 Tonight the focus of our evening is going to be on the one Wesley school and I'll say another word about that in just a moment. And a last just a preliminary word is just a reminder again that for this mission trip we have the opportunity to give an offering. And in a few moments I will drop the advanced number and the mailing address once again for the advance in the chat. So if you've been prayerfully considering an offering and need that information will will provide that for you again. So that maybe you and your church can give an offering to the mission and Honduras while as a part of your virtual mission trip. All right, so as I said tonight, the focus is the one Wesley school, but before we dive into that topic. We have with us a special guest Bishop Michael McKee. I think I shared on the first night that beginning in 2019 Bishop McKee became officially the Episcopal leader for the mission and Honduras. He and I have traveled to Honduras several times. And then the Bishop will he'll say more of course on his own, but I know enjoys that role and that connection with the mission and the people in Honduras so he wanted to jump on one of our guests and bring greetings so Bishop. So thank you all for for being on the call over the last several nights and thank you for your interest in in the mission and Honduras that you have. Of course I know that many of you have traveled with Andy and me to Honduras on on an occasion or two, and we're deeply committed to this work, and I want to thank you for your interest in it as well. So what's interesting is is that I think the laity and the clergy of the Honduras mission are very interesting deeply committed people and doing significant ministry and some and some challenging circumstances. We've enjoyed the friendships that we've made. And of course we want to encourage many others to form those kinds of friendships to it's not. There are things about many things about ministry and the work of Christ that that are done in Honduras that frankly I think we can all learn from and I think that's the value of mission is the sharing of assets the sharing of things that things that we know. And so one of the saddest things is in the last year is that I have been able to be in Honduras because of the pandemic and other things that nature I hope to go soon, but I think we're still sometime off. But anyway, we're going to have a meeting in the Honduras mission the clergy pastors clergy, and I think lately I'm unsure on a Saturdays in May and we're arranging for that so that we can announce the appointments and things that things of that nature and take care of some business. So those of you who are from Honduras and on the call I just wanted to let you know of that. So thank you blessings on all of you for sharing and this work that we do with our friends in Honduras. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you, Bishop. So, I believe that looking at the call pastor generally. Do you have our opening opening devotional or opening prayer tonight. Hey. Yes. See Kevin. Bendition is a total. Vamos a little a Palabras de Dios in this time. Most of the. Contra. In the Libro de Salmos. Capitulo. Versus. Versus. One of those. More than. Bendice. Can go. Bendiga. No. Bendice. And don't be this. Her. Beneficio. Palabras. Amado Dios, una vez más nos acercamos ante ti, corazones agradecidos, sinceros, humillados y llenos de gratitud. Gracias por este tiempo en el cual compartimos los unos con nosotros. Tiempo de reflexión, tiempo de pensar en nuestra visión, tiempo para hacer establecer tu reino aquí en la tierra. Una vez más, Señor, te pedimos tu dirección durante este tiempo y todo lo que vamos a hacer, todo lo que está en nuestros planes sea conforme tu voluntad. Te pedimos tu bendición en este tiempo y que nos dirijas en nuestros pensamientos. Bendice a Dios a cada uno de los que estamos reunidos. Gracias por que hasta este momento podemos decir, MNC, MNC, hasta aquí nos ha ayudado el Señor a mí. Thank you, Pastor Jemilan. So, the One Wesley School, we're going to see a few videos. One, an overview, we'll hear a witness or testimony from a student and also from a parent. As we watch the videos, be jotting down questions, put those in the chat. We have with us tonight Cheryl McMorris, who is part of the staff team at Church of the Resurrection and she is closely connected to the One Wesley School and coordinates the student sponsorship program, among other things. And so she will be with us to respond to those questions about the school. Before we see the videos, I just want to share two quick things about the One Wesley School. The first is that on one of my first visits to Honduras, the team I was with made the one hour or so, maybe a little over an hour, drive from the capital city in Tegucigalpa to Ciudad, España, where the school exists. And we had a tour and we met with the administration. But the real joy of that visit was seeing the children. On that day, there was some kind of a fiesta and a huge number of the elementary and middle school age children were gathered all together with their teachers under a paved and covered pavilion, with a wonderful recreational space. And most of the teachers were wearing colorful, silly hats. Many of the children had fun costumes on. They were playing games and laughing and just having a wonderful time. And you could just see the sense of community and joy that had been developed there in the school. And that experience alone left me with a really wonderful feeling about the ministry that happens in that place. The second point of contact that I've had with the school is that my family has sponsored a middle school student for the last two years. And you'll hear more about this. But the student we sponsored is one year older in school than my daughter. And they're both in middle school. And so a part of the program is that they trade letters. And so they write back and forth and talk about their interests, the foods they love to eat, the books they're reading, the ways they spend their free time, the things they love about school, and maybe the things that drive them crazy about school. And they've been pen pals in that really, really wonderful old sense of that over the last couple of years. And again, I know that's been deeply meaningful to me, but even more so to my daughter as she's gotten to see another country and just a school experience through the eyes of a peer hundreds and hundreds of miles away across borders. And so I've been so grateful for that experience, for her and the opportunity we've had to come alongside one of the students there at the One Wesley School. So I mean, I definitely come as an advocate. And I'm really thrilled for y'all to learn more about the school tonight. So we're going to start with a video recorded by a person named Amanda. And let me share my screen. And this will give you, tell you the story of the school and give you a good feel for it. The United Methodist Church, Christ resuscitated in the community of the Spanish city, Honduras, present. In God, we will pray. He will listen to our enemies, Psalm 62. The United Methodist Church, Christ resuscitated, is located between the communities of white water and Spanish city. The builders of this beautiful building designed this place thinking that here would happen wonderful things. A arrival of a new pastoral family, headed by the pastor Daniel Trujillo, the local church begins to make important changes in the benefit of the community. A medical clinic, a free psychological care consultory, food and milk donation for the most needed people. And many other things. All that accompanied by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The pastor Daniel identifies a great lack of educational attention in children and youth. Well, the only public school is insufficient to attend to all the educators of the community. There is also a small private school, but most of the people are under resources. The pastor gives the task, along with his children and brothers of the church, to make a survey and a socio-economic study of the community. This is how the project is prepared and presented to fund a Christian school, without end of use, after many prayers, breakfast, work, tears, and touching doors. In the company of God, with the support of a great team with people like the pastor Juan Guerrero, the sister Alessandra, and other members of the mission in Honduras, brothers of the local church, and above all, the support of the church of the Resurrection, is founded in the school garden of Juan Huesle, starting his matriculation on January 6, 2014. It is officially inaugurated on January 18 of that same year with a total filling. All of us who were there, we witnessed the beginning of one of the best educational institutions and the first method school in Honduras, taking us to such a level of being on the global map of method schools. It was an unforgettable day. In the first year of school, the pastor notices that the children of the church continue in public school, in their majority. The reason is the lack of economic resources. How sad that many children of the Dominican school wanted to study in the Methodist, as the inhabitants of the school call them. But they could not pay, so the pastor and his wife decide to patronize the first child with the background of the American clinic to Eveline Gerezano Carías, today one of the recording in 2020. The beginning of a new challenge and the pastor Daniel took it, so he prepares the project and begins to knock on doors again, all for the benefit of children and young people with less possibilities of a college education. The Cork brothers say present and create the program of Becas Cork Honduras in 2015, receiving the first official visit of sponsors on January 8, 2016, strengthening even more the schools. In the month of January of each year, the parents who wish for a Beca must donate a request with their personal data and the money. The local pastor makes the interviews and there the real cases are identified and they are approved according to the need and the amount of coups available. In 2017, the program was expanded with a Beca Cork, this time for university students. The pastor Daniel identifies the need to support the young people of the church and graduates of the school, because many of them continue their studies in universities, but the costs are only in high-level transport. That's how Cork brothers support this new stage of the program. Each parent and student must sign a university or school agreement in which the rules and criteria are established to maintain the Beca. This agreement has a year's absence, according to its record, it will be able to continue in the program the following year. With the support of the teacher and the pastor, the coordinator supervises and carries a control on the academic performance of each student. Also, they are given a training in their spiritual formation through the assistance of parents and students to the cult of the church, thus fulfilling the main objective of all this work, which is to take the word of God to each person. The program completely has a very important function for the local church, because both parents and students lend a service as volunteers in different areas and activities of the church. Each activity is organized and socialized with parents and students. All of this with a work plan led by the pastor and supervised by the coordinator. They form a work team and establish dates for each activity, including merit elaboration for the children of the Dominican School, cleaning, restoration, support for construction work in the church, food elaboration to sell or buy products that the church offers. Also, the children have a very nice way of communication with their parents through letters and the visit of sponsors in motion. It is very emotional and pleasant to see their faces of joy when they meet their parents. We have the translator's company to improve the relationship and enjoy the lunches and shared times better. All of this with the help of CORE and volunteer of the program. The students of the school receive each year a basic utility package and a daily use uniform. They also have the support of the teacher to improve their academic performance, although it is not by excellence that the students stay in the program. But even so, many of them are one of the best students of the institution, remaining year after year in the framework of honor. Through the program, many parents, mothers and young people are servants of the church, because they have experienced the grace of God in their lives and they find in serving a way of thanking God for his goodness. God has reached entire families through this beautiful program and their lives have changed, because he has also changed his way of thinking and knowing from his own experience that the one who believes everything is possible for him. We are harvesting fruits. Last year, the first university was graduated, the province of Aragoná. This year another master is graduated, Fernández Lucada, and the next one will be Cindy Vanessa Montoya. So the program is yielding fruit and the three young people prepare for the educational area. And there are many more with that goal, both middle education and university. The vision is that these young people can serve their community, the church, the school, with knowledge, and the grace of God in their lives, from their own lived experience. There is much more to do, because the community grows. The situation of unemployment in our country has caused the greatest school desertion in the history of Honduras. That will repercute in the future employment opportunities and will affect the economy more. It is essential to keep us under the grace of God, because there is faith, hope and love in Him. This is important for us. Thank God first, to the Church of Resurrection, to the sponsors for all their love and support to the Church, to the school and to the program of scholarship, schools and universities. Thank you very much to the men and women who, from the foundation of the school to today, continue to work with God. In the name of Jesus Christ, be blessed in their lives. Very good. And let's hear, again, be noting any questions you might have. I'm gonna pull up the video of a student. All right, so this is a student named Luis, I believe. I was 17 when I was a student. I waited three months for the admission exam of the university and I started the classes in February of 2017. In the semester, there is a budget for periods where some costs of matriculation, educational materials and some manuals that we need to be able to continue with the courses of the university. And we also make a budget for what is transport. And this budget, normally it's about 4,400 empires, approximately for a period, to cover these costs. The scholarship is used by means of the three periods. It is divided by each period and that investment is done, it is done so that we can continue to study the university career. From the beginning, having tried the admission exam or the selection of the university, also already being in the program, keeping a minimum of 70% of the classes in general, and attending at least two times the cult of the church, supporting some activities for the benefit of the church and also supporting some medical and work brigades that come and that we must contribute as students. I am very grateful for the support in education. Without a doubt, the support has been very important, not only in the economic part, but it has been a program to be able to boost us, to believe in ourselves, to develop our own talents, our skills and skills. And the program has been of great benefit since we have grown so much in the community, of our families, and also for our education at a university level and higher. Continuing with my academic education, studying a master's degree, that would be my greatest satisfaction and also contribute to the Institute of Engineering because it has been very important in my education, from the college to the university, and together with the CORE program, they have supported me a lot and I think it will be very important for me to return a little to the community, to the children, to leave that mark on what happened in me as well, as an experience and also contribute to my family. I think it would be one of the greatest motivations for my life, for the church, for the institution and for the CAHU program. All right, and then we've got one last video by way of kind of introducing us to the school, and this is from a parent named Alex. I don't know if it's true in our church, but usually at that time, when I attended the church, it was my wife, I didn't attend it, right? But she was working and she asked me if I could do it, come to the church. Why did they take assistance in the CAHU program? Well, my answer at that time was, I won't go. Well, by the way, her answer to me was, she said, well, our son will lose our scholarship, and we will have to buy everything that the scholarship provides. Well, that's how I got there, to come to the church, right? I came with joy, I came with shame, I came with shame, right? But at the door were the women of the church, where they hugged me, they gave me a hand, they passed me by, they gave me a seat, they made me feel welcome. Then, well, in the course of the cult, at that time, I was giving the pastor Daniel Trujillo, right? Well, the word that God had prepared that day was especially for me, because I really fell for everything that was happening in my life, how my life was. I remember that at some point I felt quiet and they gave me the desire to run away, because the word was for me, right, through the pastor Daniel. I was ashamed and embarrassed, and I hid my other brother's trap, right? The brother who was sitting in front of me, to then receive the cult, they called me attention, right? Because I received word, word of consolation, word of love and also of exhortation, right? Of what my life was at that time. Well, let me tell you that I decided to give my life to Christ, right? And, well, until today we already have five years of serving, right? Our Father is a great honor and privilege for me to be able to serve, right? And to be part of the Methodist family, right? And, well, what can I say? Well, blessings have come like wind and popper, we could say it, right? My life changed. God brought peace in my home, He brought blessings for my children, He brought blessings for my family, He brought blessings for our lives, right? And with this, well, I want to tell you that Christian Osorio is my eldest son. He graduated this year with the help of God and with the support that you have also given him, well, he will continue in university from the other year, first of all, God. Well, my daughter also enjoys a scholarship, right? And she, well, is in tenth grade. And so, subsequently, is my little son, right? He is eight years old, that he is also going to third grade with a scholarship, right? That God provided for me through you. And, well, what? Let me tell you that the blessing did not stop there, right? Let me tell you that I was taken into account of the mission, right? In order to survive the vacancy that I needed from Guarte here at school, well, we have one year to be working, really, here at school and we hope, right? To continue working, first of all, God with the help of him, with the support of you, well, this work is my sustenance, really, for my family, right? Thank you, I thank you, really, first of all, God I believe that you are an instrument, really, used by God. Thank you because thanks to you, this school and school is a reality and always a blessing for our life, a quality education for our children, right? And so, too, really, thanks to my pastor Héctor Laínes, my guide, right? A great pastor, a great human being, a very important person, really, in our lives, really, that he also continues with the project, right? He was, at all times, a given man, right? God, and at all times, and, well, to ask him, really, that we pray for my pastor, really, so that it may be God, really, let me tell you that I am eternally grateful and I hope that God blesses the life of each of you. Thank you. Wonderful. So, after hearing kind of an overview, a word from a student, a word from a parent, are there any particular questions? Remember, we have Cheryl McMorris, who's with us on the call, and Callie Williams also, who we heard a couple nights ago, was teaching, if I have that right, at the one with the school, right now. And so, anyway, any questions or comments that you might have? So Jean is asking the cost to sponsor a student for a year. And Cheryl, would you like to talk a little bit about the sponsorship program? Sure. And I am also going to talk a little bit about it later, but I'll get this part talked about now, so then later, when I go on and on about my stories, then I'll have more time for those. So, there's the program is a two tiered program. Many of you may or may not be familiar with the Compassion International Program. It's a sponsor program. It's very large. And then there's various other sponsor programs. So, in order to stay in the market and comparable with their program, we have the classic sponsorship. And that cost is $39.50 a month. So that's $474 a year. And then at one Wesley, that the average cost per student is actually more than that amount. But again, we have that amount so that we can stay competitive with all the other programs that we have available to us. And it covers about 80% of the average cost per student. So we also have a premium sponsorship. And that one is $47.50 a month. And that helps bridge that gap between the two. And it averages out to equal the average amount of one student to go to school. And that's $47.50 a month. And that's $47.50 a month. Because the younger kids pay less than the older kids just for the materials and the teaching and the programs and all of that. So it's all based on averages. And that $47.50 a month, just to give you an eye, annually is $570. So it's a $474 for the classic $570 for the premium sponsorship. And that's a $474.50 a month. And that's a $474.50 a month. And that's a $474.50 a month. And you are one who likes to use checks. And are timid about using digital that happens. That's easily easily done as well. But Cheryl, a couple of questions years. What ages does the school cover and about how many students are there right now. So the ages go from four years old. And then kindergarten, usually ages from five and then you age into six. And it goes all the way up through high school. And then as well, those graduates, those that graduate from high school are also available to continue their sponsorship with the same sponsor. If the sponsor is willing to continue sponsoring through university. So. Yeah. So I guess from preschool through university. And it's the same amount, whether it's university sponsorships are the same. It's just a continuation because what we were finding is that our graduates from the one Wesley school were there was a challenge of meeting the cost to go to the school. It's a state run program. So it's technically free school, but it's a two hour bus ride and or taxi ride. And the cost of that transportation is approximately the cost of the sponsorship. So with our sponsorships, they are able to actually get to the school. Occasionally they have just a little bit left over in their budget amount. But Louise was talking about where it might buy them some books or some copies. They do a lot of copying as well. So they do have some costs that come out of their pockets for for various depending on the program, of course. Do you remember how many students are at the school right now? Well, it has a capacity of about 350. With the COVID the enrollment is down and it's a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of enrollment is down and Cali, do you have that number right offhand? I don't have an exact number, but I believe it's around 200, 250. That sounds about right. That sounds about right. Yeah. So right now, you know, like everybody else, that's really struggling with the effects of the pandemic. affecting Honduras specifically it's also affecting the one Wesley school so we are really hoping to help them out with that and one way that we're trying to bridge that gap is we also offer classroom sponsorships because student sponsorships you commit to writing the student your sponsored student twice a year and but if you believe in the program you think it's fantastic you like to keep plugged in but you really are not much of a letter writer like you don't really want to have that obligation that works perfect for our classroom sponsors and as a classroom sponsor you still get updates on the school and you also get the teachers have committed to write a little little newsletter to about the class so you can sponsor a particular grade and I'll share one of those examples a little bit later I'll share all the questions are coming in they're good ones yeah so Jean asks if the one Wesley school has any contact or like connection to any other Methodist schools in Latin America or are there any other Methodist I mean I guess in Latin America I know there are but are there any other connections to other schools like that I believe that we are the one the only one of its kind in Honduras I don't know if there's talk of any more or we're still kind of trying to iron out the breakeven point with the sponsorships and and all of that so yeah right now we we're it and then did the sponsored students do they have to work or do anything at the school kind of in exchange for their scholarship yeah um that's an excellent question so the sponsored kids do have to sign an agreement them and their parents and there are some requirements to be in the program one of them is to meet minimum grade point average of 70 percent and above that's the all through one Wesley as well as the university students so um you know you don't nobody wants to sponsor a kid who thinks that uh oh that just makes it real easy and I don't have to do anything um it's actually the opposite a lot of those kids work harder because they are getting sponsored um and so they have to meet the minimum minimum um grade point average and then as well they um uh are obligated to serve so the church has various serve opportunities for both the students and the parents um currently you know we are always kind of fluctuating a little bit different you know as we go and develop and trying to solve for challenges but right now um they are required to attend the church I think it's twice a month um it was once a month and so um that's one of those moving parts sometimes and part of that is not just to expose them to um Christ and the living the life of Christ as this is a faith based program but also it's a good time to meet with the sponsored group so that you can kind of give updates and talk to the parents and give them you know guidelines of what they need to do so everybody pitches in and they help with things like um planting trees or flowers or bushes or doing work around um painting a lot of times it's the sponsored kids and their parents who will come and help when the mission teams go uh to that school um the college the university students are tremendous help and they love to do it so it works out perfect but they are always um obliged very willingly and they come and help any of the medical mission teams that are there um as well as um regular mission teams so they are obligated to do that and and write letters to their sponsors twice a year and we pick twice a year it's a nice round number um and easy to commit to and we also had typically will have a mission team that goes down since you all may or may not know that there's not a postal system like here so we can't like mail them all down there so they are taken down physically with mission teams that go down there and as well when the letters come back so I coordinate with Amanda who did that video and so she gets letters from all the kids gathered up and brought back this way and then I send out communication and gather letters from sponsors to be sent down there and then they all get translated that need to so you don't have to worry about translating so how many teachers are at the school and uh someone asked also if the teachers are teaching online uh during the pandemic like so many of our teachers are right now um I'll let Kelly address that one um well I'm Kelly Williams I'm one of two English teachers at one Wesley this year we currently have around 10 teachers um and we are all online so we teach on WhatsApp because most of our students have no access to Zoom they have no access to Google classrooms or anything so they buy a WhatsApp package for around $25 a month or a day it's about $1 and they have access to WhatsApp for the entire day that means they can download pictures videos and things like that so we send our classes through WhatsApp we receive homework through WhatsApp and so when we think of online school in the United States it's a bit different but we are getting the job done that's awesome let's see so uh someone asked about again about sponsors uh do they contract for longer than a year or how Cheryl do you you know kind of keep things going uh if a sponsor can't keep up their sponsorship from year to year how do the kids get supported I'm going to talk a little about that um so the sponsorship is as long as you want it to so if you um sign up to be a sponsor and you have a what used to be EFT now it's monthly payments that are done online yeah um so if you do that then it's ongoing until you send us an email that says I'm going to need to discontinue you don't have to tell me why but you know you may need to discontinue so um if you do it annually um we of course if you possibly can love the monthly because annually we have to then go out and reach out to everybody to see if they want to continue and if they don't then that's fine um whereas monthly if you don't you just say I'm I'm ready to quit and so it's not it's not riskier one way it's not riskier to do it monthly it's just it helps you um as well because a lot of times that you do want to continue and then you forget if you've got a pile of things that need to be done like I do that's the type of thing that ends up in the middle and I kind of forget about it so it's as long as you want to um now if you say if you can't keep up with it um all the time like I'm not sure what you mean whether you want to like do it one year or not a year in the next year that's certainly possible if you decide that you're unable to keep going um then you can just end whenever whenever you want I did that answer the question as you understood it Andy I think so and I think maybe the question was a little more on even a organizational level you know if you have sponsors dropping in and out how are the students able to continue their studies gotcha gotcha okay so um the way that we have it set up now and this is another thing that's kind of developed over time and this is where it's at now which I think works really good um is that we commit we as church of the resurrection so just back up a second I'm actually a volunteer I'm not on the actual staff at church of the resurrection but I'm the volunteer that coordinates the program we like to have most of as all of you guys ministries be in lay led um so I just had a mind blank oh so you're filling it okay so we have um committed to 100 sponsored 100 students so currently I have 95 I have a handful of students that do not have sponsors however resurrection is subsidizing these spots because it's it's like here you can jump in and out of school or maybe change schools and that's really difficult in Honduras to be able to keep your school and not lose the year so um we really kind of need to to set it at the beginning of the school year in February so that a student knows whether they can start so currently we have five openings for that and that I say it's being subsidized um more through classroom sponsorships until they get a personal sponsor so um I have this big old spreadsheet and I've got all the students and their ages and their grades and I've got all the sponsors and I match them up based on either a preference um or if they say they don't care then I match them up with somebody that's available and so then you get um the name of the student and profile of them that just gives kind of a run down of of them and then um those the ones that you get to write every year uh twice a year and we also try uh to do some zoom if we have like for instance a virtual mission trip like this at the end of our virtual mission trip and at the beginning um if there is a sponsor if one of the mission virtual mission trip participants is a sponsor we will offer it for them to be able to zoom with their sponsored student um through the zoom and so they go off into a chat room with the translator if they need one and so they do that um and now if a sponsor drops out that doesn't mean that the student is left high and dry that just means that they don't have anybody to um correspond with um until another sponsor comes along and um and builds a relationship with them great I think it's one last question and then we'll talk about a break and what will come after the break so the question is about you know the kids who are accepted into the school um are are they already Methodist are they of various faith backgrounds or uh maybe speak to that yeah um they are not Methodist necessarily some of them might be some of them might so the Methodist the Wan Wesley school began as a church and that's the only Methodist church in the area so and then they had all of these classrooms available during the week when there was at Sunday school and um that was kind of a beginning of hey let's let's have a school let's use this this classroom and have a faith based school so um so some of the some of the kids at the school um our members of the church many of them are not a lot of them are go to other churches in the area and that's okay and so if they want to be a sponsored student be one of those 100 sponsored students then they need to apply and they are vetted um by Amanda and the pastor there um and so it's based on need we don't want um it's not just um in fact we try not to look at the it's not a scholarship where they're really smart so we're going to sponsor them that's not how it starts um we hope that when they come in they improve their their education is an improvement which what we have heard from the public schools versus the one Wesley school that it is a more rigorous program so um so we don't expect for them to all be um on the honor roll um many of them do like I said because they work harder and if they are not able to progress and to a satisfactory level of the 70 percent then they are released from the program um or yeah due to and they are now trust me when I say they are giving given plenty of chance they're given special opportunities special you know teachers working with them on a special basis they are giving plenty of opportunities to succeed so oftentimes those that are um unable to stay in the program due to grades it is um really their own doing very good thanks thanks Cheryl and thanks for the good questions so let's re-gather and as we come back together again we'll begin with one more culture moment um so Milton Jovarez who we met last night has been pulling together and sharing these cultural moments just to help us get a better feel for Honduras the country um Milton I saw the theme for tonight do you want to offer any kind of initial word or explanation about um about tonight's culture moment before you play? Not really maybe after if there's any questions I may have something um the video it's kind of like very self-explanatory also so um and I'm actually also learning through it um because I took advantage and started like um making research and and also learn about the culture as a local okay well very good well so maybe it just does a very quick word I think um tonight's video at least begins focusing on um on Honduran people who are of African descent and it just underscores something that uh Roberto Peña the mission superintendent said to us on the first night and that is that there are a variety of people groups that make up uh the people of Honduras um they're not a monolith um and and so there's a rich diversity of people that all call the country home and so this will I think give us a glimpse into one of those so I'm going to share my screen. Yes I'm Fahira and today we're going to be talking about the African diaspora in Honduras more specifically the Garifuna people. Let me start by saying that in today's video we'll be talking about a distinct ethnic group called the Garifuna there are Garifuna populations all over Central and North America but for the purposes of this video we'll be focusing in particular on the Garifuna community in Honduras so let's get started the Garifuna community are an ethnic group dispersed across Central America the United States and Canada their total population currently stands at 300,000 the biggest settlement resides in the United States where to a certain degree they are absorbed under the vast and infinitely diverse umbrella term African American the second largest Garifuna population can be found in Honduras with small but significant concentrations in Guatemala Nicaragua and Belize Honduras has a population of 9.3 million of which 100,000 people are Garifuna the Garifuna across the diaspora speak the local languages of the countries in which they live in Guatemala Nicaragua and Honduras they speak Spanish and they speak English in Belize the United States and Canada the correct plural term to the Garifuna people is Garinago the word Garifuna refers to a single person the language and the culture however in spite of this the Garinago are widely referred to as the Garifuna within Honduras only two Afro-Honduran communities are regarded as being distinct ethnic groups those are the Garifuna and the Bay Island Creoles the Bay Island Creole communities speak English and remain separate from their Spanish-speaking compatriots of the Honduran mainland the Garifuna are the largest ethnic minority in the country there are 36 Garifuna communities in Honduras and 10 settlements there are significant Garifuna populations on the island of Roatan the coastal city of Trujillo and in coastal villages which stretch beyond Honduras spanning from Nicaragua to Belize the Garifuna speak their own dialect amongst themselves which is derived from several Bantu languages Arawak Spanish French and English interestingly the Garifuna language features terms that can only be spoken by men and others that can be spoken by women in 1635 two slave ships trafficking West Africans were shipwrecked on the coast of the Caribbean island of St Vincent the island was already inhabited by the Arawak and the red carib indigenous populations who had previously colonized the island the West Africans from the shipwreck integrated with the locals and were referred to as black caribs adopting the carib language but maintaining many of their African customs these mixed people of Arawak carib and West African origin came to be known as the Garifuna the British attempted to claim the island as a colonial possession but the Garifuna revolted led by Chief Joseph Chateau also known as Satuyé he was ultimately killed in battle and became the first Garifuna hero the Garifuna resisted European rule so persistently and for so long that in 1797 the British forcibly deported 5,000 Garifuna to Honduras in Central America where they largely settled on the nearby island of Roatan a smaller number founded villages throughout the Atlantic coastline of Central America as their population expanded a notable figure worthy of mention is Thomas Vincent Ramos who founded Garifuna settlements in Belize and was a fierce activist for Garifuna rights the Garifuna today largely work in fishing and farming tapado and machuca are some of their most distinguished dishes gft is a classic Garifuna alcoholic beverage made from rum roots and mixed herbs music and dance is a big part of the African cultural heritage the best known genre of Garifuna music and dance is punta which is characterized by heavy drumming and gyrating of the hips in 2001 UNESCO declared Garifuna culture in Honduras Belize Guatemala and Nicaragua are masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity in 2006 Garifuna artist Aurelio Martinez became the first black member of the Honduran National Congress however the Garifuna in Honduras still find themselves politically marginalized and increasingly deprived of their land rights with authorities exploiting legal loopholes to make lucrative deals with companies and private individuals seeking to build on Garifuna ancestral land there is also a disproportionately low level of education among the Garifuna with a 2008 report concluding that only 17% of Garifuna finished high school and only 3% enrolled in university every year on the 12th of April the Garifuna on the island of Roatan celebrate the anniversary of the day they first arrived on the island and created their settlement the Garifuna are proud of their African heritage and treasure their traditions which have been passed down the generations so yeah so um well first of all I hope you guys enjoyed the video and learned um a little bit from it and of course um like I've been saying um the nights before there's a whole lot to learn about um the culture in in Honduras that's just like a small percent of what it really is among the whole country um but I think personally I've always um like to learn from the Garifuna culture and there's a lot of um myths I don't know if it's misunderstanding but like we all generalize like if we see a black person then we say it's Garifuna just because it's black but it's not sometimes I mean it could be but sometimes it doesn't so learning all the differences between um the culture and and kind of like um learning about it it's really interesting and and it's it's a really rich culture so and they make a lot of good food so but you can google it and learn more about it wonderful thank you thank you all right so let's turn it back to Cheryl for a few more minutes Cheryl I know you have some other words to share about ways to support the school and I think some some letters maybe to share from some of the students and folks associated with the school I do I have both of those and so um when we get letters from the school to the sponsors um I get to to know what they all say so I think that's really super fun um Callie used to till she moved down to Honduras she was my a number one translator helper she did the lion's share of translating um and then I take what what I get and as we read through those and find bits that like I find funny or interesting I compile them into a newsletter so when I'm then those letters get mailed to the sponsors classroom sponsors as well as the student sponsors they get mailed along with what I call it's a cover letter but it's like a newsletter with a little conglomeration of some quotes from the letters so I am going to read from one of the latest um or the latest one that was in February when we got letters back when Callie got dropped off down there in Honduras her her dad brought back letters for us so here's a few little um quotes from those that I found touching interesting some of them kind of kind of make me verklempt a little bit um so the first one I see on here um majority of the kids when they talked about um COVID and how it's influencing or affecting their lives so many of them really enjoyed the extra time with their family although you know they don't like the the threats and the in the scares them at all but most of them talked about how great it's been to spend more time with their family and I thought that was pretty cool um so Caesar is a 10th grader and he writes very fondly about his family he says my family always supports me and they are there for me because they are my life my brother is a big supporter for me because he teaches me many things and helps me with my homework he is also still studying in order to improve himself and so we can have a good life my dad is very loving with us he and my whole family go to the church and he is the one that supports my studies financially uh my mom is very special because she works and afterwards she comes home to make the cheese and the meals I love her a lot and I thought that was really sweet for a 10th grader to talk so kindly about his parents um so we I had mentioned about the virtual mission trips and talking with the sponsor kids so after that was in November so this letter came in February and Oneus who is in eighth grade now he writes to his sponsor and in it he says I really enjoyed talking with you on zoom it's been a long time since I saw you and it was very special I was very nervous but I loved it um go on to Kendra so Kendra is just a little third grader and so her sister helped her or basically wrote the letter to the sponsor and her sister wrote um Kendra really liked reading your letter and seeing the photos that you sent her and printed and she printed them in order to put them in the family album she likes to see the beautiful pictures of your grandkids and says that they are very pretty so um she was lucky enough to be able to meet that sponsor and so she considers her sponsor part of her family um Hugo is in seventh grade and happens to be Callie's sponsored child Callie would sponsor all 100 of them if she could but so she um has got Hugo at the moment and he says I like it when this is for the letters of course I like it when you tell me in your letters that I am a hero and that you are proud of me I hope not to disappoint you in this new stage of my life or new stage in my studies which is my first year of junior high school so seventh grade which will be harder um so you know you wonder do my letters mean anything to them absolutely there's there's one response about it right there so there is uh Cindy who is um in 12th grade so um yeah she's getting ready to graduate and um her what she said so Cindy has been in and out of school due to she has encephalitis and so sometimes there'll be periods to where she has such a headache and she can't go to school and the you know she's still just to stay home and rest and relax so but she um she's been working really hard and she still does very well in school in spite of missing it and so she writes to her sponsor and says my big dream is to be able to graduate from college to be a doctor regardless of the obstacles I will keep moving forward these days I have been focusing a lot on the suffering people I want to be able to grow up very quickly so that I can help people who need me because I know that I can do everything in Christ who strengthens me it will be an honor to help them someday so um the sponsorship is helping her go to school and she has developed a heart to help others because of her own ailments um one of my favorite quotes is from Helen and um Helen just graduated just this past the end of last year um and she wrote so Helen has always lived with her grandma and her um her dad left and abandoned her and her mom when she was very young and then her mom I don't know exactly what the story is but basically she's lived with her grandma for the majority of her life and so Helen says I am very happy because I could talk to my dad and he asked for my forgiveness for abandoning me and he was my escort at my graduation and my grandma was my other escort and that just really touched my heart because I know that he had left when he was when she was very young um so that was the uh all the quotes I have two small little stories I have one and Kelly's got one so um we have a little girl or had we have her but last year she started school this is um you know when they so they started they went to school through mid-march so February a month and a half and then they said COVID y'all go home so um she uh brandy is her name and she was a little first grader and she didn't know how to read because she was in first grade she hadn't learned yet um unfortunately her mom is illiterate and so her mom is unable to help her with her homework so uh homeschooling requires you may or may not know but it requires quite a bit of guidance from parents many times especially as a first grader trying to read and her mom wasn't able to um help her and so uh she started out actually a little bit behind the other first graders so she never really was able to keep up with them and her mom came to the decision that um you know the money that it takes to get the what's that package although brandy is sponsored to go to the school they still have to come up money to get the what's that package to get their assignments and turn them in and that money um could be better spent elsewhere since it really wasn't helping her because the mom she couldn't help her um so anyway um that went on for a little while and they've decided that she's going to pull her out and so he said look if we're able to we will hold a spot for her for next year so that she can come back um if we can work out for her to get caught up so through some kind of brainstorming-esque um process we came up with one of the sponsored university students her name is Cindy she is getting ready to graduate with an education degree in June I think um May or June and so we said Cindy for your serving time you know how they all have to to serve um for your serving time you and she also lives somewhat close to brandy and you're to use your education degree can you go and tutor brandy over the the Christmas break so it's in between the two school years and get her caught up so that she can start first grade again and she can learn to read well she did it she got caught up and so she was we were able to figure out actually secretary of school was able to there's a system glitch and they the government was saying that she couldn't repeat first grade but anyway it was all worked out and so um but she also kept spots or tutoring her um which worked out good because Cindy because she is a university student was able to use her sponsor money since they're not transportation they use it for the internet so she had some internet rendy could come over her mom committed to bringing her over um she could do her homework and turn it in through Cindy's internet that she got through her sponsored program um so then that also helps the mother with the what's that package and that but um so they did that and she started school and she was doing really good and I just got a note I don't know within the last week maybe that brandy is got a grade point average of 96 percent and she's doing really well in her classes and so um so yeah so that's my story for um that that um reflects what the sponsor program how a sponsor program can help the kids in their education and change their life. Callie has um a little something that she would also like to share with you if you want to do that Callie. Yes I can do mine quickly um Cheryl was talking about how the letters and the sponsorships mean a lot to the students um and so I wanted to talk about one of my students Kevin who is in seventh grade and when Kevin was in around third second or third grade he was going to get kicked out of the sponsorship program because there was no one to sponsor him this was back when our system was not in place that if someone wasn't sponsoring him he could not continue on in the program and somebody a lady named Susan Bamford came on a trip and she started to play with Kevin and decided that she wanted to sponsor him and Kevin was very lazy I want I don't want to say lazy but Kevin's a little bit lazy but the minute that he got Susan as his sponsor he started to turn things around and he loved Susan so much I remember reading Kevin Kevin's letters to Susan and it was just the sweetest relationship I've ever seen um but unfortunately last year Susan passed away and Susan's husband um continued on with the sponsorship but sweet little Kevin will he says you know Susan is still with me he hurt his mom tells me pretty frequently you know Susan is still with me and Susan will always be with me um he's one of my English course students I offer an English course to some students but he we one of our projects is to have a pen pal and Kevin told me I want to write my letter to Susan which is his sponsor who passed away and so I think that is just an example of you know no matter what happens to your students care about you so much and will continue to carry a care about you forever and so Kevin wrote his letter to Susan and I am hoping that his her husband will respond to him but yeah he your students will love you and they will love you forever and I uh was going to share due to time I'm not going to do any more because I could go on forever but um there is the the teachers if you want to be a classroom sponsor or say that we fill up the rest of these student sponsor slots and then you want to still stay plugged in you do get the newsletter with all the quotes from the students the ones that I thought were touching or funny or whatever um and um then I have a letter that I was going to share but I'm not and it's from all the teachers uh two or three times a year depending on how we can coordinate um they do send just updates on the class and what they're learning and then some pictures of some kids in class and their projects and that's sometimes pretty cute to see um to see those so great thank you Cheryl and Kelly both this has been a rich evening and Cheryl could you one more time drop your contact email in the chat so that if people are interested in following up with you um to learn more to explore sponsorship in particular they can do that um I will I'm going to put two things in the chat I'll put my email which well the email I use it's the through the church we have a one for the sponsor program and that pretty much goes to me uh or I'm the one that that monitors it as well as the website link if you just want to go look on there um now just forewarned that there is a few updates that need to happen on that site oops that's the wrong one oh yeah there it is so here right there I sent that so the program is administered through Church of the Resurrection but it is not a Church of the Resurrection program it is throughout um you know open we have sponsors from all different churches Andy Lewis for example it's one of them um and so also that that link is on the Um Vim Honduras website I've shared that link with um Milton and so if you're if you forget where you put this you can either go through their website I find that my the Church of the Resurrection's website is kind of difficult to maneuver just because it's very involved so uh you can get there a couple of ways and that you can read just a little bit and there's a link to what's called push pay and they are tax deductible so you will get a statement of your donation at the end of the year from Church of the Resurrection so that you can use that for tax deduction if you so wish now you don't have to pay the specific amounts you can pay say you know you want to have a tax deduction of x amount of dollars at the end of the year you could certainly do that um you could some people have one sponsor once some people have two sponsors we've got um a couple of team sponsorships some young kids that can't afford the full one but they'll be they'll team up with two or three others to where it's you know like fifteen dollars a month for each of them and um so we can do that too we work with you however we can to make it work uh so my um HN sponsorship HN sponsorship at core.org is the email if you have any questions at all HN sponsorship at core yeah uh so there's that if you have any questions um and I'll get back to you on that when you know with your answers awesome awesome thank you so much so it is we're we're about out of time however um I did want to give Tom Brian even just even if it's just four or five minutes the opportunity to make us aware of another um just inspiring a long-standing ministry that has Methodist roots um in Honduras that you may want to know about and it also has a North Texas conference uh roots so uh Tom can you give us just your elevator speech about Send Hope and the HOSACs and what's going on there and as you do I'm going to put the link to a webpage on our North Texas conference website where you can find um links and more information about what Tom's talking about so this would just be an introduction and a snapshot and if you want to hear more contact me and I can put you in touch with Tom or others so Tom could you share for just a few minutes okay thank you um so I started going to Honduras in 1991 before the Methodist Church the United Methodist Church was a part of Honduras and um I asked Andy when uh the United Methodist Church came to Honduras he thinks around 2000 after October 98 when Mitch hit so I started going down there I'm a retired dentist in Allen started going down there when I was still in practice just to pull teeth and um I worked I went to the Portal Empire which is on the far eastern coast of Honduras um and it's called the Mosquito Coast or La Mosquitia it's named after the Mosquito People, M-I-S-K-I-T-O, Miskito not to not the insect so um I started going there in 91 and and started going every six weeks to make these trips uh dental medical and dental trips and we would get in a boat and go way back into the interior or in a pickup truck and uh driver an eight-hour drive or six-hour drive and basically camp out we would sleep in mosquito tents and work in a church or a clinic there on the Rio Cocoa or the Acruta River or back inland uh in Mokoron and those other Bruce Roos those other areas uh villages in the mosquito area started bringing kids back in 1995 to Texas Scottish Rite for Children for orthopedic treatment and the first boy we brought back they fused his thigh to his hip because his leg was uh infected and uh the joint was so badly destroyed that he couldn't they fused them together so he didn't have a mobile hip hip joint couldn't do the kind of work that they need to do over there to support themselves which is basically substance farming so um we thought education was the answer and we were trying to get him educated uh in Porto Lampere hit his village which is La Cotabela was across the Laguna and he had to come over to the to the main city to go to the seventh grade and I went down and because there's no electricity and running water in most of the little villages Porto Lampere is the only town uh in Calcutta across the Laguna it's the only towns that have electricity at night so um this boy's name was Walter and we uh I went down and Walter widened passing when he came over to Porto Lampere he was living with I was paying his aunt to room and board him and he and his aunt wouldn't even be there and Walter widened passing Spanish her mouth so God gave me a vision for a children's home I'm not sure why I gave a dentist a vision for a children's home I knew nothing about children's homes but we opened a children's home in 2005 and um we house about 47 kids there we also that's called the house of hope and a young couple from my church uh Steven and Lauren Hosek from the first Methodist in Allen now live there and oversee the children's home we also have the school of hope with grades one through six we send containers down to Honduras I said we just loaded one Monday we use dull fruit containers and it's it will arrive and it won't it will leave next Monday and arrive in uh oh there's there the Hoseks uh this is before they had their own two children they've got two kids they're their own now um so um we uh we packed kids against hunger food and we've done that uh at Christ United Methodist with uh one of the pastors gathered there we also did with their confirmation class we packed it at my church on change the world in May and we pack every Saturday at my house when the pandemic hit there was uh the what when the pandemic hit they didn't they they didn't have any school so they missed a whole year of school and then when the the two hurricanes hit in November we wiped out all the crops so the people over there were starving because there was no food and the you know here in Allen we have three food pantries there are not any food pantries in in Port Olympia and the government sent some rice and beans over finally but the only people that was giving out food was uh was uh send hope at the House of Hope we have a feeding program we're feeding over a thousand kids a meal every day and um so we started packing this food in my storage building here at my house we did that every Saturday from April of last year we're still doing it we're doing the Rotary Club this next Saturday here at my house so that's kind of an overview of it uh we had a PowerPoint that I can talk more about but and I can give me a thing to say when I see the picture but I know we're out of time um thanks so much I I mean I know this your story the story of uh Stephen and Laura who started going to the House of Hope as uh youth group kids and now uh are there as missionaries is inspiring and the ministry y'all do is amazing I just wanted people to at least make the connection and friends if you want to learn more about that ministry again which started out of the North Texas conference uh connect with me or Tom Brian we'd love to love for you to learn more about it um so I see some messages in the chat uh this has been a great virtual trip four nights uh thanks to each of you especially again our marathoners who were here for all four nights um you'll hear from me in a week or so uh with some follow-up I mean mainly just to get your evaluations and um and to see if there are ways you want to connect so you'll hear from me again um but on behalf of uh of the mission staff and I see Milton still here I'll let him say the final word um thanks for being a part of this trip and for um being introduced to this great mission I hope it's not the last time that uh that you take a trip of one kind or another and connect with our United Methodist friends and Honduras. Milton do you want to say the closing word? Sure um I was actually just doing that on the chat um just appreciating you all for joining us this week um I know you have lots of options to be doing every evening but you decided to be with us and learn about the the mission in Honduras what we do um how we connect um in the different programs that we have and who we partner with and all the the ministry that's going on um especially in these difficult times but you still are there so thank you very much for your support and um I'm still available for any type of communication um through Andy or um directly for volunteer teams and etc but um just want to say thank you very much um I hope you guys enjoyed it and learned a lot and looking forward to to meeting you in person hopefully soon wonderful thanks Milton god bless you all have a good night bye bye