Prison Ministry to Honduras May- June 2014

Hola friends!

Diane and I are just back from our recent trip to Honduras and we wanted to share some of what we experienced.  We plan on sharing some of the story of how we got to this point in the blog later on but wanted to keep you updated as our mission really begins to pick up speed!  Here are a few excerpts/ photos from our travel log.  Please comment and ask any questions you like!!  We welcome it!

Prison Ministry to Honduras

May-June 2014

May 28, 2014 - Wednesday

Our first day in Honduras - arrived about mid-day.  Met our hosts, Nora Reyes and Erasmo Ramirez and their son, Herasmo.  Nora and Erasmo are the leaders of Prison Fellowship in Honduras.  Dollys Galindo, the trainer, arrived about 6:00PM from Medellin, Colombia.   

May 29, 2014 – Thursday

Adjustment and seeing some local color. First went to the local Prison Fellowship Int'l Church.  Worked in the office and set things up for the meeting on Saturday.  Then to two local “pueblos”  or towns to see some colonial type architecture and overlooks of Tegucigalpa.

May 30, 2014 – Friday

Early departure.  Drove 4 hours to get to Mercala to visit the local “state jail” - approximately 150-200 inmates.  We were welcomed by inmates and prison officials, alike.  I gave a brief greeting and told them how much we appreciated being there and and Dollys spoke to their hearts.  Wonderful reception and fellowship with inmates and correctional officers, as well.

May 31-June 1, 2014 – Saturday and Sunday

First day of instruction for the Train & Multiply Program…15 Students, all prison volunteers and part of the Confraternidad Carcealria de Honduras, i.e. Prison Fellowship of Honduras.  Started at 8:00 AM and lasted til 5:00 PM  

Sunday we finished with a prayer walk around the neighborhood of the church.  The people were open and receptive to prayer and listening to the story of Jesus and salvation offered by Him for each of us.

June 2, 2014 – Monday

This day was for going to the Nacionales Parque and seeing one of the most famous sites in Tegucigalpa, the Cristo de el Picacho, a 75 foot statue of Jesus Christ that stands overlooking Tegucigalpa from one of the surrounding mountains.

June 3, 2014 – Tuesday

Today we spent the day getting to and visiting two prisons about 2 hours outside of Tegucigalpa.  The first was a larger central prison, the second was a smaller prison where we were told they might not even allow us in.  We were delivering contributed medicines and sanitary and personal care items to each prison.  The prisons were located in La Paz and Comayagua. 

Unfortunately, we were not permitted to take pictures inside the prison.  We not only were able to get into that second prison, we were able to conduct a church service!  And we had great reception and were invited to come back anytime we liked!  God continues to amaze us!

June 4, 2014 - Wednesday

We had a down day and took Dollys to the airport right after noon and really didn’t do much.  I think we needed it - we were kind of worn down!

June 5, 2014 - Thursday

We were whisked off by Nora’s brother and sister-in-law who had lived in the US for 20 years but spoke only broken English.  They took us to the mountains on the other side of Tegucigalpa where we saw a very real and very old Honduran town with a mission church from 1823 still in use. We had lunch with them, returned to Tegucigalpa and had tea with them at the Mall and returned to Erasmo and Nora’s home about 7:00PM.

June 6, 2013 - Friday

We got ready and went to the airport mid morning and we were in airports and on planes from 10:30AM Friday until almost 2:00AM Saturday.  We stayed the rest of the night with our daughter Dena and then drove back to Aurora, OH and got home about Noon on Saturday.