Preparations, Preparations, Preparations!

This past week has been very busy for everybody! All this week the kids have tests in school and for them it has been non-stop work attacking the books. Some days have been long but overall...it has truly been rewarding to see how far these guys have come. Just 3 years ago they could not read, write, or anything but now (in varying degrees on an individual basis) they are all bilingual and can write and read in English as well! These kids have grown so much and a lot of it is because of you!

Please pray for them as they take their tests this week!

Dios los bendiga!

Sowing into their future and ours...

Already we have received 1/4 of the $2800.00 we need to build the first home in Buen Esperanza! God is good and He is touching hearts to help us with the 'rebuilding' of this pueblo. Please continue to share this opportunity to sow into God's work by telling all your friends about the vision; and ask God again if He would have you become involved in this work with Him! Blessings to all...please join us!

Catch Up!

Hola everyone! Will Here!

Everything is going swell here! For once we have had a week of sunshine! No rain! The kids have been pretty busy prepping for little tests they are having today. Earlier in the week, Mauricio and Fabiola had to make posters for presentations in class and they really did a great job too! The posters definitely looked a lot better than some of the ones I made when I was in high school a few years ago! Cesar continues to surprise us with the turnaround he has made since joining Good Seed and Rosa seems to really enjoy studying school work now, which is great to see! Who would've thought from the beginning that within 2 1/2 years all of the kids would enjoy school? Joyce is at full health from the little virus she had last week and Pedro's two front teeth have fallen out which gives him a pretty interesting smile too! Here is a pic!

"Definitely will make drinking through a straw much easier :)"

Family update...

Christmas gifts are being used (some broken), the tree is down and put away, New Year's has come and past, and the kids are back in school, as of this morning (yeah from both the parents and the kids)! It's been cold and rainy here and being stuck in the house all day with PARENTS is just about more than the kids could handle. They are grateful for school returning to session. Ditto for the parents!!!

The children are all healthy at the moment and the adjustment to the braces for Fabiola and Mauricio has progressed nicely. Today Joyce is down with some type of virus or bug, but hopefully it will pass quickly. Will and I are combining our talents, or lack thereof, to play Mr. Mom.

Please remember to pray for our Buen Esperanza project and to share the opportunity with all your friends.

Grateful for your gifts and prayers,
Bob, Joyce, Will, and "The Coder Crew"

Buen Esperanza update...

If you received our newsletter by e-mail you know about our new vision for Buen Esperanza; if not...we feel God has given us a vision to 'rebuild' a village where we've already done some work. It's an extremely poor village consisting of homes made out of sticks, mud, rocks, wood, and scrap pieces of tin...all with dirt floors. The villagers are great people and they and our entire family are great friends. We feel like God has challenged us to build each family a new home (approx. 15), build a church and disciple leaders for it, and a school which we will help to staff. We've networked with another ONG and it looks very promising that they will split the costs of the homes with us. That means we can build a cement floor, concrete block home with a bathroom, septic tank, jalousie windows, steel door and roof for $2800.00!!!

We put the request out in our latest newsletter for individuals, groups, and/or churches to make commitments to help us build these houses. Already we have a commitment for $250/month from one donor; now if we can just get 10 more to duplicate this we will be able to begin building immediately. With your help we can start our first house the first Saturday of the new year, Jan. 6!  Please ask God how He would have you get involved with the rebuilding and discipling of Buen Esperanza (Good Hope)! Would He have you commit to a monthly gift, yearly, or a one-time gift to get the Buen Esperanza project kicked off?

Help us to change their lives by moving from this shack to the beautiful new home below!

Here's a great opportunity to get one more tax deduction for 2011!!!

It's time; let the excitement begin...

Well, the presents are wrapped, a few are under the tree (the rest carefully hidden), the turkey is thawing, not a mouse is stirring (the kitten is keeping watch), and the kids are ready to explode! Explosions have been going on around here all this week and they are building to a climax tomorrow night. In Honduras they celebrate by opening their gifts at midnight on Christmas Eve and the fireworks are everywhere. I don't know how the second poorest country in this hemisphere gets them, but everybody...and I mean everybody (except us) has them. There will be no sleeping! It's fun to hear the middle kids debunk the theory of Santa Claus, while the younger kids stare in disbelief and the older kids try to make up a story to placate the younger ones. By the time they're done I'm not sure any of them knows what they really believe.

One of the kids teachers lives alone so they invited her to spend Christmas day with us...it's so neat because it was their idea. They have made cards for her and wrapped some small gifts we got for her and you can see the excitement in their eyes as they talk of her opening her gifts. Of course they can't wait to dig into their own gifts; but we believe they are really starting to "get it"!

We pray you all have a blessed and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year....
Love from the Coders: Fabiola, Mauricio, Rosa, Cesar, Angel, Pedro, Joyce, Bob, & of course, Will

Think we have had enough rain?

For the last week, all that has happened is rain, rain, and more rain. Here is a video that we took yesterday of how the rain has effected one of the routes that we take to drop the kids off at school: