Honduras Missions

The Ritchie Family / Children's Lighthouse

Friday, May 30, 2008

Sasha's Flight to Honduras

Sasha's flight to Honduras...Same plane, Same pilot, Same flight... only one day later. Ran off the end of the runway in the fog. 147 on board, 5 dead
Thank You for your prayers


What a day; What a week. But you know when it rains it pours especially in Honduras. Condensed version… So far this week we have had a hurricane, plane crash, our road on the property washed out, part of the foundation washed out on the new building, 40 truck loads and 3 culverts to repair. Had a friend pound on the gate early this morning “I need help were struck around the corner and the truck is about to go into the raging drainage river. So I hopped into the Kia and pulled him out and in so doing so got the kia so stuck a fire truck plus another 4x4 could not pull it out. And someone called the local tv to video tape us for news. I had to call the backhoe working the Children’s Lighthouse problem to drive to the city and lift it out. Tore loose the front bumper and headlight in the process. When it was loose the wheels would not roll due to being packed tight with rocks and mud that needed to be picked out. Finally by 1pm the kia was back on the road….But even so blessing abound. Sasha is here and was not on the ill-faited flight this morning. Over 80 folks came to welcome her in the rain last night and the Ladies ministry cooked for everyone and Ramon preached. The Lighthouse is still going up the metal beams are up for the roof cement floors for the dorms are in. The chicken pox are subsiding and yet we have seen more folks trust the Lord. A youth meeting will be held there tomm for the teens in the 4 ministries we are working. Should be 50+ young folks. Amen! Again Thank you for your prayers! We oft live by them.
Barry

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Happy Birthyday Lisa

Happy Birthday dear…and all 15 kids have chickenpox….Just what every mom wants to hear. Lisa just took it in stride and still managed to take over and finish painting the gate, adding a woman’s touch while I watched the children. Lisa played a joke on the children to break up the mopey dopey spirit in the house. Was time to line them all up and give them their meds and creams. She had a cooking needle to inject sauces into meat. It looks just like a hypodermic needle, only it’s huge, 16 penny nail huge. She laid it on a towel with the meds and as each one came in the room and their eyes finally saw the needle, instant panic… The fear quickly changed when learning is was only a joke and each one was more than eager to act the part and hobble out in front of the others like the shot hurt terribly…except Bessy, she was last…well she was second, then, 5th, then 10th, then 14th and finally last. She slowly walked in saw the needle and ran. Took a little to convince her to come back…Now was a good time for ice cream…Amen.

We saw another man trust the LORD on men’s visitation; Fanny’s husband Freddy. His daughter Cindy is sponsored in the same school as our kids. As Carlos and I were going to visit, Carlos asked if we should talk to him about his work. How it is not good for his wife and daughter; Explaining that he goes around and sings in the bars for tips and often comes home drunk. I told Carlos that is the work of the Holy Spirit. You can’t clean a fish before you catch it and he agreed. We entered talked openly, truthfully in love about many things but never mentioned his work. When he bowed and prayed the first thing he said afterwards as he looked up…”I need to find different work, a Christian should not be drunk, singing in bars, its not good for my family”. Carlos turned to me with eyes bulging but said nothing…All I could do was whisper, Amen!


The kitchen side of the Children's Lighthouse in now ready for a roof that starts going up Monday. It will take about 2 weeks to install all the metal and get the panels on. We have an American(good friend) coming in a month to install all the donated electric wiring, boxes, outlets ect. Amen! A small outdoor kitchen is being built behind the bodega. Javier’s family cooks on open fires and I have not allowed them to cook inside the new bodega…hence a place outside. After Lisa saw it she wants one put outside the kitchen for the Lighthouse. Its kinda just a brick earthen oven barbeque…and its cheap to make with materials we already have so she will get it…eventually. Maybe on another birthday Just keep plugging away.

unworthy servant to a Worthy Saviour,
Barry

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Dia de Madre Choluteca




Dia de Madre(Mothers Day) in church was a great success. The men cooked food(...ok we claimed to but wives helped unofficially.) and fed the ladies after church. Lisa had her class make posters with the children’s handprints and a poem that was given out to moms. The men also gave flowers and Lisa made up gift baskets for special mothers. One lady has 12 children… 2 visiting moms accepted Christ as well. A very good day.
Then Monday comes…. Mario almost got suspended from school Monday...well, he DID get suspended but Lisa talked them out of it. Beating up kids and taking their lunches...5x today. Then convinced a teacher we don’t feed him so she shared her lunch… When you're raised in the street it comes easy to make up the stories to get what you want. He was honest and said yup I did it because I had a bad attitude.... It got adjusted, and the teacher and we have each others phone numbers…
The septic field/tank work is now done. 4 men almost 2 weeks to fill in the hole. Still it was cheaper than the backhoe for the day. The kitchen peak(back wall) is now up with the window. They were pouring the header this afternoon for the front window and building scaffolding to work on the big side window arches...site is cleaned up and everything is under the roof. The men figure next week to start on the second roof. Had a hard rain 2 nights ago. Front gate is built and primered, just need to finish painting it. It says 'Honduras Misiones'. That is our official ministry name. We will put Children’s Lighthouse on the south gate with a lighthouse theme later. Bessy posing for the camera was caught in “between” The hot photo speaks for itself... How much of a sweat do you work up just eating? Welcome to Choluteca.

Unworthy servant to a Worthy Saviour,
Barry

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Just another day

Just another interesting day in Honduras. Today was Christian’s Birthday. Lisa did it up for him, piñata and all. Smiles abounded.

Finally got some rocks but the truck was so old and underpowered he could not get up the hill to the property. So I said I would pull him up with the Kia.. The laughter, as I hooked up a strap, turned to hootin and hollerin when we crested the top. I actually did it 2x for 2 loads. The second time I thought wow he is much heaver that the first time…then he let out the clutch and started about ½ way up…more hootin. The little Kia that could…
Barry Jr took on the task of putting a gate on the property and He built it from scratch from leftover metal roof truss parts. After a few fit and trials he got it hung and working today.
As of today the Roof for the Children’s Lighthouse dorm is on. Tomorrow time to restart the kitchen side. Our crew has been cut from 15 to 3 so progress will be slower but more economical watching the pennies.

Church services were great. They voted to start building. We only have about 10% of the needed funds...but they feel if we start building for the LORD, the LORD will provide. And we will not take on any debt. Several have voluteered to help build. Amen! Walking by faith.
I have been giving Carlos more pulpit time. He has really begun to preach with power, authority, conviction and a broken heart. And it comes across. The Bible Institute is paying off. Pray the LORD opens his eyes and puts a burning in his bones that can only be quenched by preaching and pastoring.


Unworthy Servant to a Worthy Saviour,
Barry

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Potholes and detours

Rough road this week, filled with potholes and detours.

Saturday we wanted to take the children to the property to play a few hours before visitation. Ready everyone and everything line them up and pile everyone in the Kia. Enroute, almost hit a horse that ran in front of the truck…someone else did hit him. Arrive and unload lunch supplies and kids…after 10-15 minutes it was noted that Mario our newest (think Dennis the Menace) had not come with us. (He is the one that for the first two weeks of school, would run screaming from class, scream past the front gate and offices, run down the street, all while being chased by school security.) In a panic, load everyone and everything back up and rush back home to find a happy child and a ransacked house. Amazing how much can be done by a 7yr old left to himself in 45 minutes. Upon entering I was relieved he did not try lighting things on fire with the stove…again. But he had gotten into everything else, eaten or sampled all kinds of food, frig open, coolaid liquid and powder was everywhere. He had played with everything that was off limits and not under lock and key. Come to find out he had hid behind the door when everyone headed out only to sneak back in and wait for us to leave. Since we cannot see all the children at the same time in the Kia…well, he escaped. When questioned about it he said “I wanted alone time”… he got some.


Came time to install the roof on the lighthouse only to find one main roof beam is welded and cemented out of place and it happens to be the one that must be right to put on the roof,... so men had to cut it out and chip out the concrete and reinstall it. Add to that our General Contractor, Guytan quit with his crew. He has too much work with the government and can’t keep a crew working without him here constantly. He acquired other work the week the Americans were here and began spending less and less time on site. It has continued to worsen to the point the crew was not accomplishing anything as of Tue and almost ruined all the expensive roofing. Another tid bit, the city has said no more rocks from the river and the dump truck drivers were protesting city hall yesterday, so no rocks for now either, ie cant finish the retaining walls....weee. AND we are having a fuel shortage, so as I was about to run out of fuel and needing to pick up Barry Jr and Toño from the property, they were making a gate. I find that no stations will sell diesel fuel because they are protesting government policies (our new president is taking Chavez’s advice)….After 6 stations refused to fuel us I finally asked are you still selling Kerosene? Yes, ok give me a quart of oil and a tank of Kerosene…make my own “diesel” fuel and proceed to pick up the kids…You need a strong "will" to make a "way" in Honduras. Sometimes feel like a mouse in a maze and each time I figure it out it gets changed…


Lisa’s eye spasms returned and was bad enough Wednesday I needed Carlos to preach. Keep her in prayer.


It was the anniversary of the Barrio this week and the association asked if they could use our church chairs and PA system. I asked the church about it and they said it was basically a party day and did not want to aid them or use God’s things for worldly events unless we could preach. I found their response inspiring and very satisfying. So we asked if we could preach….Answer? No, instead they asked the catholic priest from another barrio to speak….hmm. So we kept the chairs and Calros preached in Colonia and 3 trusted the LORD.

Unworthy Servant to a Worthy Saviour,
Barry Ritchie


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