In my recent correspondence with Mark Oakley he mentioned that he, through his missionary organization, is involved in micro lending in several Third World countries. He also mentioned he and Shanda's love for Honduras and his hope that perhaps someday he could be involved in a project there. Both of these contacts could be very valuable for the future ministry of Gathering Hearts.
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.
Denny Boersema and I were talking today about our work in Honduras and how important it is that the people we serve make some sort of payment for the benefits they receive. People just don't seem to appreciate what is given away free. I mentioned that a good example is our students. The computer and English students pay a small amount of tuition, and they are required to pay each month in order to continue with the classes. On the other hand, the sewing students do not pay tuition. I was telling Denny that when we have a rainy day, every single one of the computer and English students show up for class even though there may be a downpour. On the other hand, when it is raining, not a single one of the sewing students will show. Evidence that what we have come to believe is really true.
In a little less than a month we will be returning to Honduras. I had hoped we would be able to buy regular tickets,but it looks like we will be going standby. Helen Ruth Snipes will be joining us. She will help Cheryl and will also work at systematizing our medical clinic.
Nicholas wrote today and sent me Rosel's outline for the woodworking class. He has listed 27 lessons starting with the use of hand tools and progressing through the making of furniture items. I think he's really going to be a benefit and the blessing to the ministry.
Today I had lunch with Dr. Green. It's always a pleasure to be with him. We talked about him and his team coming to the mission center this fall, and discussed that it would really be beneficial if they could stay more than a week this time. Sometime before we return to Honduras they are going to have a get together at their house for all the people who have come to Honduras and omissions team. That will be real special time. Dr. Green also told me today that my thyroid test came back normal! As you will recall, it was little more than six months ago that my levels were three times what they should've been. Then, in a very short time they went to not functioning at all, and I had to start taking Synthroid. Thanks so much for your prayers
Here is a rough outlining of our objectives for the Implementation trip, we will have a more detailed one as soon as school starts back up:
Main Goal: to provide the means for at least 20% of the community to have access to clean potable water. This would mean developing water filtration systems that will be easily built, maintained, and used by the people in the community. Main Design: currently we are actively developing our version of a biosand filter. This would be a water filter unit made of a concrete shell and filled with native sand. The unit operates by creating a mini-ecosystem within the filter to naturally remove bacteria, protozoan, and various undesirables. The large volume of sand will also work to mechanically remove particles from the water just like the ceramic filters in the bucket units, which disallows anything larger than 5 microns from passing through. Each unit is designed to provide enough water for 6 people per day. Cheryl and Michael arrived in Kentucky Friday night and Saturday they went to Georgetown and got Michael checked in to school. Apparently everything went smoothly. Cheryl spent the night with Mom and Mary Ellen and then Sunday morning went to the church service in Berea. There she met up with Lynelle and the girls, then afterwards they had lunch together. She was really glad to be able to spend some time with Lynelle again This week Lynelle is starting a new job.
Cheryl and Mike left yesterday for KY; Mike starts classes at Georgetown on Monday. Cheryl will visit family and then will have Sunday morning service at Carey (Ohio) Parkview Assembly of God Church Sunday am. They will then go to Van Wert OH for Reggie and Penny Beuhrer's daughter Kate (Reggie's team is the one who gave us the beautiful gardens you see at the Mission Center) and hopefully to see Jeanette Marshall and family sometime during the week.
The Reformed church in Michigan will be meeting next week regarding helping to pay for the remainder a construction of the new (Reformed Church of Honduras) church in our village. They have decided to make it a church-wide propject instead of just a project of the missions committee.
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