When All Else Fails ...

We have had a crazy 24 hours.

Here's a little back story before the rest of the story ...

We have our vehicle here from the States on a 90 day vehicle permit.  We knew that we needed to renew the permit before leaving for our time in the States.

So Daniel & Mauricio took a "practice run" about a month ago to ask the agents about the process.  They were told that it would be no problem to renew our permit in Guatemala & return to Honduras after 72 hours & that depending on the agent we may even be able to re-enter the country on the same day!

We needed to renew the visa on or after November 7th so that we would have 90 days on the permit while we are in the States.  So yesterday was the big day & we headed out for what we knew may have turned into a few days in Guatemala before making our trip back to SC!

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Since we were leaving for Guatemala, the mission team that is here from Virginia made plans to tear down the staircase that leads up to where we are living & rebuild it while we were gone for the 72 hours!

We left with the excitement of having a new staircase leading up to our home when we returned & super thankful for the continued progress on the home while we were gone!

We traveled an hour to Copan Ruinas, had lunch, and got to the border around noon.  First, we had our passports stamped to exit Honduras.  There was no wait & the agent even stamped the passport for Josie's little Raccoon!

We then went to the next office to process the vehicle permit.  The agent immediately explained to us that the permit would have to be renewed in a non-bordering country like Mexico, Belize or Costa Rica.

There is something called the CA4 agreement between four countries in Central America (Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, & Nicaragua).  This agreement allows residents of those countries to travel within those four connecting countries easily but also means that all visas for non-residents (personal AND vehicle) must be renewed in a non-bordering country.

We knew this was true for our passports but we were told (at the BORDER by an AGENT) that vehicle visas were different.

Needless to say, this caught us completely off guard and made for a super stressful afternoon.

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We began weighing out all of our options (including driving all the way from Honduras to South Carolina which was Daniel's #1 choice and the very bottom of the list for me).

Daniel called a missionary couple that we met in Language School who live now in Belize.  We had talked with them before about making trips to visit them & we knew that it was the shortest of the 3 trips for renewing the permit.  Daniel & Junior began making plans for us to come to Belize for a visit there, leave our vehicle with them until we return from the States, & change our flights to fly out from Belize.

We started the 1 1/2 hour drive back to the Camp and started talking through all of the changes that would have to happen between now & our departure for Belize.

Crazy road work!

Typical Traffic Jam

Then it hit us.

We had not yet received the export paperwork for Macie (our Australian Shepherd).

We planned to pick up that paperwork on Friday so that we could leave with her early next week from Honduras.  We messaged the vet that was helping us with the paperwork to find out that there was no way for the papers to be ready early & the papers were already prepared to say we were departing from San Pedro Sula so there would not be time to change the papers or receive them early.

Those of you that know Daniel know that this was not an easy realization.  Macie has been with him since he broke his back in 2010 & is always attached to his hip.  She really is super close with him & the thought of leaving her in Honduras for 3 months was just devastating to him.

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We got back safely to the Camp and started to share what happened at the border with Mauricio.

Praise the Lord ... He immediately offered to keep Macie at his house in San Pedro Sula while we are gone so that we did not have to stress out about finding a way to get her export papers from Belize.  We are so thankful to know she will be loved on & in good hands while we are in the States!

So that was a HUGE answer to prayer and took a lot of stress off of us!

Here's the funny part ...

Remember the mission team had planned to tear down & rebuild our staircase while we were gone for 72 hours?!

Well ... we didn't stay 72 hours.

And they still tore down the staircase.

So we returned to the Camp to pack up the rest of our things only to realize that we had to enter into our apartment & move out using a LADDER.

By this point in the day, we were just laughing and shaking our heads.

When all else fails, you just have to laugh.

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What seems to be a series of inconveniences and frustrations, we are choosing to see as blessings & joy.

Now, we are able to travel to Belize to visit some language school friends, see their ministry there, & enjoy fellowship & be encouraged by our time together!

We will now have a new staircase for our home when we return in February which originally was not a part of the "plan" for this week!

We will be flying into Charleston now instead of Myrtle Beach & home a little sooner than our original flight schedule!
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Please pray for us over the next several days.  We will be packing up, making the 11 hour drive to Belize, enjoying fellowship with our friends there, and then making our way from Belize to SC.

We are trusting that The Lord is working all things together for our good and more importantly HIS glory through all of these changes!

Finally on the ground ... and hit it RUNNING!

Can you believe it?!  We have been in Honduras for over two weeks now.

Time is flying.

Honduras is hot.   (Really, really hot...)

And we are tired!

But The Lord continues to show us that He is SO good.

Things have been so busy for us since we arrived here in Honduras, but it has also been so full of excitement and encouragement.

Here is a recap of the last two weeks of our journey!

The Big Move

The move from Costa Rica to Honduras went well & we all ended up together safely in Honduras as expected.  Praise The Lord!  

We were so thankful that Daniel's friend and former coworker, Jeremiah Sullivan, came to make the drive from Costa Rica to Honduras with Daniel.  He speaks Spanish & is familiar with the Latino culture because he has been married for almost 20 years to a lady from Mexico.  It was a huge blessing to have his knowledge and language experience for the big move!  He also stayed for a week with us to help with VBS & the youth camp ... we were so excited to have him here!

A new friend that the guys made as they entered into Honduras!

The adventure with crossing borders to move to Honduras from Costa Rica was a long one for Daniel & Jeremiah.  They ended up doing the trip non-stop - 22 hours straight.  There were some hiccups and frustrations along the way, but for the most part they had a good trip.

When they arrived at the Honduran border leaving Nicaragua, the Honduran police talked with Jeremiah and Daniel for a while about where they were coming from and where they were headed.  They shared with the police that Daniel was a missionary to Honduras that had been coming and serving the Honduran people for the last 6 summers but now would be living full time in Honduras.  The police asked Daniel for proof that he was a missionary.

Daniel said that he was a little caught off guard & went to the jeep to find "proof" ... only to realize that he had nothing on him at all to prove that he was a missionary.  His phone service wasn't working at the time so he couldn't even pull up our Youth For Christ giving page as confirmation.  He felt a little nervous and unsure what he was going to do ... he opened the back door and sitting on top of a suitcase was an EvangeCube.

An EvangeCube is tool we have used before with mission work to share the Gospel.  We found the cube in our things while packing in Costa Rica and we decided that he should take it with him on the drive to Honduras.  We even kind of joked about where it would fit in the jeep with everything else that we had planned to pack in there (the cube is the size of a Rubix Cube but the jeep was SO full).

Somehow, in the hustle of moving things around along the way & packing the jeep, the EvangeCube was sitting on top of a suitcase in plain sight.

So, he grabbed the cube and went back over to the police to share the Gospel with them.  Jeremiah translated as Daniel shared the story of Christ & when they finished the police asked to keep the EvangeCube.

What a beautiful reminder of our identity in Christ!  When asked for proof of his identity, Daniel was able to use the Gospel as proof.  What could be better?!  What could have been seen as an interruption and hold up in their border crossing was clearly an invitation from The Lord to share the Gospel with these men!  Just so amazing.  From that moment on, the guys said the rest of the drive through Honduras to the Camp was peaceful with without any issues.  Thankfully, they arrived safely to the camp around 1 am Monday morning!

Our First Week

Our first week on the ground was unbelievable.  We are still talking about the ways that The Lord used that week to encourage our hearts and strengthen us before beginning full time ministry here at the Camp.  We spent our first week here with a team made up of 10 incredible people from all different walks of life.

A team of 6 traveled from our home state of South Carolina to serve with us & welcome us to Honduras!  We thank The Lord every single day for the way that He has used Pastor Adam & Restoration Community Church to encourage us in our journey this year.  The team of six from Restoration was amazing.  Each person was "all-in" and ready to serve & love the people of La Entrada.  We will always be thankful for our time with each of the members from Restoration ... Pastor Adam, Rena, Ashley, James, Michael & Rob ... we can't wait to see you all again in November!

Also on the team was Jeremiah Diehl, our life-long friend from Maryland.  Laura and Jeremiah met when they were just kids & Daniel quickly became best friends with Jeremiah when they met years later.  Jeremiah and his family have recently returned to the States after serving in Kenya with Africa Inland Mission.  We have always talked and dreamed about the day that Jeremiah would finally get to come and visit us in Honduras.  It was an emotional reunion as we were reunited here at the Camp!  We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for the Diehls and trust that He is going to bring them back to Honduras to serve with us again in the future!

We spent months before language school praying for The Lord to connect our hearts with people while living in Costa Rica that would become lifelong friends.  He went above & beyond with Jeff & Kim Oeder.  They have interceded for our family in prayer & weathered the hard times with us this year.  We are so thankful that they offered to fly from Costa Rica with Laura & Josie to make the big move to Honduras & spend the week at the Camp with the team.

This couple is incredible, y'all.  Truly.  They each have a testimony of God's redeeming love and grace that will leave you speechless and in awe of Our Savior.  They are not our friends ... they are our family.  We know the best is yet to come and we will see The Lord use our families together to bring people to Him!

It was so clear that The Lord formed this team of people to be here for us in such a specific way.  We felt encouraged and loved by each of the team members that week ... we could not have asked for a better kickoff to living at the Camp!

Here are some pictures from our time together!

Team Building

Vacation Bible School  

Face Painting

Obstacle Course

Shields of Faith

Game Time

Games in the field

Sweet Kids!

Super Hero Lesson

Visiting the school ... the kids were wearing their tie dyed shirts
from the team that came in June!

Bus ride!

Pastor Adam surrounded by kiddos!

The guys were such great sports! 

Luna teaching 

Josie enjoying her girl time :) 

Face Painting

Indoor Game

Saying see you soon!

Teen Weekend Purity Camp

Team building obstacles

After a skit in the talent show ... these two are always making a mess!

 

Kimberly sharing her testimony ... so powerful!

Sunday morning devotion with Pastor Adam

Vowel Renewal Ceremony ... absolutely beautiful!

Such an amazing couple ... we are so thankful that they
are now such a huge part of our hearts!

There are no words for the memories that we have from the week with this group.  We are still praising the Lord for the work that He did during that week in our hearts as we prepared for our first few months here in Honduras.

SO ... what now?

Well ... we have finally been able to start settling into our life here in La Entrada.   

Last week, we were able to get Josie enrolled at her new school, purchased a bed & a fridge, and found our way around the town for our basic needs.  While running errands last week, we had three encounters with people in town that called out our names in the store, came over to greet us, and shared that they had never met us but had heard we were coming to live in La Entrada & had seen our pictures on the JPC FaceBook page.  We felt so encouraged to meet new friends & see that The Lord had gone before us to make a way in our new town!

On Saturday, we moved into our YFC director's living space here at the camp until our home is finished.  So this week, we are starting to finally feel a sense of "normal" as we are able to cook meals, organize our things, and enjoy our beautiful view at the Camp!

Our sweet girl swinging in her new front yard!

We will be staying here in Honduras through November 14th.  We will be working on building relationships in the community, at the local schools, and developing our vision for full time ministry at the Camp.  We also will host a few weekend camps & also a team from Virginia the first full week in November.  We are excited to see what The Lord has in store for us in the next 9 weeks here!

On November 14th, we will be flying to the States.  We will spend 12 weeks in the States visiting churches to share about the ministry, attending some required Youth For Christ training, and finishing up with raising the rest of our monthly need for support.  We have a very full schedule for those 12 weeks & we are trusting The Lord to encourage our hearts and exceed our expectations!  

Here is a peek at our schedule for sharing about YFC Honduras incase you would like to join us & hear all about what The Lord is doing in & through our family!

Please continue to pray for us as we adjust to the climate and culture here in Honduras, for Josie as she continues to adjust to her new school & new friends, and for the ministry as we continue to make connections and build relationships in the community.  

We know that our life is really just getting started ... and we can't wait to see what's next!