One Month & Counting

One month from tomorrow morning we will be on an airplane enroute to Helene, Roatan, Honduras. Time seems to be dragging by as we force ourselves to remain faithful in our duties at our jobs. Our hearts are now drawn to Helene and what we truly believe is our calling at this point in our journey with Papa.

This must be what it feels like to be a child waiting to meet their new family who has adopted them.

Thanks to a dedicated team blog site - we feel like we already know each one of them, and already love them in Christ. Allow me to introduce them to you -


This is a group picture of the current Helene Team.

Let us first begin with the missing member - Paul Moore, who is from Wisconsin. Paul's responsibilities include Payroll Master for Islander Support Personnel; Official School Tutor; and Maintenance Assistant.

The lady at the far left in the picture is Nurse Deidre Greer from Washington State. Her responsibilities include Medical Provider for the entire island; and ladies ministries including discipleship, exercise class, bible studies.

Next to Deidre is Sheila Benson from North Carolina. She is co-director of the Elementary school and teaches one of the classes. She is also the major morale booster for the team and her husband Larry Benson.

Larry Benson is the Director of Daily Operations for the entire Alternative Missions Ministries on the Bay Islands. He jokingly refers to himself as the "Do-Do". Larry oversees all aspects of the ministry with major responsibilities for scheduling and planning logistics for all Short Term Mission Teams who visit Helene.

Next to Larry is the newest team member - Averyl Morris from South Africa. This group picture was taken at the wedding of Joe and Averyl earlier this year. Averyl has lived on Roatan for several years and is a great resource for practical needs of the team and ministry. She recently spent three months working every area of the Helene Missions Ministries to enable her to better understand the day to day operations. She and her husband live on Roatan and are involved on various ministries on the "down" end of the island.

Joe is the one who is grinning so big - like the cat who swallowed the canary!!! Joe Morris is from Arizona. He is the fix-it-all man in charge of maintenance, security, and general physical plant operations - which includes several buildings, a boat, generator station and water de-salination plant. Joe also has a burden for the men of the island - and he is involved in discipleship, men's bible studies, and teaching basic skills to old and young men alike.

Standing next to Joe in the pink dress is Emily Benson - daughter of Larry and Sheila. Emily is co-director of the school and also teaches one of the classes. Her joy and high energy level acts like a magnet that attracts the children of the island to her side.

Second from the right is Brandy VanderMeer from Michigan. Brandy teaches one of the school classes and helps oversee the kitchen operations. Brandy has a great sense of humor and loves slap-stick comedy.

At the far right of the picture is Camas Frey from Kansas. Camas is a talented musician, leading times of musical worship, teaching islanders basic music skills on keyboards, guitars and drums. Camas also assists with maintenance projects and with visiting short term missions teams.


This is our new family - now you can begin to pray more effectively for them and us. All of them are first and foremost in love with Jesus, and desire to introduce Him to others through the sharing of day-to-day life on the island.

No wonder we are so anxious to get there - to also share life with these fantastic people!!!!!