December 2000 Volume 3 Number 1

Highlights of our time Stateside

We arrived from Honduras September 25^th and had a week with families and then we were off to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

SPLICE – Spiritual, Personal Lifestyles, Interpersonal, Culture and Endurance. In a relaxed mountain retreat atmosphere we discussed matters that can make or break ministry on the mission field. Most of the thirty attending our three week seminar are going to the mission field for the first time. The information was encouraging and affirming and the networking was great, both with teachers and students. We learned ways to keep the work effective while not neglecting marriage and relationship building.

IBLP (Institute for Basic Life Principles) For years Bill Gothard has encouraged Christians to live life in a new dimension. His presentation of life principles relates exactly to the ministry challenges with the people of the Merendon Mountains. We attended this seminar some years back, but this time with a new perspective on truths that impacted our lives. Low self-esteem, bitterness, anger, marriage problems and failures are endemic to our people there. Building a Biblical culture is encouraged and what we receive in this week-long seminar is so important to our ministry in Honduras.

Envision 2000 The National Missionary Convention was wonderful as always. The Knoxville, TN location made it more accessible. We met old friends and made new ones as we networked for ways to increase our effectiveness for ministry in the Merendons. The theme was built around discipleship, and Toby was able to glean a number of ideas and strategies as well as materials for discipling the men of the mountains.

Medical Missions Conference This gathering of 800 medical professionals at Southeast

Christian Church in Louisville, KY was most helpful. Amy attended and was able to pick up training on skin diseases and treatment strategies. Hygiene education is significantly important in our rural area and again the information and strategies will prove helpful. Networking with others in medical fields is always an education in addition to the specific classes.

Church Visitation Since our return from Colorado we have visited fourteen supporting churches, at least one each Sunday morning and evening. Again it has been wonderful to visit with friends who have made our mission possible for the last three years and make new friends in the supporting churches. Most of December will be spent with families and friends. A number of lunches and dinner meetings are schedule and December 11,12

We will travel to Grand Rapids Michigan to International Aid, Amway’s resource center for missionaries, where products are available at 10% of the retail value.

When we left the Merendon Mountains late in September the rainy season was just starting. Asthma patients coming to the clinic are an indication of the season change in the tropical regions. We were grateful for the gift of several nebulizers from Nora Suisse who operates an orphanage at Omoa on the Northwest coast of Honduras. The government hospitals have only 2 nebulizers to treat hundreds of patients. An asthma patient can die before help comes and with Nora’s help we can treat attacks immediately without the trip to town and the wait. We were seeing the increase of pneumonia and bronchitis. Yami is trained now to deal with these seasonal afflictions.

Toby has been developing discipleship groups. We bought a number of excellent training materials at the missionary convention. He is now reviewing and preparing materials for his students. Three discipleship groups are anticipating his return. In addition, Toby is preaching (in Spanish) two or three times a week. He meets weekly with the ministry staff he is mentoring for work with the Penitas church and other mountain ministries.

The work will expand slowly and we pray that in eight to ten years we will

Have strong leadership in the 56 villages of the Merendons. Individuals will be trained at the base and then deployed to the various locations. The cost of supporting a national minister is $150 to $200 per month, much less than having Americans in to do the work. There is a pressing need for dirt bikes for these men to get about. Juan Gutierrez should be cleared for a visa by the time we get back, he may arrive a day or two after we get back if all goes well in obtaining his visa. He is a native of the Dominican Republic who is trained in evangelism and cell group work. Juan will need his own motorcycle for his work. His primary location will be at La Union and he will minister in five communities nearby. New facilities for the Bible Institute located South of San Pedro Sula, and operated by Bill Hoff, will be opened by the fall and three men from the mountains are ready to attend to be trained in Bible and preaching.

A major need for us is a new truck to supplement the aging Toyota that is more and more frequently breaking down due to hard use. The older truck could get Amy back and forth to the clinic and provide for emergency transportation to the hospitals, while a newer stronger vehicle could get Toby to the remote locations to teach, preach and disciple. Also there are Short Term Missions teams that would benefit from the transportation as well as the trips taken by the youth groups. Estimated for used, $20,000

Upon our return Amy will be taking new directions in providing medical care. More time will be given to pray with each patient coming for our help. We want every patient to have a spiritual impact out of clinic visits, more than the five or ten minutes of devotional time starting each clinic day. Amy will concentrate on the Penitas Aribba base clinic.

Yami will be sent out to the villages to teach basic hygiene. The teaching of hygiene in La Union this past Spring brought 40 women and the patient load dropped from 150 to 50 at our monthly remote clinic there. Simple things such as washing hands frequently, especially after "outhouse" visits make the difference. There will be a teaching day and then the next day there will be a health clinic. For some the base clinic at Penitas is 8 hours away by foot. Yami’s efforts will make a big difference in the lives of many families. An assistant will be needed for this outreach to package medicines and do paper work. With Juan and Toby doing follow up work in these remote locations there will be more open doors for ministry and a deeper impact in the lives of the Merendon families.

The materials from the Institute in Basic Life Principles are available in Spanish and it looks like the seminar video for 30 hours of Biblical instruction, in Spanish) will be available to us next year. We are excited about the future of the work in the Merendon Mountains of Honduras.