Watch this space for news from the next HAF Mission Team scheduled to arrive in Quimistan on February 5. We will be ten who are led by God's gentle nudging to share the love of Jesus once more with the people we will see in Honduras--giving and receiving. Pray with us that lives will be changed for the better. Allen

October 21 and 22, 2012 Our final report had to be delayed because the internet was down on Sunday. After a very nice breakfast we went to Tejeras, the small neighborhood built along the highway right of way of the very busy road between San Pedro Sula and Copan. HAF learned about Tejeras when some of our members discovered the children foraging for food at the city dump. HAF now provides a church school lesson each sunday morning along with a nutricious meal for the children who live here. We came to observe the program and to examine the meal to see what was provided. Each child received a plate with spaghetti noodles, chicken, beans, carrots, and bell peppers plus one tortilla and a drink. HAF provides a similar meal for these children several days each week through the generosity of sponsors. After lunch, we visited the Sunday afternoon session of the Agape Promises program. There are fifty children sponsored in this program, which provides Christian education and encouragement and assistance to continue in school. The program was a lively lesson about Gideon defeating the Midianites with only 300 men chosen by God. A nutricious meal was also provided to these children. In the late afternoon, we went to the inaguration of the indoor soccer field mentioned yesterday, which included a church service. This was a special treat because we got to see a lot of people that we knew from the community. We were also treated to a very nice meal as part of the festivities. We were told that one of the first activities will be a match between the youth soccer teams of one of the local evangelical churches and the catholic church. On Monday morning we went to San Pedro Sula by Busito and flew home, arriving in Atlanta on Monday afternoon, people from our plane were the only ones in the lines at immigration and customs. It was a great week. We were truly blessed with good weather the entire time and Maynor made sure we went everywhere and saw all the groups that we had on our list.

October 20, 2012 We began the day visiting with the teachers of the Agape Promises program. These four ladies, including two who are in high school, are dedicated to teaching the Word of God to our sponsored children and encouraging them to stay in school and do well. The program now has fifty sponsored children and several more children regularly attend the lessons. Afterwards, each of the team members who sponsor a child had a chance to visit with them. The university students came to visit with us later in the day. These two young ladies were in the AP program. Laura has been in AP since before Maynor started working with us. Both plan to become dentists. The program takes six years. One of them, Iveth, is in the first year and Laura in the third year. After talking with them about their courses, we were all convinced that they have the intelligence and the drive needed to finish their studies. They both look forward to a time when they can come back and help in the Honduras Agape dental clinics. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Later in the afternoon, we went to the birthday party for Jocelyn, one of the AP teachers who is a junior in high school. She is yet another wonderful example of an AP student who has grown into a teacher. She was very pleased to have us come to her party. The team had dinner at Goyita’s restaurant and we marveled at the new indoor soccer facility that the Mejia family has built on the other side of their home from the restaurant. This facility looks like something I would expect to see in Aiken. The field came from the USA and is the latest artificial turf, with sand base and small rubber pellets mixed in with the grass. The first phase of construction for this facility is now complete. Plans for the next phase of construction include exercise equipment and a game room as well as a second floor area to enjoy fast food and watch the soccer games. This may become a favorite place for mission teams to visit and relax.

More Photos from the Planning Mission Team

October 19, 2012 We went to Nueva Esperanza to look over the school and check on the needs of that village. We passed through Rio Chiquito on the way and stopped on the way back. There was a grader working diligently between Nueva Esperanza and Rio Chiquito. Nuevo Esperanza and Rio Chiquito have a joint water project and the need to purchase land where their water source is located in order to protect their water from logging. Although the exact figures were not available during the meeting, it appears that they may have saved just about half of the money needed. Rio Chiquito was one of the towns that Dr. Tino and maynor had suggested they may be a good candidate for a future Holistic Approach Village (HAV). They have a water board and patronato and seemed to be eager to meet with us. They were forthcoming concerning their progress toward saving the money needed for their land purchase and the negotiations in progress. They have three volunteer health workers ready to train and are on the road to Nuevo Esperanza, so they are quite handy, as much as villages way up in the mountain can be. Laguna del Carmen was part way back down the mountain and a left turn plus a ride across yet another mountain trail. It was also suggested as a good candidate for a future Holistic Approach Village (HAV). These people were well organized and the both the community center and the school were neat and clean, although several repairs were needed. The school has a new water tank, which was provided by the Rotary club. They have cleared ground for a proposed kindergarten building, even though they do not yet have the funds. We have now visited all the villages where we have been working lately and we are all happy to be off the road, as we will spend Saturday visiting with Agape Promises teachers and students and the University students. We also plan to have the evening meal with Jose Alfredo Mejia and his wife Goyita. We have known this couple since the earliest days of our activity in Quimistan and are really looking forward to this opportunity for fellowship. They own the Don Fermin restaurant and will be inaugurating a new soccer facility next to their home on Sunday afternoon.

Photos from Las Dantas

School at Las Dantas

Community Meeting in School at Las Dantas

Water Source - Spring - at Las Dantas

Path from Water Source back up to Las Dantas

October 18, 2012 We started the morning with a trip to Santa Clara. There we met with the leaders of the White Dove School, who showed us the growing campus of a bilingual, Christian school. We also watched with joy the kindergarten children, when asked in English, writing their names and performing simple addition for us at the board. We also watched third graders, again given instructions in English, reducing fractions and solving equations. We also met with the leaders of their parent’s organization. One of these ladies said her family moved to Santa Clara in order to place their child into this school. Another family moved their child from public school, placing the child in second grade rather than fourth. The child is now well beyond the level of those in public schools. These families are very pleased with the opportunity this school is presenting to their children. About noon we continued to Acequia, where HAF had paid for desks. The teachers there fed us lunch to show their gratitude. This is a large school which teaches first through ninth grade. They have eight teachers and an impressive amount of activity going on. There is a room with computers and the solar system is painted on the walls. They are in progress of adding toilets, which has been partly funded by the red cross. Next we went to Las Dantas, to look at a village which has asked for help on a water project. This village is way up in the mountains at the end of the poorest road we have traveled so far. To begin the trip, we had to ford a river, which in times of heavy rain prevents travel by the road. The people in the village were very excited to have us come because no one from another country had ever visited the village. There are fifteen families in the village and they all come to get water at a spring. They have one small dam to collect drinking water and a lower pool is used for washing their clothing.