Friday, July 30, 2010

The New, The Old, The Unexpected...

We picked up a team of families from the Washington D.C. area today consisting of Michael, Emily, Evan, & Caroline Gaitonde, Jim, Kim, & Sarah, and John and son Aaron. The Gaitondes have been involved with the children since the very first day we met them and continue to be a big part of their lives. Now they have brought 'new blood' to join in sharing their love with these they helped to discover.

Everyone is full of great expectations as it's their first mission trip and today it got off to a great start. After dinner tonight they all came to the house to meet the children and while here they revealed they had surprises for each of the kids. They brought back packs for each of them stuffed w/goodies and you can imagine the joy that filled our home as they opened their individual gifts. It's the first night of what we expect will be a great week ahead for the children, for the family for whom we will build a house, and for this team of new missionaries, led by our now long-term friends.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Busy Day....

This morning Bob & I worked on the drill rig, replacing the old swivel w/the new one they carried in. In the process a nipple broke on the piping and we had to take all the piping off and purchase a new union. That's done, and will get the piping back in place in the morning.

This afternoon we traveled to La Confiensa and conducted a small VBS. It was great fun and we got the opportunity to visit w/some old friends; Kevin & Armando. Afterwards Armando called me aside and asked me to walk to his home. Several of his friends went w/us, but when we reached his gate he asked them to stay behind. Then he took me into his home...one room, dirt floor, walls of scrap tin with many, many large holes allowing the rain to virtually pour into their home. The only furniture was two beds that had to be older than me to accomodate five children and a father.

Just food for thought...we never have it as bad as we think we have it! There are so many sad stories in the world today and we simply must step up to help. Please consider supporting us on a monthly basis at any level.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Answered Prayers and tired legs.......

Thank you all for your intercession on behalf of our son-in-law...he is on his way here as I type. Jesus prevails once again!

The kids and I took our grandchildren for a hike into the rain forest type flora on the mountain behind our house. We made it all the way to the top and back and I'm betting you can figure out who's hurting the most..........

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Prayer Request

Our daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren were flying out of Miami today to join us for a week visit. However, I received a call from our daughter that Bob, her husband, would not be coming with them. It seems the airline employee said his passport was too 'mutilated' and he was not allowed to board the plane.

Nicole and the kids are coming on ahead of him while he tries desperately to get an 'emergency passport' at the consulate in Miami tomorrow morning. The airline said if he could get a replacement passport they would put him on a plane tomorrow.

Please pray that God will give Bob great favor and that he will join us tomorrow evening. Pray also for Nicole and the kids to have an uncommon calm about the events. Satan is trying distract their trip away from God and cause them to dwell on negative things; but your prayers can redirect God's blessings toward Bob.

Thank you for interceding on his and his family's behalf.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Rain, rain, rain.......

More rain most of the day today keeping everyone inside again. There was a break after dinner so we all took a short walk in the neighborhood. It's easy to get cabin fever when there's 12 of you!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Rain makes for long days....

Not much excitement today...church, lunch and then an afternoon of homework. Since it rained all day nobody could go outside and we decided to use it for homework...bad idea!

It was a fight all afternoon, but we finally got through it. I applaud all who home school your children.

The forecast is for rain for the next 10 days and we have two teams coming; pray for the rain to blow away, or only come at night.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Beware the Indians!!!

Today is "The Day of the Indian" in Honduran schools and below are pictures of
"Tribe Coder"!




Thursday, July 22, 2010

Healing & More Therapy

Joyce went back for a follow-up appointment for her ulcer operation and the doctor was pleased with her blood readings; however, he did schedule her for another appointment the second week of August for another endoscopy. He said he may or may not do a biopsy at that time. He did, however, reiterate that he felt she was cancer free!

Pedro continues getting his voice and physical therapy three days a week and tonight started getting some slight electrical stimulation with it. He works very hard for an hour and a half and he's making great progress.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

House flooding

Torrential rains last night caused us to once again experience flooding in our house...water came into the kitchen underneath the side door and into the boys bedroom through their windows. Much of the country is experiencing flooding from tropical storms lingering on both sides of the country.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

More pics from All Sports Day


The Coder Family All Stars minus Pedro, Angel, Jesus, & Rosa



Mauricio says, "Are you guys sure this is the right direction?"


Fabi says, "You want me to run where?"



"Somebody get me outta here!"


Cesar leaves Karen in his dust!


Tough to get one by this guy!

Cap on backwards and ready to fly!


"Hey, how can I get this thing in my mouth?....I'm hungry"

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Tough Start, but Better Now...

This morning while serving breakfast to some of the kids Angel asked me, "why is Karen crying?"

She was sitting on the couch silently sobbing and we didn't know it. I called her up into the dinning room asked her and she told me she had a headache. When I checked she had a wicked fever (turns out it was 102) along with a bad headache. Yesterday she had diarrhea and stomach pains...it was all adding up to symptoms for Dengue Fever. So, at 6:30 a.m. we headed to the hospital...after three hours there we found out she did not have Dengue, but a stomach infection...it seems to be going around.

Now she has meds and has been taking lots of water...already her fever has broken and she is on the road to recovery.

The kids just came back from an afternoon at our neighborhood park with a group of students from the Catholic University...they played games, ate ice cream and then Burger King, played more games and then had a pinata! They had a great day and even remembered to bring something home for Karen.

All's well that ends well........

Friday, July 16, 2010

Sports Day in School


Today the 8 kids at Rodolfo Rojas school had a all sports day and we had some winners:
  • Fabiola's team won their soccer game
  • Mauricio won his leg of the wheelbarrow race
  • Karen & Rosa each raced hard in both the spoon carrying an egg and the sack race
  • Cesar & Antonio competed mightily in sack races but...the big winner was:
  • Gershon won two medal in races: one in the 100 meters and one in the 200 meters!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Photos from the Baptisms


Gershon is a new man!


Antonio washes away the demons!

Cesar baptized into His death and momentarily born again!

Rosa blooms as a new creation!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Initiated!

At the end of a hard day's work with our last team, Gage & Ethan had a little surprise for Gershon, Mauricio (under the ice), and Fabiola.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A Great Celebration...

There is a great celebration in heaven tonight because Wilson, Pedro's therapist, prayed with me to invite Jesus into his heart as his Lord and Savior! We talked a lot about not praying to Mary or Candles or photos of Mary and how only Jesus could help him. We also encouraged him to learn to pray many times each day for every thing that comes up that day.

Thanks for your prayers for him and please continue praying that the Holy Spirit will seal his decision.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Nothing special

Just a routine day here today....took the truck to the garage to get the tailgate fixed and thankfully I have back and the tailgate is now secure. It was worrisome because the kids often ride back there when we're all together. Now it's safe. Next I need rear brakes and the tool you use to lower the spare tire(stolen in Port while clearing customs).

Joyce and Fabiola worked on times tables tonight with much success.

Tomorrow I'll be gone all day surveying a well site for a fellow missionary. It's two hours up into the mountains, so 2 hours up, 2 hours there, & 2 hours back equals an entire day spent.

The girls are practicing their dance routines, they've been selected to put on a program at their school.

Joyce bought new shoes for Angel and Jesus, but they ran out of the correct size before Pedro got fitted. Have to take him somewhere else. Then the bigger 4 all need new shoes as well.

Please pray for Wilson, Pedro's tutor. Taking him home tonight I talked to him the entire way about getting away from praying to Mary for help and accepting Jesus into his heart. I asked for permission to pray with him before I left him out of the car and he allowed me to pray. I asked God to give him the revelation necessary to believe that his help lies solely in Jesus! I told him God was calling him and was just waiting for him to ask for help and he would receive it. His family has really been hit hard lately and Wilson is just the nicest guy you would want to meet; but he is embroiled in the Catholic up-bringing. Pray!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sunday's Day

Had the opportunity to preach today and used Acts 20:24 as my anchor scripture.

The rest of the day we watched the World Cup in Soccer and then did homework which varied from hectic to downright combative! The kids all have math tests tomorrow and none of them really want to put much effort into preparing for it. They remind me of me at that age.......

Just when you think the truck is running good (new water pump installed) something else goes wrong...today the tailgate broke to the point we couldn't go more than a couple hundred yards without having to stop to put it back into place. The pins have all broken off on one side and it just kind of 'hangs there'...not good! I'm beginning to think a good grenade would solve my problems.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Great Day...

The kids had a great day today. They were entertained the entire afternoon by a team with our friend Kevin from Fernandino Beach, FL. Billy & America, two team members, have spent much of this entire week w/our children and it was difficult for them to say good-bye. They have become a big part of the kids lives as did this team.

It's great to watch people of all ages and genders immediately mesh with the kids...I think everyone had a blast! Imagine what heaven must be like!

Friday, July 9, 2010

School Days, Again

With our tutor out with a stomach infection and Dengue, Joyce & I have become the tutors for 10 kids. I think they believe we're each a little tougher on them than they think is necessary.

Tonight is one of the nights that Pedro has a voice and physical therapist visit for 1-1/2 hours which means we need to herd all of the other 9 into one room to give Pedro and his therapist some privacy in which to work. On top of that it's been raining, so of course everyone is trapped inside. Sometimes it feels a little like we're on 'house arrest'.

So far so good as far as IHNFA is concerned...we haven't heard from them for two weeks so we don't know if they've forgotten us, decided to drop us, or just getting ready for the big hit.

Angel & Jesus are in Day Camp for their new school which begins classes in August. For the month of July they will be going to camp from 7-12 Monday thru Friday and among other things, they are learning to swim.

Thanks for all your prayers...so far we are Dengue free!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

A Big Change........

Emily is headed back to the states today and it will mean a big change for our family. She has been here for 5 weeks and has had a huge impact upon the children, and we all will miss her consistent "up-ness".

In addition to becoming a great friend to all of our children Emily did some great work with Angel & Jesus, keeping them involved in mathematics over their summer vacation. We're excited to know that they will enter their new school with a head start....thanks Emily!

Last night Billy, America, & Annette watched the children for us while Joyce & I skipped out for a few hours of quiet time. It was wonderful and refreshing...thank you, thank you!

Still fighting a minor cold, but hope to be over it soon. Two of our staff (Wilson & Dahlia) are still out w/Dengue fever, but they are recovering nicely.

The last two nights we've had torrential rains, the first night causing us to lose power and flooding the kitchen; last night was not as bad, thankfully.

June & July have been filled to overflowing and now it's time to catch up on all the things we didn't get done last month due to be occupied with teams. Those of you who may be wondering where our newsletter is....hang in there, I'll get it done soon...I hope!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Sick Day...

Gershon & I are both down sick today. Kevin and his group just showed up and took all the kids to the park, Gershon is doing homework, and I'm off for a quick nap.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Big Day

Gershon, Rosa, Antonio, & Cesar all got baptized today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Fun Day

Today was a "Fun Day" for our family...we've been running through the raindrops lately and felt we just needed to take an entire day and treat ourselves. Joyce & I loaded up the kids,Emily, two of their friends (Karen & Sarah, our cleaning lady's daughters), and two of our friends (Billy & America) packed a picnic lunch and headed out to Pulhanpanzak waterfalls.

We all walked down to the falls where Billy, America, & Emily all took the tour under the falls and then Billy & Emily leaped from the highest rock into the gorge below. Then we headed back to the top for our picnic lunch. Afterwards we all headed to the river to watch Emily zipline across the falls...quite a sight!

Then we hit the river upstream from the falls in an area that was perfect for the entire family...lots of shallow water and then some intermediate depths, but no strong current. We spent the entire day and had a blast...it was just what we all needed. As the kids played Joyce & I sat in the shallow water watching and I just kept saying, "Thank you, Jesus!" It was beautiful, refreshing, and relaxing...we loved it!

Now we're all ready for bed............

Friday, July 2, 2010

Catch-up & Prayer Request...

Prayer Request first:

Please pray for our family for protection from Dengue Fever. It has reached epidemic porportions here with the paper stating 6 in 10 are infected and it's getting worse. This is hemoragic Dengue which can be fatal. Our physical therapist for Pedro has contracted it and this morning I received a call from our tutor, Dahlia, that she, too, has become infected. We are trying to get the area around our home fumigated and request your prayers for our protection.

Now the catch-up:

First the drill rig has two swivels that are shot and we are dead in the water w/our drilling. We sent one swivel to the states yesterday to get it rebuilt and hope to have it back the last week of the month. Meanwhile we have two wells 'semi-finished'!

Emily has remained w/us and continued to tutor the three little guys in math each day...she's been a huge help for us.

We hosted a team from our home church in Tellico Plains, TN. with a pastor from MS. joining them. They were a great team and God worked it out so that the children were on vacation this past week from school so all of the children got to go to the work site one day and the three oldest went with us everyday, giving the team a great opportunity to grow close to them. Much was accomplished as we built two houses and got the chance to play in a huge waterfall!

My computer caught its' third virus in a month and I've been without it for the past 7 days; hence no updates. It's back now and hopefully fully cleaned.

Last night we had three old friends stop by: Kevin, Billy, & America. Kevin is hosting his own group here for an internship, while Billy & America are to visit him and our children.

This has been an unusually busy month hosting first Emily & Mike Sawyer, then Craig Mesman, then the group from Tellico & MS. and now Billy & America. All are tremendous blessings to us are we're grateful that so many of you feel the call to come and help us in God's work.

Thanks for your continued prayers and please share the opportunity to support us on a monthly basis w/all of your friends. The size of the support is not as important as the consistency of it.

Blessings, Bob/Joyce and Kids