On May 28^th around 2am, Honduras had its first major earthquake. It registered at 7.1 in the Richter scale, about 27 miles from Roatan, which is a popular scuba diving destination.  Around 80 homes were destroyed, another 175 damaged and 7 people died. The earthquake was felt 200 miles surrounding the original quake center. Many of my friends who live in the capital stated that they felt their beds moving while asleep and didn’t know what was happening.

Dr. Hector Newman called Honduras immediately upon learning of the situation and spoke with some of our supervisors and our administrator in Honduras. All of our buildings, pastors and congregations were intact. We Praise the Lord for that.

On June 2, 2009 just after midnight a second earthquake hit in less than a week. It was a 5.4 in the Richter scale, however no injuries were reported. This one took place in the city of Tela, Atlantida, which is about 4 hours from the capital.

Dr. Hector Newman and his wife Nubia returned to FL on Monday after his 3 week furlough ended with a wonderful Mission Honduras Celebration at Abundant Life Christian Center in Wilmington, MA. Dr. Newman preached a wonderful message titled “Ask not what the Lord can do for you”. Many who were gathered listened to the touching word of God brought by his faithful servant. Dr. Newman concluded his emotional sermon by stating Churchill’s words “Give us the tools and we will finish the job.”

Stacy and I have been in Rhode Island for over a month now with another month to go on our furlough visit. We are excited to meet and get to know new pastors and congregations. Our itinerary has kept us very busy and we are so excited to see Rhode Island churches wanting to support our mission in Honduras.

On behalf of Iglesias Comunidad de Amor we would like to thank all of you who prayed, called, emailed, texted or left a comment on our videos after the earthquake hit. It means so much to us. We love you in the Lord.

We recently hosted our third mission’s team of 2009, which happened to be our first “full week work tour”.  All tours include some site work of some kind or another, but this was the first time a missions team set out to work the entire week with the intention of seeing significant progress at the Newman School in Danli.  It was also the first time we had a free dental clinic, which was open to the children in Colonia San Cristobal and any other person in need.  In addition to these firsts, we completed a lot of events that were done on previous tours that are equally important however we are going to tell the story of our successful, new endeavors. 

The place was Danli, Honduras, and the mission was to see a large portion of the second level of the school completed.  We had several local workers waiting for our group of 13 on Monday morning, to get started on the work filled week.  After Dr. Newman explained the history of the project and introduced the locals to the visitors, it was time to go straight to work.  For four, six hour days straight, part of the group lifted hundreds of concrete block, buckets of sand, buckets of water, and bags of concrete, one at a time to the second floor of the school.  Getting the supplies up there was done in many different creative ways, none of which were easy.  Although the work was laborious and the sky was drizzly, there was not a single person that complained or hesitated to help in any way possible.  As a result, many were blessed and the walls went up for all five classrooms on the second floor.  

Simultaneously, there was a dental clinic operating smoothly and steadily in the finished classrooms down below.  The other half of the volunteers were involved in educating the children on the importance of dental hygiene. Additionally, while getting their teeth cleaned, they were given an examination by Sister Betty Knight (who was our volunteer dental hygienist). The examination included: a fluoride treatment, have their picture taken for records, and then finally given a toy for all of their cooperation.  This system was so well executed, that despite this being their first time doing such an involved project, they were still able to provide assistance to 266 children and adults.  There were records kept of each patient’s dental condition in hopes to get further assistance for severe or preventable cases and also to possibly follow up with the same children in following years. I believe this project may have been slightly overwhelming at times, but again there were no complaints.

Pastor Larry Starr preached at the Iglesia Comunidad de Amor in Bellavista. This was the church that he was able to donate money towards the land.  A couple of days later he preached again at the Iglesia Comunidad de Amor in Col. San Cristobal.  During both services, the entire group got up in front to sing We Are One in His Spirit in both English and Spanish.  Those of us who could muster up a few more ounces of energy played tag and catch with the children in the schoolyard.  Dr. Newman visited with some of our Danli pastors while giving out clothes that were brought by the mission’s team. What we felt was a particularly perfect ending was a 40-minute walk to one of our churches in Colonia Los Robles, followed by another anticipated river walk for local kids to go swimming.  During these remaining moments with the children, everyone relaxed and laughed and more special memories were created.

We were recently invited to a church in Choloma, Cortes called Iglesia Cristo Viene Pronto.  So we took advantage of the trip and visited Villanueva seeing that it was on the way to San Pedro Sula. We visited one of our newest pastors, Pastor Juan Sanchez and his family.  He is the young pastor and his church is now up to about 30 adult members and 40 kids in Sunday school. We were invited inside their home to get acquainted.  The pastor’s daughter, whom is only 9 years old, sings at the church services and wanted to sing for Enrique and me.  We were very impressed by her voice and heart for God.  While we were talking the pastor told us of a situation of one of his dedicated members of the church.  She is an older lady whom was recently widowed and lived with her daughter and 5 grandchildren.  Pastor Juan asked us if we would like to go visit her, since it was only a short walk away.  So we headed out in the 95 degree weather, walking through a river, and into a small wooded area. When we arrived we found the family in extreme living conditions.  Enrique consoled, ministered and hugged the crying widow, while the pastor’s wife explained to me the conditions in which they lived.  She pointed over to an old hay troth were cows used to feed. It now stood abandoned except for a tattered, stained twin bed that rest beneath it, and a few items of clothing hanging over the beams.  She said that this is where the daughter and all 5 grandchildren sleep.  She then pointed to a building that looked abandoned, and said that this is were the children in this community go to school.  There are 40 children and only one teacher and no books.  I thought “How does a child learn in an environment like that?”.  Our hearts were breaking while listening to the widow’s story.  This situation is very similar to the hundreds of Honduran’s stories we encounter everyday.  However, there is something different about this family, they were smiling.  Except for the tears shed by the elderly lady while thinking of her husband, you could not take the smiles off kid’s faces if you tried, and why would you want to! They are beautiful. Finally we all prayed together and exchanged hugs and kisses. 

A week later Iglesias Comunidad de Amor was able to purchase a good size bed for the mother and her children.  We are also putting together a care package of clothes, toys, and hygiene supplies to deliver to them next time we visit.

That afternoon, Pastor Ayestas was excited to show us a piece of land that he found for a possible location for his church building. The other piece of land that was going to be donated was going to be a litigation nightmare. Upon arrival we realized it was in a great location, because it was next to the main road and in the heart of the community. After asking questions, getting measurements, and taking pictures, we set off to prepare for the night service.

Later on that evening, Pastor Ayestas, his wife and another brother in Christ came with us to the church service at Iglesia Cristo Viene Pronto for their 14^th anniversary celebration.  We were warmly welcomed by the pastor and congregation. They had a beautiful worship and praise service, which was followed by Enrique’s message titled “The 4x4 Church”.  It was about the fundamentals of a thriving church.  After taking pictures with the pastor and his family and saying good bye we headed back to our hotel for the evening.  We left early the following morning to head for Tegucigalpa full of stories and information to report. 

Choluteca

Two days later we visited Choluteca and Pastor Adan Blandin, who serves as our supervisor for the South. We drove 45 minutes on a dirt road to Tablones Arriba. When we arrived we met with Pastor Ananias Mendez and his family. Part of the congregation was inside just praying and worshipping. It was the middle of the day and it was about 100F. We proceeded to supervise the newly purchased land and building for our most recent addition to Iglesias Comunidad de Amor. What a blessing to see that this church will be active in this community, when the former leader of that church almost closed it.

We needed $2,875.00 to ship and pay the customs fee for our car.  Stacy and I prayed and prayed for the longest time and never wavered in our faith that the Lord in HIS time would provide for our transportation need in Honduras.

It was a 6-hour bus ride to pick up our car in San Pedro Sula, Cortes. Tears of joy rolled down my eyes, as we passed through the Lake of Yojoa. For a year and four months we had been praying to be able to ship our car and now we were on our way to receive it. As Stacy rested comfortably on the seats next to my row, I kept thinking on God’s providence. 

Oto Martinez, our customs agent, drove our car to the bus station to meet us. He processed all the paperwork to get our car introduced and now all we had to do was to drive it back and get it registered. We spent the night in Villanueva, Cortes and visited Pastor Ayestas. The following morning we left to Tegucigalpa at 4AM, with less than half a tank and 60 Lempiras ($3) in our pockets. We knew that our 4 hour drive back in an automatic car through a crazy mountainous highway would not cut it. We were really concerned about making it.  So we prayed that God would provide us with the “multiplication miracle of John 6:1-14” in our gas efficiency. Four hours later we were entering Tegucigalpa and we had just experienced another miracle! We drove all the way to our house from San Pedro Sula and still had gas on our tank. Praise God!

Upon arrival we thoroughly inspected our automobile. The head lights no longer worked, the radio fuse was burnt, the driver’s side door was dented (in customs), the stereo amplifier was stolen (in customs), the reverse light didn’t work any longer, within a week we got hit at the local mall parking lot and to top it off, at a gas station they filled our tank with gas and water. You would think that we would be angry, mad, frustrated, wanting to sue everyone, but we weren’t. We were thankful. Someone even said to me, “Enrique that is a sign that, that car is not meant for you guys…” and I said, “Not really, Satan is just extremely irritated that his servants now have a car.”  

We would like to thank: Dr. Hector Newman, sister Judy Margetts and Rev. Dr. David Kilpatrick who contributed towards the $2,875.00. From the bottom of our hearts we say: Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!!

Thank you Lord for your way is better.