Regalos de Navidad

What a lovely week it has been down here in Honduras.  Lets walk through some of the highlights.

So almost exactly a year ago (December 7th), we had 3 little girls get kidnapped from the farm by their mother and aunt who were visiting.  Many of you knew about this and have prayed for these 3 little girls.  It was a really hard time for everybody at the farm.  I was in the states at the time after my first long term stay in Honduras, and it was really rough on me.  We prayed alot and did everything that we could through the police and government services and even went as far as to offer money to people for information on the girls.  But we had nothing.  For a year, we have had nothing.

Sunday afternoon we had a man show up to the gate at lunch time.  Occasionally people show up at the gate asking for money or work.  I thought nothing of it.  He asked to talk with Mrs. Pam or whoever was next in charge.  I figured he didnt want to talk to me, so I send Joe and Natali up to see what he really needed.  Natali came back and got me from lunch to tell me that I wanted to come hear what was going on.  This man was the father of Darling, the oldest of the 3 missing girls.  He told us that a few days beforehand, Darlings mother had dropped her off at his house.  He said that he cared for his daughter, but for certain reasons wanted to know if she could come back to live at the farm.  We were extatic.  I put him and his bike in the truck and we immediately went to where Darling was and picked her up.  She was happier than I imagined she would be.  She didnt remember me so well immediately (I like to blame it on the beard), but she ran and gave joe a big hug.

We were excited about Darling, but even better, Darling wanted us to go pick up her sisters.  Apparently, their mother skipped town and left all of the girls with different people.  Darling told us that she missed her little sisters and knew right where they were in Siguatepeque.  So, early monday morning, we picked up somebody from the childrens defense department and drove out to Siguat.  I was a little worried, because we were going across the country on the directions of a 10 year old girl.  I thought it was a long shot that Darling would remember and-or that the girls would be there.  Yet, Darling took us directly to where he sisters were.  Our childrens representative explained the situation to the woman at the house.  The lady was sad, but told us that the girls were in fact there.  It was so strange seeing the girls for the first time through the window.  They didnt know how many people had been praying for them.  They didnt know how many people had hurt since they had been gone.  They didnt know how much they had been missed and thought about in the last year. 

So to wrap up, after a year of looking and praying for the girls, God returned all of them to the farm in less than a 24 hour period.  We stuffed the girls full of wendys and took them on the winding mountain road back to the farm.  In retrospec, that was a bad idea.  There were a few bathroom stops and one vomitting incident.  But we made it.  The girls are safe and healthy.  They seem to be happy to be back.  The rest of the farm is beyond happy that they are back.  Thank you for those of you who prayed.

Well, I have to get back.  I have some baleadas to cook and some clothes to unpack.