Erika, who has been part of St Luke's her whole life and has made 7 trips to Honduras as part of our team, has left to do long term volunteering at El Hogar for the 9 month school year, giving what she can to the children to make a difference in their lives.  On Sunday before her departure, she was commissioned by Canon Stuart and Rev Elliott, witnessed by her church family and was on her way by Wednesday, with 9 months of living loaded in her
suitcases. 



We pray for her health and her safety and God's hand in directing her day to day life there. 

El Hogar St Luke's Team 2015

 While there have not been any postings on this blog for this year yet, the new team for the trip to Honduras, has been selected, have had planning meetings and been working very hard in preparation for their departure date of April 18th, 2015.  September, October and November were spent baking and decorating our traditional Gingerbread churches.  With more than 500 hours contributed by the team, we made 156 churches which sold at our  St Luke's Christmas Market, to parishioners, family, friends and colleagues!  While each member of the team pays their own way to Honduras, the money raised goes towards the Project Fee that we need to pay for our work projects when we are there and also to the church's sponsorship of three children.  This is in addition to the parishioners and friends who have personally sponsored a child.






We were grateful to some of our family and friends and El Hogar alumni who would come out to help us.  Competition got pretty stiff at times as some tried to outdo others in the creative decorating!

We also appreciated Marilyn Barnes' contribution of her note cards again this year.  Her art is amazing and she converts her paintings onto note cards which were wonderful sellers again this year.  All of these proceeds go directly to our projects in El Hogar.  Thank you Marilyn.

Santa Michael and Santa Rick, whose job it was to greet the Christmas Market goers as they arrived in the door, also got a little Gingerbread selling done on the side.  Interesting how all the people who arrived got directed to our El Hogar table first!!










Louise and Alan on duty at the Market doing the first shift. 







In January, we had one of our detailed  planning meetings with all the things we need to talk about regarding our trip.  There is much to plan - activities for the children that we do each day, waiver forms to sign, reading through the handbook to make sure we have not forgotten any details, updates on what is happening at El Hogar and what we might be doing there this year, what to take with us, what to ask the parishioners to contribute, etc.  We practiced a little Spanish and also shared thoughts on our devotional -about why we are taking this trip, why we feel called and what to pack.  Forget the hairdryer and the cell phone.  Jesus, the one who invented short term missionaries, is telling us to pack the essentials - a simple message of love, a generous spirit, peace, discretion, innocence, caution, the leading of the Holy Spirit and courage. 

We were delighted to have Tom and Jane join us from Cincinnati at our meeting, two team members who come with us most years to Honduras.  They had driven through tremendous storms and whiteouts and traffic diversions to get to us in Burlington and we were delighted to have a little reunion with them. This is a old photo from our archives taken in Honduras with one of the El Hogar teachers, Heyser. 






We have now started to make our traditional Easter Eggs as the second fundraiser for our trip and in a day, we were able to produce 254 handmade fondant eggs.

The fun part was the coating of the egg with top quality Belgian chocolate and we got a little carried away at times. 





 

We were directed again this year by expert Kerry Beal, who is  The Chocolate Doctor.  I didn't know there was so much to learn about working with chocolate, but she was amazing help.  Check out her website:

http://www.thechocolatedoctor.ca/

 















The last step is to package them up and they will be for sale during the weeks before Easter.   Well done team!

If you enjoy our photos, we have created an Instagram account!

Find us at http://instagram.com/stlukesinhonduras or follow us @stlukesinhonduras.

Thanks for your support!

More to share

Now that we have all the pictures together from the whole team, we really should post some of them as there are some gems to remember our 2014 Service team trip to Honduras 2014.  If you wish to hear more of our time there, be sure so attend the worship service at St Luke's on March 16th (10:00 a.m.).  After the service, at coffee hour, we will have a visual presentation and a video with some Honduran treats to go with your coffee.

So here is abit of life at El Hogar for the team. 

 We are grateful to our driver Raul for always getting us to our locations and the 15 of us all fit into the van. 

The kids always have to line up outside the dining hall prior to each meal and so do we!  Just doing a few stationary exercises before we go in. Working up an appetite. 























Believe it or not, this was one of our graces prior to our meal.  Thanks be to God for all our blessings!















Oh, goodie, cake for breakfast this morning!






which the children made in their baking class the day before. 
















We do eat in the dining hall with the children but have our own space in a separate room.

The food was always good!












We can look out onto the dining area where the children are eating. 

Life inside the guest house is a busy place where we 14 workers live in small spaces.  But there is always a spot to have a little nap which is much needed at times in our busy days. 

 Alan and Chris always seem to be putting on the coffee pot.



 

 There was always time for a snack and tonight, Glen has prepared a good looking plate for us before we start our evening sharing session.

 The evening meditations were always a good way to end the day.  We shared our experiences, stories, and planned the next day as best we could.  We talked about how God works here.  That what we do and say can have a ripple effect on these kids lives.  Our evening ended with prayer that we may be the hands and the feet of God in this place.




For about three evenings there was a soccer game that went on after the children were in bed, between some of our crew and some of the Honduran teachers.  It was good soccer to watch and while the Canadians were strong, the Hondurans know how to play soccer!  They hesitated though when given the challenge of hockey next year!

 

One of the evenings, Erika fell and hit her head on the concrete.  No real injury, but the next night, Chris and Darla made sure that she would be well protected in the next game.  

 
Some are just darn cute contemplating life in this place. 





 





 Room 2 is having their last night traditional Fresca party.  Lots of stories and laughter coming out of that room during the week! 

Janice being bossy again and lining everyone up for another picture for the blog!



The Children

 
 


Some moments are touching and can never be replaced.  This child feels loved and protected.












Everyone has errands to do, and we never hear complaints about any of it!

Though sometimes they are awfully little and just need a rest! 

Out at the Technical school the boys work hard in their workshops (electrical, carpentry and welding) but they always have time for a picture.  

 At the Agricultural school, we find them in the classrooms, after spending the morning in the fields.

 Sponsorship

  Over the years, many of our team members and others have sponsored a child.  It is rewarding and significant to think that they can have a connection and know that someone, though far away, cares about them and their well-being.  Here are a few of the connections.

 Jorge is the first child that St Luke's sponsored in 2009 when our St Luke's teams started going to El Hogar.  It was his first year and he was so young AND so adorable!  He has done well in his academic work and finished the last two years in one.  Now at 13, he is out at the Agricultural School and enjoying it.  How he has grown from the first year we met him.

To inquire about sponsorship, go to El Hogar's website:

http://www.elhogar.org/

Thus endeth our 2014 service trip to El Hogar.  We have all been blessed by being a part of this team.  We have an incite into life that we just couldn't have imagined.  The raw reality of the poverty of the people, the beauty of the country, the loving dedication of the teachers and directors of  the four institutes and the miracles of these children who have not had any advantages in life and now have a hope for the future because of this place.