After speaking with Jenny Rogers, The KidSAKE Foundation executive director, the following are some of the goals of this trip and the future of The KidSAKE Foundation, as I understand it:

Objectives for this trip:

* Help set up the Clementina Martinez Foundation
- Clementina runs the children’s soup kitchen
- We’ve already donated the required 50,000 lempira (about $2,650) to begin an official foundation.

* Encourage literacy
- We brought books from the U.S. and have funds to take the headmaster to buy some here.
- We will paint the library at school.
- We will assess the needs of the school for future projects.

Continue reading "The Goals of this Trip" »

Posted by Chansin at 07:00 AM | Permalink

The full eight member teams and all the luggage arrived safely in Tegucigalpa. Somehow, that doesn't seem newsworthy but it is at least worthy of one large, collective, sigh of relief. We have been blessed with beautiful weather, a patient translator, people who seem to want to feed us at every turn, and reliable transportation. It would be easy to become overwhelmed with the crowds and unfamiliar surroundings, but all are handling things well. Nate and Chansin have taken notes all day and will post stories as soon as we have a little breathing room in the schedule.

If our trip ended today, the people of Cane, Honduras would call it a success. Pictured on the left is the check presentation from the KidSake foundation's director, Jenny Rogers, to the Clemintina Martinez Foundation. The 50,000 Lempira (roughly $2,500) is one of the last hurdles to establishing an international non-profit organization that will continue the work that Clemintina has sustained over the last 30 years. For Clemintina, this is a dream come true.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As my 5:45 6:45 a.m. Sunday flight looms, I’m a little stressed. Let’s hope it’s the “eustress” I learned about in high school health class--that happy stress that leads to getting things done.

I bought over $20 in stamps. Now I just have to write that letter. I have to do laundry, but first I need to pick the jeans up off the floor. Oh no, those granola bars need to be in neat rows in a Ziploc bag… It’s go time.

Lucy, my dog, helped reduce some of the butterflies. I was deflating a “Made in China” $5.95 soccer ball so it would pack better. I got distracted and later found the yellow ball on Lucy’s pillow. The soccer ball, meant for the youth of Honduras, had a love puncture.

Continue reading "Lucy eats Honduras soccer ball" »

Posted by Nathan at 04:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last spring, all I wanted to do was to go on a mission trip. I was about to graduate from high school, and I wanted to spend half the summer overseas serving the Lord.

What better way could there be of furthering His kingdom? I thought.

Hours of searching the Internet and praying to find the exact place God wanted me to go resulted in nothing. I had no peace about any of the trips I read about.

Not now, He told me.

It was heartbreaking, but I trusted God knew best. He could use me just as much in my hometown as He could in another country. The summer turned out wonderful. I had a fantastic internship with the local newspaper, I got to often do my favorite hobby (swing dancing!) and I grew in my relationship with Jesus. In the back of my heart, though, I still wanted to go on a mission trip.

Continue reading "Anticipating the New Year" »

Posted by Chansin at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Why does someone travel far away from home to do mission's work when there is so much need close to home? It is a fair question and one that I have asked in even greater depth: Why this particular Honduran village and not one of the many regions of the world suffering the after effects of a natural/political/health disaster? Take a look at the picture on the left. For next week's journey, my answer to these questions comes from the heart and prayers of this special woman.

Clemintina Martinez lives and works in the village of Cane (pronounced KAH-nay). When she first began teaching, she recognized that her students struggled to concentrate and learned that most arrived at school each morning hungry. A daily breakfast program evolved into a breakfast and lunch program...often, the only food that her students would receive during the day. Fast forward through 30 years of school-day meals for 90 children. Clemintina prays for help to sustain the soup kitchen. It is a struggle. The KidSake Foundation and the work of Jenny Rogers is an answered prayer for Clemintina. Clemintina calls Jenny her "angel".

Continue reading "Do Angels Need Our Help?" »

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 06:09 AM | Permalink

“He went out, not knowing where he was going” – Hebrews 11:8

This morning God told me the exact thing I needed to hear. Isn’t it exciting when, in one of His subtle ways, He reminds you that He knows all your anxious thoughts and that He’s ready to take care of them?

It was when I read an entry from Oswald Chambers’s “My Utmost for His Highest”. The title for the day was, “Will You Go Out Without Knowing?”, and it referenced Hebrews 11:8 which talks about Abraham leaving his home to go to a place he did not know. Abraham simply obeyed God even though he had no plans.

I’m a plans-oriented person. I make goals. I plan out the hours. I have to work it all out beforehand because I want to know what’s going to happen. I want to be in charge. It troubles me when things are unorganized or don’t end up how I planned.

Continue reading "Will You Go Out Without Knowing?" »

Posted by Chansin at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Chansin, Nate, Matt and I chatted for a couple of hours last night about our upcoming mission adventure to Honduras. Adventure seems to be an appropriate descriptor. There are many unknowns, a few concerns, and several things for which our preconceived notions may be completely erroneous.

We do know that there are stories to be told. I expect that Chansin, Nate, and Matt will carry the majority of the load when it comes to gathering notes, converting those notes to text, and tying images to copy. Some of those stories will appear here (we hope). Some of the stories may be reserved for future print production projects associated with the KidSake Foundation. My particular challenge is to capture these three creative students doing journalistic activity...some of which may be beyond the comfort zone of most journalists. But from all of that, there will be adventure and we expect to learn and grow from that adventure.

(Photo by Nathan T. Baker)

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)