West Virginia Team Puts on VBS

We had a group of twenty-five come from West Virginia. The pastor of the church, John Strimer, passed out note cards each containing a name of one of our students. The congregation was instructed to pray for this boy for months as the team was preparing to come to El Sembrador. The twenty-five team members that came were showing us their boys names and wanted to meet them the first day they were here to tell them they had been praying for them. It was amazing to see what names the team had as they had the names of the boys who are more prone to get into trouble. It seemed as though God had a purpose in all of that. It's amazing what happened in some of these boys lives when they were literally embraced with hugs, hearing how they had been praying for their lives before they even knew them.

This West Virginia team worked on our boys dormitory that is being remodeled, organized our MK (missionary kid) library, stocked the boys toiletry and clothes room, and put on a VBS on campus with all the staff children as well as in the near village of LaPaz. These are some pictures of the team working in LaPaz with the children and the children with the puppets they made.

Campus Shots

These are some campus shots of the boys. Each and every one are special to us.

Pictured Above:
In the white tank top with shirt over his shoulder: Wilfredo is in our discipleship class. He is from the island of Roatan. He is a real nice boy and we've already seen big changes in his life since coming.

In the red shirt sitting in the hammock: Jose Lorenzo comes from the Mosquitia. He is a first year student and currently learning carpentry. He says he really likes it here at El Sembrador and is grateful for the opportunity to study.

Soccer Tournaments

Travis and Jerry began the sports program at the beginning of March and have continued it through today. There was a GREAT turn out as 101 boys signed up to be on a team. There were a total of 10 teams with ten on each team. Tonight was the final game having the two finalists play eachother. It came down to pentalty shots to determine the winner as they had a tie game. It was intense but exciting. T-Shirts were given to the first place team (noting champions) and t-shirts were also given to the second place team (without the word champions). The boys enjoy their soccer and they enjoy winning even more.

Fourteen at Alter

Tonight was a special night. Rigoberto, a second year Bible School student, brought the message tonight. He is a real leader on campus and the students really respect him. He challenged the boys in a special way tonight and fourteen were at the alter, some to make first time commitments and others to renew their decisions with the Lord. PRAISE THE LORD!

Jeramias' Birthday Party

Today we spent the afternoon at our business directors home celebrating their son's second birthday. He is a cute little guy and he sure enjoyed his piñata. Allison was a little shy to hit the piñata in front of everyone, but when the candy spilled she got over the shyness quickly. Anna enjoyed both hitting the piñata and going after the candy.

Alexander's Dad

We received word Thursday (April 17th) that Alexander's dad was in the hospital and not doing well. Since Kent was on his way into Tegucigalpa, he was able to get him there quickly. Alexander was able to spend many hours with his dad that night. He passed away the next day. April 18th we received word Alexander’s dad was in the hospital in the capital city and was doing very poorly. We sent him in and he was able to spend many hours visiting with him in the hospital. The next day, April 19th, Alexander’s dad passed away. Alexander had been a part of a street kids ministry. We took the other two students from the same ministry in with us the next morning for the funeral. As Pastor Jorge Pinto shared on the street in front of the home where the body was being shown, and then again as he shared at the graveside service, he repeatedly asked the viewers if they were ready to meet their maker, if everything in their lives was where it should be, and if they would go to heaven if they passed away. Please pray for Alexander as the coming days will be difficult ones. Alexander turned twenty-one today and has already returned to the school. His father died of a lung infection at the young age of forty-nine. Where do you stand with the Lord today? Are you ready to meet your maker?

Gwen's Dad

Our English teacher volunteer, Gwen Kirby, came this year knowing her dad had been diagnosed with cancer in November 2007. She received word in March that he wasn't responding to treatments and they wanted her to come home in April. Her plane ticket was changed to April 11th and she planned to spend the rest of 2008 with her mom and dad in Virginia. On April 8th we had a going away party for Gwen and prayed over her. Her brother made it home from Iraq the evening of the 8th. On April 9th Gwen received word her dad had passed that morning. Please pray for Gwen, her mom, her brother, and sister. The coming days will be very hard for them.