Anglican Communion News Service

"I called on thy name, O Lord from the depths of the pit; thou disdst hear my plea, Do not close thine ear to my cry for help!" Lamentations 3:55

The Lost Ship

We are not sure what happened to it yet. It was just another sad piece of news related to the hurricane. Indeed it was sad to know that a ship full of tourists enjoying the beautiful Caribbean Sea was missing. Phantom was lost and it just meant another piece of news. Well, until we got the news that a young man named Jesus, a member of our church in Omoa was among the missing in the ship. His wife and two children don't think anymore that he was so lucky in finding such a nice job. He was my Archdeacon's acolyte when he served in that area, he had been like a father to him and now he was gone into the depths of the beautiful Caribbean Sea. Another victim of the storm and not just a piece of new in a far away place.

You are the only ones!

We have heard it a lot in recent days. The need is so great that there are many communities that still have to be helped. We work day and night to reach them before it is too late. Volunteers young and old labor hard to fill the trash bags with food. They gather in the Cathedral and the Diocesan Office making such a horrible mess that makes my hard glad. Everyone of those bags will mean that somebody will eat tonight!

The story is the same when the volunteers come back covered with mud but with a beautiful smile, like the ones you get when you get to feed Jesus, when you give water to our Lord, when you get to clothe our God.

"You are the only ones that have helped us, we were getting desperate, thank you, thank you!" That's what they are saying when we come with help. I am sure that eventually the government and other more professional agencies will reach them in due time. We were there but you were there also. You were there feeding our Lord because you made it possible for us to have the means to do it.

The Amphibian Invasion

It's plan for tomorrow, early like all efficient operations. The trucks are already loaded with food and the tanks are full with diesel. This time we are going to try by land and by sea.We have failed for two days by air. The Honduran Army didn't make it all the way and decided to drop the food in another community before turning back.

I can understand why. Corinto is as far as you can go until you get to Guatemala. I always enjoy when they count the offering in there. I love seeing when they separate the Lempiras from the Quetzales. It's one of my international congregations so far away from the center of both countries. We have received some messages from them. They are hungry, they need help.

This time tomorrow I should know if our amphibian invasion will work. They will drive the truck for about 2= hours, cross about 14 rivers some of them with bridges and then go by boat to Corinto. They will load the food on their backs or by burro and then reach Corinto. They will have to rush though, because they need to get all the way back to where the truck will stay. That's the advantage of being a Bishop, I can send my Archdeacon, a SAMS missionary, to do this. It's shall we say a kind of tough. Besides last time I got in boat to help people I ended in jail, but that is another story! Right now what we need is for you to pray that the food gets to our sisters and brothers in Corinto and that my Archdeacon and his crew gets back safely.

A mothers testimony

Rosa gave her testimony last Sunday. We have a new segment in our service where we let people tell their stories as a form of community therapy. Also we get to find out what great things God has done for us. Several people shared their experience of how God had preserved them and then I saw Rosa getting up and coming to the front. I wonder why? What could she be thankful for? You see, just a few days before we had buried her 21 year old son. He was electrocuted as many people have died these days due to the floods.

What could she be thankful for ? I began to hear her as she thanked us for making it possible to find a coffin, for being there with her for the funeral, to hold her hand. Yes, he was dead but he knew the Lord, she said. He was now gone but he was with God. It was a simple faith more pure than any faitj I could ever have. She was willing to thank God at all times and not just at the good times when good things happen. Even with Hurricane Mitch taking a death toll of her son she could see well that God still reigned.