Good To Be Back!

We´ve been back a week and, overall it´s good to be back. The kids are adjusting well and evreybody is starting to fall into a normal routine.
One of the things that I´m constantly needing to do is refresh myself spiritually. Last week we didn´t go to church Wednesday night because we had just gotten here and were still settling in. Well, by the time Sunday rolled around, even though we had done our morning devotions together fairly faithfully, Kevin and Margarita and I were all in need af some refreshing. Isn´t it awesome, the way the Lord always gives us what we need, even when we don´t realize it?
Our pastor, David Castro, entitled his sermon, "Aviva el Fuego!", which literally means, "Revive The Fire!" Meaning the fire which is within you!
Well, after that, let me tell you, I´m still on fire! Isn´t God Wonderful?

The Engle Family

The Engle Family
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!

First Day of School!

Journal: "Roger Engle
Today was little Victoria's first day of school. It's only pre-kinder, but she was so excited you couldn't tell the difference. We did her hair in little barrettes and then decided on pony tails, changed her clothes 3 times, then I walked her and the other children to school.
I wanted to escort her to the office and present her to Barbara deCastro, the school Administrator, but she wanted to go out and play in the yard with all of the other children and I let her while I waited outside Barbara's office.
Everything was fine until she realized that I had not followed her out to the schoolyard. Then she began to cry.
When I heard her crying, of course, I went to find her and, when she had ceased to cry, I took her to her class. That's when the crying began in earnest.
Now, Victoria is not the first three year old I've encountered in my days. Nor is she the strongest willed. I think it's simply because she's my little girl that I feel the way I do when she carries on that way. Needless to say, it wasn't the momentous occasion I thought it should have been, but they never are. Are they?
Later, after going to the bank to get the money for the tuition and registration, I returned and she was still crying. Everyone was on edge and I felt miserable. Barbara, the Administrator, reminded me that that's how the first day of pre-kinder is for a lot of kids. Not that that actually made me feel better, but it was a good way to think of it.
I wonder if she'll be ready to go back again tomorrow."

Back To Honduras!

Journal: "Back to Honduras!Written 1 day ago
Roger Engle
Got here yesterday and went straight through customs without a problem. Looks like things are improving some, right? I still had to stand in line for an hour and a half with Victoria screaming, Christian bouncing off the walls(literally), and Bubu trying desperately not to get stepped on or shoved by rude travellers. 'I want my Mama!' It's like a bad song stuck in my head. My loving wife is still in the states and God do I miss her."