Gary
In our last blog Cheryl was explaining some of the problems we were having bringing in the container (with 1000 Christmas boxes for the children). Even as she wrote, Nicolas and I had been summoned to the dock to break the seal on the container and participate in the examination of its contents. This usually takes at least one whole day. That problem was made even greater by the fact that this was our last day before returning to the US. Finally, our sewing school graduation was scheduled for that same day as well as our employee banquet. It was almost certain that Nicolas and I would miss both of those. But Cheryl didn’t give up. She wrote a prayer request to our church that day, “We pray that somehow [they] could be back from the port to be a part of this.” I don’t know how it happened, but we were dismissed from the inspection; and we arrived back at the mission center for both events. Furthermore the container arrived at the Center at 3:30 that afternoon. We arrived in Tulsa last Thursday and will be here until January 3. A team from Oklahoma State University will arrive at the mission center January 4th.
Gary Wednesday we spent much of the day without lights so the English students decided to meet under the trees beside the soccer field. Before long the sun got to them there too, so they moved the class under the mango tree. Those of you who were here before the mission center was completed remember the mango tree. That's where we had meetings, ate lunch, etc. Yesterday we met with a lawyer in Puerto Cortes to discuss pastor Batista’s visa situation. This lawyer feels confident he can get papers that will allow Nelson to stay here for five years. Please pray. Starting this morning at eight o'clock we had a soccer tournament for children and adolescents. There was a sermon before the games started; many parents were in attendance. Nelson and Juliza were excited with the success of it. This morning Nicholas and I and Flor and three of her children went into a couple of very remote areas out beyond El Sauce to hand out tickets for the children's Christmas gifts. It was a very rewarding experience. The container arrived yesterday but they have not begun to process it because there is a strike of all the shipyard workers. We’re getting a little nervous; we are running out of time. Little Lesbie, one of the scholarship children, showed us her grades today -- 97%. She wants to be a lawyer. Little more than a year ago her life seemed hopeless. We had Pastor Bill Hoff, Margie, Mark, Joy, and baby Katrina for lunch today. It was a lot of fun. Cheryl got here on Tuesday and already is up to speed; seems like she was never gone. Yesterday we went up the mountain to see a family from church. It was so quiet and peaceful up there, just beautiful. There were only 56 children in class this pm. (Only?). Yesterday TGI Fridays in San Pedro was offering turkey and dressing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. It was tempting but a little too far away. We planned to go to El Sauce today to hand out Christmas gift tickets, but it was flooded, so we’ll have to reschedule. We’ve had torrential rains. We don’t provide health insurance for our 14 employees but we do help with healthcare. Right now were helping George, Maria and Marcus with their bills. Today it was 66 degrees at 9am in San Pedro. Next Friday there will be a soccer tournament for 8-15 year olds.
We had 62 kids in class this pm; those who are familiar with our room can imagine that it was packed. I gave Mirna the option of setting up tables in the carport and having class there; but she said it’s hard to control the class when they’re outside. All 62 got to eat and each one carried home their coloring paperwork the day. Part of the reason so many children are showing up is their anticipation of the Christmas gifts. Yesterday we finished handing out tickets in Nueva Campana. This registration process has been a tremendous amount of work. In the early years we encountered a lot of dishonesty and disorder when we handed the gifts out. This process we are using now helps to keep it honest. On Friday I’ll help Flor hand out her tickets back in the jungle area. Going house to house was a very fulfilling experience, especially to the ones by the railroad tracks. I hope I can find an excuse to do it again soon. The man elected president of Honduras is not a bad choice; there’s been no violence yet. We had to pay some scholarships today. I went through all the envelopes, my wallet, Nicolas went through his wallet. We scraped together all change we had. There was one lempira (5 cents) left over. God is good. -- Gary Each year volunteers working with Gathering Hearts for Honduras sends Christmas boxes to the needy children in the impoverished villages near Seis de Mayo, Honduras. Many of these children have never received a Christmas gift and it is the event of the year for them. Each box not only has gifts, but personal hygiene items, school supplies and a child's coloring book presenting the Gospel. This has proved to be a successful evangelistic tool as well as enabling the Kuneys to win the trust of the people. The day the gifts are distributed long lines form and often there is a need for crowd control. Nevertheless, this has been a rewarding experience and it has helped to reach people of not only Seis de Mayo, near the mission center, but in what we call the "jungle area" as well where there is severe poverty. If you would like to participate in this ministry, click here for additional information and for pictures of previous Christmas box deliveries. For participating individuals and churches: Here is (1). an Informational Letter for printing and handing out to friends and (2). a supply list of the items we include in the boxes:
Yesterday we made it through the high waters and handed out 300 gifts in El Sauce. Once we got there, all went pretty well. As usual, the crowd was more orderly than in Seis. Last time I saw water that high back there was about 10 years ago. Jennifer and I were headed for sewing class; she was wearing fireman’s boots and riding on the back of a horse... In the afternoon Joel and I went to Seis to inspect the water filters. We want to be up-to-date when the OSU engineering students arrive January 3 to continue the project. Oscar was by yesterday. His church is targeting parents that send their kids but don't attend. The kids will receive a Christmas gift if they bring their parents to church. Great idea. We’ll be helping him with gifts. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday a friend at church said with sadness that when her son went away to college he pretty much stopped going to church. Unfortunately, that's happening a lot. The Barna group recently reported, “... about 3 out of 10 people who grow up with a Christian background stay faithful to the church and to faith throughout their transition from the teen years through their 20s”. LifeWay Research found the same thing—30% stay, 70% leave. The first time I came across those figures I was shocked. It's tempting to blame peer pressure or professors teaching about evolution. But the young people say that’s not the case; they put the problem inside the church. So what are they seeing in us that makes them want to leave? I'm sure there are no easy answers, but it's something we need think about. We passed out the Christmas gifts to the kids from Seis de Mayo today. I didn't know if we would be able to do it; we had so much rain with high winds during the night that there was water in our office, dining room, and stairwell this morning. Temperatures were in the mid-60s; for Honduras, that's extreme cold. Nevertheless, before eight o’clock the crowd was growing, even in the driving rain. Many didn't even have an umbrella; some of the little kids showed up in snowsuits. It went fairly well although there is always arguing, and pushing, and crowding. Beto was worth his weight in gold today. He embraces the military approach and we usually have to hold him back; but today we didn't even try to restrain him. Tomorrow we are to go to El Sauce, but Alfredo said that this morning water in the low spots was up to his waist. We'll have to wait and see.... A prayer request at ICF church yesterday, "Please pray for my husband. He went to El Salvador two weeks ago to bring in a container. It was supposed to take two days and he isn’t back yet." Alec Gilen said whenever he brings in a container there are always things stolen. God has blessed us more than we realized.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Saturday afternoon all the employees had gone home except the guard, so I had some genuinely free time on my hands. My first thought, "Maybe I can find an American football game on TV." Then I thought, does that really support what I say are my priorities? So I decided to spend some time praying before doing anything else. I think it was the right choice. I know what a boost I get when one of my children chooses to spend some of their free time with me. In that respect, I don't think our Heavenly Father is much different. My prayer time was very rewarding. After an hour or so, I went looking for the football game. Our freight arrived in Puerto Cortes yesterday, so now we have seven days to process it. The customs broker will let Nicholas start the process as soon as I send a signed release and certain other documents. Some of that information is back in Tulsa so I won't be able to do that until Monday. I will be returning to Honduras on Wednesday… Being back in the States and watching the “news” with all its trivial content, I am reminded once again of our incredible capacity for communicating, with so incredibly little to say.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: If our lives are to illustrate the unmistakable presence of God, many of us will have to initiate a radical change. What do we change? Years ago I sat in an evangelistic meeting and heard the preacher say, "Unless you make a major change in your prayer life today, in five years your spiritual life will be no further along than it is right now." The reverse of that is also true. If we make a major change in our prayer life today, in five years our spiritual life will be much further along than it is right now. In fact, I think we would be astonished if we could see how much further along. I got a note from Nicolas today and he is ready to start handing out tickets for the Christmas gifts-- 300 in El Sauce and 500 in Seis. It’s quite possible that the container will arrive next week….I sent an email to Mauricio Mayer, manager of the Landau factory in Cortes and told him I’d be back middle of the month. Here is his response, “Awsome. We will be waiting for you. We already have your machines set up and our team is ready to set this up.”
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: God told Ezekiel that if he failed to warn the people of the consequences of their sinful ways, their blood would be on his hands (Ezekiel 33). As they say, any passage has one interpretation, but many applications. One application might be that if our lives fail to present a clear picture of Christ to those who don’t know Him, we share in the guilt if they go to hell. We need to begin doing whatever it takes to sharpen the image of Christ we are presenting. We got good news from Tom Hagen yesterday. The freight for our container, 13,650 pounds of it, (including 800 Christmas gifts for our kids) left Tulsa yesterday and should have arrived in Gulfport today. We were not expecting it to ship to Honduras for a couple of weeks yet, but it will likely leave on Monday. That's great news but changes my schedule somewhat, and I'll have to return to Honduras a little sooner than I expected. We have an event in Tulsa the night of the 13th; and a day or two later I’ll leave . Actually, it will probably work out for the best as there are two other things coming up in November. First, we are expecting a vehicle to come into a dealership in San Pedro, and when it arrives we have only 10 days to process the paperwork. Also, the general manager of the Landau factory wants to bring his team out at least twice before the end of the year in order to get the sewing production project all set up. Therefore I really do need to be there, though it looks like I may not be at home for Thanksgiving this year... Nicholas has decided to stay in his apartment in Campana instead of moving into the rent house, so he and the others have cleared out all our stuff. It's the best thing to do, but it's also a little sad. That little house has been a bit like home for the last 10 years.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: You can be sure people are indeed looking on. A missionary to China wrote, "The church has been and always will be persecuted. Everyone watches us. If we die in faith, hope, and love, it can change the history of nations. If we fail to stand in love and hope for our faith, nations often can reject Christ." Taken from "Extreme Devotion" published by The Voice of the Martyrs. |