You may have already read the blog or letter from Mike announcing
our promotion with MTW. If not, I have included it in the bottom portion of
this blog. Basically, Mike has been promoted as the country director of
Honduras, and the Regional Director for Central America. Because of these
exciting job promotions, our personal ministry focus will change
dramatically.
I will use the experience I have gained as a nurse and clinic
director to help other MTW missionaries throughout Central America to
expand a medical/mercy program in their country. Therefore, I will not be
able to continue in my current position as director of medical/mercy
ministry of La Ceiba, Team Honduras. I am looking at turning all the
medical/mercy activities in La Ceiba to Dr. Roger Guillen. In the almost 7
years we have been in La Ceiba, we have hosted well over 500 mobile medical
clinics, hosted more than 25 medical brigades and have seen more than
12,000 patients. I want to see the ministry in La Ceiba thrive and grow
through the continuation of hosting medical brigades, mobile clinics, and
seeing patients at our permanent clinic. As a matter of fact, we are hoping
to open a second permanent clinic in downtown La Ceiba within the next
year.
In order to continue giving quality health care at an
affordable price to the poorest of the poor, Dr. Roger’s salary cannot be
supported with the revenue generated from the clinic alone. For almost
three years, I have relied upon one-time donations to provide a salary for
Dr. Roger. I am hoping to fund Dr. Roger’s salary through monthly
contributions to the Armenia Bonito clinic. The salary will be overseen by
John Clow, the new MTW Team Leader in La Ceiba.
  What do I need: to continue having Roger work in a part-time
capacity, I need an annual salary of $18,200, which equates to a monthly
need of $1,517. My desire would be for him to work full-time in order to
oversee all our medical/mercy ministries in La Ceiba. This would obviously
require additional funds.
Please let me know if you have any questions or need
clarification. If you would like to support Dr. Roger, you can click on the
link above and then let me know of your contribution. In this way I will be
able to keep track of the funds that come in for Dr. Roger’s salary. In
addition, if you know of any other person who would be interested in
supporting this ministry, please feel free to forward this e-mail on to
them.
In Christ,
Erin Pettengill,
RN
Director
Medical/Mercy Ministries, Central America
Mike's
letter:
Dear Friends and
Supporters:
We have some
wonderful news. Mike has taken a new job with MTW. In fact, Mike has taken two new jobs with MTW. Starting
January 1st, 2015, Mike will be the Country Director for
Honduras and the Regional Director for Central America.
We pray the
information bellow answers some of the questions you may have:
Where will you
live?
We will continue to live in Honduras, but we will be moving closer to the
city of Tegucigalpa to be nearer to an international airport.
Are you still
missionaries?
Yes. We will remain missionaries by any definition of the word. We will
continue to live in Honduras and bring God’s glory in a cross-cultural
setting to Latinos living throughout Central America.
Are you still with
MTW?
Yes. We appreciate and value the support given to us over the past seven
years from Mission To the World (MTW). Our new work is within the
leadership team of MTW.
What exactly will
Mike do?
Mike will continue to work with our two mission teams in Honduras, the
existing team La Ceiba and our new team in Tegucigalpa. Mike will work with
the existing MTW missionary teams in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Mike
will also work toward starting new MTW mission teams where there are
currently none: El Salvador and Guatemala.
What exactly will
Erin do?
Erin will take the vast knowledge she has acquired as a Registered Nurse
for 19 years and as a missionary nurse for seven years and use that to
create and expand medical and mercy ministries throughout Central America.
She will serve and counsel the missionary wives and mothers in the region.
Erin will also have an expanded role in
evaluating new missionaries for their readiness to serve on the field.
What happens to
the other missionaries in Honduras?
John Clow will be the new Team Leader of the
missionaries in La Ceiba, Honduras. John and Kathy Clow have labored in
Honduras for four years and as missionaries in Latin America for over 10
years. We are thrilled to place God’s work into their capable hands. Under
our guidance, the Halbert and Marlowe families are starting a new church planting
team in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
What about the
ministries in La Ceiba?
The 12 other adults missionaries in La Ceiba, Honduras are beyond capable
of running all the ministries we started together. There are no plans to do
anything other than watch God grow the work he has started under us.
Why the
change?
When we arrived in Honduras almost seven years ago there was no
MTW/Presbyterian presence in Honduras. Since then we have added a high
school, medical clinic, four churches, a StreetKids ministry and a home of
single teenage moms. Our team has hosted 758 short-term missionaries and 25
interns. We have discipled pastors, educated children, fed the hungry,
clothed the naked and loved the unlovable. We want to bring that same vision
and experience to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala and
expand it in Honduras.
Do you still need
financial support?
Yes. Now, more than ever we need the financial partnership of our
individual and church supporters. In fact, we need more finances to cover
our increased travel expenses. If you are not a current financial
supporter, please prayerfully consider partnering with us to impact Central
America by making a tax-deductible, credit/debit card contribution
HERE.
How can we pray
for you?
This new work is exciting and very scary. Please pray for the following:
- Mike and Erin have the
boldness found only in Christ to do all that is set before them.
- The new missionaries we
work with throughout Central America embrace our leadership.
- The team and ministries we
are leaving in La Ceiba flourish under the new leadership of John and
Kathy Clow.
- Our marriage is
strengthened and we grow closer to the Lord as we step into the stress
and uncertainty of the future.
We pray you are as
excited about this new chapter in our missions journey together as we are.
Our blogs, twitter, Facebook, YouTube and monthly e-mails will continue as they have. You will continue to be informed
on how you can be a part of what God is doing through us. If you have any
additional questions please e-mail Mike directly by clicking HERE.
It is exhilarating
to imagine how God will use us throughout Central America.
In Christ,
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