The Jehovah Jireh Project

Scholarship Program Update

2007-09-13T05:48:00.001-07:00

September 1, 2007

2007 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Eagle Wings Bilingual School

Joel Méndez

Andrea Granados

Katty Granados

Javier Granados

Escuela de Belleza Maradiaga

Bertha Pérez

Keidi Méndez

Instituto Cristiano Renacer
Erlin Ortiz

Centro de Capacitación San Juan Bosco
Ángela Sierra

Living Water Bilingual Academy
Gaby Ordóñez
Gabriela Martínez

Pit Partners

2007-09-12T22:13:00.001-07:00

Or, The Scoop on Septic

August 24, 2007

Deuteronomy 23:13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.

Matthew 9:35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and announcing the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

Parasitic and diarrheal diseases are endemic in

Honduras

. The so-called potable water supply is untreated; sanitation substandard or absent. Poor people cannot afford bottled water, chemical disinfectants or extra firewood to boil drinking water.

Our pastors live in poor squatter communities on the sides of the mountains ringing Tegucigalpa, formed when people move in from rural areas and build shacks on unused land on the edges of the city.

These are not planned developments, though some of them have been in existence for more than 20 years, and through grass-roots community organizations have petitioned the government for community services. As a result, they have electricity and receive water twice a week; open drainage ditches have also been constructed. However there is no sanitation. The people use simple outhouses with a hole in the ground. It is not unusual for one outhouse to serve a pastor’s family of 10-12 persons as well as those attending four or more weekly church services. These latrines leach into and contaminate the soil. They also fill with water runoff during heavy rains and overflow into the streets and drainage ditches.

Septic Pit Pilot Project

In 2005, Doctor Rafael Maradiaga, with Pastor Elías Ramírez, conceived the idea to construct a septic field on the latter’s property. The pastor, with his 8 year old son, dug two large pits by hand, and we partnered with him by providing bricks, sand and gravel to construct the settling tank and leaching field. He also constructed a simple curtained outdoor shed to house the toilet. God multiplied the resources by inspiring a church member to haul the excess dirt away, and by providing a donated used toilet.

Pastor Ramírez and his family now have a bucket-flushable toilet with adequate waste treatment. They and their neighbors have a lower risk of diarrheal and parasitic diseases. He has planted a garden over the leaching field.

Seeing this, the community nurse constructed a septic field at her own expense (dug by the pastor!) Having a decent toilet has had an unanticipated secondary result: it has given her the confidence to start a micro-business in her home.

Three more pastors have begun digging septic fields for their homes and/or churches.

We hope to expand this project, as God provides resources, to other evangelical pastors in Colonia Villa Nueva (there are more than 50!) As God-placed leaders in their communities, their example, encouragement and help will inspire others to follow suit, with an expanding reduction in contamination and improvement in health.

PART ONE

THE PROBLEM

Typical outhouse serves family and church

THE PLAN

THE PLAYERS

Pastor Elías in 2006 with wife Melba, Eric and Nimer. She was expecting #3.

THE PIT

Interior structure of leaching field

THE PILE
Excess dirt to be carted away by hand.
One shovelful was enough for me!

PART 2

THE PLAYERS

2007 Baby Elisabeth has made her appearance. Eric is at school.

THE PIT

The settling tank is smaller and simpler than the leaching field.

THE PRODUCT

The throne

Slab over settling tank

Garden planted over leaching field

Jubilee

2007-09-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

A story of the Kingdom in two chapters

August 15, 2007

Chapter 1

When you happen on someone who's in trouble or needs help among your people…don't look the other way pretending you don't see him. Don't keep a tight grip on your purse. No. Look at him, open your purse, lend whatever and as much as he needs. Don't count the cost… Deuteronomy 15:7-11

If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? James 2:16

In 2006 we received a donation of $1000 that was designated as “seed money” – with no stipulations on how it was to be used. It occurred to me that seeds are supposed to grow. We could have used the money on many worthy projects, but then it would have been gone.

One of our goals for our pastors is livelihood sustainability. They do not receive enough in tithes and offerings to live on, and most work as semi-skilled laborers, which is seasonal. So there is often a struggle to make ends meet.

With this in mind, we used half of the seed money to initiate a loan program for micro-businesses. I gathered the pastors’ wives and had a chat with them about how they managed money. I wanted to make sure they had the attitudes and habits that would allow them to experience success with the loans.

Our first micro-enterprise loans:

Melba López de Ramírez - $25 to start a tortilla-making business

Maria Lourdes Pérez de Sierra - $50 to sell tamales in the market on weekends

Miriam Flores de Mendoza - $50 to purchase used clothing for resale

Familia Mendoza Flores

Chapter 2

At the end of every seventh year, cancel all debts… Deuteronomy 15:1

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to announce good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to declare the year of the Lord's favor."
Luke 4:18-19

After my return to Honduras in 2006, my relationship with Rafael and Patricia moved to a new level. My returning as promised signaled to all of us that this was going to be a long-term thing. I had known they were struggling financially, but now I was led to ask, and they were willing to admit, that they were under a burden of debt. After praying, I loaned them 97,000 lempiras at 13% (it was a premature withdrawal from my IRA) for 10 years to pay off a business loan that they had been in default on since Rafael’s stroke in 2001. The interest and penalties had mounted up alarmingly:

Dr. Rafael Maradiaga’s business loan

Amount paid off in 2007 (L. 82,050) $4342

Amount previously paid by Rafael (L. 50,000) $2646

Total paid (L.132,050) $6988

Original loan amount (L. 75,000) $3969

Nominal Interest rate 23%

Actual interest rate paid 76%

This was a loan from a major bank, not a loan shark!

Remembering how God had blessed me with years of a good salary, and since I quit work, with much generosity from friends and family, I felt that I could do no less than pass on that blessing and generosity to the Maradiagas. The absolute amount was relatively small to me, but it was huge to them.

Thus began a series of bank (mis)adventures. Getting the exact amount due, much less paying it, was no easy matter, involving many trips and many lines and no small amount of rudeness from bank employees. Who would think it would be so hard to give money to a bank? It was clear that the Powers were not happy about letting anyone get out of slavery. But finally, after some months, the bank was paid and the two cosigners reimbursed and freed from garnishment of their wages.

At first I just viewed it as the right thing to do, and as something I wanted to do, that is, help a friend. But then I realized there was more to it. We had participated in the defeat of the powers and principalities of this world. We had enacted the Kingdom of God. Beloved children of God had been freed from slavery to debt. Heaven had broken right into the middle of this fallen world, and the year of God’s favor had been declared.

We had already started the loan fund for micro-enterprises, with the goal of promoting livelihood sustainability. Now I began to wonder, if Dr. Rafael Maradiaga had such a problem with debt, what about the pastors? And their debts would certainly not be to banks, so to whom would they be? Why, loan sharks of course. And if a bank could legally charge 23%, I hated to think what the loan shark would be charging. (20% per month, I found out later, and also that payment must be made daily!)

So what good would a micro-business be for livelihood sustainability if the profits went to a loan shark?? We checked it out with 5 pastors, and four of them were in debt. (Pastor Elías credits his lack of debt to the fact that he doesn’t work a paying job and so doesn’t kid himself that he can pay back a loan). So we gave each of the four a debt relief loan - $50 to $100 each, for debts like the electric bill or emergency repairs to a truck used for work. We made them cosigners for each others’ loans.

Epilogue

The loan fund is set up as a cooperative. The terms are the same for all loans – 12 monthly payments of 10% of the amount loaned, resulting in a total paid back of 120%, of which the first 10% is a tithe to the ministry and the other 10% is savings for the borrower-investor. After paying off the first loan, they are eligible for another, larger one; having demonstrated their reliability and the fund having grown.

There have been unexpected side benefits – apart from debt relief and improvement in livelihood sustainability, it makes them feel really good to square their shoulders and walk into the bank to make their monthly payments (of $5 to $10.) They have more self-respect.

The loan cooperative began with $500 capital, and which is now close to $700 due to interest payments. To date, we have made 21 loans to 12 families (8 pastors, 4 church members), ranging from $25 to $200. As the recipients pay off each small loan, they are eligible for another, larger one. The Sierra family is now on its 4^th loan; having paid off two micro-enterprise loans, they now have a 3^rd micro-enterprise loan and a debt relief loan. Six loans have been paid off and one ($50) was written off.

Divine Appointments Part 2

2007-09-09T21:12:00.001-07:00

August 10, 2007

I rejoined the SonLight Power team in Choluteca on Tuesday, July 24, and took Bertha and Joel with me, because Allen was anxious for Joel to see what he does. The teams had headed out to the site before we arrived because it was so remote. My guide from Choluteca had never been there, but no problem. Someone who had been there printed off a satellite photo from Google Earth and marked the route. As we lurched over truly terrible dirt roads we checked in frequently by cellphone to verify that we we on the right track (literally). Sometimes the contrast here is almost too much to take!

The installations went very smoothly and Allen had plenty of time to share with children the reason why he does this: so they can have the Light of the world as well as electric lights.

The guys even had time to paint my apartment on Thursday. We were also able to visit one of the pastors I work with so they could see with their own eyes how God is working here.

In a final flourish of divine power, a member of Meilyn's church offered to arrange a meeting for Allen with the Honduran Minister of Education. None of us have any contacts that high in the government! It went very well and could lead to a partnership that would dramatically expand the reach of the solar power ministry.

The team flew out on Friday, July 27 and I spent a week washing sheets :-)

But the answers to my prayer for visitors keep coming - I was at the Marriott Hotel here in Tegucigalpa yesterday when I looked up and saw my former boss from Urgent Care in Cincinnati sitting across the restaurant! He had just finished a medical brigade and was heading out the next day. I was able to take him on a short tour of our ministry and show him how God is working here in Honduras. He said he had meant to email me about his trip, but forgot in the rush of preparation. Obviously, human forgetting has no effect on divine appointments!

Divine Appointments

2007-09-08T06:42:00.000-07:00

Or, "If You Put Sheets on It, They Will Come"

July 21, 2007

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...oops, I mean 2 or three weeks ago in remote Choluteca, a Honduran pastor spoke a prophetic word to the poor peasants his church works with, "Mission teams are coming, and you need to be ready." He had never heard of me or my church.

Meanwhile, back in Tegucigalpa, I had been praying for someone, anyone to visit me. I have invited a zillion people from my church, so many I have a reputation, and when I returned in March and saw the spare bedrooms in the apartment Rafael rented for me I immediately went out and bought bunkbeds in order to be ready for houseguests.

I thought the fulfillment of my prayer was a visit from an American friend who was transferred from Honduras to Spain two years ago. She arrived Tuesday and was due to leave on Friday. However, this was only a 'down payment'; while I was on my way to the airport, I got a call on my cellphone. Allen Rainey wanted to know if I could house a mission team from my home church consisting of 10 men. Well, sure! On Friday? Piece of cake!

This SonLight Power team was scheduled to go to Guatemala to do solar power installations, but there was a lynching of a suspected child-trafficker; they doused him with gasoline and burned him. Missionaries Virgil and Dara Stoltzfus told the team not to come (Dara emailed an eyewitness report AND PHOTOS.) (Please pray for the people in Guatemala.)

Allen talked to his group (four father/teenage son teams) and they all felt called to go ahead, even with airline change fees of more than $300 per person. But then Allen forwarded the email and pictures to Continental Airlines, and Continental agreed to change the tickets AT NO CHARGE (that is the most miraculous part of the whole thing.)

Meanwhile, Allen was already contacting Meilyn Chan and her husband, Mauricio Moncada, who was going to translate for the team. The team had a place to stay, with me, but they needed a project and the Moncada-Chans had already been scouting for future trips. Meilyn cast about in her mind to think who might have a project for them on short notice, and she thought of her cousin Tita, the wife of a pastor in Choluteca. She called her cousin's cellphone.

Meilyn: I need to talk to you.

Cousin Tita: Great, I'm in Tegucigalpa right now; I'll be over in half an hour.

(Tita arrives.)

Meilyn: I have ten men coming on Friday and they need 2 churches or schools in which to install solar power.

Tita: No problem, we have several that are off the grid.

Meilyn: They need a place to stay.

Tita: No problem, one of the church members owns a hotel in Choluteca.

Meilyn: What about feeding them?

Tita: No problem, one of the church members owns a restaurant.

Meilyn: How will they get there and get around?

Tita: No problem, one of the church members owns a minibus and can bring them from Tegucigalpa, and we have enough members with SUVs to take them out to the sites.

!!!

Allen usually ships the equipment ahead of the team, but had been unable to do so this time, so he had paid more money and gotten folding solar panels that would fit in the luggage. Therefore the equipment was not stuck in Guatemala; all they lacked were poles to mount the panels and storage batteries. I had already scouted out a solar company in Teguz for Allen, so Meilyn bought the batteries and poles on Friday afternoon, and on Saturday we headed down to hot, hot Choluteca, where it is so hot "even the devil strips down to his undershirt."

When I left them they were working on the equipment in the driveway. Co-leader Lance Brown was teasing Allen, "What is it you do with your time? It only took two days to arrange this mission trip, so obviously you've been leading us on!"

So not only did I get "someone, anyone" from my church to visit me, I got ten men! In the natural course of events, I expected to have to wait until the 2008 mission team season, but God swept aside all obstacles in a breathtaking manner and dropped them in my lap. I'm going to get more bunkbeds because I think the floodgates of visitors have now been opened!

Update for Pastor Sponsors

2007-09-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

June 15, 2007

We have learned quite a lot since Pastor Rafael began the project in 2004. The vision to equip and encourage pastors has not changed, but the path has been rather long and winding!

The vision was for twelve, and we had twelve, but it appears that not all of those will be part of the final group. Of the original group, Angel Argueta left the ministry and Pastor Ambrosio and Pastor Izaguirre no longer participate. Pastors Dórmez, Castejon, Herrera, Diaz , and Andino still attend the video teaching sessions. We took in several new pastors:Gladis Gutiérrez, Mario Silva and Ana Julia Reyes, but the latter two have since dropped out. Those who are active and involved with us are Gladis, Elías Ramirez, and Francisco Sierra. This is the core group in late 2006.

Missionary Pamela Hanson

After my 3 ½ months in the U.S. last winter for little Joel’s surgery, I am thrilled to be back in Honduras. Here I am visiting the farm of an Educatodos student.

For me, 2005-2006 was a time of testing if it was really God’s call to be here, but now I am ready to put down roots. Rafael and Patricia and I are looking for a house to buy together that would have a mother-in-law apartment for me so we can live ‘juntos, pero no revueltos,’ (‘together, but not mixed up’) as Rafael says. Meanwhile I have an apartment a convenient five doors down from them.

I would say that up till now we have been ‘forming’ and ‘norming’, but lately we have done more ‘storming’ as we contemplate a long-term partnership and forge the strong partnership that will allow us to 'perform' as God desires. God has been faithful to give us discernment and I give thanks for the skills and tools I have learned through Equipping Ministries International, which allow me to recognize and weather the storms!

Pastor Rafael Maradiaga, Founder
Sponsors: Jim & Trish Fatheree
Springdale, Ohio Vineyard

Pastor Rafael is still a dynamo. While I was in the U.S. last winter, the Lord brought him the opportunity to start the Educatodos literacy program, which is in line with our core focus of teaching and discipleship. I sent $500 for materials, and he did all the work. This photo is of him administering an exam to the Sunday 7^th grade equivalency class.

Patricia, being a licensed teacher, is the Director, and shares the facilitation of the evening classes after working her two day jobs. Rafael facilitates all the daytime and weekend classes.

Pastor Francisco Sierra
Sponsors: Ken & Debbie Iding
Springdale, Ohio Vineyard

Pastor Francisco has told me that when I first came, he asked me for money. Later, he repented and asked my forgiveness. This was news to me; I had not understood him either time!

He wanted the money for a car, but although as he says, he never dreamed he could do it, he now has a pick-up truck, which he recently used to help me move my furniture. What a pleasant irony, that Francisco had wanted me to help him with a car, but instead he ended up helping me with a car (and the strong backs of himself and his son!)

He is taking on more responsibility for facilitating the Monday night DVD teaching for pastors. This picture shows him praying for Abigail, translator for our 2006 healing seminar.

More importantly, he is coming up with ideas related to his nephew Joel, and Joel’s mother Bertha and her other three children. We have been encouraging him to take on a pastoral role with regard to them, as the children’s father is not involved and their situation is very difficult. I am eager to help them improve their economic position, but it has not been clear exactly how to do so. Pastor Francisco is a key intermediary for me, since he knows them and their situation and Bertha can speak more freely to him than to me.

We have wanted to see him exercise more leadership, and I’m thinking that doing so with Bertha and Joel will be the training ground he has been needing. God’s plan is always so perfect!

Pastor Elías Ramírez
Sponsors: Mike & Laura Cummings/Ken & Debbie Iding
Springdale, Ohio Vineyard

Pastor Elías always is the first to jump on the bandwagon. As soon as the idea of a septic system was mentioned, he started digging the leaching pit by hand. He has started three other groups using the International School of Ministry DVDs, two of pastors and one of church members. When I said I wanted a garden, he was there with his hoe hilling up the dirt in the front yard into raised beds, and now we are enjoying a bumper crop of sweet, hot radishes. (The peppers and onions take longer.) If my shower needs fixing, or my water reservoir needs the mosquito larvicide, Elías takes care of it with a smile. When we offeredscholarships for pastors’ children, Elías said, my son is not really a scholar, but there is an extremely bright boy in the congregation whom I would like to see receive the scholarship,and now young Erlin Ortiz is in his second year at a private Christian high school. Here he's constructing the settling tank for the septic system, the second and smaller of the two pits that he dug by hand.

Pastor Elías is in 5^th grade in Educatodos, faithfully riding his bike down the mountain to class here every weekday. Mike and Laura sponsored a church wedding for him and his wife in 2005 (they were already legally married), and in 2006 they had a baby girl, their third child.

Pastora Gladis Gutiérrez
Sponsors: Georgia & Alan Kightlinger
Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Clifton

Pastora Gladis is a hardworking wife and mother with a servant heart who heard about us last year from Pastor Elías, who lives a bit below her on the mountain. She was in a difficult situation and praying fervently for help at the time.

Her church was started by two ladies from the Baptist mission who had a heart to evangelize in the neighborhood of Los Pinos. They started a church, but the (male) pastors who came never stayed. In between pastors, she would try to keep things going, with the blessing of the members. However, the Baptist mission would not recognize her as pastor because she is a woman. (None of our other pastorsget much interest or involvement from their [tiny/poor] denominations, but at least they are recognized as pastors!)

It was at this point that Pastora Gladis heard about our ministry and started coming to the teaching sessions, and she has stuck to us ever since. The Lord finally resolved her irregular position by causing the Baptists to allow her church to become independent of the mission. It is now a daughter church of Ministerio Cristiano Jehová Rafah, which is the legal name of our ministry in Honduras. The two founding ladies (who do not live in the neighborhood) were led of God to give their blessing and withdraw, leaving the leadership in the hands of Pastora Gladis and the church leadership. Here she is in a lighthearted moment with Pastor Mario Silva.

Pastor Oscar Dórmez
Sponsors: Jim & Trish Fatheree
Springdale Vineyard

We will never forget the 2000 steps that we had to climb to get to Pastor Dórmez’ house! There were only two chairs, so he stood while we sat. Pastor Dórmez had only been a Christian for six months when the pastor of the church left and he was asked to take over. He works long hours for low pay but has persevered with the classes and now is in his fourth semester. We would like to see more of him but his current situation makes that difficult.

With Oscar and his wife outside their house in 2005

Pastor Omar Mendoza
Sponsors: Jeff & Roseann Walker
Springdale, Ohio Vineyard

Pastor Omar pastors a Nazarene church The Nazarene denomination has a few more resources and so Omar has a decent cement-block church and house. However, like the other pastors he receives no financial support and little other involvement from the denomination. His oldest daughter, Heidy, is very intelligent and motivated and received a scholarship from us for the last two years of high school. She then went to work watching kids while studying accounting in the university, but when Rafael heard that he found her a job at a local company. It is pleasure to see her use her abilities and gain valuable experience as well as a better income.

Omar, far right, at the start of last year’s servant evangelism activity

Pastor Miguel Medina
Sponsors: Ken & Debbie Iding
Springdale, Ohio Vineyard

Pastor Miguel and his wife Norma are both at the first grade level in Educatodos. Because of this, they were able to sign their names instead of just making an 'X' when they stood up at the wedding of Valerio Garcia and Mirna Sanchez in April.

Pastor Mario Silva
Sponsors: Ken & Debbie Iding
Springdale Vineyard

Pastor Mario is an ex-gang member and still has his gang tattoo. One night while high after sniffing glue he had a dream in which he saw a bright light. When he woke up, he knew he had to go to church. He met with the Pastora every day but was reluctant to accept Christ because of his sinful state (!) His father, with whom he was not on very good terms, noticed that he was no longer staying out at night and asked what was going on. Mario told him, and his father said, “If you accept Christ, I will too.” So they did, and now they pastor together!

Mario says that becoming a Christian is about the only way to get out of a gang alive. However, you must be fervent because the gang watches you and will kill you if you are not devoted to your new Master.

Mario has left the group because he has been taught that believers should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, and part of our ministry is sponsoring Christian common-law spouses with children to get married. We are willing to pay the $30 for the marriage license even if one spouse (usually the husband) has not accepted Christ, following 1 Corinthians 12:12-14:

To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

If the unbeliever is willing to get married, we will help them. Legally there is recognition of common-law marriage in Honduras, but the believing spouses generally do not feel satisfied with that.

Pastora Ana Julia Reyes
Sponsor: Pamela Hanson
College Hill Presbyterian Church

Ana Julia also came to us through Pastor Elías. She lives rather far from where we work and has since dropped out.

Our Missionary in Burundi

2007-09-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

May 11, 2007
Excerpts from a correspondence:

April 14 2007
Excerpts from the blog of my niece Christine Buettgen, 23, short term missionary to

Burundi

…the past three weeks, five of the thirteen kids have been in the hospital with serious malaria, and both moms were sick with malaria themselves.

…I ended up staying 5 extra days to help be a mother of 8 African children… I wore the same clothes everyday, was cooking over coals to feed the kids and staff, washing dishes and clothes by hand, and all the while trying to love on, discipline and raise these orphans. We made regular trips to the hospital to bring food and encouragement to the sick ones, and you honestly wouldn't believe the conditions of this hospital.

Earlier on in the week five year old Blaise fell and cut his head, and I [took] him to the hospital …[where he] received four stitches without any anesthesia, because it wasn't available, and the way that [he] looked at me…

I saw conditions that would be unacceptable even in the poorest hospitals in the States… an old man being carried by four nurses because they don't have a single wheelchair in the entire hospital…

…the lack of doctors on staff can be credited to a generation of educated people lost to war and disease…

…it becomes an awfully inescapable reality when you live it, when you see it with your own eyes…There shouldn't be such an enormous gap between the way people live in America and the way people struggle to survive in Africa.

Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die…I wonder how many children, and adults for that matter, lose their lives because they simply live out of reach of any medical treatment? …

Imana iguhezagire. God bless you all.

Christine

April 19, 2007
Email excerpt

Dear Christine,

…your mom sent me your latest post and I read it to Pastor Rafael and he said, “let’s send some local anesthetic and malaria medicine to her in Burundi” and I said, “That is from God” so on Sunday we’ll take an offering.

Just tell me where to send the medicine or the money!

Love

Aunt P

April 20, 2007
Email excerpt from Cindy Buettgen, my sister and Christine’s mother

…What a blessing, praise God for you and for Pastor Rafael. No wonder you want to work with him. I am truly humbled by his generosity and God’s grace.

Thank you for your words of encouragement re: [Christine’s safety.] I am praying for the devil of negativity to be gone!!!!

Love you,

[Cindy]

April 23, 2007
Email from Christine

Aunt Pam, you are an enormous blessing to me! When I read your email, I cried right here in the internet cafe. God is truly bringing nations together and is using the humble and poor of this world to shame the rich...thank you for supporting me in so many ways.

I am sharing in a small group in Bujumbura tonight and I will use the example of your church, being the hands of God even when they don’t have much to give, really incredible.

I think it would be best if your church could make a monetary contribution that we could set aside for medical needs of the children. You could send a check to my mom and she can put it in my account and I can transfer it to the YFC orphanage account here in Bujumbura. Is that okay with you?

Please keep me updated on how I can be praying for you and your people in Honduras. How are Joel and Bertha? I come home in a little over a month, hopefully we can reconnect before we both leave the country again.

Blessings on you Aunt Pamela!

Imana Iguhezagire,

Christine

May 11, 2007
Email
cc: Cindy Buettgen

Dear Christine,

We are all doing well. I saw Bertha today and she and Joel are fine. We can use prayer for the Lord to bring more workers for the harvest. Our projects are starting to take off and be more than we can handle by ourselves. We are praying for God to show us those he has appointed to partner with us – both in person and financially.

I just sent your mom $100 as the offering for Burundi from the churches of Honduras. I wanted you to get it before you leave there! I’m sure you are right that shipping actual medicine would be far too difficult.

We are so excited about the opportunity to partner in the ministry in Burundi. I translated your blog into Spanish and put it up on the wall along with maps and information in Spanish from Wikipedia. Several of our literacy students used Burundi for an assignment they had!

Pastor Rafael says with pride that you are our missionary in Burundi. We can’t wait to see what God is going to do through this connection, both in Honduras and in Burundi. I have been saying that my dream is to see missionaries sent out to other countries as a result of our work with these slum churches, but I didn’t think we’d begin sending support to a missionary so soon! God is so faithful – when we are aligned with his will, we don’t have to figure everything out. He will show us the steps!

So, from the churches of Ministerio Cristiano Jehová Rafah in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, grace and peace to you and to the brothers and sisters in Burundi. We praise God for you and pray that this gift may not only save people from malaria, but also be multiplied by God in ways that we can’t even imagine.

Your loving aunt,

Pamela

Educatodos

2007-09-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

"Educate All"

May 5, 2007

Twenty-six youth and adult students in grades 1-9 meet weekly in the home of missionary Pamela Hanson. There are classes 7 days a week to accommodate the schedules of working students.

Pastor Francisco Sierra, right, with other eighth-grade students.

Background

Ministerio Cristiano Jehová Rafah equips and encourages pastors in poverty-stricken areas of Honduras.

Our vision is to disciple pastors so that they will build up their churches to share the Gospel and bless their communities, and in turn disciple other pastors to do the same.

Currently we work with 20 pastors. Some are illiterate, and many others have only a 3^rd- or 6^th-grade education. Their formal training as pastors is also limited, and we provide training for them in Bible, theology, and practical matters relating to leading a church.

In addition to affecting their ministry as pastors, illiteracy can seriously impede their ability to earn a living; even those who have some schooling are finding their opportunities limited by the lack of an official diploma.

We are using a Honduran government curriculum, “Educatodos,” to teach 26 youth and adults, Christian and non-Christian, from first to ninth grade. Our vision is to have 50 students.

The program is presented via audio recording with the assistance of a facilitator. Upon satisfactory completion of each level, students receive an official certificate recognized in all sectors of Honduran society.

Classes are held seven days a week and the facilitators are volunteers from our organization, serving above and beyond their normal duties.

Teaching English in a spare bedroom

"Leaving Fornication Behind"

2007-09-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

April 13, 2007

An unseasonable storm had Allen Rainey trapped in remote Puerto Lempira on the north coast of Honduras. He had already postponed his departure three days because of delays in the arrival of the solar panels for the orphanage. Now it was clear he would not make his plane connection to return home.

When a small plane touched down, he quizzed airline personnel, “Where is that plane going?” “To Tegucigalpa,” they said. Allen thought of his friends there and asked if there was room for him. Yes indeed, and an hour later he landed in Teguz.

I was with my ministry partner, Dr. Rafael Maradiaga, buying beds for my apartment. I had said to him two days earlier on my return to Honduras, “We’ve got to buy beds so that we will be ready for guests.” (Part of our vision is to have a guesthouse) We were about to go to the cashier and pay for them when my cell phone rang. It was Allen! “Where are you??” I asked. “At the airport in Teguz!” “Don’t move,” I said, “we’ll be there in half an hour.”

The first guest had already arrived, even before the beds! He was accommodated with a bedroom at Rafael’s house, the family doubling up to make room for him.

I had spoken to Allen and Ann the previous year about our ministry of marrying couples with children who had come to Christ. (See article ) He said, “Since I’m here, why don’t I go ahead and give you money for a wedding?” and handed me $40. Rafael immediately called two of our pastors and told each one to bring a couple by in the morning before Allen left for the States. (I figured if more than one couple showed up, our ministry would sponsor the other wedding.) Pastor Miguel Medina was there bright and early with brother Valerio Garcia, father of 6, who earnestly expressed his desire to “salir de la fornicación (leave fornication behind.)” He shook hands with Allen and each went on his way – Valerio to work, and Allen to the airport.

Today we had the pleasure of attending the wedding. Pastor Miguel had taken the couple to the various government offices to get all the necessary paperwork, including the birth certificates of all 6 children! Finally, the big day had arrived. We took a taxi to the bus stop at the central market at 6:30 am, where we met Pastor Miguel and the whole family. Brother Valerio was smiling broadly - a happy bridegroom if ever I saw one! We set off - even the chickens on the bus seemed happy.

In about an hour we arrived in the village of Tatumbla, where it is quicker and cheaper to get married. Kind of a Vegas of Honduras, I guess! The closer you get to the city, the more bureaucratic and costly the process of getting married.

We got to City Hall at 9:00. The ceremony was scheduled for 10:00. Other couples began to arrive, and the proceedings finally got under way about 10:30. Valerio and Mirna were the third couple to get married. (Pastor Miguel told us that when he got married in Tegucigalpa, they arrived at 8:00 am and were the 26th couple in line!)

The town clerk read off the dates of birth, marital status, and identification numbers of the bride and groom, and asked if they wanted to marry each other. Hearing a ´yes´ from both, the mayor pronounced them married, and while the “Wedding March” from “Lohengrin” played on a cassette recorder, the bride, the groom and both witnesses signed a long document in several places. Rafael nudged me with a smile as Pastor Miguel and his wife signed the document. They are now able to write their names for the first time because they are learning to read and write in our literacy program. (They are currently in first grade.)

When the signing was done, the mayor led the spectators in a round of applause for the newlyweds and we stepped out onto the porch for the wedding photos. We celebrated with a wedding lunch of fried chicken and Pepsi.

As we waited in the town market for the return bus, brother Valerio looked at his son and his 5 daughters and said proudly, “Now you are all legitimate!”

Reproduction

2007-09-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

Pastors multiply rapidly
April 11, 2007

Pastor Rafael began the training program with 12 pastors and borrowed DVDs. The Lord provided our own copy of the International School of Ministry curriculum, and we now have 19 pastors and 18 laypersons receiving the teachings weekly in 7 locations. Pastors Elias Ramirez and Miguel Medina have formed four additional groups so that we now have a 2^nd and a 3^rd generation!

Pastor Rafael Maradiaga, Founder

Pastor Elías Ramírez

Pastor Miguel Medina

Group started by Pastor Rafael
4^th semester
Pastor German Castejon
Pastor Rogelio Herrera
Pastor Omar Mendoza
Pastor Francisco Sierra

Group started by Pastor Rafael
4^th semester
Antonio Andino
Pastor Angel Diaz
Pastor Oscar Dórmez
Pastor Elías Ramírez

Group started by Pastor Elias
3^rd semester
Pastora Gladis Gutiérrez
Pastor Miguel Medina

Group started by Pastor Miguel
1^stsemester
Pastora Inés, Aldea Guaymaca

Group started by Pastor Elias
2^nd semester
Pastor Nelson Mejía, leader
Pastor Modesto Cruz
Pastora Gladis Gallego
Pastor Marco Polo Gallo
Pastor Ángel Hernández
Pastora Ana Julia Reyes
Pastor Ángel Turcio

Group started by Pastor Elias
1^st Semester
18 members of his church, including 8 youth

Group started by Pastor Rafael
1^st semester
Pastora Laura Palacios

We give glory to God that he has multiplied the groups!

Principles of Kingdom Accounting

2007-09-06T14:56:00.001-07:00

March 3, 2007 Here is a very happy Joel ready to return to Honduras and show his family how he can walk!

We have been using a ministry model that suggests evaluating projects and programs by the following Kingdom standards:

Did God multiply the resources?
Have people—besides those directlyinvolved—been blessed or favorably impacted by the project?
Was the love of God evident? Were his intentions demonstrated?
Did those who observed the project give praise and glory to God?
Did God get the credit—more than the people who carried out the project?

Here are just a few of the ways that God multiplied the resources for Joel:

Financially
· Not only did he provide free medical treatment, he also ordained that the considerable non-covered expense of the braces would be quickly reimbursed.
· Many people’s hearts were moved to contribute to Joel’s needs on his return to

Honduras

. He is now in a private bilingual school because of this.

Relationally:
· A number of busy people took time to visit and play with Joel, some on multiple occasions. This was my most important need, breaks from the 24/7 responsibility for their welfare and happiness, and is truly a miracle in the American culture.
· A boy with mild autism who often played with Joel made remarkable progress in his interpersonal interactions – when we left, I would not have been able to tell that he had ever been anything other than normal. A special affection arose between this family and Joel and Bertha.

Spiritually
· Bertha returned with peace about her life in

Honduras

. She has continued to walk in this despite the difficult situation with the children’s father

.
· Many persons were obedient to give time, talent and treasure.
· Many persons had the chance to meet people who have actually gone hungry.

Miraculously
· Joel is a delightful but normal boy who can charm or irritate. On one particular day we had doctors’ appointments from 9 to 5. We spent over three hours just in the dentist’s office as she worked on both of them between other patients. It could have been nightmarish, but Joel remained sunny the whole day – and so did I! I’m sure the toys I brought and those in the dentist’s office helped, but I am 100% certain that God gave us a special grace to get through that day.
· I asked my sister to pack us a lunch for the plane. I asked for 4 sandwiches, but she made six. The uneaten sandwiches and other snacks ended up “by chance” with Bertha when we parted at the airport. She told me later that on her return she found no food in the house because the children’s father had not given them any money. They were able to eat that night because of those sandwiches.

Matthew 25:39-40 When did we see you sick?... Inasmuch as you did it for the least of these, you did it unto me…

"He flies through the air with the greatest of ease..."

2007-09-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

February 21, 2007

January 11
Joel started preschool 3 days a week, which gives an outlet for all the boyish energy he has now recovered! The other days he and Bertha are both home-schooled by Pamela.

January 13
Joel cast aside his walker and now staggers about independently with the occasional steadying assist from nearby furniture. Even though his knees cannot bend in the casts, he has learned how to go up and down stairs, and he is able to kick a ball for the first time in his life. Here he is vaulting in casts!

February 9
The casts are off! Joel was feeling a bit nervous about standing on his new legs. We put the back half of the casts on him as temporary splints.

February 12
Joel was measured for his custom braces. The Brace Shop discounted them from $5500 to $2900. I gulped and put the $1400 down payment on my credit card.

February 16
Roxane Schellingerhout put me in touch with The Matt Dolan Service Fund. Praise God, Nancy Dolan agreed without hesitation to pay for Joel’s braces!

February 19
Dr. Brenda Bertsch donated free dental care for both Joel and Bertha, filling two cavities for Joel and five for Bertha. Poor Bertha had a headache after so much work done in one day!

February 21
Joel got his braces - with Spiderman designs, as requested! He immediately took off down the hall...

"Go and report...what you see...the lame walk..." Matthew 11:4-5

2007-09-06T09:46:00.000-07:00

January 10, 2007

Three weeks post 2nd surgery, Joel walked upright on two legs (still in casts) for the very first time in his life.

"All I Want For Christmas..."

2007-09-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

December 25, 2006

I remember my dad used to sing us a humorous little ditty that went "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth..."

Six-year-old Joel Méndez lived with his family in a shack on a steep hillside in Honduras. He was born with both knees rigidly bent, preventing him from walking.

I met him when I made a home visit to Pastor Francisco Sierra, his uncle. Joel and his mother and three siblings were living with Pastor Francisco and his wife and 6 children.

Thanks be to God! Dr. Eric Wall and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital have provided free surgical care to allow Joel to walk.

We arrived in the U.S. on November 15 and Joel had his evaluation on November 20.

November 28 First surgery. The contractures of the right knee were released.

December 2 First outing: “Breakfast with Santa.”

December 16 Three weeks post first surgery: Joel stood upright today (on his casted leg with a walker) for the first time in his life!

December 20 Surgery on the left leg to straighten the left knee and break the leg bones to rotate the foot forward.

December 24 Four days post-op, Joel tolerated the 5 hour drive to Chicago for Christmas with my family.

That little ditty is still in my head - but now it goes "All I want for for Christmas is my two straight feet, my two straight feet..."

Pastors’ Scholarship Program

2007-09-05T21:03:00.001-07:00

November 1, 2006

Public education in Honduras is ‘free’ through university – that is, the instruction itself is free because the teachers are paid by the government. However, families are responsible to provide uniforms, school shoes, transportation and school supplies, including books and workbooks. This is often a hardship for poor families, including the pastors we work with in the shantytowns ringing the city.

Buying bulk school supplies

The quality of instruction in the public schools is high, but they are subject to a lot of strikes, work stoppages and other interruptions which cause loss of instructional time.

After sixth grade, young people have the option of going on to a colegio, the equivalent of junior high and high school. The first three years of colegio are common to all students; afterwards, they must choose a career track which may be two or three years. A bachillerato is two years; a business, information technology or tourism diploma is three years. Three years are required for entry into a university.

Some families prefer private colegios because they are not interrupted by strikes, or even because they think if they are paying then the school has to pass their child.

Of course, those who can afford it want to send their children to bilingual school to improve their social and job prospects. The majority are English bilingual schools, but the Lycée Franco-Hondurien is also an option.

Pastor Rafael with school shoes for Pastor Castejon’s children

The sponsor wanted them to have toys as well

Even in the public colegios, in addition to the same costs mentioned above for primary education, there are significant additional costs associated with graduation. There are a number of fees, and each student must perform social service and pay for the materials – e.g. tree seedlings for a reforestation project. They cannot get their diplomas – necessary for matriculation in the university – unless these fees are paid – from $300 - $350.

The scholarship fund is intended primarily for the children of pastors, although we do have a few other recipients. Pastor Elías asked that his scholarship go to a bright boy in his church, since his son is not academically inclined. We “inherited” two teenage girls from a missionary who concluded his term of service in Honduras.

Three types of assistance may be provided:

Provision of school supplies, uniforms, etc.

Obtaining sponsors for individual students

Full or partial tuition scholarship from our ministry

2005 Scholarship recipients

Instituto del Technico

Swan Coello

Graduation expenses

Instituto Gabriela Mistral

Hilda Ninneth Maradiaga

Partial tuition and Graduation expenses

2006 Scholarship recipients

Instituto Cristiano Renacer

Erlin Ortiz

Partial tuition

Centro de Capacitación San Juan Bosco

Ángela Sierra

Partial tuition

Instituto Rafael Pineda Ponce

Heidy Bustillo Flores

Graduation expenses

Living Water Bilingual Academy

Gaby Ordóñez

Gabriela Martínez

Full sponsored scholarships

A quiet summer in Honduras – not!

2007-09-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

August 8, 2006

Our first short-term mission team was a group of Korean-Americans from Maryland brought by Brother Jabez Jang. We had healing ministry, vacation Bible school, computer classes and cosmetology – haircuts and nail-painting.

The “fragrance of Christ” was very evident throughout the week in the ministry of the whole group, but Sister Angel really exemplified it as she labored non-stop with tiny paintbrushes over each lady’s nails, finishing them off with a Korean-accented “Dios le bendiga!” (God bless you!) May we all exude that fragrance more and more, so that people beg us to help them get what we have…

Then Pastor Rafael and I, along with dear Honduran friend Mei-lyn Chan, joined our friends from SonLight Power doing solar power installations in the remote department of Intibuca, on the El Salvadoran border. Praise God that Dr. Maradiaga and I were on hand to help out when a team member was injured. We were able to get him to the care he needed and he is now recovering at home in the States. The team, though shocked, pulled together and was able to complete all the planned school installations, bringing light into darkness as Jesus brought His light into the world.

The very day we returned from our ambulance run we hosted Jim and Trish Fatheree, Mike Cummings and Roseann Walker from the Springdale, Ohio Vineyard Church.

They stayed with the Maradiaga family so they got a real taste of cultural immersion! Jim and Mike were thrilled to be able to practice their Spanish, while Kelvin and Jennifer got a work-out in English. The team’s purpose was to teach and minister on healing and spiritual warfare, and they were able to begin the first night, laying hands on each member of the Maradiaga family and being powerfully used of God.

Their ministry continued with teaching and ministry to pastors and church leaders, following by a servant evangelism activity of going house to house in the slums to distribute packages of beans, rice and spaghetti, while sharing the Good News and offering to pray for healing.

Penetrating deep into the barrio, team members were struck by seeing women washing clothes in the river, rough adobe and stick construction, and other indications that we were ‘not in Kansas anymore.’

This was followed by a week of vacation Bible school with Pastor Luis Sorto in the village of Zambrano, 45 minutes further up in the mountains. The team played with and taught and loved 300+ children all day for 5 days – I couldn’t keep up with them!

Back in Tegucigalpa, our main thrust continues to be equipping and discipling pastors to lead in the Church and in the community. We look forward to seeing how God will work in the coming year!

The Fragrance of Christ

2007-09-04T06:56:00.001-07:00

June 30, 2006

This week we had a Korean-American brigade from Calvary Presbyterian Church, Maryland, brought by Korean missionary Jabez Jang. Brother David Kang, another Korean missionary who works in Honduras, joined us for a few days.

Each day we visited a different church in the poor barrios around Tegucigalpa, as well as Tatumbla, a village outside the city.

Several pastors joined us even when it wasn’t their day to have the team, and they prayed for each patient seen by Pastor Rafael, aka Dr. Maradiaga, in the medical clinic.

Pastors Ana Julia, Elías and Mario lay hands on a patient just seen by Dr. Rafael Maradiaga.

The U.S. team brought 4 laptops and we held computer classes in the evenings.
Brother Chong Park was our presenter, and I was translator and assistant.

In the daytime, the 4 teenagers had activities for the kids the and Sister Mickey Park and Sister Angel Song, cosmetologists both, did haircuts and nail-painting.

I was helping in the beauty “salon” (a makeshift carport), and as always the women and children were crowding around Sister Mickey and Sister Angel. Brother David was helping Mickey with haircuts for the boys. He asked for tickets and crowd control, so I became a police officer: “Back! Back! Give them room to breathe! Don’t bump the table! Where’s your ticket? Back! Back!”

Mickey and David deserve medals for plowing through all that hair despite a goodly number of lice-infested heads. Pray for them – they have been feeling a bit itchy!

The nail-painting has been especially popular all week. Sister Angel always has a rapt crowd of girls and women around her. One girl of about 10 years who did not have a ticket I must have shooed out ten times at least. I couldn’t really be mad at her for continuing to pursue a good thing. And finally we put one of the teens on to do the little girls’ nails, so she got what she wanted after all.

I got to thinking, what if we all had as much persistence in seeking God as that girl had for getting her nails done?

The “fragrance of Christ” was very much in evidence throughout the week in the ministry of the whole group, but Sister Angel really exemplified it as she labored non-stop with tiny paintbrushes over each lady’s nails, finishing each one off with a Korean-accented “Dios le bendiga!” (God bless you!) May we all exude that fragrance more and more, so that people beg us to help them get what we have…

How I Got Involved

2007-09-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

February, 2006

While Rafael was praying for a man of God, I was praying for God to show me the people and the ministry He had planned for me.

I had been to Honduras in 1994 and 2000 on secular medical brigades in a remote rural area. I felt drawn to the mission field, but I knew I was not called to medical work, nor, for a single woman, would a rural area have been a good fit. I also did not particularly care for 2-week trips, because it is very difficult to build relationships.

In 2003, my friend Doug Franck of Equipping Ministries International, who knew of my interest in Honduras and in missions, called and offered to set up a meeting with another friend of his who shared those interests.

In late 2003 Doug and I met with Jim Fatheree of the Springdale, Ohio, Vineyard Church. Jim had been taking mission teams to Tegucigalpa every summer for several years. He offered to take me along and introduce me to his contacts. I said I wanted to go in March, not the summer, and Jim said he would see about putting a team together for that.

A few months later, I heard back from Jim. I was pleasantly surprised, since nothing had been promised. He wasn’t able to get a whole team together, but the two of us went down in March 2004 and taught Equipping Ministries International’s “Teacher Training” to a group of pastors and church leaders. I met Pastor Luis Sorto, who runs a guesthouse for mission teams, Rick Ashbrook, a missionary from Cincinnati, and several local pastors. However, there was one pastor Jim wanted me to meet, who was also a doctor and had had a stroke, but who was out of town.

Having then a place to live, with the Sortos, an American friend, Rick, and a few other contacts, I felt comfortable enough to commit to a 6-month stay. God had not revealed what I was to do, but just told me I was to go and wait on Him. This was a bit scary, but Rick had had to wait a few months before God revealed his ministry, so I figured I could do the same.

I arrived in Tegucigalpa on January 18, 2005 and immediately emailed Rick (I didn’t have his phone number.) I wanted to start getting oriented, so I decided to go for a walk around the block.

Just as I reached the corner, I heard a North American voice saying “Pamela Hanson.” It was Rick! He had not even received my email, but there he was. He was headed for the barbershop and the cybercafé, so I accompanied him.

In the cybercafé he encountered a Honduran woman and began talking to her about a soccer game he had arranged at the school where she worked. Then he introduced me. “This is Sister Patricia. She’s the wife of Pastor Rafael.” I immediately remembered that that was the name of the other pastor Jim had wanted me to meet the year before, and blurted out, “Oh, ¡quiero conocer a su esposo! (I want to meet your husband!)” She told me later that this was quite surprising to her, but when she told Rafael he said, “This is from God!”

A few days later I was with Rick in the neighborhood and he said, “That’s Pastor Rafael’s house. Do you want to see if he is in?” So I met him and he invited me to participate in a medical brigade a few weeks later. I found myself sharing my frustrations about medical brigades with them. He nodded and said, “Yes, we serve much but help little.” I was very struck by this, which perfectly encapsulated what I been sensing. He also invited me to a pastors’ group the following Monday.

So I went to the group meeting, and the brigade, and I helped Rick teach English to the young people of Pastor Rafael’s church, and we got to know each other better over the next couple of months.

Pastor R. was always asking himself, “For what purpose has God brought Pamela here?” A good question, I thought! As he shared his vision of discipling pastors, I sensed that God had brought me here to share in that work. It dovetailed perfectly with my own passion for mentoring and encouraging, with my longstanding desire to develop leaders, and with my overarching, fundamental conviction that it is all about relationship. We found that we were ‘on the same page,’ with complementary gifts.

The remaining time of my stay was all too short as we began building the relationships with the 12 pastors by making home visits to each one (sometimes climbing as many as 2000 steps to get there.) We listened to their needs and dreams while eating plantain chips and drinking banana pop :-o. Jim Fatheree brought a team from the Springdale, Ohio Vineyard at the end of July. We did servant evangelism distributing food house to house, and a marriage seminar, and even put on a wedding.

I returned to the States for six months to wrap up my business affairs prior to moving to Honduras. It was difficult to be separated after such a delightful time of working together in the Lord’s vineyard. However, the Lord used it to further refine and prepare us for the next steps in our ministry, which are now falling into place as I am back in Tegucigalpa for good.

We get the shivers sometimes as we see how God is working!

Outline of ministry in Tegucigalpa, Honduras

2007-08-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

December 1, 2005

I am working to teach and disciple evangelical pastors from the slums of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.

View of steep hillside in Colonia Villa Nueva with typical shacks

My Honduran partners and I work in a poor barrio called Colonia Villa Nueva, situated on a mountain on the edge of the city. The population of this barrio is about 70,000, and it has a pastors’ association with about 50 evangelical pastors. These pastors belong to a variety of tiny denominations which provide them legal recognition, spiritual coverage and a place to send their tithes, but often do not have resources to provide support or training.

These pastors receive no salary and most cannot support their ithes they receive, since their members are few and poor. Most of the pastors work (when work is available) as laborers, but still at times cannot put food on the table.

Pastor Francisco supports his wife, six children, sister-in-law and four nieces and nephews

My partners, Pastors Rafael and Patricia Maradiaga, a physician and a teacher respectively, understand the position of these pastors. Four years ago Pastor Rafael suffered a stroke which left him unable to practice medicine, and their financial position became so difficult that for a time they live with Patricia’s parents, sister, and six nieces and nephews. Fourteen people lived in a small house with no running water.

Although better educated than the pastors of Colonia Villa Nueva, with a seminary degree by correspondence in addition to his M.D., Pastor Rafael too has experienced a lack of support for him as a pastor, even from his own denomination. Mission teams sometimes come to the area, but he has observed that missionaries generally are focused on the church and its members, giving little thought to building up the pastor in other ways.

Pastor Rafael Maradiaga with Missionary Jim Fatheree

One day in 2004, a pastor from Colonia Villa Nueva stopped by, discouraged, and Pastor Rafael listened to him and gave him a used Bible. He was struck by the fact that the pastor went out encouraged, ready to continue in ministry.

He realized that what was lacking was simply someone to take an interest in the pastors, a lack that he also felt. He conceived the vision to disciple a group of pastors who would then not only be equipped to minister in their own churches and communities, but could also disciple other pastors in the barrio. He conferred with Pastor Castejon, but 50 pastors was too many for one man, so he decided to begin with twelve. Meanwhile, he was praying for a “man of God” to partner with him in the ministry.

Pastor Rafael shared his vision with Korean missionary Jabez Jang. He was concerned that he had no resources, but Brother Jang counseled him, “Just begin, and the resources will come,” and lent him instructional DVDs from the International School of Ministry. Rafael assembled the group of 12 pastors and began the project in late 2004, meeting every Monday evening from 6 to 8 pm. I joined him in May 2005.

Pastors in small groups praying after discussing the teaching

Our ministry is first and foremost one of presence. We are here to be with and listen to these dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Our process currently is presenting the weekly DVD teaching and visiting each pastor’s family in their home to hear their hearts.

These pastors, like many of us, tend to focus on obstacles and needs and are often blind to the many spiritual and material resources they have. Most importantly, they have the Holy Spirit of God and fellowship with other believers in the Body of Christ. They are all survivors, with no fear of hard work, and with much creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. Many have skills and need only a small amount of capital ($50) to buy materials to start a small home business such as sewing or making concrete blocks.

The five main areas of material help needed are

1. teaching materials in Spanish

2. school supplies and school fees for pastors’ children.

3. food

4. medicines

5. used clothing