As Gary and Diane prepare for the their next trip to Honduras in a few weeks, here are some of the last of Diane's reflections from their last visit. It is so rewarding to see the thread of the work of God from visit to visit.
Tuesday March 7
Today we visited the
women's' prison of Tamara.
There was no
service or training being held because of some problems in the men's prison,
which is very close by.
This was the prison that two years ago we
went to and the inmate who was also the pastor almost threw us out! That day
two years ago they picked us up at the airport and we went straight to Tamara, about 45 minutes away. We met with the pastor and a few other women and one of the supervising leaders who were very interested. That day both of our country coordinators explained our program of Train and Multiply to the women.
The pastor was very negative in her body language and attitude. Even in our
limited Spanish, we knew she wanted no parts of this! At one point she said, "All you people want to bring is words and we need more than that!" On the way
back to our country coordinator's home, Gary and I thought there was not
much hope for the program there. But we were told that they had an appointment
later in the week to go back and present the first lesson in Train & Multiply
to a small group, including the pastor. But The Lord went before us and
softened the heart of the pastor. By the time the first lesson was done being
presented the pastor was practically in tears, saying, "This is just what I have
been praying for. A way to communicate the Gospel and teach discipleship."
So that is the
background story of this prison. Now two years later there are over 100 women in
the T&M program and it is still growing. Last year when we came to visit
they had outgrown the space that was allotted to them for worship. They showed
us that they had land right behind the chapel to enlarge it but only some of
the building materials necessary for completion.
Through the cooperation of
many ministries, the rest of the materials were compiled. And today we got to
see the finished chapel! It is large enough to accommodate all of the women in
the program with room for their numbers to double. We see the Lord's hand of
blessing on the Women's Prison of Tamara. We are blessed to be a small part of
His hands and feet.
Wednesday March 8
Today started out
slow. We got to rest in the morning and work on our Spanish. Herasmo told us we
would leave at 2pm to meet with a pastor from The Church Of God who is working in
the prisons of Danlee and Comaugua.
Pastor Jose is now
doing The Prisoners Journey in these two prison. This is more of an evangelism
program. Then in the next two weeks they will graduate and begin the Train
and Multiply program. He is a wonderful and enthusiastic man of God who has
been called to prison ministry and has been working in the prisons for about
four years. It was a pleasure to meet him and to look forward to the next
visit in November when we will be able to visit his programs. In The Prison of
Danlee there are 10 women and 60 men inmate leaders trained. In Comaugua there
are 40 inmate leaders trained.
Along with his prison
ministry, Pastor Jose is starting up a church plant in the community of El
Samarano. There he is praying that the Lord will provide a building so that he
will have a place to train leaders. Pastor Jose is also asking for prayer for
his health and strength so he can continue to work for the Lord.
After our meeting, at a coffee shop, we drove Pastor
Jose to the Honduras Bible Society. We learned that the Pastor who is in charge
there is the one who introduced Herasmo and Pastor Jose. They have also
supplied many Bible to the prison programs that are running the T&M
program.
It is so beautiful to see Gods people working together.
