Today I am asking you to pray for Honduras. There is a major political crisis here which is seriously affecting the unity of the country. Here in Trujillo, things are interesting to say the least. We are under a curfew, the main highway into town in closed, the bank is only allowing withdrawals of approximately $50.00, no more. Of course I can't run the Center without money, but then the girls can't get here with the roads closed. Today one group of protesters burned all the newspapers that were being brought into Trujillo. I'm not sure why, since we can still get news via T.V. and internet. Please don't be concerned about my safety. I'm fine, and there is no violence here in Trujillo. We are a long way from the capital city of Tegucigalpa where the major demonstrations are taking place. But Honduras needs your prayers. Thank you for caring.

As you can see, cooking here isn't always as easy as turning on your stove - sometimes you have to make your stove first.  This is Rosa Idalia one of our supervisors putting the finishing touches on our stove in our back yard.

I'm sure most of you heard about our 7.1 earthquake a couple of weeks ago, which literally rocked Honduras. It was felt all over the country, including the Center and our house.  We had 20 very frightened girls awake for the rest of the night.  Fortunately we didn't sustain any damage, just a few very minor cracks in the cement.  At that time, most of the damage was in the San Pedro Sula area.  Unfortunately we are still experiencing aftershocks of 5 -5.5, near the city of LaCeiba, which to those of us in North America, would seem minor.  But since many of the houses here are still built of adobe and  or mud, these homes are not earthquake proof and even a tremor can break down the walls.  There have been several of these houses damaged and there are still a lot of frightened people.  The most recent tremor was this morning at 7:00 a.m.  The village where some of our girls live is apparently right on the fault line, and they have been told by officials that they might have to vacate the area.  Please remember the people of Honduras in your prayers.  We know that God is in control, and believe in His protection.  

Well, today, Wilfred and Erica finished putting in the posts to fence in our back yard.... tonight someone burned them. Probably someone just threw a cigarette into the yard, but regardless, now we need new posts. Thanks to the Trujillo Volunteer Fire Dept. the fire didn't spread into the Ministry Center yard, but it was quite a fire.
Wilfred will check the damage in the morning.

Lined, one of our first year students celebrated her 14th birthday last week. We make a point of celebrating each birthday since the majority of our girls have never had a birthday party before.