Mercy International, Inc. P.O. Box 9794, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72703                                      

seminars for three years.  These seminars were well attended early on, but much of that attendance was by people who were looking for something, a house, a gift, a job, or a scholarship.  But even after three years we still have more than 20 leaders from 12 villages regularly attending.

     I didn’t want to send pastors to the mountain villages, I wanted to train native pastors from within each village, to pastor their own people.  But monthly seminars are not enough to do the job.  We have to send men prepared to train the next generation.

     I knew it was time to move.  It was not difficult to find the men.  I had been praying about Ramon and Antonio, his assistant in Buenos Aires, for more than a year.  But finances have been tight, and I was uncertain about hiring pastors to do the work.  But I knew it was right, so as a step of faith we hired Ramon and Antonio to help Pastor Jorge train and lead the fledgling churches of the Opalaca Mountain villages.

     In January we received the approval by the mayor of Monte Verde to build our first church in Agua Caliente.  Seven teams throughout the year labored until finally we saw the church raised and roofed.  But there was no place for a pastor to live.  This is the task at hand.

     In October a Vineyard Church from Indiana came to help begin work on the        new “prophet’s quarters.” Ramon has been anxious to get the work done since he will be the first to live in the new room.  But hard work lies ahead before he sees it finished.  The first team was only  able to get the foundation laid. Undaunted, Ramon has already purchased a bed, his first piece of furniture.

     Before the new addition will even be finished, we will begin our next project in February, the church in La Ceibita.  Meanwhile Antonio is pastoring four villages near Monte Verde, living in a rented house, with no running water or electricity, until we are able to transform the staging center into a church and parsonage in 2009. 

     This weekend Antonio will baptize 23 new believers from local villages.  In all, we will have seen more than 50 believers baptized into the Church in the past three years.

Vineyard team members white--wash the church as others lay the foundation for the prophet’s quarters.

By Henry Lowman

  Ramon squatted over the stone.  No, it wasn’t a stone, it was a small bolder.  I couldn’t budge it, but he was determined.  He lifted it with a grunt, and set it into place.  The stone becoming an integral part of the new church’s foundation.

     Ramon joins us as pastor for four villages in the Opalaca Mountains.  Along with Antonio, both hired in August, they will pastor four villages each and assist Pastor Jorge, our Missionary to the Lenca Indians.

     These three men represent a bold spiritual advance into the Lenca villages where we have planted and watered for over ten years.  The seed has sprouted and is beginning to bear fruit.

     So much fruit, in fact, that the new believers in the region are clamoring for a pastor.  Believers in La Ceibita started building a church even without approval (not that they needed OUR approval, but the paperwork on the site wasn’t in order) so we couldn’t help until it was.

     I first met Ramon five years ago as the young,

Pastor Ramon lifting a stone to set in place for the church in Agua Caliente.  He will train native pastors and assist Pastor Jorge.

OPALACA’S

new pastor of the church in Buenos Aires.  Those who have been to Honduras in the past know the church, the only church in the poorest barrio of Yamaranguila.  Ramon came fresh from Bible school.  On our first meeting I offered financial support, but he declined saying, “I want to trust God for everything I need.” He stole my heart.

     Though he later lamented that decision, he remained true and trusted God every step of the way.

     Ramon persevered through to success and only left Buenos Aries to take a post as pastor in the more remote Mosquitia region of eastern Honduras

     I had known for a year now that it was time to move forward the churches in Opalaca.  We have been holding leadership