Mission accomplished in Honduras
Worshippers gather together during an altar call in Mezapa, Honduras after Evangelist Bill smith finished preaching.
By JOHN BUTTERWORTH
Finding himself working in the middle of political turmoil is nothing new for Bill Smith, evangelist and president of Worldwide Crusades. It happened to him in Togo, West Africa; Kenya, East Africa, and El Salvador. In September it took place in Honduras when the government declared martial law.
“It was quiet, almost eerie,” Smith said of his time spent safely within the hotel compound in San Pedro Sula. “In the city there was not a bus or a car moving. I was quite safe behind locked gates with armed guards, and we had plenty of food and water available.”
But Smith had his moment of concern. He and Hernan “Ernie” Mendez, interpreter and coordinator for WWC in Latin America, were a long way from home when they heard the news of the impending martial law.
“We were a half hour out of the Trinidad area when we heard from Juanita (Ernie’s wife) that we had to be off the street by 5 p.m. We made the decision to rush back to San Pedro Sula,” he explained. “It was a wild ride. Ernie drove down back streets and alleys to avoid the crowds and cars. We reached the hotel just in time.”
Almost all of the violence in the nation occurred in the capital, Tegucigalpa, according to Smith, although some did break out in downtown San Pedro Sula. During the brief times martial law temporarily was lifted, Smith said he couldn’t help but notice that many of the protestors wore red shirts and carried photos of communist leaders such as Venezuela’s leader Hugo Chavez, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.
“What a great birthday!” reads one entry in Smith’s journal. “So far, no bullets flying around here,” read another.
Despite being confined to the hotel compound, Smith kept in phone contact with Ernie and with missionary Ken Harrell. Harrell serves as an Assemblies of God missionary and has been working in cooperation with WWC.
Smith also found the confinement beneficial. He learned just how popular the “Outreach” television program produced by WWC and aired on the Jesus Broadcasting Network from San Pedro Sula is becoming. About half of the staff working at the motel recognized Smith from the program and let him know it.
One police officer assigned to protect the motel compound where many Americans stay also recognized Smith. The officer, a former helicopter pilot with the Honduran military, told Smith that the program was truly a blessing in his life.
When Smith later told the officer that one missions team from Georgia had brought food for the poor living on the outskirts of the city, the officer made arrangements to help the team. With only a few days remaining before they had to return to Georgia, they found themselves under the protection of an armed escort to and from the areas where they had planned to work.
With all airports closed and Smith’s scheduled return already two days past, he and Ernie decided that if martial law was lifted during the day, they would make a dash for the border of El Salvador, about 6 hours away. The made the trip in safety and Smith flew home from El Salvador’s capital city, San Salvador.
PLENTY TO DO
A Bible college in the making in Trinidad, Honduras. A WWC building helped with the construction early in 2009 and the pastor and others continue to work to complete it.
Although Smith spent his last four days in Honduras with not much to do, that’s not how the scheduled four-day-trip started.
“I hit the ground running,” he said. “I landed around noon on Friday and immediately we took off toward the city of Progresso.”
In a church there Smith preached more than an hour to an eager crowd. When he got done, they wanted more.
“They didn’t want me to stop preaching,” says Smith. “Several people got saved. It was a good service with good people.”
Despite the pleas to continue, Ernie told the church that Smith needed rest and that they would not preach a second round.
After spending the night in El Progresso, they headed back to San Pedro Sula, and then off to Mezapa, a town where numerous WWC teams have worked, including a building project team.
That church is growing, according to Smith. With walls and roof now constructed, the dirt floor has been leveled and they are ready to pour concrete. Smith preached there Saturday night and again, after preaching for an hour, he was asked to continue.
CLINIC DEDICATION
Evangelist William Smith joins in prayer with others at the dedication of a new medical/dental clinic built in San Pedro Sula with funds from Worldwide Crusades. The clinic will serve pastors and their families from any denomination, as well as the poor and others in need of medical or dental help.
A long-awaited medical–dental clinic WWC has backed has now been opened in San Pedro Sula. Smith’s main purpose for traveling there was to be part of the dedication service.
“They did a nice job on it. It looks great inside,” says Smith. “We had a little dedication service at noon, then a service in the church and then we went back to the clinic for pizza.”
But Smith was most impressed with the fervent prayer on behalf of the clinic he saw during the dedication. Groups of people gathered for prayer in each room of the clinic and then the superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Honduras led in prayer.
The dedication lifts a burden Smith gained several years ago when he saw how pastors in Honduras worked so hard for such little pay that they couldn’t afford to take their families to a doctor. With the opening of the clinic on the campus of the Assemblies of God Bible college, pastors and their families from any denomination will now receive medical and dental help for free.
In order to support the work, leaders plan to create a subscription service for churches and their families. Families within the churches that sign up to use the clinic would agree to pay $1.50 each month, and then when they need to use the clinic, they will have no additional charges.
Those outside the churches will be handled on a case-by-case basis, according to Smith. “If they can’t afford to pay, they won’t have to.”
For now, the wife of the former superintendent of the Assemblies of God will oversee the clinic work and a doctor formerly from Cuba will be on staff, as well as some volunteers.
“This doctor is a good brother and has a burden to work in this clinic,” says Smith. “They want to make the clinic self-sufficient, including paying the doctor.”
Those working with the clinic still have a vision for growth. They would like to add another room for clinic storage, according to Smith. Currently all the supplies are being stored in dorm rooms for the college, not only an inconvenience for the college, but also for the clinic. Additionally, they’d like a refrigerator for storing vaccines. Smith estimates it would take $2,500 to complete the project.
The clinic was scheduled to open for its first day of business a few days following the dedication, but civil unrest leading to martial law prevented that from happening. Smith believes the clinic is now in operation.
ON THE ROAD
Monday, Smith and Ernie headed out across Honduras to follow up on developing WWC works. In Trinidad they visited a pastor who has a vision to start a Bible college to help train up pastors for Honduras. Early in 2009 a WWC building team traveled to Trinidad to work on that project.
The team was not able to finish the work while there, but that hasn’t stopped the pastor or those who have caught his vision.
“It is looking good,” said Smith. “A couple guys were there working on plaster for the walls and ceiling he said.
After Trinidad they traveled to check on the progress of a church in another town where the same building team had completed construction of a church facility.
Just prior to receiving the phone call from Ernie’s wife about the impending martial law, the duo meet in another town with the pastor of another proposed building project for future WWC building teams.
“The city gave the property to the Assemblies of God if they would build a church there,” Smith reported. “The town has no church.”
With no church in the town, the pastor gathers up children each Sunday and takes them to a church in another town, according to Smith.
“We felt good on this project. It will be a strong little church – maybe in 100 in the building when it is done. I believe they will do well.”