Long Overdue Update

We’re happy to announce that we have not forgotten about our blog (or friends and family), although it may seem the case. We’ve been fairly occupied over the past month of two and have neglected all of thousands of people that follow our blog (that’s a joke). However, we truly do appreciate those of you that do check in on us. The craziness of our schedule coupled with lack of internet access (and that which is available being unreliable), general forgetfulness, and a non-functional camera brings us to our current situation where the blogs are few and far between. However, we are resolved to improve this situation and from this point on will dedicate ourselves more dutifully in the future. 

So, to catch everyone up. We’ve now received visits from the Eldridge side, the Reeder side, dear friend Anna Pyles, and our home church Apex. Mixed in there, some engineers from University of Dayton spent 10 weeks down here and came to visit some as well; greetings to Memo, Yo, and Milena. We had some memorable moments in our MicroMachine/Suzuki. We’re looking for great things from them in their respective futures. 

We’ve also been living strictly on rainwater through the catchment system designed into the house. It’s going really well thus far. Look for an involved post on that project in the coming month. We’ve also put in the fence around the yard (to protect us from the wily schemes of the neighborhood chicken gangs). For being nearly unfunctioningly dumb, chickens are surprisingly resourceful when it comes to accessing forbidden areas. And, that being said, even one nugget-sized chick can wreak an alarming amount of havoc on vegetable beds. At first, we would thoughtfully and carefully herd out the offending poultry, but at this point they’re immediately grabbed and slung over the nearest border. They’ve had their warning period. 

The poultry barrier has been erected in efforts to protect a demonstration garden that is currently in the works. We’re demonstrating various low-cost erosion control and soil improvement methods, mostly using permaculture and organic gardening methodology. So far, it’s getting a good amount of attention. The goal would be to see the yard as a demonstration area that’s available as a model and training area for local folks looking to start harvesting more food at home or improve their yields in small plots. I’m actually surprised at the amount of interest it has generated. Should this first harvest be successful, we’ll be looking at a potentially interesting program.

We’ve (and by we, I mean mostly Stacey and a 15 year-old neighbor, Iris) has also been working with the kiddies in a “Little School” on Sunday mornings for 18 weeks. They sing, they dance, they make crafts, they hear a Bible story, and they play for about an hour every week. The kids love it, and I really think it has been great for them. They always look forward to it and show up at the house about 2 hours before it starts. In addition, Stacey has continued a program for young women left by a “Salt and Light” team from Mississippi for the past 7 weeks. The program focuses on teaching Biblical principles that apply to social situations (self-worth, gossip, modesty, respect, abstinence, etc.) that seem to plague so many developing nations. These young women are really a group in crisis, with so many families starting with single 14,15,16 year old girls. Please be in prayer for these girls, the culture here is not an advocate for their success. 

Pastor Erik and I have also begun a group for the muchachos (young men) of the community on Wednesday nights. We got them together about a month ago and asked them if they knew what the Bible said about things in life. They said, “Um, no.” So, they picked seven topics ranging from soccer, to baptism, to dating about which they wanted to hear the Bibles opinion. In addition, we eat food and drink drinks, talk about life and have generated a list of community improvement projects we want to undertake. The goal is to take this (also at-risk) group of young guys and help them understand that they don’t have to be the community’s liability and that instead they can be the best thing going.  We’re starting by building a couple of bus stops here in town, so we’re off to a great start. They’re also learning choreography on Saturday nights to give them an alternative to the alcoholism that plagues their age-group. They’re a group with a ton of potential  as well.

An electricity project for the community is also picking up steam. It could make things around here really exciting and really interesting, very soon.

Well, we miss you all and hope you’re doing well. Feel free to shoot a line to  update things in your world. We’d love to know what’s happening with you. Take care.

Grace and peace.

Apex-C4 Visit

July 7-14 we had yet another visit to our little town.  Our home church Apex (from Dayton, Ohio) as well as a few members from an Apex church plant, C4, formed a group and traveled to Honduras.  They spent the week living with us in Las Lomitas.  What a blessing to see six of our old house church family members who we haven't seen in a year!

They ended up eating a fair bit of flies, but had a great week regardless. The idea behind this trip was to not just do another "save the locals" short-term trip, but to aim for something long-lasting and appropriate. Since the team had never been to Las Lomitas before, we decided to make it a a "get-to-know-you" trip. Instead of coming in and informing the locals of all their shortcomings and building a house for some "poor" family, we spent the week sharing things from our lives and learning in turn from our neighbors. As a result, there were Hondurans throwing frisbees, and Americans slinging tortillas, Hondurans singing English and Americans butchering Spanish, Hondurans learning clean water practices and Americans face deep in the local swimming hole, Hondurans eating peanut butter and Americans eating fried plantains (by the pound).

For us, it really was a neat week. To be honest, we were a little hesitant about having the group around, being afraid that we would overwhelm the relationships we've started and maybe move back a little. However, what happened was the blessing of a very unique team with a very open attitude with how to love people. From my perspective, it was a group that understood that the love of Christ is not a love that drowns out the voice of local people with the clanging of nails, but instead comes with an agenda free of plans, looking at the needs and desires of local people with the goal of loving them through those needs without involving personal motivations or gratification.

Personally, it was exciting for me to see this group of stinky white people being willing to live in our community for the week as opposed to going to a hotel or other more comfortable place to sleep. We weren't the only ones who appreciated it either. As it turns out, people really enjoy being loved and feeling valued (shocking). From some of the younger guys, I saw more genuine smiles hiking through chest high grass, teaching gringos how to swing a machete, or while destroying the group in soccer than I've seen in any construction trip.

All this to say, let us never forget that any effort we make to improve the lives of our fellow humans inevitably affects ours. Any energy spent focused on a project and not the persons affected has great potential to harm them. Never should we depersonalize or itemize people, the moment we do, they cease to be people and end up as goals or numbers in our "List of Personal Accomplishments Because of How Great I Am."

So, thanks Apex/C4 team for being willing to love in that way. These people mean a lot to us and we truly appreciate your respect and love for them.

Special Notice to Las Lomitas Lovers: Friends, family, if you've recently visited Las Lomitas and would like to share a little bit of your experience in this exciting publication, we'd love to post your story here on the blog. It's already fairly difficult to blog with regularity, and an outside perspective would be neat to put on here. Much thanks!

Anita

This past week we were privileged to have Anna Pyles in our home for a week!  She is a great friend of both of us for 7 years now and served as our Maid of Honor in our wedding.  You want to talk about LOVE, she showed it to us this week.  We told her a year ago we would rather her support us by coming for a visit than to support us financially, and she did it.  She loved us enough to listen to us and do what was best for US, not what she wanted or was easiest for her.  As she says, it was not in her character to travel thousands of miles to come stay in a place that is dirty, germ infested with no electricity.  She may have come not knowing why a visit was more support than money, but we know she is leaving with an understanding.  Imagine not being able to truly and completely share the biggest part of your life with one of your closest friends.  Now we can with Anna!  Sometimes a visit can be more harm than good, but that was not true with Anna. She came as a learner and a lover.  An encourager, not a judge.To ask questions, not be an expert. A help, not a hindrance.A listener, not a talker.

Hiking the mountains!

Celebrating 4th of July.

On one of our hikes we were surprised to see this toucan!

This is a great example of what we talk about in community development.  A lot of times the international aid wants to come in and do the fastest or easiest thing to “make the community better” and they never stop long enough to consider if it really is “better” for the community.  If we want true, lasting, sustainable development it needs to be holistic (spiritual, material, intellectual, and social) and what is best for the people group at their specific place in their development process.  Almost 100% of the time this takes time, a lot of time.  It takes patience and getting to know a people group, culture, resources, talents, strengths, and weaknesses.  This means waiting long enough for leaders to rise up from the community to take on these development projects instead of just doing it for them.  It means asking them to be invested and waiting until they are able to do that.  We all know that we take care of something better when we are invested in it.  Investment can be emotionally, mentally, financially, planning process, manual labor, and so much more.

Is this not what Christ did?  “He loved us so much that he came.”  He loved us so much that he did what was best for us.He didn’t give us a “quick fix” but a sustainable/for all of eternity fix.  We’re not writing this so that all of you get a guilt trip to “come” – no!  Yes, some of us do need to take that step of faith and “go.”  Personally we believe everyone should try it once.  We’re talking about Anna listening to what we asked her to do, knowing it was best for us, and doing it.  Sometimes that might mean don’t come, stop, wait, etc.  God could have sat up in his comfortable heaven and said, “I’ll just write a check and that will fix the world.”  But He did something else, something MUCH harder but was what the world needed and what was best for us.  He came, lived, and died for us.   He did it at the right time, he didn’t RUSH it.  He could have come right after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden and avoided all the wandering of the Old Testament, but He didn’t.  He studied us, guided us, and came at the opportune time because he wanted what was best for US, not best for Him or the quick, easy, feel good way out of it.

This is what we try to do each day in Las Lomitas.  We can’t pretend to do what is best for them without lots of time getting to know them, studying them, living with them, listening to them, supporting them, sharing life, getting involved, praying, and above all asking God for wisdom.  Is this not what God did throughout the Old Testament?  So if you’d like an update on us, that’s what we’re doing.

Update... Late edition.

I’d like to start this post with my favorite opening sentence. “It’s been a while since we’ve posted…” While true, I know that none of you have been sitting on pins-and-needles, nervously awaiting the next post.

Since the last update, we’ve visited Guatemala for a visa run, Ma and Pa Eldridge have visited the house for 10 days, and the rotavirus has visited everyone’s guts for longer than desired; 2 out of 3 isn’t too bad. 

Happy family (Kaleb has his game face on.)

We had a great visit with mom and dad. The majority of the time, we just took it easy in Las Lomitas and passed day to day life with them. They were able to meet neighbors, cook (and eat) local foods, wash laundry by hand, go trudging through the woods, make roadside repairs to the car, walk through coffee plantations with “Juan Valdez,” and even swing a machete a little. We also took some time to check out Caliche, Canchias, Lake Yojoa, and the ocean at Tela with them too. This was our first visit from family down here, and it was much, much appreciated. We know it took a lot of time out of their life, but it was great. We hope it was as encouraging for them as it was for us.

 

However, just as they were leaving, Honduras gave them a precious parting gift, the rotavirus. Dad received it on Father’s Day, but, being the wonderful father he is, decided to share it with mom on plane ride home so that they could both enjoy it together. Stacey and I shortly found ourselves painting the porcelain throne, but are on the mends now. 

We also had to scoot out of the country again to renew our visas and found ourselves in the very, very pleasant colonial Guatemalan town of Antigua. The 11 hours on a bus is a bit long, but very much worth it. Antigua sits about a mile high in the Guatemalan mountains within the shadow of three very impressive volcanoes. The cobblestone streets of the city have about a dozen beautiful cathedrals, a huge selection of really nice, authentic accommodation, and awesome places to check out the local food. Sorry Belize, but Guatemala wins round one. 

From here, we’ll continue moving forward with the vegetable garden and living fence at the house, as well as integrating into the community. Stacey has also begun facilitating a "chat" time with the young women of the community focusing on a Biblical view of abstinence and other typical problems facing these ladies. Please be praying for that on Wednesdays at 3PM.

We already feel very accepted and a lot of momentum within the community to move forward, but, we’re still taking our time and being sure that whatever we do, we don’t rush. The last thing we want to do is be in the community for a few months and let that be sufficient. We want to know these people as much as possible, to be sure that we’re moving forward as they want to, not as we do. The longer we're here, the more potential we feel. Amazing things are already happening, and we can't wait to see what's to come.

Damos Gracias a Dios por: sanarnos de los infeciones feos del cuerpo. (We give thanks to God for healing us from the yucky infections in our bodies.)

Check.

As impossible as it seems, the house is officially done. Between all of the other craziness inside and outside of Las Lomitas, the 500 sq ft. concrete palace is finished (for now :).

As you can see, the car has also changed. We'll talk about that later.

The end product is a 25' x 20' house designed for good ventilation, decent light (without electricity), self-sustaining water (rainwater catchment), and 40 years of wastewater management. It has two bedrooms, a sala (kitchen/dining room/living room), a porch, a shed, and a bathroom. Running water is provided by a rainwater catchment cistern pumped (by hand) up to a plastic tank which is fed to the house by gravity. The floors and walls are concrete, with an aluminum roof.

Bathroom.

Mud room.

Guest Room.

Our room.

Sala.

On paper, 500 sq ft. sounds really small, and we were designing the house to be fairly small. However, in practice here, 500 sq ft are actually fairly big. It's not the biggest house in the community by any means, but it's very comfortable, and designed for hosting visitors and future family growth (nothing in the oven right now, settle down mom).

All-in-all, it's been an awesome learning process and has already seen so many things pass, late-night talks, learning masonry, toucans dying in the shed, bucket showers, amazing cooking, 8 kinds of bananas, butchered armadillo, butchered Spanish, and bloodied fingers (stupid machetes, nothing serious, again, settle down mom).

Damos gracias a Dios por: el bendicion de nuestra primera casa en nuestra propia tierra. (We give thanks to God for the blessing of our first house on our own land.)

Update we forgot to publish on Fri....

Things have been moving steadily along in and out of Las Lomitas. Our time is currently split between Caliche, community development initiatives, and our time in our community.

Our community development time is mostly internally-focused, helping the staff here recognize their involvement in the country's development and trying to move HtH's practices more towards sustainable processes that don't create dependency or disempower the people with whom they work. However, this time is starting to open more into other initiatives as potential projects begin to move forward.

Our Caliche time has seen a group of engineering students from Dayton come and go to work on the filters there above the community. They had a very successful week and were able to check out the entire system as well as install the majority of the filters. This involved moving the 10,000 Liter tanks up to treatment house and sifting tons and tons of sand. This week, we'll be headed out see how close to full of sand the filters are before water is moved from the source to the treatment house.

Within the community, we've had some very exciting moments as well. With our community's leaders, we were able to meet with a national senator about the potential electricity project in Las Lomitas, and the outcome was very positive. We'll keep you up to date on how that process continues. We really feel like we have some exceptional leaders in the community and are very glad to see them stepping up to see their community grow in the right direction.

In addition, our rainwater collection system is up and running and have flushed our toilet for the first time and taken our first shower there at home. Needless to say, it was very exciting to see the cistern full of 1500 gallons of water and then be able to use it for our basic needs. The next step is to help some local folks understand that it's a possibility for them too.

Looking out my backdoor.

After a week that saw us eating beef tongue and armadillo tamales, the banana republic has decided it's more fun to bring live animals to gringos. This week has seen three new friends at the Eldridge Ranch.

1. Mangero

So, I got a call last week from Steve DeLisle who was here working.

"Kaleb, are you at your house?"
"Yes."
"Okay. I'll be there in a few minutes. I have something for you."

I thought, "Alright, more cans of Skyline chili!" What I did not think was of a miniature green toucan on stick. But as surely as the sun rises, when Steve arrived, he arrived with Mangero, the mango-eating Emerald Toucanet. 

Although I felt awful for keeping him tied-up, he was pretty neat. The plan was to keep him around a week or two to see if he was going to do okay in captivity, and if no, let him go. Unfortunately, Mangero went all Patrick Henry on me and chose death instead of life without freedom. I found him lifeless on the floor of the shed on our second sunrise together. Give me liberty or give me death indeed. Sorry about that buddy.

2. Huge nameless snake.

A couple of teenage guys came walking into the yard with a big feedsack suspended from a pole they were carrying with big smiles on their faces. "This," I thought, "will be good." Sure enough, I was pleased with what was in the sack.

Caption Foreground: Big dumb happy white man, with big dumb unhappy snake.

 Caption Background: Big dumb, prideful turkey.

What was presently unceremoniously dumped from the sack was a 7-ft long common boa constrictor with a girth alarmingly similar to my leg. It was a beautiful, dumb, slow-moving creature. Our neighbors thought that it would make a charming pet, Stacey however, disagreed. I had also instantly come to the conclusion that I had no interest in giving it food.

The snake himself and the feathery reason that everyone here kills them. (These things eat chickens.)

As opposed to seeing the thing go the way of the toucan or the machete, we threw him back in the sack and drove him down to a nice deserted area and let him free. I assume he's now happily eating someone else's chickens down that way.

3. The rats.

In addition this week, we received some useful additions to the family known as guatusas. Apparently, they're actually Central American Agoutis. For rodents, they're fairly cute and unobtrusive, kind of a mix between a rabbit and a guinea pig.

The reason we say they're useful is that we received a breeding pair (male and female if you're wondering how that works), and they're edible. So, these animals here are the pets, the forthcoming children will be the breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Let's hope they're tasty.

On a somewhat serious note, these were actually a big blessing. We were looking to identify a local animal that:

• Could be eaten in one meal. (Almost a necessity since refrigeration is not available.)
• Breeds easily. (They're rodents.)
• Is accepted locally as a food source.
• Adds valuable protein to the diet.
• Could be trialed at low cost.

Needless to say, these fit the prayers fairly precisely. We're looking forward to giving them a taste over the coming months and see how they do in captivity. They're apparently fairly common captive animals in the rural areas. They are hunted for food, but in captivity, they're viewed more as pets. So, the only introduction to the party would be the idea of seeing them as hairy chickens. Please pray for this process that the idea is accepted. If accepted, it could lower the hunting pressure on the surrounding population and lead to a new unique food source for local communities.

Other pets:
In addition to the three above (to clarify, of these three, only the rats live with us now), Echo is still with us and doing quite well. He's growing rapidly, and in no danger of being eaten.

We'll see what the next week might bring.

Damos gracias a Dio por: el monton de animales nuevos que viven aqui cerca a nosotros. (We give thanks to God for all the new animals that live here close to us.)

Weekly Update... Late edition

Living without internet has inevitably reduced our typing time, but we've resolved to do a better job of it over the coming weeks. Sorry for those of you that hang on our every word, waiting for the latest AMAZING update (all 2 of you, love you moms).

Since you last heard from us, we've been very busy, but happily so. We've been involved in a lot of community development meetings and planning within the ministry, and we're really looking forward to the future of this  ministry. So many changes are happening to move us toward self-sustainability and away from dependency. We feel very strongly that for too long, we as Christians have moved away from the Biblical principal of self-sustenance (check out Titus and 2 Thessolonians for more on that). As a result, we've disempowered many people around the world with a false gospel of dependency, resulting in many third world countries standing with hand outstretched, waiting for a handout. The processes and priorities we're putting in place currently as a ministry is moving us away from this model towards a process that's more empowering and Biblical.

 At the house, we're wrapping up the last construction project (the rainwater cistern), and can't wait to fill it up with the big spring rains. All said and done, we'll have about 5000 liters available of clean water. We're excited. We'll do a big post once we're all finished up with the house and the water situation.

We've also been heavily involved in Caliche over the past couple of weeks. We're nearing the final stages of the project and it's getting very exciting. This past week, a group of engineering students from the University of Dayton were here helping with the installation of the biosand filters and assessing the other structures along the line. The project is really incredible and we can't wait to see the finished project. Never in my life have I seen such dedication as I've seen from the folks in Caliche on this. Very motivated folks.

Sorry that it's such a quick update, but we're really doing well and will try to put together some more informative posts here over the coming week to explain a little better what's going on.

Thanks for checking in!

Damos gracias a Dios por: una clima increible donde podemos dormirnos bien. (We give thanks to God for an incredible climate where we can sleep well.)

Birthdays

Over the past week we’ve had 3 birthdays with our closest neighbors.  Pastor Erick turned 27 on April 21^st.  Stacey made him a cake and we celebrated with the family that lives cati-corner to us.  He is dating their daughter Karen (long distance – she’s working in San Pedro Sula) so they are the only “family” he has here since he’s from a city about 2 hrs. away.

Left to right: Marina, Suyapa, Llovani (in the back), Lidia (purple shirt), Marleni, Antonio, Erick, and in the front are Jose and Lencho.

Writing in cursive was a little bit of a mistake culturally, not many understood.

The twins next door and a few other kids enjoyed playing with the left over icing.

The next day the smallest boy in that family, Dani, (he’s not in the picture above because he had already fallen asleep for the night) turned 3.  His celebration included a piñata that all the neighborhood kids joined in on, balloons, and eating tamales.  He is the smaller one in this picture, he is standing with his brother Jose. 

Jose and Dani

Then on April 30^th our next door neighbor, Nauh, turned 15.  He is the one who has been by our side volunteering work since the first ditch we dug for our house, so we made him a cake as well.  We can’t make cakes for everyone in the community but we thought it appropriate as a thank- you to the 2 people who have helped us every day – Erick and Nauh.  Cakes are not very common in Las Lomitas, so it was quite an event and many came to watch Stacey create.  There are a handful of girls who are interested in learning with the idea of a future business!  This is why we're here - how exciting to teach a skill to provide a living for a few people!  What skill can you bring to Las Lomitas to last a life time?  We'd love for you to come and share it!

Our biggest helper, Nauh.

Instead of writing in cursive like I usually do, I wrote in manuscript because many people could not read the cursive on Erick's cake the week before.  Cursive is not something taught in the rural schools.

We also went fishing for Nauh’s birthday, it was only his second time to go fishing in his whole life so he was very excited all day building up to the moment we left. We left around 4pm and got back around 9pm to take advantage of fishing at dusk.  We used fishing line with hooks on the end, fishing rods are not very common down here.  We only came home with 6 fish, but it was an exciting outing for all.

Headed down the path to the lake carrying plantains as a gift to the man who let us fish there, coke for a drink, line, hooks, and pails full of worms.

The fish we left with.

Weekly Update 2

Last week was filled with a meeting with the mayor, finishing the pila (holds water where you can wash dishes/clothing), laying the concrete slab over the septic hole (needed to be strong because we are also planning to put the car on this slab), attending a community meeting, having a great church service about using our talents, celebrating Pastor Erick’s birthday, and much more.

The next step to get the house where we’d like (especially for visitors – which starts in early June) is the cistern.  The hole is dug on the porch but the next part is to lay block inside it and seal it well to hold the water.  Then pour concrete for the lid/porch floor, after that we’ll hook up a hand pump to send the water up to the roof where a tank will be.  From the tank on the roof gravity will allow the water to fall into the tubes already built into the house (shower, toilet, sinks).

 

This week so far we have been in meetings for community development with Heart to Honduras and working on the Honduran Heart to Honduras website – which is very new.  A water project is starting in a community named Armenta.  As much as we don’t like being inside or in the car a lot it’s been a nice break away from mixing concrete by hand.  Kaleb mixed 12 bags by hand to lay the concrete slab, his body needed a break.

We also got the chance to get a little involved in community aspects. Stacey started a Sunday school with another local lady. Despite the boys smacking each other in the back of the head, it went really well. We also got to sit in on a community meeting and vote. On Sunday morning, Kaleb got up at 4:30 AM to go out with the men of the community to "maintain" the roadside. In the states, this would mean a tractor or weedeater of some sort, however, here it means chopping with a machete in semi-jungle for an hour. As enjoyable as it was, the best part was sharing the life with the men in this way, for them to see we don't believe we're any better than them and are interested in working alongside them, learning from them.

We’ve recently got the idea for a way for you to be involved in what God does here in Las Lomitas.  We would love if some of you would take a name of someone in the community and commit to pray for them.  We feel unable to cover each person in prayer the way we want to and believe that God could do great things if His people start praying for these people personally.  If you are interested in becoming a prayer warrior for one person from Las Lomitas please email us and we’ll give you a name and a brief description of them.  If you don’t already have our email, click on the “Contact Us” tab above, you’ll see our email there – just be sure to take our the X’s.  

  Thanks again for being involved and supporting us!