Follow along with our updates from Honduras, newest first
Our updates are letters to friends: what we are learning, how a week at the Salt & Light clinic goes for Sharon, and what Chris is up to with his students. Read them as they come, and pray with us when something is on your heart. We are glad to have you with us.
At Chris & Sharon, our updates let you follow along as we serve with Salt & Light in the Lake Yojoa area of Honduras, from clinic days to tutoring.
Letters to friends
We started writing these letters so friends and family could follow along with us, and we still write them that way: plainly, with the harder seasons left in, like our sabbatical and our time in Spanish school. The older letters tell the earlier chapters. The newest ones are about serving with Salt & Light in the Lake Yojoa area of Honduras, where Sharon assists in the clinic and Chris tutors students who are struggling.
The newest letter is always at the top. If one of them stirs you to pray, pray with us. If you'd like to write back, email us. We love hearing from you.
13 minute video update
Hello friends! This is a brief update Sharon gave at Melbourne Community Church last week. The video will automatically start at the correct spot. God bless you!
Caregiving
Sharon and I hope that you are well. During January and February we continued to study Spanish and work through our sabbatical material. They both have their challenges! As you may recall from our last update one of our best friends, Kathryn Grifo, has been bedbound since November. After hearing more details from Scott, her
Spanish School
Sharon and I hope the beginning of the new year has moved your hope forward and up. Before leaving the US we attended a Growth and Renewal Retreat in Michigan put on by Alongside Ministries. We were joined by nine other foreign missionary couples and their families. The schedule was grueling (emotionally) – two seminars
Resting in God
Sharon and I started the Rest Phase of our sabbatical in northern Arkansas in June. It was a bit later than we had originally planned. One of the reasons was so that we could complete the paperwork for a car that was gifted to us! Some friends blessed us mightily with their 2002 Toyota Camry.
Change of Seasons
We love our work in Honduras and are passionate about doing it well. We strongly believe we have been called to live and work with the Honduran people, many of whom we call friends. This year marks our 11th year as full-time missionaries and Sharon’s 30th year of missions’ work in Honduras! We also celebrated
Video of 2024 Honduras Missions Overview
Hello friends! Here is the video of our 2024 missionary overview! The 2022 seen below is a typo. It’s 54 minutes long, but hopefully doesn’t seem like it :). We enjoyed a shortened visit to the U.S. this year and are now travelling in El Salvador for our 20th wedding anniversary. Thank you for your continued
Purpose & Perspective
Once again, Chris and I are long overdue for sending an update. I actually wrote most of it in August. All I can say is that Life is FULL and so is this update! Early this year on our return to Honduras, I (Sharon) jumped right into getting our house cleaned and livable after being
Cars, Kids, Christ
Sharon and I hope you are truly well. One of my students recently told me, “Teacher Chris, I didn’t have time to do my homework.” To which I replied, “Didn’t I see you outside playing yesterday afternoon?” They started to open their mouth to reply and then thought better of it. This is one advantage
A video overview of 2023!
Hi Friends! We spoke at church and gave an overview of our Honduran ministry for 2023. It’s full of pictures and stories. Thank you for watching the video!
New Faces & School Days
We are excited to welcome two new missionary families to Give Hope 2 Kids! Oscar and Kathryn are our new apartment neighbors in Urraco. They are both working hard at the school and setting up their new home. Kathryn has taken over 1st and 2nd grade, and Oscar is teaching one of our special needs
Working As A Nurse Practitioner!
Dear Family and Friends, I, Sharon, am writing to catch you up on what’s been happening since March. I’d like to start by thanking the many of you who are praying for us. Those answered prayers hel…
Sickness & Health
Sharon here. It feels like we are always behind in getting news out to you and for that we apologize. This update covers November through March (very summarized). Before returning to the United Sta…
2022 Year In Review
This video is an overview of our missions work in Honduras for 2022. It is 45 minutes long and will automatically begin where we start sharing. It was recorded at Melbourne Community Church in Janu…
Do You See What I See?
We hope your holiday season was filled with joy and making new memories! We were blessed to spend our holidays with our families in the United States. This update will cover through the end of the …
Big Smiles, Big Events & Short Video
Many of you have heard us say over the years how wonderful our small sending church, Melbourne Community Church (MCC) is to us. In December of 2021, Chris and I gave our church a list of needs for …
Multi-Month Update
Dear Family and Friends, We hope this update finds you well. I, Chris, wish I felt a bit better myself. I’ve been sick for the last two weeks along with many others living on the property here in U…
Difficult Times
As always, Chris and I (Sharon) are behind in getting our update out and a lot has transpired in the last couple months. We appreciate your patience as this has been an extremely difficult letter t…
Celebrations & U.S. Visit
Dear Family & Friends, Sharon and I hope this update finds you well. If you watched our video from January, I’ll be covering some of the same events in greater detail, as well as, a few new one…
2021 Year In Review Video
Happy New Year! We hope this long overdue update finds you well. Sharon and I are currently in the United States and have been visiting family and friends since November. We will return to Honduras…
Sharon and the Jungle Hospital
Life is full. Though Chris usually writes the updates, we decided that because most of this update is about what I have been doing since my arrival in Honduras, I (Sharon) would do this one! So, to…
Together Again!
Sharon and I hope you are well. Yep, that’s right, we are finally back together!!! After 168 days apart, minus 2 weeks, Sharon arrived in Honduras to her lovesick husband (me:). Before I move ahead…
Working Hard & Settling In
Life has taken on some semblance of a routine. I get up between 5 and 5:30am, partially out of need and partially because the jungle birds start singing outside my window around that time. School s…
Migraine Update & Honduras Pics
Please forgive the delay in sending out this update. Life has been full! I (Sharon) want to start out with our most exciting news…That there has been a positive, objective change in my brain …
School has Started and so have Sharon’s Treatments
A lot has happened in the past month. I will start with Chris. He made it to Honduras on January 19th…BUT not quite as smoothly as we had hoped. I (Sharon) found out, while Chris was literall…
Travel Plans, Migraine Treatments & Food Video
We hope you are well and enjoying the new year! We had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. Lately, we have been super busy making Honduras preparations and visiting with as many peo…
Honduras Missions Video – Part 2
This is Part 2 of our talk about Honduras Missions at Melbourne Community Church. It’s 31 minutes long and cued to start at our presentation. We appreciate you taking the time to watch thes…
Honduras Missions Video – Part 1
On Sunday, we spoke at Melbourne Community Church about Honduras and some of our plans for next year. It was part 1 in a 2 part series and is less than 30 minutes in length. The video is cued to st…
Chao Argentina! Hello USA!
Before I talk about what we have been up to the last few weeks I would like to give an update on the crisis in Honduras. As you may know, Honduras and Nicaragua were recently struck by two Category…
Last Days In Gobernador Gregores
We are leaving Argentina. It is going to take major preparation and paperwork, but if all goes as planned we will be flying out of Buenos Aires on November 13th to Florida! We had sincerely hoped t…
Quick Update and Some Videos
Dear Family & Friends, Chris and I wanted to give you a brief update on our situation. We continue to be in southern Argentina, in the sweet little town of Gobernador Gregores. We have reached …
Chris & Sharon’s Honduras Plans
Our last update covered our past; now it’s time to talk about the exciting future! Though we are returning to the same rural river valley of Honduras where we lived before, our home and ministry wi…
Chris & Sharon’s History in Honduras
We hope this blog post finds you well. We wanted to let you know that we are making preparations to move back to Honduras this year (when Covid-19 permits) to renew our work as long-term missionari…
Still Stuck…but Changing Gears
Warm greetings from cold Argentina! The snows are finally melting and the temperature is rising…slowly. The novelty of the cold climate hasn’t worn off completely for us. Having lived in Flor…
107 Days of Quarantine & Lessons Learned
107 days…we can hardly believe it! After traveling continuously for almost two years; staying in one place for so long definitely has been a major change for us. When you add the strict quara…
Our Next Stop…The Quarantine Zone!
This update covers through March 31st… While we were still camping at El Chalten we found out the Argentine government had decided to close all national parks due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.…
Surreal Skies and Picturesque Peaks
During our last few days at Estancia Rio Mitre we relaxed and went on walks through the dry summer grasses on the vast plains surrounding the ranch house. We saw lots of birds of prey out hunting;…
Two Stunning Natural Wonders of the World
We set off from Punta Arenas for Torres del Paine National Park. The scenery was beautiful and we saw wildlife and some old friends. The friends were Tim and Sally (UK cyclists) whom we had met o…
Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego and north once more!
We finally left Estancia Harberton and headed northwest towards Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego National Park. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side and we had rain, fog and cold temperature…
At The Bottom Of The World
Three months ago we left the small town of Chile Chico and headed towards the Argentinean border, crossing it, and eventually arrived at the even smaller town of Gobernador Gregores. Curiously, thi…
Dirt Roads and Icy Blue Waters
From the lakeside town of Rio Tranquilo we continued south on the Carretera Austral heading towards Patagonia National Park. The distance to cover was not overly far, but because of the gravel roa…
The Carretera Austral and the Marble Caves
We left Queulat on a rainy morning to head back to Chile’s iconic Carretera Austral (Southern Road). The road was built in 1988 with the hopes to unite the rural southern patagonia with the rest o…
2 weeks + 3 Chilean Parks = Stupendous
Time to finally bid farewell to Chiloe! Unfortunately, catching the ferry that crosses from Quellon to Chaiten was a logistical nightmare. Long story short…we purchased tickets in advance, …
Chiloe – It’s A Magical Place
From Santiago our next destination was the island of Chiloe. However, because Chile’s prices are comparable to those found in the United States, we decided to travel there as quickly as possible (…
Sweet Reunion in Santiago
This update covers late December 2019 to early January 2020 (we are not traveling right now). We had been anticipating with great excitement our arrival in Santiago, Chile. Here we would be reunit…
Salta to Santiago on Route 40
We were really excited to be back in Salta where we reunited with our motorcycles and Mariano. We also had the opportunity to visit the mummy museum which houses the 500 year old remains of three c…
Buenos Aires and the Navarro Cowboy Festival
Just a reminder: This update covers events from December 2019… Our return to Buenos Aires was uneventful. But we made up for that quickly by hitting the ground running! We did our best to vis…
Ibera Wetlands and Candelaria Ranch
Our next stop after visiting the iconic Iguazu Falls was the remote Ibera Wetlands Reserve. This reserve was assembled (purchased from private owners piece by piece) and developed by Douglas Tompki…
Safe and Sound in Argentina Quarantine
We are doing well. At this point, there is no possibility of us getting out of Argentina (the towns and roads are closed to travel). We are under quarantine (no leaving the room) until March 31st …
Buenos Aires, Missions, and Iguazu Falls with Sharon’s Mom
Our flight from Salta to Buenos Aires in Argentina was uneventful. The next day Sharon’s mom arrived from Oregon to meet us for a month of travel together. We were all very excited to get sta…
3 countries and more ‘ruins’ than we bargained for
We hope the new year is shaping up to all you imagined it would be! We have traveled a long way since we left California in 2018 (about 30,000 miles). The time passes so quickly in some ways and, p…
A Walk In The…Mountains
Happy New Year Everyone! Since this trek very likely would not have happened without them, the first thing we want to do is thank our great friends Scott and Kathryn (And Scott Joly) for highly rec…
Strunas: Take A Hike!
We’ve been so busy seeing things lately we have not had time to post anything! Will try to fix that over the holiday season. From the town of Chacas in Peru we drove west, over a beautiful pa…
The Amazing Andes
Cajamarca! (ka-ha-mar-kuh) The City of Enchantment…well, it’s not really advertised as such, but we did find it quite enchanting during our week long stay. As luck would have it, anothe…
The Peruvian People and their Colorful Culture
Our first major stop after entering Peru was the lovely city of Chachapoyas (Cha-cha-poi-us) nestled in the highlands of the Andes mountains. There are several interesting archaeological sites with…
Unfortunate Update
Well, the good news…this update will be much shorter than usual. Sharon and I are doing fine, unfortunately, the same cannot be said about my (Chris’s) motorcycle. We were driving sout…
Exotic Ecuador
When we arrived at the border entry for Ecuador we joined a large group of Venezuelans. Most had fled Venezuela to find jobs and a way to feed their families outside of Venezuela. We have been enco…
Columbia’s Festivals, Horses and Churches
Greetings everyone! We are doing fine; though Sharon and I have both been ill since we last updated our blog – just part of traveling (and just part of life for that matter:). We left Bogota during…
Sailing and South America
Our last stop in Panama was to visit the famous canal – and it didn’t disappoint! We prepared for the visit by reading David McCullough’s excellent book ‘The Path Between T…
Reunions, Rest, and Rain
It had been two years since our last visit to Honduras, so we were super excited to be reunited with our friends! Our first stop was a small town called Roma located east of La Ceiba. There we met …
Misadventures and Many Miles
From Mexico City we drove to the town of Cholula. This town is known for their cultural and religious celebrations and we timed our visit so we would be there during Palm Sunday. Additionally, Chol…
Flowers, Waterfalls, and Strangers to Friends
It has been a busy six weeks but I’ll try to catch you up some. After visiting the butterflies we made our way to the historic city of Huachinango (pronounced: WoW-Chi-Nain-Go, this is an Azt…
Swimming with ‘sharks’ and walking with butterflies!
We enjoyed an entire week exploring the city of La Paz and nearby beaches in southern Baja California. Our visit coincided, not by coincidence, with the celebration of ‘carneval’ (think…
Whale Watching and Spanish Missions
As we headed south of San Felipe along the Sea of Cortez we were continually amazed at the amount of flower blooms all across the desert landscape. The road (Mexico Hwy 5) was also amazing, right u…
Family, Friends, and Festivities
The last six weeks has been filled with family, friends, and festivities! As I was perusing the pictures I lost count of the number of photos of us in front of Christmas trees :). We started our ho…
Back in the US and riding south slowly
We have made it back to the US and our trip has slowed down quite a bit as we are enjoying wonderful reunions with family and friends, as well as, repairing and preparing the motorcycles for the ma…
Our Southern Migration
We had a great time in Dawson City with our host Melodie and her friends. This historic gold rush mining town still has all dirt streets and wooden sidewalks to keep pedestrians clean when the dirt…
Adventure On The Dempster
The Dempster Highway…We had been hearing stories from motorcyclists about ‘The Dempster’ since before we entered Canada over three months ago. Stories of muddy roads, slick clay, …
Mines, Mud, and More Glaciers!
After the Kenai Peninsula we had planned to head to the Valdez area, however, we met so many travelers who told us we had to go to a town called McCarthy and see the Kenicott Mining historical park…
The Kenai Peninsula – Moose, Glaciers and Fireweed galore!
After we left Denali National Park we drove to the town of Talkeetna and visited the Denali Mountaineering Center. This is where all climbers must go who want to attempt to summit Mt. Denali. We fo…
From the Border to Denali NP
We hope this update finds you doing well! We are currently in Dawson City in the Yukon. We are drying out from a monsoon type rain storm that completely drenched us yesterday. Bad for off-road ridi…
From Whitehorse to Alaska Border
Well, there just isn’t enough time to catch you up to our current location. So, even though we are currently in Wasilla, Alaska this update is only going to cover from Whitehorse in the Yukon…
‘O, (so beautiful) Canada!
The scenery since we have entered Canada has been absolutely stunning! It seems like every ten minutes some gorgeous new mountain or river reveals itself. And because of the gigantic scale of the m…
The First 1,000 Miles…
As we sat in our cozy little tent in rainy Olympic National Park we were thankful for 1,000 miles safely traveled. Primarily following Hwy 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, we have meandered our way n…
On The Road At Last!
We made it! We are on the road and headed north! Praise God! It hardly seems real after more than ten years of dreaming and planning and preparing. <Pinching myself> Ouch! It’s Rea…
Still prepping. We hope to leave this week :)
There are worse things than being stuck in beautiful northern California. Especially when you are surrounded by so many friends who are happy to have some extra time with you! So, we are trying t…
Leaving on our trip…soon…
Well, surprise, surprise! We aren’t leaving quite yet! If you read our last post you know the packing and preparation process is quite complicated and we also didn’t factor into our t…
Less Than A Month To Go…
As we start to wade through all our possessions in preparation for our departure we have realized something very profound…our 300 square foot apartment is ill-suited for such space consuming …
1st Post!
Hi all! Our site still has a long way to go, or at least as long as my limited skills will take it, but thanks for coming for a peek all the same! So the question we get asked the most (well except…