Alazne Arrives!

The temperature wasn't that high.  Neither was the humidity, but I was pushmowing a five-goat field in September in Alabama.  I blame my sweat count on the fact that it hadn't been a very warm summer until here recently.  I was chugging water like it was water; however, nothing could take my mind off the heat.

What is this thing??

Then, just as I was finishing up mowing the lawn, the mail lady drove up the driveway in rare fashion to deliver a package that wouldn't fit in the mailbox.

What is it, boy??

Remembering from Saturday morning cartoons that I should always have my canine companion check the contents of my mail with his keen sense of smell, I laid the package the down in the yard.


After giving the package the go ahead, I inspected the parcel further.

It's from Grampa!

Seeing that the return address listed Sam "Grampa" Walker as the sender, I knew what it was...


Alazne had arrived!

What kinds of miracles will Alazne provide...?

Compassion, humanity, sharing, and caring lead thousands of loving individuals to volunteer in and donate to Honduran communities each year.  David Hutzel had a computer.  Sam Walker cleaned it up.  Now, someone in need of a way to communicate with the world in Honduras can do so.  What do you have to share with others?  

We need your time and offerings.  Contact AHMEN today to learn how to join a team or invest in a project in Honduras!

Together, we are the difference.

Río de Agua Viva - Extreme Love

Like the mighty flowing Mississippi River channeling glacial melt from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, AHMEN's Río de Agua Viva team channels love from the American South all the way to Honduras.  Through education, relationships, and connections based on the pure honesty of our united spiritual cohesion, AHMEN teams like the Río team confidently embody their purpose.  On Day 1, I led the morning devotional and talked about applying 1 Corinthians 13 to our work in Honduras.  I urged our team members to let love be their crutch, their motivating force, their outward appearance, and inner conviction.  

On this September 11, I am reminded that people are struggling worldwide.  It is not only Honduras that suffers victim to marginalization on the world's stage.  It is not only Honduras that deserves salvation from poverty, malnutrition, preventable disease, violence, and all of the other symptoms of injustice.  All countries worldwide do also.  Everyone, even those who perpetrate violence against others, wants a better future for their neighborhood, family, friends, and nation.  

Los Laureles jewelry students Elda and her guest teach Antwanae Jones

The feelings for God and country motivating the 9-11 planners, however disastrous for our own livelihoods, still arose as an attempt at addressing injustice worldwide.  Love could not have been totally absent as a motivating factor for the violent extremists who attacked the United States 12 years ago.  The pure love motivating all people, if not kept in check, can become watered down with the bile of evil.  We remember 9-11, then, as a reminder that love does not imprison but frees.  It is not a proclamation but a vote.  Love is not violent. Love is not mean.  Love does not discourage anything but negativity, and it does not kill anything but hate.

Río de Agua Viva!

Learning to share patient, sustainable, replicable, and meaningful love with the people of Honduras describes the foundation of the AHMEN-SIFAT Initiative, and the Río de Agua Viva team serves as a supplemental injection of that love at ASI-Jutiapa, Los Laureles, and Shalom.  

Byron Morales teaches agents that, no matter their stage of growth, they are all complete and worthwhile individuals

Do we make mistakes?  Of course!  Are we going to learn from them in order to better partner with ASI next year?  You bet! Love is self-improvement.

I write all of this to invite you to work to erase injustice in our world.  Join a volunteer project with AHMEN or other groups focused on long-term, effective, and appropriate development.  Together, we can see world peace in our lifetime.

Together, we are the difference.

Río de Agua Viva - Que Hicimos (What We Did)

The goal of the Río de Agua Viva team was education, education, education.  Our first of three goals was to work with the AHMEN-SIFAT community agents of the Jutiapa and Belaire region of Honduras.  About 70% of the future CAs of ASI-Jutiapa are already practicing health officials, and the rest are training to be greater health advocates for their respective communities.  Less than half had already fully committed to the program, and our job as a team was to given them a "taste" of what they would learn over the next three years.

Dr. Tom Camp and Dr. David Jones with Shane Cooper leading HIV/AIDS Awareness talks at ASI-Belaire

Mayor of Jutiapa, Dr. Noe Guardado Rivera, was not present at his clinic the days we were there, but he agreed to let our team volunteer. When our team arrived at the clinic on the first day, the clinic staff imagined they were seeing a medical brigade.  What they got was something completely different.



Together, we are the difference.

Río de Agua Viva - Río Lleno (Full River)

And when we left the deaf school of Plan de Flores to arrive back in Sambo Creek at Villa Helen's, the full Río team came together at last!  It was a full day of driving and anticipating how the rest of the team was doing with their arrival...Soooo...what were they doing before we met up??

Tito slept on the plane.

T Alto and Antwanae enjoyed a bus ride....

And then slept on a bus ride :)

David Jones fed a peacock.

Caden handed out goodies!

The team stopped over at Cruzadas.

And then, they finally arrived!

Stay tuned for the story of the Río de Agua Viva team!  We have a lot to share, and a blog may not be able to contain all of our excitement.  To get a preview or the full story in-person, come on out to the Foothills Festival in Jasper, Al from 11AM-5PM!  

Are you thinking about joining an AHMEN team?  Would you like to sponsor a project?  Contact us today to learn how to do both.  There is a lot of work to be done, and we need your help.

Together, we are the difference.