RockHonduras

The Hole in Our Gospel

Stevi — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:56:42 +0000

This section of chapter nine of "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns (president of World Vision) describes very well why I continue to go back to Honduras year after year, and why I encourage other people to go.

"I have to confess to you that I, too, struggle to mourn over these kids as if they were my own. Becoming the president of World Vision didn’t turn me into Teresa of Calcutta. It is altogether possible for me to do my job at World Vision with a sense of emotional detachment. I can sit in meetings all day, review financial statements, attend chapel at eleven o’clock on Wednesdays, and even write a book about the poor, without my heart burning every moment with sadness., Like most Americans, I can get easily distracted by the details of my own life and family. We have a nice home, live in a pleasant neighborhood, and go to a beautiful church. We make trips to the mall, go out to the movies, and take family vacations – often with little thought for the tragic lives of children thousands of miles away. But then I get on a plane, and twenty-four hours later I find myself in the home of a grieving mother dying of AIDS and leaving her five children orphans. Or I see a baby slowly starving to death, a child with one leg because of a landmine accident, or a little girl who was rescued from prostitution. And all of a sudden it becomes very personal again. Somebody else’s kids just became very important to me because now I know their names, I have looked into their eyes, and I have cried with their parents. I come back home angry at myself, incensed by my own apathy, with a fresh resolve and a renewed passion to crusade on behalf of these kids, to fight for them with every breath in my body. The meetings are no longer routine, and the balance sheets are no longer just numbers; they are now life-and-death issues. They’re urgent. We’ve got to do something! We’ve got to help! But then, a few weeks later, the fire dies down again, the images in my head fade, I drift back inside my safe and protected world, and they’re somebody else’s kids again – not mine."

"I mentioned earlier the prayer of World Vision’s founder, bob Pierce: “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” As I have tried to walk in some of his footsteps these past ten years, I have gained new insight into his prayer. While it was a prayer he hoped everyone would pray, it was even more personal for him. You see, I believe that even Bob Pierce struggled to sustain the level of brokenheartedness and caring required to press ahead year after year in this work of loving the poor. His prayer was a crying out to God, that God would break his heart yet again and again, because if He didn’t, Bob knew that he could not love somebody else’s kids the way God did. No man or woman can unless God breaks that individual’s heart. Only then can he or she – or we – care as God cares and love as He loves. That’s why we must pray constantly that God will soften our hearts so we see the world the way He sees it."

- The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, pg 109

Apologies

Stevi — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:30:57 +0000

The site got hacked last week. It took awhile to figure out what the problem was, but it’s all fixed now. Sorry for any inconvenience. Related posts:GCLA New Missions Website Related posts:

GCLA New Missions Website

Choluteca Projects

Stevi — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:20:02 +0000

Click to read

Latin News GCLA

Stevi — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:06:46 +0000

Click to read online

January 2010 – Pictures!

Stevi — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:19:37 +0000

Special thanks to Eunice Mejia for the photos!

Virginia Tech Missions in Honduras

Stevi — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:07:27 +0000

I just discovered this site & blog about our friends at Virginia Tech who are working with GCLA in Danli, Honduras.

http://www.missionlatinamerica.com
http://blog.missionlatinamerica.com

Fawcett Family Christmas Newsletter

Stevi — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:51:57 +0000

Click here to see the Fawcett Family’s Christmas Newsletter:

Application Deadline for Spring Break

Stevi — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:17:07 +0000

I just checked the GCLA website, and our Spring Break trip is finally available on the application form. So please go online and apply today!

Remember the deadline to apply is this Friday.

To Apply:
1. Go to GCLA’s website: www.gclamissions.com
2. Click on Register Online (right column)
3. Select our project from the scroll-down list
4. Fill in the fields (4 pages total)
5. Click Submit at the end.

The January team spent about an hour on Sunday packing supplies for their trip, and sorting through our stash of shoes for our upcoming shoe drive. They are so pumped for their trip!

Website Maintenance

Stevi — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:13:06 +0000

I’ll be doing some restructuring of this website for the next few days. Please bear with me as I try to make the site better. Hopefully it will all go smoothly. But just in case, forgive the mess .

- Stevi

Keydi Paola Osorto

Stevi — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:20:09 +0000

I’ve put off writing this entry for awhile. Too long. And I apologize for that. I wanted to write something eloquent. But I find words difficult.

On September 7, I received this email from Ian:

Stevi,

Today has been a very difficult day for us here in Choluteca. Keydi Paola died today at 3 pm.

She was admitted in to hospital on Friday and we have been shipping down medication from Tegucigalpa because they did not sell it here in Choluteca. She was really sick on Saturday but when we visited yesterday with Pastor Giovanny she seemed much better.

Sadly I received a call saying they needed more medication urgently at around 12 midday. The medication was due to get to Choluteca at 4pm. It would not have made much difference the doctor said because TB had set in and her defenses were so low.

Praise the Lord she accepted Christ with a Pastor from Cedar Creek Ohio and the CHV team had a chance to confirm here acceptance on Saturday, I was really privileged to be asked to pray for her around 5 minutes before she passed away. She was peaceful when I told her God was there with her.

Thank you for your prayers and your support in all we do, our work here would be much harder than it is without your input. For us it has confirmed once again the importance of the support groups who have rallied around carrying out various things needed before and after Keydi’s death.

Blessings

Ian