Sunday, July 26, 2009

What a week!

Hello from Honduras,
We hope each of you are enjoying the summer and perhaps some vacation time or at least some rest and relaxation.
I would like to take this time to say that God is alive and well in Honduras. I want to say that for two reasons. The first is that there has been no fighting between people and the police or the army as many news organizations are reporting with the political situation. There is peace in Honduras!! The only people trying to incite rioting and other problems are ex-President Mel Zelaya and Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela. Ninety-five percent of the Honduran people are behind the new government and just want peace. Democracy is prevailing in Honduras.
The other reason that I am saying God is alive in Honduras is because of the group from Tuscaloosa, Alabama that was here for the last week. They spent as much time being doctors as they did praying for the people and their needs. The Honduran people were very appreciative of the individual time spent in prayer. It was an awesome week. This was a first time group this group served with us in Honduras and they were greatly encouraging to Ana and myself.
We worked in two communities just to the north of Tegucigalpa. The first area was Divine Providence and the other was Las Hadras. We then went to Lepaterique and worked in the communities of El Espino, Cerro Verde, and Guayabal. Each day had its own distinct challenges and each day the group rose to the occasion.
Cerro Verde or Green Hill is a new community for us to work in and is probably the poorest and most remote that we have served. It is a good hour outside of Lepaterique with horrible roads to get there. These were by far the worst roads we have been on in the five years we have been serving God in Honduras. Our truck could not make the drive. We had to transition to four wheel drive trucks. Once we turned off the main road, it became evident why (see pictures of road). The second half of our trip was all on a handmade roads with large rocks being chiseled out with picks and other tools. We were all very tired and sore after the beating we took driving to get to this community to work. The only building we could see was the school building that we worked in. The poverty was evident as well, because of malnourishment in some of the people. Some of their sources of income are making a type of pine sol for cleaning floors from pine tree sap as well as some type of pine soap to scent clothes when they are washed. They also sell handmade ropes and handmade brooms. They have very little tillable ground which leads their poor diets and health problems. It was truly a blessing to be in this community as well as the others we served this week.
A note from Ana: As my husband already said, this week was unforgettable. In my entire ministry I have never seen so many sick people in just one week. It was like God guided us to make decisions that changed our lives as well as those of the patients. It was something different in the way that this group worked. For them, a priority was praying. How are they going to make it to see all the patients if they are praying so much¬? And I said to myself, God, do it your way not mine. That reminded me of the scripture of the two sisters in Luke 10-38: 42, and how God praised the one who chose to listen to Him. This was a big lesson for me. Thanks Teresa, Dr. John, Laura, Jackie and Dr. Lacy for being such a great Christians. Not only in the professional field were you all amazing but in spiritually loving the people you all were an example to follow. I know all of you made an impact on my people healing their souls and bodies. Thanks for being part of this journey and listen and obeying God’s voice and winning the crown that was already made for all of you. Thanks again, my sisters and brother in Christ.

As you can see we are impacting hundreds of people every week. But we can’t do it alone. We need your continued prayers and financial support to sustain this active and growing ministry. Please let us know your thoughts or any comments you might have regarding our ministry. We thank each of you for all you do for us. May God richly bless each one of you.

2 comments:

Steve S said...

Thanks for the update. We are praying for you and for everyone in Honduras. It took way too long, and the situation is far from resolved, but it seems like the world is finally waking up to the realities of how and why ex-President Zelaya was removed. From here in the US it seems like this small nation is overcoming obstacles put up by the entire world and giving us all a lesson in how republican democracy is supposed to work. Catrachos have reason to be proud.

Tell Oscar he looks great! I can't believe how much weight he has lost since I met him a year and a half ago.

John Lamon said...

Hey Steve, I think the world is realizing that Mel Zelaya wants to be a dictator, but even the U.S. is still pushing for him to be reinstated. go figure. I think our government is leaning to far to the left when it won't help a small country that is trying to stay a democracy!