Most of them were from our English classes; but a few came from Nelson’s English school in Campana. In all, there were about 75 teens that heard testimonies, saw special video presentations, and listened to a message by Pastor Batista. Nelson Osorto gave his testimony of how God impressed upon him that he would be part of The Gathering Hearts Ministry three years before he even met us. Young people in our area have grown up in poverty; and there are many opportunities for them to go astray trying to find a better life. It was an encouraging to see many of them obviously moved by what they were hearing and seeing in the meeting this morning..
Nelson and Juliza Batista arrived in San Pedro Sula at 8:30 Saturday evening, 26th of January. Even though we had never seen them, we had no problem recognizing each other; there was an immediate feeling of kinship. We are so very grateful to the Southern Reform Church in Kalamazoo and to First Fruits Ministry in Tulsa with their pastor, Eleazar Bermudez in Venezuela to help make this possible.
We spent that first night at the Paz Family hotel in San Pedro and then Sunday morning we took them out to our house in Los Portales for a time of discussion and prayer. In talking to Nelson it is very clear that he has had experience in developing a church and leading its people into discipleship.
An hour before the service at our village church, one of the members brought a meal for all of us, including the Paz family. Again it was a good time of fellowship and a further opportunity to get to know the pastor and his wife before the service began at 3 PM. Nelson did not preach this first Sunday; actually this was Selvin’s (Luis’s son-in-law) last Sunday to preach for a while. Nelson and Juliza did introduce themselves, gave information about their background and their plans while they are here.
Since the parsonage is not yet finished the Batista’s are staying at the Paz Hotel in San Pedro Sula. Gathering Hearts donated a significant amount to get the parsonage finished.
We did not get our legal documents to the capital, but we made progress on it. We are trying to get the equivalent of 501 C3 here in Honduras that would give the ministry tax exempt status and also expedite our containers coming in. After all we did to get it rushed through Stuart Rains (our lawyer) office; we needed GH board member signatures, so we or I will need to come to the states for a board meeting and to get this to the state department.. It then goes through the Embassy.
The land owner, Luis Paz is providing housing for the pastor and his wife. He is refurbishing part of a house here that he owns. As of now, it is not finished. Please pray that housing would be provided for them.
We found out yesterday that the electric company will not permit us to connect the production center because the property is not in our name. Our land owner has it. The land owner would prefer that we find another way to get connected. We are near starting production; the team from the Landau company in Cortes are ready to come out and help us train the employees.
Yesterday morning we went to church at the International Christian Fellowship in San Pedro. We met a gentleman there who owns a business that sells sewing machine parts. He suggested a solution to our three-phase electrical problem; we're in the process of investigating to see if this might be a better option. In the afternoon we went to our church here in the village. Attendance was better than usual.
Last night, well after dark, the man whose organization supplies pastors showed up with someone he thinks would be a good interim pastor. Showing up at night unannounced doesn't make the best impression, but we will certainly pray about it.
Today we took Oscar to see the surgeon and get his blood work done. The surgery is scheduled for Thursday morning at 9:30. He says he's eager to get the problem fixed so that he can preach with greater force.
Yesterday Lourdes took us to see that the lot she was interested in. Much like the last one, it was in a very low area and would have required a great deal of fill dirt. Nevertheless, we looked it over carefully and tried to imagine how it might work out for her and for us as we try to help her build a house. She had understood that the lot was going to cost $2000. However, when we talked to the owner, we learned it was $6000. That was out of the question for all of us and put us back to square one
We also had a meeting yesterday with the directors of Happy Days private school to discuss scholarships that are being funded by a group from Tulsa. The directors, Rosa and José began by saying they are going to match those 10 scholarships with another 10. Thus, 20 very needy students will have an opportunity to begin receiving a very good education. (We will need to help them to purchase more desks). They also reported that Laurdes’s his three children, Carlos, Perla, and Esmeralda are doing very well. They invited one of the teachers into the meeting who said that in his class, which includes older students, Perla is at the top of the class.
This morning we had a meeting with those in charge of the biosand filter project in Seis de Mayo. The OSU engineering students handed the project over to this group and they have done a good job. They have built and sold 19 filter units and have a list of 30 more people who want to buy one. They are using the money from the sale of the units to invest back into materials and labor; and they have a little left over as profit.
Oscar stopped by this morning and I was able to tell him that we have the money for his surgery and that we have an appointment with the surgeon on Monday.
This afternoon we had a meeting with a man who is connected to an organization that supplies pastors. We had a good visit about our situation here and how it might relate to his organization. He seems to feel confident that they could supply the pastor that we are looking for to fulfill our various roles. It was our first meeting and we will stay in touch.
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.
Eleazar Bermudez arrived Tuesday morning to teach the pastor’s training for two days. Today all of the Gathering Hearts classes were cancelled so that they could come to his service this morning and this afternoon.
This is an evangelistic outreach to those students who do not know Christ.
Eleazar has in mind a potential couple who could come for a year to help the church grow. Please pray with us about that. It would be a great benefit to have a pastor living with the people and actively developing the church.
Tuesday night Mauricio and Maci Mayor joined us for dinner to meet with Eleazar. We strategized about the church and ministry.
Below: we provide lunch for the attendees.
Gary (rt) Eleazar and Pastor Severias (left) with other church leaders.
Pablo Diaz came from San Pedro to preach today; attendance was down from the massive 25 or so we had last week. Afterward the Paz family and I asked him for his thoughts about being our pastor. He's not as near a decision as I thought; needs more dialogue with his pastor and leaders of his denomination....The new roof is on but they didn't use enough screws. Luis is pursuing that. George will begin resurfacing the floor in a couple of weeks.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Dissonance theory would predict one of two responses when there is a difference between our expressed belief about prayer and our prayer life -- change one or the other. I think we Believers have come up with a third option: just try not to think about it.This may seem safer, but really it's not. A serious problem should be faced head-on; you're not likely to solve it looking out of the corner of your eye.
This was the second Sunday that we had services in the new church. Victor Arteaga from Peru, by way of Tulsa, preached in the morning and afternoon. Before morning service we walked through the streets of Seis…. Pottersville still. Counting both services we had about 35 people; Melissa Paz and family came and Erika led singing…. This noon Nicholas and I went looking for Dr. Castellanos, the physician that the mayor promised us. When no one in either Seis de Mayo or Gran Via seemed to know him I stopped at a pulperia and asked the 2 men sitting there if they had ever heard of him. One said, “I’m Dr. Castellanos.” Turns out he lives just on the other side of the wall from the Center. He’s going to meet with us on Wednesday; speaks English and his daughter is a dentist.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: To "do something different" may not be as easy as it sounds. On December 23, 1983 God made it clear, "you're not waiting for me – I'm waiting for you." It was another 16 years before I really took the step of faith.
What a blessing it was to hold our first service in the new church here in Las Portales. Seis de Mayo and Las Portales (our new colonial) do not have a church, so it was a special day to see some of the village people attend.
We were privileged to have Eleazar Bermudez, pastor and pastor’s trainer in Venezuela, fly in for a pastor’s conference and to be our special speaker for our first service in the new church.
Gary greeting the congregation and introducing Eleazar
First new convert of the church
One of the villagers, Antonio, came forward to accept Christ. Pray with us that we could find the right pastor who would disciple new converts, do visitation in the villages and continue services. There is much potential for church growth among our students and villagers
Mr and Mrs Paz giving the benediction The Pas family attended. This church is an answer to prayer for not only the Kuney family, but for Luis’s family as well. We did not have musicians or music other than a CD, but at the end of the service, the Paz’s daughter Erika, who has a beautiful voice led us in singing acapella. It was a perfect ending to a monumental day.