Family Outreach

Newsletter- July 2001

 

Dear Friends,

We greet you once again in the name of Jesus Christ.  As some of you know, Chuck was in the States during the month of April.  He, Socorro Vasquez, Moncho Enamorado, and Connie (Chuck's mother) returned to Honduras in a small 20 passenger bus.  This bus has been a blessing to the congregation of Siguatepeque.  We are able to pick up six families who were not able to come to church.  They live a long distance from the church building and do not have transportation.

 

The bus has been used now for four months.  As a result of these people attending church, four of them have asked for baptismal classes and church attendance has doubled.  Chuck has classes with these people on Tuesday nights.  We still have not received the registration papers for the bus from the government.  A government employee misread the registration number of the bus, so the paper work had to be done all over again.  We hope to receive these papers in the next few weeks.

 

Pray that the bus ministry will prosper.  Four of the families that ride the bus bring regular visitors with them.  On a good day we have about 22 people riding the bus.  Pray that we receive the bus papers soon.  We have a trip planned in August to go to a village called San Nicolas.  This is where Socorro does missionary work.  Our congregation's choir will sing at a baptism there.  Without the papers we will not be able to travel outside of Siguatepeque.

 

The brethren here in Siguatepeque are having money-making projects to pay for bus expenses.  We sold hamburgers a few weeks ago.  Many churches here do not rely on the United States churches for their support.  Most Honduran evangelical churches are completely self-supported.  In the past our church  has relied almost exclusively on money from the United States.  Here in Siguatepepque and in some other towns we  are trying to develop the idea of the branches becoming financially independent.

 

There is an attitude among most countries towards the U.S. "She is an unending money supply."  The government of the United States has loaned or given money to many nations.  She has not used wisdom to see that the usage of the money and payments were carried through.  As a result, we have financed projects that could damage our own country and the national debt increases.

 

This same attitude of "gimme-gimme"  is deeply rooted in many of our foreign churches.  Just as the government has not been wise, neither has the church.  We have developed "rice Christians".  Those in the mission field must be careful when asked for money.  There are many who allow their feelings of pity to guide them rather than the wisdom of the Lord.  At times our own culture interferes with our decision- making.  Most of the people here think that Americans are very gullible. 

 

We have seen many problems arise in the church because of money.  We have witnessed the destruction of ministers and members due to greed.  Many times it began by U.S. brethren who wanted to help out by giving money, but did not use wisdom nor heed the counsel of those in the mission field.

 

 If money is to be given to the church in foreign lands, we can designate where those funds will go, but we will never really know how that money is used unless we have someone that is absolutely trustworthy living in that area.  There is a need for more people to be willing to live in foreign lands.  In Latin America truthfulness and honesty are not usually very highly regarded.  You say what you need to say in order to get what you want.

 

We must stop having a paid ministry in the foreign churches!  This causes innumerable problems.  We have had a number of ministers in other churches become “interested” in the gospel because our national ministers were getting paid more than they were.  It is also very difficult at times to know what some of the ministers really believe because many times they will say what they think you want to hear or even more commonly just won’t tell you what they believe because they do not want to imperil their paycheck.  Some Americans have said that it is necessary to pay the ministers here because there is no other way that their families could survive if the head of the household is active in missionary work.  This is false!  The Lord has promised to provide for His people.  We must realize that He is the One who provides everything that we need, even the air that we breathe.  How much easier it is for Him to provide what we need to live on if we would just trust Him and teach our people to go to Him and to trust Him for everything.  We must follow the pattern which is given in Mosiah 9:59.  We do not want anyone to misunderstand what we believe.  If a minister is out in the mission field it is not only permitted, but commanded that the church support his family while he is in the field, but when he returns home he is to work with his own hands for his family’s support.

 

We also could avoid many of these monetary problems if we would just follow the commandment of the Lord to go without purse or scrip.  When people see us without money or baggage while we are on mission trips, they begin to realize that we are not all rich Americans.  This would help out immensely when there are monetary needs in the churches.  The members instead of looking to the US for monetary help, begin to look for ways to earn money themselves and they have to go to the Lord seeking His help to get the needed money.

 

We do not want people to think that we do not appreciate their support of the church here in Honduras.  We do!  We do not feel that it is right for the church here to be dependent upon the U.S. church though.  The United States church and the Honduran church should be in an equal relationship, not a mother-daughter relationship.

 

May the Lord bless our brothers in all lands and may he give us wisdom as we try to serve.  There are those here that have truly had a changed heart for Jesus Christ and are good workers for the Lord.

 

A new independent missionary here in Siguatepeque heard that a missionary family (us) lived in the mountains near Siguatepeque.  He walked out here to visit us, but neither Chuck nor myself were at home.  He visited with Connie (Chuck's mom) and the children a little and then promised to come back the next day.  He came back and Chuck was able to share the gospel with him and the people who came with him.  One of the young ladies when Chuck told them about the Book of Mormon was pretty cold, but after he asked her to read in Mosiah 1:100-102, 108 and 116 about Jesus Christ, she began to read more of it on her own.

 

 Two days later, the missionary returned with two requests.  The first one was that he would like a Book of Mormon and some suggestions as to where to begin reading it.  Chuck suggested that he read 1 Nephi and then begin reading the N.T. part in 3 Nephi.  The second request was for 300Lempiras (20 dollars), so that he could replace his reading glasses which he had lost.  This has caused us to wonder if he possibly has ulterior motives.  Chuck did loan him the money and he said that he would pay us back within 5 days.  Please pray for us that we will have wisdom and discernment as we share Jesus Christ and His gospel with the people of the covenant.

 

As for our family, we are still working on the house.  There is painting and cabinetry to be done.  The three bedrooms do not have flooring put in yet.  It may not sound like much, but we have to move furnishings from room to room as we work and the conveniences that you have in the States do not exist here.  Carpentry takes three times as long to do since you do everything from scratch.  You begin with a rough piece of wood cut right from a tree.

 

Regina keeps herself busy with school, home, and church.  It is a blessing to have Connie here with us.  She is a great help and the children enjoy her very much.  On Sundays Regina assists with the children's Sunday school class at 9:30, then moves on to present an activity in the youth class at 10:15.  Chuck drives the bus route to take people home, then the family goes home to eat lunch.  At 3:00pm Elizabeth and Regina teach a Sunday school class to children in our village.  Supper is given, then we are off again to church.  Sundays are filled with activities, but we enjoy them.  It is an exciting day for us.

 

A testimony from Elizabeth Sperry:

 

We live in the country and do not have trash service, so we have to burn trash once a week.  One day I went with my Dad and Grandma to burn the trash.  My Dad had put some trash from his workshop in there and told us to move away from the fire because there was something that might explode.  All three of us backed off a long way and "Boom"  out came a fire like a blow torch.  I felt something on my hand and tried to flick it off.  I began to scream.  The explosion had blown out a small piece of plastic that shot at my hand like a bullet.  My Dad and Grandma came running to help.  We put water on my hand and prayed.  My Dad had to dig out the piece of plastic that burned into my skin.  After we prayed I felt better and fell asleep.  I am grateful to the Lord that I did not get seriously hurt.  You know what?  There is hardly even a scar on my hand.