Sunday was our second baptismal service at Templo Evangelico Emanuel where six people were baptized. These baptisms are giving strength to the village church. Yesterday, Wednesday, Cheryl had her procedure done on her kidney; it is too soon to tell if it is going to work. Also yesterday Nicolas took Jose, the man in our church with cancer, to El Salvador to see his doctor who uses naturopathy. Nicolas said it went well. I got a call today from Nicolas saying that pastor Batista’s wife, Juliza, is in the hospital with symptoms that appear serious.
With the over-flow of students this session, Cheryl is helping Nelson with the English classes. Nicolas and I started Wednesday morning in the office of an Education Department official working on Esmeralda’s ( Lourdes’s youngest) a school situation. As common with so many campo children, she does not have a birth certificate and will not be permitted to continue on in school until she has one. There is a list of at least half a dozen things that have to be done before February 25.
The lights went off first thing this morning and didn’t come back on until 3:30 this afternoon. That’s a setback for most of the day’s activities…. We have all known for some time that our son Michael would marry Savannah Fields; but on October 11th in “Todd’s Cabin” at Cleft Rock mission center, Michael “officially” asked Savannah to marry him and gave her a ring. We feel honored to have Savannah as part of our family.
Thirteen years ago this week, Gary and I and four of our five children arrived in Honduras to start work with a ministry that was to build an institute south of San Pedro Sula. That ministry left that year, but as God would have it, we remained and begun a work in a “jungle” like area north of San Pedro where we have developed a ministry to the impoverished campo people. Looking back we marvel at God’s goodness to us in building a mission center that houses vo-tech schools, Bible/English classes, a feeding kitchen, children’s program, medical and dental clinics and twelve employees. And it is also our home. There is now a church, and we are close to filling the pulpit with a trained and called pastor. This gives us faith to look forward as we hope to build dormitories, finish construction on a production center where the very poor can earn a living, and continue building houses for the homeless. Between these lines are numerous obstacles to all of the above. And we have and do now face fierce warfare, but we would have never seen this side of God if we had remained in our comfort zone. Our work is prayer. We pray and show up and we look to God to manifest His Glory. Please continue to pray for us as we meet the challenges.
Gary and I enjoyed being with other Honduran missionaries during the Missionary Conference last week-end, Sept. 27th-29th. . A Pastor Steve Johnson, president of Latin American Mission, was the speaker and his messages focused on forgiveness. It is great fellowship to join with such kindred spirits of missionaries from all over Honduras. Many of the missionaries that we started with are now gone and we miss them; but we were encouraged that there are several young couples that have started mission work here in Honduras. Today we are to meet with the leadership of the water filtration system who have been part of the Oklahoma State University Engineers without Borders engineers water filtration systems. Water filters are still being constructed by the locals and we are encouraged that this is an ongoing project. Also today, we are to pick up our Ford van that broke down on us last week. With putting in so much money in repairs, we feel it is time that we pray for God to supply a pick-up truck and either sell or donate this Ford van. We were able to finally get the government issued license plates and use the newer van to make the trip to the capital for our residency legal work and then on to the missionary conference. Gary and I will be leaving for Honduras early tomorrow morning, June 25th. Tuesday, June 26th we will be on our way to the capital (Tegucigalpa) to continue to process the request for our residency. Please pray for us. Getting our residency would enable us to stay in the country longer than two months, and provide the basis for us to apply for the equivalent of a 501C3, which would decrease or eliminate the taxes on the mission center. It would also enable us to transact business easier.
Gary is doing significantly better and will be getting more and more involved with the work. We believe that God truly intervened. Thank you for your prayers. We would appreciate your prayers especially for Gary. An MRI showed there has been a stroke. Gary is not incapacitated, but he is definitely not himself and we do not yet know the extent of the damage.
We are to depart San Pedro tomorrow morning and arrive in Tulsa tomorrow night and hopefully be in a doctor’s office on Wednesday. It is hard to leave here. There has been such great momentum with two teams just here and another one arriving on Saturday. You could check out the blog of what team members from FUCM experienced here in February at www.firstmissionwordpress.com . Isaac Hotz medical team from Greely, CO will also be sending in some blogs. Do pray for the Oklahoma State University team of nineteen that will be here next week. The “president” of Seis de Mayo who coordinated the water filter program with them was killed in a car accident not long after she had met with us in the mission center. Please pray for her family, this project and for the OSU team who will have neither Gary nor I and now also not their coordinator. I mentioned on Thursday that I had sent Luis Paz an e-mail asking if we could begin using the rice processing plant now. I got a response the very next day reiterating that he is eager to help us and that he is ready to talk. PRAYER REQUEST: That when First Methodist Church comes in March one of the projects will be to prepare the building to begin the manufacturing project.
We also got a message from Eliezar Bermudes, the author/teacher from Venezuela saying he will not be coming to the mission center in February. He still wants to come but will have to do it later on. Nicholas wrote that they picked up two students today for the Saturday carpentry class and that they have two more for the weekday classes with several others interested. I had a meeting today with Paul Mackey from First United Methodist Church. He will be coming with the March group, but also plans to make a quick trip down next month to gather information that will better prepare the group for when they arrive. Paul is a pilot with American Airlines and so it's pretty easy for him to make such a trip. Yesterday was a red letter day for us in that we heard from all five of our kids- Jenny and Jeffrey here in Tulsa; Michael in Kentucky; Marisa in Florida; and Amy in California. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thought for Today: Someone has said, "worry is practical atheism." I don't know about that, but I do know the more I pray the less I worry; the less I pray the more I worry. I hope everyone has been praying hard, because I wrote to Luis Paz today and asked him for permission to begin using the rice processing plant for our manufacturing project as soon as I get back. I hope it doesn't prove too great a shock. I had planned to wait until I got back to Honduras to speak with him about it, but Cheryl had a long conversation with Margaret Brewer yesterday and they are eager to get started. She and Linda Bullard plan to arrive in Honduras about February 23 and stay as long as it takes. Evidently the word is out. I got a note from Nickolas today that there are a lot of women who want to get in on this project. He also told me that their prayers were answered; they've picked up two carpentry students.
Cheryl had a doctor's appointment today and had the last stent removed. She's feeling very poorly tonight but hopefully she will continue to improve from this point forward. If she continues to do well I plan to return to Honduras on or about February 10. - - - - - - - - - - - - Some would say praying during prime time is not practical. I disagree. Cheryl and I started today with a fairly long prayer session and afterword several things that had been stonewalled just fell into place. Cheryl went back to the doctor today and the outcome was better this time. They removed stitches from both incisions and removed both of the tubes that had been inserted into her kidneys. She still has one stent left in and is retaining some fluid but making progress.
This surgery took a lot more out of her; I think the compounding effect of all three surgeries plus problems with her previous foot surgery have taken a toll. Now she needs to be patient as there will likely be a slow, steady recovery..... Thanks to everyone for prayers, visits, cards, meals, etc.
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