Honduras Missions

The Ritchie Family / Children's Lighthouse

Thursday, February 28, 2008

LIFE RAFT?



What do you do if you’re on an inflatable life raft in the north Atlantic that is full of people, and 4 more children are within your reach to save?

For us; pull them in and add a little more air to the raft in prayer. We got a pleading call from INFHA(Child Services) this week begging for us to take 4 more children. Mom is a prostitute with aids and Dad is a drunk in the streets. If we could not take them they would be sent to 2-4 different locations. Nancy 12, Recardo 9, Mario 7, Fernando 4. Nancy can only do 2nd grade work and the boys have no schooling. They have run the streets for years but are already showing signs of coming around. Nancy and Recardo have already told us they want to live here forever. During Wednesday night service Nancy raise her hand for salvation…Amen still working with her. As for needs… It now takes 2 loaves of bread just to make sandwiches for lunch… Really need prayer. I do not know how the LORD has done what he has done thus far, we just keep getting stretched. We are so far beyond it is only by faith. Just giving the LORD our 2 fish…. Now a minimum of 17 sit at our dinner table (often more)…Suffer the little children to come unto me….hmm. They also need aids tests, clothes, vaccinations (all the children do), 3 more in school…ect.

The roof will be finished on the Whensawe bodega tomorrow and the floor this weekend. now doors windows and plumbing, as we are able.Our home has also been our distribution center, ie.. living room and office completely filled with Bibles tracts, J/R corn ect so it will be nice to live in more tha 2.5 bedrooms and a kitchen. Amen!

The Children’s Lighthouse has broken ground and started to emerge. The footers on the foundation are going in and columns are going up. In about 7 weeks we should have the walls up. Only as the LORD supplies, pray to have the children there in 6 months or less… So much to do on so little so, its all in the LORD’s hands. No funds for the bodega, no funds to build 2 much needed churches, and not enough for the lighthouse...When it is impossible in our eyes the LORD gets all the Glory when it is done. Amen. Just moving forward



The LORD worked it out to have a 5 month old pony named Reese on the property that the children have fallen in love with. Very gentle and the smaller children have already ridden him. Jenny has really gotten close to him walking him all around the property and feeding him. Something else to care for besides herself… It is good therapy for the children.
Lisa is slowly recovering, up and about, but nights are still a little rough. She is past the halfway point and every day is better than the last.

Please ask the LORD what to pray for, there is so much… It’s like throwing a rock in the ocean…you can't miss.

Unworthy Servant to a Worthy Saviour,

Barry

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Never Enough Time...

Never enough time…it seems. Ten days since the last post and now too much to write about. 2 of the 4 retaining walls are nearly done for the Children’s Lighthouse Home. Need to finish leveling, then dig drainage, water and septic lines then we can start the foundation. The septic tank and field turned into a much bigger project than planned, but the tank at least is nearing completion. The Whensawe Distribution building should have a roof next week but still much to do there as well. The children are now in school. The LORD blessed and we were allowed to place 14 children into private christian school. I will work on getting individual and group photos of the children in uniforms soon. How the LORD is doing everything with what we have is beyond me. We just keep pressing forward taking care of the needs before us and let the LORD workout the details.

The first “annual” youth group activity was held at the Lighthouse property and had 22 teens for games, food, fellowship and preaching. It was unanimous they want to do it more often and have a big day just before school starts every year. The best part was 2 trusted Christ during the preaching. Amen.


Still counseling with Ana and Anthony from the last post. Anthony trusted Christ in Wednesdays service and now wants to get baptized. It was a message of peace, living in peace with peace and at peace. Sunday after service ended up as an 8 hour counseling event. Scheduled were 2 couples but ended up talking to 9 people till 10:30 pm. A lot of mending was done.

For those who have been praying our friend Andy made it back safely from Chad Africa, it was tense for a while but they escape across the boarder and we able to find flights back to the USA. Thank You. I shared with our church, the Wednesday we were all in prayer for him, he and another missionary planned and made it out safely within hours of prayer.

As for health issues, I am slowly getting better but Lisa came down with whooping cough. A severe case that robs her sleep and coughing spells so bad she strains to catch a breath to the point of fainting. Any strain, startle or even laying down sets her off even walking from one end of the house to the other.. She is wore out. When you catch this, your out for as long as 3 months, pray it is MUCH shorter. Ministry is difficult here, without a helpmate it is much more so. Like having a frantic mother knock on the house at 2am and rushing a baby to a doctor… The kids have stepped up and a few from the ministry help but it is not the same as Lisa.

Saturday our long delayed Christmas outreach to Colonia was turned into a special children’s day. The Kia was packed full even on the roof and strapped down for the 4x4 trip up; presents, the Bounce house, generator, cannon and snacks up the mountain with Carlos, Omar, Jr, Anthony and Wilfredo. Preaching was aimed at the children yet none trusted Christ… but 6 parents did… go figure. Amen. In All the LORD was glorified.Prayed needs: Health/ Funds for total construction of projects Church, Childrens’s Lighthouse, Whensawe Distribution, Bible Institute/ Labourers, We need men trained to preach, pastor and help in ministry/ Overall support level, Though we are doing much more than expected and stretching every penny our base support has never risen to the level we though we were going to have when we came to Honduras. Just living by faith amen...


Unworthy Servant to a Worthy Saviour,

Barry Ritchie

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Harvesting...Amen

Saturday we took the children to the Lighthouse property and picked fruit and took some time to unwind. Everyone filled a pickup bed full of mangos, oranges, limes, grapefruit, coffee, coconuts and bananas. We then returned home made a fruit salad mix and bagged up a bunch to give away after church. The first service on the new property was with Baptisms the second was a sweet time of drawing close to the LORD and the LORD’s Supper. Sunday was the 3rd service and they were great on the new property, full classes and a good spirit and everyone wants all services moved there and add another service time. One lady named Ana came up to me with a sadness all over her face and said I need to talk to you after church but slipped away before I had a chance. She returned Monday afternoon with her boyfriend to tell me with tears she wants to change her life, she wants to live for the LORD, get married to the man she is with and learn to raise her children right. Ana continued to say she has seen the change in Omar and Blanca’s family and the children we have and wants what she sees…and could we teach her….uh well um uh . Wow how often does that kind of opportunity get laid at your door. Amen. She came to talk to me after I came in from working all day with a jackhammer trying to break the rock at the Children’s Lighthouse property. Filthy, stinky, dusty with a tropical fungus on my face and chest (the medicine makes your skin crawl fierce when in sunlight) were not a problem, she just saw a servant in whom she could trust and wanted to pour her heart out. Humbing tosay the least. Another couple in the church also wants to get married after 12 years together...The Holy Spirit is working.

The LORD is in the details, Amen. Sunday one new book bag that we had been sent in the container was sitting around on boxes forgotten about until it fell on Lisa's head before church as she walked through the garage. Afterward Syndi came by and asked if we had any of our old bookbags she could use for school... Lisa said no but the LORD has provided you with a new one and gave her the one that had fallen....
Friday Carlos began teaching/sharing a Bible Institute class. He has finished the Bible Institute on dvds we gave him and wanted to share them so he asked if he could…He got 15 people in his neighborhood plus Omar and Blanca to attend…AAmen teach others also 2 Tim 2:2

Today some of the men were putting rebar in concrete to anchor the tents for services, put up a fence on the church property, and a man named Wilfredo from Colonia showed up just to ask when are we coming back. We have been quite busy as late and have not been able to get there…but now we must make it a point to be there. When someone travels that fare to say come and preach to our people…you need to answer the call. At the end of the conversation sitting on blocks next to Carlo’s taxi Wilfredo asked what do I need to do to be qualified to teach and be a pastor?...That brought a big grin on our faces. Between Ana and Wilfredo, I think I know a little what Paul felt when asked “What must I do to be saved?”…Blessed to be placed in a field white unto harvest, Amen and thank you!


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