So much has happened since our last blog post and newsletter that it is hard to know where to start. As a result this post may be a bit rambling and less organized than usual. So, in advance, I’ll ask you for patience because I think in the end it will come together.
We left off with the hurricanes and reconstruction efforts so that is where we’ll pick up. Your donations made it possible for our ministry to provide funds for 6 roof replacement projects in our area and we collaborated with another ministry on a seventh project. These projects were all in communities near Gracias. As one of the communities that suffered storm damage was very close to La Casa De Rubén we saw yet another example of how God’s hand of protection and blessing has been upon La Casa De Rubén.
Many of you may recall that we visited a community called Montaña Verde twice in late November/December to distribute much needed food due to lost crops from the heavy rains and mudslides. This community was completely isolated for several weeks after the storms because the road was completely washed out in several spots. Because of mud slides 19 families either completely lost their homes or had to be relocated because of the risk of future land slides.
Because of continued rains in Montaña Verde they could not start making adobe blocks until mid January so construction did not start until the beginning of March. We made plans to take some men from La Campa to work with some of the men in Montaña Verde to start building homes on March 8th. Over the weekend prior a rare March cold front arrived and brought rain making the road to Montaña Verde impassable again. Our plan is to go up on March 15th to get started but there is more rain in the forecast for next week so we’ll have to see what happens.
And that is the way nearly everything has been for us here in Honduras since last March. There is always something else. Just today at lunch Jean said it feels like we are always waiting for the other shoe to drop and that is quite accurate actually.
It has been over a year since we have been in the U.S. For many missionaries this is not unusual but for us we have been blessed to be able to make an annual visit every year until 2020. The COVID-19 lockdown cancelled our May trip last year. Then the combination of the hurricanes flooding the San Pedro Sula airport, Delta Airlines not offering service to and from Honduras until almost the end of February, and our unresolved permanent residency situation cancelled our November trip and made it practically impossible to plan any future trips.
We are happy to report that after a nearly year long wait we are officially permanent residents of Honduras! But it takes 15 business days for them to produce our actual residency card so we have a temporary card which makes it hard to do a lot of things, and it is not valid for leaving or entering Honduras. So the wait to schedule a trip to the U.S. continues.
This year is an election year in Honduras and election years always bring with them increased levels of uncertainty. The primary election is being held this Sunday March 14th. It seems very unlikely that there will be problems but the rumors persist. So again, there is that sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop which will hang over the country until the general election in November when, unfortunately, the likelihood is higher that there will be problems if recent history is an accurate guide.
But back to Montaña Verde. Now that we have good plans and quotes for material and labor it looks like we may be able to build as many as 8-10 homes. That still leaves about half of the families who lost homes without but we are trusting God to work that out.
One of the lingering effects of the COVID-19 response is that none of the schools were allowed to reopen this year. Very little is being said about when this might change. The fact that it is an election year doesn’t bring much clarity. And sadly many children, especially those in the mountains, are being left behind as access to technology is much more limited compared to the larger cities.
Despite all of this our scholarship students are all doing very well and the program is expanding. We added four new college students to the program this year bringing our total to seven students, six in college and one in high school. Without your donations none of these students would be where they are right now.
One area of our ministry that doesn’t look like it will be resuming this year is our short term mission team ministry. Pre-Covid this was a large part of our community ministry and we really miss spending time in the communities with the mission teams. We can also add that, personally speaking, we really miss serving with our short term mission teams. We had been hopeful that 2021 would bring the return of mission teams but with all of the uncertainty about paperwork, COVID tests, quarantine risks, etc. the hesitancy to travel internationally is understandable.
In response to this one of the new things we’ve recently started doing is weekly visits in each of the communities we serve. We go with the local pastor to visit families in their community, to give those in need food bags, to pray for these families, and to share words of encouragement, hope, and eternal life from the Bible.
Another opportunity that God has recently brought us to serve families in the areas of health and development is a new deaf ministry for children. For those of you who know us you know that we don’t know anything about ministering to or teaching deaf children. But we’ve become friends with another missionary from the U.S. who lives in Gracias who does and we are so excited that she has expanded her ministry to include deaf children and their families in La Campa. Every Tuesday Ellie and these families come to our house to learn how to communicate using sign language, learn about living with deafness, and grow in their faith.
The administrative needs to support the ministry continue to grow and we are reminded of that especially during this time of year when we have so many reports to do for both Honduras and the U.S. governments. Keeping a Honduran NGO “in good standing” as we say here, is not a very easy task and finding good legal representation is always a challenge. FHD Honduras is in good standing but there are some details with some of our papers that need to be cleaned up and we are working hard with good legal representation to make this happen in 2021. But again, this an election year. And if there is a significant shift in power from one party to another there is the likelihood that the requirements will change, so we will have to just wait and see.
The reality is that we have been, and probably will be for quite some time, in a period of waiting and seeing, or waiting for the other shoe to drop, in regards to circumstances and current events. But we take comfort in what the Bible says about walking by faith and not by sight. The last twelve months have made this truth more real and practical to us than ever before. By faith we can see through the circumstances and continue on victoriously in the ministry and life that God has for us, regardless of the circumstances, because God is sovereign over all. He is still the Lord. He is still on His throne.
We have to be aware of what is happening around us; we have to think, to plan, to organize, to do all of those type of things and do them as well as possible. But ultimately it takes faith, and trusting God for His favor, His timing, and His provision to bring about those things which He desires. And that is our ultimate goal, to do only the things that are pleasing and honoring to Him.
We want to conclude by thanking you for sticking with us all the way through to the end of this post. Thank you for praying for us, and for giving sacrificially so that we can continue to live and serve in the western mountains of Honduras.
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to our ministry you can do so here.