December 2008 Photo Album

John Bell and Rebecca Haver were married on December 7, 2008! Rebecca is the Micah Project Director of Operations and John moved from his post with Instituto CanZion in Mexico in 2008 to become the Micah Project chaplain. These two dedicated and passionate missionaries will be a powerful force in God's kingdom!

For several years, the older Micah boys have been producing albums and sharing their testimonies through song all over Honduras. Now that they have graduated and are moving on to college, they are helping the newest generation of Micah boys to begin their music careers. Marvin Morazan (above, center) is the driving force behind Micah's music ministry. He has been helping Cristofer (left) and Wilmer (right) to record their first songs.

In December, the Micah Project reinforced in our boys the joy of serving others. Although this is a constant focus, we felt that service should be our central focus during the Christmas season. The week before Christmas, most of our boys used their December allowances to buy toys for poor children. Then, they accompanied Dr. Francisco Amador, director of the CEDER shelter for abandoned senior citizens, to hospitals and poor neighborhoods all over Tegucigalpa to give the gifts to needs children. Dr. Amador keeps his long white beard all year long so that he can dress as Santa and bring joy to suffering children in this season.

Above: Wilmer and Dr. Amador (aka. St. Nick) deliver a gift to a boy in the hospital.

Our ministry coordinators Dan and Kamia Paul have been taking our young men to the CEDER shelter for senior citizens on a regular basis. Our boys have shown a lot of compassion and empathy for these abandoned seniors, many of whom suffer from debilitating mental illnesses such as Alzheimer's. Above, Maycol smiles with an elderly woman at the CEDER shelter on a December visit.

Twenty year old Jeferson made the decision to be baptized in mid-December. As Jeferson matured in his faith, he felt that it was time to make a public confession of Christ through baptism. Above, Marlon Castellanos (left), our Leadership House coordinator and Jeferson's spiritual mentor, baptizes Jeferson along with the pastor of their church and another elder. Below: Jeferson flashes a winning smile in the last week of December!

A group from the Riverside Church of St. Louis visited the Micah Project from December 26 through January 2. These six men and women were able to spend a week focused on developing relationships with the Micah boys and serving with them in various outreach activities. Above, back row, left-to-right: Mike (blue shirt), Amy, Ashley, Mandy, Blake and Carolyn smile with the Micah boys at an overlook of the Tegucigalpa. It was a joy to welcome these six new friends into Micah's extended family!

On December 30, the Riverside group accompanied the Micah Project on an outreach to the street kids in the market district of Tegucigalpa. Above: street kid Kevin smiles for the camera as one of his friends inhales yellow glue in the background. Below: Micah boy Axel (Levi's cap) reconnects with Alejandro, one of his friends from his days on the street.

Above: Micah's ministry coordinator has a heart-to-heart with street boy Alejandro on a December street outreach. Below: some street youth in the market district enjoy some rice provided for them by the Riverside team.

Another highlight of the week with the Riverside group was on New Years' Eve. We invited our boys' families to join us at a park for a day of swimming, boating, horse-back riding and soccer (yep, it was 82 degrees and sunny on December 31st!). Many of our boys' families live in extreme poverty and their siblings rarely get to leave the slums in which they live. Above: Mandy enjoys a moment with Wilmer's baby brother Jorge. Below: the group goes rowing with some of the family members.

New Year's eve is an exciting and loud event in Tegucigalpa as our neighborhood comes alive with fireworks at midnight. Above: our young men, Wilmer, Axel, Fransisco and Fabian, celebrate with sparklers. Below, the traditional burning of the "año viejo" (old year). The boys make a dummy filled with fireworks, then, at midnight, they douse the dummy with kerosene and light it on fire. It took almost twenty minutes for all the fireworks to explode! There were "año viejo" dummies on every corner of our neighborhood: it was a noisy celebration of the new year!

One of the women on the Riverside group, Mandy Hardy, is a talented photographer. Several of the photos on this page are hers. One of my favorites of her photos is this one: the pigeons flying in front of the Los Dolores church in downtown Tegucigalpa. Los Dolores is the oldest surviving church in Tegucigalpa, dating back to 1732. The pigeons love nesting on its facade!