New Church in Le Ceiba

I would like to share November 21st – 23rd with everyone. My uncle, Jim Hutchins, and I had the pleasure of sharing those days with fellow servants of God who came here to Honduras to plant a new church. Russell Brinson, Terrell Brinson, and Mark Gidley came in from the US to speak with the pastor and the leadership of the church that was to be established. They had already purchased the land in the Bufalo area of La Cieba, Honduras. This is a photo of the land and an example of some of the structures that people are living in within the area. It is estimated that there are over 6,000 families with single parents, no jobs, etc. living within a mile of this new church site. The Christian brothers came with the necessary seed money to start the church and through their friends and churches are hoping to have a church capable of seating 250 people established and ready for dedication in August 2009.
While visiting with the church in La Cieba we were hosted to a wonderful breakfast by the pastor and his family and a delicious dinner by the youth minister and his family. We stayed at a La Quinta Inn where we met one of the security guards that had shot a thief in the leg the first night we were there. We invited him to church service with us on Saturday night and he and others gave their hearts to Jesus. We had service on Friday evening with Russell Brinson as the guest speaker and Sherman Collins translating. On Saturday evening Mark Gidley spoke. There is only one way to describe the services we had. “God was in the house.” We had awesome worship services.
We reviewed the church blue prints and suggested they establish a building time line, and I was appointed as the coordinator between the church and Doctor Collins, the National Overseer for Honduras. With God’s divine hand guiding this church will be planted in a fertile area where there’s many to be harvested.

Representing Honduras at Lee University

Paul had a great experience in the States during the second week of November. He flew back to be a part of Missions Week at Lee University as they were highlighting the ministries of the Deaf Center and the Hope House located here in San Pedro. Cheryl Humphries and Angie McIntyre, the founders and directors of those ministries were there as well, and they all received the honor of speaking during the Chapel services. Also they were presented with several opportunities to speak in various classes across the campus. Paul really enjoyed this time at Lee University. While he was in the States, he also spoke at several churches, two in Illinois, and a joint service in Tennessee. He was glad to be able to share the ministries of the Church of God here in Honduras with all these people in the States. He has returned home now and we are in the process of preparing for a mission’s group of thirty from Lee University. They will be with us for ten days in December. We are so excited about all the ministry that will be accomplished with their help. The students from Lee are bringing hygiene packs to pass out to the impoverished and they will be giving the people bags of food as well. Children services are being planned as well as help with the painting and cleaning of various ministries here in the city. We are looking forward to this time and anticipate many great things.

Keeping up with the Children

We completed our month of immersion class at Our Little Roses Bilingual School. All the information is still trying to find a place in our brain, but the class has helped immensely. Now we will continue with classes three times a week for four hours a day. Our children are also progressing with their understanding of Spanish. Agape school moved Anna to a different Spanish class so she can begin with the basics of the language and maybe be next year she can rejoin her grade in Spanish class. They have several classes that are taught in the English language, but Spanish, Social Studies, Music, Computers and PE are totally in Spanish. The teachers of these classes are beginning to try to help Anna and Wesley catch up to their classmates in these subjects. Eli and Jaden are in the preschool classes where Spanish is primarily being spoken and English is being introduced. We overhear Eli singing a song in Spanish or counting to ten in Spanish instead of English while he is playing at the house. JJ calls his shoes “patos” and his ball “pelota”. We, as parents, have to study hard so our children won’t surpass us in Spanish! It is such a blessing to be able to be a part of these classes even though they can be overwhelming at times. It is so important to us to be able to learn the language as quickly as we possibly can. The people here are gracious to us as we are learning and give us respect because we are trying to learn their language. Our desire is to impact the lives of the people and the best way to do that is to communicate.