Honduras Missions

The Ritchie Family / Children's Lighthouse

Monday, October 27, 2014

take no thought... Mat 6:30


We had another good service at the Lighthouse yesterday. 110 in the service. The building was buldging out the doors with people. I watched as one of our ladies teaching the young kids bought chips and a bottle of drink to share with her class. No big deal? Not in Honduras,

it is only little short of the widows mite because of the poverty. A blessing to see. The kia was full 2x picking folks up and Lisa had a surprise for them after church. Every once in a while we buy bulk used clothes for the kids in pressed hay bails like the used clothing stores do. It costs $200-300 dollars but we get alot of clothes for very little per item that way for the kids... but we also get alot we cant use. It gets stored and gone through a few more times as kids grow and so on. Until it is finally time to share them like was done yesterday. We put out the clothes for our church to sift through... lots of smiles...


 Getting ready this morning the kids making breakfast and Enrique comes in with a new pet bed bug... We have huge spiders, grasshoppers, and beetles here... at least their is no question whether you have bed bugs or not...not hard to see at all. And quit friendly.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Day of the Dead or Halloween?

Honduras does not celebrate Halloween. But don't sigh with relief. Instead it celebrates the "Day of the Dead" and it lasts up to 3 days.  It is a similar idea to Halloween, but expressed differently. It is confusion, a menagerie of pagan and catholic religion accepted and promoted by the Catholics. A continuation of Mayan and Aztec celebrations of the dead and adapted/adopted into catholicism. I think some of the terminology of Halloween might have originted from Day of the Dead, yet it has a much more direct link to pre columbian cultures. The little altars made at the location of death with candles, photos and flowers as a memorial around the world is derived from this celebration.

A quote from wiki--
"On October 31, All Hallows Eve, the children make a children's altar to invite the angelitos (spirits of dead children) to come back for a visit. November 1 is All Saints Day, and the adult spirits will come to visit. November 2 is All Souls Day, when families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of their relatives. The three-day fiesta filled with marigolds, the flowers of the dead; muertos (the bread of the dead); sugar skulls; cardboard skeletons; tissue paper decorations; fruit and nuts; incense, and other traditional foods and decorations.
 —Frances Ann Day, Latina and Latino Voices in Literature"

The bars, Catholic church,  cemetaries and florists are all open and all very busy.  It is a celebration frowned upon and avoided by most Christians here, but they are a small minority. It is used by them as a time to witness. Our folks go to the gates of the cemetaries (packed with people putting flowers) and hand out tracts or J/Romans and offer real comfort and truth to the confusion about death people have. The church in the city may hand out 20,000 or more tracts next weekend at just one cemetary...The reaction most have is that of surprise, that someone would give away something for free at this time, even is if it just a tract or John/Romans. And few refuse the offer.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

James 2:18 working faith...


We have been
having computer issues as of late. The one I am typing on is a laptop that the keyboard doesn't work, nor do the usb ports most of the time, so the cheapy plug in keyboard makes my spelling even worse, the DVD drive is dead. It has been dropped so it is bent and the battery is toast so it just quits when it wants to. In addition to our frequent power outages. But I have it hooked up to a cell on the roof to get 4kb internet. Do what you gotta do with what you got.  Lots of extra financial needs coming up on us. We must redo our paper work again for the government, ie funds for lawyer and docs for the mission. We just got other certification paperwork done, so we are offical finally a legal approved home for children,(only took 9 years) but still owe $300 to the lawyer for it. Jr's operation, we are hoping for January if funds permit. This on top of the normal expenses. But the LORD always seems to work it out. I sat down this afternoon and asked the LORD when we could go shopping for food? Lisa goes on monday often. We were at the min bank balance Sat. and as of this morning it had not changed. I then looked at email and someone had listened to the LORD and a raven came. Just enough for food. Lisa is out shopping as I write. What do you do when you are low on funds, not much food in the house and bills pressing? Well we take in another child, and give away food. We were asked to take in a malnurished 11yr old girl who has never been to school or seen her mom, dad is another drunk in the street. She visited with the government officials last month and asked if she could live with us. Would you believe her real name is Milagro de Dios (Miracle of God)? We will be taking 2 more children in at the end of the school year in a month . We also took food to neighbors in need who come to church. One girl began coming when she was pregnant at 12(now 14). We have helped her put a roof on her mud shack and in a few other ways like food today. Hard to hide from this verse in Honduras... Pr 21:13  Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.


The problem in sharing ones faith is many do not have any to share...

The Lighthouse property church has been packed the last couple of months over 100 attending. In Part due to the new classes our bible students have began. I see the church growing spiritually through this. We also have one student now pastoring in a mountain church and has begun teaching the institute to 3 students. Another mountian church is hoping to build classrooms in January. Likely out of adobe. Still seeing the LORD move in mighty ways. Thank you for allowing us to fulfill the work of the LORD. Amen!
   


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