Going through the Fire                                                                                                                   August 30, 2013

This past week has been incredibly difficult, but we have also witnessed God showing Himself to us in so many ways. When Gordon started feeling sick Monday night, we thought it was just a routine illness, and on Tuesday morning, Gordon felt weak, but was strong enough to eat breakfast and he was able to walk to the bathroom to get ready. We set him up with listening to the radio and went to work. Aly & Suyapa both checked on him, and he was doing fine at noon. Around 2pm, my cousin and I checked on him, and he was significantly weaker, so we thought that it would be wise to take him to the doctor for some IV fluids. He seemed to be getting stronger after a few hours, but we decided it would be best for him to spend the night at the little hospital in our area just to be on the safe side. Around 10:30, the doctor checked him and felt that his condition was getting worse, and that it would be good to take him to a larger facility. Aly and I got ready, and drove him to Siguetepeque, about an hour away. The doctor there was a little concerned about his breathing, and they hooked him up to a machine to monitor his oxygen levels and put him on oxygen.

At about 4am, Gordon asked if we could pray and read the Bible together, so we read from James, and prayed. By this time, Gordon wasn’t able to speak, but he prayed silently. After praying, Gordon dozed in and out of sleep and was very restless. After that time, he was no longer responsive. We tried to make him comfortable, and finally around 8am, he was finally able to sleep peacefully. Aly and I were straightening up our things in the room, and Gordon started breathing with more difficulty. At about 9am, he took a deep breath in and didn’t let it out, so we called the doctors, who attempted to revive him and performed CPR, but it didn’t work. His official cause of death was a strong strain of bacterial pneumonia, and he died at 9:20am on August 21^st.

This week has been very difficult for all of us, and we still can’t believe that Gordon is gone. He was a great husband and a wonderful father to many many children here, and will be greatly missed. Our entire community is grieving with us, and offering a lot of love and support. We have seen God glorified in so many ways... every step along the way it seems that Satan wants to throw up road blocks, but God is knocking them down. From us being alone in the registry office in our county seat, to literally running into one of the local pastors who readily lent his support, to an attorney willing to stay late to help with our paperwork, without charging extra, to finding a lightbulb on the side of the road months ago that miraculously fit in and worked in our car when our light went out, to missionary friends who "just happened to be" driving around an hour an a half away right when we needed their assistance, to a US Embassy worker who stayed 5 hours after work to help with our paperwork, and many more ways. We know He cares, and He is here with us.

We still feel that Honduras is where God wants us to be, and we are praying for God’s provision in our ministry here. Currently our biggest struggle is that most of our income thus far has been from Gordon’s Social Security and disability income, and we will no longer be receiving that money. We are in immediate need of committed monthly supporters to help us continue our work here. Without more monthly supporters, there will be no way to continue this work here.

We have our school with 25 students, which reaches out to children who would otherwise be unable to receive an education. We provide each student with clothing, healthy food, and a good Christian bilingual education that is individually tailored to each student’s needs. We need for each student to be sponsored at $50 a month, for a total of $1250. We also currently have 4 children living full time with us as well as 3 more children who are sleeping at our house. We have been asked to take in one more boy who lost both of his parents and has no other living relatives, so we are considering taking him in. The cost for the children living in our home is $`150 a month, which comes to $1200. This money goes to provide all of the 8 children’s needs – from medical care to clothing and food. We have a couple of children who are seriously malnourished and need special care that we provide for them.  We currently are receiving about $700 a month consistently from our supporters, leaving a shortfall of $1750 a month.

We are asking each of you to pray about supporting our ministry here. When Gordon became disabled, he could have chosen to stay in the United States and ride his bike, travel, and enjoy playing golf, but he didn’t. Gordon wanted his life to have meaning, and we talked many times about his feeling that he needed to honor God with his life until the end, in spite of his disability. Many people here have been inspired by Gordon’s choice to continue serving in a difficult environment when many people would have chosen a more comfortable life. We could truly see what an impact Gordon's life had made here in Honduras by his funeral, which was overflowing with people, and pastors from all different backgrounds wanted to speak on his behalf. Even the town drunk, who Gordon always greeted with a friendly hello, asked to be a pallbearer, and participated in the burial.

We recently were asked about taking in two boys – Jefer and Kevin. Jefer is 9 years old, and we discovered that he was living alone in a small shack, so we agreed together that we needed to offer him a home here. He moved in about a month ago, and has been thriving in his new home. Gordon and I discussed the fact that taking in a young child would mean a long term commitment to living in Honduras, and Gordon agreed without any trouble – we both felt that God placed Jefer in our lives for a reason. Kevin is a 12 year old boy who witnessed the murder of both of his parents and was left without other family members. He currently is staying with a neighbor, but it is a very unstable situation. We met Kevin on the Sunday before Gordon died, and decided that we would take him in on Tuesday, but that was the day that Gordon became ill, so Kevin is still staying with neighbors until things get settled here.

Please consider supporting our work here in Honduras – we try to have our children write monthly letters to their sponsors, and will provide photos of the children you are helping. I am planning on posting photos with bios of each children, but rather than wait, I will detail a tiny bit about each child here below.

Children living in our home:

Fatima – Most of you have heard about Fatima. She is a spunky 14 year old girl who lived on the streets for 2 years, and has lived with various family members. She has never known her father, and never lived with her mother, although she sees her somewhat regularly. Fatima’s mother attempted several times to kill her, and is very hateful to her. For that reason, her aunt asked if Fatima could live with us so that her mother would have less of an impact on her life. She has lived with us off and on for the past 2 years, but has lived here consistently since April of this year. We have seen great improvement in Fatima’s attitude, and she finally feels safe, loved, and part of a family.

Jefer – Jefer is 9 years old, but very small for his age due to malnourishment and perhaps a form of dwarfism. Jefer does not know who his father is, and his mother abandoned him in April, when he began living in a small shack. When we became aware of his living situation, we invited him to live with us. He was very shy and quiet at first, but has started opening up and being a “normal” silly little boy, which is really fun to see. Jefer moved in with us about a month ago, at the end of July.

Kellyn and Eneyda – Kellyn and Eneyda (13 and 12) are sisters, and are Jefer’s aunts. Their parents asked if they could move in with us because they didn’t feel that they could adequately care for the girls. Kellyn has always had very sad looking eyes, and is very timid and nervous. Eneyda has a ton of energy, and is tiny for her age, as she is a dwarf and suffered from years of malnourishment. The girls moved in with us in early July, and the doctor has already said that the girls are no longer malnourished, so we are happy about that. It has been exciting seeing both girls smile, laugh, and really come alive being in a loving environment.

Cindy, Estefany, and Darwin – Cindy, Estefany, and Darwin are siblings who live across the street from us normally. Their mother has 5 children, and they also live with a single mother of 2 children in a one bedroom home. Their father left them almost a year ago to pursue a better life, and has no plans of returning. The kids started staying with us because they were always tired and didn’t have adequate space to sleep. Although it started as a sleeping only situation, the children spend most of their time here, and we help their mother with the younger boys when we can. Their mother is our cook and school helper, Suyapa.

Kevin – Kevin is 12 years old, and witnessed the brutal murder of both of his parents. We don’t know a lot about Kevin yet, as he hasn’t moved in with us completely, but he has a warm smile, and told us that his dream is to someday be able to help alleviate the suffering of the poor people in his country. We are looking forward to making Kevin a part of our family.

The kids in our school (with very short bios… I know this is a bit long already)

Kindergarten: Elki, Angelina, Angel, Dominic, and Jadiel, all 5, are attending part time getting ready for a full day of school next year.

1^st grade: Jessica, 12, who is attending school for the first time, but appears to be of normal intelligence

            Maria, 13, who has some learning difficulties, and struggled through 5 years of 1^st grade, but will finally finish 1st grade this year!

            Alex, 29, who, due to learning difficulties, is in school for the first time.

            Deyni – 6, a smart kid who recently lost his father and needs a lot of TLC throughout the day

            Danny – 6, also smart, but has some attention issues.

Estefani – 8, a very bright girl who got stuck in 1^st grade, but has already, in less than a year, finished all of her first grade curriculum, and moved up to 3^rd grade math. We are excited to see her excited about learning!

Jefer – 9, recently completed 1^st grade, and began 2^nd grade. We are hoping that he can finish 2^nd & 3^rd grade by the end of next school year and be caught up with his age group. He is doing great in school!

Jose – 6, a bright kid, but with weak family support. He is very inconsistent in his attendance, and he needs a lot of prayer that he will be able to continue in school because his parents don’t know if they want him to have an education.

3^rd grade: 

          Cindy, 8, who is very bright, and already up to a 5^th grade math level. Working at her own pace, she is             really excelling, and we are so proud of her!

Isaac, 17, suffers from a hearing deficit, and was not able to continue school past 2^nd grade. He seems to be a quick learner, and is one of our newest students.

5^th grade: Estefany, 11, is very bright, and quickly caught up to her grade level.

Eneyda, 12, is very spunky and smart, but has more energy than she knows what to do with. When she is positioned next to a teacher, she does very well, and is almost caught up to her grade level in all areas.

Fatima, 14, is very strong willed, and learning doesn’t always come easy, but she has caught up to grade level and is working hard to finish 2 grades this year.

Gaby, 13, is very loving and a hard worker. She is working hard to complete 2 grades this year, and is almost there!

Katerin, 12, was not allowed to stay in school because her father didn’t think she was smart enough to “waste” their money on. She has proven that she actually is very smart, and has done 3 years of math already, and has a strong proficiency in English.

6^th Grade: Kellyn, 13, has had a lot of emotional pain, and as she deals with that, she is able to focus more on her schooling.

Colegio:  Flor, 13, is going through an adoption to a wonderful family, which makes for some emotional days, but she has a sweet spirit, and is doing well in class.

Franklin, 13, was making some bad choices and wasn’t planning on continuing with school, but he is doing well and thankful for a second chance.

Cecilia, 14, was out of school, but very excited to have the opportunity to resume her learning, and is doing great in class.

Jennifer, 15, was thinking she would have to settle for finding someone to marry her, and is excited to have the opportunity to learn and pursue her dream of being a teacher.

Please consider helping these children stay in school. Most of the children above would not be able to attend any school without our intervention. As always, we welcome visitors, and are looking for mission teams to come any time.

If you would like to financially support our mission, please follow the links on our blogspot: www.eytzenfamily.blogspot.com

We also welcome paypal donations, which can be made via our blogspot or through out email: jesushelovesme@hotmail.com

Thank you so much for your continued support. We know that we are going through a storm right now, but that in the end, God will be glorified, and we have faith that He will see us through even this most difficult time.

July 2013

Our family has undergone a lot of changes lately, which has brought a lot of discussion about what it means to be a family.  In our home, our family is constantly changing, with people coming and going, people joining in different ways, and we don’t all speak the same language. In our recent discussions about how we have such an odd family, we discussed how our current family is more like the family of God. Thankfully, God doesn’t stick to the standard of accepting only those who were born in, and He takes anyone in, regardless of language or what they have to offer in return. It is interesting how even most Christians are so skeptical about letting new people join their families, and that adoption of anyone other than infants is pretty rare.

Eneyda

Fatima

      

Kellyn  

Jeffer

All of us, minus Jeffer

The other thing that we have observed during this time is how even when a child is joining a new family, and that family is offering something so much better than what they are leaving behind, it is still difficult. There are always things to give up when doing something new, and even when parents aren’t able to parent well, it can still be difficult to leave them. Some of our kids have left really unpleasant circumstances to live with us, but there are some things that they struggle with. We have new rules to follow, and the way we do a lot of things is odd to them. There are a lot of similarities to becoming a Christian. Although the life that we can have with Christ is immeasurably better than a life without Him, there are some things that we have to leave behind, and there are usually changes that God convicts us to make, and that’s not easy even though it’s totally worth it.

This summer has been a summer of struggles and lots of changes. We had 3 mission teams come to help with some much needed construction projects in our neighborhood, and they also allowed us to make some much needed changes in our school, like upgrading our electrical system, painting, and making 3 functional showers. We have several students who do not have adequate facilities for bathing in their homes, and they have really appreciated being able to bathe at school so that they can be clean and smell fresh. The teams also provided toiletries and underwear for the students. We have seen an improvement academically as the students are able to feel better about themselves, and we are thankful for that. There are still projects that need to be done, and we are praying for more teams to be able to come. Please let us know if you are interested in coming for a week or more to help out.

We also dealt with a lot of health issues and struggles. Fatima, Aly, Gordon, and Lisa all contracted Dengue fever, and it is a miserable thing to have! Dengue brings fevers, rashes, nausea, body aches, headaches, and a loss of energy. Gordon and Aly both ended up in the hospital – Aly just for one evening to receive IV fluids, and Gordon for 3 days to treat dehydration and to monitor his low platelet count. He was extremely weak, and unable to walk for about 2 weeks. Chantalle had an ear infection and strep throat, and Jennifer had to deal with a lot of intestinal issues. We are all still working on getting healthy, and dealing with lower energy levels. Gordon is now able to walk again, and continues to get stronger every day, and the rashes are gradually clearing up, so Lordwillingly next month will be better!

In addition to the health issues, we have had a string of mishaps occur. One of the girls had a minor car accident that will require replacing our bumper and one of our headlights, and another one of the girls popped one of our tires. We also had a rock hit our windshield while we were driving, and it is badly shattered. Due to our healthcare expenses, we are waiting to take care of most of the repairs until we can save up enough money. We also had an incident with our toilet… Gordon fell while he was sick and the toilet shattered! It was a pretty shocking sight with water squirting out everywhere, and made for a lot of clean-up, but we were able to buy a replacement the next day, and the brother of one of our students put the new toilet in for us, so all is well in that department.

Our family has undergone some changes lately! Fatima, 14, has been living with us since April, and the adjustment was difficult at times, but she has adapted well, and she is usually a pleasure to have around. We also had two sisters, Eneyda and Kellyn, move in with us about a month ago due to a difficult family situation. They are 12 and 13, and have adjusted really well to living here. We are not sure how long they will be with us, but so far it has gone well having them here. Our most recent addition is Jeffer, who is 9, and he just moved in last week.  He has never known his father, and his mother recently left him to find “a better life”. He was living alone in a small apartment and was very afraid. We are thankful that he is able to sleep and feels safe and loved here. For short term, we also have 3 siblings who are in our program staying with us: Darwin, Estefany, and Cindy. They are only staying with us until appropriate housing is found for some of their extended family who is staying in their home. 

Prayer needs and Praises:

·         Finances! We have been hit with a lot of unexpected expenses lately, with healthcare expenses, car repairs, and extra mouths to feed. We are in dire need of more regular supporters to help with our normal expenses, as well as additional help to replenish our savings that was completely depleted. We are looking for sponsors to pay $50 a month for each of our school children.

·         Our new family members – Although the children are enjoyable to have, there are always adjustments with new people, so please pray for each of our new family members. We also need to raise additional support to provide for their food & clothing needs.

·         Residency! We are going to have to apply for residency within the next 6 months, which will cost $2500 ($500 per person), and will provide residency for 5 years. If we are not able to get our residency, we will not be able to continue our ministry here. When we went for a visa extension, we were denied the extension and told that we would need to either apply for residency or return to the United States. We ended up having to go to Guatemala, where we were denied again, but thankfully, another attendant gave us 90 days.

·         Please Continue to pray for our school! We are hoping to add a couple of new students next year, but only have a few spots, so we are praying about which students to allow to attend.

·         More teachers – if you are inclined at all to teach, and would like to spend some time in a beautiful environment, please contact us for an application! Because of the unique nature of our school, we need to maintain a very low teacher to student ratio so that each student can learn to the best of their ability.

·         We STILL need an electrician!!!

·         Jennifer went back to Nebraska to attend College. We are missing her a lot already! Please pray for her as she starts this new chapter in her life.

PRAISES:

·         A LOT of work was accomplished by the mission teams who came. We are so thankful for all of the work that was accomplished!

·         We are starting to get stronger and healthier. Please pray for continued health.

Thank you to everyone who supports us in our ministry! We could not do any of this without your help!

Love, The Eytzen family J                                    

Email: jesushelovesme@hotmail.com

Blogsite: www.eytzenfamily.blogspot.com

Summer is flying by!                                                    JUNE 2013

The second team in front of Fatima's house

We have already had 2 work teams come to help with some much needed construction projects, and a third team is currently working to try to finish what wasn’t completed. Three families in our neighborhood have received new bathrooms and other home improvements. Fatima’s family, a family with children and elderly grandparents, received a new kitchen, bathroom, and her house now has all four walls, which will greatly improve the security in their home. Suyapa, a mother of 5 whose husband abandoned her and the children,  received a new bathroom, and the old dirt floors were replaced with concrete floors, which will be much easier to keep clean. Antonio, the young man who helped the teams with the construction projects, received a new bathroom and had electricity put into his home. Most importantly, the love of Christ was shown in practical ways to the people in our community.

Although the teams have worked really hard to complete all of the work, there is still work to be done, so we are hoping to have a few more people come down here this summer to complete the work that has already been done. If you have some time this summer, please prayerfully consider spending a week or two here helping! Send an email to us for details and an application!

School is going well, and we are seeing a lot of improvement in attitudes as well as academics, and we are so proud of all of our students! We are thankful for a generous sponsor who stepped forward to pay for our school lunches, and a big burden was lifted off of us.

Natalie teaching the colegio kids

Here are updates on our current programs:

*Feeding program for indigent elderly people – We do this one day a week, and our students LOVE it! It has been good for them to share, and our elderly neighbors look forward to the weekly visits. We have added new people to the list, and are now bringing food to 11-15 people each week.

*Tutoring – Gordon is still working with the colegio kids who attend the other colegios in the area. He has been a good father figure to the kids, and they enjoy spending time with him.

*English classes – Chantalle is teaching English in our school, and has two classes – one for colegio students and the other for younger kids. She also has a couple of students who are not in school who she is teaching. It has been exciting hearing the students speaking English, and a few students can understand A LOT of English.

*Bible studies – We are still doing our Ladies Bible study and the children and youth studies, and have added to our numbers in all studies. We are still praying for someone to lead the men’s study. 

*Lunch program – Our lunch program is going well, and we were blessed by a donor who has provided funding for the entire school year. For many of our students, this is the only meal they receive.

*Schooling – In addition to our school, we have 8 students in other schools who have sponsors in the USA who pay for their schooling. We ensure that each of them is working to their full potential and are doing their homework and school projects. Each student also receives a nutritional lunch every school day.

Prayer needs and Praises:

·         Residency! We are going to have to apply for residency within the next 6 months, which will cost $2500, and will provide residency for 5 years. If we are not able to get our residency, we will not be able to continue our ministry here. When we went for a visa extension, we were denied the extension and told that we would need to either apply for residency or return to the United States.

·         $500 to finish the projects that the teams started. There is an elderly man who is living in a makeshift shack that is not safe, and we can make his housing safe and stable for about $500. We have a few people willing to lead a work team in getting this project done, but need to raise money for the supplies.

·         Please Continue to pray for our school! This is a huge undertaking, and we need a lot of prayer both for our teachers and our students.

·         For more mission/work teams to come! There is A LOT of work to be done in this poverty stricken community, and teams can really change the lives of people here. Even if you don’t speak Spanish or have construction skills, if you are willing and able, we would love to have you! Contact us for more information. WE ESPECIALLY NEED PEOPLE TO COME THIS SUMMER TO FINISH THE PROJECTS THAT HAVE BEEN STARTED!!!!!

·         More teachers – if you are inclined at all to teach, and would like to spend some time in a beautiful environment, please contact us for an application! Because of the unique nature of our school, we need to maintain a very low teacher to student ratio so that each student can learn to the best of their ability.

·         We STILL need an electrician!!! We were able to get the electrical system fixed so that things are a little bit safer, but there is more work to be done. Our school assistant has a cousin who was able to help us out at a fraction of the normal cost, and things seem to be working well.

·         Extra sponsorship! There is a law in Honduras that requires paying all employees double their normal wages in the months of June and December, which makes these months a little bit more tight financially for us. If you can help out with these extra costs, please either send a payment through paypal or through our mission organization, Shepherd’s staff.

PRAISES:

·         The teams were able to accomplish a lot of work while they were here, and our community was really blessed by their presence.

·         We received funding for our full year of lunches, which is a huge blessing to our school!

·         We are finally starting to feel healthy after a long bout with influenza and colds. Yeah! 

Thank you to everyone who supports us in our ministry! We could not do any of this without your help!

Love, The Eytzen family J                                    

Email: jesushelovesme@hotmail.com

Blogsite: www.eytzenfamily.blogspot.com

Gordon on the zipline over the waterfall

 

 

May update

School is going great!                                                                                                                 MAY 2013

We just finished our first quarter at school, and things are going well! We are continually amazed at God’s faithfulness to provide for all of our needs, and are really proud of all of our students. We now have 4 students in Kindergarten, 7 in primary (1-2^ndgrade), 10 in escuela (3^rd – 6^th grade), and 4 kids in colegio (7^th grade). We hadn’t planned on teaching colegio, but the opportunity presented itself, so we jumped in, and those kids have been doing great.

Most of our students have settled into school and are really flourishing in the environment. We have high academic standards, but adjust the level to meet the individual student’s needs, which allows for each student to excel at their own level. We are seeing students excited about finally getting high scores on exams and looking forward to taking exams and coming to school. We are really pleased with the ACE program!

A group in Nebraska did a fundraiser for the school, and we were able to paint the walls and get desks built, and have the electrical work tidied up a bit, so the school looks pretty too! We were also able to raise the funds for our English program for the colegio level students, and classes for them are going well. It is fun hearing our students speaking English and understanding more every day.

Our niece, Jennifer, arrived last weekend, and we are looking forward to hosting two teams this summer, as well as some of our close friends who are coming for a visit. We are planning on completing 3 small building projects while the teams are here, and the team is also going to present a week long VBS program and spend some time with our colegio kids. We are all very excited!

Although most of our time is now spent working with our school, here is a brief update on each of our other ministries:

*Feeding  program for indigent elderly people – We are still doing this one day a week, and our students LOVE it! It has been good for them to share, and our elderly neighbors look forward to the weekly visits.

 

*Kindergarten program – Aly taught Kindergarten for the first quarter, and the students will return for the final quarter to prepare them for 1^st grade next year. They are a spunky group of kids! Alex, our oldest student (29) will continue coming to school 3 days a week to prepare for learning to read.

 

*Tutoring – Gordon is still working with the colegio kids who attend the other colegios in the area, and they enjoy spending time with him.

 

*English classes – Chantalle is teaching English in our school, and has two classes – one for colegio students and the other for the younger class. Later in the year, she plans on teaching the primary students.

 

*Bible studies – we have an English Bible study for local ladies and a Bible study/craft time for children under 12. We now have a mixed study for students who are 13 and up on Friday nights, and are praying for a strong bilingual man to start Bible studies for the young men.

*Lunch program – We are serving lunch to all of the students who attend our school as well as 4 others who lack resources to have proper nutrition. This program has been going well, and we try to serve a balanced diet to the students.

 

*Schooling – In addition to our school, we have 8 students in other schools who have sponsors in the USA who pay for their schooling. We ensure that each of them is working to their full potential and are doing their homework and school projects. Each student also receives a nutritional lunch every school day.

 

*Children’s Church – After lots of prayer, we felt that we needed to be attending church instead of leading children’s church. We found a local church that seems to be a good fit for our family, with a lot of English speakers, and are enjoying attending church as a family again!

 

*Worship team – Our new church does not have a worship team, but anyone who wants to is able to get together to sing, and the girls have enjoyed this time.

 

Prayer needs:

·         Sponsor (s) for lunch at school! We try to keep the cost low, but we are feeding 22 people in the school every day, and this is not in our budget. We would like to be able to have one or two people sponsor the cost of this ministry. We are able to keep this cost at around $100 per month; $10 per day. (We reduced it from $150!) We would love to have one or two people sponsor this cost for us!

·         Please Continue to pray for our school! This is a huge undertaking, and we need a lot of prayer both for our teachers (Aly, Natalie, Chantalle, Lisa, & Gordon) and for our students (Cecilia, Franklin, Jennifer, Flor, Kellyn, Gaby, Eneyda, Fatima, Estefany, Katerin, Ruby, Cindy, Maria, Jefer, Aslin, Estefani, Jose, Danny, Deyni, Alex, Angel, Ashlyn, Nahomi, & Jadiel).

·         For more mission/work teams to come! There is A LOT of work to be done in this poverty stricken community, and teams can really change the lives of people here. Even if you don’t speak Spanish or have construction skills, if you are willing and able, we would love to have you! Contact us for more information.

·         We STILL need an electrician!!! We were able to get the electrical system fixed so that things are a little bit safer, but there is more work to be done. Our school assistant has a cousin who was able to help us out at a fraction of the normal cost, and things seem to be working well.

PRAISES:

·         We were able to hire an ASSISTANT at school! Suyapa has been a huge help to our school, and we feel a little bit less exhausted at the end of each day. Thanks for helping meet this need!

·         We finally got our electrical system in the school fixed so that it is safer and there are lights in all of the rooms!

·         New students! We have been praying for a couple of local teens who for one reason or another were not in colegio and not making wise life choices. Over the past month, one after the other of them has come to us asking if they could come to our school. We have been thankful that we were able to admit them to school, and all 3 of them are doing well. These are all students we have worked with in the past, and we are so happy that they are starting to make better choices!

 

Thank you to everyone who supports us in our ministry! We could not do any of this without your help!

Love, The Eytzen family J                                     Email: jesushelovesme@hotmail.com

March Update

(When I went to post a new update, I realized that I had never actually published this.... oops!)

We’re off to a good start!                                                                                                 MARCH 2013

We had a good break from school, and are one month into the new school year. Thanks to a few generous supporters, we were able to raise enough money to start our neighborhood school. We have 21 students in Kindergarten through 6^th grade who are all eager to learn, and we are excited to teach them. In Honduras, there is no system in place for children who have any sort of special educational needs, and if a student struggles and is unable to pass one class, they are held back for the entire grade. This system, coupled with class sizes of 50-80 students, makes learning very difficult for some students.

 

Most of the students in our school have been held back multiple times and feel very defeated. All of them come from troubled backgrounds and have been victims of abuse and neglect. We are hopeful that our school program will help the students gain self confidence and be able to reach their full potential. We are using the ACE program (Accelerated Christian Education), which allows each student to work at their own pace and spend more time on subjects where more time is needed. We are also teaching everything bilingually, with extensive classes in learning English as a second language so that each student will be able to learn English fluently. Our entire curriculum is Christian based, with character training incorporated into each class.

 

While the need for education is somewhat obvious, it is even more important in Honduras. If a girl is not able to stay in school, there is a lot of pressure to marry, even if the girl is very young or doesn’t feel ready to take this step. One of our students was telling us how happy and relieved she was to have the opportunity to attend school again because her family was pressuring her to find a husband, and at 13, she did not want to have to marry. Girls are also often victims of slavery, and staying in school can help them avoid this. Thank you to all of our supporters who are helping these kids have a better future!

 

We have had to scale back some of our other programs, but are still running most of the programs:

 

*Feeding  program for indigent elderly people – we are doing this one day a week for now with our school kids.  Some of the children are collecting food donations from neighbors, and the children are helping with the cooking and delivery of the food. We are also keeping track of anything that is needed, and the older kids will be helping with projects around the house as needed.

 

*Preschool program – All of the children who were in Natalie’s preschool program are now in Kindergarten with Aly three days a week.

 

*Tutoring – this is the first thing that we started, and kids come every day after school to get help with their homework and to use the internet for educational reasons. Gordon has taken over this ministry, and it has been good for the kids to have a positive male role model.

 

*English classes – Chantalle is teaching English in our school, and as soon as we receive the new curriculum for teens and adults, she will be teaching classes to our colegio students and adults in our community.

 

*Bible studies – we have an English Bible study for local ladies and a Bible study/craft time for children under 12. We also have a study for girls 12 and up, and we would like to add more studies soon. We are actively looking for a young man to help with the study for young men.

 

*Lunch program – We are serving lunch to all of the students who attend our school as well as 4 others who lack resources to have proper nutrition.

 

*Schooling – In addition to our school, we have 8 students in other schools who have sponsors in the USA who pay for their schooling. We ensure that each of them is working to their full potential and are doing their homework and school projects. Each student also receives a nutritional lunch every school day.

 

*Children’s Church – We are in charge of the Sunday children’s programs at our church. We have about 40 children, birth to 12 years old, who we teach lessons to, do crafts with, and love on.

 

*Worship team – Also at church, Natalie and Chantalle help lead worship for Friday and Sunday services. They have really enjoyed being able to serve in this way.

 

Prayer needs:

·         Sponsor (s) for lunch at school! We try to keep the cost low, but we are feeding 22 people in the school every day, and this is not in our budget. We would like to be able to have one or two people sponsor the cost of this ministry. We are able to keep this cost at around $150 per month ($7.50 per day). Please pray about the possibility of helping us in this way.

·         Sponsor for an assistant at school. We would really benefit from having a full time assistant at the school to help with cleaning, lunch preparation, Kindergarten, and odd jobs. Having a special needs school requires the full attention of each of us, and it is very difficult having to try to cover this need as well. The cost for hiring someone would be $100 per month.

·         Please pray for our school! This is a huge undertaking, and we need a lot of prayer both for our teachers (Aly, Natalie, Chantalle, Lisa, & Gordon) and for our students (Flor, Kellyn, Gaby, Eneyda, Fatima, Estefany, Katerin, Ruby, Cindy, Maria, Jefer, Aslin, Estefani, Jose, Danny, Deyni, Alex, Angel, Ashlyn, Nahomi, & Jadiel).

·         For more mission/work teams to come! There is A LOT of work to be done in this poverty stricken community, and teams can really change the lives of people here. Even if you don’t speak Spanish or have construction skills, if you are willing and able, we would love to have you! Contact us for more information.

·         We need an electrician!!! If you have the ability to help with re-wiring our house and the school, we could really use your help! The wiring is in very bad condition, and is not safe nor is it very functional and we really need someone or a small group to come help us get the electricity in working order. Please let us know if you could possibly come help in this way! There are very few trained electricians in this area, and those that are here are extremely expensive.

 

Thank you to everyone who supports us in our ministry! We could not do any of this without your help!

Love, The Eytzen family J                                     Email: jesushelovesme@hotmail.com

If you would like to contact us, our contact information is:

Lisa and Gordon Eytzen
c/o Roberto Diaz del Valle
9 KM. Carretera la Guama a Pena Blanca
Hotel Finca Las Glorias, Pena Blanca
Santa Cruz de Yojoa, Cortes
Honduras, Centro America

(it takes about 2-3 months to receive mail)

It’s not fair!                                                                                                                        

Anyone who has worked with kids (or adults, for that matter), has heard the cry, “It’s not fair!” repeatedly.  We hear that when we’re working with kids quite a bit, and it has sparked a lot of interesting conversations with the family. It is easy to start thinking that our situations aren’t “fair” and usually we spin things to favor ourselves – we aren’t getting enough or the quality of whatever we are receiving isn’t good enough. Rarely do we use the “unfair” cry when we feel we are getting too much or what we are receiving is more than we deserve, but isn’t that more often, the case?

Fatima’s House

Is it fair that I was born into a loving Christian family who wanted me and took care of me, took me on vacations, bought me everything I needed and most of the things I wanted?  Is it fair that Fatima was born to a mother who has repeatedly told her that she wished she had never been born, who never has taken care of her in any way? Is it fair that at six years old she was left alone with only her seven year old brother, to take care of herself? Which situation is more fair? Did I do anything that made me deserve the privileged life I was given? Did Fatima do anything to earn her station in life? In reality, we all probably “deserve” the life that a lot of the kids down here live.

Although we came here because we felt called by God, and we know that we are being used to help reach the people here and bring them hope, being here has also been an intensely life changing experience for each of us, and helped us view life in an entirely different way. I believe that I am no better than any of the people here and it is solely by the grace of God that I was given a much easier life. The people here have touched our lives and shown us new ways of thinking, and convicted us of many things that we have had to change in our personal lives. Sometimes the challenges seem almost more than we can handle, but sometimes the blessings just seem to overflow, and the road is easy.

A lot has been happening here in the past month! Gordon and Chantalle returned from their time in the states, and it has been great having them back. They were able to visit with a lot of family & friends and had a nice time traveling around. We dealt with a huge strep outbreak in our community, and had several sick children stay with us because they either had elderly people or babies in their home, or they didn’t have anyone to care for them. It was a draining time, but by serving the kids in this way, we have developed closer relationships with them and their families.

Our new mission house, just down the street

Tuesday night church, with up to 30 kids!

We have not moved into our new house, and things have been delayed due to lack of finances, but we are slowly getting things done. We don’t have to start paying rent there until March, so we are hoping to complete everything by then. Some of the kids’ dads have done a lot of tile work and repaired the walls, and most of the painting is done. We will be beginning the electrical rewiring soon, and that is one of the biggest projects. Jennifer, Chantalle, and I will be doing most of the work ourselves, and we have a couple of men who have volunteered to check our work and make sure that everything is done correctly.

We have done a lot of preparation for our new programs, and will be kicking off the new programs while our kids are out of school. Our “summer break” is from December until February. Here are the programs that we are working on:

*Feeding  program for indigent elderly people – we are starting with one day a week and hope to be able to do more days later. Some of the children are collecting food donations from neighbors, and the children are helping with the cooking and delivery of the food. We are also keeping track of anything that is needed, and the older kids will be helping with projects around the house as needed.

*Preschool program – Natalie is teaching some of the kids who are not yet in school, and they come every day to learn colors, numbers, shapes, and the basics of reading. They are learning a lot, and really look forward to class every day.

*Tutoring – this is the first thing that we started, and kids come every day after school to get help with their homework and to use the internet for educational reasons. Kids also enjoy having time to color and play with our toys.

*English classes – Chantalle is teaching English one on one to the kids who have shown the most aptitude and interest in learning, and they are also using Rosetta Stone to advance their learning.

*Bible studies – we have an English Bible study for local ladies and a Bible study/craft time for children under 12. We also have a study for girls 12 and up, and we would like to add more studies soon.

*Lunch program – some of the kids who don’t get adequate nutrition at home can come and get lunch every day.

*Baking program – Jennifer is working with some of the older girls in a program where the girls bake cupcakes, brownies, and cookies, and the girls go out and sell their baked goods to bring more income to their families. The girls are all very excited about this, and it will be great for them to have skills to bring more money into their families.

*Bead making – We are working with several of the kids at making jewelry that we can sell when we are in the states, so that they will have skills to help with their family income.

*Schooling – We have found sponsors to help send several kids to school, and we make sure that all of the sponsored kids are doing well in their classes and taking their studies seriously. We feel that education is very important, and encourage the kids and their families to stay in school, study hard, and think about their futures.

*Children’s Church – In addition to the programs in our community, we are in charge of the Sunday children’s programs at our church. We have about 40 children, birth to 12 years old, who we teach lessons to, do crafts with, and love on.

*Worship team – Also at church, Natalie and Chantalle help lead worship for Friday and Sunday services. They have really enjoyed being able to serve in this way.

Prayer needs:

*Please continue to pray for our kids. Franklin, Kevin, and Daniel are still struggling, but we have made some headway with Franklin recently, so we are encouraged by that.

* We are only lacking one sponsor right now, and that is for Cecilia, whose father died recently, and her family does not have a lot of money to send her to school.

*We are praying about starting a very small private school. This idea came about because there are a few kids who are extremely far behind in their education, and will not be able to complete even elementary school without intervention. There are about 6 kids who we are considering schooling. There are two girls, who are 12 and 13 and both just in first grade, and another 13 year old who is in fourth grade, as well as some students who are struggling in the Honduran system of education, where there are often 60 children in a small classroom with one teacher. It is a big commitment, and we want to make sure that the children as well as we are able to fully commit before we decide to do this. We are looking for sponsors to help pay for the cost of the materials & the fee that the government charges for starting this kind of a program (very much like home-schooling). We are hoping to start with 3 families, and see where things go from there.

*Monthly sponsors – Every month it is extremely hard to make ends meet, and we are dependent on people from the states sending in support. We have a few people who have been very faithful supporters, but we need more people to join with us.

*Money for our new home – Please pray about helping us get our new home finished. We still have a lot of work to do, and have volunteers available, but are just lacking the funds!

*Mission teams – we would really like to have multiple mission teams come here to see what we do and to help us accomplish some bigger goals. If you are at all interested in this, please contact us!

If you are looking for a Christmas gift for someone, consider sponsoring a child in their name. We try to have the students write letters to their sponsors regularly, and this is one gift that won’t be forgotten! Contact us for more information!

Thank you to everyone who supports us in our ministry! We hope that you are able to enjoy the Christmas season!

Love, The Eytzen family J

If you would like to contact us, our contact information is:

Lisa and Gordon Eytzen
c/o Roberto Diaz del Valle
9 KM. Carretera la Guama a Pena Blanca
Hotel Finca Las Glorias, Pena Blanca
Santa Cruz de Yojoa, Cortes
Honduras, Centro America

(it takes about 2 months to receive mail)                      Email: jesushelovesme@hotmail.com

Please take a few minutes to read about some of the children we would like to help!

Student Profiles:

Fatima Gisele

Fatima Gisele – Fatima is a lively 13 year old girl who has had a rough life from the beginning. Her mother tried unsuccessfully to end her pregnancy with Fatima, and she has been repeatedly told that it would have been better for her not to have been born. She has been passed from relative to relative, and lived with only her brother for almost two years when she was 6-8 years old. Her rough life has made her into a very determined young lady, and she wants to be able to complete school and have a better future. While she was on her own she wasn’t able to attend school, so she is currently only in the fifth grade. We would like to be able to enroll Fatima in our private school so that she can receive the one on one instruction that she needs to catch up.

Esly Eneyda –  Eneyda is a very spunky 11 year old girl who is one of 12 children, and doesn’t get a lot of attention. She is extremely small for her age, even in Honduras, and is the size of an average 5 or 6 year old. Because of her size and a learning  disability, Eneyda is often teased in school, and punished by her teachers when she doesn’t understand. She is very bright, and has shown a real gift in speaking English, and we are excited to see what can happen for her when she is given the attention she needs to learn.

Gisele Kellin –  Kellin is very sweet and quiet, and is Eneyda’s older sister. After their father lost his hand in an accident last year, she has had to mature and help more at home with all of the children. She is a good student, and enjoys learning. She often gets sad and has trouble opening up to others. We are hoping that she will get a sponsor to enable her to have the smaller class size that she needs to fully reach her potential.

Danis – Danis is one of the youngest in Kellin and Eneyda’s family, and he is not off to a very good start in school. He was not allowed to attend Kindergarten or first grade because of his test results, and he shows signs of a learning disability, but responds well to one on one instruction.  For Danis, the only hope he has of academic success will come from private schooling, and we are hoping to be able to provide that for him.

Jefer – Jefer is a small, sweet boy who has moved around within his family throughout his short 8 years. He struggles in school, and is facing his third time going through first grade, unless he is able to be homeschooled or attend private school. He is a bright boy who enjoys learning, but has some areas that he struggles with. In the Honduran system, if a child fails one class, they have to repeat the entire grade, which has really held Jefer back.

There are three other students who we are praying about at this time, and if we receive sponsors for these, we will pursue finding sponsors for Deinis, Cindy, and Estefani.

The cost for each student is $30/month or $360 for a year, and includes meals, clothing, and all educational costs.