The Giblet Post

It’s time for a giblets post! What’s a giblets post, you ask? Oh, it’s a little of this and a little of that, stirred into something you’ll hopefully find more appealing than whatever is in that weird bag you pull out of your holiday turkey.

Semana Santa

It’s Semana Santa, or Holy Week, in Honduras. Generally speaking, the Honduran Holy Week is more of a Central American Spring Break than anything of a religious nature. Schools are out and the people are celebrating in both wholesome and more risque ways. For families, Semana Santa can mean a week to relax and take the kids swimming. For others, it can mean a time of indulgent and reckless behavior. For Trish and Allen, it means staying off the roads as much as possible because of the likelihood of encountering a drunk driver. Businesses close and it’s not a week to plan on accomplishing a lot of errands.

Ben is home for Semana Santa and he brought a friend from school with him. This friend is someone who doesn’t normally get to leave school over holidays. Tender-hearted Ben got permission for the friend to stay with him for the week. The young man enjoyed the first hot shower of his life! He is also enjoying seeing the countryside, as he hasn’t had many opportunities to travel far from his home.

The Road Most Traveled

We previously talked about the work being done with a bulldozer on the roads through the coffee farm. While they had the equipment, the Sowers also reworked three miles of public road that leads to the Sowers’s driveway. They maintain that road themselves, which extends the life of their vehicles, and serves as a ministry to the community. Having that road in good shape cuts the driving time of local people traveling from Catulaca to Arcilaca in half.

Just because this is too dinky to merit its own header, this is a good place to mention that Russell and the crew are going to start planting the little bags of new coffee plants after Easter.

Eat Your Hearts Out! (Or Not!)

Because of a clerical error, the state of Maryland mistakenly believes Allen and Trish may have lived in that state in 2010. That would mean they owe taxes for 2010, even though they haven’t lived there since 2000. Of course, my favorite missionaries were living in Honduras in 2010, but they are having less than a grand ol’ time trying to prove a negative to a government entity. In Honduras, when they get a new residency card or driver’s license, they have to turn in the old one. To make things more interesting, the state of Maryland has no statute of limitations for such matters.

Long-Time Supporters, First-Time Visitors

Early in the week, a couple of long-time Sowers4Pastors supporters came for their first visit. It was a time to see the ministry up close and personal. At the time of this week’s phone call about bloggy stuff, Russell was driving the couple back to the airport.

As long as he’s out, Russell will be picking up Bibles and other materials for the bookstore and Pastors’ Training School. He’ll also be picking up a motorcycle that will be used by the guys who drive around, overseeing the daily operations of the Manna Program.

Not a First-Time Visitor

Kim Hall is coming down for her spring break, next week. She plans to visit the different sponsorship centers and encourage the kids in their letter writing to their sponsors.

One Thing Leads to Another

Having finished handing out backpacks and shoes, attention now turns to the Gifts for Gracias Project. The first step - sorting - is well underway. Soon, they will be able to assemble the gifts and pass them out to pastors. When that is finished, construction on Russell and Iris’s home can resume. If Russell and the crew had some time when they weren’t doing anything but working on the house, they could finish the whole thing in a month. Since that’s not going to happen, Russell anticipates being able to move into the house no earlier than December of this year.

 - posted by Christi