This is a letter from Katrina to Ed from April 2004. Ed said that it would provide some perspective into the happenings of the world he lives in now. Enjoy!
Dear Bro. Ed.
Thanks for emailing us. I enjoyed reading the report you sent. I do not know if I can answer all your questions, but I can share with you some of what I believe to know. First of all I first came to La Moskitia in 1989 with a team from Fla. I was in a program called Teen-Challenge a discipleship training program for people with life controlling problems. Mine happened to be drugs. Praise the Lord that I was set free when I was in Teen-Challenge. I felt the Lord calling me to the mission field and La Moskitia was my first trip. The need was overwhelming and I committed to coming back in 1990 to help a missionary family with their five daughters that’s when I met Paul and he happened to be the first person to take me down the river to meet the Miskitos. I always knew in my heart that those were the people I would end up serving. In 1993 I was in a airplane crash that left me hospitalized in La Ceiba for eight weeks, and later I was sent back to the states. That is when I met Roger and we became married. After we had our second son and he was five months old we packed our belongings and moved to La Moskitia, Belen and ran a clinic for two and a half years, we decided it would be good for me to get my nursing degree and that is why we moved to Puerto Lempira where we have been ever since. We feel like God has led us to work with the children. The hospital here is very limited in what it can do. Many children need to be sent to the capital were they can be helped. I tell people we send children out for life saving and also life changing surgeries. We have a lot of children who are overcoming different disabilities, and that is what gave Dr. Bryan the burden to open the House of Hope for them. We would like to provide a Christian education for these children during the school year, improving their chances of becoming productive citizens later. They would go home to their Miskito families during holidays and summer vacations. I have asked myself a thousand times how can we possibly make a difference in this culture? We have been here so long and it never fails to amaze me how creative people can be to cheat, lie, and steal. Disappointment and bitterness towards the people themselves is a missionary’s worse enemy. Many go home disillusioned to say the least. Even the active church going Christians do not bear the fruit that one would think after so many years of hearing the gospel. Fornication is a big problem in the church, lying, and stealing, borrowing money or supplies with no intentions of paying them back, and the pastors have been our biggest problem. I have been here so long that I do not know is it not the same in the churches of America? I mean it seems that there will always be the elect. Those who do not compromise, and we do have those to. Precious saints who are the salt here. We once asked the question you asked to one pastor from ahuas. “ How do you feel would be the best way we could help you and your people?” His reply “Send us things”. Now that was very discouraging for us at the time because we did not have the resources at the time to send things, and if all we were good for was to send things why come? I realize that was just one mans opinion. With all the aid I have seen come into this country things certainly never has solved the problem. Yet I do understand the concept of how do you teach a man that is hungry the love of God unless you feed him first? I am in agreement with Gospel for Asia as a matter of fact we support a pastor and his family because we were so touched with the book we read. I do not think we should pull all American missionaries out either, but I think there are a lot of people here unnecessarily. What is the fruit of what we are doing?
Kaukira does have saved spirit filled believers, there are Sunday school classes as well as church services I think that Pauls ministry was to show people the love of God by putting in drinking wells for them, not by teaching them Sunday School if I remember correctly his Spanish language skills were not that great ten years ago so he taught them by the work he did for them. Some come with great language skills, and that’s all they do is teach, and let others wait the tables so to say. My approach is the children because that’s the gift I have is with children. Once I was offered the opportunity to start a Teen Challenge here, but I had to recognize although the need for that as you already know is overwhelming that is not my call. So here I am with children. God led me to the handicapped ones because they are so despised in this culture, its been known to let the feeble child die so as to not take resources from the others. We also feed malnourished babies thus the need for the formula which is like white gold to us. Our latest child a little boy one years old and a whopping six pounds he came all the way from Nicaragua . He has been here three weeks and has gained three pounds. We feed them until they are healthy, and then send them home and try to send milk weekly that is not always possible though. There are a lot of babies who just like baby Christians will die if they don’t get pure milk the first year. Orphan babies, twins, babies of woman whose milk source is dried up due to so many children, they are given coconut water, or water and flour to fill their bellies because the milk is to expensive. Feeding these children and watching them thrive is my joy here. It never fails to amaze me that God can use me in such a significant way here, because lets face it if I was in the states I would probably be a waitress or something. So what is my biggest hope in what we are doing here? I guess that the children will learn Gods love and his purpose for their lives. That they will learn the benefit of obeying his laws, and learn to hear his voice in their lives. That the spiritual curses that are so prevalent in their culture can be broken off of them and their children. It is true that the trafficking of drugs is a very serious problem here. Many people say that in just the past ten years the difference is incredible. I can only guess it will probably only get worse. Aids is another big problem here. As far as I am concerned this is a missionary’s Disney land there is something for everybody. The need is great and the workers few. Not to mention that the cost here is double your cost then any place else in Honduras . So why would any one want to come and sacrifice more, and have to pay double to do it? I guess it would have to be God sending them. So any way back to your question on how much do we need of the supplies. We have five infants right now living with us that number can change daily. They always need cloth diapers, pins, bottles, and infant formula. I have about ten children that I am giving baby formula to because of malnourishment that do not live with us that number also varies, but sometimes I have to stop feeding one that still needs it to give it to one who needs it more. Six of the children living with us are in school, and need school supplies. I hope to have seven in school next year. The other children are in ages in between. I also know of other people who do not live with us but because of a handicap or sickness cannot care for their children properly so if extra donations were given I could pass them on. I hope this answers your question as to how much. How to ship it? It is very costly and that is why we wait until groups come in, and they bring it in their luggage. Otherwise if it is worth the while Jackson Shipping from Tampa ships it to Roatan and then we have to put it either on a boat or have a friend pick it up and put it on a plane which is more shipping cost plus you port fees and taxes so by the time we get it here it is almost cheaper to buy it ourselves. Thank you for asking. Please E-mail me again as I am confused if you were the one taking the film of me and Paul who wrote the report and who is it that will be living in Kaukira for the missionaries training camp? I hope we can be of some help to you in the future, in the past we have run into some very territorial missionaries, but we want you to know we are not that way, and we would like to be able to help in any way possible as we look at it there are more then enough unsaved people to go around. God Bless you in all your works. To God be the Glory. Because of Christ.
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