Mom and Dad were with us in late December and early January. They were a great comfort during Lenita’s sickness. Dad helped constructing walls and shelves in the mission house and building desks for the new English school project at Oak Ridge. Mom helped around the house, including plenty of dish washing by hand!

Before they left, we all got to experience another of nature’s excitements – an earthquake. It was on a late Saturday evening. Different of the local young people were at the house playing games with our girls. It shook them all up, especially when Sarah mentioned that earthquakes are a sign of the end times. Cody, the deaf, mute boy was terrified and wanted all of his family to go home fast. We were told later that the quake was a 4.6, centered out in the sea not far from the island. The only damage that we found was one wall board cracked.

We were anxious to get our shipment and fix the downstairs bath with the shower that was in it and also to finally get some of our own things to use. The container came to port here in early January. The clearing of our shipment through customs is somewhat tied to us getting legal residency. Our residency had not been worked out and we were concerned that it would be a long time until we could get anything out. Doug had been working with government officials, from the Governor to the Administrator of Schools to the man in charge of assessing duty on incoming shipments.

On Thursday before Mom and Dad were to leave on Saturday Doug went back in to Coxen Hole to talk to an official. The Lord heard our prayers and answered in a way we never dreamed! They came driving back up to the house with a strange pickup full of items from the shipment! It was an unheard of victory. We both shed a few tears that day. We were allowed to get the pickup and a few loads out of the container without having our papers. The shower downstairs was working by the time Sister Bonnie and Sister Judy got here. We were also able to get our refrigerator out and going along with some of our mattresses.

We are very thankful to Brother Stanley and Sister Karen for selling us their pick up. Before, we were sending the Church truck to Punta Gorda to get people coming to meeting here in Politilly. Now we are able to pick people up from Milton also, since the two trucks head in opposite directions to get people. Our attendance has increased. Doug was overjoyed to see the crowd of people waiting to ride in our truck for the first time from Milton. He wasn’t sure they would all fit in it, including the truck bed! There have been times that two trips were made to get all the people that want to come to services.

Going to Milton to pick people up has not been without problems, however. Milton is home to a small congregation of a very controlling religious group that frowns upon any one but them carrying the gospel to the people. The pastor of this congregation has gone from house to house warning the people about the “false prophet” church and is doing her best to keep them from coming to meeting with us.

We were told that there are plans to “break up” the new truck because it is carrying the people from Milton. Some have been intimidated into not coming any more. We need the Lord’s protection and also we desire to see the strong hold there to lose its power.

We attended a funeral for Brother. Dennis’s brother Barington at Flowers Bay. The homemade casket was much smaller than we see in the States. I heard that the body didn’t fit in it too well because the casket was so small. It was roughly constructed and painted with flat gray porch floor paint. A daughter was especially emotional, and fainted during the graveside service. Pallbearers lifted the casket into the back of my pickup, and we had a walking procession to the graveyard with the ministers leading the way.

Four men lowered the casket by ropes into the open hole with no vault. Family members picked up hands full of dirt to throw on top of the lowered casket. The sobbing intensified as the noise of dirt hitting the casket top became louder, being thrown shovel full at a time.

Brother Keith Fuller, one of the founders of the English school at Politilly, three of his children, Brother David Hargrave, and the son of Brother Vince Haley all visited us. The visitors experienced mission life with frequent water outages, going to town for bottled water, and a plumbing problem that hindered use of the upstairs shower and sinks. They have enjoyed themselves in spite of it all.

We held and open air meeting in Milton, the village just east of us. We were frantically wiring an extension cord with light sockets and building a speaker’s stand the afternoon before the meeting was start. Milton is a village in spiritual bondage, like many others here. Drinking, gambling, fighting, fornication, and adultery are commonplace. Recently we were visiting a troubled home with a marriage about to come apart. While there, we heard a loud argument just outside between a nephew and aunt. Death threats (by machete) were issued. Unfortunately television is making its inroads into Milton too, adding to the vice that people see and imitate.

We are happy to report that the Lord answered prayer and we were given residency here! Other foreigners have waited years and paid thousands of dollars. It took two trips to the capital city Tegulcigalpa and more trips than we can count to the local school officials and the governor of the Bay Islands. The ministry of education of Honduras provided the lawyer and our only fees amounted to less than $17.

The next big hurdle is to get our shipment cleared by customs without having to pay thousands of dollars in import duties.

We now have a second location for our English program in the nearby fishing village of Oak Ridge. We have a class room converted into an ACE learning center in the government school. The school officials are excited about the program now that there is a nation-wide push to teach children English. A TV crew came and interviewed Sister Judy and Sister Bonnie at the new classroom. Unlike most government class rooms, this one is well lit with freshly painted walls. People are very impressed with it.

One evening I went with Brother Dennis and four other men fishing in Brother Dennis’s dory. They finger fish, using small hooks and feeling the fish bites by running the line through their fingers. The hook is sunk to the bottom using creative weights – nails, nuts, or whatever else they may have handy.

After dark we moved outside the reef. Inside the reef the water is fairly shallow and the waves are more moderate. Outside the reef the water can be a thousand feet deep and have large swells. I later found out that was his first time to take his dory outside the reef at night. Outside the reef is also where the large sharks swim. I became bored with fishing and laid on the bow of the dory, looking up at the stars. The sea was calm and the view of stars was spectacular. I saw what I believe was a satellite moving at very high altitude and very high speed. We had a hard time getting back inside the reef since the tide was low and we kept running onto the “rocks”.

Linn, an unmarried mother of eight children who lives nearby, is giving up some of her younger children to an orphanage so she can get a job to support herself. It has been very hard on her and the family splitting apart. She is constantly in desperate poverty. We have tried to encourage her to give her heart to the Lord and that He would provide for her. Recently, she has made steps in that direction and we hope she makes a real change.

School has started here in Politilly again. There were different students and parents disappointed because there was not enough room for them. We have a challenging schedule this year because of the new school. The one in Oak Ridge is only operating three days a week because of a lack of help. When Sister Judy and Sister Bonnie are in Oak Ridge, that leaves Lenita here at the Politilly school with the help of two young ladies. They both are thrilled at the chance to work in the school, but neither knows the written English well enough to teach. Is God calling anyone out there?

We appreciate your prayers and support.
Douglas and Lenita Wall