 |
What's New |
|
MEET OUR NEWEST LITTLE LAMBS
December 14, 2009
Dear LAMB Friends,
We have two new precious lambs just in time for Christmas: Yolany and Mercedes! I picked them up this morning from Social Services.
Yolany (14 mos.) is blind, apparently from birth. She has an appointment to be evaluated this week. Mercedes (3 mos.) is wide-eyed, as you can see from her photo.
The enclosed report quotes Yolany's mother as saying, "I don't know why this little dog doesn't die." sigh. No doubt the mother has suffered, too, in order to be in such a frame of mind. We can only pray that someone along the way will share with her the love of Jesus so that she, too, can be held in His loving arms.
In the meantime, we are making room in our Home and in our Hearts for these precious sisters. Please pray that they will know how loved they are, and that even though Yolany cannot see our smiling faces, she will sense our joy.
Many blessings in Jesus,
Suzy |
2009 LAMB Institute Graduation
Dear LAMB Friends,
A joyous Advent season to all of you in the Name of the Returning King of Glory!
Last night (Thursday, Dec 10th) , we held the sixth graduation celebration of The LAMB Institute! Two women, Maria del Carmen Mondragon and Teodora Mejia (see photo of "Honduran Muslims"), finished two years of missionary preparation and received their diplomas. Both women live in Colonia Flor del Campo where the Institute is located, and have truly persevered in order to enjoy the particular satisfaction of having finished a goal very dear to their hearts.
Maria del Carmen is a housewife with young children, one of whom is a student at "Los Corderitos de Dios." She is a member of Iglesia Amor, Fe y Vida, which is attended by several of our staff (Gladys, Evelyn, Arely). Her husband has been very supportive of her studies, and as a couple they have ministered for many years in the neighborhood, leading people to Christ and discipling them through home groups. Through the ministry of Sylvia Padilla, a LAMB graduate and now a member of our teaching team, Maria has sensed a call to minister in a large post-Mitch settlement on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa. She spoke on behalf of the graduates last night, and was so excited and emotional that her talk lasted longer than the commencement address! :)
Teodora worked for many years for a repossession company, but two years ago felt that the Lord did not want her in that line of work anymore. She often returned home discouraged from having to enter people's homes to repossess items they could not pay for. By faith, she resigned, and shortly afterwards heard about LAMB. The Holy Spirit spoke to her heart, and she loves to share how He helped her with her financial obligations while completing the two-year program. She has three beautiful grown daughters, and is known in Flor as someone who reaches out with the love of Jesus to young people whose homes are broken. She cried with joy last night when presented with her new study Bible.
Each year, it is our custom to dress in international clothing, and name the graduation ceremony after a famous missionary. The students choose, and this year they chose . . . ME! :) It was a complete surprise to me, and really topped off my day, as I was also celebrating in my heart the completion of my master's program. I turned in my final project yesterday. What a touching present from Jesus!
The evening was Spirit-filled, joyful and an all-around tremendous blessing. Two people can change the world for Christ! And these women might just do it!
Jenny Funes, also a LAMB graduate, has been coordinating the Institute this year, but she is handing over the reigns to our dear friend and sister, Carmen Ortiz (see photo of dynamic woman!). Carmen is a pioneer in mission in Honduras, having been called by the Lord since 1993 to serve in any way possible in the training and sending of missionaries. Her brother and sister-in-law, Oscar and Miriam Ortiz, have been serving as missionaries in Mali, Africa for more than fifteen years. They were the first Hondurans to go to the unreached full-time, and are perhaps the best-known and most-loved and respected members of the Honduran Christian Church. All three of their boys grew up on the mission field. Carmen helped organize and served on the board of the first Honduran mission organization, FEMEH, which was affiliated with COMIBAM. She has collaborated all over Central America with every imaginable mission agency and organization for the past 15 years. Last night she wore a beautiful dress from Mali, and encouraged all of us to "take the Light of Christ to the nations." I am so excited and blessed that the Lord has led her to LAMB. I will continue to teach at the Institute, but it is so important for the Hondurans to be the ones in the limelight. I can't think of anyone I'd rather have as our LAMB representative to the mission and Christian community than Carmen Ortiz.
Thank you for helping us keep our vision alive to train Hondurans for mission both here and abroad. And please keep Carmen and Teodora in your prayers as they seek God's will for the next step.
Many blessings in Jesus,
Suzy |
Election Update
Hi Everyone -- We just got internet service back. It's been down since Saturday. Sorry. I know people are wanting to hear how the election went yesterday.
There was great voter turnout -- more than 72% of registered voters in Honduras went to the polls. Six polls were also set up in major cities in the U. S., and apparently there was also great turnout there. In all, about 2.5 million people voted.
The clear winner (56%), and thankfully there was one, was Porfirio (Pepe) Lobo of the Nationalist (Conservative) Party. The other main candidate was Elvin Santos (39%) of the Liberal Party. Their platforms were not very different, but Pepe focused more on security issues, which have always been the primary concern here, but after what happened with Mel Zelaya, nobody is thinking of much else. Pepe also offered some ideas about providing more employment opportunities. Elvin Santos is young and handsome, and has a beautiful, charming wife, but he didn't seem to have a lot of great ideas for Honduras, other than unity, unity, unity -- which is great, but had pretty much already happened because of the crisis.
Personally, I thought Elvin Santos was going to win. I was more than surprised by Lobo's overwhelming victory. However, Santos is from the same political party as Mel Zelaya, and he is a newcomer. Lobo is well-known, and while he isn't exactly exciting and charismatic, he doesn't seem to have any questionable political ties, and he had Oscar Alvarez on his ticket, who did an impressive job as Security Minister two presidents ago. As I said before, this is THE issue in Honduras, and probably the bottom line is that the Honduran people feel safer with Pepe.
There were ZERO incidents of violence. Praise God! A lot of people waited until the afternoon to go to the polls; they were watching their TVs to see if the coast was clear. It was. :) Mari voted in her first national election. She was very engaged, I'm glad to say. As you might imagine, I encourage my girls to express their opinions! Mari said she voted for a lot of women. :)
We are getting geared up for Christmas. It's quite a project to do Christmas for so many children, but fun, too. My friend, Judith from Cristo Redentor, and I have been shopping for figures for the nativity scene in our new church. In Honduras, that means more than just the manger scene. You have to have houses for villages, and trees and plants, and a church, and lots of animals. We bought a dozen "villagers" at one shop. It's a lot of fun looking for these "treasures," and they are inexpensive, so we hope to have a nice "nacimiento" for our children. They will help put it together each year, and of course it can be different each year, too, which makes it all even more interesting. The wise men will start far away, and move closer as Christmas approaches, and the Christ child won't appear until the 24th. Interactive. You teachers love that, right? Me, too.
This Sunday we are inviting our neighbors to church for the first time. Please pray as we open our doors to the community. We want to share our love for Jesus, and His for us, with them.
Thank you for your prayers yesterday. No doubt there was a legion of archangels covering Honduras!
Love, Suzy
|
| |
