Before we left to go to Honduras this last time, we were notified of the death of Luz and Romero's
granddaughter. They were very close even though she lived in Miami with her
mother. She was only 20 years old. This was a terrible tragedy for their
family. Please be in prayer for their family as they continue to grieve this loss. So needless to say, we stayed with Herasmo and Nora and family. We had
stayed there for the first of our trips and we had our same bedroom. Nora
had also injured her foot right before we got there. But she attended everything
we did for the whole week, limping along happily. This just speaks to the
dedication of this family to the prison ministry. Nothing will stop them from
serving!
All of the four
prison programs are going very well and growing. Most are getting ready to end
the training of the persons of peace and begin the small group phase. One visit
stands out to me. That was our visit to El Progesso. It is four hours away and
so we stayed overnight. Also they took us to the beach (the Caribbean) the day
we left to go back to Tegucigalpa. But the prison visit was outstanding in two
ways. First at how awful the conditions are in that prison. They took us
through dark hallways of concrete that were partially broken down and wet! It looked like they were in the process of construction or destruction! But in
spite of these conditions, the Lord is doing an amazing work there. The men are
very excited and very organized. Sister Lillian, who is our dedicated volunteer
has done an amazing job. The group has outgrown the room they are meeting in!
The Lord works His miracles in the most unlikely places! This prison was the first place that we have
seen such poor conditions. There may have been these conditions other places,
but we did not see them. Every time we go to Honduras we feel so blessed to be
a part of this program.
Another wonderful story is from Tamara. That
is the women's prison near Tegucigalpa. You may remember that we
related a story from our last trip about the pastora-inmate who was
very negative on the very first visit there. Then as a sample of train and
multiply was presented later in the week, she realized that this program was an
answer to her prayers. The training is going very well and they are about to
finish and break into their small groups. What a wonderful program! We are
blessed with very dedicated loving volunteers who are there every week without
fail.
We had a
wonderful visit, with Lacides Hernandes, to the prison of Marcala. The Train and
Multiply program is also going very well there. There was a ceremony lead by
our volunteer Dania to present the persons of peace with their certificates.
They were very proud of this accomplishment. The high point of the visit for us
and for them (we think was the presenting of some posters made from placemats
from simple white paper. Carrie, our youngest daughter, teaches Sunday school
and the children in her class have been working very hard to look up Bible
verses in Spanish and write them with an appropriate picture to go with it. Her
class started to do this for the prison ministry Gary is involved in here in
Ohio. And Carrie thought it would be a good idea to do some in Spanish for us
to take with us. It was a great idea! They made a whole presentation out of
giving them to each inmate. Lacides read each verse and then handed them personally to the
inmates. You would have thought they were made of gold. The inmates were so
thankful that some children from the United States would take the time to do
this for them. It meant a great deal to them. These are the things that we get
to do that make all the difficult travel worth it.
