In the middle of October we attended the  Project Honduras   Conference.  This is an annual conference to bring together those who are working for a better Honduras.  It's a great place to gain a broader view of the work being done in here, to connect with others working in Honduras, and to share ideas and resources.

Jason presented for a few minutes about  Give Hope 2 Kids  and the work that we're doing.  We talked about all the various things that we're working on, as there aren't very many ministries that work on their own project, in their community, and with agriculture to support themselves.  We especially emphasized the idea of bringing volunteers to work inside the public elementary schools, as this has been an effective tool at building community relationships and benefiting the local kids.  We are proud of all that we have accomplished -- with God's grace -- in the past few years.

The President of Honduras, President Lobo also came to the event.  He came for a few hours to listen to some of the presentations and ideas of the aid workers and to share some of his own thoughts.  What an honor! 

Getting sheep is one of our big goals for the next few weeks.  We've been fencing in part of our mahogany fields for their grazing and building thatched structures for shelter.  This fence has been a BIG project that's taken a lot more time and resources than we foresaw.  We are excited though to go and find the first sheep to purchase.  

In the next  month we are also  hoping to put up a chicken coop and start a flock of chickens for eggs, as well as getting our first beehives.  Dialogue Church was kind enough to donate money for beehives in the spring.  So far though, we have been unable to coordinate a time where we can travel to buy the beehives in a different part of Honduras and be able to get an expert to come teach us what we need to know.  

We've also been working on putting up our new greenhouse.  The goal is for this building to be a training center as well as place to start young plants.  Right now the structure is up and we're ready to attach the shade cloth.  We've already started a training program though, even without the finished facilities.  A couple of our fall volunteers are doing an agricultural training program for a group of graduating 6th graders from our elementary school.  We're trying to plant seeds of change in these young minds, teaching them about erosion prevention, crop diversification, and other important topics.  Unfortunately with the way the soil is deteriorating in our area, the next generation will not be able to support their families by just growing beans and corn.  We hope that by teaching the kids that we can help our area move into a successful future in agriculture.