Watch Out Copan - Here We Come

We depart tomorrow for an intense month of “Emersion Spanish Language School” in Copan - on the mainland of Honduras. I really do not totally understand what that truly means……some of it seems exciting and some of it seems to be a very tough challenge. We pray Christ will be evident in all our actions, what we say and in how we treat people.

This comes at a perfect time for us to pull away and spend quality time with God and each other on the subject of 2009. How should we invest the next year of our lives? Spiritual, emotional, financial and physical concerna will all need to be worked through at the deepest level. Of course, at the base of it all we know that “we can do all things through Christ” – it’s not about our strength – it is about His!!!

There are two enormous needs here on Roatan that we are specifically praying about:

Both of these projects are located in what is called “La Colonia” (the colony). These are Hondurans from the mainland who have been displaced by the massive mud slides over the past several years. Literally thousands of acres have slid down mountains into the rivers and disappeared with their homes, all of their belongings and even some of their family members.

Roatan currently provides much better chances of starting over and acquiring an entry level job that pays $6 per day. (Almost double what they were making in the banana and pineapple fields of the mainland.) Hundreds of families have moved here and built an entirely new community – La Colonia. They simply move onto an available space on the side of a hill; clear the space of all fauna with the exception of four trees, which become the four corners of their new home. Then they purchase tarps, wrap them around the four “cornerstone” trees to create walls, tie one over the top to create a roof and move in to live. These are whole families – Father, Mother and usually three to four children under the age of ten. As they earn more money, they slowly purchase lumber, tin and other building supplies and build a more permanent structure around the small “tent home”.

However, there was no infrastructure whatsoever in place, until God led a couple of people into action:

Nurse Peggy (http://www.clinicaesperanza.com/) had been operating a Health clinic out of her garage but quickly became overcome with all of the life threatening health needs. The greatest need was the huge mortality rate of newborns. Land and monies were donated and the first stage of a full service Health clinic and birthing center is nearing completion. She now averages over 60 patients each day – five days a week. And that is only in the first floor out-patient clinic. Those numbers are bound to increase when the second floor birthing center is opened in the near future. (They are looking for a Nurse Manager to organize and oversee the staff and day to day operations of the birthing center - Terry?) Peggy, early on, diagnosed the leading cause of illness and death in La Colonia was all related to contaminated drinking water. The children would haul 5 gallon buckets of water over a mile uphill, where it would sit in the open and become infected by bugs, dogs, chickens, etc……until finally consumed.

Enter Henry (such a Godly name!!!) Zittrower. Henry and his wife moved to Roatan for retirement – of which God called him out of. He developed a game plan, created a network of support and began drilling wells and running water pipes (pvc). Aided by several church work groups from the states; U.S. Navy sailors; and other retired ex-pats on Roatan, the work was quickly accomplished. They are now in need of a third well and a large holding tank for water pumped – plans are in motion. This group, “Living Water For Roatan” (http://www.lw4r.com/) has totally equipped, trained and handed over the day to day operations of the fresh water operation to local residents. Each family pays a small amount for the fresh water piped to their home – those finances pay the local staff member salaries as well as add up for future maintenance needs. LW4R is now dreaming of building a “community center” where local children can participate in a multitude of options from computer classes to personal tutoring to organized sports (futbol & basketball). They are looking for a general properties manager who will oversee and plan the ministry agenda; as well as equip, train and discipleship future local leadership.

These people in La Colonia are extremely friendly, warm and open to new relationships and life views. They are mostly Spanish speaking only – and their smiles will melt your heart. They are looking for real answers to the heavy issues of life and are open to listening and learning. They left their old ways of living (culture) behind and know they must adjust to become a permanent fixture in a strange land. This promises to make them extremely open to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ - via - new personal relationships with Christians who themselves demonstrate a intimate personal relationship with our loving God. Our goal at language school is to learn enough conversational skills to clearly communicate Christ’s love and acceptance.

We are told we will have internet access at least once per week while in Copan. We will do our best to keep you informed as we continue our journey.

Know that your prayers and spiritual support are needed more now than ever!
We love you and look forward to seeing most of you when we return to the states in December and January.

In His Love and Service,
Henry & Terry McCray

Farewell To Helene

Sometimes, it seems God moves in random sequences. We came to Helene thinking this was, without a doubt, the ministry He had prepared us for. However, several specific events and proddings made it clear this was not a permanent assignment to both ourselves and the Helene Team. But God knows exactly what He needs to accomplish within us - to make us more pure vessels to represent Him in a lonely, hurting world.

This is a very symbolic picture for us - Terry is standing on the beach watching the cruise ship (Helene ministry) pull away without us. We were so sure God wanted us on that boat!!! Notice just past Terry on the beach is a local Honduran. (new ministry focus) Ooops..... guess once again, we put our thinking ahead of His. Will we ever learn to "Be Still and KNOW that I am God"?

So, our journey continues. When God closes a door, He has promised to provide an alternative.

Through a chain of Godly people on Roatan, He made us aware of a four star resort where the owner only charges "mission minded people" one third of the regular fees. So, we are basically staying in beautiful, up-scaled acommodations for $50 per night. (That also includes a free breakfast!) This picture is taken on the beach we see right out of our window. Again, if you ever visit Roatan - be sure and check out the "Blue Bahai" for your lodging needs. (non-paid advertisement!)

Hold on . . . . here we go again! One thing led to another (God Working) and we are enrolled in an intensive, emersion Spanish School for the entire month of November.

The Guacamaya Spanish School is a privately-owned school with experienced and enthusiastic (hopefully very patient) teachers dedicated to providing high quality Spanish classes that promise to speed our language acquisition and comprehension. (We will be their ultimate challenge!) The school is located in the western highlands of Honduras, near the Guatemala border, in the heart of the peaceful, the scenic town of Copán Ruinas, just two blocks from the central park, and less than a mile from the world-renowned Maya archeological ruins.

During our entire stay we will be living with a Honduran family - which offers the opportunity to speak Spanish outside of class and better understand the Honduran culture.

So, here we go moving from sea level to an 6,000 ft. high mountain range. As I have stated in previous posts - God has a grand sense of humor and loves creating surprises!

This is just one of the many breeds of colorful birds whose natural habitat is in the Northern Highlands of Honduras. We are looking forward to seeing parts of God's creation we have never experienced before.

We do sense a strong calling for the Hispanic peoples - whether they be in Honduras or in East Tulsa. We continue to trust God in opening and closing all of the available venues of ministry.

Please be praying for our instructors. We will each have our own on their one-on-one teaching program. Pray we can be a positive influence for Christ in their lives; and that God will give them Holy Patience as we try to penetrate new language skills through these aged thick skulls of ours!

Once again, thanks so much for your support - many of you sent encouraging responses to our last two posts - and we sensed Christ's love and affirmation through you.

On our ever twisting journey,
Henry and Terry

Halfway Done - Six weeks completed!

For our halftime celebration we attended an island wedding this week. Island weddings are known to last four to five hours, so we just opted to attend the 90 minute ceremony and passed on all of the reception festivities. Here is a picture of Terry sitting with Laverne (one of our island cooks) waiting for the ceremony to begin. The stated time was 2:00pm - the actual starting time was 3:30pm. However, several islanders warned us about the late starts, so we arrived around 3:00pm and did not have to wait that long.

Two of the bridesmaids were teachers at our school. Shaunna is in the light blue and teaches our 2nd grade class; Kiera is in the red and teaches our 1st grade class. They both arrived before the bride. Two other bridesmaids did not, and had to sneak in a side door to join the ceremony, which was half way over at the time. Ahhh......Island Time!

We were able to enjoy the rest of the day off, which allowed for some clothing repair - I am so thankful I brought my personal nurse and tailor to the island of Helene with me!

However, she does look a little worn, tired and stressed out with some sharp seamstress scissors in her hand! A little scary!!!

So, we decided to take the weekend

"down island" on the main part of Roatan. We were told by a nurse on Roatan about a great resort to stay, "Blue Bahai", where the owner gives very good rates for those who are involved in missions.

Doesn't Terry look a little more relaxed here on a pool side bench carved like an alligator? This was after a long session soaking in a bathtub filled with hot water!!!!! Also after a good nights sleep in air conditioning with no dog fights, cow bellowing, or singing islanders waking us up several times. Did I say it has been six weeks???

It has been a great weekend, where we have been refreshed and have been able to regather our focus on our "calling" to represent Christ in specific ways. We will return to Helene tomorrow after attending church on Roatan.

We desperately need your spiritual support and prayers this week, as we will be meeting with Team Helene to discuss our hearts and how that will effect our length of service on Helene. We feel that we have sensed and confirmed God's heart for us during this weekend alone with Him; pray that Team Helene will also recognize God's voice and direction during this time of honest communication.

Thank you so much for your emotional and spiritual support during this entire portion of our journey. We truly sense this journey is not yet complete - but may take some unexpected turns and changes in direction. God has such a sense of humor and loves surprising us with His love and grace!!!!

We will catch you up to date on next week's posting.

Be assured of our love, appreciation and prayers for you and your support.

Henry & Terry

Those Yankees Are Gone!!!

I'm referring to the Short Term Mission Team from Newport, Rhode Island who just departed after spending the past five days with us. It was a week of hard manual labor mixed with several spiritual highlights while visiting homes, helping in the school and health clinic, and singing for one of the local churches.

Their #1 priority was to complete the building of a new storage facility for our de-salination drinking water plant. This plant allows us to provide drinking water to islanders at 40% less cost than they pay anywhere else. Currently the plant sits over the ocean - which leads to much rust and short life span of pumps and motors. The new plant will be located on the opposite (up hill) side of our clinic building.

Some of the islanders helped us prepare the slab before the team arrived on island. This proved to be a real God-send, as the team was detained along the route and did not make it onto Helene until two days after their expected arrival. But all were safe and sound, and the work went fast.

The building to the left of the slab contains our large generator; which powers the entire complex.

<------ The team arrived and immediately got busy at work! Thankfully they brought a couple of experienced carpenters with them, which quickly made up for lost time.

While this portion of the team worked on the building project; other team members went on medical rounds with Terry & Deirdre, while still others helped unpack tubs of books and school supplies they brought with them for our school. I wish you could have seen the estactic faces of our children when they saw their first large sheet of art paper. Until now, all drawing & painting was limited to 8 1/2 x 11 inch size. The island teachers were more excited about the new pencil sharpeners, three hole punches, notebooks and fresh markers. The visiting teachers also helped us complete the annual reading tests that is given to each student on an individual basis. The results will tell us alot about which students will move forward next year, and which students need a little more time at their current grade level.

The final touches are being applied as the doors are being hung. The project was basically completed in three days time! Great team work and planning ahead by Camas and Paul on our Team Helene. Now all that needs to be done is dig trenches and run PVC pipe along the full length of the property - twice. We are sitting on the edge of "rainy season" so the pressure is on to complete the project.......

which is now "doable" thanks to the great team from Rhode Island.

God really used this group of seven educators, three construction professionals, and one Doctor during their short term mission ministry with us.

They not only completed all of their intended projects, but touched many lives (ours included)in the process. A huge thank you to the Presbyterian Church of Newport, Rhode Island!

Here is Dr. Ruth from the Rhode Island Team (to the left of Terry) and Nurse Deirdre.

This was the 22nd Short Term Mission Team to Helene this year; however, our first. It was a great experience sharing time with a group of like-minded people who are passionate about living their lives for God.

There is something for everyone and anyone to get involved with on a Short Term Mission Trip to Helene........keep that in the back of your mind, in case we end up back here next year! :-)

Resting in Him,

Henry & Terry

One Third Completed

Greetings in the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

It takes much grace to survive on Helene. Life is raw and beautiful at the same time here.

This picture is an appropriate illustration of that fact. Instead of Volcanic formations, the island of Helene is built on raised coral from the sea.

We experienced our first earthquake this past week at 3:15am. It wasn't bad, but did lead to a prayer of thanksgiving before returning to sleep. We are geographically situated over a large "fault line" in the earth's crust. Roatan and Helene are literally a result of tumultous events when earthquakes shove coral up out of the sea. I am told that is still happening at time goes on. But, as you can see in the picture above, life still goes on. Our creator is so wise and omnipresent throughout His creation! Look at how the plant life and trees actually embed themselves into the solid rock-like coral - and life takes off. As the leaves fall and the sand, dirt and dust collect - a thin layer of top soil begins to develop. Then small critters take up habitat. The process continues until solid enough for people to build a "stilt house" on, and then you have the beginnings of a new community on Helene. This lead me to ask myself - "How is God using the spiritual earthquakes in my life to complete His good work in my life?"

This past week we experienced a major community celebration as the Honduras government finally fulfilled a long time promise of a cement bridge on the island of Helene. The only negative was where they located the bridge - as you can see in this picture, the bridge dead ends into the "bush" instead of being placed in a more central location on the island. (Government thinking is Government thinking wherever you go!) Oh well, Helenians look for any reason to celebrate, and a huge community wide pig roast with music, dancing, dominoes and much laughter was enjoyed by all.

This week we have a Short Term Mission Team with us from Newport, Rhode Island. It is good to have some extra bodies and spirits with us at this time. Their major project will be to build a new housing building for our water de-salination plant. They will also be helping in the school, with medical home visits, and building new relationships with the islanders. We are enjoying the opportunity to learn each of their journeys with Christ and share in their passion for hands on ministry in His name.

Our neighbor, Mr. Blue Crab, sends his greetings to all who hate seafood! :-)

Today marks the beginning of our second month on Helene. We have two more months on this journey, but only one month before we will need to give the team an answer about 2009. We desperately covet your prayer support for wisdom and Godly thinking during this time. Eventually we will ask for your help in arriving at this decision -via- some sort of survey. Therefore we will be praying that God will confirm through you what we are personally sensing from Him.

We pray you are experiencing God's workings and intervention in your life on a daily basis.

In His Love,

Henry & Terry