Tuesday, July 1, 2008

"ANSWERING GOD'S CALL"

Over the years, and especially the past several months, God has been making very clear to me that He has called me into serving full time as a missionary to Honduras. This past April I applied for a position with “World Gospel Outreach” http://www.wgoreach.org/ . A Christian outreach ministry that follows three Fundamental Biblical mandates:
-To care for the poor, and especially the widows and
Orphans (James 1:27).
-To be fishers of men and to share the gospel of Jesus
Christ with the lost (Matthew 4:19).
-To recognize our accountability before God for how we
meet the needs of others (Matthew 25:31-46).
WGO works to accomplish their vision by engaging in
three areas of ministry:

-Medical/Evangelism Brigades
Each year more than 50,000 Hondurans come through WGO brigade sites to receive medical care, dental care, optical care, and new in 2008, chiropractic care. For most of these Hondurans, this is the only access to help they have. WGO’s goal is to first meet the physical needs of these people, then use the opportunity that God provides during that moment to share the Gospel.

-Children’s Ministry
WGO is currently raising more than 40 at-risk Honduran
Children in a Christian family environment, striving to teach them to be healthy in all aspects of life. The ministry cares for children from the age of toddlers up to young adults and is separated into two locations.
-“Rancho Ebenezer” is a family-style ranch with its own school (K-12)outside of the capital city of Tegucigalpa.
-The “Bridge House” is the ministry’s youth home in the capital city where they continue their education after finishing high school, and are mentored in a dorm-type setting to prepare for life after the ministry.
WGO believes focusing on future generations is a critical part of winning the people of Honduras to Christ.

-Construction Teams”
Teams work primarily on projects at “Rancho Ebenezer” and at the new mission house facility that is being built in Tegucigalpa.

Now that you have a better understanding of WGO’s
vision for the people of Honduras, I want to introduce you to a part of the ministry that I will be working in. Although I will participate in all areas of WGO’s ministry as the need arises, my secondary (evangelism is primary) is to manage the:

Concrete Floor Ministry
The tin roof, dirt floor shacks that many Honduran families call home are just one of the realities of the extreme living conditions endured by the poor in Honduras. WGO seeks to serve this need by having the pastors of local host Church's (usually two different churches that host the medical/evangelism brigades each week) select a family that is in need to be the recipient of a concrete floor. Part of my responsibilities will be to meet with the local pastors, visit the families they recommend in who’s homes the concrete floors will be installed, determine what materials will be needed and have them at the home the day the floor will be installed, participate in the installation of the floor by short term (normally one week) volunteer missionaries, and participate in evangelism in the local neighborhood.

I believe that every Christian is called to a mission field, the place and the people with whom he or she regularly interacts, but I also now know that God is calling me to full-time missionary work in Honduras. “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). God has called and commissioned us to share his love and to proclaim the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

JULY 11 UPDATE

On June 12th., I, along with Jesus my fourteen year old son, and Jennifer my ten year old daughter, came to Honduras for our final interview with WGO. We planned to stay for nine days, then go back home. Today is day twenty nine and we are still in Honduras. Jesus still travels on his Honduras passport. It had expired, but we had been told it would be easy for him to get a new one in two or three hours once we got to Honduras. Two to three hours has turned into a month. I know God had it all planned out, but it sure took the rest of us by surprise. Taking two weeks off work, going to Honduras for our final interview, then going back home to work and raise support for coming back as full-time missionaries was my plan. Gods plan obviously was that we come to Honduras to stay.
These last few days I have been thinking of when Jesus said "Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. Once I answered Gods call and took my first step in faith towards coming to Honduras as a missionary, every fear or cause for concern that had kept me from trying before, was taken care of by God. Everything to make it so that we could come fell into place so perfectly that I felt as though God was telling me "Roy I have waited for you for years to commit to serving me full-time, now come on let's go!" And now, twenty nine days after starting what was to be our nine day journey, I felt God asking, "Roy did you really leave your nets and come to serve me, or are you more concerned with getting back to where you were before?"
Working here with WGO has been the most amazing time of my life. Every day I wake up excited about what God will show me next. In the last three weeks alone, WGO medical missionaries (medical, dental, optical, and children's ministries) have seen and helped a total of 5,106 people. That's right, FIVE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND SIX ! We have also put concrete floors in nine homes that had only dirt for a floor before we got there.
Jesus likes to work with me on concrete floors on the days we do them. Other days he moves around to all the other areas, but his favorites seem to be optical and dental.
Jennifer loves working with the kids. The first day we were here WGO had planned for her to stay have a babysitter. But Jennifer wanted to go out to the church and work along with everybody else. The first four days, Jennifer stood and washed kids hair all day long. One thing they do in kids ministry is check for lice, treat as needed, then wash, comb, and style the kids hair. All the little girls love the pretty hair bows. And the boys seem to like styling gell. Jennifer also works in other areas, but working with the kids is her favorite.

The life of a missionary is not a solo venture.As a full-time missionary with WGO we are required to raise our own support. We need people to partner with us in prayer and financial support. Your prayers and financial support are absolutely essential in this effort to proclaim Jesus Christ and to demonstrate his love in Honduras.

Please prayerfully consider partnering with us as we go out to "Answer God's Call" by;
-becoming a prayer partner_________
-with a one time gift of $__________
-with a monthly pledge of $__________
-with an annual pledge of $__________


Initially, financial support can be sent to;

Holly Springs Baptist Church
Attn. Honduras Missions/Morton Fund
P.O. Box 366
Holly Springs, N.C. 27540

After we get fully settled in, support can be sent directly to WGO in care of "Roy Morton, Jesus and Jennifer. All donations are tax deductible and you will be sent a receipt. Once we are in WGO's system, donations can also be made through direct deposit if you prefer.

Thank You for being a part of our lives and for your love, friendship, encouragement, and support.

God Bless You (Dios te Bendiga), Roy, Jesus, and Jennifer

July 12, 2008

Jennifer In Honduras

I’ve always loved this small country, (about the size of Virginia or Tennesee) because my mom is from here, and I was born here, coming to the U.S.A. at only three days old. In school I’ve always “bragged” about being half from Honduras. I can’t carry a conversation in Spanish, but I do know a little over the basics.

These past few weeks would best be described as, amazing. Daddy, Jesus, and I have been working the brigades with the teams. At first people thought I would have to be babysat by somebody, but I didn’t want to sit around doing nothing all day (or should I say days). I ended up finding the perfect job for me. I was sitting around when I asked if I could check out “Children’s”, so one of the translators took me over to the house they were doing it at across the road from the church. I asked Doris, another translator who was in charge, what I could do. She answered, and told me I could either wash or comb the children’s hair.

I was surprised at how willing she was to let a 10 year-old girl help out. I decided to wash the children’s hair, because I’m not so great at styling. Victoria (a 14 year-old girl on the team) helped me out when I needed it, and taught me to say “close your eyes” in Spanish. Over the three brigade weeks I’ve not only tried combing and done pretty well, but told the story of the bracelet we give them, with a translator of course. On each bracelet are five beads, and very color stands for something different. I’ll give you a summary of the story, Green=Creation, Black=Sin, Red=Jesus’ Blood, White=Our Sins being Washed Away, and last, but definelty not least, Yellow= The Streets of Gold in Heaven.
99.9% of the children (I say children instead of kids, because a kid is a baby goat) are so sweet and adorable. One little girl followed me around all day long, because her mom was volunteer. Another girl did my hair. At least three (there were more but I didn’t count) of the little boys liked me, and a lot of little girls gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek before they left (it’s a way of saying hello or good-bye to a friend) and even more chidren tried to communicate with me.

So many people in Honduras are really poor and needy, yet so grateful for what little they do have. So many Americans take for granted the things they have and just want more and more, never satisfied. This has been a life changing experience for me, and I know Honduras is going to be a huge part of me future.


Jesus In Honduras



Describing my time in Honduras is hard to describe in words, but I’ll try my best for you to understand what I’ve been doing down here. I have truly enjoyed spending time here. You get to help out so much, and you can affect someone’s life by doing so little. I love working here, its fun and rewarding. I mostly participate in helping the team put in concrete floors. When there isn’t a floor to put in I like helping out on the Brigades.
Putting in a concrete floor is hard work and energy consuming but it’s all worth it in the end. To see how the house had a dirt floor, then going to having a concrete floor is simply amazing to watch and participate in. The families we put the floor in for, truly appreciates it. They are so grateful and happy. I remember one family that prayed for a concrete floor for nine years! The neat thing is that when we finished they said they were going to hold bible studies in their home. The families are the reason I love helping put the concrete floors in.
Some days we don’t have a floor to put in, but that doesn’t mean I don’t do anything for that day. I like to work all the stations at the Brigade back at the church. So far I worked in the optical station, dental station, and the pharmaceutical station. You get to come in contact with many of the Hondurans that show up at the church to receive medical attention. You can see it in their eyes and faces that they really are grateful to you for doing this for them.
You get to do some fun things at the Brigade. In optical you get to help pick a pair of glasses and sunglasses for the person who came through. In this station you see immediate results. It so great to see a person who couldn’t really see in the first place, then when you give them the glasses they can read and see, it’s so amazing! In dental I have been a dentist’s assistant. I went and got them their tools, and their supplies. The neat thing is that you get to comfort the person sitting in the dental chair. In pharmacy you go and get the right medicines for the person. It always so fun when the Brigades are going on, and boring when there isn’t one.
The thing that makes the Brigades so interesting and cool is that at the end of the day you realize that you received more than you gave. The Hondurans are so humble, and so nice. You find yourself looking over them and thinking, this is how they live and they are happy and content with that. Even though you’re giving the concrete floor, or the glasses, or the medicines, there giving you something greater. I haven’t really grasped the whole concept yet, but I feel as they have given me a sense of humility, peace, and happiness. It’s so cool having that feeling at the end of everyday.
It’s such a blessing to be down here in Honduras. I had to admit at first I wasn’t as excited as my Dad, and Jennifer but now I love being here. I made lots of new friends, and enjoy working for God everyday. I can definitely see Honduras in my future.

3 comments:

mharding said...

Great to hear from you.
Please know you are in our prayers and thoughts. We love hearing from you. From time to time let us know if there are things we can mail to you.

Love to all!
Bill and Margaret Harding

thall1606 said...

I am proud of both Jesus and Jennifer. What you two said in the blog shows you both are very mature. Please email or write if there is anything you need.

Tim, Dana and Lauren Hall
mrshall@mindspring.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Jesus, Jennifer & Roy. Sounds like you three are doing great things which I know are pleasing to God. Keep up the good work and take care.

God Bless
Pat Earnhardt