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Canned Ham

Day after Thanksgiving

November 29, 2013

"Canned Ham"

Momma Doris asked that each of us bring canned ham for Thanksgiving dinner. I wasn't sure where to even buy canned ham, but discovered to my surprise and delight that Publix actually sells such things. It took three employees searching the store however (Publix' customer service is top notch) to finally discover the canned hams, and quite by accident. We were all reconvening after our search, about to give up, when the guy from the meat department looked up and suddenly said, "I found them!" He was standing far enough back to see them on the top shelf above the beef jerky at the end of the aisle. I bought five. 

Mary Ivon bought hers at Wal-mart where the checkout lady pointed out, "Girl, those are nasty." Mary Ivon attends Ole Miss with Mallory, Cassie, Amber, and Billy. Their team lost to Mississippi State last night (apparently that was a big deal) even after the Rebels pulled from behind with two seconds left and went into overtime. Jeremy had just prayed for his Mississippi friends' team when State fumbled the ball. For a brief teasing moment their hopes were high that God did indeed favor Ole Miss; after all, four of his servants were in Honduras serving his kingdom on Thanksgiving Day, nearly 200 poor people to be precise. But who's counting? 

And I digress.  

Back to the canned hams. So between all of us, we managed to get approximately 40 cans to The Children of Love Foundation to serve on Thanksgiving. I wondered upon our arrival as we collected our prized pork, how Momma Doris would prepare them. I envisioned injecting them with rum, slathering them with honey, and slow cooking them in the fire fit. I was curious about the preparation all week, so when our beloved American holiday finally arrived, I was more excited to discover the secret recipe then I was about baptizing children. Okay, so for the sake of my salvation, maybe I wasn't. My point though, is that I really wanted to know. Turns out, the kitchen staff chopped it up and served it with marinara sauce on top of pasta with sides of mashed potatoes, green beans, a piece of white sandwich bread and cake. I ate a mound of that stuff. It was really good, considering it was from a can. And while I'm still on Hondurian soil, I would like to officially proclaim, that from this Thanksgiving forward, I will prepare, along with the turkey bird of course, "Pasta con Ham in the Cano," in remembrance of this special Thanksgiving. 

I am amazed how resourceful Mamma Doris and her small staff are. They can make anything out of anything and stretch an American dollar further than Mary Ivon can do the splits. Mamma runs this entire Foundation on $30,000 a year, caring for, loving on, and providing educations for 20 kids, while also reaching out to her community. I have witnessed this all week. She believes she can help change Honduras for the better through a new generation. 

I believe it too. 

As I walked past the open outside kitchen before lunch yesterday, I spotted the cans from the canned hams. Martita, Consuela, and  Dina were washing them. Of course they were, I told myself. Did you think they would throw them away? I embraced the concept of recycling in 2007 after a visit to Ecuador when my family and I stayed at an Eco lodge in the Andes Mountains. The owners recycled everything and had even started an impressive recycling program in their rural community. My shower had even been made out of used bottles. It was the coolest thing. Anyway, I told some of the people on my team what I saw. "The ladies in the kitchen are washing the cans from our canned hams. I wonder what they are going to do with them?" Which started our heads spinning. Perhaps they will become bowls. Or containers to hold things. Or maybe crafts for the kids. Or maybe they will make something with them and sell them. And just like with the ham recipe, I was, and still am, dying to know, "How does one recycle the can of a canned ham?" 

My team gathered last night, as usual, to pray and debrief the day. David commented on the smells. When 175 poor people, who have little access to water, gather in God's house, they stink. Bodies. Feet. Hair. Clothes. But, after challenged plumbing (the Foundation's and our personal plumbing), dirty clothes, cold water on cold days that convince the cowardly to forfeit showers, difficulty of washing our hair, and adding ditties to our singing like, "close the flapper on the crapper," we were stinking too. The college girls introduced me to some fascinating feminine hygiene products that made me wonder if I had an odor. Surely not. I know Mallory's feet were smelly because Jake told us so after Mallory told us how long he hadn't brushed his teeth. On a side note, I think anyone who's courting should be required to go on a mission trip together. It's great marital training. 

Sorry, but on Day Six we start talking about things like smells. We still see the smiles. Hear the laughter. And embrace the precious hugs. But Day Six is when we notice . . . that not only do the people whom we're serving smell bad, but we kind of stink too.

My family ate deep-fried turkey yesterday. I know because my husband texted me. 

Before I went to bed, I texted back, "My pee smells like canned ham." 

And I am so very very thankful. 

Thanksgiving Service

I am broadcasting live at http://ustre.am/2gWQ come and check it out! About to baptize 90+!!

Wednesday Night Blog

Wow, how time flies by when you are enjoying life and showing kindness to others. It is already Wednesday night, and the big day for our team to shine is only 12 hours away. Today was a wonderful day. The 8 team members that have not traveled to see the banana and coffee farm, including the entire Duda family, got to see how they grow banana, coffee, tangerines, and oranges way up in the mountains here in Honduras. The same group gave 2 water filters out to the people that work the entire plantation, giving them wonderful clean water for them and their precious children, and seemed very thankful. Hannah got to tour the hospital hear in La Paz helping her with a school project and got to see more than she was expecting. In full scrubs, she saw a 10 year old boy have his appendix removed and then got to go straight into watching a C-section in action, with a healthy baby boy for an experience of a lifetime. Today as the day went on it got nice and cold, perfect for a traditional Thanksgiving Eve. The Children and some of our group engaged in one of the best soccer games I have ever seen in my 8 trips here within 3 years, as we also danced with the children, made many arts and crafts, prepared over 100 baptismal certificates, and ended the night watching Marry Poppins in Spanish in the Church on the big screen monitor with all the children. Thanksgiving Day we are expecting to feed between 200 to 300 people and most important baptize around 100 people mostly children. The menu for Thanksgiving is ham, Mama Doris's special pasta and red sauce, potatoes, green beens, and cake for dessert. Jacob and Mallory have done such an excellent job on making sure our focus is on God and His true plans for our presence in La Paz, and here at the orphanage. This is the Children of Love Foundation the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it, serve others, show as much love and God's peace that passes all understanding to everyone we serve on Thanksgiving. Thanks be to God for His Sons true sacrifice and everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving on Thursday. God's Blessings,
                                      Jeremy Stellhorn

Peace

Wednesday, Nov 27

Thanksgiving Eve

"Peace"

If you're still, 

you can hear 

them waving

in the wind,

rippling fingers

swaying to the rhythm

of a cool mountain breeze--

offering its fruit

as communion

to the children

of our world. 

Coffee growing

underneath and in between,

intercropping

for space and shade. 

On a good year,

coffee pays 

the salaries

of Children of Love Foundation. 

Disease killed

the crop last year.

The children replanted

in October

7,000 young plants

that will grow

for two years

before sharing its richness. 

And like Momma Doris' children, 

it's worth the wait,

the work,

the investment.

And a trip to the farm,

then to the store 

for bread and wine 

(and maybe other spirits).

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving

after all, 

even if we are in Honduras. 

Hannah witnessed a baby boy

being born at the hospital--

a not-so-clean manger.

Her multi-cultural experience now complete

for her nursing program. 

Natalie and Micah demonstrate

how to use the bucket filter

to strangers

in need of clean water. 

Laughing.

Singing.

Dancing.

Hugging. 

Praying. 

Eating.

Breathing . . . another peaceful day

with the Children 

of Love Foundation.

Tia Debby Henry

More photos....

added today.  Take a look!

Hannah and Evan, after one deleted attempt...

Tuesday evening,

Buenos noches from down here in Honduras! Evan and I (Hannah) are sitting here at the breakfast table with coffee and cookies in hand, thinking back on some of the events from yesterday. This is Evan's first time in Honduras, and he LOVES IT HERE! With the couple hundred hugs you get every day, and all the love you can feel surrounding this place it’s easy to feel God’s presence here. That was what we talked about in our devotion yesterday, so as we work around the orphanage and play with the kids, we are looking for those awesome moments where we see God. Once we got to the church there was already a line forming up behind the gate.

We let these kids in and sat them down to begin washing their feet. It was incredible how much dirt was on their feet for it only being eight in the morning and some of the kids that came didn’t even have a pair of shoes! I loved seeing their faces and seeing them talk back and forth with their friends as they show off their brand new pair of zapatos (shoes). With the 20 of us American’s we were all working hard by either washing feet, trying to find a pair of shoes that would fit, finding socks, or getting more water as we dumped out the dark brown water. By two we had washed 234 pairs of feet, and given a brand new pair of shoes to fit those feet. Later in the afternoon a few police officers came by and sat down to wash some of the kid’s feet.

That was eye opening because they appear very intimidating and it’s not the first thing you would expect from a city official. We went back to giving out shoes after a quick lunch, of plantains and cabbage, with tortillas of course. In these last two hours we were able to give out another 100 pairs of shoes, and there are still even more sitting in the church. Maybe we will give them out tomorrow because it looks like it is going to rain soon, and people won’t be walking miles in the rain. One lady came in who seemed to touch everyone’s heart, and she was 79 years old.  After putting some nice, comfortable tennis shoes on her feet she told us that were the first pair of tennis shoes she has ever owned! How amazing is that?! That definitely counts as another time we hear God calling us to help and serve Him.