Visitor Comments

This page is for our visitors who visited us and wanted to leave a word for everyone.

Christopher Miller

I want to fill  you in on the latter part of the trip and what was accomplished.

(Some of you are coming in on this story at the end.  I've just  returned from Honduras, my second trip this year, where I have been  assisting Jericho Ministry, for the past two years. 


>Monday, June 11

In recent months, the Villa has been a site for ministry retreats and  work parties.  Monday thru Wednesday was another such with a team from Jericho Ministries joined by Pastor Evart of the Iglesia Bautista America.  It took some time to get out of the city and to 
> the Villa, but once there I set up my drafting table in a room that I  had designed to maximize daylight for sewing.  My first project was  to design the landscape to the south side of the building that would divert water away from the building and to stop erosion there. Second, Betsy Hake and I walked the school site laying out a rough  footprint of the building I had designed.  We came to some important decisions about how this building would be positioned and decided to widen the interior court of the school building so that it would accommodate children's play.  We also scouted out a wonderful view that could be marked by a prayer garden or chapel and that could be  related visually to the school and to the villa.  This latter discussion made clear the need for a masterplan; see below.

Late afternoon, rain.  In the evening, we watched a 1960s documentary of the mission to the Aucas: I have grown up with still photos of the massacre of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and the others.  I had no idea that this film, narrated by Elisabeth Elliot, existed.

I camped in a first-floor room  at the northeast corner of the  villa.  It has a toilet and a shower with point-of-use electrical water heating.  This is more typically called a suicide shower:  a shower head with an electrical heating element is supplied by two  wires coming out of the nearby electric socket.  The proximity of  water and 100 volts always makes me cringe.  This time: not only did  fail to electrocute, it failed to heat.

>Tuesday, June 12

Several visits today: the contractor, Fito, and a furniture-builder,  Osmin.
With Fito, Betsy walked through the building using the list of incomplete and unserviceable work that I had made last week.  I  joined when necessary as when the leaking kitchen cupola was tested. I wanted to examine first-hand the construction of the cupola so I 
clambered onto the roof (the advantage of clay tile roof becomes  obvious when you see that the tiles are simply removed and piled aside to make a place to walk on the sub-roof).  I was able to conclude the best solution was to remove the dome from the little cupola and extend the clay tile roof over the cupola.  I retreated to my table; sketched the solution for waterproofing the cupola windows; and reviewed this sketch with Fito just a little later.  Also spent much time discussing the south side water problem.  All of this was very productive.
Much of this day was spent drafting a plan of the terraced gardens between the villa and the planned school building to the north.  I listened to Beth Moore and Joyce Meyer CDs (most of you probably know  these teachers better than I do; if not, check them out) while I 
designed.

Pastor Evert proves to be handy and efficient as he assisted Betsy and Heeju in hanging a spicerack, shelving, cabinets, etc. in the  upstairs staff apartment. In the evening for dinner: two Americans (one in Honduras for 25  years), one South Korean (Heeju), two native Hondurans (William and  Pastor Evert), and one Colombian (Gustavo).  Lots of joyous joking  about the superiorities of Colombian Spanish over the vernacular  Honduran Spanish!  (The Jericho ministry has been strongly supported  by Food for the Hungry - Korea; Heeju is the third to assist Jericho  and Hae Young has been a righthand in this ministry from the  beginning.  Some of you know that the Koreans are placing  missionaries so rapidly in the field that soon they will outnumber  Americans as missionaries around the world.)  Dinner was a rich  picture of the world and of heaven.  Afterward, the least educated of  the group, William, preached for 40 minutes extemporaneously in a sermon whose sources ranged from several NT books.  Rained hard.

> Wednesday, June 13

Dwight, who with his wife harbor an intense ministry out of their home in Tegus, visited to discuss how he would finish the provision  and installation of doors.
> Fito returned with plumbers.  We discussed the south side project again.  Also on the agenda was the re-worked in-swinging wood  casement windows.  These had been improperly designed and fabricated;  the re-worked detail (product of my January trip and helped indispensably by my former student, Nathaniel Brooks) is much better  and with some maintenance should provide good service for a long time.

Children from the area congregated outside my window to watch me draft.  I played a Spanish worship music CD to which one of them asked if it was Christian.

I practiced my manual transmission skills, dormant for many years, and drove the Toyota diesel mini-bus back to Tegus in the early evening.  To conclude my visit, we went out for pizza (my treat).  Adults at one end of the table enjoyed a blonde asparagus and mushroom pizza; at the other end, teenagers watched the North America  soccer Gold Cup group-play match.

>Thursday, June 14

As every morning but one, there was prayer at 5am.  The group prayed for me in anticipation of my departure.  At Jericho, the Tegus  ministry site, I shared digital images with Heeju, who is the webmaster at jerichomin.org.  Betsy and I discussed masterplanning 
> issues in the big vision she has for using the 160 acres: retreat center, rehab facility for men, barn for sheep, grazing and cultivation fields.  I hope to bring a landscape architect or land planner with me on my next trip.

With a flurry of farewells, I left for the airport.  I was dropped off to get my boarding pass and pay the $35 departure tax (you can pay in lempiras or dollars, isn't that telling).  I bought some coffee from a souvenir shop and while waiting for Betsy, Elvia (whose 
daughter also may want to be an architect), and Hae Young to return, I chatted with a Boston doctor, a medical missioner with the cathedral, who was waiting for friends to deliver medications that she will use in a clinic.  When B, E, and HY returned, they had gifts 
for me including a cap labeled "JM Arquitecto".

In closing, I will summarize what was accomplished professionally: composed the list of incomplete and incorrect work; attended a meeting with the rector of the national agricultural university who we hope will provide consulting assistance or take on Jericho as a service-learning project; negotiated the completion of the building with the contractor; sketched an open-air building that might be a chapel in the future; designed screen and shutter details for the  cottages and school; positioned school on the land; planned the 
relationship of the school to the villa; revised the school plan  design twice; worked out construction details on paper and with builders; and discussed masterplanning issues for the future.

Finally, I am humbled by the number of folks who have contributed financially to this and future working trips; many more have written to express their encouragement for what I am doing there.

It seems that we are in a good position to support the next trip. The expectation that I can return means a great deal to the ministry who carries this big construction project and is grateful for outside expertise.  As another trip approaches, I will communicate again.  In 
> the meantime, I am happy to hear from you and to answer questions that you might have.  Maybe I will learn how to put some photos on the web and will let you know how to see them.

Vicky Schaechterle

This morning seemed to be my turn to awaken with a migraine!  However, I was thankful that it was just in the beginning stages. Betsy gave me some extra strength advil, annointed my head with oil and prayed for quick relief.  I also drank a big glass of water and showered which seemed to help along with Betsy's sweet and tender care. Dressing in our work clothes, we headed out again to the villa about 7:30 a.m. with Gustavo, a christian gentleman that came to Honduras with his family from Columbia and now works for Jericho.  He shuttles supplies back and forth to the villa...and we were amongst the supplies this morning!   My job today along with Marlyn (Betsy's eldest "daughter") was to glaze the kitchen walls.  They had been painted a blue-ish color, but the paint had turned chalky and when I suggested glazing over the paint, Betsy took me up on my suggestion!  I was delighted to work with Marlyn.  Not only is she a precious young lady, but also an excellent worker and I hadn't previously had a chance to spend much time with her yet since she attends college weekday evenings.  Side by side, we steadily made progress, pleased at the results.  God gave us energy and grace and blessed the work of our hands.  The glaze deepened the color giving it a nice sheen, also making the walls washable.  Along with conversation (Marlyn speaks beautiful english), we listened to some  teaching tapes at Marlyn's request that I had brought along for the trip.   A couple of the men (including Gustavo) moved furniture to various rooms Betsy had cleaned and now took delight in arranging.  Many times she remarked at how beautifully God had provided the perfect pieces through so many donated or locally made items.  Katie, a college student from Indiana studying missions and staying with Betsy till December was a wonderful help in sealing all the bathroom grout.   Totally emersed in our labor, we forgot to eat lunch.  Perhaps the "spiritual food" we'd gotten from the tapes was the real nourishment our bodies needed...   Finally about 7:30 p.m., we had the kitchen completely glazed, cleaned and put back together.  Gustavo returned to shuttle us down the mountainside and the hour ride back to the city.  Betsy and I squeezed in the Toyota's front cab with Gustavo, Marlyn and Katie sat in the back of the pick-up for a rather bumpy and windy trip home.  Betsy and I offered to take the back, but the younger girls won out...probably a good thing!   A warm shower brought refreshment and a relief to our tired bodies.  We had a late supper and Elvia, (a dear friend of Betsy's and the principal at Jericho) on her way home stopped by to chat awhile we ate.    Tomorrow we plan to take a drive to Valle de Angeles,a quaint village in the countryside and  fun place to get handmade Honduran items. Sunday, we plan to take off early for the 3 hour drive to the San Pedro Sula airport.  I miss you all tons and thank you so very much for wonderful emails and all your faithful prayers...they are such an integral part of the trip!  With love always, Vicky