Sponsoring House Of Hope Children

Would you or your Church be interested in providing all or part of a childs expenses at the House Of Hope?

One of our goals is to house children, each school year. Most of them would be ones we've helped to get surgeries and may not get an education in their home village due to their residual limitations.

This part of our program would operate sort of like a boarding house in that the children would return to their homes during school break from November to February. That way they would maintain ties with their family and culture and yet be equipped to contribute to society though they may be incapable of physically rigorous labor.

For $90 a month, we can House, feed, and educate a child. While at the House of Hope, they will be expected to study, not only their textbooks, but the Bible, as well, and develope Christian character accordingly, learn to pitch in with whatever chores they are able.

We have 13 children waiting to spend the 2005 school year with us. So far, none of them are completely sponsored.

Below are their names:

Astrid, girl, Deaf
(15 yr old - name still unknown), girl, Deaf
Nancio, boy, Burned and badly scarred
Ursula, girl, Burned and badly scarred
Selvin, boy, Orphan
Lenny, boy, Amputated clubfoot
Alba, girl, Amputated clubfoot
Daniel, boy, Amputated leg
Walter, boy, Withered leg
Fanny, girl, Withered leg
Chelma, girl, Clubfoot
Jenny, girl, Severely impaired vision
Brigida, girl, At risk teenage

If you are intersested, please contact us by email, rogerkatrina@gmail.com , or Tom Brian by telephone, 972-727-5436.

First Baptist Church of Blue Ridge

Thanks to Pastor Johnnie R. Jones of First Baptist Church of Blue Ridge, Texas, for allowing us to share our vision with his congregation this past Sunday.
Pastor Johnnie gave us a copy of his two published books, Metamorphosis: Changes From Within, and Metamorphosis 2: The Transforming Power of Intimacy With God. While we have not read them yet, we can say that after hearing him preach we're reasonably sure that they are both good books.
Thank you once again, Pastor and First Baptist Church of Blue Ridge.

Needs List

Some members of the Suncreek United Methodist Church, here in Allen, TX, wanted us to post a list of needs that can be collected for the House Of Hope and given to Dr. Tom Brian, of Send Hope, in Allen, for shipment to Honduras.

Our thanks to you for your interest in helping. Here is the list:

Baby Cribs
Baby High Chairs
Cloth Diapers
Baby Clothes & Shoes*
Children's Clothes & Shoes*
Backpacks
School Supplies
Body Soap
Shampoo
Toothpaste
Deodorant
Baby Bottles
Toddler Cups
Cleaning Supplies

Suncreek United Methodist Church

This past Sunday we visited Suncreek United Methodist Church where Pastor Kathleen and Youth Pastor Janet were very hospitable to us. We wish to extend our thanks to them and their congregation for having us.

Some Help!

Last night, after I posted the previous entry, we received word that a Dr. Victoria Knoll, of Plano, TX, has agreed to look at Katrina's finger. That's the first step. Praise The Lord!

Pray For Us!

Katrina and I just found out that a sore finger that has bothered her for years has a tumor in it. Recently it began to hurt more severely and she had it checked out. The Doctor called today with the news. So please pray for us.

I think I was more broken up and scared about it than she was, if that's possible. The thought of her having anything terminal, (though this has not even been called malignant), and me and the children having to continue our lives without her scares me to death.

Anyway, we will be looking for a doctor and/or hospital that will take her on pro-bono. If something is found quickly, our plans may be restructured to suit the situation.

The way I understand this, the first step is to test for malignancy. The chances are low, but the possibility must be eliminated before the tumor can be removed and a bone graft from her hip can be done to replace the finger's natural bone that has been partially eaten away by this thing.

As much as we help others with this very same thing, I guess it never really occurred to us that we may one day need the same kind of help. Thank God for his promises. Like, for example, Galations 6, verses 7,8 &9 that encourage us, saying: "Do not be deceived, GOD is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this shall he also reap. For the one who sows to his flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart, therefore, in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary."

For us this has proven to be a lot of information to process in one day's time. Just thought we'd ask you to lift us up in your prayers.

Your comments are welcome, though we'd much rather get an email to our personal address: rogerkatrina@gmail.com

Holy Covenant

Our thanks go out to Holy Covent United Methodist Church and their Pastor, Don Lee, for having us share with them this past Sunday. We did sort of an interview style presentation for all three services. Our special thanks to the Men's group who pledged a fairly large amount of money to help us in our work.
God is good and he always provides for all our needs.

Here in Texas

We have been in Texas for about a week now. We drove up from Sebring, FL last Thursday. It took 30 hours and I have probably never been so tired and dehydrated in my entire life.
Advice for those of you who have a desire to drive for 30 hours straight... Don't! But if you do, drink plenty of water. I wasn't drinking water because I didn't want to make potty breaks as frequently. Not too smart. I was miserable.

Anyway, we spoke at First United Methodist Church of Plano, Texas, this past Sunday. What a blessing. They took good care of us at their church and at lunch afterwards. Pastor Gary, Brothers Ken, Dave, Clay and others made sure we were where we needed to be, with the equipment and technical support we needed. The SAVE Honduras group, headed up by them, will be making a trip to visit us in Pto. Lempira this coming March. If you are interested in making a similar trip, with or without a group, let us know and we will see if we can work out the details. rogerkatrina@gmail.com

Scott & Janna Simants and their children have been kind enough to invite us into their home until Christmas, when we are supposed to be spending a day with my family. I would personally like to commend them on their generosity. How many families do you know of that can bear with a family, including three small children, for a week, in their home? Let alone three! So thanks Scott and Janna! God Bless You.

Hello and Welcome to Lamplight!

We are Roger and Katrina Engle from the New Testament Church in Sebring, Florida. We are the proud parents of four children; Joshua -12 yrs. old in July, Bu-bu (Roger III) – 8 yrs. old in November, Christian – 7 yrs. old in June, and Victoria – 3 yrs. old in November.

In addition, we have informally adopted two children who live with us when we are in the field, about nine months of each year; Brigida (BREE-hee-da) – a 12 yr. old whose mother gave her to us to raise so she could finally start school (She is in the second grade and loving it.), and Selvin (SEL-veen) – a 7 yr. old, (When we first got him he was at death’s door. Well, almost three years later he calls us Mom and Dad and we can’t imagine living without him.)

My wife has been working in Honduras as a missionary for almost thirteen years and I for ten. We were married in Florida in January of 1995 and returned to Honduras after the birth of Christian in 1997.

We are also affiliated with Send Hope, a mission organization based in Allen, Texas, and M.O.M., or Mission On the Move, a ministry that focuses on drilling wells and caring for children, out of Springfield, GA.

Our mission work is in the city of Puerto Lempira, Honduras, which is in a region known as La Moskitia, or the Mosquito Coast. Gracias A Dios is the official name of the state but it is generally known as La Moskitia for the population of indigenous people that are the majority there, the Miskito people.

The city of Puerto Lempira is a small city, about five to ten square miles, and roughly 22,000 people. Probably about 65 percent of the population are Miskito. The remaining 35 percent is a mix made up of Mestizos, Garifunas, Pech, and Sumo, with a smattering of European or American development workers and missionaries. Our main focus is on children’s health and education, both physical and spiritual.

A young man named Ricardo, whom we helped receive his own prosthetic leg last year, as well as a young couple, Kevin (An American Volunteer), and his wife, Margarita (A Honduran Miskito) are our only staff. Ricardo is our handy-man, Kevin is our staff cook, and Margarita is the staff house keeper.

We do several different ministries, all for the purpose of reaching children and bettering their lives. Our hope is to reach their parents with the gospel and halt the deterioration of this city by forming the next generation under the influence of God.

Among the ministries we use to do this is a renourishment program for grade two and grade three malnourishment cases referred to us by the hospital. We provide baby formula or powdered milk for malnourished children on a weekly basis. Each week we try to have contact with them and monitor progress.

Another ministry is a type of surgery logistics program to help people with the cost of temporary relocation for the life saving or life changing surgery their child needs.

Some people have asked us the question, “How many people have we helped in the past ten years with Nourishment, Education, or Transportation?”, and I have to say, truthfully, that I don’t know. We never kept records until we began to be sponsored by Send Hope specifically for these activities. But in the past year we have transported about ninety people, provided nourishment for about thirty children, and provided four scholarships to the Christian School.

We are building a hospitality house called the House of Hope, which will house such people and their children as well as long term disabled children, who will live with us for the school year so they can either go to the local AG Christian school, or be tutored, (if their disability makes it impossible to attend the school).

Another desire is that the House of Hope will be able to house Christian teen-agers who will be asked to help with daily chores and engage in a very intensive Christ based discipleship program, much like Teen Challenge, the discipleship program we both attended as youth and Katrina worked in for a year after graduating.

We hope you will pray for us. If you are interested in receiving our newsletter or a regular e-mail update of our progress, or maybe you would even like to have us speak at your church, contact Holly Stewart:

lamplightholly@aol.com

Thank You and God Bless You!