Whites Honduras Newsletter January 2011

Bring in the New!

Our new year started off in the States. It was a multipurpose trip and we must say that it was successful on all counts!

• We enjoyed quality time with children, granddaughters, and family. Our three big kids sacrificed time and money to arrange their schedules to come to NC so we could all be together for a little over a week. The Rawleys opened their home and hearts to us for a ‘home-base’ for which we are very grateful.
• We experienced precious moments with our church families at Yadkinville, Piedmont, Wilkesboro, and Archdale. We were surrounded by brothers and sisters in the Lord’s family with genuine interest in us and our work here. We were able to tell stories, answer questions, be prayed over and most of all be loved in the Lord.
• We were blessed by all of you in raising much of the necessary funds to extend our work here in Santa Rosa. We were given the gift of trust and confidence by those of you who are taking an active part monetarily in our work here. We are so humbled and grateful and look forward to being accountable to how this support is used.
• We loved being in the thick of winter and got to experience the best of snowfalls – more than once! The weather is mild and temperate here in Santa Rosa – we love it but, it was great getting a taste of real winter and at least for a little while seeing God’s beauty in the changing seasons. We even delighted in a day of sledding with all the kids!
• We were blessed with traveling mercies in every way and we praise God for his love and protection.

The second half of January saw us settling back into our home and the crazy, wonderful busyness of our life here began immediately!

• Lowell is in the middle of his projects, was able to be a part of 3 great meetings – the first with the local church, then the area-wide congregational planning meeting, and finally the Mission Upreach team and it looks like a wonderful year of the Lord for this area of Occidente!
• Jacob got right back into his school work, started hanging out with friends – here at the house and of course, futbol (soccer) in the park. Also, youth nights at the church building are every Saturday. A good group came over Wednesday for popcorn and Wii.
• Our home has had people coming and going and that means the usual for Robin – making them feel at home with coffee, cookies or whatever is on hand. When someone comes to your home you prepare to relax because they’ve come to stay for awhile. The cake she made last Monday came in handy a few times plus she baked cookies for six of the neighborhood girls that came over to spend an afternoon.
• Then together, we have started painting our extra rooms – a bedroom and a bathroom – anticipating guests! Also, we got to help clean the building Sunday morning – that was very special because two of our older sisters in the church, Olympia 1 and Olympia 2, were there to help and they were an absolute inspiration to be around. Then too, we got to be a part of the medical brigade at La Lima where a church was newly planted. We rode the bus with our teammates and the Honduras translators and the whole day was great. (6:30 am – 5:30 when we finally got home.) A couple of hundred people were seen by doctors. We also attended a three day seminar on “Conflict Resolution” taught by Fernando Nesmyth. It was offered by the church as an outreach to our community.

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Lowell’s thoughts: I asked Robin to write the newsletter this month. Sometimes she has a better and/or different perspective on things. This year is going to be a very busy one. The Friday night small groups are starting back up as are the disciples classes on Thursday nights and the Saturday night get-together’s at our house with the newly married couples. There is a medical brigade getting ready to come later this month. I rode a couple of hours away last week with three members of the team to meet with a couple of preachers in the area. It was a difficult meeting but needed to be done. Not all is nice weather and roses unfortunately.

The church in Santa Rosa continues to be an inspiration. We have another good song leader that has joined the team. Jose is one of those guys who can sing bass, tenor or the lead equally well. Another family moved in who are alumni of Baxter Institute. We continue to meet neighbors and are always hopeful that they will soon be brothers and sisters in the church. I go for walks around town and inevitably see members of the church. Two sisters from the church sell whatever fruit is in season out of the back of a truck so I usually buy something from them.

Our prayer is that the Lord will bless each of you in this new year. We could not continue this work without you. And we know that you cannot continue to help us unless you are blessed with prosperity. So, our prayers may be a little selfish but we’ll continue to pray anyway. May 2011 be one of the best years ever. Who knows, it may be the year God tells Jesus, “Its time, go gather them all home.”

Our wish list (I thought I would include this here so you would know our needs): More monthly supporters.

May God continue to bless each of you as you seek for and find the will of God for your life

– Lowell, Robin and Jacob White

Our phone number: 011-504-9491-6485 (Lowell’s cell) 615-752-2986 (MagicJack number)

Remember to send any contributions to:

Wilkesboro Church of Christ

P.O. Box 81

Wilkesboro, NC 28697-0081

Make the check out to Wilkesboro Church of Christ, put Honduras on the “for” line on your check and enclose a note that it’s for the Lowell White family. Also, tell us if its for something particular.

Just be sure you live as God’s people in a way that honors the Good News of Christ. Then if I come and visit you or if I am away from you, I will hear good things about you. I will know that you stand together with the same purpose and that you work together like a team to help others believe the Good News.

(Philippians 1:27 ERV)

2010 Giving of Magi Boxes

People in the States begin shopping early to prepare Magi Boxes which Healing Hands International sends to developing countries around the world. On Tuesday December 14th the Mission Upreach team in Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras had the privilege to distribute some of these boxes. Take a look as we visit a school here in our city in Western Honduras.

 

Whites Honduras Newsletter October 2010

On the night of October 26^th three couples arrived at the church building to become legally married. There is a law here that if two people live together for a certain period of time they are to be considered married. The only problem with that is that it has developed into a culture that if one of them wants out of the marriage, they just walk away. There is no legal process to go through to dissolve the marriage. It happens here a lot. It’s similar to what happens in the States, where couples live together “in preparation” for marriage. This is developing into a culture where people just live together until one walks away and then they get with someone else and do the same thing. We’ve met people here and listened to them tell who their siblings are and it makes your head spin just hearing the explanation of who is who’s kid and which is their father and on and on. I feel sorry for children that grow up in that kind of situation because they never know when one of their parents are going to up and leave. This is the reason we want these couples to be legally married. The cycle of abandonment needs to stop.

So, the church building was full of relatives of these three families plus most of the church members. The first part of the service is a civil ceremony. A lawyer is there and performs the ceremony, gets the couples to sign a lot of paperwork and has them take legal vows of marriage. This took way more time than it should. Then the “religious” ceremony comes next. Well, there was a short sermon in between the two on the importance of marriage in God’s sight. The religious ceremony was very touching as each couple was asked to say their vows. Some of the couples had rings, others didn’t. They were all dressed beautifully. The situation was different than what you would see in the States but it still had a wonderful, moving tone to it all.

The ladies of the church had spent hours and hours decorating and also prepared the food, so we all had a good meal to celebrate and we ended the night by heading home. Two of the couples were on the church bus with us. One couple lives a few blocks from us, so we all walked together. It was a good night.

We had the three couples over to our home the following Saturday night. We want to work with them to help in building a lasting marriage. I gave a short lesson on love and respect using some of the ideas from the book Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs. We had a pretty good discussion afterword. We were pleasantly surprised at their willingness to open up and talk. We also began a book lending program – I had 2 books we had bought on marriage in Spanish and they will read this and bring them back to swap out for the next … this was a really big hit! We then introduced them to Jacob’s Wii and had a good time bowling in the TV room. (Those of you who don’t know what a Wii is, just ask your grandchildren).

Did I mention that before the wedding we had just returned from a four day trip to Belize? Because we don’t have residency papers yet we have to travel out of the country for a few days then return so we can get another three month stamp in our passport. We can pay $60 toward the end of the three to get an extra month but if we don’t leave before that fourth month is up we have to pay some hefty fines. We can’t travel to any of the bordering countries as they have some kind of pact. So, it has to be Belize (the closest) or Costa Rica or any place else. We could have gone to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Spirit Airlines but there were two problems – we didn’t have a thousand dollars to spend and we don’t know anyone in Ft. Lauderdale to stay with, so it was off to Belize.

One of the missionaries from Teguc has made the trip so she wrote down the directions and e-mailed them to me. The trip involved eight buses and four boats so I have to say I was a bit “concerned” about the trip. Robin tells all about it on our blog site (see above). Did I mention that Robin and I each had a backpack of about 30 or 40 pounds to carry?

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Reflections from Robin –

Our trip to Belize was wonderful, crazy, energy-sapping, educational and necessary. It will be a blessing to someday have residency and I know God will bless us in this working out.

Our work here in Santa Rosa involves primarily making friendships that will build trust and confidence and then we go on from there with the teaching and living examples. We talk with our neighbors daily – chatting with this one and that one up and down our streets. It is so precious to me to use our home as an outreach for the Lord’s church and it happens multiple times a week. Already we have seen Christ glorified in so many ways through the body that meets here in this city – the church grows week by week – numerically and spiritually. Not having a vehicle means we walk every where which is wearing but rewarding. We love meeting new people and telling why we’re here. I don’t think I can think of a time that we’ve gone into ‘el centro’ and not seen members of the church – what a blessing!

With all the great things that are happening Satan is trying his best to see it all destroyed. Just when attendance is up in one area it will be down in another … consistency is a challenge. One couple backed out of marrying just hours before – they’ve come around now and will ‘do the deed’. Just know this is a mighty step to take and it is one of courage and commitment. Please pray for these and the 10 or so others we are working with.

All this to say something very important to us – with God’s help and the help of an awesome team of people here – we are working hard to make a difference for eternity’s sake. We know it is of utmost importance to feed the hungry and shelter those who struggle to keep a roof over their heads, but the crux of the matter is – they need Jesus in their lives and have to be shown The Way. I am so happy and proud to be a part of His Body here in Santa Rosa – a body of Hondurans helping Hondurans see light for this challenging path before each of us.

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Our wish list (I thought I would include this here so you would know our needs): a vehicle, $3,200 for our 5 year residency papers which would keep us from having to travel out of the country every four months, someone who will purchase and ship Spanish books on marriage, parenting, dating and sexual abstinence.

May God continue to bless each of you as you seek for and find the will of God for your life
– Lowell, Robin and Jacob White

Our phone number: 011-504-3341-5864 (Lowell’s cell) 615-752-2986 (MagicJack number)

Remember to send any contributions to:

Wilkesboro Church of Christ

P.O. Box 81

Wilkesboro, NC 28697-0081

Make the check out to Wilkesboro Church of Christ, put Honduras on the “for” line on your check and enclose a note that it’s for the Lowell White family. Also, tell us if its for something particular.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)



Adjustments – September Newsletter

September was a time of re-adjustment. We did a lot of adjusting to make ourselves useful in Santa Ana, then in a whirlwind, we made the move to Santa Rosa de Copán. We only saw two houses in SRC on our visit that were for rent. One was much too small, the other was bigger than what we thought we needed. It turns out we made a good decision by choosing the larger one as we now have an intern who will be using one of the bedrooms for the next two months. In November we hope to have the rest of his family here with us. And if God is good to us, we will have some of you who read this come and visit. You don’t, of course, have to stay with us. There is a hotel in town the Waldrons have used when groups come for short-term mission trips. But we just want you to know you are welcome.

Two of the things that have been big adjustments are the amount of activity going on with the church and the way we get to each activity. We don’t have a vehicle to use here as we did in Santa Ana so we are learning our way around. It’s about a twenty minute walk to the church building. There is a church bus that runs for some of the activities. So we are able to make a twelve minute walk and catch the bus. The only problem is when its raining. We were quite a sight the other night as Jacob and I had umbrellas and Robin had a hooded blue rain coat and polka dotted rain boots. We did get stared at a little but we are used to that after having lived in Nigeria.

The neatest thing going on at our house is our Friday night Bible studies. We’ve had four so far. We had nine people here the first time and the second time we had eleven adults and three children. The third time there were fourteen adults and three children. The fourth time there were twelve adults and two children. We’ve invited other neighbors and we’re pretty confident some will come but they have to get over their shyness I guess. I (Lowell) am teaching the class. Selvin, one of the young men who attends, is good about helping me correctly pronounce Spanish words. One or two of the C.R.E.O. students have been here each time as well. Fortunately they and Selvin can lead the Spanish songs. We usually sing a couple in English just because they like to hear them. We are all looking forward to seeing new Christians born out of these studies.

I was able to sit in on an inspiring meeting recently. There are three couples here who are taking the lead to be legally married. I mentioned in our previous newsletter what a cultural difficulty it is to get couples to make that important commitment to each other before God. All the team members along with some of the members joined together in a day of fasting and prayer (and a 2^nd day recently). We met together at the church building and sang and prayed for over an hour. Not long after this three couples made the decision to be legally married. Later another couple joined them. The meeting I sat in on was a time of planning and setting of a date for the big day. More on this next month but note this quote from Mission Upreach’s newsletter: “Looks like we will be having a joint wedding for four couples who have decided to legalize their union and please God on October 26th. This resulted after much fasting and prayer by the church in Santa Rosa. Just got word that 6 or 7 more will do the same in our church plant in El Porvenir. God is good!”

Before we made our move here we knew that the son of some friends of ours at the Wilkesboro Church of Christ wanted to come here and work for a couple months. Daniel is the son of Dale and Michelle Isom. Dale is one of the elders at our sponsoring congregation. Daniel has fit right into the family. He and Jacob hit it off instantly and they are doing lots of things together – even playing soccer with the Hondurans. Daniel will be involved in a variety of things while here. He is a sort of guinea pig for us as we’ve not had an intern before. The Waldrons have, so they are helping us. Daniel will be rebuilding our web site, working with the children and youth at the church and helping everyone sing better as he has a lot of experience in chorus and leading singing.

One of our main projects has begun. Our plan is to produce a series of classes that will encourage the young people in Honduras to make the decision to remain sexually pure until they marry. Robin and I are reviewing some videos that have been used in the States. We will outline the messages, then have them translated into Spanish. Next we’ll brainstorm ways to make them better and consider the best way to present them to this culture. We have a good team here and hope to get these onto video so they can be distributed to other congregations throughout Honduras. Part of the package will be a series of lessons to help the parents communicate with their children especially in the area of sexual purity. This is a tremendous amount of work. It needs to be done while Harrison, the Waldron’s son, is here because he is our “producer/technical guy.” He’ll be off to university next year so we have to get things moving fast.

Another project is one to help the marriages that already exist become better ones. First on our list is to begin meeting with the couples mentioned above who are to be wed in October. We will invite them to our home for a time of fellowship and fun, then teach them some important lessons that married couples need to know. We’ll be using some material by Gary Smalley that fortunately is already translated into Spanish.

A third project is similar to the first one above but will concentrate on helping married couples improve their marriages. We want to create lessons with a Honduran “flavor” that will appeal to the people here and help their marriages improve. The fourth project has to do with helping marriages that are in a crisis – in danger of ending. We have some good resources for all of this but if any of you have suggestions please send us an e-mail. We are always open to good ideas.

Robin had her first speaking engagement last Thursday night as she spoke (in Spanish) to the ladies. According to some of the ladies, she did great. I told one sister she’ll do even better once she can speak Spanish better.

Our wish list (I thought I would include this here so you would know our needs): another $1000/ month support, a vehicle, $3,200 for our 5 year residency papers which would keep us from having to travel out of the country every four months and some Dr. Scholl’s gel insoles for our shoes until we get the vehicle. I’m just kidding about the insoles. Probably the most important of these is the money for residency papers. This is the best price we’ve seen on this and we need to jump on it before it goes up.

May God continue to bless each of you as you seek for and find the will of God for your life,

– Lowell, Robin and Jacob White

Our phone number: 011-504-3341-5864 (Lowell’s cell)

Remember to send any contributions to:

Wilkesboro Church of Christ
P.O. Box 81
Wilkesboro, NC 28697-0081

Make the check out to Wilkesboro Church of Christ, put Honduras on the “for” line on your check and enclose a note that it’s for the Lowell White family.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Corinthians 4:6-7)

How God Has Prepared Us For This

Robin and I have been asked by the Mission Upreach team in Santa Rosa de Copan to put our minds and hearts into the task of developing methods to build loving couples into strong marriages and families in the church.  Both the Waldrons, the Honduran team members and we have understood that the growth of the church in Honduras is greatly hindered by the lack of leadership partly due to their being few strong family units in each congregation.  There must be some way to change this.  We have been given the task of developing seminars, retreats, counseling, sermons or whatever it takes to get couples married and help them stay married for life.   Not an easy task in any culture.  The question I want to consider is this: how has God prepared us for such a task as this?

First, I want to give some credit to our parents.  I can remember celebrating with both sets of parents their fiftieth wedding anniversaries.  Robin’s parents asked me to perform a repeat of their wedding ceremony, so, in the little, old white church building in Howard, Pennsylvania I did just that.  Their three daughters were there, along with two sons-in-law and nine grandchildren.  It was a beautiful time of celebration.  My parent’s children rented the community center in Addison, Alabama.  All five children were there plus a whole slew of grandchildren and some great-grandchildren.  It, too, was a great time of celebration.  Neither marriage was perfect in every way but I’m convinced that having parents who stayed together made a difference in mine and Robin’s marriage.

When we were planning to get married as students at Freed-Hardeman University both of us went to the library and read several books about marriage.  Both of us had taken the Marriage and the Family course offered.  Once we married, one of the things that we loved to do was start each day by reading a chapter in a marriage book.  Books like Night Light by James Dobson and Love and Respect by Emerson Eggeriches, which we are re-reading now, come to mind.  There were many of them.  Those books helped shape who we are and will be used to help shape this ministry.  Its interesting to me that of all the books I had on my shelves, the books on marriage were the ones I packed to bring with me.  This before even knowing we would be given this task.

Another thing that has prepared us was a class I was assigned to teach in Nigeria when we lived there.  I was asked to teach a course on counseling to the third year students.  I didn’t really feel qualified to do so but with the help of a book by Gary R. Collins entitled Christian Counseling I took on the class.  The students learned a lot.  It was something foreign to them – the idea of counseling.  I learned a lot about the culture in which they lived and in the process learned that not everyone in the world goes through the same thinking process as I do.  Robin and I had many discussions about things I had learned about the Nigerian culture in that classroom.

I have, of course, counseled with couples preparing for marriage.  Both Robin and I have tried to help couples who were struggling in their marriages.  We dedicated one year at Archdale Church of Christ, where I preached for nine years, to teaching classes every Sunday morning on marriage.  I was asked to teach a topic at a marriage seminar held in Charlotte on the simple subject, “Sex in the Marriage.”  Not so simple when one has to talk about it in front of a group of people.  After all, I am a bit shy.

All of this to explain how God has prepared us for this task.  We’ve been married thirty-one years.  We, like most couples, have been through trying times.  Our marriage still isn’t perfect but we believe God has allowed us to experience just the right things to bring us to this point in our life.  We covet your prayers as we take on this responsibility.  May it make an eternal difference to the lives of the Hondurans and may it strengthen the Lord’s church here.