So if you want to see us while we're in town, then shoot me a message and we'll schedule something. We will have our US cell numbers active during the weeks we are there. There is also email, Facebook, Viber, and so on. :D See ya soon !!
So we did book our Christmas flights as promised. We will be in Houston from Dec 19th till the 28th and in Saint Louis from Dec 28th till January 1st. We were not able to use any of our miles due to the high airline traffic of the Christmas season. So we paid around $1,600. Those prices aren't terrible, but I make no promises for next year. We may just come to the States sometime in the summer instead and piggy back it off a mission trip. But we'll see what God does.
So if you want to see us while we're in town, then shoot me a message and we'll schedule something. We will have our US cell numbers active during the weeks we are there. There is also email, Facebook, Viber, and so on. :D See ya soon !!
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Well I've been living in Honduras for nearly two months now. Sutton is still teaching 5th grade at TCA (Tsebaoth Christian Academy). TCA is the English speaking private school run by the church. They currently have classes for toddlers up to 6th grade. Sutton has also been doing some counseling for both students and teachers which he absolutely loves. Some of the teachers have started calling him Pastor :D I have also been doing some work at the school. I volunteered to help teach at the school during the month of November. They had me teach a couple lessons in every class so all the kids would have the benefit of hearing lessons from a native English speaker. I enjoyed working with the kids and will be volunteering some more time there. However, I don't feel called to teach full-time as I will still be going on solar missions and will need to be out of town for weeks at a time.
The presidential elections took place last week. Many people, ourselves included, were fasting and praying over these elections as tensions across the country seemed to be coming to a boil. God heard our prayers and the result was a fairly uneventful election. There were plenty of threats and declarations made by one party or another. But none of the international observers supported the cries of fraud over the official vote count. So, even though there were a few demonstrations from supporters of the loosing parties, none became overly violent or destructive. Praise God! ... Elections in Honduras are very different from the States. We also had Thanksgiving last week and God did an awesome thing. Honduras doesn't really celebrate Thanksgiving, though the school did somewhat since they are focused on giving a US education. But the celebrations we had with the school didn't include any of the traditional Thanksgiving food that we gringos are used to. So I thought about making a couple of pies to celebrate, since making an entire Thanksgiving meal would have been WAY too expensive. But then God did a God thing. At the school celebration, which was on Wednesday, we met another missionary from the States. She asked what we were doing to celebrate Thanksgiving and when I told her she invited us to a Thanksgiving gathering of missionaries from the States. The next day she took us to a pastors home and we got to have all the traditional Thanksgiving foods while meeting a dozen other missionaries. We talked about the challenges of being missionaries here and some of the dozens of details we must deal with, like getting our residency, managing the US tax laws, and even having children here (several of the missionary couples have children). The pastor runs an association for Honduras missionaries which can process Honduran residencies and help in so many ways. He also leads a church that has an English speaking service on Sunday evenings. This is great for us because it gives us a chance to worship God and hear a message in English without giving up going to the services at Tsebaoth. We love Tsebaoth and it is our home church, but constantly having to translate is tiring and we sometimes miss the deeper message. This of course will change as we grow in our ability to speak Spanish. So in summary, we've had a very blessed first couple of months. There have been challenges (there always are), but God's hand has been evident throughout our time here. We look forward to what next year will bring with much anticipation :D Well, I've been here for a little over a week and I've gotten about half my immediate task list done. Our host family is having car issues .... imagine that :) I now have a new cell number (Honduran number) and a MagicJack phone number (US Number). My Honduran number is 9734-3888. From the States that would be 011-504-9734-3888. This will ring my cell phone. The MagicJack is a phone line with a US number connected via the internet (VOIP). The number is 281-993-6366. It will ring to a handset in the house. I'll get our old handset with an answering machine when I go back for Christmas.
So, if you need to contact me, there are now several ways. You can call/text my Honduran number (though it will cost you, even for a text, since it is an international number). You can call the MJ and talk if we are home. Or, if you have a smart phone, you can message me on Viber. It's an app for both Android and iPhone. The app icon is a purple message bubble with a phone inside. My account is linked to my US cell number (859-420-8538), so if you have that in your contact list, my name should pop up on the app. Sutton is also on Viber (with his old US number). Then there are the usual ways to connect: email and facebook. Our next biggest hurdles are getting our Honduran residency (takes 3-6 months) and buying a car. The residency/work visa is in process for Sutton and will hopefully be started soon for me. The church is handling this for us (Thank You Jesus !!). We should probably get Honduran drivers licenses too ... :). The car purchase will likely take some fund raising. Our current budget doesn't get a very good vehicle. We are looking at options now. Keep praying for us please. Thank you !! So I finally arrived in Honduras Saturday morning after a very long week of last minute selling, storing, and packing. My husband was ecstatic to see me again after nearly three months apart !! Before leaving, SonLight Power gave me a very nice set of Samsonite luggage (to replace my dirty, beat-up falling apart pieces) which made the trip much easier. I also got a few toys such as an iPod (to replace my broken one), and a Kindle (since I am an avid reader and my 300+ books are hard to transport). The Abide group (young adult group from Ethos, our church in TX) threw me a going away party Friday night. And then I had a surprise welcome party here in Honduras Sunday night. Soooo I am Blessed !! :D Thank you to everyone for the blessings, encouragement, and prayers offered for myself and my husband!! We are forever grateful.
Also, Ethos (church in TX) has agreed to be our conduit for financial support. They will accept donations on our behalf and send it to us once a month or so. That way anyone who feels so led will have an easy way to support us which will be tax deductible. Once they get our account set-up I will post the address and a link to an online PayPal account. So this way, if anyone wants to support me or Sutton as missionaries here in Honduras, they can send the donations to Ethos (marked for the MacGregors). I will still be doing missions with SonLight Power as God allows. So any donations going to my account with SonLight will continue to be used for travel expenses on missions taken with them. Please continue to pray for us as we walk out this whole missionaries in Honduras thing. We ask that God would open the doors He wants open, shut the doors He wants shut, and continue to give us more wisdom and discernment as each challenge arises. May He receive all the glory and the honor in the precious name of Jesus !!! Amen. Tomorrow we fly back to the States. Once there, I will have 11 days to sell off any other major things (such as the car), donate the rest, and pack up what little we are keeping. My flight to Honduras is booked for Oct 12th !! Keep us in your prayers please !!!
The solar project for the Hands and Feet orphanage near Jacmel is pretty much complete. They had a team here to help us along with several other projects. The installation went very quickly. However it isn't completely done because: 1) The building isn't finished, 2) a few minor parts were missing. There is another team coming in two weeks who will install the minor parts along with hopefully running the AC wiring in the building. Here are a few pics of the last week below. We have completed the solar system for Alex's House Orphanage guest house. We installed 12 solar panels on a very steep metal roof .... in September ... in Haiti. It was ... ummm ... HOT! But good :) The second day after we connected all the panels the system was producing over and above the panel specs. I guess all that sun is good for something ... I mean, besides an awesome farmers tan :) I've included a few pics below. Thank you so much to the team with Alex's Orphanage who helped and also to Craig Kindell who joined us once again !!
Tomorrow Allen and I fly to Jacmel in southern Haiti to install another system. We are putting in 18 solar panels for an organization called Hands and Feet. They have a team ready to assist as well. Prayers for safe travels please and thank you. God is Good :D Well, I am on the plane headed to Haiti. I didn't get a chance to do an update before leaving. But, I will be there for two weeks doing a solar installation for Alex's Orphanage in a town called Damien (just north of Port-au-Prince) and another for Hands and Feet Ministries in Jacmel. I will return to Houston on Oct 1st.
Also, I did book my flight for the move to Honduras. I will be flying down on Saturday Oct 12th :-D Yay God !! So we have booked our Sept flights for Haiti. We will be there for two weeks from Sept 17th till Oct 1st. We are doing at least two installs. I will post another blog next week with more details.
What I've been mainly focused on since coming home is the move to Honduras. Sutton is doing well in Teguc, though he sorely misses me :) I am feverishly trying to sell off stuff and pack up what little we are keeping. So far we have sold the bedroom furniture, the lawn mower, the couches, all the old audio equipment and vinyl records. There are already arrangements for selling the futon, the large toolbox, and some musical instruments this week. Currently I have listed on Craigslist a coffee table, the kitchen table w/ chairs, the BBQ pit, a file cabinet, and a shelf/storage unit thingy. You can go to the Houston section and just search for my phone number (859 420 8538) to see what all I have listed. I will also be selling the car, though that isn't currently listed. Next Saturday I hope to have a garage sell and possibly another the Saturday after that. Right now I am planning on flying to Honduras on Oct 9th, a week after I return from Haiti. I will book that ticket in the next two weeks. Keep praying for us please. Pray for Sutton as he is in Honduras teaching and trying to adjust. Pray for me as I am taking care of all the house stuff. Pray for the Haiti mission to go smoothly. And above all, pray that God's will be done and He receive all the glory!! Thank you Jesus for faithful prayer warriors :D How many ways can a heart be torn? Abbe Jack called us tonight. He said the electrician finished wiring the outside lights at the clinic in Tshibombo. They now have two lights in the front, two in the back, and one on each side. Abbe says the sight is something to behold. He didn't have the words to describe it but he just had to call us and let us know.
This is my last night in the Congo. I have been here for almost a month and I'm ready to go home. But, I wish I were back in Tshibombo celebrating with Abbe and the people there. And yet, I want to be back in Houston so I can talk to my sweet friend Katie who just got back from her first mission trip. But what I really want is to be in Honduras with my wonderful husband and the Tsebaoth family. But then I can't wait to see my Ethos Church family and my in-laws in Houston. And my mother is coming to visit me soon, so I absolutely have to be there for that...... God is allowed to be everywhere at once, why can't we do that... just for a little bit? :-D |
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