Pictures Say It Best

The Church in Los Tererros has a floor thanks to a bunch of helpers sent by the Spirit of the LORD! Many hands make light work as they say. The church building is almost done just a few more things to finish. It only needs help 3 areas to complete it.
Cement for front Steps and baptismal...
About $500
Doors and windows...about $600
After inventoring the wood left over we are about $300 shy for the roof. If anyone is led to help in any way please let us know. We have tapped all we had to get to this point and are within sight of the finish line. Our goal is to have it completed for the medical team in only 3 weeks...eek.








JUST A NOTE OF THANKS...

to those who helped us acquire the new truck. It has REALLY been worked and used for the LORD. It has hauled at least 100 tons up the mountain. On a trip yesterday we solidified the name for it…Garobo, the local name for mountain lizard. One of the volunteers was amazed how it climbed up a steep rock like a lizard and never spun a tire. At the time it was carrying 4000lbs of sand, 800 lbs cement and 6 men, and 5 local “hitchhikers” needing a ride up the mountain with their supplies bought in the city….It serves daily as a school bus for the Children’s Lighthouse, has been an ambulance on several occasions, hauled Bibles and evangelistic outreach equipment, it’s a pulpit, it hauls 2200lbs of water at a time, building materials, lumber, rock, it rarely makes an empty trip someplace and has more hours in 4wd than not. I can think of no greater service for it than to wear it out in service for the LORD…amen. Believe it or not the plan is to run it 20 years…..If it helped build 1 church a year…that’s 20 churches!




We needed to clear out space in the house to live and work when the doctors arrive, so Carlos volunteered to share in our space problem and store Bibles we have left. On the way over we chose to stop at the hospital and share a few...thousand. Amen!

PS Yes that is where the kids rode to keep the Bibles from falling off. It's ok it's legal, I was wearing my seatbelt as we drove by the police departmaent... Sasha wanted a Honduran Drivers licence before heading off to college, so she stopped in the police department to buy one. Sign here, pay here and give them a photo and presto your a honduran driver. No exam, no driving test nothing... (She has never driven before) This now explains alot.... Welcome to Honduras...

Unworthy Servant to a Worthy Saviour
Barry Ritchie

Work, Work Work...

What a day of rejoicing and easy day to sleep after. Work begins at 6:30 and ends at 8:30pm nonstop. Load by hand and bring 4 loads, 2 square meters each, up the mountain of cement, sand and gravel for the church. And race down the mountain to drop off and pick up the children from school And give the teachers in the mountain a ride to town. Return to unload a container of food, by hand, then return to the mountain with one more load of gravel. The photo shows Barry Jr carrying 125 lbs at a time….the photo below his shows one of our very pregnant ladies in the church carrying 100 lbs of corn on her head…..I really did try to make her stop but she insisted. One of the smaller teen boys surprised me by carried in 3 bags of corn at a time.(thats 300 lbs on a 100 lbs kid) Many helped and we got in done in less than 2 hours. Some looks like it may have been stolen after the accident and some got wet changing containers, but need to verify. The truck got into a wreck before entering the capital and the load had to be transferred to another container. Welcome to Honduras. With the food we will be able to help many…LORD, When Saw we thee?…

Unworthy servant to a Worthy Saviour,

Barry Ritchie

Another week of ups and downs on the Honduras road. The city decided to dig drainage in front of the Whensawe property. Great, except they left a ditch and a rock hard mountain of dirt in front. No way to enter. So Barry Jr and Omar set out to fix it. Blanca was there helping clean to get it ready for the doctors to arrive with her children after school. Maria(6) climbed up the container and fell off on the walled side into a barb wire fence. She was rushed to the Hospital and was ok, but got a few stitches, broke one of her adult teeth and a bump on the head. It could have been a lot worse.

Several La Cruz church members wanted to visit and see the church in Los Tererros. I needed to pick up Enemesio on Saturday so we took about 12 of us up the mountain. At the highest point we stopped to pray. Marco prayed as we looked out over the city talking about a white field. After arriving at the church all gathered near the hole dug for a baptismal in the floor of the church to pray. It moved Enemesio to tears. It was good for the church folks to see.

The truck transmission noise is continuing to get louder and the timing for this is bad…as if there is a good time for repairs. We need it to finish the church and right after for the medical team…If we take it in to be fixed now the church will not get done…if we wait till after we will not have it for the medical team….

Our first 40’container of food was due but the shipper had an accident with the truck. It is now due for Monday with no room except our house. That’s 12 people in a 1000sf house that has 0 yard. Now we’ll be using the living room, kitchen, bedrooms and halls for food storage…We Really need to get a church building here in the city. To add to it, in a short time feeding 41+extra mouths in the house with the medical team here.

Today was La Cruz Baptist Church one year anniversary. Carlos preached, several gave teary eyed testimonies, a potluck dinner and a time of fellowship. It was real sweet. Talking we all realized something. As one drives into Choluteca, the first thing everyone sees as they arrive at the bridge in the city skyline is the Old Catholic Church buildings. The new church property would be in between, right in line of sight. Everyone smiled and said we need a big lighted cross on the roof. We shall see…I would be satisfied with just a roof so as not to have to put up tents every week. Amen!

Unworthy servant to a Worthy Saviour

Barry

It's all in the LORD's hands

Carlos is out of the hospital for real this time. Doing well. Omar and I repaired the windshield and a little rust on the car fixed and painted as a get well soon gift. When he saw it he began to cry deeply. Between breaths explained, even his family does not care for him as much as the people in ministry here…Amen. We are hoping to have him preach for our 1st year anniversary for La Cruz Baptist Church. Yup, 50-100 of us have been meeting in a tent for a year now. With the constant heat, rain, bugs, drunks, street venders, hecklers and a continual threat of no place to meet next week. It has been amazing to see this little church grow in the LORD and lives changed for eternity. Prayerfully, we will finally sign on property the LORD provided today. Amen

The second church in Los Tererros has walls up on the church building. The medical team from ORH will be here in July to use it as a major outreach point…Amen. They have been instrumental in getting it constructed…Thank you LORD for your humble willing servants. The people that live in Los Tererros are strong in many ways, very closed community. With our numerous trips up the mountain carrying materials for the church, the ministry truck has become the local bus. We have not made a trip up or down the mountain without giving people rides. (Sometimes 24 at a time). This too has made an impact. One teenage girl we spoke with starts walking to school at 3am down the mountain…In the USA we had a hard time just waking them up. As for our truck, it began making a noise yesterday and a leak in the transfer case was found. No surprise it has spent almost 3 weeks in 4wd low. Now back to the dealer. Pray it will be an easy, cheap, quick, fix under warranty. We really need it not to be down for days or weeks waiting on parts. Pray for the large medical team that is coming. They are very strong on evangelism. Amen.

Now for more minor news, we loaned out the smaller tent used for Sunday school class to another ministry here and it finally came back. Although no one told us it had been ripped severely and we did not know….until we needed to use it. It’s all in the LORD hands Amen.

911-Do It Yourself

Carlos is out of the Hospital...sort of. Because of poor sanitation and the risk of infection so high, everyone, including the surgeon, suggested he be moved out of the Socialized Hospital. (all doctors here are required to donate time every week at the socialized hospital) Mold on the ceilings, no ventilation, many sick in one room, cats wandering in licking plates and people as they slept, (we chased them out from under Carlos’ bed on every visit), no screens for mosquitoes (dengue and malaria are here) . I watched the nurse give him a shot without cleaning anything, then go to the next patient and do the same (at least she used a different needle…why? Because you bring your own.)… So we had the doctor from the pay hospital make the arrangements to move him. Omar is a constant blessing and a surprise to us. He showed up in a borrowed ambulance and “we” moved him. 911/Home Depot style (do it yourself). God always amazes me in surrounding us with the right people at the right time. Carlos is in a much cleaner place under better care until he goes home.

Just the calm and peace it gave Carlos will allow him to heal faster. It will cost $300 for the week including the medication, because “the workman is worthy of his hire” and the good samaritian would have done the same for a stranger. Carlos is a major part of the ministry here and we felt something needed to be done, even if it hurts.

What puzzles me is we are trying to donate a large amount of medical supplies from ORH to the socialized hospital and we have yet to get the government to give permission…all we need is a letter of acceptance. But in a day where everyone wants credit for the good and someone else to blame for problems... it's hard.

One blessing in the socialized hospital was tracts. Lisa and I brought in the chick tracts left by the last pastors and four of us handed them out in both wards. It was funny looking around seeing literally everyone, more than 100 people; nurses, patients, visitors, all reading tracts. Amen

Unworthy Servant to a Worthy Saviour,
Barry

So you like Socialized Care?

Carlos is now in the socialized care hospital here in Choluteca. The papers stating the severity of the emergency from the pay hospital put him in the front of the line so to speak. He is scared but knows God is in control. While Omar was visiting today he led a man to Christ, who was severely burned in the bed next to Carlos …with Carlo’s help even in excruciating pain. It was Omar’s first time to witness. What a testimony. When the church folks arrived they would not let us in. We all had to sneak in 2 by 2. He was in a room with about 25 men in it with various sicknesses or problems, with no ventilation, only one open window. I went out and got hand sanitizer and told Carlos to rub it all over all the time….. They were supposed to get his sugar down but they forgot about him and did not give him the right meds. When the doctor arrived he had to possibly delay it till Monday. Carlos was in tears in pain. About a dozen church folks gathered around, held hands and began to pray. The whole room went silent and many bowed and prayed with us. After Carlos said the prayer made the pain and the worry subside. Amen. He shared not only did his car’s distributor get stolen, but he had a flat, his dog died and the police called about the smell and the birds eating it, bothering neighbors, plus the rabbit in his house had 5 babies, all since he got sick.

Omar and I are going to fix Carlos’ car as a surprise. It is a 30 year old Datsun he uses as a taxi to support his family but it is in sad shape.(he uses it much for ministry as some of you already know) The interior is bad, the windshield is so broken one can hardly see, needs tires, and now a distributor, and some rust repaired. If anyone is led to help in this or any of the many other unexpected expenses occurred as of late please listen to the Holy Spirit. I just keep going forward, letting my LORD worry about filling the tank…Amen!

Unworthy Servant to a Worthy Saviour,
Barry Ritchie

Sword & Trowel

Sword and Trowel

Building walls and defending against attack…modern day version.
Wednesday night in church service, Carlos was getting sick during the preaching. By the time he got home his blood sugar hit 420 and was complaining of strong stomach pain. His wife Luz called in a panic and Omar and I went to take him to the hospital. He had taken his medication so the sugar level had gone down a little but he would not go to the hospital. He promised to see a doctor in the morning. So we left and Omar would check on him later. Barry Jr, Enemesio and I returned to work on the mountain church. About 5 pm Teo, our highest skilled laborer, blacked out and fell hitting his head on a rock, began vomiting and was incoherent. No one even saw him for a few minutes because he was working on the other side of the wall of the church. We rushed him down the mountain to the pay hospital, none felt it was wise to wait on the socialized care hospital. In route I got a panic call about Carlos and told them to take him to the same hospital and I would cover the costs. (Jesus said “the laboror is worthy of his hire”) You must pay as you go here no billing. (ie…you want this exam, medication, or diagnosis…pay first) Family, church and friends came to offer support and prayer. Both men in beds side by side on IV drips being monitored. The “good” pay hospital had no working blood sugar tester. Carlos’ tester had just quit and they felt he might have gallbladder attack too, but the sonogram also did not work. After a few hours of multiple meds, both men we better and released to return for testing later. Teo may have had a stroke, but was severely malnourished as well. The hard work in the rain for the last 2 weeks did not help. Carlos as a diabetic, polio victim living in a 3rd world country does not have the resources to monitor his blood as he should (Nor does he eat right). This morning it was confirmed he has gallbladder issues. Men and equipment often work beyond their limits in Honduras. While Carlos and his wife were in a store today for a few minutes, buying medication and waiting for results…someone stole his cars distributor. We went and used a tie down strap to tow it home. Welcome to Honduras….
Tonight he was given an emergency prescription for surgery and is fearful in this system. We need prayers for him. Once they get the sugar under control they will operate Sunday...

The Church of Christ Jesus the true God...

We got enough building materials up the the mountian to finally begin construction. I helped lay out the foundation lines and Enemesio stayed all week to lay the foundation and will return Monday to continue work. Enemesio has walked a fine line laying the foundation for the ministry to be well received. Helping in situations no one else would/could. In the comunity to bring water, preaching house to house, teaching and witnessing. He wants to see his people, his birthplace saved and serve the LORD. Even the witch, the catholic priest, and Adventest pastor are now pleased a baptist church is growing there... The Bible says that when a man's ways please the LORD he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him....amen.

Friday we had another outreach in a different area working with Bro. Sabas and some of our church members. It is not a long trip but because of the rain, it was a very difficult passage up, having to lay rocks down and push the truck even in 4wd. Off road tires would help alot. The village was surprize to see us show up because they thought no one would come in these conditions. No one visits in good weather let alone bad. But I had promised Maria we would be there on friday...and we were. Made anouncements, shot off the candy cannon leaving a trail of smoke and more than 100 people came out to watch a movie. As the credits rolled ending the film, the rain returned with vengance. I began preaching in the rain. To our surprise eveyone stayed with more than 25 coming to ask Christ Jesus to save them, over half adults...amen! The trip down was so dangerous I had everyone get out and walk in the rain and mud. The truck kept sliding on the off camber rocks toward the cliff like it was on ice. The left front wheel found a small groove less than a foot from the edge. I was about to tie it off to a tree but with several men pushing and pulling we passed that area. Later Carlos humbled me with a comment that spoke volumes to me. "Barry I have been alot of places with you and said alot things preaching. This was the first time I was really scared. I must admit you live the truth you preach. " I said "Carlos was the LORD pleased tonight?" "Of Course Barry" "Then nothing else matters" Amen. Ask me in 1000 years was it worth it...

PRAYER REQUEST
We also made an offer on property behind our house that was accepted...now we just need to come up with it all.....ops, details in the LORD's Hands. The purpose will be for the church, Bible institute, school, feeding center and maybe a short term safe haven for abused families. As the LORD provides and breaks hearts....AAMEN!

Unworthy Servant to a Worthy Saviour
Barry