The Betanco Family

This weekend we were able to help a family of six get out of terrible living conditions and go to a place where they are much safer. A sinlge mother of 23 years old and her 5 children were living in a house that barely had walls, was out in the middle of no where and they were barely surviving. Juancito, the preacher at the church in San Marcos, and I went to her house on Thursday to check out the living conditions and to give them some food. I was completely shocked when we drove up. I have seen pictures of these kinds of living conditions here, but I have never actually been there to see it with my own 2 eyes. It was unbelievable. On Friday night Ally called Chad and I and told us that they were planning to move the family to a house of one of the older brothers from the church in San Marcos. He is having a hard time getting food to eat for himself, so we figured out a way to help him and this family. The mother of the children is going to cook all the meals for this man, Juaquin, and he will give the family a room in his house to live. What a dea, huhl! Saturday night while it was pouring down rain in San Marcos, Chad and Juancito moved some mattresses over to the house for the children to all sleep on. Sunday morning we all went over there and cleaned up the place, moved things around to help them get situated in the house and fed them breakfast. After breakfast Chad and I went to the market to buy some of the basic things that they would need, pots and pans, laundry soap, dish soap, toilet paper, a broom, a mop, and some other things. They were all at worship last night with smiles on. I think they are a lot happier in their new place.

Our Apartment

Pictures of the Last Few Days

The first picture is of our stuff from our shipment. It arrived Friday morning very early. The second and third pictures are Chad feeding a calf and me milking his momma at Las Palmas Refuge. On Thursday we handed out chickens to the families that are part of our nutrition program. Chad got to tie their feet together and then handed them to me to give to the people taking them home.

Christmas is Tomorrow!

You might think I am crazy, but tomorrow is Christmas for the Hedgepath's. Our shipment is to arrive at our warehouse tomorrow morning at 7:00 am. We will be there ready and waiting with bells on. I am eager to see what it looks like. We have not seen our belongings since May. It will be great to dig through all the boxes and remember what we packed. I am sure we will be surprised with each box. It is going to be a great day!

We had a rewarding and frustrating day in Honduras today. We got in the truck this morning to go to the church to help pass out chickens to the children who are in the food program, but the truck would not start. I believe it was Shelly's driving yesterday but we won't go into that right now. Just kidding. The battery was dead. So what do you do in Honduras when that happens...start walking. And that is what we did. It was good exercise!

What a great experience we had at the church building. Each family got 4 chickens so that they can get more protein in their diets with the eggs. I was in charge of tying their feet together so the families could carry all of them home upsidedown. What an adventure!

Since we did not have a truck to drive, we stayed at home and waited for Jarrod to bring his toolbox so we could fix the battery. The battery cables were corroded and needed to be tightened but since all my tools are on the shipment and not here yet, we sat and waited. Honduras tries your patience.

We cut a deal with Jarrod and Ally and offered to provide the spaghetti and sauce if they would provide the meat and we would have supper together and give us a chance to check all our emails at their house since we were not able to go to the office today. It is nice to sit with another family and talk new and interesting things.

I forgot to tell something historic about today...Shelly milked one of our cows! ON THE FIRST TRY! She was so excited. We have pictures of everything today and will try to get them on the blog the next couple of days.

Adios.
Chad

Well, we reached a milestone this morning. I drove in Honduras for the very first time ever. I was a little nervous, but I did very well. The guard at the office laughed at me as I spun into the parking space. Chad says I get to do this every day now until I am comfortable. I hope it doesn't take too long. We are searching for a car to buy. Right now we are driving a rental truck. Hopefully we will find one before the end of the week.

I tried to include some pictures today, but it just is not working for me. I will try again tomorrow. I think it is because I am trying to download my Norton Anti-Virus from the web at the same time.

Getting Settled

Shelly and I arrived safely in Honduras yesterday but something happened which has never happened in my 12 years of traveling here. We flew into the runway backwards. Usually there is only one direction down a runway, but not in Honduras. Many are accustomed to the hairpin turn around the mountains in order to land in Honduras. This time we fly in over the cliff at the end of the runway and landed going the wrong way. It was much easier. It was a straight shot from the air so that made the landing a little less stressful. Those who have been here will appreciate that.

We have spent the day organizing our office. Shelly and I share an office which makes for a lot of adjustment. It is also about half the size of my old office at BC so you can imagine how close we are. It is just another adjustment amongst so many others. We cleaned our apartment last night and went to bed at 8:45 pm. It was so good to get to bed early. We loved being home but sleep was not one of our priorities while there. When the sun goes down here, it is bedtime. We seem to be adjusting to that well. We will be back at it tomorrow, organizing and planning. There is so much to do it is difficult to know where to start. By the way, out container with all our personal items has not arrived here yet. It is in Honduras but stuck in customs. They take their time here. We hope to get it on Monday. This is going on 11 weeks living out of suitcases. We will live though.

Adios.
Chad

Heading Home

We have enjoyed being in the States for a few days visiting family and friends. It is nice to have some of the "luxuries of life" but we are ready to head back to Honduras and get busy working. Please pray for our safe travel tomorrow as we leave Nashville at 6:00 am and arrive in Tegucigalpa, Honduras at 11:40 am. Tristan, our dog, is staying in the States for the next 5 weeks until he is reunited with Shelly on the 22nd of November. That will be an adjustment for Shelly. We will talk to you in a few days.

Update on Shelly

Nothing showed up on Shelly's x-ray yesterday so the doctor told her to just keep a watch on it and get back in contact with him if the pain returns. She was relieved to hear the news.

Our money total for Tuesday night is up to $96,110. Isn't that exciting!

The next blog you get from us will be from Honduras next week. Hopefully our internet problems will be fixed. Talk to you then!

Chad

Getting Everything Done

We are in the process of getting all our last minute errands run and making sure we stock up on supplies to take back to Honduras. We leave Monday morning at 6:00 am. I want to give you an update on Shelly's stomach problems she had while in Guatemala. She visited a stomach doctor on Wednesday and had to go back on Thursday for another x-ray to see if she has gall stones. If so, she will need to have surgery over the Christmas holiday to remove her gall bladder. We are still waiting word on it so we will keep you informed. Please pray about that.

I am going with my Dad tonight to see a high school football game. I am excited about it since it will be the first football game I have seen since last year. Let us hear from you. Let us know what is going on in your lives. Adios.

Chad

$90,100

As I sit in front of the computer now, that is the amount raised last night at our 2nd Annual Fundraiser Dinner for Las Palmas Refuge. We had a great evening with at least 250 people in attendance (doubled from last year). The food was great and the atmosphere was spectacular. We could not have asked for a better evening. Our goal of $100,000 will be accomplished by the end of the year. This amount will take care of all expenses with the children's home for the entire 2007 year. What a blessing!

I want to share two stories I shared with the group last night of some dedicated individuals. The first is Guilford McKay. He has a large farm in Franklin, TN which he has used in the past to milk cows professionally. He has donated all his milking equipment to Las Palmas Refuge for us to use to milk our dairy cows on the ranch. This will provide the most milk out of each cow which will provide not only for our children at Las Palmas but our schools also (300 children). This will allow us to sell the milk also to reach the goal of one day Las Palmas Refuge being self-supportive from the ranch itself. That will be a great day and Guilford McKay has helped start that goal.

The other is Kim Parker. She is a family member of mine and took orders at her work for hot plate lunches one day. She got up at midnight to cook all morning the hot lunches she was going to deliver that day. At $5 a plate (what a bargain) she brought me a check last night for $500. She even said that she was amazed at the donations in excess of $5 that many people from her work gave including several Honduran women out of their poverty and hardship. Kim and Frankie can not necessarily sit down and write a check for that amount but they found a way to provide for the children of Honduras. What a difference they are making!

God is good and He always provides. The people present last night are making a difference in Honduras that they will never fully understand. We are going to change the world one child at a time with the guidance of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for being a part of this great ministry in Mission Lazarus!

A huge thank you goes to my mom, Debbie Hedgepath, and Pat and Mac Hughes for putting many hours into the planning of this evening. What a blessing they have been to me! Also, thank you to the Hayes', Lawson's, Anderson's, Lankford's, Will Baxter, Lacey Hughes, Andrea Hobbs and the Berry's Chapel church for their continued support and participation.

Save the date of Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 as the next time to gather and help the children of Southern Honduras.

Chad

Home Sweet Home

We arrived in the States on Friday night, October 6th. It is so nice to have a hot shower with pressure and clean water coming out of the faucet to brush your teeth. We had a very difficult time last week in Honduras with our internet so that is the reason for this being the first blog in a while. We have a huge fundraiser dinner tomorrow night for Las Palmas Refuge which we are excited about. You can imagine that things are busy right now getting ready for that so we will blog more later this week. Talk to you then.

We are finally in San Marcos, Honduras. We arrived last night around 9:15. It was a long ride from the airport, but we made it safetly and are ready to get to work. We stayed at Jarrod and Ally Brown's home last night and today we are going to get settled in the apartment where we will live for the next few months. Please pray for us that we adjust well to our new life here. We will write more later!