Saturday, January 31, 2009

Closing Impressions

We finished today in a grande celebración and fellowship with local believers at Iglesia La Cosecha (The Harvest Church) in Quimistán. This was an incredible experience to be welcomed by brothers and sisters in Christ and worship with them in honor of our Savior. We did not understand much of what was said, but agreed that God was honored by the worship service and our interaction with local believers there.

Earlier in the day, Karen and I returned to Santa Clara to spend a few hours encouraging our new friends. I was able to make a short video of the people working on Mrs. Amalia’s house and learned more about that effort. Later, I encouraged Arturo to provide a short tour of the brick manufacturing microenterprise that I also captured on video. We will try to post these videos in the near future for those who are interested.

Also during today’s visit to Santa Clara, Karen was able to spent time talking to Brenda, one of Mrs. Amalia’s daughters who wants to become a nurse. She had a wonderful visit with Brenda and was able to encourage her to pursue this goal even in the face of what may seem like overwhelming obstacles. Please pray for Brenda.

Other events of the day included: A visit to the Agape compound clinic to meet with Dr. Elsa; time with Letitia at the Quimistan health department discussing VBS materials and deworming treatments at local schools; and a meeting with Katie Wooten, the Peace Corps volunteer in Quimistán who, unfortunately, is returning to the U.S. soon but hopes this is only for a short time. Our attempts to arrange meetings with Pat from Cristo Salva or Rob Turner from Boise State University’s Clean Water Club were unsuccessful. We will continue these efforts later.

Thank you for supporting this outreach in Honduras. We have been able to join in a conversation God started with the people of Santa Clara many months ago. In my brief time here, I have witnessed the power of God’s goodness as He opens peoples’ eyes and hearts, and changes both lives and lifestyles. Santa Clara is a community in the midst of an awesome transformation, and we have the joy of playing a small part in the opening stanzas of a grand concert God has scheduled in this place.

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:12-14 (NLT)”

Ron L.

1 comment:

  1. Ron,

    What a beautiful word picture you convey in describing what God is doing there in Santa Clara: "the opening stanzas of a grand concert God has scheduled"

    May God bless every note that each team member added to the stanza!

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