Honduras Missions

The Ritchie Family / Children's Lighthouse

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Fiery Furnace


The first building project on the Children’s Lighthouse property. The existing adobe house on the property is about to fall down and I was afraid it would hurt a child. We also need a place to put tools, materials for the Children’s Lighthouse construction and a distribution point for the Whensawe project. So we are tackling it first. Doing it as cheaply as we can on a shoestring as funds become available. It will be made of handmade clay bricks fired in a furnace the same way as in Moses day. Men tromping in clay, straw and manure, then forming bricks to dry in the sun and place them in a earthen fiery furnace…Three boys in the book of Daniel always come to mind when I see this. Why brick?.. Price. They are not pretty and it is a lot more work, 4wd down to the river where they are made, overloading the Kia truck(again) hauling them in 9 trips(730bricks per trip) to the property, but it is much better than adobe. We bought just a few blocks to help form a level foundation that has been dug. We are going to be in constant need of help and provision for the next few months if anyone is led to help in any way please do.
Prayerfully the construction will be starting for the Children’s Lighthouse next month. The Matthew 25:35 Foundation stepped forward to help with some major construction costs. What a huge blessing, our need is now and without this kind of help we would be years getting it off the ground and many of the children we have would already be grown. From past experience I know things always cost more than planned here. If you want 100 lbs of corn taken up the mountain you need to take 200lbs because 100 seems to disappear along the way…. Even so the LORD always makes a way.
Two Examples: An electric company in NewYork is donating all the wiring (8000’), outlets and boxes needed for both projects(and prayerfully La Cruz Baptist church in the near future), even the main wiring from the transformer. Maranatha Bible Baptist Church is shipping it in a crate as well. Amen! This is a $4000 or more savings over purchased here.
As for the backhoe we are still in dire need of one. But the LORD is allowing us to proceed anyway. The local heavy construction company is in the area building a road for the shrimp company. We called the owner and explained our need. He said when the project is done, if they can do it in an afternoon, in 2 weeks he would have the men with the excavator swing by and level a spot to build on, before moving to their next project. All we need to do is keep fuel in the equipment and pepsi in the men…. They will do in a hour what would take us weeks. Pray this happens we get many promises here and often little results…

Unworthy Servant to a Worthy Saviour
Barry

Monday, December 24, 2007

La Cruz Baptist Christmas

What does my wife want for today our 25th wedding anniversary? ...Sleep.
It has been an extremely hard week but fruit abounds. Looking through the photos I found the first two of Bessy and Iris from the first day back in Wednesday services… I think Iris was comfortable in Papi’s arms… Amen. She hugged me for an hour.



Sunday services for La Cruz Baptist were held at the Children’s Lighthouse Property. We had near 250 people for bring a friend day for Christmas…Lisa fed everyone, for those that know that is a feat, it is basically on a campfire with handmade aluminum pots. Lisa, with Irmita and Blanca made not just a simple meal but Beef stew over rice, plus snack of turkey soup and turkey salad on crackers, cake… the works for Christmas. Shoeboxes were handed out by the dozens and smiles and joy filled the air. Carlos preached and 5 men came forward for salvation. Carlos preached for 1.5 hours, even I sinned in thinking wow this is long some of the children are not attentive...till 5 men came forward and the Holy Spirit kicked me saying...it was for the men. One member brought 25 visitors for a contest for a christmas basket…well she invited them I brought them in the Kia truck/bus…all of them, 40+ at a time to the property, past police checkpoint that just waved. Dropped 2 families off to work at 7am ours and Omar's. Started picking up at 9:00 for services at 1:00. I rolled the Kia into the house about 8pm after dropping the last ones off…Wonder why we only have one service on Sunday? It was a very special day for me. Carlos asked for songs or testimonies. Iris leaned over and whispered "Can I sing papi? Surprised I said “Sure”. “But I’m scared”. I said “it is your choice”. “I want to for you papi and the Lord”. She then went forward …It was glorious and I had to fight tears. She has only been "home"4 days. Blanca, the now young lady who is sponsored in school through the Children’s Lighthouse, also came forward to sing. It was very emotional, tear welting up in numerous folks and by the end most were singing with her “How Great thou Art.”. It is a blessed thing to be allowed to see the eternal fruit of your labor this side of heaven….



Unworthy servant to a Worthy Saviour

Barry

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Christmas Shoeboxes


Directline Ministries sent Christmas Shoeboxes this year. What a blessing! What a lot of Work! What Joy it brought! It is well worth it. Please do it again next year! We have been up and down the mountains for days starting at 5 in the morning till dark delivering presents, food, Bibles and the gospel for Christmas. Four mothers came to know the LORD after Carlos preached in Lenaca. Many of the Honduran children we deal with are in extreme poverty. For most of these children this shoebox is ALL they will get for Christmas. I just want to thank Directline Ministries http://www.directlineministry.com/ and all those who helped. Your rewards are eternal. Amen.

Another Christmas present, Iris and Bessy are back!…For good this time we hope. The meetings went well and everyone seems on the same page this time. These two little girls have been starved for the last year…not physically but emotionally and spiritually. They are extremely clingy and just want to be hugged and held constantly since returning. Iris told me she had not had a hug, heard "I love you" or been to church since leaving last year. As I sat in the meetings and began to hear the testimony of Iris living with various families you knew the Holy Spirit had been with her. This little girl who had only been a Christian for a short time before she left, was the light wherever she stayed. Now she feels home…and safe. Amen. When your hugging one of these abused children… enjoying the joy of the moment, and you realize this is your job… All you can do is fight back tears and say Thank you LORD for using me.


Unworthy servant to a Worthy Saviour
Barry

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Christmas Shoeboxes Arrive


The container finally made it. Alot of customs headaches then on the route here it was stopped and held by police because the driver left without all his paperwork so we had to drive to the checkpoint. It finally arrived after 8pm. With the help of the church it was unloaded in just a little over 2 hours. Our house has no kitchen, livingroom, officespace and we are now short one bedroom...but it all fit. We really need a place that is secure to distribute things from. Now the real work begins getting this into the mountains...

All for the Glory of the LORD..Amen!


Unworthy servant to a Worthy Saviour
Barry Ritchie

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Life is but a Vapour

Friday, December 14, 2007

Life is but a Vapour
Some urgent Heavy duty prayer requests for our praying friends. Our container with Christmas Shoeboxes and hardback Bibles is in Tegu customs and they want to move it before friday. They have rejected our attempts to bond it out and wait for paperwork. They say our tax numbers are no good right now. They want to charge the commercial rate of 35% of the declared value of $25,000…Near $9000. No way we can pay that for things to give away for free. Our lawyer is revising the senders paperwork to devalue the contents in hopes to drop the price to $2-3000 Still difficult amount….And it needs to be paid by Friday or $100+ per day storage will be added. So it is in the LORD hands I know. $3000 will build near half a church in Colonia or LaCruz Baptist….We struggle so hard with funds, for ministry, right now we are stretching funds to the limit to start projects in hopes the LORD continues to provide…. So giving money to the government is a hard thing to swallow, simply because a lawyer did not do their job right months ago and assured us up to the moment the container arrived we were all set and would have no problems importing for non profit. Need help, advice and prayers quickly….
Another somewhat urgent request, Bessy and Iris may be coming back. They are the 2 little girls whom their mother tried to sell but was caught by the authorities. What is hard to believe she is not in jail… but now a traffic policeman. The authorities left a message and pleading with us to take them back. Whoever the institution that was suppose to take them backed out...Why I do not know. On the way out of the city their mom saw us and flagged us down. She began weeping uncontrollably and apologized for all the problems she caused last time and plead with us to take them back. Not sure why the change of heart or what is the total story is right now so I need a hedge of protection and an abundance of wisdom. We are scheduling a meeting with the judge with all present, so that everyone is in total understanding.
Another need is Ana Cristina. She and her family visited last night in church. She was the baby who received the heart surgery a year ago that saved her life. She was only days away from a point of no return with just a very short time to live...1-2 weeks according to the doctors. It is now a year later and she is due to be reexamined. She looks very good, beginning to grow and develop more normally, talking now, and the parents take her to phy/therapy weekly.... but the doctors who did the surgery in Guatemala want to run tests to be sure. To make sure no other surgery is needed. They said this a year ago as well. It has the parents worried because they do not have funds to get her there, or for the Guatemala state hospital fees (the doctor is free)...Hence the plea. After much pleading from the parents, I told them I would put out the plea and see what happens. I do not know the exact costs but know they are less than $500 for the exams and transportation. Do not feel obligated..(Unless it is the Holy Spirit) I am not expecting anything from anyone, but needed to fulfill a promise of intercession and let the LORD work.
Still need lots of materials to begin building church buildings both in the city and out. A long list but highlights are: Aprox 8000 blocks, 5000 roof tiles 300 roof panels, 500 bags of cement many truckloads of sand and gravel(all mixed by hand)100’s sticks of rebar. No one item is expensive but when you need 1000 of something not expensive…suddenly its real money. Then there is the backhoe… Plus we plan on starting the Children’s Lighthouse in January. So much to do and so little to do it with….Must be God’s Work …Amen!Thank you all, your prayers availeth much!
Unworthy Servant to a Worthy Saviour
Barry Ritchie
603-397-0606


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