September 2003 Archives

Hola. Greetings from San Pedro Sula, the second largest city in Honduras. We´re sitting in a cyber cafe (where we got frisked at the door by a man who seemed to be a policeman) waiting for the banco to open so we can change our dollars to lempiras. Right now the exchange rate is 17.56 lempiras to one U.S. dollar, and the cyber cafe is 10 lempiras for one hour. Not too bad.

We had a really good time in Melbourne with our friends talking about how our time in Las Mangas will look.

It was one of those conversations that entering into is much more strenuous and complicated than leaving. We had had some misunderstandings between us, and being with the folks in Florida gave us all a chance to affirm our love for each other as fellow believers and freely get everything on the table. Praise the Lord. It´s amazing how good this process has been for us together and as individuals -- all the lessons the Spirit is teaching us about trusting him, not worrying, and how perfect love casts out fear. More on this later, I´m sure.

Trying to get around the country

So Friday we leave the country. We are excited to be going, a little sad to be leaving – an appropriately bittersweet feeling. This trip to Honduras is something we’ve been praying about and planning since before we were engaged, and now we are walking wide-eyed through the open doors.

A whole lot of things have fallen into place

We said goodbye to Chattanooga on Wednesday and Thursday September 10-11. On Wednesday night, Will and Kim H. threw us a going-away bash/prayer send-off. Robert, Tim, Jade, and Ben from the AP house were there. Bob and Michelle – good friends and small group partners from St. Elmo Pres – were there. Becca H. was there fresh off one of her first days of work. And the entire Holt family was there: Robby, Chrissy, Clark, Abby, Emma, and Ellie. It was the first time we had seen the Holts since last November at Ben and Jane’s wedding, and it was a great blessing. They had us over for breakfast several times when we were dating, and have served as both relational and mercy ministry mentors to us.

It was one of those evenings with friends when conversation and “being-with” flows so easily that suddenly you’ve spent 3 or 4 hours and can hardly believe it.

We had a great trip to New England from August 30 to September 9. We wanted to celebrate our first year together and taste a bit of autumn before moving to perpetual summer, and this was our chance.

We said goodbye to the good folks at NCF on Thursday. I played a tongue in cheek tribute to philanthropy at the staff meeting (“we all have heard the rumors of a distant giving land/where complex assets liquidate like chocolate in your hand..”), and we joined them for a picnic at the president’s house north of Atlanta. We were really blessed to have been on the NCF team this last year. It has sharpened my writing and editing skills and given us a bigger vision of what God’s people are doing all around the world. Plus it paid for our health insurance.

1. Saturday August 30 - Monday September 1. We flew into Boston and immediately drove to Sunset Park in Brooklyn NYC