Friday, March 21, 2008

Well, the only word that comes to mind today is our motto: “Those who are not flexible get bent out of shape.” Mid-morning, the rains came. So we sent the construction crew back to the hotel after waiting for about half an hour for the rain to stop. When we took them back to the hotel, they changed their wet clothes, and then the rain stopped. We never could get them fired up again. So just a handful went back to the worksite in the afternoon and worked with the locals. The roofing crew that was hired by the church is one of the most deliberate (another word is “slow”) in getting the trusses and roofing material. But this afternoon took care of any hopes that we would have the metal roofing on, as it rained very hard right before they were ready to screw down the first sheet. The high winds made it dangerous, so they waited out the storm. When quitting time came, they had only one of the roofing panels in place. However, we will still have a church dedication tomorrow.

The Evangelistic efforts have gone very well. Pastor Escobar is a very dynamic speaker. He has worked in Honduras in the 90’s so has a pretty good sense of what works and what doesn’t. It looks like there will be more than 100 baptisms.

The IRR (medical) team from Union College has been a HUGE blessing to these people, especially in some of the remote areas. They have seen nearly 2000 patients during the week The eye clinic alone gave out more than 1200 pairs of glasses.

Dr. Mike Duehrssen is an amazing person. What a vision and passion he has for his graduates. Some of the students are marginal Christians, at best, so we hope that the spiritual dimension they experienced resulted in spiritual growth.

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

We had the final gathering of all of the Tocoa churches (five congregations) in the main auditorium today. A special presentation was made to The Quiet Hour, as well as to Union College and Pastor Escobar.

After the church service, we went back to the new church (officially named “Fabio Ochoa SDA Church”) at 3 p.m. for a dedication service. In addition, we had a communion service where many of our team reached out and washed the feet of the local block layers, church members, and others who gave 110% while we were in Tocoa. The icing on the cake came when one of the young mothers that Pastor Prado has been studying with, was baptized. The baptistry was finished late Friday afternoon in anticipation of this special event. We did not get out of the church until after 6 p.m. For many of the “gringos,” they had truly experienced the way so many of our SDA churches function on Sabbaths in Latin American countries. It is nothing for them to stay at the church all day and into the evening.

After supper, the Union College group loaded up their bus and headed for La Ceiba for a three-week medical brigade.

At 9 p.m., we met with our YMA team for our last worship and closing session. It has been a GREAT project, in spite of many challenges. It’s all part of the journey.

During the middle of the week we discovered that six of our participants from Texas scheduled their departure from San Pedro Sula at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning! The rest of us were scheduled to fly out after noon. That meant we had to load our bus and be on the road by 11 p.m. to make the 5-6 hour trip to SPS so that the Texas gang could be there at 5 a.m. to check in. So we loaded the school bus (25 year-old bus that was on its last legs, but still going strong) and were on the road by 11:30. It was one of the bumpiest, roughest rides in my memory. There was no way we could get more than a two- or three- minute cat nap between pot holes and curves and “sleeping policemen” (these are what we call speed bumps, but down here they call them sleeping policemen). There is no way you can hit these bumps without coming to a complete stop, as they would tear out your transmission, etc. – they are very effective!). Surprisingly, because there was very little traffic, we made the trip in less than five hours and got our group to the airport in plenty of time. Thankfully, there was a Wendy’s restaurant in the airport that served breakfast at 5:30 a.m., so our group was able to take in some nourishment after the LONG bus ride. Everyone got their boarding pass OK. Due to the end of Holy Week and Spring Break for many tourists, we were afraid that some of our group might be bumped, but they all got home on schedule.

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Monday, March 24, 2008

Judy and I stayed an extra day to rendezvous with Merlin and Vonda Beerman at the Youngberg Orpahange in Pina Planca, about 90 minutes from San Pedro Sula. We were able to see the campus, and see personally the unbelievable dedication of this family and the ministry they have provided for almost 50 years. Since the founder, Steve Youngberg, passed away six years ago, their funding has dwindled, as he was a master at fundraising and development. There have been numerous groups from academies and hospitals helping them during the past few years, but they are operating on a shoestring. Judy and I feel this would be a good project to look at in our orphanage ministries from The Quiet Hour. Last night right before sundown, we went out on a pontoon boat on Lake Yojoa with the Beermans and the Youngberg family (Eileen and her daughter, Susan) as well as a few other missionaries. One of the local businessmen who was baptized in Merlin’s evangelism campaign last year made arrangements for this relaxing, 30-minute tour of this beautiful lake.

The Youngberg Orphanage ministers to four groups:

1. They have numerous babies that have been given up by their mothers due to neglect and malnourishment.
2. They also take in younger children that are in an environment where they and their mothers are abused.
3. Then there are the ones that are abandoned by their mothers.
4. Lastly, there are the orphans, with no parents.

It breaks your heart to see these children. We saw one little tyke that has been with them only a few weeks. He was 16 months old and weighed only 8 pounds. Totally neglected. In just 6 weeks, he has gained 6-7 pounds and is now starting to hold his head up for a few seconds. I tell you, you just want to go out and track down a parent that would do this to her child — and throw her in the slammer. It is so unjust!

They have such a financial crisis that they only run their electricity for an hour or two in the evenings, so Judy and I went to bed with flashlight in hand. We went to bed at 7:30 and slept for 10 hours! It felt wonderful! At least now we feel rested for the last leg of our trip home.

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Summary

According to statistics, Honduras is the third-poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (Haiti, Bolivia, then Honduras.) The poverty and conditions here are extreme. The irony is that there are many very-wealthy people in Honduras, so the contrast is huge!

The people here are very appreciative of the work that we have done for them. Our funds are being used in a very effective manner. Just think, for a mere $18,000, we were able to build them a church that will be full of worshipers within a few months. This church, as we have seen in the past, will birth and nourish other churches in the area. They do not believe in large churches, but small facilities that will minister the people within their “colonia.”

I feel the “marriage” between Union College and the IRR graduates was very effective. Their students are on a four-month project, which is a marathon for them. Our group does a 10-day sprint. During the next few months, we will be in further dialog with UC to determine the future of the network.

I feel that TQH needs to develop a core of hispanic evangelists that we can call on for TQH projects in Central America. To put it simply, we get a lot of bang for the buck in this country. There is a great interest in doing an evangelism “blitz” in the city of San Pedro Sula. There are 17 churches there, and they have not had a huge evangelistic area-wide campaign in years.

Judy and I feel so blessed to have another project behind us … no injuries, everyone safe and sound back home. Yes, we had a few cases of “tourista” but we suspect that it was a bug brought in from the US with some of the participants. It was a great spiritual growing experience for many. We had several “retirees” who had an awesome experience. Once again, we come back home with the realization of how very blessed we are in the USA and that every day we have a choice to use our blessings to build bigger and better barns, or use those blessings to be a blessing to the world. Guess where our priorities are?