"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:42
I pray that whatever words are in this blog are from the Lord and that my only contribution is the typing of what the Lord puts on my heart. Our only purpose here on earth is to do His will in everything and to give Him the glory.
I have been home for over two weeks and have not updated the blog about the activities at Ministerio Sal y Luz, I think I am getting lazy in my old age.
When I left to come home on March 27th, the garden, planted by the Men's Ministry was growing well. Henry told me last week that they had harvested the radishes already. The purpose of the garden is to give the men that are interested a way to do productive work. They will raise the vegetables and sell them to the soup kitchens that the ministry supports. This way they will have income to feed their families and the ministry will have vegetables to cook for the children. In Honduras, the weather is suitable to grow crops all year long. Some of the crops will vary because of the cool weather in the first part of the year and the lack of rain in April and May but with planning, there should always be something growing to sell.
Henry has tried to pull in men from the different areas of the ministry. He has men from the families that are fed in the soup kitchens, the families that have children supported in the education program and some of the local ministers are helping also. The staff provided training for the men involved using people that have worked in the agriculture profession for a long time that know about the soil and the seasons in Honduras. The soil in our area is volcanic soil and very rich but it is also very porous and requires certain nutritients more often than some other soil types. It also requires a lot of water to help the plants grow when we are not getting a lot of rain in March, April and May. This year there was more rain during those months than usual so that was a blessing.
The tutoring program was started in El Jaral in March. We have all the children that live in El Jaral that are sponsored by people in the United States and we also included children that the teachers recommended for extra help. We meet on Tuesday and Thursday at 3:00 for one hour. Part of the hour is spent on math and part spent on Spanish. There are two teachers at El Jaral, one teaches first through third grade and the other teaches fourth through sixth grade. There are approximately 40 children in each room. The teachers and some of the staff at Sal y Luz are helping the children each week. We are fortunate to have a young man that is a teacher to help us. His organization skills and disciplined approach are working well for the children. Sal y Luz hopes to start a tutoring program in each village that has students that are in the education program.
Our goal is to train the local teachers and others in the village to help with the tutoring program and then go to another village and start a new program in that village until we are able to have a program in each village. It will take time to initiate a program for all the children.
I am tutoring a math class for older students on Tuesday nights and on Thursday afternoon I have some university students that need to work on their homework. We are very busy with our new programs in education. Some days, I don't know if I am coming or going.
Please pray for us at Ministerio Sal y Luz. Henry and the staff are working so hard to implement these programs to help the people. There are many things to do but with God's help and direction, we will be able to make a difference in their lives.
I will be returning to Honduras on the 23th of April. Thank you for your support of the ministry in Honduras.
