Where is the Walker?

So the past couple of days have been pretty dark. Not spiritually or anything but quite literally. We call our electricity down here the Walker and he have not had any for multiple hours during each day this week. Some of the days there were more hours without it than with it. This has made it especially difficult for the boys to get through school becuase they have their lessons on videos which they watch. So Wednesday without power we went out into the community. We had originally planned to work on our road which has come close to being impassible after the heavy rains but we got a call from a lady from the church we attend at the ministry and her husband couldnt get their van running. We went out to help and as Ed worked on the car me and Val decided to connect with some community members. I of course went directly to the kids in the neighborhood and began to play with them(both becuase I love kids and becuase I am less intimidated to use my spanish with them). Val began connecting with some women in the community she hadnt met yet and informed everyone she met in spanish of all the upcoming activities at the local ministry. It was great to go into the local neighborhood and mingle with the community. I of course became a jungle gym and punching bag for the little ones and loved every minute of it. We eventuallly worked on the road and got a lot accomplished considering are lack of heavy machinery which would make the work easy, but I valued the time with the local children the most. Today was another day where we woke up without electricity so we had the boys do some schoolwork that didnt require the power and then we came into the city to hang out because Ed and Val have a board meeting for the ministry in the city. So I am sitting at another internet cafe but hopefully this will be the last time becuase we picked up our modem today. The Schuberts are also flirting with the idea of buying a generator becuase the boys cannot get any father behind in school. Well other than this I dont have much else to report. Please pray that God will keep our electricity steady becuase the boys need schooling and our food needs cooling. Please also pray for us this next week as Val will be leaving for the States. One last note. The E.C. church is planning on sending a work team down to Honduras to work along side the Schuberts and I in Zambrano and if anyone is interested they can contact Jerry Virtue. If you are interested and have no idea who that is then contact me and I´ll get you his info. Praisin Him with or without lights. Adios.

Showering in the Rain-Honduras Style

So this last week has been pretty interesting. Because of all the heavy rainfall i spoke of in the last post a giant mudslide occurred on a mountain nearby and we didn´t have water come in for almost 2 weeks(it normally comes in every third day). So we had to do many things to conserve the water that we did have in the cistern. Me and AJ decided to use the heavy rainfall to our advantage and shower outside like some true Hondurans. We also started peeing outside to save water on flushes and using water from our pila to flush the toilets. It was rough for the last week and I was almost out of clean clothes but God is good and we received water yesterday and now my clothes are clean. The boys schooling went well in the last week. Wes is getting into the chemistry and I love helping him with it. Last week we went to the ministry to help rearrange the room which they hold church in and then we all had a little football game afterward(American football not the sissy futbol) it was so much fun even though were playing with another missionary family with a bunch of young girls. It really made me miss America and watching football all day on Sundays. Saturday I didn't go to the ministry because I was a little sick(probably from showering outside). Ed and Wes went to help build a house for a struggling family and I was going to go with but I missed out. I wish I hadn´t been sick because I would have truly enjoyed that experience. I´m sure the Lord will provide plenty more opportunities to serve. On Sunday we went to church at the local ministry because we are trying to limit our trips to the city. I laughed when the kids were in their Sunday school class and the teacher mentioned manzanas and many of the kids turned around at me and I had to flex. I have been trying to work on my Spanish more each day but its still pretty overwhelming. I know enough to understand a lot and to get by but I don´t feel super comfortable speaking yet. I´m sure I will get there. Tuesday´s have become my body guard day as I come into the city with Val. She usually drops me off at the mall to do internet while she attends a ladies small group and then we run errands together. Today we went to the other ministry called casa de luz in the city and Val talked to the teachers and left me with the 6 or 7 kids there. I couldn't really talk well to them but they somehow knew I was a human jungle gym and they were soon all over me. they pretended to beat me up and shoot me with fake guns and then we played a little soccer. I love that kids can tell whether a person is kid friendly or not and they pick up on that right away. The kids were adorable and I can´t wait til we get internet at the house so i can post some of their pictures on the internet. At the local ministry they are also starting English classes for the community members and I think I am going to try to teach one because I can minister to the community and improve my Spanish at the same time. In a week Val is leaving for a while to head to the States for some ministry stuff in Chicago and it will be a man pad at the Schubert house. Hopefully we don´t starve and the house is in one piece when she returns. Well not much else is new. I think I kicked the little cold that I had and I am thankful that we have water so I can now shower inside. The electricity still goes in and out so it is frustrating at times, especially when the boys are trying to complete school on their labtops. It is humbling though to live like many people of the world who don´t have many of the things that we normally take for granted. Rejoice in what the Lord has blessed you with no matter how small or how important because there are many without much. God bless you all.

Water Water Everywhere

Well it has rained pretty much non-stop the last week and a half and the weather has been crazy. Ed and Val have a leak over their bed and so does Wes. We also have a leak over the couch. It makes everything pretty interesting in the house when it rains. I have a small enough bed that I can move it out of the line in the roof that it leaks through so I stay dry at night. The roads are pretty bad becuase of the water flow. The road right outside our place has a 3 foot ditch in the road from the water. we call it the grand canyon. The other day we did some work on the road but it is rough without heavy machinery. We use one pick axe and three shovels so it takes a while to get a decent amount of work done. While we were working on the road a small girl from across the street came out and gave us some bananas while we were working. Her name is Estephanie and she is 4 or 5 years old. We later saw her bathing outside using water that was collected outside in a garbage bin from the rain. I was filled with joy to see how a family with no running water could give up some food to the gringos working on the road. I had Val go over later to build a relationship becuase her spanish is the best. We returned the favor by giving them a loaf of banana bread and hopefully we will suild a lasting relationship with that family. The learing of the spanish is still hard and frustrating at times becuase I want to connect with tthe young people I work with on Saturdays and Sundays but there is a language barrier. They know me and Manzanas and Mr. Kennedy. Manzanas is the spanish word for apples and of course they call me that becuase I tell them I have apples in my arms and flex. They call me Mr. Kennedy becuase he is a WWE wrestler and my name is similar to his. The boys schooling is going well during the week and we are still doing school 6 days a week for a few more weeks to make up for the days we missed by coming down later than expected. I miss my family terribly, especially when I hear about Samantha asking about me. Never before have I wanted to be in two places at once then when I hear about her. Last night after a movie I prayed with all the Schuberts. Afterwards I found myself wishing that I had that type of bond with my family but I then remembered to be thankful for my experiences with my family becuase they shaped me into the man that I am today. I wouldnt trade my family for any other family in the world becuase they are so supportive regardless of thier beliefs. I know I have thier full support in anything I do. I miss my siblings, my parents, grandma, my nieces, and my nephew. I miss the good things and the bad things about them that make them unique. I pray daily for all of you and you are constantly in my mind. I also hope that God blesses the rest of my supporters as well and keeps all that I care about safe until I return to see them again. Well its time to go. Hopefully next time I post I will have internet at the house and wont have to come into the city to talk to my loved ones and inform people of what I am doing. God Bless and dont hesitate to ask any questions about the country, the culture, the people, or what I am doing. Adios.

Rain rain go away

This is a post that i tried to post last Tuesday but i was at a cafe and connection was aweful so here it is a few days late. Since Tuesday I have had my normal weeklong routine and have decided to help aother missionary family by tutoring their kids. for now i will just be answering their questions over the phone and scheduling a session once a week as needed to help them with math and science. Two nights this week the electricity (or as we call it the Walker) was out for a pretty long time and one of those nights me and the boys were home alone for a while and we heard about 100 gunshots go off. they were close enough to hear but not close enough to hit thank God. It is humbling to be in the dark in a country like Honduras becuase you get a small taste of what many people have to live with daily and its gives you a great appreciation for everything that God has blessed you with. As Americans we complain about so many luxuries not working when they fall apart but have no idea what it is like to be without necessity like many others around the world. well i gotta get going to church. adios and be good.


So the last few days have been suh-weet other than the large amounts of rain in Zambrano. On Saturday we went to the local ministry in the afternoon after the boys had school(we have to do school on Saturdays for a month because of our late arrival). Val taught a class of younger girls and I helped her. I even played my first Spanish worship song in public. It was Trading My Sorrows or Cambiare mis tristezas. I struggle a little bit with pronounciation but I was happy that I learned a worship song in Spanish. I then played soccer with many of the younger boys and wrestled with them as well. Since my Spanish is not that great we all picked our favorite WWE wrestlers and had an epic battle. My back was sore the next day but it was worth it to see the kids smiling and laughing. On Sunday we attended the church service at the local ministry. Val translated the sermon of another North American missionary and I helped with the Sunday School class. Afterward I played some more soccer and was the embarrassing gringo who was twice as big as the rest of the kids but with half the soccer skills. I really feel like God has put it on my heart to connect with the younger people in the community so I am going to commit to the local ministry on the weekends. I am also considering helping out another missionary family who needs a tutor for their kids in math and science and I think I will do it as long as it doesn't interfere with my ministry to the people of Honduras. So basically right now I'm trying to decide what God wants me to do with my free time after i finish the boys schooling. If you all could pray that God would guide me to what he wants me to do I would greatly appreciate it. I could also use pray for God's direction for after this year as I am unsure of what is next in my life. Once again thanks for the support on all levels. Adios. May God go before you all in everything that you do, just as He led his people when he set them free from captivity. May that same protecting Holy Spirit lead you throughout your day and throughout you life.

One week of school down...thirtysomething to go

Hello all,

Here I am again at the internet cafe in the mall in Tegucigalpa. This week has been good so far. Here is an example of my daily schedule during the week. At 5:45 I wake up and we begin our excercise at 6 for the boys PE class. Ed participates as well and Val is our stretchmaster and wants to begin doing the worouts with us. at 7 we eat breakfast and we aim for school to start at 7:30. basically my duties during the day are to check the boys homework for every class and administer quizes. I also get to sing hymns with the boys and pray with them for thier Bible classes. Imbetween classes I have been doing a lot of reading. This week I read a book that AJ has to do a book report on later this semester. I read a 225 book in just thre days. For some of you this may not seem like a big accomplishment, but those who know me know that I dont enjoy reading and i rarely finish the books that I begin. The boys finish school around lunch time and we all eat together. After this the boys do homework or we hang out. One afternoon me,AJ, and Ed began to dig a ditch along the side of the road to our house because the water damage to the road is pretty bad. Another after noon I helped Ed sand down a new table and nightstand. I have not left the property too much this week but tomorrow and Sunday I will be helping with classes at the local ministry in Zambrano. Please pray that God blesses the relationships that will be developed between me and members of the community. After the afternnon activites we eat dinner as a family and then either watch an exhilarating episode of Walker Texas Ranger, play board games, or sit around the living room while I play guitar and worship God. I feel like I have been adopted into the family and we are all getting along great. Bedtime is usually around 10 or 10:30. That has basically been my schedule for the week. Hopefully in the next week or two we will get the internet set up at the house so we can stay in touch with people better. I have taken some pictures and will post them after we get internet in the house. If anyone has any questions just post them on here or email me at kapndahous@aol.com. well I must get going so I dont waste all my lempiras on the internet. Once again thank you for your support. Stick to God's path and follow his will. If you do this What could go wrong?