simply people walking outside. That would explain why we could only see them on one side of the house. The “running” figures were people on bicycle. We all felt pretty stupid in the daylight. This is a really long letter so I’ll finish telling you about my days in the next blog entry. I know you’ll be waiting with bated breaths to hear how I… (drum roll, please) do my homework! Lol. Speaking of which, I should probably go finish my English class. Yeah, more grammar.

Love you all and miss you!

From Michaela

Dear Friends and Family,

I am having a very interesting time living here in Honduras. It wasn’t really very shocking when we first came into the city. Then when we got out to Cauquira I was amazed how much better it looked from when my dad showed it to us on the tape, (thank you Brother and Sister Miller for fixing it up!) Well, after we got everything off the boat and into the house the real hardship started- who was going to sleep in what room. So after hours of moving beds, bins, boxes, and sheets we got every thing under control. After that every one was so tired and hot, that we decided to go swimming at the beach while mom made dinner. Actually getting to the beach was quite a trick. The first thing was getting into our tiny canoe without tipping it over (once every one got in there was about ½ an inch between the water and the top of our boat) and then, staying balanced so it doesn’t tip over when going across the canal to the actual village. (We lived on an island across from the actual village of Cauquira). Any ways once we got across we went through the same thing, of the boat almost tipping over while trying to get out. Then we went down the road across a meadow and up this trail. (All the while dodging dogs, cows and their feces.) We finally got to the beach. We all dived in right away, and then Kevin warned us about the jellyfish-that did not go over so well with Bethany and me. After a while of swimming, my dad said, “ Girls don’t freak out but something just brushed up against my leg, no joke.” Well if he didn’t expect us to freak out, he was quite wrong. Gabrielle, Bethany and I got out of that water as fast as we could.

Once back at home I went to take a shower and much to my surprise felt like some one was pouring ice on me instead. Then my mom told me to put a bucket on top of the drain, I asked why and she replied because that is where the cockroaches come up from-YUCK!!! After dinner we all sang worship songs, and that helped us to cheer up.

O.K. if I can make it through our first day fine it can’t get any worse -right? –WRONG!!!!!!

The next day I woke to the most annoying sound to be woken up to- dogs and chickens, barking and screaming all trying to be louder than the other. This lasted about 1 hour. After that I went down stairs to a breakfast of corn –flakes, which I have not had since then. Then came the same ice shower as the night before. I then started my schooling classes, which was very different, but now I am accustomed to it. Well the days were very much the same until about on the sixth day we were there, we were robbed (or at least attempted robbery). The next day was my birthday and-moving day. So, we packed the whole house practically and came to the city and moved in to our current house. The next few days were chaos we didn’t have a table or beds, (just mattresses). But finally, we settled in.

So that is the story so far, and we are going to a wonderful spirit filled church. We have met the Engle’s and the Griggs’ whom we have gotten very close to. Well that is really all that has been going on so far; and we are all fine and healthy.

Love, Michaela

The Rainy Season

Dear friends and family,

The rainy season is upon us. Everything feels damp to the touch a few days at a time. Drying our laundry is becoming more difficult. Clotheslines are strewn all around the house. The temperatures are noticeably cooler on the days that it rains more than not. Saturday I wore a long sleeve shirt the entire day. Today it’s back to being a scorcher. We now appreciate this kind of day. Because we walk everywhere and hand carry any food or whatever, the torrential downpours tend to keep us inside (except for Ed, he has a full rain suit). Katrina has told us a sweatshirt many be necessary in the next few months. When we go to Florida we’ll have to invest in some.

Many of you may not know, that the law here requires every visitor to leave the country every 90 days. Our entry visa is only good for 30 days, after which we must go to the local authorities, fill out paperwork, pay a fee, and obtain a re-issuance for another 30 days. They only allow for this two times, and then you must vacate the country for at least three days. The other missionaries here deal with it in different ways. The Grigg’s filed for Honduran citizenship a couple years ago, so they can stay put. We looked into this for ourselves, but the cost of doing so has greatly increased, and to begin the process it’s $2,000 a person. It’s cheaper to leave. The Engle’s send Roger with all the passports on a bus (a long, harrowing and uncomfortable trip) to just over the border of Nicaragua. He stays there a couple nights, gets their passports stamped, and then, rides the bus back here to Puerto Lempira. This doesn’t seem like a wise option for us either. We want to stay together and that bus trip is down right dangerous. As a result, back to Florida we go. Of course we’re thrilled at the thought of seeing our families. Ed’s family is all coming to the Miami area for the holidays and we’ll spend a week and a half with them. Then, we plan to go over to west coast and visit my side of the family through New Years. Our main concern is that the girls might dread returning here, after experiencing anew, all the perks of the States. We shall see.

Our ship finally came in. We were overjoyed until we realized; we don’t really have room for all of it, a few items disappeared somewhere along the way, and everything smells strongly of the substance the barrel containers are made of. Oh well, let’s not sweat the small stuff.

We had sent to Syracuse, via the medical mission group from Alabama, over 80 photos on a digital card. When it arrived, the card had been damaged, so no pictures for the blog this month. We shall try again.
Yesterday (Sunday) was a red- letter day. Not only did I encounter my first cockroach on steroids in the kitchen, but also managed to fall out of bed (the air mattress is a little over inflated). Our bed frame is quite high, so as to be even with the windows. This allows for maximum airflow. Anyhow, once I lost my balance and started to roll-off, there was no catching myself or breaking my fall due to the binding nature of the mosquito netting as I tumbled. My left knee broke my fall on ceramic tile. OUCH! Once I realized I hadn’t shattered my kneecap, I could only laugh at the ridiculousness of such a loser move.

Honduran perspective on time makes Eagan standard time look early. We invited a family to dinner. They were just a little over an hour and a half late! This is not unusual. We are often the first ones to church or any other scheduled meeting. I hope Ed doesn’t backslide into their ways.

I’ve noticed a couple of interesting mannerism among the people here. They point with their lips. I know it’s hard to envision, but they thrust the middle of both lips out then jerk their chin up in the direction of the thing they’re pointing to. Also, if you need to blow your nose, just close one nostril buy pressing your finger along one side of your nose, then let fly. They lean forward so everything heads for the ground in front of them. Whatever works. And to be fair, I’ve never seen a package of Kleenex for sale in this country.

There seems to be generally two predominate groups of people here in Puerto Lempira. The Latins (or Latinos) and the Moskitos (along with some from the Pech and Tawahka tribes). There is also a handful from the Garifuna tribe (directly from Africa). We gringos number 16 (including the children) amongst a total population of 10,000. There appears to be a distinct set of cultural rules between the main two groups. The recent murder is a good example. The murderer is out on bail, teaching at the public school. Only if the widow is willing to pursue justice will any further action be taken (her husband was Nicaraguan). She has opted not to because she fears for the lives of her children. Katrina asked one of the most influential Moskito men to rally the community to run this man (also Moskito) out of town. She said when they, as a group, decide to do something, watch out. I don’t know how this will play out, but many are upset. The fear of reprisal keeps the people silent and inactive, but this last incident, potentially, could break the cycle. If we didn’t know any other N. Americans here we would be absolutely clueless about any of this.

The Grigg’s shocked us the other night, by saying their monthly newsletter was mostly about our family! They said we’ve done more in the couple months we’ve been here than others accomplish in years. Eddie told them we are as surprised as anybody and all the praise and glory go to the Lord. They feel very encouraged and reinvigorated by our being here. Praise His Holy Name!

We visited the Hospital with the girls and prayed with and over many patients. The girls really loved this, so we will try to make it a weekly occurrence.

It’s been challenging, in light of their rigorous home schooling program, to get them out and involved in serving the community. They all want to keep teaching music lessons to the children here. That blesses my heart. The Lord is good and worthy of all praise!

We miss and love you all,
Karen

P.S. We appreciate so much all of you who have sent us e-mails. THANK YOU!

Phone Number Change

The contact information has been updated to include new phone numbers for the Engles, the Griggs, and Dinga (Eagan's neighbors and landlord, respectively).

Katrina's Testimony

Greetings in the Sweet Name of Jesus Christ,

Karen and I have just returned from the high school. Katrina Engle, one of our closest missionary friends, shared her testimony there today. I heard it for the first time and was brought to tears. Hers is the type of testimony one hears on the radio program, Unshackled.

She grew up in Chicago, living upstairs from the bar her Mom and Dad owned. By three years of age she was being sexually abused by her Dad. She was serving men drinks when she was 6. By 13, she was heavily in to drugs. By 16 she was in the psych ward of the local hospital, having tried to commit suicide. When her Mom found out she was contemplating suicide she simply said, “Try not to make a mess when you do it.” At age 18, while attending a Black Sabbath concert, she approached the stage with her 9 foot-long Burmese python wrapped around her shoulders and neck. Statutes of dragons with glowing red eyes spewed out fire on either side of the stage. A man dressed as the angel of death complete with sickle paraded about the stage. She stopped to shout out with all her might, “God I hate you!” Suddenly the snake began to choke her. She looked to left for help. The man next to her was shaking so violently he wasn’t even aware of her presence. She looked to her left to see a man dressed like a woman smiling at her with an evil glare. She thought, “I’m going to die right here in the midst of 50,000 screaming people and no one is even going to notice!” “Jesus! Save me,” she cried out. The snake relaxed its grip on her throat. “I’ve got to get out of here,” she thought. She ran for the exit. Once outside in the empty parking lot, a Hispanic man approached her with a tract. He explained the way of salvation to her and she received Jesus as her Savior right then and there. To this day she isn’t sure if he was a real person or an angel.

Soon she was in a rehab program at Teen Challenge. There she had a vision. She saw three young brown children. She was teaching them, loving them, comforting them. Within a couple of years she was here in Honduras living in the rain forest working as a nanny with an American missionary family. She knew she was where God wanted her to be. She nearly died in a plane crash here a few years later. While recuperating in the States, she met her husband Roger. He too had been delivered from drugs in a Teen Challenge program.

Katrina is one of the most humble, loving servants of God I’ve ever met. She cannot help loving the little children she takes in. Most are deformed, many have been abused, and all are malnourished and full of intestinal worms. Her life is filled with miracle after miracle. She has learned to trust God for everything.

As she finished with her testimony, she told the kids how she was asked to speak a recent conference two weeks ago. In attendance were the President of Honduras’ daughter who had served as the First lady during her father’s first few years in office since was unmarried, generals, doctors and other leaders. Since she only had 15 minutes, she decided to share her testimony. When she finished, the President’s wife sought her out and with tears in eyes said, “I want to thank you for what you are doing for the people of Honduras.” Katrina finished by saying, “I came from nothing. I never went to college and barely finished high school. My life was empty and meaningless. But God told me He had a plan for my life. He has given me a purpose, a plan that I cannot deny. There is no higher calling than to serve the Living God—Jesus Christ! Thank you Lord, for saving me.” At this point she was crying. “I know the Lord has plan for each and every one of you, just like He did for me. “ Ask Him to be your Savior today.”

I went up front, crying as I went. I had noticed a couple of young girls sobbing as she shared. The presence of the Holy Spirit was powerful and I told the kids that. “There is no doubt in mind whatsoever the Holy Spirit is moving on many of your hearts right now. Today is the day of salvation. If you feel the Lord is calling you, I want you to pray with me. Just close your eyes and repeat after me—not out loud but in your heart, with sincerity.” I proceeded to lead them all in the sinner’s prayer, crying as I spoke under the anointing. A just few lines into it, many began to pray out loud with moaning and conviction. Soon nearly everyone was crying out to the Lord. I was crying, Karen was crying, Katrina was crying and many of the kids were crying. Blessed be the Name above all names—Jesus Christ! Thank you Lord for your mercy! Thank you for your compassion! Hallelujah!

I would love to see Katrina sharing her testimony at Calvary Chapel and with our friends from Living Word. I know the saints would love her. It would be so wonderful if the saints had a chance to meet her. I have asked her to pray about this. Would you join me in praying about this? I told her I would pay for her ticket from Florida up to New York. She will be alone in the U.S for most of February before returning here in early March.

To God be the Glory forever and ever. Amen!

Shalom,

Br. Ed

Slowly but Surely

Slowly but surely we’re beginning to see the hand of God move here in Puerto Lempira. Just yesterday I was able to pray with a young teacher at the local Christian academy to receive the Lord as her savior. I teach Bible to her students in 3rd and 4th grade. Last week when we were studying Samson, I asked her if she was equally yoked with her husband. She said she wasn’t married-even though she is quite pregnant. Later I thought-“How sad”! “What kind of example are we setting for the children?” Then I thought, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” She’s just a lost sinner. So yesterday while the kids were taking their final exam, I sat next to her, shared my testimony with her, explained John 3 and her need to be born again. She got choked up at one point so I asked her if she wanted to pray right now to ask the Lord to save her. She nodded “yes.” Would you pray with me that she be established in the faith and that she would be able to bear fruit someday for the Lord?

Follow-up is a big problem here at the local Assembly of God church (at all the churches for that matter). Pastor David has asked me to organize a way for the church to effectively follow up and disciple the new believers. The Pastor mentioned a man who used to be a deacon in the church but returned to commercial fishing to support his family. Pastor David describes him as an excellent brother who would be perfect for the job of full-time ministry. He would love to put him in charge of the follow-up and discipling ministries. Please pray the Lord give us wisdom for this important project. I think he needs about $150/month to live.

My wife Karen shared her testimony at the high school last week. Twenty of the twenty-four students in 9th grade do drugs. About 10 kids raised their hands and prayed to accept Jesus as Savior when she finished. Pastor David did a great job with the altar call. We plan to preach to all the classes (some 1,500 students total) over the next few weeks.

I teach the Bible to the soldiers at the local army base twice a week. I just started last week. We’re also designing a curriculum for a new believers class to begin this Sunday. We try to go the hospital once a week to pray for the sick there. Last week we prayed with as woman dying of AIDs. Another woman got saved. “Order my steps in your word, dear Lord.”

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Ro. 1:16

Sincerely,
Br. Ed Eagan