don't go chasin' waterfalls...

OK, so that was a popular song from a little group named TLC when i was in junior high. (generation gap for anyone reading this?) But it wasn't pointless, cuz we went to an A-MAZING waterfall today!! It was absolutely epic. Check out allie's facebook for pics. We got a guide to take us down to the waterfall and we went behind it; well, sort of, there wasn't much space. once you got down there, you really couldn't see anything, there was so much water rushing down and getting all over your face. But there was a little cave behind the waterfall that we crawled up in. It made me wonder how many tribadours have spent a night in there over the past few millenia. When that was done, we went to a restaurant for fish: the deep fry the entire fish, they dont filet anything. It was really good though! You just gotta pick out the bones. A lot of people make a mistake by just cutting filets cuz there's more meat in a fish than you'd think. Other than that, we came back and took a siesta and then michelle made dinner.

So the coffee farm we went to yesterday: we ground some of those beans! Guys, i make no jokes about this and i consider myself to be quite the connoisseur of coffee: it was the BEST coffee I've ever drank. The coffee was roasted yesterday, and then we ground it and put it through a French press. It can't get any better than that!! With the powers combined of Honduran soil, the hands of Menanite farmers, and French ingenuity, Matt Ruzicka drank some grade-A coffee that is unparralleled by any other event in his life. Birth, my first kiss, college graduation, even the waterfall are all secondary episodes compared to that cup of Joe; rather, la copa de Jose.

To finish the night off, we went to a Honduran circus which was only a two minute walk from the seminary. That was interesting to say the least. It was only $2 American for admission. There were some acrobatics and silly clowns that beat each other up. One kid juggled fire. We loved it though, it was a great way to finish the first few days. We're heading to Tegucigalpa tomorrow where we start our first weekly project, so pray for us! We've loved getting to know the country and people and culture the past few days. I've really appreciated how they take the first few days to transition us into the culture. The work will be hard but fun also. Love you guys.

---Matt

Coffee anyone?

Today was a lot of fun!! It went by really fast in spite of a full day! We started off at 8 with breakfast at the Fittz's: banana bread, hash browns, and bacon. Afterwards, Amy and I went with Michelle to the grocery store for some essentials (lots of produce!). You guys will love that most of the fruits and veggies were under a dollar per pound!! I'm talking bananas, papayas, apples, oranges, cabbage, avocados, tomatos, onions, etc etc. Michelle told us that most of what we purchased was grown locally - can't beat that!! Then it was back to the seminary...

Oh yes, did I mention we're staying at a seminary? This is where Mark and Michelle and their two kids, Micah and Ariana, call home. It's in Siguatepeque and called Sebcah (which I believe is an acronym that I can't remember). It's such a beautiful place with flowers and mango trees everywhere!! Until Sunday, we're staying in the dorms. There is clean, running water here, which is nice! Also, as is obvious, Mark has internet in his home. There are a total of 5 professors and about 15 students. They also have an extension program, so Bible students can be taught in other cities such as San Pedro Sula.

Anyway, back to our day. We went to downtown Siguat to experience the market. Matt and I got some Honduras soccer jerseys, and had a lot of fun. Stopped at the mall for some coffee at Espresso Americano. And then back for lunch which was great! We had baleados, totillas with bean paste in them; homemade plantain chips; delicious homemade salsa with a great lime taste to it; and avocados and sour cream. Yum!!! Then siesta for an hour or so.

From there, we went to the Menonite farm where Mark gets the coffee for fundraising from. We got to watch some beans being roasted, and even taste the before and after. Surprisingly, beans before being roasted don't have much of a flavor at all. We also bought some homemade ice cream from the family. Took 150 lbs of coffee back to Marks.

Now on to dinner. We had a homemade version of the taco I took pictures of previously. Absolutely delish! Coffee and cookies for dessert. And we're caught up for today. Can't wait for tomorrow!!

Goodnight Senders!! We love you all so much!
Allie

Pics from the last couple days here

Ps. If anyone is interested in purchasing Mark's coffee to support his ministry here, let me know. It's $10/lb and I can bring it back for you. And on that note, can you guys sign your name to your comments por favor. A lot of them I don't know who they're from... Thanks!!

quarantine her!!

allie contracted hairy black tongue!! but, it's really nothing bad. apparently, if you take pepto bismal and don't brush your teeth before you go to bed, your tongue turns black. allie woke up this morning pretty freaked out, thinking she swallowed some scary bug that excretes black stuff. most of it came right off when she brushed her teeth. mark's wife michelle informed her that it was hairy black tongue and it comes from pepto bismol (weird, right?). it sounds like some disease that pirates get when they're out to sea.

---matt

Onward to Siguatepeque

Well, as Matt said this morning, sure enough there was an earthquake last night! I really thought it was a dream at first! It was crazy!! I've never been in an earthquake before, so this was quite an experience. Thankfully, the damage done was minimal, compared to other quakes of that magnitude. There were 40 injuries and 6 deaths, as well as many homes and a few bridges collapsing. What's really crazy is this is the first quake to happen in Honduras. God definitely had a plan for us being here. We'll be able to do some repair work on homes over the next few weeks. Praise God for his mercy in keeping us safe!

About our day: I woke up thinking I had slept in, but found out it was actually 6:45 am. How crazy! I am not a morning person, but for whatever reason I felt great at such an ungodly hour. We made pancakes and bacon for breakfast, and lounged around for the first half of the day. It was great to get some reading done! After lunch we piled in the Explorer to go two hours south of San Pedro Sula to Siguatepeque. Siguat for short, has around 60,000 people spread over a large area. It's out in the country, and very beautiful! I'll try to post some more pictures tomorrow!

Love you all and thanks for your continued prayers!

~Allie

Psalm 91 is always applicable and comforting for missions work

Dude, there was an earthquake last night! It was crazy, we were all asleep and then at 2:25 everything started shaking. It only lasted a few seconds, long enough to wake us all up. Nothing was damaged here, but in other parts of the country (in the north) some roads got busted up and a bridge fell at Puente la Democracia; the entire middle part of it just fell off into the water. They've declared one death so far. The epicenter was about 65 or so miles off the north coast, and it was a 7.1 on the richter scale. Everything's cool though with us, we're gonna head to the seminary today.

---Matt

Day 1

Hello again to all of our wonderful senders! Day one is officially ending, so I thought I would finish off today's journal. Well let's see, I gave a brief overview of the traveling. So from there, we met two of CAM's missionaries, Tim and Mark, as well as another intern from Chicago, Amy, and we headed off for Tim's house.

We're staying the night at Tim's house in San Pedro Sula, and tomorrow we'll head off for the Fittz's. San Pedro is the economic capital of the country. In the evening, the population is 800,000 and during the day is at 1.5 million. It's full of maquilas (assembly plants). Most of which make clothing. Mark said the conditions in the plants are better than you'd expect - they aren't as bad as sweat shops. The city was an interesting combination of fancy furniture stores, large mansions, and run down shops and houses. All of the homes are walled in with barbed wire or electric wire around the top. Apparently, Hondurans consider it a personal failure to protect your family if your house gets broken into. Tim's house is really neat! Check out the pics to see what I mean.

So anyway, after leaving the airport, we went to Pollo Campanero (Country Chicken). It's a fast food place serving mainly fried chicken. I'm told that this chain has made it to Dallas and other Texas cities. Lunch was good, then we had a siesta at Tim's. Let me tell you, it was HOT! Trying to sleep through the heat wasn't easy, but eventually sleep takes you. I was sweating all through our nap, but it was still great!

After siesta, we had made an addition to our group. Jason from Pennsylvania flew in a little later than us. Waking up, it was about 6 pm, so we headed to the City Mall for dinner. This mall was huge and very pretty with a great cultural flair. We ate at Paseo Universital and had a taco and pupusas. Pupusas remind me of the tortillas on a chalupa at Taco Bell - essentially it is a thick tortilla. Check out the pictures for some more details. Dessert was a Granita Caramel from Esspresso Americano which, I'm told, is the Honduran's version of a Starbucks. We visited the grocery store, and then came home.

We finished up the evening with talk of what we'll be doing (which sounds so exciting might I add) and some hymns and praise songs. Today was a great first day, and I can't wait for tomorrow!

Buenas noches!
Allie

Pictures found here

Safe and Sound

Hola from beautiful San Pedro Sula! We've made it here safe and sound and all in one piece. This morning started off bright and early at 5:00 am, then we flew out of Austin-Bergstrom airport for Houston at 7:30. From Houston we flew to San Pedro Sula, Honduras and arrived around 11:00 am. Now we're sitting cozily in a 94 degree house... Today is a free day - we might go to the grocery store and see some local flair. And tomorrow we'll head to Mark Fittz's house (about a 2 hour drive).  I'll try to post some pics soon!

~Allie

i'm going on a jet plane...

OK guys, we're off and running! matt here. we got almost ALL of our funding for the trip (which really tripped us out, cuz we were a little skeptical at the beginning). we're leaving for the airport in the morning and flying out at 7 am. bags are packed, flights are checked in, ducks are in a row. also on the good news list, I GOT A JOB TODAY!! i had an interview with Davila Middle School in Bryan, and i did pretty awesome. they told me it'd be the end of the week when they make a decision, but they called me back this afternoon and offered me the job, and i took it. so yeah, that's a pretty thing to know i have a job waiting for me when i get back from Honduras. it's been a lot of work, and i mean A LOT of work getting prepared for this trip, but God made it happen and he used our loved ones to support this mission.

Cool story: My friend Liz that i worked with at wal-mart distribution did something amazing. she's notorious for making awesome cake, so she made a bunch of little individual sized cakes and sold them at work with a sign that said "Send Matt to Honduras". A bunch of the truck drivers and employees bought them for $5 each, some paying even more than that and some giving money and not taking any cake. in 4 days, she raised $500. lemme repeat that, she raised $500!! insane!! thank you Liz, we love you very much and greatly appreciate it!

we've had a great time these past few days getting to spend time with our family and friends, and regret that we couldnt see everyone before we leave, but will definitely come back with lots of stories and hopefully a boring missionary slide show. we love you guys and thank you again for your support.

love,
Matt Hays Ruzicka

...Running out of time!

Hello Senders!!

So, the t-shirt campaign is in full swing! We've been working hard to make sure everyone we know gets the information. It's been crazy busy! But, yesterday was the kick-off at my home church, Twin Lakes Fellowship, and we raised $2,858!!! Praise God!!! What a relief that the first day brought in so much! Trust me, we've been a little worried -- well, I've been worried. Matt is always level-headed, and he'll say things like, "Don't worry, God is bigger than the money we have to raise." And he's totally right! I need to be more trusting that God will take care of whatever we need. The total amount for the trip is $2700 + airfare for each.

So anyway, the shirts are in and letters are in the process of being sent. Matt and I appreciate your support so very much - financially and through prayer!!!

If you haven't received our support letter and would like to, please email your mailing address to mr1344@txstate.edu

Thanks again everyone!
Allie