Guatemala

Ashley and I are currently in Guatemala City. We had to leave Honduras because we only have tourist visas that last 90 days. So, every 3 months we have to leave Honduras for at least 72 hours so that when we re-enter we are able to obtain a new 90 day visa. This time we chose to come to Guatemala by bus because it was our cheapest option.

On Thursday, we left our house at 4:45am to catch the 5:15am bus from La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula. Then it was a bus from San Pedro to the Copan Ruins (about 15 minutes from the Honduras-Guatemala border). After the short stop there we crossed the border (first time for me to be in Guatemala!) and rode another four hours to Guatemala City. All in all it was a 15 hour trip from our house to our hotel. Long day.

We were able to meet up with some friends of ours from our time in language school on Saturday and visit the beautiful city of Antigua.

Our time so far in Guatemala has been great and tomorrow we will make the long bus ride back to our home in La Ceiba, hopefully with new visas.

Pictures!

I am pretty tired and my brain does not want to think too much, so I am not going to write too much on this post. Mostly pictures for your viewing pleasure!

I got to read about a caterpillar who was hungry.

All the kids LOVE Ashley!

Have you ever done the picture where everyone jumps up? We tried that today with the kids and they had a blast. Who do you think can jump on cue better?

The boys?

or the girls?

Every Tuesday we spend a few hours loving specifically the kids in La Fe. We enjoy it so much. For now there is not too much structure, but we are showing the kids positive attention and they are smiling and laughing more! We read fun kid's books and also have been reading out of the Jesus Story Book Bible. 

Giovanni got a Bible

A few weeks ago, during one of our medical clinics, a man asked if he could have a Bible. This was a little surprising, but exciting. We did not have any Bibles with us, but I told him that, yes, I would get one for him. 

Finally, last Monday, I took him the Bible. It was a paperback Bible that we can get here from the Bible Society in town for only a few dollars. He was so excited to receive it! He had his wife get his old Bible and he showed me how worn and used it was and he was very happy that the new one was the same version as the old one. 

I was able to sit and talk with Giovanni for about an hour about his life and family and about the Bible and who Jesus is. In our conversation, the Lord brought to my thoughts the things I had read in His Word that morning and I was able to share them with Giovanni. I know my Spanish was not perfect and that I may have even said things that were incorrect, but I praise the Lord that it is God's Spirit who does the real work and that the condition of Giovanni's heart is not dependent on me. 

Giovanni and his family live in this house.

I do not know if Giovanni has a personal relationship with our Savior, but he now has a new copy of God's Word which has the power to draw him to our Lord. Please pray that he and his family would read the Bible and that they would trust in Jesus as their personal Savior.

Soccer

Soccer in Honduras is life. Especially for boys. They think, eat, breathe, and love soccer (but call it futbol). One of the ways I have been able to get to know some of the boys in La Fe is to play soccer with them.

Yesterday was a special day for three of the boys from La Fe. I took them to an indoor soccer facility where we met up with our teammates Mike and John and 10 kids from Armenia Bonito (the other community our team has a ministry).

I am going after the ball. (Gerson is in the green shirt with the hat.)

Gerson, Ronnie, and Dandri all got to play soccer for two hours and also heard a gospel presentation during 'halftime.' They had a blast and got to interact with kids from another community. It was a special time for me and for our ministry in La Fe as well. It was the first time we took some of the kids out of the community and treated them to something special like this. As part of the process, I got to know their parents a little since I asked them if it would be ok to take their kids to play soccer.

Here is a short video showing some clips of our day:

Twitter

Ashley and I feel that it is very important for us to keep our supporters up to date with the ministry we are involved in because it is just as much their ministry as it is ours. We are the goers, while the many others who pray for us and give financially are the senders. This is the main reason we have blogs and send out monthly prayer letters and that I have now started using Twitter.

Each of these avenues of communication opens the door to sharing with a different group of people. With the internet and the ease of communication we have these days, I feel it is a responsibility for me to share the awesome things the Lord is doing here in Honduras with those who do not get have a front-row seat.

Twitter adds a new avenue for me in communication. It allows me to update what we are doing quickly and more up to the minute. This gives the opportunity for prayers to pray for what we are doing in that moment. So, if you have Twitter and want to follow me, I am @MichaelTroxell. Here is my home page: https://twitter.com/#!/MichaelTroxell If at some point God provides us with an iPhone, I will be able to keep everyone up to date even more.

You can also check out more information about who we are and what we are doing at our website: http://www.troxellmissionaries.com/

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers! We love what we are doing and what the Lord is doing in us here in Honduras.

A Floor for a Classroom

The community of La Fe is starting to hold classes (K-6th) in their own community. The problem is that they do not really have a god place for these classes. So, two families are allowing the use of part of their homes so that the community can have a 'school.' When classes started, about 2 weeks ago, only a small portion of this area had a floor that was not dirt.

Mike helping mix concrete.

That is in the process of changing! The community leaders asked us if we would be able to give them money so that they could make the floor, but we do not want to start off by just giving them things. So, we had to unfortunately, tell them "No." This was really hard, because for us, this expense is pretty small. 

Ashley helping to make the floor level.

The Lord provided in an awesome way! He allowed them to acquire the materials, but Ashley and I were able to give them both time and sweat, in the form of manual labor, in order to help them with their floor. It is not finished yet, but hopefully will be next week! Praise the Lord that He provided for them and that we were able to love La Fe by providing labor.

Gringo Church

Every Sunday morning our team gets together for a time of corporate worship in our heart language - English. I am so thankful that our team has put an emphasis on this because I realize that this really is something I need. I love going to church and worshipping in Spanish, but it is not quite the same.

We usually sing 4 or 5 songs, led by Shannon on guitar and Erin on the keyboard (I play a bongo drum to add a little more to the sound). Then we take time to pray together. This time of corporate prayer is special because we can share with each other what is going on in our ministries as well as how the Lord is working in our hearts. We are studying through the Westminster Shorter Catechism, especially for the kids on the team, but it is good for us adults to hear and study that material as well.

Lastly our team leader Mike shares with us from God's Word. Ashley and I arrived here in La Ceiba just in time to hear the end of a long study on the book of Romans and since being here we have looked at Galatians and are now looking at I Thessalonians.

We very much enjoy worshipping together with our teammates and getting to hear songs, prayers, and God's Word in Spanish.