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We love serving the people God has called us to as a family and we count it a great honor.
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There IS hope and His name is Jesus. Let us not forget the battles people are facing everyday. Let us be gracious, let us be kind, let us be people of compassion and generosity.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ”
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The source of your anxiety, whatever it is, matters dearly to God. You can leave it to Him. If you need evidence of that, look up and around you. God cares for the birds of the air—the robins, the hummingbirds, even the vultures. Humans have greater value to Him than birds do, so how much more will He pay attention to your needs?
Programs funded by the United States are helping
transform Honduras. Who says American power is dead?
by SONIA NAZARIO AUG. 11, 2016
San Pedro Sula, Honduras — Three years ago, Honduras had the highest homicide rate in the world. The city of San Pedro Sula had the highest homicide rate in the country. And the Rivera Hernández neighborhood, where 194 people were killed or hacked to death in 2013, had the highest homicide rate in the city. Tens of thousands of young Hondurans traveled to the United States to plead for asylum from the drug gangs’ violence.
This summer I returned to Rivera Hernández to find a remarkable reduction in violence, much of it thanks to programs funded by the United States that have helped community leaders tackle crime. By treating violence as if it were a communicable disease and changing the environment in which it propagates, the United States has not only helped to make these places safer, but has also reduced the strain on our own country.
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“The missionary heart: Care more than some think is wise. Risk more than some think is safe. Dream more than some think is practical. Expect more than some think is possible. I was called not to comfort or success but to obedience….There is no joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving him.”
—Karen Watson, martyr, March 15, 2004
Saige and Yeni.
Today (originally posted November 6, 2015) was a hard day for Yeni and she was not in good spirits most of the day for obvious reasons. She was admitted to the hospital for an infection which is super dangerous based on her weak immune system.
So the initial prognosis was a 4 day stay in the hospital which would mean missing her big party tomorrow. 😔😔😔. Thankfully though the doctors seem to think she will be able to leave the hospital, if only for a short time, to enjoy the party. We are super excited about the chances of going ahead with the party!! That explains the big smiles in the photo.
This was actually the first time Yeni smiled all day. She had been looking for Saige but she was at school for the first half of the day. After Saige got out of school we explained the situation to her and she immediately said we need to go take Yeni lunch, be with her, and make sure she can still go to her party. Saige also decided to give Yeni a small, portable DVD player that had been given to her as a gift and two new movies so Yeni has something to occupy her mind while in the hospital.
All in all, today was a long, heart wrenching day watching Yeni suffer and not being able to do much more than just be present.
Yeni is a brave young girl fighting a nasty disease and yet still took time today to insist that she could stay at the hospital alone if it meant her younger siblings wouldn't have to be left alone for any amount of time during her treatment.
Being in close proximity to the suffering of kids like Yeni and others we've met this year has really broken my heart in so many ways.
I don't understand the place that suffering of this magnitude has in this world. I don't know what makes one kid out of a family of four have cancer while the other three just watch her suffer.
I only know that we are each placed here on earth to help ease the suffering of others in any way we can. We are here to be the reason someone can smile at the end of a day like this. We are here to love others in the way Jesus would. Fully and without prejudice. We are here to mend the broken hearted and bandage their wounds.
“Compassion without action is merely observation.”
Articles
Pastor Fredy Ventura is a very dedicated servant to the people of La Ceiba.
He is a man that holds in very high regard the responsibility God has bestowed upon him. His work is run on Faith in God alone.
Pastor Fredy Ventura in his office at the Comedor de JesuCristo in La Ceiba, Honduras
7 days a week and 24 hours a day, people in La Ceiba can come to the Comedor de JesuCristo and receive a meal.
There are three designated meal times set aside to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, however, because of a rotation of volunteer pastors and church leaders, they will serve a meal to someone in need at any time of day or night.
The location is centrally located and easy to access. There are no forms to sign, or agreements between those serving and those eating. They have stripped everything down to a basic service of feeding the hungry. At each meal the word of God is preached, and food is served. They do so based on a belief of biblical scriptures instructing them to do so. People wishing to get a meal do not need to do anything except show up.
Pastor Fredy has told us of numerous times when this community kitchen was out of food with no resources left to purchase food as well.
Serving up to three hundred meals each day is a huge task to undertake and being without food in the pantry is a major problem. Pastor Fredy described one such occasion when one of the volunteer cooks called him and told him the pantry was completely empty. Being a man of great faith, and conviction, he instructed her to put the pots and pans on the stove and to begin boiling water. She did as he said, while Freddy drove up to the kitchen. When he arrived he circled up all of the volunteers to pray for provisions. As they concluded their prayers, a vehicle approached, and out stepped a person no one had ever met offering a trunk load of food to be donated to the feeding program.
Pastor Freddy truly believes that every meal provided by this program past, present and in the future is directly from God, and he continues to feed those who come because of that faith.
He has shared with us that he has seen many people benefit from this program in their time of need so much so that he has even seen some people get off the street and return to their family and employment. They also have several "graduates' who now volunteer their time and no longer live on the streets like those they now get the chance to serve.
We are grateful to be able to support Comedor de JesuCristo, Our Team in July served here as well as donated several hundred pounds of food, and medical supplies for a free clinic that is also available.
Pastor Donny Kyker of Odessa, and Javier Mendoza of Connect Global speaking to the guests of Comedor de JesuCristo in La Ceiba.
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Javier and Danielle Mendoza along with Pastor Allan Lorenzana of CCI Church in La Ceiba, visited the National Police headquarters for the state of Atlantida.
Javier Mendoza with Luis Bustamante in La Ceiba
Our time was spent observing the conditions of their medical clinic. The clinic serves all of the police officers here in the state as well as their children.
We were asked to visit by our friend and Police Commissioner Luis Bustamante. He is concerned with the condition of the clinic and what they are able to do with the little resources dedicated towards police officer care.
Commissioner Bustamante took notice of our completed projects at DINAF and at the Regional Hospital, and has asked us for help renovating and updating the Police Station Clinic.
Pastor Allan Lorenzana, with the Mendoza Family meeting with Luis Bustamante at the police.
Along with aesthetic upgrades like paint and fixtures, we plan to provide more up to date medical materials and supplies. Since this is also for the families of police officers, we want to make it something especially nice for these officers, who put their lives on the line each day.
Javier Mendoza with his daughter on a tour of the Honduran National Police station in La Ceiba Honduras
We also plan to organize first aid and CPR training for these first responders. Very few are trained in basic CPR or first aid and when in the field and on missions, time is critical in the care and preservation of lives. Without proper training, these officers are being placed in extra danger which could be prevented.
The Commissioner told us of a recent tragedy where one of his officers died in the line of duty, because of injuries he sustained while serving on a mission outside the city limits. His injuries should not have been life threatening, but due to the distance from a hospital and the lack of training in first aid or the needed supplies, he suffered and ultimately passed before getting medical treatment.
Along with this new training initiative, we hope to outfit each company vehicle in the city with a properly equipped medic bag. In depth training combined with proper medical supplies will save lives in La Ceiba.
We invite you to join us in this community service to these officers and their families. Make a donation online or join us on an upcoming trip.
You can be the difference in making sure these officers come home each and every night.
Thank You
"To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."
◄ Isaiah 61:3 ►
Our family has now been in Honduras for 12 days. We have been getting settled in and becoming acquainted with our new town and with some really great new families.
Each time we have traveled to Honduras over the past 10 years we have been in awe of the natural beauty as well as the beauty in the love and the grace that surely abounds here.
We have chosen to focus on the beauty and not the ashes. There are families here serving others, there are business leaders improving the community, and there are churches concerned with outreach and not just warehousing believers.
Yes, there is still crime and hurt and disease but there is also peace, and love and good people willing to do what it takes for light to defeat darkness.
Our intention here is to highlight the good going on in this community and embrace solutions rather than dwell on the problems.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we integrate with this community and pray that we would be successful in our pursuit to exchange beauty for ashes.
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