Today we had Luis Paz and family along with Denny Boersema for lunch to discuss the church and the appointment of the pastor. Even though we come from varying points of view, I think we are in agreement about the type of person we need to pastor the church.
We also talked about Gathering Hearts and some of our plans for the future, including our plan to begin manufacturing goods for sale in the US. At that, Luis said, almost incidentally, that he had a vision of us using his house here and the rice processing plant as a place to begin manufacturing goods.
The meeting was held in the new church.
You could have knocked us over with a feather. In fact, I asked him to repeat it just to be sure we understood it correctly. We had thought that we would need to purchase that building to use it and wondered just how we were going to get those funds.
Other aspects of this manufacturing projects seem to be coming together as well. Yesterday Flor told me that Alfredo is planning to come back Honduras from North Carolina soon; it sounded like quite soon. From the very start, he is the one we had in mind to be in charge of the woodworking operations. Today we had a message from Margaret Brewer saying that she and Linda Bullock are planning a trip here shortly after the first of the year. They are coming in order to train the sewing ladies to begin making articles for sale.
Helens Snipes left at about noon on Friday. Afterward Cheryl and I ran errands and then met Mike and Sherrill Gasinski for dinner. We have gone to church together for the last several years but never really got to know them very well. We had a great time of fellowship together. Cheryl and I then went to Frank and Phoebe Harrison's to spend the night as it was well after dark. We also had a great time with them. Frank had been studying the book of First Peter and shared some very encouraging thoughts. On Saturday we ran the rest of our errands and then went back to the mission center for the evening. On Sunday Cheryl was the worship leader at church and I had the communion meditation. Afterward we went to the airport to pick up Denny Boersma who had come from Michigan to help with the process of selecting a new pastor for our church here. During the afternoon we met with the Honduran representatives for the Reformed Church, and then attended church service and meeting afterward with the pastors who have an interest in helping us fill the pulpit. Denny has been working on the water filtration system today, and also additional computer connections to the satellite dish. But we have also had a couple of prayer, talk sessions about how to best choose the pastor; and about preparing for the first phase of construction of the dormitories. These were extremely productive times and we are very much encouraged with regard to both initiatives.
Tonight we had dinner with Larry and Ruth Ann Wells of First Baptist Church Broken Arrow and with the Brister's from Parkview Baptist Church in Tulsa. Over the years they have been very successful in church planting and church growth in Venezuela. It was they who sponsored Eliezer and Karina Bermudez's visit to our mission center in the springtime to hold pastor training and education sessions. Last night they described to us a plan that Eliezer and his group have developed to evangelize the entire nation of Venezuela. It is incredible. That really typifies something we have had in the back of our minds as we have said on occasion that the pastors are the hope for the future in Honduras. I hope that we can gain from their experience and understanding to begin developing such a plan for Honduras.
Denny Boersema mentioned to me yesterday that he and Pastor Dan have made contact with another pastor who worked in Honduras for many years. He was saying that maybe they will contact this man; he could give them valuable information that perhaps we could apply to our pastor training program.
The first week of February a special friend, Isaac Hotz, led a group of residents, interns and other medical personnel from Northern Colorado School of Medicine to minister at the Mission Center.They were here only three days but saw more than 600 patients.In addition to care typically given during the medical brigades, this group also performed outpatient surgeries.At the end of their three days there was still a long line of needy people waiting to be seen.This is an illustration of our great need to build the dormitories as soon as possible so that more medical teams can come and perhaps stay longer.
The team used the Gathering Room for triage.
The expanded care of this group has led to another great need for ministry: that of follow up care.We saw many people this time with serious illnesses and injuries that need to be seen regularly after the team leaves.Cheryl has begun to respond to this need using the medical contacts she has developed in San Pedro Sula.Following up on one of those leads, she was able last Friday to meet with a surgeon at one of the government hospitals.This physician is quite willing to see our patients and even spoke of visiting the Mission Center.
ELEAZAR AND CARINA WITH THE KUNEY'S
It was one of those divine appointments. Through a dear missionary home hostess, we were introduced to a man from Tulsa who has a heart for Latin American missions and has done short term missions over the past thirteen years. We spoke of our need for pastors to be trained in our village churches to accept and disciple new converts and he spoke of a pastor and his wife in Venezuela who have started churches and trained pastors. It was a perfect fit.
This meeting resulted in Eleazar Bermudez and his wife, Carina, traveling from Venezuela to Honduras to launch a pastor’s training program in our mission center. Eight pastors attended Saturday, February 20, and in addition to the training, a strong bond and unity began to be established between this ministry and the village pastors. In addition, Eleazar and Carina visited and ministered in local churches in this area. This again strengthened our bond with the pastors. We have a long way to go, but a great start.
We so pray that we could find a pastor like Pastor Bermudez who has a heart for the people and a passion for God. It is difficult to find a pastor who would want to live out in our very impoverished “campo” area. Our desire is that this new pastor will accept the converts from this ministry and disciple them and grow into a functioning church that serves their village.
This comes at a time when we are working with our landowner, Luis Paz, to begin a church right next door to the mission center.
Luis Paz has begun construction and our students will help continue to finish the building.
Besides ministering to the pastors, Eleazar and Carina shared with our students of all vo-tech schools. Classes were suspended so that students for both morning and afternoon shifts could attend. Carina is a talented vocalist and gifted at leading praise and worship. Eleazar held their attention through his own testimony and books that he has written. Since we have sixty new students in the computer classes and another shift of sewing classes, this is quite an evangelistic accomplishment.
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