On the Road.........

Part of the first Honduras team departed from the church at 1:30 PM. Whitney and Jase at the same time were flying from Florida (youth camp) to Dallas to meet up with the team. Todd Warren and Claire Goodman will also meet up with them in Dallas.

The team will fly out of DFW tomorrow morning at 5:45 AM. Please pray from them as they travel. Continue to pray for the Food Distribution effort for the Chorti. Pray that the funds will come in quickly and the effort can begin this week. We know that God can work out every tiny detail.

New Team Member

Trish Beaty is now going to Honduras with the first team!! Please add her to your prayer list as she ministers in Honduras.

Food Shortage in Honduras

Dear Church Family,

I received more information from Honduras regarding the food shortage in the Chorti villages. I wanted to share this with you. Please pray specifically for the prayer requests mentioned below. If you feel led to supply funds for the food distribution, please bring it to the church office.

Jase

From Steve and Audrey Long...........We were here in March and found that the Chorti were beginning to have a shortage in their food supply. We returned in June to find the situation much worse. We have visited several of the villages and their concern is the fact that they do not have enough food and in some cases no food at all. In reviewing the information we have received, it is twice as bad as it was in 2007 when we did a food distribution for the Chorti.

Having said all of the above, Parkwood Baptist (Steve & Audrey's church in North Carolina) has undertaken to do another food distribution for the Chorti. Our goal is to provide enough corn & beans for a month for the communities involved in the Ag project. In 2007, that was over 1,000 families. This time there is a greater need and the number I’m sure will be higher. We are in the process of applying for Baptist Global Response funds, but as you know that takes time and there is no assurance the funds will be available. We feel the need is great enough to ask if folks feel so led to assist Parkwood in raising the needed funds to supply food for the Chorti. Above all, however, we ask your prayer support that the funds will come quickly, the rains be adequate for a good harvest and most of all through this the Chorti will come to know Christ as their Savior.

Honduras Food Distribution

Steve Long called Jase today to let him know that the food distribution has been approved for the Chorti villages. This is an answer to prayer!!!!! Pray that all the details that will be involved will be resolved and planned for without delaying the process to obtain and distribute food to the Chorti. Pray that through this effort other Chorti will come to know Jesus as their Savior and His name be glorified.

If all details are worked out quickly, our 2 teams can help distribute the food which would be a great help to Steve and Audry. It takes a team of people to accomplish this distribution. Steve and Audry could not do it alone. This changes the teams' plans but God's plans and timing are always perfect.

Thanks you for your continued prayers. Steve and Audry said that they have witnessed true hunger in the villages these past couple of weeks.

Prayer Requests for Honduras

The Burtch family is back in the states. They arrived in Houston yesterday and will be back in Seminole today. We can't wait to see them, hear all about their trip, and see pictures.

Steve and Audrey Long, the missionary couple in Honduras, sent some prayer requests that we wanted to share with you.

• Pray for the food situation among the Chorti. In their last planting they lost the majority of their crops due to too much rain. It rained so much; they could not get into the fields to harvest their corn. The corn developed a fungus and could not be used for food. Most villages have little to no food. Pray that a solution will come soon and that the barriers will be small, plans will be made quickly without problems. The missionaries have applied for aide to distribute beans and corn.

• The village leader of El Zapote, Alonzo, lost his wife this week. She had been sick for 9 years with a liver condition. Please pray for this family and the entire village.

• Pray that a leader will be raised up to share the gospel and plant churches in each village.

• Pray for the crops that are being planted that they will flourish and produce a bountiful harvest.

• Pray for the team that will come on July 1 from FBC Seminole. They will have back to back teams. One leaves on July 8 and the other team arrives on July 8. Pray for us as we continue here in Honduras.

We also wanted to share the names of those going this year so you can begin praying for them.

The first team will depart Seminole on Thursday, June 30th and drive to Dallas. They fly out of Dallas early Friday, July 1st. Jase Waller and Whitney Warren will be flying from Panama City Beach, FL (youth camp) to Dallas on Thursday to meet up with the team. They will fly back into Dallas on Friday, July 8th and return to Seminole on Saturday, July 9th.

July 1-8

• Jase Waller
• Whitney Warren
• Todd Warren
• Sean Decker
• Amber Decker
• Caleb Decker
• Hayden Waller
• Trevor Greenfield
• Arely Gonsales
• Crystal Caviness
• Claire Goodman

The second team will fly out of Midland on Friday morning, July 8th and return to Midland on Friday, July 15th.

• July 8-15
• Jase Waller
• Garrison Jones
• Mason Caviness
• Jenna Johnson
• Brittany Farmer
• Micah Clay
• Kimberly Clay
• Kenzie Perryman
• Bailey Waller

Jacob's Blog

Well today we are leaving and I must admit it is harder than I had expected. To be perfectly honest I was sort of ready to be back to a normal life in America, but now leaving I feel that I do not deserve to come back to the luxurious life I have. These children are the ones that deserve the best life has to offer. They are consistently happy and joyful when they have hardly anything to be happy or joyful about. Their parents abandoned them and nobody wanted to have anything to do with them, yet they are just happy to be alive. Seeing this makes me furious that I can be so selfish and stubborn to think that when everything doesn't go exactly the way I want it to then it's not right.
Earlier this morning I had to say goodbye to Moses; the sixteen year old boy that I had become rather close to the last eight days. I told him to come by at 6:30 to wake me up so I could say goodbye and he was there right on the dot. We said goodbye and he nearly started crying. I don't know why God has blessed me with the life I have, but this trip has brought me to the reality once again of how blessed I am.
Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers.

For Him,
Jacob

Monday Night

Partners in Christ –

Another busy day! Nothing new, just us playing with the children, helping in the classrooms and helping Jeff and Carla (the Americans that own the land and manage the home) with one last small project.

We all went to a local medical clinic to get tested for Malaria. I drove - which was an experience. The vehicle was a Toyota Land Cruiser, stick shift, with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the cab and I was driving on the wrong side of the road. It was great! We got there safely. The medical clinic was interesting. Very small. The waiting room was a small porch area in front. Dr. Shadrach’s office was a small room about 10’x10’. We each got some blood taken to check for Malaria and the results came back that Jacob, Katelyn and my sister-in-law, Audra, all have Malaria. Each will either take prescription or receive injections depending on the severity of the infection. Please pray for each.

We will fly back to Nairobi tomorrow afternoon and then fly out of Nairobi at midnight. I will write one more blog to try to summarize our trip. We each have become rather fond of several children and it will be very hard to leave them tomorrow. I know that each of us would bring a child home with us if we could. I’m not sure that we could narrow it down to only one child for each of us.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and thoughts.

In Him - CCJMKJ

Madison's Blog

I really don't know where to begin! There is just so much to say and to share. From the day we knew we were going to be able to come, I was ecstatic! I love being around kids, I feel like God has called me to be a pediatrician for that reason. I love being around them, mainly because they love to be happy, and I love making them laugh and smile.

On the first day we got here, the flight got in at 11:30, and after lunch, we only had half a day with the kids. As soon as the kids saw Jeff's car, they ran to it and started waving. Anyone could see the joy on their faces as we got out of the car. Now I thought that they would be a little shy and that it would take a while for them to warm up to us, but thankfully, I was completely wrong. They immediately ran up to us and yelled, "Mi bebe! Mi bebe!" Which means carry me in Swahili. That day, I probably held 15-20 different children and I loved it. Soon, it was time for dinner. Keep in mind, there are 102 children here to feed, change diapers, bathe, brush teeth, and most importantly, keep settled down. There are multiple tables in the Veranda. The Veranda is the main place where they do things. They color, sing, eat, bathe, and brush teeth in here. The Aunties had to serve the children, and we helped. They put a certain portion on each plate and hand it out to each child. When some of the children finished eating, they literally LICKED their plates clean! It was pretty cute! :)

The second day we were here, we really learned the whole day schedule. The kids wake up around 6, go to the Veranda, bathe, eat, brush teeth, go outside to play around 8:30, eat their uji (which is like porridge stuff), around 9:30, potty break, play outside until lunchtime, eat lunch, nap until 3, play outside until 4, go on a Safari (walk), until 5, eat lunch at 6:00ish, then brush teeth and go to bed!
We had planned puppet shows, and stories to tell, skits to act out, but our luggage that had all of that stuff in it was lost. But we ended up doing just playing with the kids, teaching them songs and coloring with them, which is fine with me! Either way we show them God's love and they love it! I just have had an awesome time!

Some of the things that really stick out in my mind are things like all of them playing with my hair. I had to take my hair down so all of them could have some to play with. What really surprised me, though, was how the boys played with it more than any of the girls did!

One day, a lizard was on the concrete, and every single kid here ran up to it and formed a circle around it screaming. Some of the really smaller ones were screaming at the top of their lungs. by the way they were acting, it was like they had never seen an animal before, which seemed ironic to me because they live in Africa!

I had seen every child's picture, and read all their stories, but I never thought it would be as moving as it has been. There is one small girl, Tracy, who is one of the sweetest ones here. When she was very small, an oil lamp spilled on her head, and she had to have skin grafts taken from her legs and put onto her head. To make a long story short.. They did a poor job. She always wears a hat because the scars are so bad, and her legs are in very bad condition. She has scars from her knee up to her hip covering the whole top of each thigh. Yesterday, the wind blew her hat off, and I was on the brink of tears when I saw how bad it was. There were scars covering almost her whole head. She had small patches of hair here and there, but those are barely noticeable up next to the scars. It broke my heart to see that, yet it filled my heart with the love of Christ that I knew I needed to keep sharing with her and every other kid here.

I have had an amazing time here and hope I get to come again. I love each and every child here and ask that you pray for their safety and health, but most importantly, that they would see the love of God and know that even if they don't have an earthly father, they will always have a Father in heaven.

Madison

Sunday Morning

Good morning to all. I awoke to the cries of babies this morning and to a beautiful African sunrise. I am now listening to 100+ children sing praise songs before they eat breakfast. If that does not make your heart smile and Spirit worship the Father............

Yesterday we poured a 8'x9' concrete slab for them to put a generator on. The generator was donated to help alleviate the issue with electricity outages. The generator will arrive next week so it was imperative that the slab was finished. It was a cumulative effort that took us about 8-10 hours. We had a cement mixer but all the rock, sand and water had to be carried in. Many of the children helped carry the water. Jacob, Josh and some of the older boys had to use wheel barrels to transport the rock and sand about 1/2 mile to where we were working. It took about 60 loads to get the amount of material needed. By the end of the day we were exhausted but that part of the project is completed.

Church will begin in a few hours. We will travel to Sibango (a small village nearby) to worship with the pastor (Pastor George) that hosted us a few days ago for the bible study. I am excited about praising the Father with a local body of believers.

I am not sure what the rest of the day will hold but I know it will involve hugs and kisses from these children. Have no doubt, there are several children that try our patience. They each have their own way of getting attention and for some that means .............. I'll leave it to your imagination. Just picture your children doing what drives you crazy.

Just a few more days in Africa. Our time has escaped to quickly.

In Him - CCJMKJ

Katelyn's Post

When we got to the Children's Home, we started playing with the kids. I thought it was amazing that all 102 kids can fit in one house, and I thought 6 people was a big family. I went to school for a couple days. One teacher teaches grades, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th ,and 6th all in one room. There is only 10 kids though. One day my mom, Aunt Audra, Sydney and I worked in the classroom and played games involving math. The children thought it was a lot of fun. Later that day we went outside and played soccer. In the middle of the game it started raining. We stayed outside and continued playing soccer in the rain. The rain felt so good. It was raining big drops and it was so cold.

Today we went outside and played with the kids for about an hour. Then I went and helped give clean drinking water to the surrounding community. About 20 people came while I was there.

Thanks you for praying for us, for the baby sheets and helping us come here.

Love,
Katelyn

Jacob's Blog

Habari ya asimburi! English translation – good morning. I can’t even begin to put into words how amazing this trip has been. When thinking about the trip ahead of time I knew it was going to be life changing, but I had no idea it would affect me the way it has. I’ll start with the children… Each morning they are awake at 5:15-5:30 to be bathed and get ready for the day. In the house where we are staying the walls are not very thick, so sound travels very easily. The children are bathed in a room called the veranda, which is right by my room. So needless to say I am wide awake at 5:30 in the morning. The children will laugh, scream, and cry all morning. It’s an amazing sound! Another thing about these children is they love to sing. They sing when they wake up and they are singing when they go to sleep. My uncle had told me that they would line up for hugs, and I believed him. But not to the extent that it has actually happened. When we first got here they saw us, and it took them all of 12 seconds to think that we had been best friends for life. They immediately ran to us and jumped in our arms just wanting to be loved. Another thing about the children is they love unconditionally.

The clay here is red, very red, and it gets all over anything it comes into contact with. So, needless to say, that when they come and jump on you the red clay that was on their feet and hands and clothes gets all over your clothes hand and anything else you have on. It’s wonderful!

Saturday’s are chore days. So this morning I was up at the same time and went to help Moses, a boy my age, with his chores; which happened to be milking cows. I go out sort of expecting to just watch and sort of expecting to actually do something. I did something. While milking the cow I squirted the milk on Moses and myself, and almost got kicked. But all in all in it was a great success. A couple nights ago Moses and I sat up for two hours talking and teaching each other different languages. He is fluent in English, so I taught him some Spanish and he taught me Swahili…………. a lot of Swahili. We wrote all the words down so I could study them and try to speak a little bit of their language and once we finished I had 104 words in Swahili with English translations, and I have about 7 memorized. It was a great experience!

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers! Nakupenda rafiki! English translation – I love you friends!

For Him,

Jacob

Saturday Morning

Partners in Christ –

Habari ya asimburi! Good morning! We started early this morning ……. 5:00am. It is Saturday morning here and the children awoke early. Maybe knowing there was no school today. Saturdays are chore day until they are finished and then free time for the rest of the day.

Yesterday was a busy day. My brother and I went to a bible study with several local pastors. We started about 11:30, had lunch at 1:30 and finished up about 4:30. The Spirit moved freely and the fellowship was rich. We praised Jesus, prayed and read scripture in English and Swahili simultaneously. It gave us a foretaste of heaven and every tribe and nation worshiping our God. The rest of our team stayed at the home and spent time with the children. Christa spent the day ………….. that is a story I will leave for her to tell. Josh spent most of the morning giving out water and Jacob, Madison and Katelyn helped with every age group throughout the day.

We have been told many times by many people, that there is a cost of being in Africa.

Malaria – Mark is still the only one on this team that has contracted it, that we know of. He is

feeling better after receiving injections to help his body kill the virus. Unfortunately there are other side affects from the medication that are rather uncomfortable.

HIV – Some of the children are here because their parents have died due to the disease. Even more unfortunate is the fact that some of the children contracted the disease because of their parent's decisions. These children look very healthy and want to be hugged and kissed just like all the others. Our desire is to love them as we love all the others.

Electricity – We went to bed again last night without electricity. That has been very typical. About 50%-60% of the time there is no electricity. Not sure what the issue is exactly, but that is the way of life here. That means meals are often not what you would expect or desire. Many things you expect to be served cold (milk) are often not.

I hope that you all do not perceive the things mentioned above to be complaints. The items I mentioned are intended to show us how we are blessed beyond measure and blessed beyond need. Many of the things we say we need, are really luxuries. We are blessed.

I am so thankful for this opportunity. I am so thankful for the gifts of sheets, clothes, time, prayers and money. I wish that all of you could experience what we are experiencing. Thank you for sending us. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for loving us.

In Him - CCJMKJ

God is good! All the time!

Partners in Christ –

As is read my last post it was very evident that I only had about 8 hours sleep in the the last 48 hours. I have proof read this post and hopefully it is better.

We have been blessed beyond measure. Every time we travel outside the United States we am reminded that we are so spoiled. We are given so much, always want more and often waste what we are given.

The Kenyan people are very friendly and helpful. It is amazing that the Kenyan children, and almost any other children that live in constant poverty, are so happy with absolutely nothing. They are content with the most basic of games or toys (sticks and rocks). They will play for hours without complaint and without thinking that there is something else better to do. The children almost always have smiles on their faces and are longing to be loved. With 102 children and only 15 adults to give time and emotion, there is a huge need for hugs, kisses and loving words. Each morning there is a mob of children grabbing our legs, pulling our clothes, reaching up saying, “Beba, beba.” Translated means, “hold me, hold me!” Of course to me they say, “Beba Babu, beba Babu!” Which means, “Hold me Grandpa, hold me Grandpa!” I guess the grey hair as earned me that name of respect (haha).

Each morning the children wake up by 6:00 am and are given or take baths. By 7:00 am about 90 children are seated at the table waiting to eat. The other 12 or so help pass out the plates of food. Generally a few slices of bread with a little jam and a cup of uji (porridge made of ground milo, sugar and water). By 8:00 am all children have eaten and are brushing their teeth and cleaning up the MESS! It is a mess. If you can imagine 16 babies in high chairs, another 50 that are under the age of 5 and another 10 or so that are infants requiring to be fed. By 8:30 the school age children are in class and all the others are outside playing. This continues until 12:00, lunchtime. The eating arrangement from breakfast is repeated and naptime follows for all the non school age kids. The older students have free time for one hour and then return to school. School ends at 3:00 and the soccer games, tag, playing on the swing sets begin. This is the time that we have a lot of interaction with the older children. sSupper (dinner) is served at 6:00 pm. Almost all meals include either rice or some kind of corn meal. Most of the vegetables are grown on their own farm. Squash, beans, green beans, greens, and many other that I am not sure what they are, but with a little salt, it makes a meal. By the time supper is over it is dark and it is bedtime, alleluia! The children are exhausted and the adults are too. We are staying at the “home”. The rooms are comfortable, no AC no fans. It does get cool in the evenings.

Jacob, my brother Mark and I have worked on a few projects. We re-screened the baby’s room. It is a small room that the infants stay in while all the other children are outside playing. The previous screens did not keep any of the insects out. We organized and repaired one of the storerooms, dug potatoes, and we are going to pour a slab that will be used for a generator that was donated. Christa and Madison have spent the bulk of each day helping with the children that are not in school; holding babies, coloring, and singing songs. Katelyn is in the classroom helping the teacher and helping the students with their lessons. She is a natural teacher. Josh has been giving water to any of the surrounding people that come to receive clean drinking water. The water well that is owned by the home is very strong and has been tested and is excellent drinking water. There are approximately 200 people that come daily to get water from Rehema In-Step Children’s home.

Please continue to pray for our group. Mark has been diagnosed with Malaria and is not feeling well. Katelyn has not felt well, but we believe the travel and time change is the cause. All else is going good. We feel at home here and know that God is using us to love the children.

In Him - CCJMKJ

Ww are here! Almost..............

Jumbo! (Hello) We arrived in Nariobi last night after what seemed like a very long day traveling. We spent approximately 22 hours on various planes but had the opportunity to share with many people what our purpose for this trip ..... to share the love of Christ with anyone we come in contact with. Jacob witnesses to a flight attendant without even knowing it. He was spending time in the midde of the night and the stewardess saw and asked me about him and our trip.

After arriving in Nariobi at 6:30 we had to wait about 3 hours to get our ride to the hotel for the night. That gave us countless opportunities to learn Swahili from some of the kindest and most helpful men I have met. We arrived at the hotel and found it very comfortable. The beds are all covered by mosquito nets but were comfortable enough that we all awoke rested. The hotel provided a breakfast buffet that consisted of an adventure of determining what many items were. But after trying a little of all, we walked away very impressed with the quality of the food.

We are now headed back to the airport for our flight to Kitale. We should arrive there shortly before lunch.

Some of our luggage was lost. It contained Christa's overnight bag with her contact solution and her extra pair of contacts, all of our VBS items and a few clothes. Please pray that it is found quickly. Thanks for all and we look forward to updating you all soon.

In Him - CCJMKJ

Preparing for Kenya

Partners in Christ -

We are quickly drawing close to our departure date for Kenya. The time has flown by since God presented us with the knowledge that He wanted us to go. I have looked back and been amazed at the blessing that he gave to us through our brothers and sisters in Christ. I have had countless opportunities to tell of His supplying for this trip.

As the time draws near we believe that all the plans for physical preparation have come to fruition. We have our passports, shot records, applications, flight reservations, hotel reservations, supplies packed and clothes stuffed in suitcases. If we don't have it ready..... we didn't know we needed it.

We will fly out of Houston on Sunday at 12:00 pm and expect to arrive in Nairobi on Monday at 6:30 pm. We are still wondering if Josh is going to be able to make it in a confined space for that long. LOL. Once in Nairobi we will spend the night there and fly to the village of Kitale on Tuesday morning. I will send emails as much as possible. From what we understand the computer link is VERY slow. We have been told to not try to upload pictures because it will take too long. We will also try to post on a blog as much as possible. I will get those addresses to you tomorrow or Saturday.

Please continue to pray for us as we travel and spend time with the children. There now 102 orphans at the orphanage. We are excited about being vessels used by Him. Thanks again for your partnership in this. We are blessed by your obedience and generosity and cannot wait to share with you the amazing things that God will do.

In Him -

Chris, Christa, Jacob, Madison, Katelyn, Josh (CCJMKJ)

Here is a link to the ministry the Burtch Family will be working with while in Kenya.

http://www.rehemainstep.com/