More Appreciation

We want to take this time to thank an anonymous donor who will be helping Pastor Jeony with his medical bills for his daughter Daniella. Daniella is in need of kidney transplant and is currently undergoing dialysis 3 times a week. Many of you have helped the Ordonez family in countless ways regarding this medical crisis and all of your help is truly appreciated. Pastor Jeony and his family have poured their life into the garbage dump community for the last 7 years. Their only motive was compassion. Pastor Jeony founded both the school Amor, Fe, y Esperanza and the church Amor y Vida. The entire family is wonderful. The medical bills keep piling up for them even as they give everything away to help the garbage dump. Thanks because God has used someone to alleviate this stress on their family.

Project Transformation has networked with many organizations bring about change in the garbage dump but the single most important catalyst has been Pastor Jeony and the vision God has given him. The school is a beam of light, a city on a hill for the garbage dump community. We spend most of our time working out of AFE because of the rapport that they have with the community.

Please keep Pastor Jeony and his entire family in your prayers, especially Daniella who is in need of a major miracle. Also pray for an important meeting coming up next week regarding the master plan for transforming the garbage dump.

Special Forces Arrive

On Monday, we picked up our newest recruit to Project Transformation – Kelly Glenn. She just finished the first year of Seattle University where she is studying International Studies. Kelly comes from Washington Cathedral where she has grown up. She is a leader in their Student Ministries and Esperanza Service. She is passionate about missions and will be with us for a couple months. We are incredibly lucky to have Kelly on our team because she is a rising star and will one day rock the world.

Kelly is coming at a critical time. At AFE, we have not had a consistent kindergarten teacher. The same was true last year which has hurt this year’s first graders. Their teacher has told me the entire class is behind where they should be because they basically missed learning the foundations in kindergarten. Kelly will be taking on this pivotal spot in the mornings. Hopefully, the next two months will be formative for the kindergarten class with Kelly’s help. Thanks to all of you who prayed for God to send someone. Kelly will also be helping with other areas of Project Transformation including writing, administration, marketing, and work teams.

If you would like more information on joining our new internship program please contact Elise Diaz at elisewhitediaz@gmail.com . She will email you a preliminary application. There is nothing like working in a different country on behalf of the poor.

Gaining Ground

The first three months in Honduras, we spent many days in the garbage dump building relationships with the children who still worked there. It was a wonderful time and a terrible time. It was a beautiful experience learning their names and stories, yet heart wrenching to say goodbye and watch them continue to pick through garbage.

Our main goal is to see this garbage dump transformed. A major milestone in pursuit of this goal is to get ALL of the children out of that place. We have worked hard to convince these children to leave the oppressive atmosophere of dump work, and many times run across resistance from parents or guardians who force their children to supplement the family income.

The last post explained the miracles of Christian and Sergio David. Today, we want to introduce 6 new students: Maly, Arturo, Fausto, Ariel, Jonathon, and Brenda. Ariel and Brenda are prodigals returning after a couple months but the others are brand new to school. We could not contain our joy when these children showed up on Monday and attended everyday without fail. Please pray that they will keep at school until they graduate and that God may continue the transformation process in their lives.

We are gaining ground in the Tegucigalpa dump.

Suddenly there is an influx of children at AFE, children who would never leave the garbage dump before. God is doing something big here. And he is not just using us. He is using the kids too. This week, when I had ran out of words sharing the good news to a teen stuck in the garbage dump, Jairo (4th grader) jumped in with what God had done and was going to do in his life. Jairo wants to be an engineer. It is a sight to behold God’s good news coming out of mouths so hopeless only months ago. Mysterious Ways are God’s specialty.

Dreaming of Homes...

Tuesday evening we participated in a meeting to brainstorm the development of a new community for those who actually live in the garbage dump[1]. Part of the mission of Project Transformation is to address the whole person with the whole Gospel. This involves helping people to create and own a healthier living environment. We are among a group of dreamers planning how to support the community's creation of new housing structures for these poorest of the poor.

Here is the Dream: Help the community to build 300 homes for people who currently live in the garbage dump. This effort would be similar to the creation of the Linda Miller community - people getting involved in building their own houses and taking ownership of the work.

Visits to their current homes are driving this effort. Jose Ramon and his sister, Ritzy (a student at AFE) invited our team to visit his two children. They were beautiful children even though they were covered in dirt and soot. Their smiles reminded me of my own son, yet saddened me as I saw where they lived. On dirt floors, surrounded by garbage and terrorized by vultures, six people eked out an existence in a six foot by eight foot make shift shack. They had no water, no electricity, and were under constant threat. The health risks apparent from no way to flush waste, no way to clean dishes, and a dirt floor are too numerous to mention.

With tears, Jose Ramon confessed his children suffer from constant sickness from the conditions in which they live. The father felt obvious shame that he could not take better care of his family. Jose is a hard worker. He is not lazy. He is the victim of circumstances and is paying for the sins his parents committed. Caught in a vicious cycle, only God can work a miracle in this family's life.

But God works through people like you and me to work those miracles. That is why we dream.

Imagine moving Jose, his wife and their two children, and his mother and sister who live with them, to a house with clean floors, running water and flushing toilets, light in the evening and a stove to cook healthy meals. His children would not fall ill but grow healthy and strong. No longer would Jose feel ashamed of who he is, but take pride in his family and his God who reaches down to help the least of these.

Pray that our dream will soon become reality.

[1] Determining how many people actually live in the garbage dump is a difficult venture because many people live in squatter settlements just outside of it; they might as well live in the trash. Others have shacks miles away in which they spend the weekends with their families. Monday through Friday they spend the night sleep in the trash.

Miracles

The unbelievable has happened during the month we were gone. Two young boys from the garbage dump have started at AFE. This is a huge deal. One is named Christian and the other Sergio David. Both of them work full time in the garbage dump. We had been working with Christian every day trying to convince him to come. We tried everything short of bribery. But for some reason, we could not get through. This is the case with so many of the kids in the garbage dump (see note below). We left a month ago to the states. When we returned Jeony had great news for us. He told us Christian had just showed up at the school and asked if he could start. They were shocked but of course they let him in, placing him in first grade although he is 13. Within a couple days they moved him up to second grade and then again to third grade because he is so smart. Next week he will be in fourth grade. He has not missed one day. He has done all of his homework. And he is attending the church. I (Rey) was almost in tears when Jeony told me because this story illustrates what I strongly believe. God is at work. We plant the seeds, water the plant, and then wait. That’s all we can do. Nothing else. God brings the growth. God makes the plant grow. And God worked a miracle in Christian’s life. We are going to get right back to planting seeds in the garbage dump because we know God is going to make more plants grow.

Sergio David was with us for a couple years. He does not have parents and lives with his Aunt. His Aunt has forbidden him to come to school. So he has been working full time for the past 3 months. The good news is that Sergio David is coming to the school now because he has moved away from his Aunt and is living with another Uncle who allows him to come. His brother and sister, Ariel and Brenda, want to come to school but the aunt still will not let them come. Please pray that she will change her mind when we meet with her.


One more Note
It’s interesting to be on this side of the situation. From this perspective, it makes no sense why some kids would choose to work in garbage all day when they could come to our school, get an education, get a free meal, play with all their friends, and have a chance to get away from that lifestyle. This is a no brainer. Yet hundreds of kids have chosen to work in garbage. As I, Rey, was in the garbage dump yesterday, I was heart broken because there are still so many kids working in garbage. Why won’t they just come? I can only bring the invitation but I can not force them. That’s when I realize this is the same issue God is dealing with. He is offering us a way out of the garbage of our lives. He is offering us an abundant life, joy, hope, excitement, adventure, love and so much more. But how many times I have chosen to say no to God, and stayed in the garbage. How many people continue to say no?

Back after a Month

God is Bringing a Great Team Together

Sorry we have not been able to post our weekly articles but we spent June in the States. I think we were busier during that month than when we are in Honduras. We were able to share a few messages at Washington Cathedral which you can download on their website or as a podcast on ITunes. I (Rey) spent two weeks at school which were simply amazing and will help form the direction Project Transformation will go. We were also able to share our vision with many friends, family, and churches. We are so happy to announce that God is really moving among his people to bring about his work. So many individuals and churches are hopping on board with Project Transformation.

We want to thank Dr. Paul and Jane Huang, Cristie Hettich, Diane Brown, Fiona Monaghan, Rice Broocks and Bethel World Outreach, Bob Beam, Judi Davis, Claudia and the Esperanza service at Washington Cathedral, and all the blog readers who have stepped up to support Project Transformation in so many different ways. We are committed to the highest level of accountability and will use the support to further God’s kingdom. We are excited to see what God has in store for us on this next trip. Please keep us in prayer.