April Update 2019

April Update 2019

April 2019 Update

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I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. (Philippians 1:3-5, NIV)

Every year we celebrate different activities for Holy Week, and every year we experience, in a different way, a deepening of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

One more time, thank you very much for partnering with us. Without your support and especially your prayers, our ministry would not have the spiritual impact that it is now able to.

Thanks to God’s provision through a few churches in North America, this year we have added to our Emmanuel Church building: there are new washrooms, and we completed the floor and ceramic tiles for the altar. We also installed 6 fans in the church, which helps us to be more comfortable in the heat.

The funds for the washrooms were donated by an Episcopal Church in New Jersey, where the Rev. Robert retired last September; thanks to different donors to this project.

The funds for the altar come from two different churches in Ontario, Canada: St. Bride’s Anglican Church in Mississauga, and New Song Anglican Church (ANIC) in Port Perry, They came to Roatán last March and we worked together to finish the floor and ceramic tiles. Now it looks beautiful, and we will continue working to accomplish the floor project of the entire building later this blessed 2019.

Also, the funds for the fans came from the same Episcopal Church in New Jersey.  They bought the fans, and Emanuel Church paid for the labour and the rest of the materials for the installation.

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We continue with an English-speaking congregation on the east part of the island. The Rev. Robert Browning, who is a retired priest ministering with us, leads this congregation. Through this ministry we will be able to reach out to expats, and to any English-speaking people in eastern Roatan.

Robert continues teaching English classes every week for children and adults to support their skills and to make it easier to get jobs in Roatán. Speaking English is very important for the new generation.

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Roatan Glass Art Project:

John DeLancey is currently living and working in Roatan to teach the ladies not only how to fuse glass for resale but also how to market their products and manage a business. He writes: “The ladies in Roatan have been working with the glass since November and are doing exceptionally well.  The group has 8 members, including one translating priest.  We have decided that this group will be women only as there are so many single mothers trying to raise a family and so many cultural barriers to overcome.  We are working with the municipality’s ‘Defense of Women’ group for networking, training and support.  

“The next two objectives for Roatan Glass Art are first to form a cooperative among the existing micro industries and second to build a glassblowing shop on the church grounds to recycle glass into art pieces and construction bricks.  For the first, John has applied for a grant through the US national church to pull the current glass micros together in the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras.  Once we have that foundation, we will pull the other types of micros into it for group seminars, insurance, computer training etc.  For the second, the recycling program, we are meeting with the governor of the island to see how the municipality can assist in the effort to collect and disperse the recycled products.  We are modeling this program after a very successful one in Mexico.  Rev. Nelson Mejia of Emmanuel Episcopal in Roatan is getting the plans together for the shop construction.  I am also looking for additional grants to fund this effort.”

On the financial side, we continue to be very positive and to pray and praise God with faith and thanksgiving. We also ask you to continue to pray about our finances and that in the rest of the year our support will stabilize and be sufficient to cover our needs. At the moment our balance it is very low, please consider to send a special offering to cover our expenses and needs.

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To donate now, please click on the following link:

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/13778

Or you can visit the Diocese of Fredericton website (www.anglican.nb.ca) then go to “Donate” for various ways to give online. Be sure to select “Honduras Mission Fund”.

Cheques should be made payable to “The Diocesan Synod of Fredericton” and sent to: Anglican Diocesan Synod of Fredericton, 115 Church Street, Fredericton, NB E3B 4C8

Phone: (506) 459-1801

All cheques should have “Honduras Mission” noted on the reference line.

We greatly appreciate your prayer and financial support to date and trust that you will continue to support us.

Please continue to pray for:

1. Continued and stable financial support for the next three years as we continue to serve the Lord on Roatán, Honduras.
2. The ongoing construction in Coxen Hole. Pray for the remaining installation stages: Cement concrete for the floor and ceramic tiles.
3. Our congregations: St. Peter by the Sea in Brick Bay, and Emmanuel in Coxen Hole.
4. Please pray for the Rev. Robert Browning and for his new ministry to English-speakers at Eastern Roatan.
5. Pray for Rev. Kara Mejia and Jennifer Guzman from the church in Brick Bay, that they will represent our Church in Roatan and the Dioceses in a Episcopal Youth Event (EJE), in Panama this coming July 2019.
6. For Joarys and Grissel and the process for getting their Canadian visas to visit Canada.
7. For youth leadership, that God will provide someone to minister to and guide the young people.
8. Spiritual and practical outreach in the local communities.
9. For leadership for the Church in Roatán.
10. The Episcopal Church in Honduras, for the process toward self-sufficiency by the end of 2019.

Thank you to all who have faithfully prayed and faithfully given to support this incredible work of ministering to the people in our congregations. Matthew 25:40: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Your prayers and continued support enable us to continue touching people’s lives with Jesus’ love.

This prayer is one of the oldest poems in the Bible. It is a beautiful way to say thank you to someone for their love and care:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26, ESV)

Empowering the Church

Learning, Growing and Serving

Nelson and Kara