Went to French Harbour today to add minutes to our phone and find out why are internet wasn’t working again. The modem would connect to the system, but we could not get access to the internet. John was very frustrated that the phone company could not keep the internet working for us. Well, it did not seem to be a great surprise to John, but it looks like someone had watched one to many YouTube videos and used up all of our data allotment. Oops! Bev said the “You Make Me Brave” video was really good. Thanks Bethel!! After a brief discussion about proper internet usage we ate some more chalupas at MayDay Steak and Grill at the French Harbour mall. Before heading back to Coxen Hole, we stopped and bought a watermelon from a truck alongside of the road. In Coxen Hole we made our regular stop at the grocery store to once again pick up a few things we needed, like more bug spray. Just as we were checking out, Bev got a tap on my shoulder with “How are you doing?” It was Pastor Tristan again. The grocery store has a small section with some tables and Tristan was having coffee with a friend from his church when he spotted us. We sat down and talked for a while. Before we left the store to head to the house, we saw Elmer and said hello. This evening we went to Pastor Tristan’s home for an English speaking bible study. We got to meet Tristan’s wife Nicole and their two sons: Elijah (2 years old) and Caleb (4 months). There was only a total of 6 of us, but we had a great time of fellowship. We started at 7 pm and didn’t leave until 11:00 pm. We feel like we have made some more friends for life.

We did not have anything scheduled today so we thought we would share a little bit about life in Roatan. First, tourism is the primary source of income for the island. Currently they have 2 cruise ships a week stop at the island. October through May the number of cruise ships will increase to 5 a week. There are a lot of little shops setup along the roads selling souvenirs. Also, Roatan also has the second largest reef in the world with the Great Barrier Reef being the largest. So, Roatan gets many visitors from around the world that come to scuba dive and snorkel. Driving on the island is an adventure of its own. There is one main paved road that extends the length of the island. This road probably has no more than 100 yards of straightaway on any part of it. So between the curves and potholes it is a challenge to drive. To add to the experience most people do not own a car so they walk everywhere. All hours of the day and night there are people walking along (and in) the road. School hours are staggered so there are school kids (K – 12) walking along the road throughout the day. If that is not enough for you, many people, and tourist, depend upon taxis to get around. The taxi drivers definitely did not have Bev as their driver’s education instructor. Passing you in the middle of going around a curve is the norm. A taxi stopping in the middle of the road to pick up a passenger is accepted. Needless to say, driving in Roatan is not for the faint of heart. They do not allow gun ownership on the island, but I think they still should have some type of “carry permit” system like they do for guns in the states. The reason I think this is because there are men walking around everywhere carrying a machete. This is the number one tool of the trade for many men. They are hired to clear brush and to keep the weeds at bay along the roads. We have seen them trim the grass in a whole field using their machete (something you and I would have done with a lawnmower). Something that was interesting to us is that when a person dies, they are buried within 24 hours. They have to do this because they have no way to embalm a person. The service is held at their home on the porch, out in the street or in their church. Surprisingly, going grocery shopping is not a bad experience other than the high prices (everything has to be shipped in). They have a couple of real nice grocery stores on the island. Of course you may not find your favorite brand, but they do have a selection. Also, just because they have something one day does not mean it will be there the next. For example, we found a can drink we liked. The next visit it was not there so we picked something else. The next visit neither one of the drinks was there so we had to make a different selection. You have to learn to accept little things like this and not let it bother you. Because of being so far away from family, trying to stay in touch with them is very important. Well, if you think the internet, or electrical power for that matter, is going to be available every time you want it, you are kidding yourself. I cannot count the number of times the internet or power has gone off during our 5 week stay on Roatan so far. Also, when the power goes off there is no air condition (used for sleeping only) or water (electric water pump does not run). Other things you have to get use too as a natural part of living here are the sand flies, mosquitos, lizards (outside & inside your home), crabs everywhere at night and ants tend to be a problem. We went to a restaurant one night where we waited outside for a table. The waiter brought us a can of “Off” to spray ourselves while waiting. The people here are very friendly and welcoming. The island is beautiful and there are fruit trees everywhere – coconut, almond, mango, sea grapes, noni, papaya, plantains. There is lots of good food to be found. The islanders eat a lot of beans, rice and chicken.

Don’t know if this is a sign or not, but for the first time we woke up to a Jesus lizard tapping on the window. These lizards can literally walk on water. They run on land and water with just their hind legs. Today we relaxed and discussed everything that had happened on Monday. Still amazed at how God is opening so many doors for us. This evening we drove down to West End and bought 90 minutes on our phone so we could call the states then ended our evening eating at Eagle Ray’s Bar and Grill.

We have a busy day today. We are headed to the school this morning and then meet Pastor Leslie at 4 pm for the prayer meeting with the lady pastors. We took off to Samuel Raymond Christian School in Sandy Bay to meet with Fredy. We got to meet the director, Deborah Hunnicutt, who came to Roatan 4 years ago from Oklahoma. The school building is less than a year old and they currently have 32 students in grades K – 4. All of the kids are on scholarships, most of which comes from Deborah’s church members in Oklahoma. We spoke to Fredy about his cousin and told him that we were very interesting in meeting him. He stopped right then, got out his cell phone and called his cousin Andy Lopez. He set up a meeting for 2 pm this afternoon. We told Fredy that we would meet up with him in a couple of hours and we took off to pick up our laundry and have lunch at Anthony’s Key Resort before our meeting. Our waiter’s name was Marcos and we asked how we could pray for him. He said he was married with 3 kids and would like prayer for him and his family’s spiritual growth. Before we left he invited us to his church. We ran back to Casa Isabella to find out from Elmer the place we were going to meet Pastor Leslie at 4:00 pm. She had called but she still didn’t know exactly where the meeting was to be held. So we left and picked up Fredy at Bo Jangles restaurant in Coxen Hole. We headed to French Harbour to meet his cousin Andy Lopez. From our meeting with Andy, we learned that there is an emergency response government agency for Honduras called COPECO. Andy is the head of COPECO for all the islands in Honduras. He is responsible for any emergency situations that arise on any of the islands and the water surrounding them. He is also responsible for any preventive action such as spraying for mosquitoes, getting prepared for hurricanes, and making sure that all parts of the islands get access to medical needs, etc. For example: if a house burns to the ground his team will set up a tent for housing and give them food until the house is rebuilt and they are back on their feet. We told Andy that Carlos had mentioned that he may be taking medical teams to Guanaja because of the lack of doctors. Andy said he currently did not have anyone in the U.S. working on organizing some medical teams to send over. We told Andy that we were very interested in being the ones to organize and coordinate the medical teams to send over to help his department. He was very open to this idea and we spend the next half hour discussing it. John told Andy that we were Christians and asked if the teams we sent would be free to share their faith – he said no problem. He told us he was having a meeting with the heads of the emergency departments like police, fire fighters and medical personnel on Friday. He then wants to have another meeting with us on Wednesday week to discuss details that will be coming out of that meeting. Fredy would be his project coordinator, so he would be our contact person. We then took Fredy back to Bo Jangles. Before we dropped him off, we got him to call Elmer about the details of the meeting at 4:00 pm with Pastor Leslie. We picked up Pastor Leslie in front of the Baptist Orphanage in Gravel Bay. She directed us down a little dirt road to the Living Faith Assembly Church. There were 9 women Pastors and 1 male Pastor who was our interpreter. They prayed and worshiped for about 30 minutes and then Bev got to speak to them about revival. Bev felt like it was received well. One thing that everybody agreed on was the island has a spirit of religion over it. It is amazing to watch how God is orchestrating all of our connections to people for us. On Tuesday, August 12, when we were talking to the Banana Donut Guy’s wife, she told us that her nephew was a pastor and was probable someone we would like to meet. She had given us his name and phone number. Well it turns out that Tristan, the only male pastor at this meeting, is her nephew. He and his wife pastor an English and Spanish church in Sandy Bay. Tristan invited us to an English speaking bible study on Thursday to talk about what God is doing in our lives. At the end of the meeting they prayed to break down barriers between churches and for revival. It was very exciting to learn that they actually anoint the island once a year: by plane, boat, and land. Tristan is the President of all the local pastor’s on Roatan. He said this year he was involved in the anointing of the island by air. He said it was quite an experience to be flying with the door of the plane open trying to pour the oil out. He said on top of that it was raining. As we were leaving, we were invited by Pastor Carold Brooks of the Assembly Church to come back and share at her church Tuesday week at 7 pm. We took Pastor Leslie home to her apartment in Coxen Hole and she invited us to have dinner with her on Friday night at Geo’s in Flower’s Bay. We then headed back to Casa Isabella. Our heads are spinning with everything that happened today. When we got back we listened to some of our anointing prayer that we had at our church before we left. We felt like it was confirming some of the possibilities and opportunities that took place today. Thank you for all your prayers.