Lake Yojoa, Honduras – January 2011

On January 4th, I embarked on a brief one week journey with the Hurst family to Honduras, Central America. Flying out of JFK, we had a short layover in San Salvador, El Salvador on the way to touching down in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. As this was my second time in Central America (I visited Guatemala in 2009 for about the same length of time), I was pleasantly surprised at the modern infrastructure and more relaxed atmosphere of the city of San Pedro Sula when compared with Guatemala City. The airport was impeccably clean and modern. A key indicator of the contrast between Guatemala and Honduras was the almost non-use in Honduras of concertina wire on top of buildings and fences as we traveled on the outskirts of the city heading South to Peña Blanca, Cortes.  Since there are no less than four towns called Peña Blanca in Honduras, it’s good to specify the district (Cortes) when asking for directions

During our time in Honduras, we stayed at the guest house of Christian Light Missions, meeting many of the missionaries, and touring the bookstore and warehouse filled with Spanish literature and a few pallets of medical supplies headed for the clinic located four hours away in Erandique, Lempira. We enjoyed many varied activities, helping raise the roof trusses on the addition to the church building down the road in El Eden, adventuring at the Pulhapansak Falls (going back to the cave behind the falls), swimming in the Atlantic up north near the town of Tela, changing a tire after a blowout on the way back from the beach, worshipping several times with both the missionary families and the national believers, eating fantastic farm-raised tilapia fish, hiking up a 900ft hill overlooking Lake Yojoa (the largest lake in Honduras), and going on more than one shopping excursion in Peña Blanca.

Several American youth are serving in various capacities there in Honduras and they all helped to make our time much more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. Rhonda Z. (school teacher), Jeremiah & Ben J. (bookstore/warehouse), Natasha M. (clinic), along with several others were great hosts, translators and chauffeurs.  :-)

Honduras is a beautiful country, and as is always the case for me after visiting a new country, I now have a clearer picture in my mind of the people and geography of the place then merely a shape on a political map of the world.  I would go there again in a heartbeat.

Click the link below for a slideshow of photos I took while in Honduras.

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Fairview Christian School

The school was started several years ago by Fairview Mennonite Church. The gym is a great place to host a concert of this nature, though if you’re used to seeing folks play basketball there, it can be surprising to see all the chairs filling the space usually occupied by players. Fairview Christian School will be holding the Christmas program this year as well. You can go to their website for more information.

Enjoy!

Audio Clips: 

1. Blessed Be the Day of Our Savior’s Birth

2. Christmas Offering (song from Casting Crowns)

3.  Hark the Herald Angels Sing

4. Jesus Was Born Today (Happy Birthday)

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Singing

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All students, staff and alumni singing at the end of the program.

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After the program, we drove up and spent some time at the Pagoda.

In spite of the brisk wind and cold weather, there were lots of people strolling through the area enjoying the weak winter sunlight. A surprise to me, were the two people with wet suits and oxygen tanks exiting the water right by the parking lot.  They were describing to a passerby the various forms of marine life they’d encountered down there.  Apparently this is a hobby of theirs’.  If I were to experience underwater tourism, I think I’d prefer the warm waters of the Caribbean or the South Sea Islands over the frigid depths of Puget Sound, but, hey, whatever “floats your boat” as they say (no pun intended).

Nearby I explored the Mukilteo Lighthouse, stopping by the gift-shop and speaking briefly with the three older ladies who were doing a great job of keeping the ambiance of the place warm and inviting with their friendly chatter. Soft strains of popular Christmas favorites could be heard floating out from a CD player behind the desk.  They managed to convince me that I needed a fridge magnet, so after completing my small purchase, I exited the building into the frigid air and biked back to the house.

On a side note: After my short ride, I am convinced that BMX seats are not designed for comfort.  It’s been too long since my dirt track BMXing days up in Chilliwack

Mukilteo Lighthouse

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Foghorn out behind the Lighthouse

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]]> http://joshchampagne.com/blog/mukilteo-lighthouse/feed/ 0 http://joshchampagne.com/blog/camp-meetings-at-camp-manna-ministries/ http://joshchampagne.com/blog/camp-meetings-at-camp-manna-ministries/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:14:26 +0000 Josh Champagne http://joshchampagne.com/blog/?p=612 This past weekend, I had the privilege of attending the first annual Camp Meetings held at Camp Manna Ministries and hosted by Salisbury Believer’s Fellowship in North Carolina. My sister flew in to Baltimore from Seattle and we both drove down for the weekend meetings.

Speakers Roman Kauffman and Keith Daniel preached some messages that spoke deeply to my heart. In spite of the cold damp weather, they preached in an open air steel building pavilion to crowds of up to 350 people.  I was able to re-connect with old friends and introduce my sister to some great people.   Early morning bed times were the norm the entire weekend as we sat up late enjoying some wonderful mentally stimulating discussions. All too soon, we had to say good-bye to everyone, me on an 8 hr drive back to PA and my sister on an 8hr flight to the West Coast. But memories linger and so do photos.

I imagine the session audio from the meetings will be available for download soon at the link above.

Here are some snapshots from our time.

Roman Kauffman

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Keith Daniel

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Song Leader - Caleb Kanagy

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One of the sessions

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Gathered for Sunday afternoon baptism

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Volleyball Game

]]> http://joshchampagne.com/blog/camp-meetings-at-camp-manna-ministries/feed/ 0 http://joshchampagne.com/blog/seattle-space-needle/ http://joshchampagne.com/blog/seattle-space-needle/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:06:53 +0000 Josh Champagne http://joshchampagne.com/blog/?p=522

My brother and I recently visited Seattle’s landmark, the Space Needle.  You can view more snapshots that I took during our visit HERE.

Youth Bible School was such a rich blessing this year.  Times of conviction, repentance, and crying out to God melded with sweet fellowship, joyous amen’s, and heartfelt singing from the voices of over 1,000 people during the evening revival services.  Those are my memories of YBS.  Most of all, I met God at Bible School and was able to spend an entire week focusing on His Word and His Work, away from my work, the internet, business clients, and other distractions that steal my focus in my far too busy life.  Friendships were renewed, new ones begun and a better understanding on my part has begun to develop of what God has for my life.  Funny how the important things in life come into such clear focus the closer we are in fellowship with Him.

A few comments on the sessions:

Mose Stoltzfus’ study of the Life of Moses convicted me in areas of my life where I have given in to the “pleasures of Egypt for a season”, instead of allowing God to mold my life according to His Plan.

The Faith of Your Fathers by Denny Kenaston struck a chord in my heart as I considered the times I have sat down in that easy chair and viewed the landscape that my parents have fought for in the spiritual realm all the while allowing those convictions and open understandings of God’s Will to cloud over as I “meander in the maze of mediocrity”.

Chorus had me worried until the end of Friday’s session.  The selections were beautiful but quite challenging for all 670 of us to wrap our musical abilities around.  I would have to say that my favorite was the song Lord, I Want To Be a Christian in My Heart.

Profiles of Faith and Folly changed my perspective on some well-known Bible characters and taught important lessons about how character must be built in my own life through the experiences God sends my way.

Prayer and Sharing time was an enriching experience as 9 of us young men shared the burdens and convictions of our hearts each afternoon.  One thing that always strikes me during this time is how similar the experiences of all young men are.  We fight many of the same battles and encounter the same temptations along the path of life.  Prayer and sharing allows us to see the similarities and encourage one another to fight those battles and persevere in the quests that God has laid on our hearts.

Finally, the message on Sunday morning Survival After Revival by Rick Leibee, reminded me of some personal experiences in this area and helped me to tool up for future times of surviving the trials that sometimes come into our lives to test us after times of revival.

(One additional post about YBS with photos etc. follows this one. It is password protected.  The password is the last word on page 7 of this year’s chorus book.)

We know where you are… all the time!

-US border guard referring to the new RFID-enabled passport cards

Search and Rescue

“Bombing” the airstrip.

World’s Shortest Runway

9 G’s on that turn

Vertical flight

Just under Mach 1

50 years flying together

Straight down

Holdeman?

American Thunderbirds

Canadian Snowbirds

This year’s event (occurs in November) is open for applications (Charity Ministries’ site is down at the time and has been down quite frequently lately making me wonder what their traffic must be like with all the audio recordings they provide).  Anyway, this is an interesting alternative to some of the longer term Bible Schools out there in the Anabaptist world, though in such an intensely spiritual environment for the brief period of one week, it is easy to “ride the wave” and come crashing back down on the beach of “reality” when you get home   I found it a very encouraging and uplifting experience with long term effects on my day-to-day life, and hope to go again this year if all goes as planned.