Dining room Artwork for Emmanuel

The team wanted to create a piece of artwork that included every child at the orphanage - baby feet make the sun, toddler hands make the fish, and the rest of the children at Emmanuel decorated a small square to complete the mural.  The mural was completed today and hung up on the wall in the dining room where all the children of Emmanuel can enjoy it everyday.

Pics from the last day

Just some pics from last day today - words to follow of the beautiful day we all had from large circle time this morning to pinatas with all the kids:

Toddler Moms and new friends

Hanging Pinata for toddler time 

Fishes and Loaves - the abundant blessings of God

Right now my heart is overflowing with the abundant blessings of the love that is felt here at Orphanage Emmanuel - the love of the children, the love of our mission team coming together as the body of Christ, and most importantly, the love of God.  This is my third trip and I have been blown away by the way that God continues to use each trip to build upon relationships made and the way God is working on this particular trip.  Let me share with you my day at Orphanage Emmanuel today.

The day starts early.  We were awaken at 4:30 am to the sound of weed wackers and lawn mowers so no need to wait for the alarm clock.  Then the team splits up and heads in small teams to the different houses of boys and girls for circile time.  I am lucky enough to be on the team that gets to go to circle time with the Power Toddlers, which are active young boys ages from 4-6.  They can be rowdy but they sure are sweet!  Our lesson this morning was on the miracle of the 5 loaves and 2 fish.  After interacting with Rosa El Pez (the fish puppet for all our lessons that the kids adore), we shared the story about how God can provide abundantly from very little resources.  Then the kids entertained us with a sweet song and then we said 'Adios' as they lined up for school and received granola bars and fish stickers to start their day.

Then I joined the 6:30 am Circle Time at the toddler/baby house for the young mothers and high schoolers who work there.  My friend, Brenda, works there.  She is a 16 year old high schooler and her job when she is not in school is to help take care of the toddlers.  I love how God has brought Brenda and I together over the past 3 years.  The first year I came I took her to the store with a group of girls from the big girls yard on my last day here.  Last year I ran into her on my first day and we sat together at church.  At that time, her job was to cook for the small girls house.  I would go up everyday at 3:00 and help her in the kitchen and setting the table.  This year I got to spend time with her at the toddler house and in the mornings in Circle Time.  While our conversations in the past have been light hearted and fun, I found out that she is dealing with a lot of pain from her past that has brought her to the orphanage by participating in the circle time.  This has allowed me opportunity to encourage her and pray for her.   After a beautiful lesson on prayer, each person in the circle was planning to share.  Unfortunately, I had made a promise to a 13 year old girl that I had sat with in church that I would take her to the store at 7 am so I had to leave before they started.  I missed an incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit as each girl opened their hearts and shared their struggles.  There was not a dry eye in the circle and God's presence was felt in such a strong and powerful way!

While at the store, a random teenage girl came up and asked my friend for a some chips.  Instead I bought the girl a bag of chips and a drink and my friend snapped a pic on my phone.

After a delicious breakfast of fried tortillas topped with refried beans and pico de gallo from La Tienda (the store), a group of us headed up to the toddler house to let Rosa El Pez (fish puppet) share another Bible Story with the boys and girls.  Then they headed out to the playground for activities and running around.  As you can tell by this blog and others, one of the highlights for the kids is going to the store.  Our group took 26 toddlers to the store and then for a long walk before naptime.  What we did not realize until later today was our trip to the store was a direct answer to prayer for some of the young mothers who work at the toddler house, as earlier that day they had asked for strength in taking care of the babies.  By taking the toddlers out for the hour, we allowed the young mothers and workers an hour of unplanned rest and refreshment.

We sponsor a sweet little 7 year old boy named Gibran we met last year.  Me and Macki had an after school date with him and his brother at the store.  While there, they were thumbing through my photos on my phone and excitedly exclaimed that they found their sister.  When I looked at my photo, it just happened to be the random girl I bought the chips and fresca for.   

Then we had the small boys, small girls, and power toddlers over to the team house for ice cream.  As we were finishing serving the girls, we noticed that there seemed that there was not enough ice cream to feed the remaining 60 or so boys.  (Also the chocolate had stopped working after the 2nd cone for the girls).  We were starting to panic and thinking we need to send the boys away.  I remembered our lesson from this morning on the miracle of loaves and fishes and I begin to pray for a similar miracle.  And right as we were getting ready to tell the boys that they would have to come back tomorrow, the ice cream machine started working and we were able to serve all of them plus the workers for the houses.  (Also the chocolate started working too!).  Not only did we have enough for the boys but also enough for our mission team to have some after dinner.  Just like the fishes and loaves, God provided in abundance.

These are just a few examples of how God provides and is working at Orphanage Emmanuel.  

Blessings!

Kelly Walsh

Human Umbrellas, Future Photographers, and Rosa the Fish

     I've been coming to Honduras for three years now, each year I like it more and more. Little did I know that three years ago would be the first of many trips. As soon as you step off the bus with shaky legs from the rough bus ride out, you can feel the presence of The Lord.

     It's the half way point of the week, and I've already made plenty of memories. The kids that I grew close to last year ran up to me and greeted me as soon as I walked into their yard. They were asking me if I remembered their names and telling me stories from last year. Like when one of them took my watch and lost it on accident and how I had spun them in circles all the time. Although they were mildly confused that I no longer had a robot foot anymore {I had fractured my foot the year before and had to wear a big boot that had them convinced I was part robot}. The 3 boys had moved from power toddlers to small boys, but they still had that crazy energy that they had been known for. Jebron, Memo, and Isaiah have been so much fun and always make me laugh. One time they even made me their human umbrella! I also got to meet Jebron's older brother Christopher who is just as cute. He even took an imaginary bullet for me when we were playing.

     Then there are the medium boys who never fail to remind me how bad I am at basketball and soccer.  We have gotten to bring them to church and the store and have gone on all kinds of adventures with them. Axel, Anneal, and Eduardo all love taking photos, like, ALOT. Like taking 1000 pictures a lot. But they are pretty good at it, maybe they will even be future photographers. From rope climbing competitions to races, they were always lots of fun.

     Then in the mornings I get the wonderful chance to teach the power toddlers. We have a fish puppet named Rosa to help teach them the lesson, which they love. "ROSA! ROSA!" That's what we hear for half the lesson as the kids try to talk to the fish. Then once the lesson is done we become human jungle gyms. They climb, jump, and grab at our hands as we try to walk them to meals after. I have two more days at this wonderful place, and I hope each day gets better and better.

~ Macki ~

toddler house!!:)

having fun at the toddler house with Jorge!!

hola

this is the day The Lord has made.

it is only 10:45 am. we have already had a devotion, saw 4 of our team members leave for home today, had a beautiful chorus of Amazing Grace, made NUMBEROUS trips to the tienda, zip lined, ate breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, painted, sewed canvas, put many vinyls down at the farm,and we are now preparing to have a wonderful lunch and hear the testimony of David and Lydia the founders of Emmanuel. God is clearly here.

- Cheryl 

God's presence is all throughout Emmanuel

Today has been a day of many prayers answered and everything working out just the way it was supposed to happen - we of course may have had our plans in our minds as far as how things were supposed to be, but God confirmed today that everything works out in his design.  The cookies have all been cooked (yay!) and we ended up with more cookies than we had planned for - the dough provided for enough to make cookies for every child to have 2 cookies, plus the volunteers and staff. We were even able to give cookies for a birthday party tomorrow for one of the kids for 80 additional cookies for the kids to put icing on themselves and enjoy!  What a huge blessing that turned out to be!  We were also able to get the gas needed to cook in the larger ovens today, but we ended up cooking in the small oven anyway due to a possible gas leak w/ the large oven...it was meant to be that the cookies were made in the small oven and the amount of cookies produced was in abundance.  What was originally seen as a huge challenge ended up being a huge blessing.

The irrigation project is almost complete - the final pieces should be completed tomorrow and then there are some smaller projects the mission team will be working on the rest of the week.  The younger children school is cancelled for tomorrow, so it works out perfectly that the work project is ahead of schedule so we can all have a full day focusing on the kids.  We are really looking forward to tomorrow to have time with the kids sharing love and continuing to build relationships with them.  

Tonight after dinner we were blessed with having 2 staff members, Katja and Max, share their personal stories of how they came to Emmanuel and what this place means to them. Katja and Max have lived here for 10yrs and are raising their children here along with all of their Emmanuel children.  Their story was very inspiring and they both shared how God has continued to work in their lives and brought them here.  I will be sharing their story with my family and friends at home as I am sure others will as well.

Here are some pictures from the evening "gaga ball" and Tuesday night fun with our kids and the Emmanuel older kids - the games were very competative - the Emmanuel girls are really, really good at gaga ball!

It's a beautiful day at Emmanuel

It has been beautiful day here at Emmanuel and all of the projects for the day are complete!  The morning began early at 6am with devotion circle time at the children's houses where each team used a fun fish puppet "El Pez" to tell the Creation Story to the kids in English and Spanish.  The kids loved "El Pez" and enjoyed eating the marshmallow pretzel animals and people they "created" as well! After our circle time with the kids they had to get ready for their school day to begin.

The mission teams worked all throughout the grounds here at Emmanuel assisting in various projects today.  The irrigation project is off to a really great start - all the digging was actually completed this morning for the irrigation lines (which I have been informed is ahead of schedule) and the PVC pipe has been laid in the ground today and is ready for testing tomorrow and cover up.  There will be some sprinkler heads added tomorrow to the irrigation lines and phase II of the irrigation project will begin. There were over 20 volunteers digging today with pick axes and shovels working together to get the irrigation lines in the ground - it was quite a sight to see early this morning with everyone out there working together!  Team work at its finest.

The baking of the cookies for 500 kids has become a project itself too; as of right now the gas for the big ovens is not working.  Hopefully that will change, but in case it does not, the cookie team is ready to improvise and bake in a small oven for over 1000 cookies.  I keep hearing everyone say to be "like water" when in Honduras and go with the flow - yes, 1000 + cookies, 1 small oven, 500 kids and a missionary team that is determined to make sure these wonderful kids get these cookies one way or another.  The cookie dough has been made and the 1st batch of cookies has been rolled and is ready to be baked - it would be great to have the big ovens but it will work out one way or another!

There have been so many beautiful things taking place today across Emmanuel - some of my favorites were the 200 brand new shoes that were donated and brought by the Unterreiner's family and handed out to the kids today that really needed new shoes. These new shoes will go a long way here and are really appreciated by the kids.  The little kids, aka the "power toddlers", loved watching the shadow puppet play and they really were excited during the showing of Jonah and the Whale - the little boys were all squealing when Jonah was in the belly of the whale and they loved the shadow puppets!  It was truely a wonderful experience to get to sit in the audience with a pile of little kids on our laps and watch the the play as well.  

The farm was a treat for some of the mission group teens today - after working on the irrigation lines and completing their project work they went up to the farm to help out some of the older Emmanuel boys with their daily work.  They helped out with milking the cows and then made the rounds visiting the rest of the farm animals.  

This evening we had the Emmanuel staff join us for dinner and enjoyed time with their families as well. Today has been a beautiful day and I cannot wait to see what tomorrow will bring.  

 

Arrived safely

We all arrived safely at Emmanuel - the evening was spent getting settled in and having orientation discussion about the kids.  Orientation was really important for us first timers as it really gave us some good insight as to where some of the kids come from, what they have been through, and that we are here to contribute in whatever wonderful way God has intended for us.

Tonight we didn't get to visit with the kids because it was too late by the time we were done with orientation; instead our evening was spent as a group enjoying a great dinner and fellowship.  We lost power for 2 hrs tonight but everyone just pulled out their flashlights and enjoyed the cool evening air that the rain brought in.  We even had guitar playing and singing from some of our High School girls.  I know everyone is very excited for tomorrow - Church in the morning and then a day filled with fun activities with the kids.  There may be some backup generator work going on at some point as well:)

Will post more tomorrow -

3 more weeks to go!

Only 3 more weeks until we are arrive at Orphanage Emmanuel - as a first timer going on this mission trip I am very excited be part of this!  I can't wait to meet the power toddlers I have heard so much about and all the wonderful children of Orphanage Emmanuel.  Pictured here are some pics of our puppet group hard at work prepping the shadow puppet show that they will perform for the kids in Honduras.

5 weeks to go!

Wow - I can't believe we only have 5 more weeks until we leave for the mission  trip to Honduras!  I know we are all getting really excited about the trip and about the wonderful work we will do at the Orphanage Emmanuel.  A couple of weeks ago we were able to preview the children's fish themed activities that we will be doing each day with the kids - there has been a lot of hard work and creativity put into these activities and the kids are going to love it!  One of my favorite fish themed activities is a shadow puppet play of Jonah and the Whale - check out the shadow puppets that Anna Grace and Erin made by hand - so unique and special! I am so thankful for this chance to be part of this mission trip and I cannot wait to see what wonderful blessings we will all be part of.  

Final shipment heading to Honduras

Only two more months until we leave for our mission trip and the preparations are well underway.  The last shipment just left last Friday and it was a container full of wonderful donations for the children and staff at Orphanage Emmanuel.  There was over 1000 lbs of items loaded onto a trailer and taken to Chattanooga to be loaded into 18 wheeler for shipping to Honduras.  Amongst the 1000 lbs of items were: shovels, rakes, pick axes, flour, sugar, icing, MANY candy fish, fish crackers, fish piñatas, (FISH is our theme this year) hair bows, nail polish, art supplies, toner for the office printer at Emmanuel, play doh, letter openers, dry erasers and markers..and on and on! 

The children's lessons are also being planned and the general theme will be around "We are little fish in a God's great big story of love for his people". Some of us will have to pull out our acting skills for the lessons!  There are lots of great ideas being discussed and more updates to follow. 

Here are some pics of the last shipment being loaded:  

Fishing Boards

Kelly Walsh's Junior High Small Group & Heather Gerrick's High School Small group partnered together for a service project to paint fishing boards for the September Mission Trip. The theme this year will be based on fish and the kids will have fun fishing for treats and learning about being fishers of men!  Check out the fantastic fishing boards below:

1st Shipment for Orphanage Emmanuel

We are excited that the BIG project at Orphanage Emmanuel this year will be putting in irrigation lines for a papaya grove and building another water tower. In preparation for the work to be done the 1st trailer load of items were taken to Chattanooga last Sunday to be loaded into the shipping container headed for Honduras. The trailer was loaded with PVC pipe that was purchased with monies donated by Hillside Men's Ministry, hardware for completing the projects, a couch for Andi (the volunteer coordinator at Emmanuel), and a freezer that was donated for Emmanuel. There were also hair clippers, flip flops, hair bows, nail polish, books, and enough dough and icing to make 1500 cookies for the children! There will be a 2nd load going soon with more good stuff! We are excited about this mission trip and cannot wait to see what blessings God will provide through us.