It is official 8/4-11/1 we will be living in or around Neenah Wisconsin working at Theda Clark Medical Center. It is on a little lake called Lake Winnebago.
It is about an hour drive to the Great Lakes and 188 miles North West of Chicago.
We are in the beginning stages of researching the educational opportunities for the kids in and around the area so if you know of anything that you think is a must do please share.
Thank you all for your continued prayer we are so thankful for it.
-Sarah
We have less than four weeks left here in New Mexico. The time really has flown by. Shiprock has been a great work experience and I am keeping a list of the things I have learned here. Although I am not ready to leave my new friends, I am ready to be on a busier unit again. We have been offered a new position, and are madly wading through the paper work and making all the decisions that come with that. It has been a challenge with Chad out of the country and with very spotty unreliable internet. We are excited to announce our new assignment location as soon as the contract is officially agreed on and signed.
Thank you for all your prayers and support.
We finished the project today. It was so exciting to see how grateful the pastor was. It was truly a good experience to finish a project for the church.
Our before and after pics.
I strongly encourage everyone to go on a mission trip. It is a life changing experience.
We did it! We have a concrete floor in the church. It consisted of loading the mixer with 15 gallons of water, 7 cubic feet of sand, and 100 lbs of cement, then repeat. That is what the whole day consisted of. It was hard work but rewarding. That was also the project that Bob our missionary coordinator wanted accomplished by our team. Tomorrow we hope to finish up the platform at the front of the church.
I feel blessed that we have done so much while we are here. Also thankful for the great group of guys that we have on the trip. The project that we have been working on was just the right size, and within the skill set of our team members. Thank you God for the wonderful plans that he has for us all.
~Chad
En primer lugar quiero dar las gracias a todos los que han estado siguiendo y haciendo palanca para mí mientras yo estaba en Honduras.
We have touchdown we finished moving all of the dirt into the church today. Tomorrow we will begin pouring the concrete floor. It will be hard work, but rewarding to be accomplishing such a large project.
As part of the process of spreading and leveling dirt you have to pour MANY buckets of water on it to get it compressed to a hard surface so the concrete slab will not crack. This water is collected from a nearby creek. As I had been told the days before by those who have gone to collect water it is quite an experience. This is due to a school of tiny fish that like to nibble at your toes. The reactions of them team members has been varied. From screams (at the teenage girl decibel) to being reminded of a spa treatment. I was glade I went on the last water run and able to experience it for myself.
~Chad
Sunday, time to head out for church. We started off by heading up into the hills and through the jungle to go to our morning service.
When we got there, we met outside of a small building, and just had some of the people gather around for service. I was so glad for the opportunity.
It was refreshing to to see God working in this community.
We asked the pastor how many people where up in that community and he told us about 500. It is great that God has called him there.
In the evening, we went to the church that we are helping build. They are currently meeting in a house up the road. They are in need of the new building. They would have been in the streets if we had not been there.
What a great day to see and meet the people and community that we are helping!
~Chad
Today was a big day at the work site. We got all of the dirt that they had trucked in hauled into the church. It was not enough to bring it up to the level needed, but more is supposed to be delivered for us to work on Monday.
The picture is what we started with today. I am sorry I did not get a picture at quitting time.
For Caleb I wanted to tell him that I got to play fútbol (soccer for those of you in America), with a couple of kids from the community that we are working in. It was a lot of fun and very tiring. They ran circles around us. It was a blessing to finally see some kids coming out of the corners after working there for several days. We are hoping that there will be more kids next week that we can reach out to.
Praise the Lord for the work that he is doing.
~Chad
As we start another day on the work site we are reminded of our progress by the dwindling pile of dirt that we have left to move.
We spent today the same as we did yesterday, moving dirt to fill the church to the level needed so they can pour the floor. It makes for long days (although we have not been working that late), it is more the heat and the humidity just sapping away our strength. The plus side is, we have been making a difference and are doing the plan that God has for us here.
When we got back to our hotel this afternoon we were blessed with a opening of the skies.
I know it is hard to see from the picture but it is pouring down rain. The thunder and lighting were right over us. I am assuming this is not normal, because the locals were out watching the storm with us. It was a refreshing break from the hot sun on this Friday afternoon.
It was amazing to wake up to the beautiful view of red rocks this morning in Sedona.
I wanted so badly to hike up in the hills and stay there. They are just so beautiful, peaceful and thought provoking. A place to think and get life kind of sorted out. What an amazing gift we have been given in the beauty of nature and all the forms it takes. We got dressed and ready to go. At breakfast Mary Beth invited an older lady to sit with us. I think our breakfast discussion with her may have been the highlight of my day. We learned about her childhood in New Jersey, how wonderful her little sister was as a kid, life as a Girl Scout troop leader and much more. I need to remember to open myself up to those type of opportunities to learn and love on someone else more often. We may have gotten out of town later than we had planned, but it was well worth it. The scenic drive to Flagstaff was also worth the extra time it may have taken and we took advantage of the time to chat. Mary Beth may know my entire family tree now. The Grand Canyon was no disappointment either. As opposed to the rain and snow we experienced when we went as a family, this time it was slightly warm with wind gusts that made you fight to hold your hair back as you smiled in delight. We found a little trail that led down into the canyon and followed it down a few switchbacks. It was far enough away from the rim to minimize the sounds of talking and laughter from above, and you could actually hear the quiet roar of the river below. What an amazing feeling standing on a ledge against the red rock of the canyon in almost compete silence, only the very faint sound of the river. I could have stayed there all day. It may have been the longest period of silence I have experienced in weeks, or perhaps months. I could feel my heart just opening up to soak in the wonder and beauty of one of the most amazing sights on earth.
After some major traffic, we made it to Tuba city around 2:30 and got lunch. We had wanted to see the Hopi Mesas, but did not see them on our map nor any signs anywhere, even after driving through the Hopi reservation. It was a pretty long drive, but with the hymns playing on the radio we could sing the miles away.
Gallup for dinner was an interesting experience. I had been told that there was this restaurant named Earls that had good food, and the Navajo people came to your table and showed you their wares as you ate. I am not big on buying things because of our limited space, and I hate to have to say no thank you, but I was assured it was low pressure and a worth while experience to have. It wasn’t at all what I thought it would be like. It was an older looking place and the food was OK. The people selling their wares were low pressure. It may have had something to do with the time, but there wasn’t much variety, and nothing that really caught my eye. We watched the sunset as we drove towards Shiprock. It wasn’t as much fun to show Mary Beth the area in the dark but we do have a few more days, and a few more opportunities to see it. For now we are just glad to be off our bottoms and wondering with all this car time if we shouldn’t be more proactively trying to prevent a DVT.
Goodnight from Farmington.
Today was our second day here in Honduras. Got up this morning and had a traditional breakfast of eggs, ham, cheese, beans, and fried bananas. It was very good, and after that, we headed out to the work site.
Our job was to fill the church with dirt up to the line about 3-4 blocks up. We did not make it that far today, but we are to the point where we only have two more blocks to go. We are hoping to finish that tomorrow, then move on to our next project.
On a side note, wanted wish my daughter Hannah a very merry happy birthday.
~Chad
Owens Endeavors 