First United Methodist Church, under the direction of Greg Boyd (Mission Director) and Peter White (College Pastor) sent a multi-task team of nine that arrived March 15th. They made presentations in the schools, taught the sewing classes, held a pastor’s training conference, and had a children’s VBS.
Praise & Worship during Pastors' Conference
Tuesday and Wednesday they went into the local village schools to make presentations, give testimonies and evangelize while another part of the team remained at the mission center to teach the sewing class a new, marketable skill.
The Sewing Class
Presentation by Carl Lewis at a local school
In one morning they presented in seven classes…a real work-out. In the last school, close to the mission center they invited the children to attend a VBS in the mission center Friday morning.
Friday morning around eighty children attended an intense program that included stations inside and outside the mission center that provided a Bible story and hands on crafts that few children here have experienced.
Mackenzie Cordova with Children
Twelve year old Mackenzie photographed each child and placed the picture in a frame that they made in one of the stations. One mother told me that her child walked all the way home cradling her craft carefully in her hands. These crafts end up being treasure for these families.
Peter White Teaching Computer Students
Thursday Greg and Peter taught both shifts of our students here in the mission center. Since there are sixty new students this semester, this is a great evangelistic opportunity.
Praise & Worship during Pastors' Conference
Friday around twenty pastors and their wives attended the pastor’s conference. Lunch was served and then both Pastor Boyd and Pastor White taught and encouraged the pastors. This is a remarkable turnout for our small villages surrounding our center. This is in part due the efforts that Eleazar Bermudez and his wife, Carina made last month in visiting and making contact with the pastors in the various colonials
Greg Boyd was well received as he makes a presentation at a local school
Peter White, FUMC Pastor, teaches a Bible lesson to the students in the Vo-Tech Computer Class
Kathy Chenoweth working with the young children
Renee Joyner helped with the Children's program. She was also a terrific prayer warrior.
Michele and Mackenzie Cordova, mother and daughter, working together with the FUMC team
Mackenzie Cordova,12 years old, helped with the children's program. She was incredible for a 12 yr old. She took lots of polaroid pictures so each child have one to frame. They made the frames in class.
Oklahoma State University Engineers without Borders arrived March 13th ready to work. Their goal, according to their president, Austin Burton, is to provide pure water systems for the village of Seis de Mayo. This will be a long term project that will be accomplished during bi-annual visits.
OSU Students, Austin Burton and Brian, in Action in Seis de Mayo
OSU Team Meets With Villagers
Eric Lam, project manager, divided the team into two separate teams for this on site visit: The Community Team meets with the missionaries and community leaders, they will then proceed to fill out the Health Point form for the community and check our approximation of the population. The Surveying Team will mark the perimeter of affected residents on a map.They will then proceed to take topographical data and start drawing a map of the community. Potential locations for a central filtration system will be identified. For the first time in history as far as we know, a map of Seis de Mayo and our village were drawn and lined up with GPS coordinates. They met with the municipal officials and the village authorities; a relationship was established and the education process has begun.
Filters that were donated by the Freeman and Boss family of Tulsa were distributed and demonstrated. One of the team's challenges was to help the people realize there is a correlation between drinking contaminated water and their illnesses. Gary and I were impressed with the dedication this team had to their project and their willingness to work in spite of some hardships. Sarah Cary, who started Engineers without Borders at OSU and then appealed to them to accept this project here in Honduras accompanied them solely to assist me with this team while I was laid up with a broken foot.
Greg Mortenson who built schools in Pakistan similar to what Gary and I are establishing here in Honduras said in his New York Best Seller book, THREE CUPS OF TEA, "Once you educate boys, they tend to leave the villages......But the girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they've learned." Many of our young men are leaving Honduras to live illegally in the United States. This has left a dearth in the villages. Many of the women are left to earn a living and raise their children alone. If the mothers leave the homes and work in the factories here the children are often left unattended, roam the streets and are "ripe" for the gangs "picking". For years now we have tried to teach the women a marketable skill but this has been met with many challenges. One of them is getting the women on a level advanced enough to have a product with the quality that could be marketed. Another big challenge is to find a market and someone to market their wares. This has been a dream of Gary Edmonson, Tulsa, for some time.
This last week, Margaret Brewer and Patrice Lott joined a team from First United Methodist Church, Tulsa, OK. Margaret and Gary planned to teach our sewing class how to sew a product that would sell.
Welder's "do rags", the caps worn under the welder's helmets are a possibility. Sizing them has been a problem, but last week Margaret and Patrice taught the women how to make tote bags and purses that African women have made and were able to market in Star Bucks. We were encouraged that our women picked up the skill quickly and that there very well may be a market for their purses. Do pray we could find a vendor.
Margaret Brewer teaching the morning sewing class how to make designer purses with designer fabric donated by an interior decorator.
The First United Methodist Church team went into 7 classes today and some of them are teaching the sewing class how to make something that could be marketed (totes and welder's caps)We ended up having to rent another van from another missionary. Our van is in the shop - our pump went out. Fortunately Sarah Cary and Michael could change it out...it took nearly all night but then it kept going out due to a short. A local electrician came to the rescue. We now have water again and with a much quieter pump.
This past week, Mar 13-17, a group of eight students and one faculty member from Oklahoma State University came to Seis de Mayo to see how they could improve the quality of living in the community. They were mostly concerned with the quantity of parasites and bacteria in the water, and how to best provide clean water to the village. While unknown by most of the inhabitants in the village, the water, which is not filtered or decontaminated in any way, causes much disease, sickness, and death in Seis de Mayo. These engineers have a task before them not only to provide the clean water, but to show people that it is necessary to use the clean water exclusively. Through multiple studies during the week, they concluded the number of houses in the community, the elevation throughout Seis de Mayo, and the general consensus that there are only few families in the community that recognize the need for clean water. They also met with the mayor of Puerto Cortez and the leaders of the community to fully understand what the people of Seis de Mayo need the most. Having fully studied and understood the problems existing in this village, they will return to the US and formulate a plan to solve the problems as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Today we provided medical care for five people in four different hospitals and clinics, Fortunatley our computer teacher, Nelson, and his wife Sonia, accompanied two of the patients to a government hospital on my behalf since I am laid up with a broken foot. They arrived at the hospital at 5:45 A.M. and waited in a long line with hundred's of people.Six hours later they were given an appointment to see a specialist on a day next month. One of these patients is a little boy whose broken arm was not set right. It will require surgery. Another one of "our" patients had surgery on both breasts for cancer. There were two other seriously ill young girls that were seen today. All of this is provided by Gathering Hearts. This morning in the mission center apartment, I was surrounded by workers and repairmen. The air-conditioner was being repaired....again.... even though it has had less than a year's use. When purchased, we assumed it was new, but only the outside of the compressor was new but someone had replaced the new inside unit with used parts. As a result we continuously get the air-conditioners worked on. Other repairmen were here to fix a dishwasher that had been given to us. Even though it also had hardly been used it will require replacing some parts that are not sold here. It will take awhile. The Ford fifteen passenger van had been in the repair shop for nearly two weeks. We were hoping to get it out in time for the arrival of a team tomorrow. We have not heard. As soon as we get it out we will need to put in our other van and then our nineteen year old pick up.They take turns in the repair shop. Meanwhile Gary is pleading his case on an issue in the court house in Puerto Cortes. Without prayer and intervention this case could cost quite a bit of money. Our workers want to help. Two of the can seats are placed on the porch as "outdoor" furniture. As far as they are concerned - if you can sit on it, it is great. I will try to replace that with our plastic outdoor chairs without offending them. There is much to do to prepare for the arrival of the Oklahoma State University Engineers without Borders' team tomorrow. Translators need to be hired, class rooms need to be cleaned, hotel reservations confirmed, five gallon bottles of pure water needs to be purchased and a big part of the cooking needs to be done ahead of time. I managed to mix together a batch of cookies in my wheel chair. The EMB's goal is to provide filtered clean water for the neighboring village of Seis de Mayo. They will interview the locals and meet with the officials in the municipality. Monday we welcome another team from First Methodist Church, Tulsa, OK. This will be a multi-task team that will teach skills and minister to the sewing class women, evangelize in the schools, hold a pastor's conference, and preach and teach our vo-tech classes. It will be a challenge but this church is efficient in short term missions.
Gary and I both saw the DR yesterday. Even though Gary has a ways to go, he is doing better. He had an overactive thyroid due to a medication reaction and his immune system was low due to pneumonia. He lost twenty pounds altogether. Latest test results show that his thyroid has decreased some, which is good and he has gained 3 pounds. He is able to be up most of the day now, and is able to be involved more in the work. Thanks for your prayers. I had surgery March 2 for a fractured right foot. The surgery took longer than expected, over three hours, and he was not able to get all of the bone fragments. He had more work to do than he expected, but I needed to stay only one night in the hospital and have been doing fine. I expected to get the stitches out yesterday but it will be another week before they can be removed. I fell on Sunday and hit that foot,which did not help. it will just take some time to heal Gary and I have to leave the country around March 30 and plan on returning to Tulsa. We will both be in wheel chairs, so we will be a sight! As much as we miss and want to see our family, it will be hard to leave. So much has happened these past few months in expanding the ministry, not the least of which is .planting this church. We will be returning early summer, but will maintain the work through our loyal workers. IN HIS SERVICE CHERYL Bless you all for your prayers.
Norma Vanilla has shown great courage as she faces flying to Maine, on her own for knee replacement surgery.Norma was one of our daughter, Jennifer's first students. Even though Norma was crippled, she walked each day in the hot sun to wait outside the gate in Seis de Mayo for her opportunity to get an available machine so she could be a student. Not only did she have her opportunity but she worked her way up all three levels and is now the sewing teacher. During a medical brigada here in our mission center a doctor examined her and said if she could get both knees replaced it would take care of her twisted back and legs. It has been a long process, but she is now scheduled for surgery in Maine on April 14th. We had a set back in that she had developed cysts in the top of her mouth. She is under medical care here and will be ready for the surgery after all. We praise God and are thankful for the Ruth Paz foundation for helping us get her the needed medical care here. A dear business man and friend here will donate the price of her tickets, but there are still $400 of outstanding expenses still needed.
Sixty new students began this session of computer classes. We are blessed to have received new computers on this last container that enable us to not only equip our classes but have some on hold for graduating students who have earned their own computer. Our computer teacher, Nelson, said in his broken English,"God is perfect in his numbers, we have twenty-one students in our shifts and God sent exactly twenty-one computers for our class." In addition to their computer studies, we started a new Bible Curriculum that Eleazar Bermudez brought to us. This curriculum will help in not only leading students to Christ but also in discipling them. Eleazar has had a lasting contribution to the ministry.