HELP WITH TEXTBOOKS!!!

Hello all.  I haven´t made any blogs in a while.  Really, I got sick and couldn´t think of anything else to write about, so i didn´t write anything at all.  Thumper´s mother would have been so proud of me.  But I need some help.

Ok, we are doing some crazy awesome things at the school.  I have 5 staffmembers at the school including myself.  I have bilingual teachers that schools in the states only dream about.  We are teaching Spanish, English, Math, History, Geography, Computers, Reading, Reading Comprehension, Sciences, Bible......... among other things.  Things are really falling into place in ways that they never have before.  But i lack a few things.  Primarily books.

Now, I need 2 types of books.  First, textbooks.  I am desperate for a good would geography textbook.  Middle School grades preferably.  Can anybody help me with that?  Point me in a direction to buy one?  Talk to people at your local school?  Potentially annoy people at a private school until they want to send a textbook to my 501c3 non profit organization?  Maybe if you live close to Strong Rock in Locust Grove.  I need some help people.

Second, I´m looking for reading books in Spanish.  Really from preschool up to highschool ages.  I´m not quite so desperate about these, but I really want them.  Most of my girls are bilingual, but we don´t have many spanish resources.  If anybody knows where I can get my hands on some spanish books, it would probably bring me to tears.

Ok, if people help me find these things, I promise to be a better missionary and make more blogs.  Let me know.

Exciting for me, maybe not for you.

Whew.  Sometimes I don´t have very much internet.  It doesn´t really bother me anymore.  A guy can only shop for motorcycles on line for so long before he has to go live life.  But, I still like to use it at an excuse as to why I don´t have more blogs.  Apathy might be a more realistic reason, but I´m not going to tell you that.

So, lot of stuff that I think is interesting but you might not.  Friday was a big day.  We had a new student at the farm who is not one of the girls in the ministry.  This is the first time that has happened.  I´m pretty pumped about it.  It might not seem that crazy awesome, but its a big step in the right direction.  Eventually, we want to use the school to give a bilingual education to girl in our area and as a high school accredidation center for boys and adults.  So the branching out has officially started.  We are doing things down here.  Since the girl is not part of the ministry, I can tell you her name.  Belkis.  Please pray for her.  There are going to be bumps in the road, we hope she will be the first of many girls in the community to get a good education and investment in her future from our school.

Second, I walked around with the pastor about a week ago.  It was pretty cool.  Half way because my spanish is finally good enough to understand him and the people in the community.  Second, because it gave me alot of ideas.  We met some people who need to learn to read.  In the months to come, we´re going to be planning to start teaching accredidation classes and reading classes for adults in Yamaranguila.  Saying that makes me feel more like a missionary.  So I am looking for a few things.  I need some bibles in spanish that is a simple translation to use.  Think ¨the message¨ compared to ¨KJV¨.  Only in spanish.  Second, I need to find some tips on how to teach people how to read, (preferably adults).  If you teach first grade, I want to talk with you.  And thirdly, if anybody wanted to move to Honduras and teach people how to read, now is a great chance.  I said it before, but we are doing things down here. 

So thats about it I reckon.  Pray for us.  Times are good, but no doubt its because we have a good God and faithful people praying for us. 

And to Josh and Allison, I hope you have a great baby shower this weekend.  I wish I could be there.  Can´t wait to hold your daughter in a few weeks. 

Jeremiah 29:13

I´m going to try to be more consistent with writting on here.  In fact, I´ve decided to do one blog per day for the next......10 years.  Ok, no, not really.  But I have decided to to one blog a day for today.  Vaya pues.

So I had this idea.  Its a little idea.  I get busy down here at the farm.  Not like ¨busy¨, but like, out of time.  So I´m doing alot of things, teaching alot of girls, telling alot of jokes, right?  Good things.  Then, I decide to pray when I´m not busy.  Or I might read my bible when I´m not busy.  But I found myself one night thinking ¨where are you God?¨  And I thought of this verse.  ¨You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.¨ Jeremiah 29:13.  Whats common is to try to let God have your extra time.  Or, to try and squeeze God into your over crowded schedule.  But rather, God wants us to pursue him with our whole heart.  This is the same intensity with which he pursues us.  And I don´t know, it just made me think, so I decided to share it.

We´re doing good at the farm.  We´re getting organized.  We´re getting better at doing what God has called us to do.  But pray for us if you will.  That our staff will be unified.  That our girls will search for God with their whole hearts.  That we can remove ourselves from situations and make Christ the center.

By His grace,
Ben Heath

Spock with a beard

My blogs seem to be getting somewhat more emotional and serious.  I'm currently in the process of ridding most emotions and seriousness from my life.  Like Spock with a beard.   I don't know how they get into my blogs though.  But, as always, I figure if it bothers anybody they won't read it.

So this was a short trip home.  I made it for 2 weeks.  I was banking on working about 10 days, but fell pretty short there.  Turns out little muscles and busy schedules lead to many days off.  I want to say that like an indian real quick.  Hold on.  "Little muscle......busy schedule.....many days off".  Ok.  But one really cool thing from this trip is how many people have been giving to me.  Now, I live with so many people that have nothing, I haven't been able to ask people for money in my time in Honduras.  I've just decided that if I needed money for something, I would learn to go without something else.  I still plan to venture down that path, but its still nice to recieve gifts.  I had a large amount of money in my ministry account that I wasn't planning on and don't know where it came from. Also, my church decided to sponsor me for what turns out to be about half of my yearly expenses.   So I just want to thank those people and those groups.  I also want to thank Rod and Betty Shearouse as their consistent contributions have helped me beyond what I can describe.

There are definite difficulties about my job.  I love my girls and am thankful for my calling, but its always hard to say good-bye to friends and families.  Its hard leaving soft beds, warm showers, and rooms with no scorpions.  Its hard leaving friends and churches that are in English.  But it makes a really big difference when money isn't something that I have to worry about. When I can take the good and the bad without checking my wallet.  Through my ministry thus far, God has taken care of me.  He has given me provision beyond what I could imagine.  Thank you to those who have helped me financially.  Moreso, thank you for your prayers and for the prayers for my ministry and my girls.

By His grace,
Ben Heath

Wiggidy What You Say?

I decided not to stick with my last blog.  I meant it, but I think I portrayed my thoughts in a bit too much of a negative light.  What I really meant to say is that if you feel God is calling you to serve for any amount of time in a foreign country, personal safety should not be a real concern.  Choosing to follow Christ means being less of a servant and more of a slave.  If He calls you to serve, trust that He is in control and has the specifics figured out.  And if that means that harm might befall you, "to live is Christ".  There hasn't been a time in the last 2 years that I have been worried to return to Honduras.  In fact, whenever trouble turns up, it makes me desire more to be in Honduras with the girls that God has called me to serve.  And if I'm ever robbed or beaten up or mocked or poor....er, then that will be because I have chosen to serve Christ as whatever the cost.

Pero yo pienso que mis palabras estaban verdad.  Honduras es un pais demasiado hermosa a faltar por algunas reazones.  Tambien, el llamado a servir y amar mis chicas es demasiado fuerte a faltar.  No estoy serviendo gringos, pero para el ministerio, oculpamos mas amigos y menos enemigos.

Regardless of the Outcome

One of the most interesting stories in the Bible comes from John chapter 5.  The story picks up with Jesus in Jerusalem at a pool called Bethsaida.  At certain times of the day, the pool would be stirred and disable people would enter the waters in hopes of being healed.  We’re told of a man sitting by the pool who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  For longer than I’ve been alive, this man had been unable to do most functions in life.  Work, travel, provide for himself, have a family….. all of these things this man was incapable of doing.

So Jesus walks up to the man and asks him, “Do you want to get well?”  I find this to be a very profound question.  The ontological God of the universe is standing in front of this invalid who basically has no life.  The being in which all other beings have their existence is talking to his creation.  The God who breathed the stars into existence and wrapped himself in flesh, who knew the hairs on this man’s head and knew every thought he ever had thought, asks what appeared to be a silly question.  I think it was a question Jesus knew the answer to long before he was in Jerusalem.  I don’t think the question was for the Christ to obtain information, but rather for the invalid’s sake.  “Do you want to get well?”

The question means that there was a choice.  We forget that sometimes.  Some folks chose to be sick.  Sometimes people don’t want out of the hole they are in.  Giving all you have to love somebody doesn’t mean that that love will be reciprocated.  It doesn’t mean that they’ll accept your help.  It doesn’t mean that they’ll accept your Christ.  For Christians, you don’t do what is right to get a result.  You do what is right because it is right.  You offer help because you’ve been helped.  You love because Christ loves you.  You die because the man you follow was nailed to a cross.  Regardless of the outcome. 

 This has been a rough couple of weeks at the farm.  We’ve had a few girls run away for no apparent reason.  Not out of anger, not out of depression, not for any immediate situational cause.  Part of me roots for these girls.  For whatever reason, they were not satisfied.  Yet, instead of sitting in their discontent, they got up.  I admonish their bravery to search for happiness instead of accept whatever else was handed to them.  But the bigger part of me is broken.  These girls took for granted what had.  They looked outside of the fences when they were standing in green grass all along.  In a community stricken by poverty and need, these girls traded their security and care for the freedom of the streets.  They failed to see the happiness in front of them.  So I said goodbye today to a couple of girls that I have loved as my family for the last year and a half.  They said goodbye to the family they have known for the last seven years and the woman they call “mama”.

God is in control, and even when we don’t understand it, He is good.  He alone is good.  So we’ll keep doing what we do down here.  We’ll keep feeding, clothing, protecting, and educating little girls in Honduras.  More than that, we’ll continue serving them with our lives and dying to personal ambition.  We’ll continue to give, continue to strain, continue to sacrifice so as to give these girls the love and attention that all little girls deserve.  We’ll continue to love them even though they won’t fully understand it.  To God be the glory.

Just checking in

I have not made a post in a while.  I am alive.  We are busy.  We are waiting on 2 new girls to arrivc and have 5 girls in chicken pocks.  What a welcome party, right?  I thought it was slightly funny to walk in the Pams house this morning and find 4 tiny girls sitting in their diapers watching Chicken Little.  Turns out the best way to fight chicken pocks is with nudity.  Yet, when a 17 year old came in with chicken pocks, I decided to get out of the house.  We dont need that down here.

On a last note, I cannot find the apostrophy button on this computer so I cannot use contractions or possesive s.  Its one of those things you have to give up when you go onto the mission field.  I will have a more legit blog in the future.