Mary is a Big Help!

We have a new volunteer that goes by the name of Mary Nicewander. Mary is a physical therapist from Michigan who spends her days working with the children on an individual basis. She has a daily scheduled routine with them in which she provides them with flexibility and mobility workouts that are designed to help the children improve their motor skills, range of motion and strength.

When she is not doing physical therapy exercises with one of the children she works with them individually or in small groups teaching them to do crafts, such as bead necklaces, and puzzles, things to improve their ability to reason and recognize patterns. My wife, long ago realized how beneficial a jigsaw puzzle can be for a child's cognitive reasoning developement. She noticed that the adult workers at House of Hope could not even begin to do a 30 piece puzzle while the children, with whom she had done lots of puzzles, could sit down and fire out a 30 piece puzzle in 5 or 10 minutes.

Mary has been to Dominican Republic and Haiti on previous short term mission projects and therefore the living conditions and poverty don't tend to shock her and rend her incapable of working effectively the way we have seen them effect others. She is a blessing to House of Hope and to Katrina, especially, since it is Katrina they call when a problem arises if there is not someone as responsible as Mary on the campus already. So Katrina's phone is not ringing off the hook as much anymore.

She also said she was very pleased with the accomodations in the new Guest House that is almost finished. House of Hope will be able to host small groups and/or individual volunteers in the future without them having to stay in a room next to a crying infant or a bunch of playing children.

Belki

We have had a girl in and out of our lives and ministry for about six years now whom we affectionately called "Belki". Her mother is a drunk and a drug-addict who resorts to prostitution to meet the demands of her addictions. Needless to say, Belki and her younger brother, Richard, were prime targets for our love and intervention.

We have had both of them in our care at different times during our ministry here in Puerto Lempira. Sometimes it was just helping to buy uniforms and supplies for school. Sometimes it was the whole nine yards. They both lived with us for a length of time when the mother was sexually assaulted in a very violent way.

Well, Belki decided she wanted to follow in her mothers footsteps, so to speak, and left House of Hope. She said the rules were too strict and since she was not court ordered to stay, we let her go. She has been "raped" several times, (according to her stories), and recently we saw a few different episodes that proved to us that her life was in danger. She received an oral death threat in the hospital while my wife, Katrina, stood by and witnessed.

We have been fortunate with Belki, in that the seeds we have been planting in her heart are beginning to take root now. Hopefully, there was enough "fertilizer" for the seeds to grow, and not too much of the same, which would burn the roots and kill the tree.

"She is such a smart girl!", Katrina continually marvels to all who ask about her. And it's true, she learned more English in the year she lived at House of Hope than most of our House of Hope kids will learn in their lives. She is not in the predicament she's in for lack of intelligence. She just had more negative influence than positive, until now.

Recently, seeing the state of Belki's life, Katrina began to look for a way to rehabilitate her and get her out of Puerto Lempira, at the same time. Thanks to Lauren Keck, who heads a ministry called Doors of Hope in Tocoa, Colon, we found what we hope will be the right fit.

Lauren runs a tight ship of a ministry at Doors of Hope. The girls who go there are being rehabilitated in much the same way we experienced in Teen Challenge. That is to say that it is a Word-Based ministry for the centering of lives on putting the Word of God into action in the lives of those who go there. We believe that is just what Belki needs.

Pray for her as you say your prayers today. We will.

Panhandling

When I mention the word panhandling do you think of the northern part of Florida? Or maybe one of the less desireable sorts you see on the streets downtown on your way to or from work? What image does the word bring to your mind?



We recently had our own panhandling experience here in Puerto Lempira. Believe it or not, our own Katrina was the culprit. She went from person to person, even went into restaurants, asking for people's spare change. She wasn't seeking a little more cash to buy that next drink or fix. She wasn't trying to play on people's sympathy for any of the normal reasons you would see someone panhandling. Don't worry. God, through you, our supporters has been doing an excellent job of making sure our needs get met. Let me back up a bit and give you the details of the story.



Some of you remember Ricardo, our old friend and sometime employee. Well, he had to go to Tegucigalpa to have his prosthetic leg refitted and repaired. While there, he is caring for his sister-in-law, mother of SEVEN of his nephews and nieces, Elda Garcia, who was just diagnosed with cancer of the fallopian tubes. Doctors want her to start radiation therapy ASAP, but she cannot afford the cost. He called us to ask if there was any way we could help.

Chagrined, I started to shake my head no when my wife told me about the request. I have no idea how much this sort of thing costs in the US. All I know is that it's more than I have at my fingertips. Not God though! Right? Well I almost fell over when my wife told me how much it would be...

$500 or less!!! How many people have you known or known of that had a bill like THAT for radiation therapy for cancer? It's inconcieveable to me that health care and treatments so vital for life and death can cost SO MUCH MORE in our wonderful, technologically advanced country. Time and time again I am astounded at how inexpensively serious illnesses can be treated here in Honduras because I have been trained to believe the prices for health care in the US are necesarrily as high as they are.

Anyway, (sorry for the rant), now I saw it as do-able. But I still knew we could not just plop the money down on the counter. House of Hope is limited in who they can help in a financial way. They help children. If it were a child we could have looked into the House of Hope coffers for at least part of the help. Neither did we have anymore of our personal funds to dole out. We had already helped Ricardo with his prosthetic, a prostitute whose life was in danger to relocate, and another young lady who got stuck in Tegucigalpa and needed airfare home.

What would we do to fill the need? I didn't know, but Katrina had an idea. "These local merchants can't tell me no!", she proclaimed, boldly, "I've taken care of their children, grand-children, nieces and nephews when even they couldn't do so!" So she took her show on the road day before yesterday and raised MORE than was needed for the treatment. Ricardo got mugged a week ago and they took his cell phone, which was his only connection to us and his family at home. With the extra money he will be able to purchase a new, if cheap, one AND put $20 of time on it.

Please Pray for Elda. We don't know her as well as we do Ricardo, but her condition weighs heavy on our minds. The Lord has promised that "He that began a good work in [ Elda ] is faithful to complete it!" We know that He is working to bring help in her direction. We sincerely hope you will believe with us and her children and loved ones for remission and recovery.

God Bless You!!!

Visiting the USA

Well, the time has come for us to decide whether or not we will be returning to the USA for a visit this year. We have several concerns that we must address in making this decision;

First, do we have the finances to visit the USA this year? Normally we wouldn't worry about this because our main activity while in the states is fund raising. However, everyone knows that the economy has been in a bit of a bad way for our country this year and that could affect giving. What's more, we are looking at higher than normal airfare due to higher fuel prices.

Second, where will we go and whom shall we visit? You have all been so kind to us in the past, but we feel, at times, like the house guest who has overstayed his or her welcome. We know that none of you, our friends, would say to us, "No, we just can't afford a visit from your family this year.", or, "You just came here last year! Don't you get tired of bothering us?" Even so, Proverbs 25:17 says: "Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest he be weary of thee and so, hate thee."

So, we have decided to leave it up to you. If you and/or your church would like to have us visit, let us know. We will plan on visiting between the middle of December and the end of January, if we visit.

God bless you!

Aaron

This an excerpt from a letter Katrina wrote today to her brother. I have posted it here with her permission:

'After dinner the other day a little boy walked into the H.O.H and said to me I came to stay here. I was a little taken aback by his statement a very handsome child i asked why do you want to stay here? "My dad died Saturday of cancer and my mom said she does not want to take care of children anymore and left us.", he told me. It turns out he has been dead two years.'
'He is eight years old. So, I have come to realize that we are probably not going anywhere soon. Too many children here who are in desperate situations. Daily now I am getting caught up in rescuing a child in one way or another. I sometimes marvel how God has prepared me for this, and how he has opened the doors and given me favor to be able to do it.'

What Katrina says is true. She is daily caught up, sometimes for up to twelve hours a day, in rescuing children. While I don't know how she does it I DO know where she get's the strength. Her life revolves around and is filled with the word and spirit of God. Without that wellspring flowing into, through and out of her heart, she would NEVER be able to keep up with the demand that this town and culture heaps upon her particular ministry. Nobody could. That's why so many people who have come here with similar work in mind have cut htheir time short and moved on.

We praise God for His marvelous work in and through us.

(Picture of Aaron will be posted later today.)