📣 Tidings 📣

 

Merry Christmas! I know it isn’t just me – 2025 has just zipped by as all of us have filled every moment with lots of activities and memories. We expect that each of you are looking forward to a full calendar of upcoming Christmas events and opportunities to create more memories before the year ends. Enjoy it all!

We are sending TIDINGS. There have been so many times we have received news from Roatan this fall, and we want to share the news with you. We also want to catch you up on our plans to return in January, and what we hope to see and do while we are there. 

To begin – fanfare - we want to congratulate Keliani on her graduation from grade 12. (picture above). We met Keliani in Kids’ Church when she was 6 years old. She is the oldest of six and takes on many responsibilities in her home. Completing grade 12 is such an accomplishment and we are so proud of her! Having that diploma in hand should make such a difference in her opportunities.

The other students we sponsor have been sending pictures including photos of their final report cards. Both Grace and Hannah Midence were awarded with medals for top marks in their grade. We are pleased with the success of all of our students and look forward to continuing to support them. Can you tell we are proud of these kids?

Grace and Hannah

As usual, September through November are challenging months for the people we care for. It is really hard for us when we get a message that says “we have no food.”  We usually have been able to provide for people with these requests. The challenge is to help but not become the default option. I understand there is no work in these months. We have always encouraged people to plan for this time, but any resources that were saved are gone. When it is rainy the mud is slippery. Twice in the same week I heard from two women who had fallen going down the cement steps. In Honduras there is no medical support, so the families had to scramble to find resources to pay for pain medication and in one case, to pay for the x-ray to determine treatment.

We have had lots of conversations with Directora Leticia now director at the Adventist school in Jonesville, a small community 30 minutes from where we stay. In the one year she has been at the school, she has made such a difference, and the local community and church have noticed. Enrollment has increased. The windows in the classrooms have been changed and AC units added. When we asked what she needed help with, she mentioned that she had spent what she had available and was in the middle of a project – The Washroom Project.

When she started the school year there was one small building on the side of the school building for a washroom. Boys and girls used the same facility. Leticia quickly decided that arrangement was a problem waiting to happen, so she has had the girls move to the teachers’ single stall washroom and the boys continued to use the former washroom. A new girls’ washroom was begun with blocks, floor and fixtures added as finances were available. She tells me that she is still in need of doors, windows, blinds, paint and various other items. She would also like to update and make repairs in the boys’ washroom. We hope to help her finish this project before the new school year begins. Just imagine the excitement that first day! 

What are you looking at? You can see the new washroom building - block walls, cement floor and ceiling. The washroom is pretty basic with two stalls and a pedastal sink just inside the door - that isn't there yet.

On the weekend, we attended our granddaughter’s Christmas musical. It was called Camel Lot – Don’t Miss the Manger. It imaginatively featured a harried camel seller’s camel lot in Bethlehem and his encounters with shepherds and wisemen who encouraged him “don’t miss a visit to the manger.” It got me to thinking. The shepherds didn’t have far to travel – they were “in the same region”. Some of us are close to Jesus and believe and follow faithfully so we shouldn’t miss the opportunity to come to the manger this year.  Some of us are far from Jesus at this time and, like the Wise Men, will need to travel from afar to come to Him. That’s ok too. Just get moving. Come – come to the manger and worship Him. Come and adore Him. And after you come to the manger, go - go and tell who you have met in the manger. Come. Adore. Go. That’s the Good Tidings of the season. Don’t miss the manger this year because you are busy in your Camel Lot.

Our Tidings here? Another harvest season has wrapped up for Larry and team. The yield was very good – praising God for that! The fields are rolled up for the winter. I have lots of opportunities to spend with our family. That’s my delight. One day a week I volunteer for Loads of Love, our sending mission. You can check them out at loadsoflove.ca   I sort “stuff” in the sorting room.  We plan to return to Roatan in January and stay for the winter. (Tough gig, right?) We will check in on families several times, the church – several times, and hopefully I will have an opportunity to spend time with kids in the local school. I have attached our 2026 opportunities list and ask that you prayerfully consider if you hear God calling you to join us in how we serve.

What are your Tidings? Are you anticipating a full house this Christmas? Quiet time? What are your hopes for the new year?  Call, drop in, or send a note. We enjoy hearing from you.

We wish you all the joy and hope this season brings.

Much love, Merry Christmas!      ~ Larry and Susan