Kid's Corner - by Julianna

Living and Learning in my Neighborhood

Roatan is mostly an English island, but in the past ten years more and more people are coming from the main land. These people are often quite poor and come here looking for a job at the resorts or on the cruise boats. These hard working people live in small shacks with little a.c.
Soon after we moved here a family moved into the house( actually a shack) near us. We met a girl who was Ashleigh's age and apparently the lady who lives in the shack is her grandmother. The girl would be staying with her grandma, so we said she could come over and play sometime. A few days later we went over to the house to ask and see if she wanted to come over and play. The grandma was happy to see us and showed us around their house. Mommy went inside the shack while I ran around chasing the chicks they had in their yard.
After we left, mommy told me about the house. There were

Showers of Blessings (and some Showers of Ida too) - by Emily

If you want some news that made us smile, keep reading.

The first blessing was that Ida only ended up bringing us a few days of heavy showers. We also received a huge blessing in the form of our propane water-heating system that arrived from the states the early part of this week. Travis worked hard to install it ASAP. He had to do some makeshift plumbing since all of the pipes in the house are buried in concrete, but he managed to pull it off. We have all tremendously enjoyed the comfort of a warm shower again. Then, on Saturday, we received word that the washing machine part was also at the post office. Travis was working on repairing our machine when I left for grocery shopping. We were prepared for the disappointing reality that this part might not really even be the culprit to the broken washer. Well, Travis and I were elated to see that the washer did begin to function again beautifully. So, we immediately ran some line in our living room and got two loads clean that evening. Dad Mitten had suggested this particular model because of how fast it spins. This would enable the clothes to dry faster. We sure do appreciate your wisdom Dad. The final blessing that I am going to mention came in the form of an obvious demonstration of God's protection on Travis' life.

As the story goes, Travis was returning from a short trip into town for a simple item. We have been graciously permitted to borrow the other missionaries' vehicles from time to time. So, just as he was nearing the radio station in Peter Silseth's SUV, he felt the back end of the vehicle

Building bridges - by Emily

So, what is happening with us on the island?

Travis was able to preach on Sunday. He spoke in English with a translator beside him; although, He did open up with a greeting and introduction in Spanish. He later explained to me that he must use these opportunities to continue to build his confidence and his ability to use Spanish. I was very impressed with his fluidity and ease. God kept him humble though with an obvious mistake - announcing to the congregation that we had been married for more than four years. Thankfully, the translator knew this could not be since we had an eleven year old daughter. He whispered to Travis the error that he had made, and it was corrected with a laugh.

Travis did more organizing, a bunch of painting, and some radio training this week. The pastor of the church that Travis spoke at last week is a leader on the island,and he has already expressed interest in having Travis do a regular study with some of the other pastors on the island. Travis is somewhat anxious to get

Joys on the island - by Emily

As many of you know, one of our earnest requests was to be able to meet Spanish speaking folks to keep what Spanish we had and continue to improve. Well, we live literally a few feet from their door. The house next to us has several generations and different extended family members living together. The mom and youngest daughter live on the bottom level. They have really taken to the girls, especially Caroline. They primarily speak Spanish and are very friendly. The street we live on is loaded with children. Whenever the girls and I walk down the street instead of taking the shortcut through the back of our property to the station, we make quite the spectacle. Yesterday I imagine I passed at least twenty children. I also met a lady who spoke very good English and seemed to really enjoy an opportunity to visit. The Honduran people, in general, are very friendly. Pray for the relationships that are already being built among our neighbors and how the Lord would want us to minister among them.

The beauty is breathtaking. We can walk up a hill/mountain just a few yards from our house and see the ocean. In fact, twice a week we can see the cruise ships docked right up the road. The children absolutely love the terrain. They so look forward to climbing to their special “places” that they have already claimed as their own. We have been able to go to several different beaches. They are all so different and gorgeous - a true tropical paradise-just like the magazines. We stopped at one resort on the way home from church. I was thoroughly in awe at the peaceful ocean lagoon that anyone on the island could enjoy if you simply ate lunch at the very reasonably priced grill on the property.

For those of you familiar with my girls, you know that they truly enjoy animals. Well, this is a fabulous place for their love. We have chickens and roosters everywhere. (I guess I could have put this under the hardship category for Travis because they do start their crowing extremely early in the morning, and Travis is such a light sleeper.) A duck family numbering over 15 wandered nearby the other day. We see pigs hunting for food as well. On a particular Sunday morning, we watched a boy chasing a hog to catch it. I feel as if I am living what I have read about in books. –HA! There are a ton of dogs, even some puppies, but the favorite animals for the girls are the horses. At times, we see a few of them. One morning two ran right by their window. What excitement!!

We ALL like our home and know that this is where God has us. Of course, there are moments when we all long for Florida and the dear ones that it holds. The children and I are really enjoying being able to homeschool again. Wow, the teachable moments are irreplaceable, and the availability to listen to their hearts is a treat. Travis is beginning to learn a few things around the station. I think that he will be doing more maintenance type stuff for the station for a few weeks.
 I have one more item to mention. We have visited three of the island churches thus far. The first one was an English speaking church. The second one was bi-lingual. The pastor actually preached in both languages, saying a sentence in one language and then repeating it in the other. The third one was bilingual done with a translator. The worship services and tones were different in all three. I enjoyed meeting wonderful Christians in all of the churches. Without being specific, I can say that I have seen first hand why Travis has the burden he has. I also understand why the radio station is so appreciated and needed. This coming Sunday, Travis has been given the opportunity to preach in the church in the largest town on the island. Please pray for him as he prepares.

Hardships and Adjustments on Roatan - by Emily

The first night Mildred offered us the option of staying with them for a few days while we began the unpacking process. Travis allowed me to make the decision of where I wanted to settle for the first few days. I chose to go on over to our house. I knew that would afford me to utilize early mornings and late nights after Caroline had gone to sleep to concentrate. After being in different places for the six weeks in the states, I also felt it would be better to have all of our things under one roof. This decision may have been a mistake. Oh well. The boxes were soooo many and the stuff had no real order since the packing had been done during three separate times. Mildred graciously provided all of the meals for a few days until we had things unpacked enough to purchase food, store it, and eat on our own things. After a week of hard work, we found most of the boxes unpacked and thankfully there was a space for most of our things. Even Caroline found a good place to nap.

The first few days were intensely hot for us, in part, because they were just HOT, but also because there was so much activity. Furthermore, we have one room air conditioner, so you have to decide what is better – run the one ac and have part of the house feel cool, or cut the air and open the windows. Most of the island has a nice breeze, but where our house is located that just really is not the case. So, we have gotten to be experts at setting up the three fans to keep the cool air traveling down the hall toward the living room and kitchen. There is one more complication to this system though. There are times when the windows have to be the option because we lose electricity too!!

This heat can be balanced out though when we take a nice refreshing shower because we do have cold water. In fact, that is all we have right now. Then, there are times when we lose that unfiltered water as well. Okay, you can see the adjustments in the first few days were many as we worked on getting everything unpacked.

Week two saw the beginning of another school year, the hiring of a man to make some bed frames for the girls’ trundle beds and the purchase of our cell phones and internet. I must admit the system Travis has to get us hooked up is amazing. If it seems that I am not on the computer much, it is simply because I never can remember the five things that I have to do to connect. Then, inevitably something goes wrong – It is totally out of the realm of possibility that I could come up with the right thing to fix the problem. My lack of computer expertise really is a true thorn in my flesh right now. By the end of this week, Travis had located an ultraviolet water filtering system. We were able to get it, and he installed it. What a blessing it is to have a source of filtered water in our home. The frequent walk up our road with the five gallon tank was quite the workout for him. In addition to everything else, I learned during this week that our brand new gas oven would not ignite. A disappointment -yes, but how thankful I was for a functioning stove and my beloved skillet.

At the beginning of week three, I was so excited we had the bedrooms set up, a week of school done, and even a full refrigerator. I had the hope of getting my washer hooked up and running. This would be placed outside on a concrete slab. This meant that not only would I get a washer and not have to take all of our clothes to Mildred’s house to do laundry, but that we would also get the huge monster out of our small living room. Double yeah!!! I was down doing laundry for the morning, when I got the bad news, “our house is covered in concrete dust.” Travis and Jim were going to have to add another electric box and carry the wiring from the dining area through the kitchen and outside in order to get a safe hook-up for the washer. However, the eight solid inches of concrete through every wall spit fine concrete powder everywhere. Just when I thought we were getting everything clean and organized! Sheets and towels went on everything for days as this project lasted several. Then, the clothesline had to be built. It was finished just in time for 2 ½ days of non- stop rain. I have been assured that this is not the rainy season yet, so I guess it is practice for how to handle the rain when it does start. Concerning the laundry, I was able to get three loads of washing done most of it being dried inside the house before the brand new washer decided to NOT work anymore. To add to all of this, Sunday, we had an electrical problem where we were only able to run ONE electrical item at a time or the entire box shorted. AC off, curler on; AC off, iron on; AC off , skillet on; Ahhh AC on, everything else off. Yesterday, our neighborhood lost power for about 11 hours (and water too for most of that time). We made it into an adventure. We even joked about having a romantic candlelight dinner. Today was very encouraging for me because we had water, electricity, and my oven got repaired.

Do pray for us that we can totally get settled. I can say that these things have been challenging at times, but mostly a source of laughter at the absolute craziness of them. We have been healthy other than an unusually low blood pressure for me for several days, but other than that – NO SICKNESS, for that I praise the Lord daily.

Arriving on the Island of Roatan - by Emily

Sadly, it has been almost three weeks since we have blogged. As you can see from Julianna’s blog that we did make it safely to the island - exactly one week after our initial flight plans. This of course was due to the sudden re-appearance of Zelaya, the ousted president, and the havoc that caused. As she wrote, our flight day was exhausting and full of wonder; however, we did make it all the way to our new home in one day and all of our things either were already waiting for us or made the entire trip with us. What an amazing praise!!!!

The two other missionary men with BBI greeted us at the airport. We somehow were able to get everything into their vehicles and arrive at their home for a much appreciated home-cooked meal shared with the two welcoming couples. Jerry and Mildred Peterson live here all the time. Jerry is in charge of the radio station while the station manager, Peter Silseth, and his wife Sandy are in the states for a three month furlough. The other couple, Jim and Karen Avella, is down for a couple of months to “sub” while the Silseths are on their furlough. Both of these couples have had a lot of on-the-field experience, so their expertise and words of wisdom have been very much appreciated. These couples could not be sweeter and have helped to get us settled in every way possible. We have all enjoyed getting to know them!!

The next blog is going to be about the hardships of life on Roatan but the following is about the joys. Read whichever part you want to in whichever order. For us, they have been intertwined throughout our days for which we are grateful to our precious Heavenly Father.

Kids’Corner - by Julianna

Our trip to Roatan

My family and I were going to move to Roatan, Honduras, which is in Central America. In order to get there we had to take four flights starting in Orlando, FL. We made our first flight without a problem, but our second flight was delayed one hour. They told us one of the computers wasn’t working; so, we’d have to switch planes. Tired and discouraged we waited in line for 15 minutes to catch another plane to Honduras. By now, Daddy was sure we would miss our next plane.

We got on the new plane and started our flight. Near the end of the flight, the flight attendant moved us to first class seats so that we had a chance to catch our next flight. We were among the first to leave the plane. We rushed through security as the flight attendant was calling” Mitten family, last call, last call.” A woman ran us across the runway and onto the plane. We had made it! The flight went smoothly, and we arrived safely at our destination.