Journeying Onward: 08/01/2011

I am constantly amazed at the generosity of people!! A few months ago I met a couple of ladies at the Rchurch in West Bay who came to the Made in Roatan shop. Well a couple of weeks ago one of the missionaries told Bob that he had something for us and we were shocked and thrilled that Teresa had sent
us a huge parcel with jewelry making supplies as well as jewelry that she owned that the girls could 're-make' here in Roatan! It is awesome to have people put action to their words and we are thankful for her helping hands

This is a photo of Oneyada while she is being interviewed for TV. She came into the Made in Roatan shop about a couple of months ago and asked for a job. I told her about the shop and how we get locals to make jewelry and sell it for them and she said she could make jewelry. She has been coming faithfully every week and learning to make things that the American tourists like. We are proud of her for her hard work. I was also happy that the local station sees this as a 'story' because it is: it is a good story about working hard and living selflessly.

I don't know if you like avocados or not but since moving to Roatan I love them!! We have 5 trees on the property and I am so happy when August rolls around because that is when the avocados are ready! One of the trees actually grows up through the deck (they cut a hole) and in the morning we go out and find at least a half dozen there that have fallen off the tree! We have a nice variety too: the typical green one, the yellow avocado, (my favorite!)the long neck, and a purple variety. So what do we do with all those avocados??! We enjoy them and we give them away! This is a photo of Emily with some people out in Punta Gorda where we brought them some clothes, avocados, quava, and plaintain.

We also brought some ladies clothes that we were given by a Canadian girl who is going back to Canada. She had soooo many clothes that she no longer wanted so I was able to make up bags of clothes for Punta Gorda, for Christy and Angela's family, for our neighbors and for Kendi. I love how being able to give to them because I know there isn't alot of money on the island and it is encouraging for them.

the crowd that gathered when we showed up in Punta Gorda

Bob is here talking with Pedro (one of the artists in the Made In Roatan shop) that we will be needing more things since we just got news that a guy in Canada is going to try to sell some things in some shops in Nova Scotia and he is also in the process of making a website FREE of charge in order for us to sell that things that people make online. Isn't that incredible??! We are so grateful for people who have caught the vision of 'helping people to help themselves' and they are partnering with us! Kevin, Lord bless YOU!

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The following is written by Bob

Going to hand out food with Nidia Webster is like traveling with a bundle of passion and humour mixed with a heart of gold! We meandered out to a small eastern village known as Pollytilly Bight. There are about 200 people living a basic existence by the sea, but their resilience and joy has not been thwarted. Pollytilly is one of the places rarely explored by cruisers or even locals, so they get largely overlooked for relief aid. But we arrived armed with a list of 25 of the neediest families, and enough basic food stuffs to last each family about two weeks...enough to give them a ‘breather’ from their troubles. As we pulled up to the front yard of a house, everyone was politely sitting, standing, lying around, and waiting for whatever God would bring their way. After initial hugs of love to Nidia and introductions to me, a few boys were recruited to help pass things out. We didn’t have carry bags so two ladies disappeared and momentarily returned with a ready supply of plastic grocery bags. Everyone was concerned that each lady stand close enough so as not to cause any strain on my back by having to lean forward...haha.
In short order all the food was distributed and all were ordered to stand by the grocery store wall for a group picture (glad we had a camera!). I was able to share with the ladies about how they are not forgotten and how He wants to take care of them. As we stood in a circle and I prayed you could sense His presence and His pleasure. I was then introduced to a 9 year old severely handicapped boy and then taken to a nearby house where another similar 7 year old boy lay on a simple carpet on the floor laughing and smiling at me. Needless to say, I returned two days later with 400 diapers...just to make the caregivers lives a little bit easier. My experience with the lovely people in this village reminded me how little we need to be happy, and how much more grace we all need in our lives for one another. I will be back to Pollytilly soon, to sit on porches and shoot the breeze!