MANDATORY PARENT AND STUDENT MEETING!

Hello everyone!

I am home and (almost) recovered from the trip (my forehead is peeling... and I have a rather LARGE forehead).

I just wanted to remind you that this Thursday night is our mandatory parent and student meeting! We will meet at 7 PM in the youth center (NC110).

If you are unable to make it for some special reason, please communicate that to me ASAP so that I can make plans to get the important information to you after the meeting.

Remember, as with all of the required team events, the list of students who are going to go with us will be made up of those who PRIORITIZE our time together - that means no skipping out because you got a better offer. That being said, I am a realistic (and reasonable) - please let me know that you won't be able to make something (and a decent reason) and we will make it work somehow.

This Thursday, in addition to medical plans, we will talk about the travel, lodging and schedule arrangements and carve out some time to answer questions.

See you Thursday!

Jeremy

Last Day!

I can't wait to see my family! I have been able to briefly connect with my beautiful wife and three girls each night via a webcam and a great free service called Skype, but it just isn't the same! I miss my wife!!!

Ok... today was the last day of our little expidition. We spent the day looking at the available options for our "day off" while we are here. The most productive part of the day was the 3rd degree sunburn that I got (bring sunblock with you when you pack!).

I don't want to let too much out of the bag about our day off... just know that no matter what it will be a great day to relax and enjoy Honduras!

George and I leave fo rthe airport at 5 AM... ride the same ancient Russian aircraft to San Pedro Sula (a flight that students will not have to take). Then it's off to Atlanta... through imigration and customs and then on to Detroit. We will arrive (all things being equal) at 11:11 PM and then head for home.

This has been ONE CRAZY WEEK, but I am glad to say that we got a great deal of clarification about the work that we will be doing, the place we will sleep and eat and the people we will fall in love with!

I can't wait to get home, but I also can't wait to bring you guys back... YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THIS PLACE!!!

Sorry, no pics for today... it's a secret :-)

Jeremy

DAY 2 - OVERWHELMING

In the words of my favorite American Idol judge, Randy Jackson "It's gonna be HOT!!"

It is March 11th and I left a foot of snow behind me in NW Ohio... not so much here! Today had to be at least 90 degrees... I have a sunburn on my right arm from hanging it out of the car window!

Today, we visited 3 villages, 2 churches, the mission headquarters, a campground, a 2000 student Christian school and an Applebee's... now that is one intense day!

We took off early this morning (after I posted yesterday's blog) and we headed to the headquarters of the mission that we will be working with for this trip! After touring the places that we will eat, sleep, shower and live, We toured a 2000 member Christian School that is THE cutting edge of education in Honduras - IT IS HUGE!! Students meet in classes of about 60 kids in about 600 square feet. Their computer labs are limited on PC's, so 2 or 3 students share one computer! Get this... of the 2000 students, only about 35% are actually professing Christians... TALK ABOUT INCREDIBLE INFLUENCE!!!! WOW!!!!

After the school, we crammed into a little Geo Prizm and headed out to a small village called "La Bombo" (the Bomb)... if I am being candid, that is exactly what it looked like went off! Let's jsut say that the living conditions (to me) seem inhumane. I told the family that I have been working with that I have a hard time processing just how desperate these families must feel - just how dangerous their circumstances really are, yet when you see the children, their little faces just glow - they are running, jumping and playing like they didn't have a care in the world!

THIS TRIP IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!

You are going to be remarkably uncomfortable... The heat, the traveling, and the work will be exhausting, but the experience and the rewards will be amazing! I don't know how to express this in words, but the things I have seen and the people I have met in the past 14 hours have been extremely impacting... I know that working hand in hand with the people will be nothing short of LIFE CHANGING.

If you are still on the fence about going on this trip, let me give you one piece of advice:

If you are happy with your life the way it is... STAY HOME! This place will not leave you the same!

Jeremy :.

WOW! (Advance Trip - Day 1)

Well, we are here! I am not sure how many of you parents and students are following our little excursion on our advance trip to Honduras, but George and I have arrived safely in Le Ceiba (where we will be staying when we all get here).

Yesterday was a day PACKED with airports and airplanes. We left for Detroit at 4:15 and arrived here at the hotel at about 9 PM after a brief layover in Atlanta and a 3 hour delay in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I WAS EXHAUSTED when I finally got into bed!

It is just after 6 AM here and it is BROAD DAYLIGHT (and has been for over an hour). I won't bore you with rediculous details, but here area few things I observed yesterday... some relevant, some... well, not so much.

- I am thankful that we only have 2 flights to get here! The flight from Detroit to Atlanta is on a TINY little plane, but it was a very smooth flight (I think our group will fill a third of the flight). The leg from Atlanta to Honduras is about 3 hours and 20 minutes - about an hour less than George and I waited in San Pedro for our 40 minute flight to Le Ceiba. when we come with students, we will meet a bus driver and he will take our group on a 3 hour bus ride through the country to La Ceiba.

- The Water. I have been terrified that I would accidentally drink the water, but the people here have been very helpful to serve or offer bottled water to drink. No signs of Montezuma's revenge yet (I promise to blog every detail if anything changes - kidding :-)

- Speak the Language. One thing that struck me yesterday was on our short flight to La Ceiba. We borded this extremely old plane that looked like something out of Indiana Jones (that one was for moms and dads). While we were flying, the captain turned off the "fasten seatbelts" sign for a while. Then, suddenly he truned it back on again. Now, I hadn't moved an inch (there wasn't much room or anything to do) but the flight attendant came on with an announcement that I didn't understand - - it was in Spanish. Now, here I am in an old plane flying over the Honduran jungle with what is potentially life saving information being given to me IN A LANGUAGE I DON'T UNDERSTAND! After I got over the need to vomit, I thought about our witness to those outside of a relationship with Christ... how often do we talk to them about the life saving truth that Jesus paid the penalty for their sin in a language they don't understand... of worse yet, we turn the seatbelt sign on and don't say a word. Just a thought - you should expect to hear more about that one later :-)

Well, we have a long day of touring the sites where we will be working, sleeping and eating (and even a couple where we will be playing). I am looking forward to posting some of what we are doing... keep checking back! In the meantime, here are some pictures from yesterday's travel:

This is what I look like after I found the camera that I left on the plane...

45 minutes in the line for immigration into Honduras - I am glad that I was able to experince this first so that I can ensure that all of our group handles this correctly... btw - they don't like to joke around.

See what I mean - - I think that Dr. Jones flew in the one when he was looking for the Arc!

It doesn't even begin to do it justice, but this is the Honduran countryside from the plane on the way to Le Ceiba... it was breathtaking (I am trying to convince myself that was the reason George was green on the way there :-)

More tonight... pray for us - this is an entirely different world!

Jeremy

Keep Checking!!!

I only have a few minutes (everything has been amazingly busy lately) but I wanted to get some very important info out to all of you!


First - GREAT job on the Chili Supper everyone! While the final amounts are still to be determined (the end result for each student will be determined by the final number of students who actually go) the chili supper was a HUGE success - we did raise almost $3000! Everyone had a blast and we raised a lot of money toward the trip - the final amounts per student will be out soon!


NOW FOR THE IMPORTANT STUFF:


I leave on Monday morning (REALLY early) for the advance trip to Honduras!


Pastor George and I are heading down to meet with the team on site, see where the team (students and adults) will sleep, eat and work and get some much needed exposure to what we will be doing while we are there!


This is an important trip for each of us for a couple of reasons: not only does this trip give us an incredible amount of important details that are vital to effective and safe planning, but I will be blogging during this trip (complete with pictures) so CHECK EVERY DAY NEXT WEEK for updates on the progress of the advance trip - I am positive it will be exciting!!!


MANDATORY TEAM MEETING:

Also, don't forget the team meeting (team orientation and such) that was mentioned in your last parents letter. Thursday, March 20th is a mandatory ALL TEAM meeting. ALL STUDENTS and at least one parent should plan to attend. At this meeting, we will see more pictures and videos and will talk about some very important details of the trip (like vaccinations, money, deadlines, etc).

ANY INTERESTED STUDENTS OR PARENTS SHOULD PLAN TO BE AT THIS MEETING ON THURSDAY, MARCH 20th IN THE YOUTH CENTER

IN THE NORTH CAMPUS!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!

This Sunday is a very important day! Given the scope of a trip like this one, we only have the ability to hold 2 ALL TEAM fund raisers - this Sunday is the first one!

In case you haven't had a chance to read the letter (that should have already arrived at your home!), ALL STUDENTS are expected to help out with this fund raiser! Here are the most important details that you should know:

- ALL STUDENTS who are planning on going on this trip are expected to attend the 8:10 AM service so that they are available to help with all of the details of making the chili supper happen in the North Campus during the 2nd and 3rd services... again - ALL STUDENTS!!!

- Each family should provide a desert cut into 24-30 generous portions (if you are bringing cookies, 2 cookies is a portion) as well as 3-4 medium/large tomatoes cut into wedges.

- Please plan to stay until everything is cleaned up and put away (it won't take very long if everyone stays and stays motivated)

If there is a part of this that you are unable to fulfill, please contact me ASAP (you can reach me at the Church office during the day @ 419.636.1362 or email me @ jeremy@newhopecc.org)

Big Hurdles!

The hand of God was moving today! I am so confident that this trip will be an ENORMOUS success in the lives of students - God is continuing to protect this trip and help all of the details to fall together!

One real trial that has been developing in my mind lately relates to the capacity for the trip. When I made the airline reservations a couple of months ago, I only made 25 (thinking that the price would scare a ton of students... and parents.... away). Well, that has not been the case (to say the least).

For the past several weeeks, I have been tossing and turning at night trying to figure out how we will accomodate all fo the interest in this trip above the 25 seats that I have already reserved. I have been going over every scenerio...

• I have already increased the number of students to the capacity the group reservation will allow on our flights down to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
• I have thought about the possiblity of sending 2 separate groups and leaders and meeting in Honduras (what a nightmare!!!)
• I have thought about renting vans and driving to airports as far away as Chicago to board larger planes (to no avail... the problem is from Atlanta to San Pedro Sula).

Then this morning, I had an epiphany!!! What if we purchased additional tickets indivually (more expensive) for the people that I have that I KNOW are commited to going (like leaders for instance) leaving the reserved group tickets for students.

So, first thing this morning I took our group reservation itinerary and looked into purchasing tickets to match that itinerary. The very kind man at Delta looked up our grou locator number and told me that somehow our flights had been changed and now we were booked to fly into Atlanta where we would stay the night and fly out to Cincinatti and then to Toledo the next morning! MY JAW DROPPED!

I spent the next 3 hours confirming the issue, connecting with our travel agent, re-confirming the issue and re-booking our flights out of a different airport with a completely new schedule in order to avoid the expenses of an overnight stay (and van rental, food, etc) for 30 people.

All of this because I called to work out another evidence that God is working (overwhelming interest in serving in Honduras). Think about it... if I had thought of this idea weeks ago, we would already have had those tickets when this change was made and not only would we have lost money, but we would have not known about the issue!

Everyone, I am CONFIDENT that God gave me this idea this morning - otherwise I would have missed knowing about this HUGE issue!

Would you PLEASE join me in praying that I would be sensitive to what GOD wants from this trip? I am confident that God is going to do some amazing things in the lives of students!!!!!!

Jeremy