Dogs, Mosquitos, Bass Playing, and Blessings from Above

Dear friends and family,

First, the bad news. Gorgi, our adopted little dog, is dead. Ed called him, “the Italian stallion.” We had noticed that his eyes were runny and that he would shiver when lying down. His true owner, Digna our landlord, told us that he wasn’t eating either. His body was found not far from here, on the edge of a soccer field. It’s truly a dog’s life for all dogs in La Mosquitia. They are not fussed over or cared for by anyone and roam around, sometimes in a pack literally oblivious to the human beings around them. I’m thankful for this, having been attacked by a German shepherd in my youth. I am often very leery of dogs. If these dogs barked at people or approached them I’d be beside myself here. There are hundreds of dogs and I’ve yet to see one leash or collar.

Gabrielle and I DO have one thing in common in our experience here. We’ve both knowingly have eaten tiny ants that got into the cereal we like. Unbeknownst to each other, each of us found the cereal crawling with ants, but mostly near the top portion. We killed all the ants we could then poured a bowl full and ate. Both of us reasoned they were too small to matter. Ed was incredulous that both of us would do such a thing and said we no longer had the right to mock him for any unsanitary thing he may do. We used to tease him about certain habits, saying that he had lived in Paraguay too long.

On the subject of bugs and their cousins, we’ve encountered our first tarantula in the house. It was a youngster. Ed saved the day once again. The girls and I applauded and proclaimed him our hero, our “Slipper Wielding Spaghetti”. That same night there were many mosquitoes in the house. We kill every mosquito we see in light of the dengue fever threat. Ed was having great success smashing them against the walls and ceiling with his slipper. Gabrielle cried out, “Are you not entertained?!”. Can you tell which DVD we recently borrowed from the Grigg’s? We also had a half dozen cockroaches come into the house with a case of fruit juice cans. Ed again killed all of them but one. That one scurried under the freezer. Chaela named him “Ludwig”.

During the last couple weeks there had been a growing presence of soldiers and heavy helicopter traffic as P.L. (Puerto Lempira) prepared for its primary elections. We’ve heard that the people are encouraged to vote (given money) and usually a lot of drunkenness is the outcome. As we’ve learned already, when the men get drunk, they like to let off some steam by shooting their guns off towards the sky. We usually hear these shots in the middle of the night at least once a week. Ed has determined the shooting erupts once the electricity is turned off and the bars are forced to close for the night. This year the people voted and a winner was declared—all without incidence.

Michaela has been a nonstop source of humor for all of us. She likes to walk around the house using a piece of door moulding as a “feeler”, pretending she’s blind. She also calls the local chickens “cannibals” because they rummage through eggshells, chicken bones and other similar debris in our compost pile. We had to move our compost pile about a month ago. We now have tomatoes, peppers and papayas growing where it use to be!

There have been a couple of cases of Dengue fever in our neighborhood, so the soldiers have been given the task of spraying the houses and yards. The insecticide comes billowing out of a very LOUD hose-like contraption, leaving a heavy white cloud in the air. It looks and smells like it could kill more than mosquitoes (the carrier of Dengue). Ed refused to let them spray IN the house. The insecticide is so toxic that it gives you an instant headache. We left the area and waited for it to dissipate. There isn’t the concern for protecting citizens from harm like we are accustomed to in the U.S. They’ve sprayed around our neighborhood three times now.

Ed’s daily contact with the prisoners has allowed us to learn about the Honduran penal system. If you are sentenced for 5 years or less, you can basically buy your freedom. Each day of imprisonment is worth 10 limps (18 limps = $1 U.S.) toward your freedom. So for example, if you’re sentenced to two years in prison it would cost you roughly $400 to buy your way out. If friends or family can scrape together the total amount due in cash, you go free. You are assumed guilty until proven innocent. Three of the inmates that have come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ are now free. One of them was let go because it was finally determined that there was not a shred of evidence to justify keeping him. This particular young man was at the hospital last time we saw him. It was there that he told us of his possible release. He said he wasn’t praying to the Lord to be freed, but that the Lord would perform His perfect will for his life. His face shone with the light of His countenance. We prayed with him at his bed, then he and a visitor, his friend, studied the scriptures together. We pray he continues to be strong in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The other men were able to purchase their freedom with money their families were able to raise. Yesterday another prisoner came to Christ and wants to be involved in the daily study of God’s Word. They have finished the book of John and have asked Ed to go through the book of Acts with them. Today, as Ed was running late for his bible study with the inmates, I gently reminded him that they most likely aren’t going anywhere.

Digna is having two small houses built on her land here in our neighborhood. We took pictures of the workers digging trenches for the foundation with shovels and then hand mixing the cement. Considering how hard the work is they are making tremendous progress. One night a couple weeks ago, Ed awoke to the sound of a truck running and something either being taken off or put on the flatbed. Ed was afraid thieves were stealing the construction supplies. It happened after the electricity was turned off, about 3 a.m., so you can understand his suspicion. It turns out that wood was being illegally delivered for the new houses. Our friend, Ray Griggs, works closely with the wood workers and owns a kiln for drying wood. He told us that a new guy is now in charge of the local government office that oversees wood distribution and use. He’s decided to shut everything down in order to overhaul the system. The Griggs’ believe he’ll either be out of a job soon or dead. One of his predecessors was assassinated after refusing to allow one of the local honchos to cut down some of his timber. See why they call La Mosquitia the Wild West of Honduras?

We had the above discussion with the Griggs at a restaurant celebrating Valentine Day. Here it is called “Dia de Amistad y Amor” or Day of Friendship and Love. Many were out and about. We thought this was a bad sign in terms of us being served our food within the hour or two time frame we’re accustom to. Further bad news, the restaurant had only two things on its menu available. We’ve learned to always ask first, what do you NOT have available. Sometimes the list is so long, it’s easier to ask what DO they have. This particular night all these bad omens worked out for the best. Because the cook was preparing only two items (chicken or lobster), we received our food in about 30 minutes--a record. We left happy and well fed.

We’ve been here over 6 months now. The girls and I share the same concern. Will our feet ever be clean again? It looks doubtful. I also have very distinct white stripes on my feet from wearing the same sandals everyday when I head out to get food. Whereas a deep tan covers most of my feet, the parts that are not exposed to the sun are as white as snow.

Some of the little food stands or “Pulperia’s” as they’re called here, are scattered throughout the neighborhoods. Most of the owners also live in the little store, dragging mattresses out at night and sleeping on the tiny floors. There is one near us that is “home” to a whole family with many small children. We bought some eggs there today and one of the young sons was manning the counter. He had a very difficult time counting to 12 to give us the dozen eggs we asked for. He then had an even more difficult time trying to do the math to give us the right change.

While having one of our many conversations about when the girls were younger, I learned something I never knew before. We’ve had some crazy nicknames for the girls over the years, especially when they were very young. Ed use to like to call Bethany “Sa-Sa Burger”. She told us when Eddie called her that one time, she ran out of the room and went crying to Gabrielle. Gabrielle asked her what was the matter, she said, “Daddy’s calling me a Saucy Booger!” We had a good laugh over that one.

I spoke to soon about the dogs around here. Last night as the girls and I walked back from painting the mural and band practice a lone dog was standing in the road facing our direction. One of the girls, I think Chaela, said he didn’t look too happy. Gabrielle said he looked stupid. With that, the dog growled and began to come after us. Before I could even react, Gabrielle lunged right back at him and yelled for him to “STOP IT!” He did! She certainly let him know who the alpha dog was. We laughed afterwards, remembering how Gabrielle had said he looked stupid. Maybe he understands English. Anyways, I was impressed by her fearlessness. That was NOT my instinctive reaction.

Two weeks ago, at a Wednesday night church meeting Michaela was so touched and overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord that she fell to her knees and was weeping for the entire time of worship. When we were asked to take our seats she asked me to please go with her outside. As soon as we got out the door she said, “I just want to keep praying!” I stayed with her while she cried with thanksgiving and love for the Lord, while begging Him to use her for souls. It was wonderful to hear such heartfelt thanksgiving flow from her lips, as Chaela is the one who really wanted to come to Honduras the least. To see her be so moved upon by the Spirit of the Lord HERE was a profound blessing.

Ed has now joined Bethany on the church platform to play the bass guitar with the other musicians during worship. Needless to say, Bethany is thrilled to have her dad up there with her. Kevin, the former bass guitarist, has left for the States for a three-month stay so Ed volunteered to play until he returns. I think he’s really enjoying it!

Three of us, in our private devotions, happen to be reading in the book of Revelations. I have a great companion book for understanding this book called, ”Revelation: Illustrated and Made Plain”, by Tim LaHaye. We were inspired to get it out and study it in order to get a fuller understanding of this amazing book, which truly is a revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a tremendous encouragement I discovered in chapter 7 of the LaHaye book, expounding on the letter to the church of Philadelphia (Rev. chap.3:7-13). Any of you that have this companion book, please read pages 55, 56 and 57. WOW! The Lord has certainly opened a door of opportunity for bringing forth the Gospel here in Puerto Lempira! Glory to His Name!

We are looking forward to a visit from our Calvary Chapel pastor from Syracuse. Chaela has expressed a desire to have him water baptize her when he comes. What a joy to be able to share with someone from home the wonderful blessings of what the Lord is doing here in our midst. For any one else that may be contemplating a visit, please let us know! We would LOVE to have you!

To the Maker of the heavens and earth-
Be all glory and honor and worship!
Karen and family