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.