The Micah Project 2010 End-of-Year Photo Album

Where has 2010 gone? It's been a year full of ministry, milestones and big plans at the Micah Project in Honduras! Take a few minutes to look at the pictures below of some of the highlights from our last few months of ministry. As you do, we hope that you will praise God for the advances in our ministry this year while at the same time praying for every face you see! We are SO GRATEFUL for the ways that you have been a part of this ministry through your visits, prayers and support!

The Micah Project was visited by several teams over the summer and throughout the fall. In September, Brian and Natasha Wiggs' ministry partners from Bridgetown ministries in Portland, Oregon joined us for a few days of intense ministry. Above: they work with the Micah boys to build a small house for a family on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa.

Below: Wilmer helps the Bridgetown group build the walls of the home.

Another activity that our visitors undertook this fall was to visit potential properties for the new Micah House! We showed off three different properties that we had identified as possibilities...all of them near the Villa Linda Miller neighborhood. We hope to decide on a property by early 2011! Above, the Bridgetown group visits a property during their week in Honduras.

Below: Pedro Luis demonstrates one of the many advantages of moving the house to a larger property: space to run and play!

At the end of September, the Micah Project held a run to support "Juggling Jeff" Koziatek, a runner and performer in St. Louis, who ran a half-marathon while juggling in order to raise funds for the Micah Project (check him out at www.jugglingjeffstl.com/news/ )! Each of our boys and staff members set a goal for themselves as to how many laps they could run...and most of them far-surpassed their goals! Above: although it looks like we're all running together, Becca, John and Pedro Luis are actually lapping Hector and me (possibly for the second or third time!!!).

Below: I truly believe that Wimer and Miguel could run an entire marathon without training and do quite well!

This fall, Brian Wigg's technical school added an exciting new component: a carpentry workshop! Along with the welding shop, this adds another important skill that our guys and young men from the community can benefit from. Above: Brian and one of his students teach David how to use the sander on shelving units that they built for the Micah House.

Below: Edwin and Hector (right) work on the first stage of what would become beautiful jewelry boxes! Rene (blue shirt) is from the AFE school at the city dump and the young man looking at Brian Wiggs is from the gang environment in the Micah neighborhood. Tragically, he was murdered just a few weeks after this picture was taken. That underscores the vital importance that the technical school is for these young men...many of whom have no other hope in their lives!

A few of our young men continue to struggle with their addiction to yellow glue. Specifically, Axelito, Miguelito, David, Hector and big Axel continue to struggle with the addiction that kept them on the streets for so long. Above: Hector left back to the streets briefly this fall, but thankfully returned to the Micah House within a few days.

After months and years of intense discipleship at the Micah House, six of our young men made the decision to be baptized in October...an outward sign of their young and growing faith! On October 24, they joined several other members of their local church for this special moment in their lives! Above: Axelito, Nelson, Miguelito, Yoel, Yeison and Miguel wait their turn in the baptismal pool!

Axelito smiles as Pastors Edwin Aguilar and Miguel Sauceda from their church get ready to baptize him! Below: Miguelito comes up from the water as a symbol of his new life in Christ!

We continued our "Dia de Luz" (Day of Light) program this year, which is an opportunity for our boys to serve the impoverished and broken-hearted of our city. Above, Hector and Nelson talk with an elderly woman at the CEDER shelter for abandoned seniors.

In October, we also did a "weekend of light"! We traveled deep in the mountains to help Miguel and Edwin's grandmother get rid of the brush around her mountain home. We pitched a tent in her yard and spent a couple of days with machete in hand! Above: Nelson had the blisters to prove that he worked hard with his machete!

Below: Grandma Gloria stands in the door of her humble home as we work on the brush around her house. She was very grateful for the help!

Our dear friend Jo Bewley went home to be with the Lord on October 29 after a long battle with cancer. Bob and Jo Bewley have been part of the Micah family since the first year of our existence, and have been a constant and faithful part of our lives since that time. Jo helped organize a group of our boys' moms so that they could learn sewing skills in order to support their families. They became much more than just a sewing group though...the discipleship times and the constant mutual support have helped each of them to grow in amazing ways!

This fall, the ladies decided to rename their group "Grupo Mama Jo" in honor of their founder!

Novembers in Honduras are all about graduation (the Honduran school year runs from February through November!). Above: Danilo graduated with a degree in sacred music from a seminary in northern Honduras. He will be continuing on next year to work towards a full theology degree!

Five of our young men graduated from high school on November 13: Jeferson, Brian, Maycol, Hauner and Hector. We are so proud of them for this accomplishment! Many of them are older students because they missed years of school in their childhoods. That did not stop these young men from pressing on, however, and this graduation is a huge achievement in their lives!

Above: Jeferson gets a congratulatory hug after receiving his diploma! Below: Maycol, Jeferson, Hector, Hauner and Brian receive applause from the over 200 people that came to celebrate their graduation with them!

Marvin Morazan and Brian Chavez sing a song during our November 13 graduation celebration. Marvin came back from Costa Rica in the fall and got a job teaching Bible at a Christian school in Tegucigalpa.

Over twenty friends came from the United States for our high school graduation in November. Here, Becca Herbold looks through some crafts that the ladies from Grupo Mama Jo made.

We love when Mary Alford comes to visit us in Honduras! As a long time friend of the project, she always brings love and cheer when she comes to visit! Here, she gets a hug and kiss from an affectionate Miguel Fugon.

Simon Kafie (third from left) is a Honduran businessman who has fallen in love with the Micah Project. On November 12, he invited our graduates and our graduation visitors to a party at his beautiful home so that political and business leaders of Honduras could get to know the project. Here, left to right, Michael Miller, Marvin Morazan, Simon Kafie, Gabrielle Welch, Israel Zaldana, John Bell and Rallin Welch enjoy the evening. A Honduran magazine called Estilo (www.estilo.hn) did a nice write-up on the event!

My parents David and Linda Miller came to visit for graduation as well. Here they visit Villa Linda Miller with Roger (long-time Micah staff) and Santiago, the construction foreman of Villa Linda Miller. They are looking at the plot where we will build Roger a new house!

A group from Idaho came through the program Living Water for the World in November to install a water purification system in the Micah House and Timothy House. Thanks to them, we no longer have to buy jugs of pure water on a daily basis!

As our school year ended in November, we began a couple of projects in order to keep our boys occupied during their vacation. Wilmer, Yeison and Arle are working with Santiago to complete the second floor of the clinic (above). The other group is helping to build Roger's new house in Villa Linda Miller. This has been a great way to use the guys energy!

Our church, La Iglesia Central Evangelica Santidad (ICES), has hosted a Christmas dinner for the street kids in our ministry for the past three years. This year, on December 10, over eighty street kids and youth showed up for the dinner! Above: Enwar and Marcos enjoy the food!

Below: the ladies from the church did a wonderful job serving all eighty people...especially considering that we only expected fifty!

Micah missionary Megan Scheumann spends some time with a street youth named Brian at the December tenth Christmas dinner at church.

Even with all the special events in the last few months, we still spend a lot of time with the Micah guys just hanging out and having fun. Here Miguel Fugon (left) and Luis Coban (the twin) jump into the pool out by the Villa Linda Miller community on a Saturday outing!

Christmastime is here! Here, Junior decorates Axelito as a Christmas tree as the special day approaches!