Letters
We recently started saving letters, notes, referrals and thank you cards. We thought you might find these interesting so we have decided to put a few of them in this format for your viewing pleasure. We have in many cases had to re write some of these to get them into the proper format for this Website. In doing so we have also blacked out any information that would be of a private nature. If you would like to have your message, letter or thank you put into this format please email us with details of one of your mission visits or experiences with Project Honduras.
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Good morning Joe and Dora!
We have exciting news for you both! Homegrown will finally be releasing our Gone Fishin’ album on October 2nd with a big concert in Carrollton. This concert will be the first public event held in the new Carrollton High School Center for the Performing Arts (which seats 955 people) and we are expecting a big turnout. We have been searching for sponsors and have already gotten a good amount of money to begin planning the concert.
The theme for the concert is of course, Gone Fishin’, with a focus on missions and ministries. In honor of the life changing experience we had in Honduras, we have decided to donate a percentage of our proceeds from the concert to Project Honduras. We are really excited about being able to help you guys out, even if it is on a small scale. We know that God is doing great things through you both and we want to help you expand your ministry in Roatan.
What we would like, if you have the capability, is for you to make a short video clip to tell the people at our concert a little bit about Project Honduras and to thank them for their attendance and support of Project Honduras. Please let me know if there is any way we can make that happen. I am going to shorten the video that I have already made and place your clip at the end to play during our intermission/offering time.
We are praying for you both daily and know that God is using you in a mighty way. I hope to hear from you as soon as possible so that we can begin creating flyer’s, posters, etc. for the concert. Of course, if you are planning to come to the states anytime soon, we would love for you both to come visit us! Have a great week. I love you both!
-Ashley-
Ashley M. Knight
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E Mail Dated Monday Aug, 2 2010
From: Heidi Nicole Lilley
To: Joe and Dora Summers
It is Heidi from the mission trip with Homegrown earlier this month! I hope you two are doing well and things are going good on the island. I am emailing because I feel like I need to share with you how much my trip has really changed and inspired me!
While I was down there I don’t think it truly hit me how much the trip was going to affect my life. I have only recently got back into the church scene and began this amazing journey of faith I have started in the past 7 months. I started dating around seven months ago and from that point on my boyfriend and Homegrown turned my life around. When I heard about the mission trip I knew that this would further my relationship with God and now the bond I have is the most amazing thing ever! I owe a lot of this to you two! Although the plane trips home is when it all really hit me, it is something I still am not able to get out of my mind. Every day I think about those kids, families, Ms. Onyx, and all the churches. And that is another reason for my email. I feel as if I am being pulled back to Roatan. I think about Tiffany and Amy at Ebenezer so much! I don’t know if this is something that I could talk to you about and go through Project Honduras or if maybe you can give me some information but I was wondering if there would be a chance for me to maybe come to the island for a month or so and mentor some of the kids…really aiming towards the young teen girls but I will do anything like that and help them stay strong in their faith. I am also a Biology Major so I was going to try and get with the wildlife program down there and see if I may be able to get some work down there towards hours for school. This is something that I have been thinking about ever since we got back. Those kids touched and ministered to me in more ways than I ever imagined. I just want to help and I would like to help with a lot of the kids I met while I was down there and also meet new! God has really been laying this idea on me and I know that if you cannot help me you will get me in touch with the people I need to get in touch with.
I will never be able to thank both of you enough for my experience down there. It was by far the best week of my life! Whenever you get the chance if you could just email me back and let me know what you think and maybe we can start thinking about some things.
Sincerely,
Heidi Lilley
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H.I.M. Hearts in Motion
August 13, 2010
Dear Joe and Dora,
I was so glad to hear that our two organizations worked so well together last week. From the pictures I’ve seen and the stories I’ve heard it seems that the trip was a great success. Debbi spoke highly of the two of you, your organization, the people of Bethesda Methodist Church and the Methodist Bilingual School. Debbi and I thank you for the opportunity to blend our two groups together to help those in Flowers Bay and Coxen Hole. May God bless the two of you and your work with Project Honduras in Roatan.
In Him,
Karen Scheeringa-Parra
Executive Director
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PASTOR PAUL’S PONDERINGS
Report from Roatan
Most of you know that on Feb 5 I flew to the island of Roatan, Honduras for a week. Roatan is directly across the bay from the city of La Ceiba, where a dozen of our church members went on a mission trip in 2009. On a clear day, the mountains over Ceiba can be seen from Roatan.
That team served Zion Church, a congregation of the Methodist Church of the Caribbean and the Americas (MCCA). Zion is one of the largest churches of the circuit overseen by a superintendent who lives on Roatan – the Rev. Juan Simpson, from Panama
There are 10 Methodist Churches on Roatan, in varying states of repair. There is also a bilingual Methodist School, which is one of the best schools on the island. Every church has needs.
Several years ago, a United Methodist lay pastor from Oklahoma heard the Lord calling him to a missionary ministry on Roatan. Joe & Dora Summers packed up and moved there. Project Honduras was born.
Joe has become an expert in working with short term mission teams and he has extensive experience. That developed into a partnership with the MCCA churches on Roatan. Joe is now in charge of all the mission teams.
Joe was host and “tour guide” for our one week. I had met him on the prior trip to La Ceiba, and Joe impressed me. I have corresponded with him since, anticipating a partnership. Joe is a great guy and one who knows how to get things done.
A Little background: centuries ago, Roatan was a British colony with the capital of Port Royal. That will ring a bell with those who have seen the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. A true to form Pirate ship (the Black Pearl) was built and sails on Roatan today.
Roatan has always had lawlessness to it underneath the veneer of a tropical paradise. The island teems with alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, disease, crime, and illiteracy although most of that is hidden from the tourists who come in droves and drive the economy.
Prosperity is illusive, as thousands have no jobs. The wealth generated by tourism flows primarily to the international corporations and the wealthy elite.
The island has its own immigration problem as many Hondurans come from the mainland in search of work. This creates social conflict and pushes up unemployment, and poverty. And there are many, many children.
Joe says, On Roatan, a recent report stated that there are 26,000 school age students but currently only enough space in public and private schools for 8,000…Approximately 18,000 school age children here on the island have no means for education. In addition we have the obvious: children with daily unsupervised time looking to the streets for entertainment, socialization and money. The streets are hard and the outcome is almost always bad.”
On the front line of the battle for children is the Methodist Bilingual Education Center. The school is in need of Mission Team support for construction, school books and supplies, scholarships for students, medical supplies, windows, lights, recreation area, cafeteria, computers, fans, books for the library and the list goes on. There is a room set up for dental teams.
The cross of Christ stands tall atop the Methodist Churches of Roatan, where God’s people labor to reach and teach with the Good News of Jesus.
They offer youth programs. I met a retired music teacher who directs a youth choir from some of the churches. They have performed at the Cruise Ship Docks and resorts, and are now sought after for concerts.
I noticed the joy on the face of one girl as she sang, and asked Joe about her. Wanessa is a pretty 24 year old and travels the farthest to come to choir practice. She loves to sing, and comes a long distance in any weather.
Amazingly, Wanessa has no children. She struggles to get educated and hopes to find a job. I visited with her, and learned her greatest joy is writing sings to Jesus and singing to him. That is the one thing she has that gives her hope in the face of grinding poverty and despair. That choir is a connection to her only source of joy.
The choir kids also hear a lesson from “Pastor Joe” on God’s Toolbox. Joe is a good teacher, weekly giving the kids practical counsel on how to use the word of God to fix life’s problems. The kids listen
The choir rehearses in a building put up by mission teams next to Flowers Bay Methodist Church, 150 years old and unbowed to hurricanes. Buses bring cruise ship tourists over the rutted roads to the church. Which sits on beautiful, breezy Flowers Bay.
Women greet the tourists with hymns and tell the story of their church. Tourist donations have helped keep up the building. The church was full on Sunday.
Outside, a young boy from the church collects sea shells and sells them to the tourists. His family has decided his days are much better spent doing this than going to school, but he comes to the church activities.
Without mission teams, the new building would not be there. There would be no choir, no Bible study, and no youth program in Flowers Bay. The bar just down the road would be the center of activity.
West End is different, a tourist enclave sheltered from the economic blight outside. There sits a Methodist church as a strategic point on the road and on the beach. The building is empty, shattered by the 2009 earthquake.
That Church has a unique opportunity to reach people for Christ. The plans are to demolish the old building, build a seawall, pour a new foundation, and build a two story building. The upstairs will be for open air concerts and gatherings. People gather where there is music, and it’s in a tourist area.
The idea is that this old church can become a new type of Methodist outreach on Roatan, offering the unchanging truths of the Gospel in new formats relevant to the West End crowd that blends rich and poor, black and white.
Written by Rev Paul Blanchard, of the United Methodist Church, Central City Nebraska
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To the Treasurer and Board:
I just wanted to thank you also for Joe Summer’s ministry in Honduras. After meeting him and working with him, I described him to our short term team as a modern day apostle. What was unusual about Joe was the unique mix of spiritual maturity, encouragement and apostleship, combined with a serious and sober attention to administrative detail.
We came away saying, “This is a man I can respect and trust.” Thank you for sharing him with us.
Enclosed are checks from a love offering taken by our team upon our return. They are designated for any use that is associated with Joe’s street kid’s ministry, specifically the kid’s choir. I also included a small book that I believe he would enjoy, “Agape Leadership”.
Thanks again for your ministry of love, encouragement, and social justice.
You’re Servant for Jesus’ Sake
Lenny Bernotas
Pastor Lenny Bernotas
