The Java Papa

Warren Family update Sept 11, 11

2011-09-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

Hello! As always, we hope this finds you well!

Opalaca Hands of Hope Update:

It is so awesome to see the chip bag ladies arrive with new things that they have created. Last week, they brought the first large purse with a handle. They also continue to get more and more creative with the earrings bringing squares, letters, and some that even look like Christmas trees. So much fun! You all know the love that I have for these ladies. It is so awesome to see God strengthening my love for the basket ladies, and changing my heart even more toward the chip bag ladies as I pray for them. It makes it that much harder to leave in a week. I will get to see the ladies on Friday for the last time in 2011. Please pray that God continues to strengthen them while I'm away. I pray daily that their faith would grow, and it's always cool to see that come to fruition!

Opalaca Coffee update:

I (Andy) got to spend two days with Francisco this past week. Francisco is my "go to" guy who lives in the Opalaca Mountians (San Pedrito). Not only is he taking the lead for our coffee project in the mountains, he also is one of our indigenous ordained pastors. I had the opportunity to take him to a large coffee farm and processing facility in Gracias. This proved to be a good time to get to know him a little better and to find out how committed he was to the improvement of the farmers' lives in the mountains. On Thursday I took him to San Pedro Sula to look at the equipment we are looking at purchasing for our processing facility. When he saw the equipment it was like a child receiving a big present at Christmas or a new puppy. I looked at him and asked if this would be a benefit to the farmers. His response was one that I did not expect. He said this is exactly what we need to help improve the quality of the coffee, and with the increase of price we will receive for the better coffee we will be able to re-pay the equipment. I love it, he is feeling empowered and is thinking of ways that they can improve the lives of the community.

Please pray for the meeting I have on Monday the 12th. I am meeting with a coffee exporter who is willing to walk us through and educate us in the export process. We have a buyer in the states that is willing to buy 2 containers of coffee. To process this order we will need an exporter whom we can trust to help process the order here in Honduras, I am praying that this meeting goes well and that Omar is the right exporter for us.

Plans are coming along for me to attend the Coffee Q Grader accreditation class. For me to attend this class I will need roughly $2500 by Oct. 1. ($1250 for the class + expenses). Would you please pray about this with us!?!?

Francisco confirmed the need for me getting the Q Grader accreditation. He said if someone with that status gives a report on our coffee, that will put us on the map as 'legitimate coffee producers'. I already love the coffee, with some improvements and receptivity, their coffee will go from good to great. These are a couple quotes I received recently regarding our coffee: "I drank some of my Opalaca Gold coffee this morning and it is soooo good! Thank you for helping it get to my coffee mug!" - Hannah & "Out of all the coffee I have had in my life my favorite is Opalaca Gold straight from the mountains in Honduras! Thanks Andy Warren for being my supplier." Lydia

Construction update:

Mercy International hosts around 20 teams a year, most of those teams are involved with some sort of construction project. This year this is an area that I have stepped into as the overseer. When the team season is over, that is the time that we take inventory of what we started and have not been able to finish for one reason or another. Brian Rothove and I have been diligently trying to work through a list of last minute work projects to close out our year. The last couple of weeks we have found ourselves wearing many hats. Installing doors, hanging molding, hanging monkey bars and swings in two different parks and building a roof for our new coffee production center in San Pedrito. Just for good measures we've also grouted tile in the coffee house and did some electrical re-wiring of one of our church buildings in Monte Verde. Needless to say we have not had much down time since the team season ended. Some of the joys I have in the construction projects is finishing the project and handing it over to whoever we are building for. The smiles and tears of joy and watching the kiddos swing on the swing sets we install gives me great joy and makes me want to keep going and start 50 more projects.

Makenzie's update:

She is getting super excited about heading to the United states. She just completed day #50 of 1st grade. When we asked her if she would like to do gymnastics again this year, she said "can I please do ballet?" I reluctantly told her that I would get in touch with someone and see if she could take. I prayed that if, because of our short time there, she could not take ballet, that God would prepare her heart. But, God sent someone to help us, and she will begin classes on the 20th. She is super excited to see her friends, but she has a lot of mixed emotions right now, and we would ask for prayer for her (and us) as we prepare for our upcoming furlough.

Furlough update:

We will arrive in Northwest Arkansas on Monday, September 19th, and will hit the ground running. We will be in the states through Christmas and plan to return to Honduras in January. We have lots of things on our schedule which is great, but we also have a lot of open time. If you, or anyone else you know, would like to visit with us, please write us. (Andy says coffee anyone?)

Praises:

God providing a place for us to stay while in Arkansas
Makenzie is able to take Ballet and Gymnastics while we are in the states, and other fun things for her
Our Health
Opalaca Coffee project - The things that need to happen are happening
$11,500 raised to go toward the purchase of a truck in Honduras

Prayer Requests:

For our families, we know that us being in the US adds some difficulties to their lives
For us, we have many mixed emotions with leaving our home here, but definitely want to be in the US with family and friends
For the Hands of Hope ladies, that they would continue to be challenged and blessed by God
For our transition as we head to the US
For funding to be available by Oct. 1 for Andy's Coffee Q Grader Accreditation ($1250 + Travel Expenses)

Be blessed, and we hope to get to see most of you soon!

Because of Him,
Andy, Corbett and Makenzie
Warren Family Adventures

Andy, Corbett and Makenzie
PO Box 10516
Fayetteville, AR 72703

Would you like to be a part of our ministry?

Donations can be made out to GRACE CHURCH and sent to our address above!

God bless you.

Are you interested in helping me become a Certified Coffee Q Grader

2011-08-30T19:26:00.006-05:00

A few years ago the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) established a program called the Q Grader, which is a comprehensive professional accreditation for coffee graders and cuppers. This program aims to establish a common language to ease the information exchange among colleagues working in coffee quality control around the world. Some producers, exporters, importers and roasters have experienced a lack of tools that ease the discussion process around coffee quality issues. Based strictly on technical issues, it is important to exchange information on the coffee crop from one continent (producers) to another (consumers). I believe this program has positively contributed to creating common ground rules for technicians that are involved in quality control in producing and importing countries.

Currently there are around 1000 certified coffee Q graders world wide. Currently in Honduras there is only 1 certified Q Grader. I have the opportunity to attend a week long certification class in Oct to obtain the Q grader accreditation.

This will be a huge advantage not only for Mercy International but for myself as well. Being one of the only Q graders in Honduras will help open doors that I thought would never be opened. Not only will it benefit here in Honduras but it will open doors for us World Wide.

The ony down side is the cost. The class alone costs $1250. Then add on the airfare and food, hotel and car rental I am looking at $2500. The class is Oct 3 - 7th.

Would you please pry with us for provisions, and the wisdom that will be needed to pass the accreditation. The overall process includes 22 seperate tests administered over the week. If you are interested in helping send me to the conference donations can be made out to Grace Church with our name written in the memo line and sent to:

Warrenfamilyadventures

Andy, Corbett and Makenzie

PO Box 10516

Fayetteville, AR 72703

If you are interested in knowing more about the accreditation please email me at andy_warren2007@yahoo.com

Warren family March 13th Update

2011-03-13T22:50:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! We hope this finds you well!
We’ve had a very busy couple of weeks.
Our first big news is that ½ of our roof is completed! YAY! Andy
will start the other half on Monday as long as there is no rain!
PRAISE GOD for dry floors! We put a layer of tin roofing and then on
top of that replaced the “Tejas” (ceramic-type tiles). It looks very
nice! (See attached picture)

Andy just got back from a great mountain trip with a team from Florida
State University. They put a roof on a house and began another
foundation. Mercy International promised to do ten houses in Santa
Maria, and we are well on our way to finishing 4 houses. The projects
change circumstances but it is the relationships that last a life
time. Currently their are around 20 men in the village that appear to
be hungry for the word.

The coffee market is coming along, the farmers are having great crops.
Andy is on track to purchase around 4 thousand pounds of coffee for
this year. That is 50% more than last year. In April, Andy will be
travelling to Arkansas and Houston, Texas for two coffee conferences.
This is a great opportunity to learn more about the coffee industry
and make more networking connections.

Makenzie and I had a unique experience yesterday. We got to go to a
local bilingual school called Southwest, and see the science fair. We
have a student, Dunia, who was participating. She and her team
created an experiment that tested to see how long it took a balloon
filled with water, to pop when put above fire. It was very
interesting! They ended up winning second place. CONGRATULATIONS
DUNIA!

Makenzie is now very close to finshing her school for this year. She
just finished Day 128 and she has 160 total. It is so exciting to see
her learning as much as she has. She is one smart cookie, and we are
SO very proud of her! She started writing her first and last name in
cursive before the teacher said it was time. I love seeing her a
little bit ahead of some areas! I got the opportunity to see her
“teaching” to one of our staff members today, and it was so cool to
see her mimicking Mrs. Bere. What fun!

My days have been modified recently by the fact that the main office
computer lost its power supply. We are waiting on a new one to arrive
so that I can get back to my daily grind. The supply of baskets on
hand looks great at this point, and I am looking forward to my ladies
“stepping out of the basket” a little to bring me some new designs! I
love it when they get creative!

The twins that I mentioned last time, have now both gained at least 1
pound, and continue to grow. Please don’t forget to pray for them.
Their names are Cindy Melissa and Henry Adonai. We are blessed to
have the opportunity to see them grow, and blessed to be able to pray
for them.

We have been truly blessed in so many ways, and continue to be blessed
on a daily basis. We thank you all for your continued support, and
look forward, as always, to hearing from you.
Because of Him,

Andy, Corbett and Makenzie

Warren family update

2011-02-27T20:02:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone!! We are well, and we hope you are too!!!!!!

We've had a very busy couple of weeks! First, a group of 32 young adults from a discipleship school called Kairos were here for a couple of weeks, and we had a great time with them! Andy took a trip to the mountains as Mak and I stayed back and held down the fort at home! It was our first time at our house without Andy, and God blessed us with peace and no fears! That was quite a blessing for mom! :)

We now have the money to replace our roof! We are praising God for the blessing. Right now, it has been raining a lot, so we really need to replace it soon. The plan is to purchase materials this week andput it on as soon as we have a couple of dry days. We are SO excitedto not have to cover everything before leaving the house! THANK YOU GOD!

Mak is doing really well. Yesterday, for lunch, I made her “buy” all of the items to make her jelly sandwich, chips and glass of water. She is learning about Pennies, Nickels, Dimes and Dollar Bills… their value and what they are called. She has had a hard time relating as to which is what, so I figured for her to get out her play money and buy all needed for lunch would help! Now, however, every time she eats, she asks if she needs to “buy” it. We better be careful, a team may come down and hear her say that and think we are LITERALLY making her buy stuff to eat! Oh wow!

Andy is headed to the mountains tomorrow to purchase some coffee from one of the growers, and I always look forward to hearing what God does with his time there. I am praying that the coffee looks great, and that God would continue to use Andy through the coffee!

I am keeping busy in the Mercy International office, and am almost caught up on
the months that we were gone to the US! I am excited toget 2010 out from under my nose and put into the box! :) Last weekend, we received a call from a couple that the wife is American and the husband is Honduran. They asked if Mak and I wanted to go tothe park, and we had a great time! (I got a little sunburn, but still enjoyed my time!) See a picture with Andy and Sofia attached eating their suckers!

So, for those of you getting this from Grace Church, I want to make a little plug... June 21st – 28th, Grace will be bringing a team down to see us! I also know that there are a few ladies receiving this from last fall’s Beth Moore study – I am sure that you guys could hook up with Grace to come down if you so desire…. Just write me back and I will get you contact information for the leaders! We would love to have you all here! (Hey mom, maybe this year!!!????)

Also, I want to tell you guys about something else going on that needs some “extra special prayer”. We have twin babies that were brought to the farm a few days ago. They were 2.5 pounds each, a boy and a girl. Their mother was sick in the hospital, and they were being cared forby other family members. After a trip to the pediatrician that we trust, Mercy has taken on the cleaning of bottles (two different ways) and the giving of CLEAN water for their bottles. These little babies are only living through the grace of God, and we are so blessed to see them growing slightly. Would you please pray for them? I am attaching a picture of one next to the hand of Cindy Lowman just to give you an idea of how small they are.

We are so blessed, and always love hearing from you all! We wish youthe best week and thank you as always for your prayers!

Chili Peppers update

2011-02-08T16:40:00.003-06:00

Well it has been three weeks since I planted my chili peppers. So far I am having mixed results, our Honduran helper Jorge has been advising me of a couple of different things to do to get better results. However the little results I do have ten little green sprouts sticking out of the dirt. Whoo Hoo. I have planted over sixty seeds so I have my fingers crossed. I can taste the salsa now.

I have another planting project going at our house, this one involves Makenzie. She helped me plant the seeds and is watering the plants everyday. We started this project about a week and a half ago and already have three sprouts showing. Who knows maybe Makenzie has a green thumb.

Super Bowl Fiesta

2011-02-08T16:33:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone! We hope you are all doing well! It is amazing at how fast the times are changing here in Honduras. Two years ago we got to watch the Superbowl on Spanish TV, everything was in Spanish and we didn't get to see all the great commercials. Today we are preparing a Superbowl fiesta, and are going to get to see the game via American TV in English and with American commercials. (We know that is the real reason for watching the Superbowl)

Over the weekend we travelled to Gracias, Lempira, Honduras it isabout an hour and a half from where we live, a few years ago it wouldhave taken four hours to get there. Our purpose for this trip was tomarry off one of our very own. A missionary student that we love verymuch, Carlos, married his sweetie, Rina (say ree-nuh). It was abeautiful wedding, and we were blessed to have the opportunity to bethere! We met some awesome people, and had an awesome time offellowship. I also got my Honduras drivers license while there, and Andy got to go exploring, he visited two different natural hot spring parks, a good way to unwind before our next group comes in on Wed. We really had a great time!

Well, we've gotten the price to replace our roof. $1,200 - Andy met with the landlord and he agreed to let us do it (Andy can do it with the help of a few people) and take it off the upcoming payments for rent! This is good because we can get it done on our own schedule and can work on it around our teams. Would you please pray with us that God would provide all that is needed at the right time!?!? We will do one section to help financially, and then wait until the next month to do the other section.

Makenzie is doing really good. She has totally adjusted to being back home. She misses everyone in the states, but she's fitting right in here! :) She's doing school, and having fun with it - and a few challenges, but that's just part of it! :)

We're excited to see our vehicle fund growing! Thank you to all of you that have contributed. We are not quite to the point of looking for a vehicle yet, but it's definitely close! Our goal is to raise12,000 and we are currently at 8,250, Praise God for his provisions!

We do officially have our own Internet connection now. We are excited to be able to see friends and family! It's not perfect connection -but we can at least see people for a few minutes at a time! :)

Chili Peppers

2011-01-21T10:53:00.002-06:00

I love hot peppers. I love them roasted put into salsas, on top of burgers, on nachos, just about anyway you can eat a pepper I love them. When we are in the states people ask us what do you miss in-regards to food. My response seems funny to most. I miss Salsa and hot foods.

Here in Honduras we do not get to enjoy a lot of hot foods (Spicy). Most Hondurans do not like the really spicy foods. Even though they have bottles of hot sauce on the table ready for every meal.

One day last fall when I was in the market I found a bag of habenaro's and thought I struck gold. The ladies in the market thought it was funny, they made a face indicating the peppers were horid and would set you on fire. True it may be tough to handle if your not use to eating and preparing them. I brought the habenaro's back to the farm with a couple different varities of tomatoes and made my own salsa. The ladies in the kitchen thought I had lost my mind and when Suyapa tried some of the habenaro salsa, she looked like she was going to cry. Lets just say it was a little on the hot side. When we would eat the salsa they would just watch us and laugh and waited for something to happen.

Today I am trying something new. I planted two seed packets. One is a mix of cayeene, hungarian wax, serrano, habenaro, hot cherry and other hot chili types. The other is a packet of hungarian hot wax peppers. Several years ago I planted some Jalapeno's in Fayetteville and they grew ok. But this is a first for me to try to do here in Honduras. So here I begin a blog on my chili pepper growing adventure. I pray it is a success and can not wait to be writting updates on how the peppers are growing. And ultimately making my own salsa out of my own home grown chilis.

Happy and Healthy New Year of 2011

2011-01-02T16:18:00.002-06:00

One of my many New Year resolutions is to keep posts up to date on this Blog. Here is my first of many (hopefully)

Our latest update that was sent out today: (if you would like to be on our email update list, let me know!)

Hello all! We hope this finds you happy and healthy in the new year of 2011!
We have been very blessed here in the United States, and our time is
coming to an end. Our appointments have been God directed, our visits
have been God centered, and our time has been surrounded by God!
Needless to say we have been truly blessed.

We have just purchased our tickets to return to Honduras on January
18, 2011. So, I know there are a few of you that have expressed
interest in seeing us - please get back with us and we will try to get
our schedules worked out.
Our Christmas was beyond blessed in many ways, and we are looking
forward to our coming year being blessed in Honduras!
We look forward to hearing from each of you in the coming year... even
if it is just for a prayer request. We love hearing from you.

We have a few prayer requests that we would like to share with you:
-For the people of Yamarangula. We love them so much and are so
excited to return!
-Every time we purchase our tickets to return to Honduras, Satan
really tries to get after us, please help us pray this out!
-We need to replace our roof on our new house in Honduras, we have a
need for about $1500 that has not been met yet, and we MUST get this
done fairly quickly after our return. Please pray for provisions to
do so.
-We have been blessed by a few new monthly supporters this year, and
we are so excited to have you on board! We continue to ask for more
people to help so that we can do more for the country and people of
Honduras. We will accept donations of any amount. Would you please
pray to see if God is calling you to help?
-As we gear down for our time to end here, we have expenses that come
up, and we are praying this year as always, that He will provide
everything that we need.

15 day journey of language school

2009-03-27T17:34:00.003-05:00

Day 6
Today was our last day of class at Guacamaya Language school in Copan. I feel that this has been a very good week for us, well I can speak for myself, that this was needed 2 years ago. And I know for sure that I need to go for another 3 - 6 months. I want to communicate and need to communicate here in Honduras. As a local friend pointed out to me the other day, I sound like a Gringo. I dont want to sound like a Gringo anymore, it is time to start living Honduran!!! I really enjoyed my teacher Duneska and Corbett really enjoyed her teacher as well. We feel that this might be the place we will return to for the duration of our school experience. Todays class was extremly hard for me. We were behind and so we tried to cram four iregular verbs into one day's worth of lessons. Not cool, my brain couldnt handle it. Well at least I know where I will need to pick up next week when we travel to Trujilla for another week of language school. A new week and a new school, new teachers and location. Hopefully we will have as good a week as we had this week. This afternoon Corbett will go to learn how to make a pasterila (something that is common here in Copan). I like them so that is a good thing.

Tomorrow we will leave for San Pedro to pick up Makenzie, she has been with Cindy and Henry all week getting spoiled. Next week will be very difficult for us I fear. Our child may be rebleous to us. Only time will tell. Our bus leaves Copan at 7 am. We were talking to our house lady about when we were going to leave. When we told her that we were going to take the 10:15 bus, she said o no, there is not a 10:15 bus, only early morning and late in the afternoon. We were told by the agent in San Pedro that a bus left from Copan at that time. Another reason we need spanish, in the morning the last bus that leaves is 7am . Then the next one that leaves is 2 in the afternoon. It's a good thing we went to purchase our tickets today. Long day tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. I really dont want to leave here even though it is expensive here.

15 day journey of language school day 5

2009-03-27T17:29:00.003-05:00

Day 5
We had eggs and toast and more fruit. I love the fruit here. My wife doesn’t. She doesn’t like fruit in general, a little on the weird side. Class was good today. My Teacher gave me a 97% on my memory skills with the occupation cards. I had 3 that I struggled with on the pronunciations. Well that’s better than what I use to get in school and yesterday I couldn’t remember 15 of them. So it is true the older you get the wiser. Yea whatever. I tried a joqcotes today. Its some type of fruit. I really liked it. It was similar in texture to a plum but tastes totally different, and the size of the fruit is similar to a large cherry. Today was the 1st day my brain started shutting down. The last 30 min of class was horrible. Its like I took a sleeping pill for my brain. One step forward 2 steps back. I learned today that my teacher is not a Christian or catholic. But because of my lack of Spanish, sentences are hard to come by and I was not able to ask her any questions about it. So that is something I need to pray about. This afternoon we went to the Copan Ruins the main brain spot of the ancient Mayans. It is a really cool place to visit. To learn of a lost people group and see the art work they produced around 700BC. We hired a tour guide. Very necessary for the 1st time to visitors. There were only a few signs explaining what was going on, what each structure meant and why they disappeared. The guide was not cheap but necessary and worth it. We learned a lot about the Mayan culture. I took a lot of pictures but found out that my camera chip is corrupt again. I only got 8 pictures. So this is the 3rd time I have taken pictures this year and lost them because of my memory chip. At least it worked yesterday at the bird park. After the park we went to a coffee shop that has free internet. Good coffee and great chocolate cake. I got to check up on several things and emails and all is well. I better go study my verbs. I have many words to remember.

15 day journey of language school day 4

2009-03-27T17:24:00.004-05:00

Day 4
We had pancakes and fruit for breakfast. I am use to having syrup but we didn’t have any . Instead we had local honey. That is preferred in Honduras and I guess will take a little time getting use to. I had a lot of fruit. I love fruit. I could get use to living here with Tina. Her house is really hot and the bed is uncomfortable but the food is excellent and she is very personable and likes to talk which is good practice for us. Class was good today. I’m not sure if my teacher is laughing aa lot because she laughing at me or because I’m funny to her. What ever it is it makes me feel comfortable and makes it easier to learn. I guess if I was afraid to make fun of myself it might be different. But I am the first to make fun of myself. I don’t like teachers that are up tight. This afternoon we went to a bird park called Guacamaya. Which is Macaw in English. It was pretty cool; we got to see many birds native to Honduras, some that are near to extinction due to trading, illegal exporting and so forth. We saw Toucans, Macaws (This is the national bird of Honduras), and the national bird of Belize I don’t remember the name but that’s ok. At the park they take in abandoned birds that were taken from the wild illegally. They have a cool looking natural swimming hole however we didn’t take advantage of it. And the best part was a interactive area where you can hold some of the birds. How often do you get to hold a giant Macaw? We ate at a restraint recommended by my teacher, something Momos. It was decent priced and great food. I had the Tipico Con Carne. This is a typical plate you will find in most restraints here in Honduras. It consists of eggs, refried beans, fried bananas, tortillas and meat, I had chicken. Today in class I worked on occupations and AR verbs. Conjugating verbs is not that hard to me. Its remembering the vocab and the meaning that kills me. My teacher sent home with me homework and 30 note cards. With occupation pictures and told me to memorize them for tomorrow. She jokingly told me I could only miss one! I have about 15 that I can’t remember urgg. O well time to go memorize.

15 day journey of language school day 3

2009-03-27T17:22:00.003-05:00

Day 3
I woke up feeling a little tired today. I feel good but tired. However I was ready to bring on the day. Food again has been good here at Tina’s. Class was good an productive. I think even though I am already behind Corbett. I guess I am just a slow learner. O well, I am trying. My teacher is great. She laughs at me but makes me feel comfortable and that it is ok to screw up. I have been studying the words given to me from yesterday, I still don’t have all of them down and today we went to the market, I learned what several of the items are that I didn’t know before. I also didn’t know before today if some of the items in the market were vegetables or fruits. I have a better understanding know. My teacher tried to teach me how to write the names and would try to spell it out for me. After about three words of suffering, she took the notebook and wrote them down for me. I guess something’s I have no hope on spelling in English or Spanish is not a strong area for me. Was that a P or a B or was that a T, I don’t know.

Corbett went to sleep at 7:15 again, which is ok. It gives me more time to study. I know I am going to be quizzed tomorrow on what we learned today. And I want to do a good job and not fail. I am so frustrated about my Spanish, I wish I could carry on a conversation, I act like I understand when I think more often than not I do not understand. Today I learned fruits and vegetables, body parts and more vocabulary, plurals and masculine and feminine proprieties. If I can retain the words tomorrow I will be excited. We went to Café Welch again today. Tomorrow we will go to a bird park. We were going to go to the ruins but at the last minute I decided today was not a good day to go. Maybe we will go later in the week when we have more time.

15 day journey day 2

2009-03-27T17:12:00.005-05:00

Day 2
I had a restless night of sleep. Its good to see that the roosters followed u from home. The only exception the roosters here start up at 4 instead of midnight like they do in Yamaranguila. Corbett tried to shower but couldn’t, she said the water never warmed up for her. Last night. So I embraced for a freezing cold shower. It turns out the water was scalding hot. I could barely get under the water it was so hot. I guess Corbett dosent know how to work the widow makers down here. She seems to have the same problem with ours at home as well. She said I have to turn it on next time for her. We are off to language school and breakfast. I hope the breakfast is as good as dinner last night.

Yup Breakfast was as good, and the families name is Tina and Jesus. I think I can remember that. Day 1 of class, no intro no welcome, no let’s take care of the bill, follow me and take this test. That was our introduction to school. Test huh. Really? A test? Where’s the coffee? Any way the test was three pages. I was able to complete the 1st section. (Ok I thought I was) The rest of the test I had no idea how to fill out. So much for thinking I know Spanish. I know nothing. I might as well throw everything out the door and start over. When I finished, or should say when I gave up on the test, I took it Followed Corbett into the other room and before I turned the corner, Corbett was coming back with her teacher.

I walk around the corner and literally run into my teacher. She takes the test, looks at me and motions for me to follow her. Ok this is weird I think to myself. No introductions, no review of the test by the director it is all pre destined. I guess. We sit at this table facing each other she takes out a piece of paper and starts numbering it for the first 8 questions on the test. Right away I realize I did not answer the basic questions correct. O my, this is going to be a long week. She introduces herself to me I forget it. That is my life story never remembering names; I didn’t remember my home stay family now I don’t remember my teacher’s name. O well. We worked up to 10:00 and then we took a break, she told me that after the break we would have to give a presentation and that I would have to introduce her to the class as well as myself. Cornered. I have to give in and ask her to repeat her name…several times. Apparently I said something of humor during the introduction and she ran with it and had fun with it. Urgg Im being made fun of , and know it , but can’t do anything about it. I must learn this language. O well, I think I lucked out I really liked my teacher and I think the week will be a good one. She works at my pace and makes me feel good about the fact that I really don’t know anything about Spanish even when I say I understand or comprehend, she says uh and then goes on to explain what the word means. I need to work on telling the truth, I don’t know I don’t understand, maybe I will understand more if I would just accept that I don’t know anything. She is good about making it ok that I don’t know anything. After class we walked around a little and hung out at Café Welch, we were told by several people on staff that they have great coffee and dessert. I had coffee…not bad, not great either. Corbett had ice cream it looked good. We were given homework and so we did it at the café. I guess I will have home work all week. Not a bad thing, I must practice as much as possible. The food continues to be great at Tina’s house. What a blessing to be feed great and not have to worry about where we are going to eat.

15 day journey of language school - day 1

2009-03-27T17:01:00.007-05:00

Day 1 of a 15 day journey. This morning we said goodbye to the farm and to Makenzie. We will be without Makenzie for 7 days so that we can focus on language study. The bus ride was ok, on the 1st bus from La Esperanza to San Pedro was delayed due to a flat tire. Because of the flat we missed our connecting bus to Copan. The flat tire was a little scary. I was sleeping and was awoken by a big popping sound. Of course we happened to be right above the tire that blew. We were not sure if it was the tire at first. The bus kept on going and the driver kept on picking up people. Every time it would slow down and stop to pick up people smoke would start coming into our window. Finely after about 20 min of going down the road the bus pulled off at a tire shop and got the tire changed. Because of the flat we missed our connecting bus to Copan Ruins. So we had to wait about an hour in the bus station for the next and final bus of the day. If we missed this bus we would have had to stay in San Pedro. We weren’t going to miss the bus!

Waiting in the bus station can be dangerous, you have to watch out for banditos and people are yelling all over the place, chaos and confusion. The good thing is there was a pizza hut in the station like the ones you see in the airport. Woo Hoo two weeks in a row we are able to enjoy pizza. The pizza here is so much better here than back home. Fortunately we had no problems on our next bus. We were told that it would take three hours when it really took us 4 hours to get to Copan.

When we arrived one of the teachers was at the station/street corner where the bus dropped us off. They had a sign with our names on it praise God, it was dark and we didn’t know where we were. This is our first time to go to Copan and getting there at dark is not the best thing. Our 1st impression of Copan is wow. It is a colonial style town with cobble stoned streets nestled in the side of a mountain. . Though it was dark the surroundings seemed to be beautiful. We met the teacher and she took us tour guest house. ( I have a bad memory, don’t remember the name of the family we are staying with. ) At this point we have had little interaction with the school. The house lady was very friendly and welcoming us in. She made us dinner…Wow and very needed after a full day of traveling. The dinner consisted of fried beans and bananas, some kind of green stuff like spinach…not sure what it was…and fried potatoes with eggs and garlic and of course tortillas. And of course she offered coffee, and even though I was tired, I never turn down a cup of coffee. Families in Honduras will offer coffee any and everywhere I go. I love this place. Our room is small, and a little noisy but will do. We are here for study not for vacation. The bed is not very comfy o well suffering for Christ. I’m glad we’re here, but nervous about class tomorrow. I hope my teacher is good and patient with me. I get nervous in these types of situations and want to perform really well, ok I get shy and am afraid of failing. Well I guess it is time to go to bed so that I can get up and learn tomorrow. Class starts at 8 am sharp…I don’t even know where the class is or who my teacher is yet. My friend was here two weeks ago and said he had a teacher Nazi a great teacher but tough…I hope I don’t get her but I am sure that with my luck I will get her. Only time will tell.

Can we create something our of nothing?

2009-02-23T15:27:00.000-06:00

We can’t create anything out of nothing. Only God can do that. At times I feel that I am being pushed to create things out of nothing. I am reminded that only God can do that. He breathed the world into existence out of nothing. He can take a zero and make it infinite. We cannot do that. However we can turn a little something into several different things. For example think of music. On the base there are around 12 basic notes. Out of those 12 notes we have yet to hit our finale or run out of new options. Right now I can think of several types of music, Rock, Blues, Reggae, Big band, Country, Ragatone, Celtic, and the list can go on and on. Or think of an architect all they really have to work with is straight lines, Circles and Squares. Out of that they come up with amazing designs and continue to come up with new innovative buildings. Or how about numbers we have only 9 digits ok maybe 10 if we count zero. Out of the digits we have, we are not limited to only 9. We have an infinite number to work with.

God has given each one of us special gifts that are unique to no one else. Think about this…The World population is over 6 billion people, and who knows how many there have been walking on the face of this earth since Adam and Eve. No two people are given the same personality and gifts. God is amazing. But do we really seek out our true capabilities? Do we ever reach out limits? How do you dream? Do you dream in Color? Do you dream of the past? Or do you dream of the future? We have the ability to change our future. In order to do this we have to know where our hearts are. Where our hearts are we should be as well in everything that we do. If we follow our hearts our abilities are limitless. Think of the things we can create.

Random things about me

2009-01-30T18:59:00.002-06:00

Things about me:
1. I have been married for 8 years
2. I love my Wife
3. Have one child
4. Makenzie is three
5. I love Makenzie
6. She takes after me in a lot of ways...Help us all
7. She Is very adventurous
8. I am very adventurous
9. I worked at Wal-Mart for 10 ½ years
10. Quit Wal-Mart in April 2008 to become a full time missionary
11. My life is packed away in storage in Springdale
12. I live in Honduras
13. I love working with Hondurans
14. I love learning from Hondurans
15. I love working with my hands and building things
16. I love problem solving
17. I believe that there are no problems in the world, problems are only opportunities waiting to be solved
18. When I hear the name Roxanne, I think of the song Roxanne and have to sing it
19. I cant sing a tune to save my life
20. I love singing
21. When I sing I change the lyrics
22. Changing the lyrics drives my wife crazy
23. I am an Eagle Scout
24. I have held over 25 jobs
25. My first job where I owed FICA was Subway
26. I didn’t like owing FICA
27. When I was in High School My best friend and my Girlfriend and her best friend worked at the same Subway
28. I enjoy Hiking
29. I enjoy Camping
30. I was 12 when I got my first Motorcycle
31. I do not have one now but wish I did
32. I love fishing…But never go, I don’t like fishing from the shore
33. I wish I had a boat
34. I enjoy meeting new people
35. I use to travel around the country presenting in front of audiences
36. I am shy
37. I enjoy traveling
38. I plan to visit over 30 countries in the next 5 years
39. I enjoy writing
40. I get frustrated when I write because I struggle to spell
41. I am learning Spanish
42. I took German in High School, a lot of good it is doing me in Honduras
43. Last summer I traveled to Belize via bus and water taxi, without any organized plans on how to get there or what to do when we got there.
44. I want to go skydiving
45. I enjoy watching all types of movies including chic flicks
46. One of my all time favorite chic flicks is Ever After
47. I have eaten Snake and liked it
48. I have eaten Ants from Ecuador and liked it…tasted like peanut butter flavored popcorn
49. I ran in a Half Marathon in 2007 and would like to run in another one someday
50. I enjoy snow skiing and water skiing
51. I really enjoy road trip type movies
52. I like reading, but fall asleep easily I am currently reading “No Small Snakes” and working my way through the new testament…currently I am on “Romans”.
53. I love coffee…speaking of I need to go roast some
54. I enjoy blues music…especially when it is live
55. I have been to several concerts most recent was Natalie Grant…Most memorable was skipping school in 12th grade to go to see Guns N Roses with Metallica in Kansas City and my Wife taking me to see Eric Clapton
56. Even though I have seen Jimmy Buffet in concert, I would like to see him again
57. My favorite adult beverage would be a Margarita
58. I am thankful for all of the great people I have met over the years, and hope to meet thousands more.
59. I do not remember a lot of things from my past, but what I do remember I am thankful for, I think God for saving my life and removing me from a path of destruction.
60. I apologize for anyone who actually read this entire list. The scary thing is I could write pages upon pages about random things about me.

Mountains how they humble the soul

2009-01-18T15:25:00.002-06:00

Recently returned to the Highlands of Honduras, I have found myself to be overweight and out of shape. Though, I thought that three months in the states couldn’t really affect me that much. Uh yea right. So the other day I went to the mountains, the long tedious journey to get to Agua Caliente, this of course is where my passion lays, the remote villages of Honduras is where you can find some of the best coffee. The first night on the coffee buying trip, we stayed in Mounte Verde. That night when I was reading my bible the following verse came to me.” John 12:25 The one who loves his life 50 destroys 51 it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards 52 it for eternal life. 12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow 53 me, and where I am, my servant will be too. 54 If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” Needless to say the verse came at the right time, I was feeling a bit anxious about the following days hike. The verse reminded me that I have to get out of my comfort zone, the farmers will not come to me but I too them.
Energized the following days hike was comical at times but none the less energizing. I felt great and focused on the task at hand and how I was following Gods heart to reach the nations. Well the day went great, accomplished all that needed to be accomplished and had a great evening of relaxation listening to the water fall and the rain. How peaceful, and what a great way to take in God’s beauty.
The next day however was not a good day. When we woke in the morning it was still raining, how is this, this is supposed to be the dry season. I started to focus on poor me and my conditions around me and not on the true worship, praise and thanksgiving that God gave me another day. Anyway long story short, hiking out of the mountains was the hardest hike I have ever done. God has a great way of humbling us. I felt like I was king of the earth and nothing could stop me. The previous two days were great, everything was going my way, yup I was super missionary. Until Tuesday morning, the great hike out of the mountains. It rained all night, so the already muddy road was like a road full of sink holes or quick sand. Every step I took I felt like I was going to sink in to my knees. At one point one of my shoes came off, this was within the first mile of the hike out of the mountains. Oh-No I thought, I am going to get a blister for sure. Well thankfully I had sweat wicking wool socks on and Gore tex shoes I never formed a blister. However, further up the mountain, I started to get overheated and dizzy, to the point I felt I was going to pass out. I have never gotten to this point before and I hope that I will never get there again. I had to sit down for about 15 minutes to cool down, at least three different occasions while hiking out of the mountains. On that day I took my eyes off of God and learned a very important lesson. Never get so comfortable with the situation that you forget to keep God in your plans. And slow down and enjoy every minute you have, never stop worshiping the great I Am. My Body is God’s temple and I shall not neglect it, if I neglect it how then shall I go to the ends of the earth to do the Kingdoms Business?

One Baby Changes the World

2008-12-21T22:38:00.005-06:00

Have you ever slowed down to take in the sights and sounds of the Holiday season leading up to the big night of Christmas eve and Christmas day? There is something peaceful about the night during this glorious season. Take some time out and go out for a walk, maybe to your downtown square. Walk in any neighborhood, you will see all sorts of Christmas decorations and lights. On a clear night, the white lights can almost seem to blend right into the night sky. I love the night sky in December. It is so crisp, clean and bright. When I am walking or driving around looking at the lights all lit up, I have this peace come about me, a sort of stillness. And yet a rejuvenation that comes about me. Something stirs inside of me, I feel like God is wrapping his arms around me and giving me a big hug, reminding me that everything is ok. The lights remind me of the story of Jesus, the second Trinity, who gave up his supernatural being to come dwell among us, to walk with us and to be our light, to show us the way. To clear the path, to cleanse us. He could have come to us as a Thirty year old, sort of like just appearing in the flesh, but no, He had to go through a whole cycle, from birth to adulthood. I don’t think we would understand or be able to handle it if it were any other way.

Isn’t it amazing how one baby, born in the poorest and filthiest of conditions can come into this World and turn it complete upside down? Because of this one baby, we are given a purpose, we are given life, we are taught how to love, how to share, how to see the World in a different perspective, and how to put others before self by loving our neighbors. We are given things that I may never be able to grasp. But I do know that because of this birth, I am saved. I will never be alone, and as long as others listen I will share God’s gift to me with others.

Natalie Grant sings a song called I Believe. It is a beautiful song about Baby Jesus. This is part of the song: “Precious Child how can it be that God’s great plan for history would send you to a lonely tree that you would come for one like me? I believe in a cross, I believe He came for one He came for all. Heaven’s Child became a man gave His life for me in spite of all I am, I believe, I believe Christmas lives in me, I believe.

This Holiday season, I beg you to slow down. Take in the sights and sounds. Search for Him, see if you can really find Christ in Christmas. Give someone a hug. Give your neighbor a plate of cookies. Hand write a Christmas card and give it to someone who has done something for you in your life. Go caroling even if you sing off key. Share your faith with someone else. Smile to the casher, if they have a name tag on, address them by their name. Drink coffee or Hot Chocolate with a friend or family member that you feel disconnected to. And most importantly, do not forget to worship the one who loves you more than anything else on this earth. Let this be a Christmas full of joy.

Christmas and the Giving Spirit

2008-12-16T23:26:00.004-06:00

This holiday season you will be approached by many organizations with their hand stuck out wishing to be a part of your giving spirit. Many organizations will send out appeal letters suggesting you make an end of year donation for tax benefits. Others will send out letters showing desperation of need, tugging at your inner emotions that are already running high simply because that is what we do this time of year. There’s something about Christmas that tends to make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. We tend to get a little too into the spirit of giving and we tend to be a little less tight with the ole pocketbook in other words we spend too much money and put ourselves into deeper trouble than we were before the holidays came. If we were good stewards of our God given gifts we might be more apt to be in the Christmas spirit of giving year round. ..

So what does stewardship mean? I looked up the definition of the word on dictionary.com and here is what it said: stewardship is a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others. We are all stewards for God; Jesus tells us that everything on Earth is God’s. So according to the definition of steward we are the managers of God’s stuff. It all belongs to God, our talents, treasures, gifts; knowledge God blesses us with so many gifts. All he asks us to do is to be good managers of his stuff. When you are a good steward, you worry about best fruits to go to God first.
God puts resources in our lives and we do not use as suggested, are we ripping off God, how do we rob God? We do it every day. We tend to put off giving; oh I forgot to write a check out before I left the house for church. I will get it next week, and then the next thing you know a month goes by and you have not given your first fruits to God. Excuses are easier to do than to stick to a plan. The government has it right, automatically take out the taxes owed before you even get a chance to make up an excuse. Shouldn’t God be the same way.No. We should love God over state. He dosent care if you give once a month, once a quarter or even once a year, as long as you are giving from the heart, and you are giving routinely. Should we tithe? Yes, we are instructed to do so in the bible. What doesn’t matter is how much it is about the devotion. In 2nd Corinthians 9:6-9 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times; having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” What we learn is that the giver should be cheerful, the giver should give regularly, and the giving amount should be felt…”Sacrificial giver”

So let’s take a look at stewardship again. “One who manages another’s property or financial affairs” how do we go about being a good steward? I think the following should be considered before giving a dime to any organization or church or individual:

Things to know before you Give
1. Is the ministry Biblically faithful?
2. Is the ministry lead by qualified leaders? Should not give resources to church or ministry that does not have qualified biblical leaders…Are they competent? Are they doing their Job efficiently?
3. Is the ministry well organized in using stewardship of money? Outside Council and accountability
a. Do you appreciate qualified competent leadership?
b. Do you see yourself as a steward to support our ministry with your God given gift?
c. Do you give your first fruits? First and best
4. Does the organization or person tithe?
5. How is the organization or person doing financially? What is the average giver amount? And the number of people that have given to the organization this year?
6. How can you give? Money, Gifting
7. How much should I tithe? 2 Corinthians 8 and 9
a. Is it regular
b. Sacrificial - according to Paul Sacrificial giving doesn't have to hurt but need to feel it
c. Giving is to be cheerful - the only way to be cheerful is to see Jesus…Jesus is a giver

To sum up everything, this Christmas season you will be asked for money for different reasons from different people. I ask you to think about the organizations, do your research before giving a dime. Search your heart, does the group fit into your lifestyle and beliefs? Once you have a sound mind I ask you to please give with a cheerful heart, and consider giving year round not just once during Christmas because you are feeling joyous and are in a giving mood.

Notes from Sunday Morning talk

2008-11-17T19:18:00.006-06:00

Good morning Grace Church, wow what a short journey it has already been. I am proud to announce that God is alive and strong in Honduras. Many many great things have happened this past year, two name a couple, Mercy International established our first church building in Agua Caliente, not only is it our first church in the mountains, it will be our staging area to send teams further into the mountains to reach the unreached. No one else has such an incredible in to the territory we call Opalaca Mountains. We want to take you on a journey with us to the Opalaca Mountains.

“When you sit back with a good cup of coffee you are engulfed in the aroma, the taste, the acidity, and body of the brew. You take in all the dimensions of the cup – yet this is only the surface. Swirling beneath are worlds within worlds of culture, custom, ecology, and politics. All of the major issues of the twenty-first century – globalization, immigration, women’s rights, pollution, indigenous rights, and self-determination – are being played out through this cup of coffee in villages and remote areas around the world. The coffee trade is immense, second only to that of oil in its value. It is also complex, with several levels of middlemen removing the 28 million growers in fifty distant countries far from the ultimate consumers, far from this cup.”

“Not all coffee growers look like Juan Valdez, a Latin male with a big moustache and a smile, dressed in clean white linen. Coffee farmers come in all shapes and sizes, colors, and genders. There are coffee growers from all Christian persuasions and from an abundance of indigenous religions, as well as Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. There is even a coffee-growing community of Black Jews in Uganda. Underlying the various coffee cultures are profoundly different understanding of the dance of good and evil, of communal responsibility and personal freedom –Yet what they all share are the common dreams of good health, love, food on their table an education for their kids and a great sense of humor.” – from The book JavaTrekker

That is where we come into play. In the Opalaca Mountains is a very unique simple minded group of people called the Lenca Indians. Mercy International was the first group to reach out and go to them, now we have three pastors living among them. And that is only the beginning. We have a dream that one day we will not have to hike 5 hours to get to the first village in the mountains. There is already a road being cut into the mountains, this road will help us get to our base camp faster and help assist in getting food and materials to the villagers we work with. We have a dream that we will never have to hike a near starved family out of the mountains to get them nutrition and medical care. We dream that one day we will have a church run by local pastors in every village in the mountains. We dream that one day the Lenca women will be educated and will not have to rely on a drunken man, and we dream that the boys will grow up to be Godly men, not cowards who abuse there women and children, and finial we have a dream that one day we will not be needed in the Opalaca Mountains, and we will be able to set our sights on the next location in need of God’s blessing and love. All of this can take place because of this one cup of coffee .

How are we going to achieve these goals? First off, I would like to invite you to our Friday night celebration, we will be celebrating Opalaca Gold Coffee in style. During this celebration we will be sharing with you more information about Opalaca Gold coffee and the people who grow this unique coffee. For this event we have partnered with World Garden a new restaurant opening this week in Bentonville. 20% of the evenings profits will go directly back to Mercy International for future investments with the Lenca Farmers of Opalaca Gold.

Secondly we understand what is laid out before us and we know that it is not a plan designed for one or two people to be involved in. We need you, we need your skills, your creativity, your willingness, your prayers and your financial support for the long haul.

To start with, we want you to know we take our biblical commandments seriously, we are commanded to tithe just like everyone else, so we take and budget out our first fruits and tithe regularly, we support a church in Honduras as well as here, we also are in the market and praying about supporting another missionary. Next we want to give you a breakdown of our financial donors, YTD we have had 52 people give donations directly to our ministry. Of that we have 6 people pledge to support us on a monthly basis. We are running short $700 a month. We are in need of additional monthly supporters. One additional note, most of the farmers that we work with in Honduras speak Spanish, my Spanish is very poor and I am in need of going to Language school for a very long time as Ellen our Spanish tutor can contest, which costs a lot of money, however, I am lucky my wife is learning Spanish much faster than me and will not require near the training that I need. All of that to say, Language School is not part of our monthly operating budget and will require additional capital for us to attend. If you would like to know more about Mercy International, our Friday night celebration or would like to discuss our budget in detail please contact me or Corbett.

Bitterness is a poison

2008-11-11T19:54:00.003-06:00

Bitterness is a poison! Unfortunately it runs ramped and is fueled by pride. By the way Pride is the root of all evil and sin in my book. I have recently been down and out and dealing with a lot of pride type issues. I just haven’t been myself lately and couldn’t quite put my finger on the pulse of what was actually going on.

As always when I get down and out I find myself wanting to go walking in the woods. I have done this type of self therapy off and on for years. Any time my cosmic waves were not in line, which seems like daily, I would find myself wanting to go off into the wilderness to think, and pray and get right with God. Usually during these adventures which are what they usually end up being, I would find myself near water. Of course living in the Ozarks this is not too difficult to do. Not too long ago while studying the bible, I had a revelation. God wants us to get away from the hustle bustle of our everyday lives. Throughout the bible God sent people into the wilderness, when they were gone, God would talk to them and reveal to them things that were important. Jesus went into the Wilderness for 40 days, when he came back he started his ministry. The wilderness is a special place in my heart that I do not take lightly. I am not saying that God will not talk to you unless you go out into the wilderness where all the bugs and snakes are, I am sure God will talk to you on the concrete floors of inner city wherever. I think the main point is to remove yourself from your comfortable surroundings and remove distractions. I have found when I do this; I can hear God more clearly. He is always there and always guiding, I just do not always hear, I am too busy doing and not busy listening. That is why I have found it such an important time for me to go get lost in the wilderness. I remove all distractions and get busy with God.

So here lately, I have been very busy with ministry, doing ministry stuff that I have not been getting busy with God. I have been busy trying to do God stuff without God in the mix. When this happens, the gateway for demonic stuff floods in. This is why I have been in a funk lately. The flood gates have been open, and I have not looked for God to shut the gates. My biggest sin that has crept in lately is bitterness. I have always been the one who works my tail off to get things done, and feel like I am just getting buy as well as meeting my family’s needs. Lately I have witnessed others getting things done with little visible work. This of course frustrates the fire out of me, and makes me want to cry out why Lord, why do I do the things I do to get a little when I see others doing little and get a lot. Of course this is selfishness and bitterness. Yea go ahead and throw pride into the mix as well. To be filling like this I am defiantly not walking with the Lord nor is that Honoring God.

So I decided I was going to study bitterness, it was consuming me and I needed it to stop. After spending a couple of days in quite time I was able to piece it together. Once I knew why I was bitter, I needed to understand bitterness better and needed to know how to get over it. In Hebrews I learned that love keeps no record of wrong but bitterness will only dwell from within and fester up and magnify itself until it controls our thoughts and starts controlling our actions. In Hebrews we are told that bitterness is a dangerous root and further more it is poisonous. It is like a disease, like a cancer that can spread throughout the body. One bitter person can take down an entire room full of happy people. It is part of the demonic effects the disease has on humans. In my studies I came across 5 qualities of a bitter person. 1. A bitter person tends to justify their bitterness. 2. They tend to be overly critical of self and or of others. 3. They secretly hope for miss-fortunes of others and when miss-fortunes happen they celebrate them. 4. If one person of a group of people offend, the bitter person can write off the entire group of people that person belongs to. Lets say you are Republican and you do not like the way Bush ran things. So you become bitter and you tend to want to write off the entire Republican Party. Another example would be for a woman to be hurt by one man and to say all men are evil because of the one. 5. Bitter people tend to struggle to see bitterness in the mirror. Lucky for myself, I was able to detect the bitterness that I was dealing with and was able to ask myself the questions needed to fix the problem “With whom and or what am I bitter about? Once I found out the underlying bitterness, I am able to get down to work on resolving my issues. So how do I fix my bitterness? I looked to Ephesians 4:31 there I was told what to do: 31”Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice”. And when you read on to verse 32”Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”. I am told to forgive the same way Christ forgave us. So sure that sounds easy, to sum it up with two words we can kill the root of bitterness “With Forgiveness” So the question to really ask is, are we carrying around empty baggage that we needed to get rid of long ago. Once the incident happened we need to let it go. If an abuser lays a hand on me, at that moment even though I do not want to I need to forgive him. If I do not release the incident to God, I will allow him to continue to lay a hand on me and continue to violate me in my mind. Out of that grows resentment that turns into hatred that turns into sin that makes us as bad as the one who sins against us.

To remove bitterness is a process, that has to take time. Even if you don’t want to do it, to start, try saying I forgive during your prayer time. Continue to do this over and over. Build on your forgiveness just as we are commanded to do in the bible. To totally end our bitterness we need a deep spiritual cleansing of God. And if that is not enough I then pulled out Mathew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others 1 their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 6:15 But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.” That pretty much summed it up for me, “if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.” I do not want to go down that way. One last quote from the bible on bitterness comes from Proverbs 14:10 “Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.” This last one was for me, I was suffering from bitterness from within, no one else shared my bitterness, it is mine only mine, I am to blame and only I can fix with Gods help. Welcome to the road to healing wellness. The long journey that is settled between myself and God. I am so glad that God is slow to anger. I would be in a lot of trouble.

Origins of Halloween

2008-10-16T22:17:00.002-05:00

In my quest to find out more about the history of Halloween, I came across this article. This is helps answer my question about Halloween as to where it came from. I also found that trick or treating started in the 19th century. It is believed to have started when the poor would go door to door after harvest asking for food in exchange for a prayer for the souls in each house. They called it souling. Now days it is just another holiday the corporate giants are taking advantage of for a quick buck. What would it be like if we still went door to door and started praying for the souls in each house? Hmmm I wonder if the political races would have a different kind of tone?
I got the article below from History.com

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

Trust in Papa

2008-10-14T23:54:00.002-05:00

The plan of God verses the plan of Man, who is going to win? Who do you think? Why do we as humans try to out play, out guess, outwit, and even go as far as lie to the one and only one who created all of us, you, me, the dog that is barking down the street, the birds flying in the sky, and the trees that are changing colors. I have been thinking about several incidents lately where I thought I was better. I thought I could do it on my own, on my terms. Funny thing is I am slowly learning that I should not test, nor play against the creator yet I continue to challenge.

I have heard of countless stories of where God provided after someone did some sort of action that favors God. Of course lately I am hearing of stories and being reminded of stories that involve money. I heard a pastor speak recently talking about money and tithing. When he was in his twenties, his wife was wanting them to start tithing, he didn’t think that college students could tithe, she of course being the better of the two heard God say tithe One Hundred dollars, he said no, she said yes, she won, they tithed out of obedience. That very next day in their small apartment, a One hundred dollar bill showed up on their doorstep. Out of the blue, the money didn’t even have a note with it. Is this an impossible occurrence? No, I have had the opportunity to live the story, as well as heard others tell about similar stories. When I was in my twenties, I was down to my last three dollars, I went to church and had a conviction come over me, usually I would put whatever change I have in my pocket into the collection plate, that is, if I knew that I had more stashed away somewhere else. On this particular day, I only had three dollars to my name. I felt moved to put the money into the offering plate. To go a little more into the story, I was out of gas in my car, no food at my apartment and no job, however, I did have an interview the next day, however wasn’t sure how I would get there, remember no gas in the car. Well, as you already know, I put the money in the offering tray, scared to death, but prayed to God, to help me, I released all of my troubles to Him, I didn’t ask for a solution, but knew that I needed to walk in obedience. At that time it was putting the money into the offering plate and placing my total faith into his hands, in other words surrendered my pride…The day after I put the three dollars in the offering tray, I received my income tax return check. I do not remember how much it was, but it was more than a hundred fold, as God promises. When you remove your pride and give up your offering to God, He will provide, it may be monetary value, it may be knowledge, whatever it is take it, and share your story with others. Make sure pride doesn’t get into the way.

Halloween is not just for kids anymore

2008-10-07T23:28:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite holidays is Halloween. Growing up it was a time that I could dress up as something that I wasn’t. Some years I was a serious super hero, Batman, Spiderman, or Superman. I remember how much fun it was to dress up as a Superhero or Villain with a cape…man was I cool. Then I started getting a little bit older, the superhero thing just wasn’t as cool anymore, I had to be something grotesque. Thanks to horror movies, there were plenty of inspirations out there. I was a soldier that looked like death warmed over, a pumpkin head, a vampire; a farmer that looked like the mower ran over and lost an arm, and an evil scarecrow. As I continued to get older the costumes got more intense as makeup was introduced into the lineup. O what fun a teenage boy could have with makeup and not get made fun of. Of course it had to be grotesque and all, but still makeup. I did try one year to be a boy taking a shower in a shower; it wasn’t the easiest costume to wear. (I think the idea came from the Karate Kid).

And then one year…It wasn’t cool to dress up anymore…for a few years at least, then began the adult Halloween parties. It’s the one night of the year that grown-ups can dress up as any fantasy they want and have their persona excepted.

Go shopping in a Halloween store. You will see just as many adult costumes as kids. It is a perfect escape from the adult humdrum. Is it really ok for a grown adult to dress up in a costume and stay at home for kids coming by for trick or treating? I think that is a little extreme and a bit scary itself.

Many businesses hold Halloween office parties and allow, if not encourage, their employees to wear costumes to work as part of the Halloween spirit, at times they even reward this type of behavior. Two or three times I took part of this, even though it felt weird, work is suppose to be a professional place, especially when it is a corporate office. None the less, my team decide they were going to dress up together and as a team. So the first year we dressed up we went as the Adam’s Family, yours truly dressed as Gomez, and yes we had cousin it and Fester too. The guy who did Fester actually shaved his head for the costume, now that is extreme. I know that there were pictures taken, lucky for me I can not find any. We did make a great family, even the judges thought so, we placed first in our division

But most of all, it has also become a social event for donning their costumes and heading to Halloween parties. Whether at someone's home, local night clubs or the office, just about everyone enjoys the Halloween festivities. The most popular years are when Halloween falls on either a Friday or Saturday for obvious reasons.

While traditionally filled with ghouls, goblins, ghost and other scary characters, Halloween night is also a very sexy holiday. Costumes portraying enchanting Witches and seductive Vampires are always a great choice, and let us not forget the Mistress of the Dark herself, Elvira. Its also a perfect time for couples to dress up together as anything they want to be from a Mad Scientist and Nurse to a Playboy and his Bunny, the possibilities seem endless! Every year you'll find new versions of Halloween costumes, from very sexy witch costumes to nurses, firewomen, pirates, you name it! Just as anything else we do, we go to the extreme. Each year has to top the previous year, the sicker the better, the sexier the better, the more risky the better.
And why not, Halloween is the one time of the year that almost anything goes, allowing people to live out fantasies, if only for this one night.

The social freedom of Halloween gives people who are normally stressed out and/or emotionally restrained a chance to "let loose", get spooky, scary, naughty and even sexy without being judged. It's simply an assumed persona for a night of celebration.

Every year more adults are dressing in costumes for their Halloween festivities. According to a 2005 Halloween Online survey, more than seventy-five percent of adults who participate in Halloween are going to wear a costume as part of their Halloween merrymaking.

So what I want to know is where is the Christian costumes, Christians dress up in their religious t-shirts throughout the year. Why do you not see religious themed costumes, maybe they are out there and I have just missed them. After all isn’t Halloween really a Christian Holliday?

I do not remember what the percentage of people in the United States say they are Christians, if they truly were, and truly followed the Laws set forth by Papa and confirmed by Jesus. I do not think that they would partake in Halloween. I am pretty sure they would not dress up as witches, demons and evil angels. Here is what the saddest part is, I am sure that very few of these festive goers will repent, or even think about Papa, no Instead they will let their alter-ego take charge and have fun. And then go to church on Sunday as if nothing happened. I know that I am one of those hypocrites.

So this is where I am led to, Halloween traditionally has been one of my favorite holidays. However I really do not understand what is really behind the whole holiday, the good verses bad. So I am setting out to research and find out more about it. Until the truth is unturned be safe and enjoy the fall festivities.

Oct. 1 Family Update

2008-10-01T19:53:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! We hope you are having a great Fall.

Well, our 50 States in 50 days "goal of completion" is just a few weeks away – and we have a long way to go. We have heard from several of you (some of you are receiving your first Warren Family Update right now) to add you to our prayer team, and we thank you. Here are the states that we have covered, if you can offer others, please let us know: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Didn't get the full e-mail of details? Checkout warrenfamilyadventures.blogspot.com! As a reminder, this is separate from our normal updates, this will be a weekly email focused only on prayer requests and praises for our family and friends in Honduras.

Makenzie just had her 3rd birthday yesterday! Wow. It is crazy how fast time flies. We also had a fun birthday party on Saturday with friends and family, the Tumblebus came, a piñata, cake and ice cream, and of course she got great gifts! Thank you to everyone that was able to participate, as this may be her last one in the states for a while. She had a great time. One of her gifts was a Build-A-Bear that was not yet stuffed. We took her yesterday to fill it, and of course, she had to dress the bear named "Girl Bear", complete with everything from "big-a-girl panties" (as Mak calls them) to hair! See the picture attached, cuz she turned out very cute. She is also becoming a little photographer – she got her first digital camera (look out Drager Photography!)

Andy continues to have some very successful business meetings about the coffee and other upcoming projects. We want to remind you that the coffee should be available online within the next several weeks, and we will let you know the link as soon as we know it. Times are very exciting right now with the coffee, we have gained some great contacts while we have been here, and God keeps providing more every day. He is working on a fundraising dinner for the coffee project, hopefully to happen sometime in November. Also, a cell phone drive for fundraising for us to go to language school in Guatemala and Honduras. The other thing is that he needs a root canal. He has been in pain the last several days, so he is scheduled for Tuesday. We would appreciate prayers for the fundraising planning and his root canal.

My biggest job while we have been here is scheduling. We have had several visits with family, friends, and supporters, and we have a very busy 2 weeks ahead. We have been asked to help with a house/family as the parents are gone for a few days next week, and I have been asked to come back to my old office and work for a few days while they have training. We are still trying to figure out our "travel schedule" – but I haven't been able to get answers from churches as to when to come. Please be praying for God to show us the right phone calls to make.

So, we have started planning for our return to Honduras. We will probably be leaving on November 30th, and will head straight to Guatemala for Language School for a few weeks, and to Honduras for Christmas. Please also pray for logistics to work out for all of this.

We thank you again for your continued prayers and support. We could not do this without you! If you haven't seen, we have updated our website: www.warrenfamilyadventures.com and we have even added a page so you can see exactly where we are. We hope it helps. Feedback would be great!

We love you all. We love hearing from you too!

Because of Him,
Andy, Corbett and Makenzie

PS: Our website and blogs:
www.warrenfamilyadventures.com
http://warrenfamilyadventures.blogspot.com
http://thejavapapa.blogspot.com
-- Warren Family AdventuresAndy, Corbett and MakenziePO Box 10516Fayetteville, AR 72703

50 states update

2008-09-29T23:42:00.000-05:00

Update: We have been in contact with several states, at this time we can say that we have 12 states on the books, Thank you to those who have considered joining us in prayer for Honduras, prayer commitment is a scary thing to do, and this is scary times and the scarier the times are the more we need to pray. Please let us know if you would like to be added.

The Bible is a master piece I think that I will never...

2008-09-29T23:25:00.004-05:00

The Bible is a master piece I think that I will never fully understand. What I do understand is how easy it is for some people to devote their entire life to studying the Bible; I guess that is why they are labeled the title “Bible Scholars”. I hope to one day be able to say I have an understanding of the intricate ins and outs of the Bible. I would love to have a better understanding of how the Old Testament intertwines with the New Testament. How one story told in the NT matches and references one from the OT. Just think about all of the imageries and codes that oneself could get lost in studying.

On a sad note, I strongly feel that several of the so called scholars get so tied up in the ins-and-outs that they lose sight of what really matters. In John 8:19-21 Jesus declares “You do not know me or my Father”, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” These so called scholars get so tied up in the legalistic views and codes that they truly do not know Jesus or God. They never actually take the time to fully digest the beauty of it all. The Bible is a very beautiful story that gives us the keys to everlasting peace and happiness. If your too busy trying to decipher what the third day means, you might end up missing the bigger picture. (I will talk more about this in a minute.) And not really get to know the one true love we are wired to receive.

One of the biggest issues these scholars face is one of the biggest sins of all. PRIDE. According to Dictionary.com the definition of Pride is: “a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.” In other words blinded by what really matters. I believe that this is Satan’s finest attack against mankind. This is far worse than murder, stealing and so on. I believe that the fall of humankind in the garden was due to pride. Satan uses pride to blind men, and this causes men to reject that which is right and good. Until every knee is bowed and every tongue confesses, pride will run wild through our society. The day will come that pride will be dealt with, the day that Jesus returns. Going back to the scholars, they dig into the bible so much that they think that because they can quote the bible verse to verse and cross reference to other parts of the bible they are Godly men and will go to heaven. Not so fast my friend, there is only one way to go to heaven and it is not by memorizing the bible. It is through Jesus.

Now that I have gone off the deep end, I will get back to what I originally started writing about. I am currently studying the book of John. It is a great read. My pastor when he started to preach on John said he is going to offend some people with the talks, and possibly turn off others. I think that is needed, I call it a reality check.

I have been stuck on John 2:1-11. It is the story about Jesus going to a wedding telling his Mom that he is not ready and turning water into wine. In the past before I knew anything about anything in the Bible, I would read this passage and feel very uncomfortable. I was raised to think that alcoholism is bad and that good Christians did not drink. So of course I would get hung up on this verse thinking why is Jesus turning water into wine and providing the guests with alcohol. Since he is doing this it must be ok.

That was then, now I have a better understanding of the whole story and think that it is a wonderful story full of imagery and mystery and when put together with an understanding of the times we are given a snapshot of Jesus ministry and purpose. The whole story in a nut shell is his ministry. First of all, John 2:1 “on the third day a wedding took place this is probably a reference to the 3rd day after the last recorded events, the call of Philip and Nathanael (1:43-51). An interesting point is that if one does take the events of chapter 1 to fill the first week of Jesus’ public ministry, and as such to constitute a parallel with Genesis 1 (the old creation versus the new creation) then the wedding at Cana would take place on the 7th day (Reference from Bible.org)

So we have two things of interest here, the 7th day and the 3rd day. Another interesting note is that a typical Jewish wedding celebration would have lasted a full week. So the wedding would actually be on the 7th day of the week.

In verse three, Jesus mother comes to Him and tells Him they are out of Wine. If one just reads the Bible they would over look part of his response, just as I did until earlier tonight. His response was “dear woman, why do you involve me”? In that time frame as with now it is not polite to refer to your mother as “Dear woman”. However I believe that he refers her to woman instead of mother is because he has begun his ministry, and because of this he mother is no longer mother but as another woman. He is no longer a child of a woman but a Son of God and no longer belongs to flesh. I think that his response is also a response given to say that he will do what he does on God’s time but not by command of the flesh. All this time it is safe to assume that several of the disciples are with him while this conversation is going on.

Mary goes on to tell the servants to do as he instructs. Because they do, I feel that the wedding is of family, so Mary has deep connections to the party. Jesus instructs the servants to poor water into six jugs, these jugs were used for ceremonial washing. This is where you can start picking the story apart, and referencing wine in the OT in Amos, Hosanna, Jeremiah. All of which the disciples would be aware of the references to the OT through their studies.

My thing is this; I do not want to go to deep into breaking down the passage. The point is in this short passage, within a week of Jesus coming into his ministry, his actions are reflecting his life and purpose on this earth. The wine in my opinion is a symbol of his blood. Because the wine is in the ceremonial washing bins, he is telling them that saving the best wine for last is the only way to go, no one will go after me, and only the best will be through me. If you dig too much you will miss the picture, the big picture. However studying the bible and having an idea of what the actual customs were of that time did help me in understanding what is really happening and made it more real.

Dreams

2008-09-23T10:32:00.006-05:00

There I was standing in the hallway leading into a bigger room full of people. I feel a big overwhelming since that I have forgotten something, something that seems at that moment extremely important. I look down and notice that I am barefoot. I can’t go into a group of people to speak to barefoot can I? Wait a minute if that was all that wouldn’t be too terribly bad. However I do not have my clothes on either, just my boxers…Well at least I’m not naked. I must hide before no one notices me, I can’t move, there is nowhere to run. Everyone is staring at me, waiting for me to make a move. All I want to do is lay down curl up and close my eyes. Yes that is it. I do this I can hide from my embarrassing situation…I used to have dreams like this. Not too long ago and almost every night.

This time the dream was different, I was talking to a girl, she knew what all of her grades were before the end of the semester, not to mention she had straight A’s. This was a new thought process for me; I was never good at school, and never wanted to see what my grades were. Much less go to the teacher and ask them for a performance report. My grades were never good in school; C’s if I could even get that at times. So I decided from my conversation with this girl I should go check my grades. She was very convincing that you need to know what your grades are at all times. If you don’t know where you stand, how will you be able to improve? So that made since to me. I went to the teacher and asked for my grades. The teacher laughed, she told me you have to turn in your work to get a grade, look you have incompletes across the board. That is when I woke up.

There are at least 25 different references to dreams in the bible from Joseph to Paul. Each dream had a meaning and an interpretation. I wish I could be like Joseph and summons up a guy to come interpret my dreams. From my own interpretations I would say that I am dealing with anxiety. But what kind and why. Let’s see, I have incomplete work, and many projects that I want to start, maybe I am not doing as much as I could be. “Not wanting to ask for my grades”, that could be me not willing to accept the fact that I am not doing as much as I could be, maybe I’m afraid to ask others for a review. I heard in a sermon the other day that we should all receive checkups from others. Dig deep into our character. We all need accountability partners; I have my wife, but is that enough? Probably not, how many accountability partners does one really need? I need at least three maybe even as many as five. According to the pastor of the sermon we need to do checkups at least weekly

Back to the unfinished work, I have several things on my plate that I have not given my all at. Our 50 states in 50 days, I have not kept up with like I should. Newsletters, updates on coffee, and other business needs relating to coffee. I think I can see what is going on. I too am being spoken to through my dreams. It’s time to wake up and start working, living and having fun. First I need to find another accountability partner, no first I need to pray over everything that is weighing heavily on my heart, then find me that accountability partner.

Honduras 2007

2008-09-22T18:36:00.002-05:00

50 States in 50 days

2008-09-01T21:34:00.001-05:00

50 States in 50 days – are we crazy
We have launched an endeavor while we are in the US and we need your help. We are building an incredible Prayer Support Team for the Warren Family. Our goal is to have someone in each of the 50 states to be praying for our ministry on a regular basis.
The reason for this new goal is twofold. First, to have people all across our home country to be praying for our ministry and everything that goes along with it. Second, to have the opportunity to hear from our Prayer Support Team, of their prayer needs, and send up prayers from Honduras.
“And, how can I help?” Well, we obviously don’t have contacts in every state. You, however, Do! We only have a few states covered. Would you consider forwarding this to select people across the US and have them write us? We feel like this is going to be a really cool experience, and can’t wait for you to be a part of it. We have listed the states below that we have committed prayer warriors for our ministry, as a guide. If you would like to be one of these, please, write back and let up know. We are serious about this and want you to seriously consider this as well.
This is going to be a fun exercise. How cool will it be to see updates from every state in America praying for Honduras and for the students of Honduras praying for every state? Thanks for your prayers as we build this incredible team of people by October 20th! (And, as we send our updates, we will give you our progress report!)
Arkansas
Georgia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Wisconsin

Andy, Corbett and Makenzie
Check out our family blog: warrenfamilyadventures.blogspot.com

Go Team Goal

2008-08-26T19:56:00.001-05:00

50 states in 50 days, that is our goal to raise a team of supporters, at least one person from every 50 states! Can it be done, with God as my spritual guide, my wife's support of not thinking I have lost my mind and a lot of prayer, you bet we can do it.