It has been an incredible week and we thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.

We are leaving a part of hearts here, but we are coming home!!!

We love you all

See you soon!!!

Where would we be were it not for the many staff of WGO that faithfully serve us each day. The pictures that follow will give you a glimps into the wide spectrum of people who grace our presence each day





OUR FEARLESS BRIGADE DIRECTOR - LUIS




OUR REVERED BRIGADE COORDINATOR - ILEANA




OUR HIGHLY-SKILLED BUS DRIVER - ARTURO



OUR CRAZY HONDURAN DENTISTS - ANA, SCARLETH, & ANA





OUR "HARD AS A ROCK" CONCRETE COORDINATOR - MARK









A special thank you to all the staff of WGO for making our week an incredible success. Without you we would still be wandering around Tegus looking for a road that heads up the mountain to the mission house.

We also wanted to share with you some additional personal perspective from our second brigade site. Pray for us as you read the accounts of God working

Watching God at work. There is nothing more exciting than to watch Him take the weak things of this world and make them strong through His power. That defines this week better than anything else I can think of. As we looked for God to make Himself known to us we saw Him remove the feelings of fear, uncertainty, and inadequacy and replace them with a sense of humble assurance. Without question our God was more than adequate for the task. Enjoy reading the stories of God at work. PASTOR DON ERICKSON

The day began on a very somber note, two sisters with congenital Glaucoma. The younger sister is already blind in one eye. The day ended with joy, an 87 year old received her first pair of glasses. DOCTOR JEFF JOHNSON

God answered a prayer regarding two of our own today. The day started hopeless and in pain, and immediately God turned that around by providing children as a blessing and distraction. KATHY PETROVICH

Today, in addition to the usual adults with complaints of abdominal pain, headaches, total body aches and not having enough money for medicine, I was exceptionally blessed by being able to examine and help many children-as young as one month. These beautiful kids are mostly all smiles no matter what is done to them. God has blessed our time in Honduras as we have attempted to show His love to some of the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere.
DOC. WES RYD

I wanted to thank everyone at home for their continued prayers. It has been an amazing week. It is hard to believe tomorrow is the last day. I can’t wait to see what joy tomorrow brings! Love to all family! TAMMY BAUER

When a man got a pair of glasses with a prescription that seemed nearly impossible to find, it showed how much God really works through ordinary people to impact someone else’s life. It’s amazing what God can do! LAUREN PETROVICH

Pharmacy may seem like a dull place to work. But, we get to see a lot of people as they wait for their prescriptions to be filled. I saw a two week old baby in her mother’s arms, several young ones breastfeeding, young children with beautiful faces in the cutest outfits, older people with tanned and wrinkled faces showing a lifetime of hard work and even a tiny puppy wearing a sweater, sporting three stickers…a happy face on its forehead, one on each paw…stuffed into a warm hat! LOIS THOMPSON

Today I got to move around and see God work through the hands and hearts of this amazing team of servants in each of the brigade areas. A young woman accepted Christ for whom life is very scary and lonely. Thanks to Jim Hawkes who helped me prepare a Bible especially for her by highlighting several special verses. I’m loving the babies. I know this sounds silly, but tomorrow I will move out of my comfort zone and work in the medical clinic. I am excited to do it so my amigo’s can do other things. BETH PROPP

Well, today was an awesome experience by being and helping at the dentistry area. I pulled four teeth and on Tuesday, I brought a person to Christ. This trip has been a great experience with all the people and meeting the Honduran families. DAVID BUGBEE

A reflection of mine after several trips here. The most amazing people in Honduras are the older women. They have so much to be bitter or angry about. They do so much of the family work. The men are so absent in this culture the women and often times the older women raise a large part of the family. They work so much and yet so many I have met are so positive. They are women of great faith and an inspiration to me. KEITH BUGBEE

The Honduran children are beautiful and loving. It was a privilege to work with them today – telling the gospel story and washing and combing their hair. It was a joy to receive their hugs and smiles. Thanks to everyone who is praying for us – it’s an amazing experience. To family and friends – we love you!!! GRACE THORNTON

For the first time, I served in Evangelism for the entire day. I was pleasantly surprised by the faith of the Hondurans. Nine out of 29 people, including a police man, came to know Christ, while the other 20 had previously accepted Christ as their personal Savior. God blessed me with a wonderful translator and open hearts of the Hondurans. It was truly an unforgettable experience! SUSANNE JOHNSON


GOOD NIGHT ONE AND ALL !!!!!

Tonight's post is in appreciation for Skip Moore and his giftedness in capturing the essense of this year's brigade in picture form. Be sure to visit his smugbug site for an incredible display of images which tell a story of God's world and the privilege we have to serve Him in it. http://skipm1.smugmug.com/Travel/403173

Skip would prefer to remain behind the lens and unnoticed, but we felt you needed to know who God was using to capture our ministry experience while we are here in Honduras.

What would any brigade be without the children's ministry. The look in their eyes melts your heart. You want to take one or two of them home with you just to give them a chance to experience a better life.




But for most of them the better life is simply a digital photo they can look at,a pair of sunglasses




or a stuffed animal or pack of stickers








Our medical brigade at Templo Siloe (Shiloh Temple) came to a conclusion today. We celebrated two birthdays: our own dentist Kevin Wegrzyn and one of the Honduran dentists, Anna Martinez. We had birthday cake at the brigade site AND back at the Mission House.







We told you about the evangelized parrot in yesterday's post. Well Paco the parrot was back at the site today and shortly before we left Pastor Don had a chance to disciple him. He encouraged him to spend time repeating God's Word to replace some of the less desireable words he had picked up in his former life.



Tomorrow is a day at Rancho Ebenezer, which means 3 hours on the bus and three hours at the ranch. It will be a long day, but a great change of pace.

Keep praying and keep watching for new posts.

God bless you all for your interest in God's work here in Tegucigalpa!

WE ARE SO WEALTHY, BUT THEY ARE SO RICH!

Below you will have the privilege of reading some of the first impressions of a variety of team members. Not everyone chose to write, but you will appreciate the insight and humor of those who did. They truly represent the team as a whole. Someone once said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” I have yet to be on a trip where Honduras has failed to make a significant first impression on each team member. Along with the first impressions, this trip has another first. This is the first time we have had the opportunity to evangelize a parrot. From the way he flapped his wings and repeated the prayer, he may have made a profession of faith. (Tongue placed firmly in cheek). Only eternity will tell. We do know that his owner prayed to receive Christ. PASTOR DON ERICKSON

The neighborhood was very poor. I saw the inside of a shanty and there was garbage everywhere in a room no bigger than a child’s bedroom. There were two cute little boys living there, perhaps with just their mom in this one room with one bed. But, they had a big TV! LOIS THOMPSON

We saw over 140 people in optical today with the majority of them receiving reading glasses. One woman was thrilled to be able to read her Bible again. Heather washed and combed lice out of children’s hair all day. We are blessed to be here. We send our love to family and friends. GRACE THORNTON

Once again, God has shown me how to be flexible and follow His lead.
………and after one year, I can’t believe the paper still goes there! MIKE UNTI

I learned today that spiritual burdens are greater than physical ones. In a home about the size of a 1 ½ car garage, ten year old hydrocephalic Alfred is cared for by his deeply peace-filled grandmother who’s greatest burden is the eternal security of her own adult children. God worked mightily, her daughter Fanni accepted Jesus not only as Savior but Lord today before we left. Amen! BETH PROPP

Hola to everyone “back home”. Today it was amazing to see what I perceived to be chaos turn into a smooth operation. God is awesome-I’m quite pooped…going to bed soon; Love to all my Unti children & Ma-Love, DEB UNTI

I am amazed at how being content is a state of mind. I met an 84 year old woman today who has NOTHING…no food, no water, no electricity, and no money to get any of those. When I offered to pray for her, she asked me to thank God for all of her blessings, not food, water or electricity. I leave you with this…Philippians 4:11. KATHY PETROVICH

Wow! Today was truly amazing. So many people waiting so patiently to have their medical needs met. In 6 hours we tested, examined and issued glasses to over 140 people…and that was just the optical station! During the short time we have been here, we have seen how our material things can be a burden, the people here have such a simple-minded, joyful life. I hope we all can take that joy home with us. Love you Tom & Daria. See you soon! TAMMY & KRISTEN BAUER

A small gift—a cement floor to replace a dirt floor in a 15 ft square home. A surprisingly difficult task, mixing by hand, carrying buckets up the hill. Then THEY witnessed to US, and read us scripture. And finally, lots of hugs from God’s family in Honduras… PETE KINDINGER

I was truly move by the Spirit when the WGO translators and doctors got on the bus. They are so alive with excitement and energy. I can see the love they have for God and the fire they have to serve our Lord. To know that this they do week after week is such a witness for me. I praise God for them…. JIM HAWKES

Well today was such a crazy experience because it was like something I have never done. When I worked on putting a concrete floor in, it was just a step that God has taken us so we could get this adult to except Jesus Christ into her life. So the concrete floor was meant just for us to get to this woman. DAVID BUGBEE

If I got a nickel for every smile I saw today…I’d be worth more than a share of Google stock. TAYLOR WEGRZYN

Today I was in evangelism. I tried to get out of it, but God did not let me. I was so nervous in the morning, before we began. I actually looked around the room for someone to switch with I’m ashamed to say, but God was not having any of it. The next thing I knew, person after person were accepting the Lord, and I was afraid that I was doing something wrong because this was too easy. Then after saying it over and over again I realized, yes salvation is a free gift from God, and yes, it’s that easy. So, I want to thank God to ministering to the Honduran people through me, and ministering to me through the Honduran people. JULIE SZUM

From the World Euchre Tour to root canal operations, I could have not asked for a better start to this 2007 trip. God has blessed us with a great team and I am looking forward to the rest of the week! SUSANNE JOHNSON

Today we were all blessed by the people we came here to work with… we pulled the last two teeth from one man’s mouth and he thanked us!! We worked with a young couple today… the husband had been shot 3 times one year ago while being robbed of his cell phone and was paralyzed from the waist down, his 14 year old brother that cared for him…had been killed by a gang member 3 months ago, they had 2 young children…1 and 8 years old and the young mother had to quit work to care for her husband. The mother in law was supporting her mother and her son and the son’s wife and children, all in a little house about the size of our living room! Yet when we went to their house to help him they were not down or depressed, they were thankful for what they had and prayed with us… they were happy to be together as a family and supported one another. A true witness of God’s love showered on us by those we came to minister to!!! MICHAEL GREEN

It is really cold and windy here. You'd think we were back home in Chicago or on the New England coast.



We had a great day worshiping at an Honduran church,







shopping at the tourist village of Valley of the Angels,




and an evening of evangelism training.



Now it's time to say good night to all our family, good night Tegucigalpa good night North America, and good night world. See you in the morning.

We want to thank everyone for your prayers as we traveled from various parts of the country, converging on Houston and then flying to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Hard to believe with luggage coming from La Guardia and O'Hare airports that all our luggage and all our trunks made it intact.

We are all thoroughly exhausted so the extra hour of sleep will be greatly appreciated by those who take advantage of it. For those of us who don't know what it means to go to bed at a reasonable hour, it is our own fault.

Tomorrow we will expereince cross cultural worship Honduras style. Then it is off to a great meal at a Honduran restaurant, some sightseeing and an afternoon of shopping.

God bless you all and thank you for your support