For the 2-4 of you that might read this, our blog has moved! You can now find us at:
web.mac.com/jonodom
It's easy to keep up to date if you subscribe to our RSS feed and all new posts will be e-mailed to you.
Much Love,
Jon and Emily
Friday, July 18, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
3/18
Greetings!
It's 7.30 Honduras time and I am wiped out! It's hard to believe that Em and I have only been here for a week. But it has been fantastic. We arrived in Tegucigalpa around lunchtime on Monday the 10th. Our first week here was very relaxed and enjoyable and we had plenty of time to appreciate being with Ron and Shelley (the missionaries here) and their kids Joseph and Oscar. Emily and I particularly enjoyed playing "Chancho"-- the Spanish equivalent of "Pig"-- with Ron and Shelley's son, Oscar. He has a giggle that is absolutely hilarious and contagious. Emily and I played that with him every night after we got back from Mogote.
The ministry has started an "impresa" (factory) in which Hondurans are trained to produce high-quality, Coach-like purses and handbags to be sold in the United States. As of right now, the purses are only being sold in two boutiques in Dallas for a pretty premium price. Shelley is in the process of organizing and updating all of the accounting records for the impresa, so Em and I spent a considerable amount of time helping with that. Thankfully, we were able to get a lot done and took a big burden off of Shelley's shoulders. It has been a blast to work with Emily on all of this stuff. We've found that we truly do work well together and it has been a blessing just to be with each other all day long-- not having work or school to have to attend to.
The ministry operates an after-school study hall for a group of kids that need a little extra help. I was working with a couple of my little buddies on their English (their school does some basic English greetings and vocabulary) and we ran into some really funny situations. I had the kids count to ten in English and after that I used some basic greetings to test their knowledge. I asked Laurie, a sweet little 7 year old, "How are you?" And then, with a big smile on her face, she exclaimed, "Book!" I thought it was really funny and Em and I have been joking about it all week. Someone also taught Xiomara (one of the cooks for the ministry who speaks almost no English) to go up to Shelley and say, "I need a vacation." We loved that. We were a little nervous about our Spanish being rusty, but Emily and I have gotten along with it quite well. In fact, I have felt better about my Spanish this past week than I ever have-- and I'm not even taking language classes right now. Thank God!
The weather has been consistently perfect here. Ron and Shelley always keep their windows open and you cannot tell a difference in the temperature whether you are in or outside of the house. The mornings have been really valuable. Em and I have been waking up and having some devotional and prayer time together every morning. As we read and pray together, we only have to look beyond the backyard to see all of Tegucigalpa-- 1.8 million people, most of whom are living in poverty and having been deeply scarred by the reality of life without Christ. There is a great need for Jesus everywhere you look.
A team from Journey Church in Norman, OK came Friday. We picked them up from the airport and have been with them since. Perhaps the most exciting "tourist" thing that we've done was to go to a highly-competitive "futbol" match between Olimpia and Motagua (two national teams whose rivalry puts OU-OSU to shame). The people invest their entire identity in their team identification. It was a blast. Tens of thousands of people were jumping and screaming, and hugging and kissing when their team scored a goal. It was so much fun. Everyone on the mission team rooted for Olimpia, but Em and I had to support the underdog. Motagua won. Em and I were the only happy ones that night.
We are looking forward to 5 more days here in Teguc, and then it's back to a few more months of school and work for us. Thank you so much to all of you who have prayed for us and supported us in the first steps of this process. We are very excited about the direction in which God is leading us and we still covet your prayers. We'll be talking with Ron and Shelley about logistics of moving in the fall-- establishing residency in Honduras, finding a place to live, budget stuff, how to raise support, etc. Please pray for wisdom and clarity in all of this.
I'm sure that I've forgotten many things that I wanted to say, but thank you for reading this in spite of it. Shelley is really into "Dancing with the Stars" and it begins soon, so I will wrap this up.
Thanks for reading this and we love you all very much!
Jonathan and Emily
It's 7.30 Honduras time and I am wiped out! It's hard to believe that Em and I have only been here for a week. But it has been fantastic. We arrived in Tegucigalpa around lunchtime on Monday the 10th. Our first week here was very relaxed and enjoyable and we had plenty of time to appreciate being with Ron and Shelley (the missionaries here) and their kids Joseph and Oscar. Emily and I particularly enjoyed playing "Chancho"-- the Spanish equivalent of "Pig"-- with Ron and Shelley's son, Oscar. He has a giggle that is absolutely hilarious and contagious. Emily and I played that with him every night after we got back from Mogote.
The ministry has started an "impresa" (factory) in which Hondurans are trained to produce high-quality, Coach-like purses and handbags to be sold in the United States. As of right now, the purses are only being sold in two boutiques in Dallas for a pretty premium price. Shelley is in the process of organizing and updating all of the accounting records for the impresa, so Em and I spent a considerable amount of time helping with that. Thankfully, we were able to get a lot done and took a big burden off of Shelley's shoulders. It has been a blast to work with Emily on all of this stuff. We've found that we truly do work well together and it has been a blessing just to be with each other all day long-- not having work or school to have to attend to.
The ministry operates an after-school study hall for a group of kids that need a little extra help. I was working with a couple of my little buddies on their English (their school does some basic English greetings and vocabulary) and we ran into some really funny situations. I had the kids count to ten in English and after that I used some basic greetings to test their knowledge. I asked Laurie, a sweet little 7 year old, "How are you?" And then, with a big smile on her face, she exclaimed, "Book!" I thought it was really funny and Em and I have been joking about it all week. Someone also taught Xiomara (one of the cooks for the ministry who speaks almost no English) to go up to Shelley and say, "I need a vacation." We loved that. We were a little nervous about our Spanish being rusty, but Emily and I have gotten along with it quite well. In fact, I have felt better about my Spanish this past week than I ever have-- and I'm not even taking language classes right now. Thank God!
The weather has been consistently perfect here. Ron and Shelley always keep their windows open and you cannot tell a difference in the temperature whether you are in or outside of the house. The mornings have been really valuable. Em and I have been waking up and having some devotional and prayer time together every morning. As we read and pray together, we only have to look beyond the backyard to see all of Tegucigalpa-- 1.8 million people, most of whom are living in poverty and having been deeply scarred by the reality of life without Christ. There is a great need for Jesus everywhere you look.
A team from Journey Church in Norman, OK came Friday. We picked them up from the airport and have been with them since. Perhaps the most exciting "tourist" thing that we've done was to go to a highly-competitive "futbol" match between Olimpia and Motagua (two national teams whose rivalry puts OU-OSU to shame). The people invest their entire identity in their team identification. It was a blast. Tens of thousands of people were jumping and screaming, and hugging and kissing when their team scored a goal. It was so much fun. Everyone on the mission team rooted for Olimpia, but Em and I had to support the underdog. Motagua won. Em and I were the only happy ones that night.
We are looking forward to 5 more days here in Teguc, and then it's back to a few more months of school and work for us. Thank you so much to all of you who have prayed for us and supported us in the first steps of this process. We are very excited about the direction in which God is leading us and we still covet your prayers. We'll be talking with Ron and Shelley about logistics of moving in the fall-- establishing residency in Honduras, finding a place to live, budget stuff, how to raise support, etc. Please pray for wisdom and clarity in all of this.
I'm sure that I've forgotten many things that I wanted to say, but thank you for reading this in spite of it. Shelley is really into "Dancing with the Stars" and it begins soon, so I will wrap this up.
Thanks for reading this and we love you all very much!
Jonathan and Emily
Saturday, March 8, 2008
03/08
Greetings friends and whoever might have stumbled on to our blog!
By this time tomorrow, Emily and I will be in the home of Ron and Shelley Jones in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It's freezing tonight here in Tulsa and we cannot wait for the mid-70's of Honduras. We'll spend the next two weeks finding our fit in the ministry and getting to know Ron and Shelley better. We're really excited about seeing familiar faces, speaking Spanish, and loving on the kids. We are very grateful to be able to do this. We will be discussing a lot of details about the move and we truly covet your prayers in this regard.
We've got to be at the airport by 5.20 AM, so I must conclude this post. I'll try to give an update sometime while we're down there. Thank you so much for reading this and caring about us! We love you all very much!
For His Glory,
Jonathan and Emily
PS- Some of you mentioned having a hard time leaving a comment. To leave a comment, click "comments" (seems simple enough so far!). When the next screen pops up, type your comment, type out the letters that you see on the white panel, and then click "Name/URL." All you need to do is click that and type your name. Don't worry about anything else. Please do leave a comment so that we know you're out there! Thanks!
UPDATE: Our flight was delayed and we are still in Tulsa. We will leave early Monday morning. Bummer, for sure. But we're sure God had a reason!
By this time tomorrow, Emily and I will be in the home of Ron and Shelley Jones in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It's freezing tonight here in Tulsa and we cannot wait for the mid-70's of Honduras. We'll spend the next two weeks finding our fit in the ministry and getting to know Ron and Shelley better. We're really excited about seeing familiar faces, speaking Spanish, and loving on the kids. We are very grateful to be able to do this. We will be discussing a lot of details about the move and we truly covet your prayers in this regard.
We've got to be at the airport by 5.20 AM, so I must conclude this post. I'll try to give an update sometime while we're down there. Thank you so much for reading this and caring about us! We love you all very much!
For His Glory,
Jonathan and Emily
PS- Some of you mentioned having a hard time leaving a comment. To leave a comment, click "comments" (seems simple enough so far!). When the next screen pops up, type your comment, type out the letters that you see on the white panel, and then click "Name/URL." All you need to do is click that and type your name. Don't worry about anything else. Please do leave a comment so that we know you're out there! Thanks!
UPDATE: Our flight was delayed and we are still in Tulsa. We will leave early Monday morning. Bummer, for sure. But we're sure God had a reason!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
2/27
We are getting really excited to visit Honduras in exactly a week and a half! The purpose of this trip is to spend some good time with Ron and Shelley and figure out the logistics of our big move-- getting a visa, housing, what we'll actually do, etc. We'll be sending out an e.mail soon to let people know the details of what we're doing, ask for prayer, and share some fun stories.
Thanks for coming to our blog. It's just in the beginning stages. A big thanks goes out to our good friend Kori Weidman for making the awesome picture slideshow! Be sure to check back on the blog in the weeks and months to come. We would love to stay in contact with all of you and share the good things that God is doing.
For His Glory,
Jonathan and Emily
Thanks for coming to our blog. It's just in the beginning stages. A big thanks goes out to our good friend Kori Weidman for making the awesome picture slideshow! Be sure to check back on the blog in the weeks and months to come. We would love to stay in contact with all of you and share the good things that God is doing.
For His Glory,
Jonathan and Emily
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