AUGUST 2009 ROATAN-UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
These are special moments we wanted to share with our church family. We hope you find them interesting and inspiring. We pray that our experiences might encourage you to share Christ whether at home or in a foreign country.
Everyone who went on this trip wanted to see people come to Christ, but the teams' main mission was to disciple people in Roatan. A young man, 14 years old, named Henry helped to carry my backpack every day. He was very interested in the E-cube and he wanted me to give him mine. So at the end of the day I gave it to him. We also gave him the Spanish information that goes with it, and tried as best we could (because we could only speak English) to teach him how to use it. A few days later while our interpreter and one team member were sharing in a lady's home, I asked Henry would he like to share the E-cube with the lady accross the street. Henry agreed. Now you have to understand he speaks Spanish and I speak English. But Henry did a good job sharing with the lady. She prayed the sinner's prayer and accepted the Lord as her Savior. Henry had been discipled and learned how to share the E-cube with people after we were gone, this was our mission. To me, that was discipling. All God asks of us is to be willing, not always seeing success. But when we obey God, in HIs eyes, that is success. I was willing, but God chose Henry to do the sharing. My heart was truly blessed, and Henry was overjoyed.
Liz Scott
I was appalled at the extent of poverty in the Colonia. There are some very wealthy people who live on the island but very close by are hundreds of extremely poor. Many of the homes only have access to water every eight days. They buy their drinking water in 5 gallon bottles and carry them up the mountains to their houses. Yet, the people were so warm and friendly. The children followed us around in the mornings and carried our backpacks as we walked through the Colonia witnessing to the women (mostly) and inviting them to our Bible study in the afternoons. The children held our hands, helping us up and down the mountains, pointing out all the dangers along the way, as well as the beauty. We sang, laughed, and shared God's love with each other despite language barriers. The women and children were very thankful for the smallest things: a small bag with 4 crayons ,given to a little boy, brought giggles for a long time before he even considered opening it. A few of the things we shared were stickers, candy and gum, shirts, diapers, handkerchiefs, bars of soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste. We saw a woman using the toothbrush and toothpaste we had given her. She had a huge smile on her face and toothpaste all around her mouth. The children had so few toys. The only toy we saw was one very ragged baby doll. The schools were very hot and very crowded (42 in one room with one window and one doorway). They had very few materials and books, but they had their priorities in the right place. They lined up and said the Lord’s prayer before entering the classroom.
Hopefully, we planted some seeds that the Lord will grow and encouraged some new believers in their walk with God.
Marsha Mitchell
My conclusion of the ministry Marian and I did was to open the door for other ministries to evangelize and disciple people not only in the Colonia, but others as well, who live on the island. God had plans for us that we didn't anticipate which I already had learned to be ready for from having been on many other mission trips. It was a blessed and glorious time.
Wynyard McDonald
While in Roatan, I got to work with both the native Hondurans and a fellow team member doing what I enjoy doing – construction work on a building. The Lord allowed me to lead the men’s Bible study each afternoon. I had the privilege of witnessing to a Honduran Security Guard (who acknowledged he already knew the Lord). However, with our encouragement he visited the Wednesday night Spanish service at the church. On our way back to the motel, Lydia and I shared Jesus with two young boys . The older boy (13) indicated that he didn’t really know Jesus as Savior. He and his buddy followed us back to the Inn for an Icee and the Lord allowed me to present the E-Cube and he prayed to receive Christ – in spite of all the distractions with people arriving for the Wednesday evening service there at the Inn. The icing on the cake was the Dive trip where I got to snorkel over the most beautiful reef I’ve ever seen. The Lord is good.
Bill McNair
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Two memories stick out in my mind from our trip to Roatan. First, I was so impressed by how well our team of leaders jelled and as coworkers, they submitted themselves as servants and overcame many obstacles without argument or grumbling. My second memory was when I was driving into the Colonia, I saw all the people – mostly young children who could not get relief from the heat like we could in our air-conditioned rooms at night. But more critically, unless they had Jesus, they would eternally suffer a far worse environment separated from God - and my heart hurt for them.
Steve Sweitzer
It was Monday morning. I packed my backpack. Most importantly, I made sure I packed my large Gatorade from the freezer and a thermos of water. It was full of provisions for my comfort and safety for the day. Oh, yes, I did put in some diapers for the babies. After all, God had placed on my heart to bring diapers. Not much room for anything else. We climbed from dwelling to dwelling sharing Jesus. Tuesday morning I took more for the people and less for my comfort. There are so many needs, but the most important was to share Jesus with them.
God woke me up about 3:00 am on Wednesday with a heavy heart for the people in the Colonia. I took everything out of my backpack and only filled it with things to share with the people. By now ,I had given away all the extra food I had brought for my comfort, to the mothers and the children that always came along with us. As I removed more of my comfort items, I was reminded that is the way God wants us to live our lives. Unpack our backpack of life and don’t worry about making sure we have everything that makes us comfortable. God will take care of our needs. My desire is to rid myself of me so I will have room for what the Lord wants to fit into my life.
Bonnie Bass
After seeing the people of Roatan I felt that we should be happy and content with the way God allowed us to live our lives.
Jimmy Bass
The highlight of my trip to Roatan was seeing the smile on Elias's and his wife's face and how much they appreciated the work and donation of not only our team (Bill McNair and Jerry Allen) but the work that was performed by Johnny Baucom and his team on the house that was built for his family. As he stated "We could have never afforded the house on our own". Because of the generous gift of material and work by the teams, he now has a home for his family. Also, I was amazed at the endeavor of the ladies and what obstacles they had to overcome to get to the children and families to witness to them and tell them about our Father in heaven and his Son our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I am proud of each of the ladies that gave it their all. I would be remiss if I did not mention the hard work performed by Terry Sweitzer, Jimmy Bass, Toby Brock and Steve Sweitzer (Also, I want to give credit to Marsellas, who kept us in mortar so that we could lay the blocks) to build the storage building for Henry and Frances. It was hard work, but we gave it our all.
Blessings,
Bill Fife
I was most impressed with the church service in Roatan. You could truly feel the hunger of these people for HIS spirit. They were visibly moved by the music, did not seem to care that the services lasted over 2 hours, sat on hard plastic chairs or had no chair at all, had no air conditioning or ceiling fans, had no nursery, not everyone had a Bible, all of them could not even fit into the 3-sided building and yet everyone including the small children were very respectful to the pastor because they wanted to hear God's word and to worship our King.
Toby Brock
I was most impressed with how much people welcomed us into their homes so they could hear the word of God. They were so very hungry for His word, even though many could not read, and did not have Bibles. They welcomed our efforts to share our testimonies and invited their neighbors to come and hear the Good News, too. The fields in Roatan are ripe - they only need laborers. Toby and I were touched by four little boys who came to the Son Rise Inn to beg for a pair of shoes. They were all barefoot. How sad it was to us that these children who walk everyday on rocky roads did not own a pair of shoes. We were so moved by their request that we have started a flip-flop ministry with our grandchildren. We are asking that if anyone has $1.00 to spare, we will buy one pair of flip-flops and mail them to Roatan. We are opening this ministry to family, friends, church members or anyone who would like to give a pair of shoes to a child in need.
Myra Brock
During our mission trip to Roatan, I experienced seeing the body of Christ work together in a very unique way:
Bonnie showing mercy for the children, Wynyard and Marian giving service in the clinic , Liz generously wanting to sponsor Henry so he could go to school this year, Marsha and her ability to teach others and leading a husband and wife to the Lord, Myra and her ability to work with handicaps. She taught a brother how to exercise his Down's Syndrome baby and is presently seeking a special magnifier so Esmeralda can read normal print, Diana who had the foreknowledge to collect and bring many useful items for the people in Roatan, Sharon who prayed a special prayer for a woman with a similar pain she, herself, had experienced and helped her get to the clinic , Lydia who was used of God to speak the gospel to those in Roatan in their own language, Jerry and his love of Christ and his love for me that took Him to Roatan just to keep an eye on me, the men of the group being busy with construction and anything else Henry needed done.
Lydia Allen
The best part of my trip was our FREE DAY. Lydia and I went to two different schools and spoke to over a hundred children. The grades were from 1st - 6th grades. Since I was saved at the age of nine, I gave my testimony and Lydia gave the plan of salvation utilizing the evangelistic cube. When we finished speaking in the first school, we had time to go visit a home of one of the students (Lydia had brought a present for the student and did not want to give it to her in front of the others). The students that went accepted Christ that morning. PRAISE THE LORD.
Jerry Allen
Mr. Henry got the seasoned adults of FBC an invitation to the recently reopened Honduran orphanage. We jumped (ha ha) into the back of the pick-up and traveled a few miles down the road. The scenery was very picturesque and the landscaping was lush, unlike the Mission Inn where we were staying. We drove up a long paved driveway. The courtyard was large and clean. The ocean view was awesome. There was an outside playground, an above the ground pool, a trampoline, bikes, etc. The facility had 10 bedrooms, and an apartment for the staff family. The maximum number of children they can accommodate is 24. They have their own full time clinic and dentist. We were all very impressed, but sad, because for the last 3 days we had met children who had never seen a doctor, or dentist in their entire life. We were not thinking that the orphanage would be of this quality, after seeing so much poverty in the Colonia. The property and the building provided all that any child could need, even by American standards, except a Mother and a Father. English speaking, happy children started coming out of the building to see and speak with us. We went in with a prayer in our hearts and some gifts in our hands. Inside was a large room with very nice furniture, but no screens on the windows, which seemed strange to us. After greeting the houseparents and about 14 children, the father had to leave to pick up the three older children from school (7:30 at night). The houseparents had a 14 month old daughter named Diana, and a 9 year old son, Noah. On a flat screen TV, we watched a DVD about the orphanage, the building of the new facility and information about volunteers back in the states who support the orphanage. After the DVD, Noah came and sat down next to me. I put my arm around him and kissed him on the head. (He liked it!) I asked him if he knew Jesus-He said YES! “Mrs. Bonnie” shared a flannel board Bible story and Noah translated. We, adults and children alike, were captivated by Noah’s great acting skills and expressions as he interpreted the story. We gave out the gifts we had brought to the children and Myra thanked them for letting us visit. She then asked if anyone would like to lead us in prayer before we left. Noah volunteered. He said a prayer that touched all of our hearts. It was obvious Noah had a relationship with his Jesus. I’ll never doubt a child’s heart again when he says, “I know Jesus!”
Diana Williams
The old saying that "In serving others the server usually receives the greater blessing" became very true in my life as I ministered with the team in Roatan.
The blessings were: -being a member of a team of adults truly "seasoned" with God's love which poured freely to all those with whom we came in contact. A team who gave freely of ourselves in spite of unexpected assignments and seemingly impossible physical requirements. A team who showed Christ's love, compassion, and love and patience to each other. -Coming home with faces, hearts, and needs of the people I met. Henry and Frances; all the staff at the Sonrise Mission Inn; the children in the Colonia; the older woman who always seemed to seek me out for a hug, and although she spoke no English, would always say "I love you"; the clinic staff "Mrs. Peggy", Sherry, Justin and Margo, the volunteer med students who, after hearing mine and Wynyard's accounts of going to the Colonia in the afternoons, wanted to go and help us with the children on Thursday; Lynn, the lady who had a very difficult life (abused by her husband) yet with compassion to bring a neighbor's neglected sick 7-month-old baby to the doctor: Angelina, the beautiful 17-year-old receptionist who on Wednesday said she wanted to "become a Christian" yet on Thursday did not want to talk about it; and many more, all of whom have been added to my prayers.-Being away from all the concerns of life and allowing God to refresh and renew my relationship with Him was my greatest blessing. I had so many mixed emotions about going and much apprehension. For so many years I could not leave Howard and I was still having difficulty with that. On the day before we left God gave me a peace that gave me an assurance that I was supposed to be a part of this team. Then on the flight He gave me the beautiful rainbow which sealed His promises to be with me wherever I go.
Yes, I will go again, without any apprehensions, if He so directs.
Marian Wright
This was my second mission trip, but the first overseas trip. The high point of the trip was on the fourth day. A lady was having pain in her breast. Because I had experienced the same thing, I was able to relate and pray a special prayer for this lady. We also helped her get to the clinic for exams and meds. When I gave my testimony at the women’s Bible study, I was able to pray with and for several of the women who came.
Sharon Brown
