Dear Praying Friends and Supporters;
We began the month of May with a trip upriver to the
small village of Krausirpi, hoping to conduct some studies with the one man who
has been saved there. In days gone by, when you talked about “small town” USA,
you would think of a “Mayberry” type atmosphere of familiarity, family, and
security. These ideas are so ingrained in my thinking that it is hard sometimes
to adjust to the reality that exists here. A small remote village does not in
any way resemble those three things. In contrast, it really means that there
literally is no law other than what you can personally enforce.
Pastor Nichin and I arrived right at dark to the
village of Krausirpi, only to find that our house there had been dismantled.
The floors, siding, and porch boards had all been taken away, the only thing
left was the roof and a few studs holding it up. What do you do? They know who
took the things from inside, and it is obvious who took the boards from the
house, because two of the neighbor’s houses that were not completely finished,
now have been completed using boards with a strangely familiar color of paint.
There are no jails, no courts, and no police. Even the community government has
collapsed in the last year and a half. SO, we now have a house rented with the
condition that we do not leave anything in it while we are gone. We were not
able to make contact with Roger, the man we hoped to meet with, so we will be
going back the last of August to maybe meet with him and also hold some Bible
classes.
Because of the housing situation we decided to leave
early and go down river to visit some of the other villages. The village of
Paisana has about seventy five people and no church of any kind. We visited
most of the houses and explained who we were and what we believed about
salvation, and they invited us to come back in August to talk about setting up
a Revival meeting there in the village. Please pray as we seek the Lord’s will
in this village. The Lord may have used the events in Krausirpi to get us to visit
this village and be able to have two points of ministry there.
Getting back home it was time to get things ready for
Bible Institute session which started June first. We had five students, two
graduates, and three from here in the community who came just for the class
time. The students came in on Saturday and began classes on Monday. For three
weeks, Monday through Saturday, I taught two hours each day from the book of
John. Bro. Rabasin did the same, but an overview of the poetic books of the Old
Testament. My greatest difficulty right now is that I still do not speak
Miskito. For that reason some are having great difficulty in the classes and
mostly on the test. I am still working toward the time that I can teach and
preach in Miskito. It will also be much easier for the students when we have
some of the material in their language as well. In addition to the classes in
the daytime, we were able to have some evening classes where we helped the men learn
some basics of guitar playing, chords, and rhythm, and then just sang thru the
hymnal with them. We were even able to pick up a few new songs that we didn’t
know before from the hymnal.
We have spent the last week and a half trying to get
things ready for a group from Maranatha Baptist Church in Saint Robert, MO.
They are coming down to help us build a porch on our house and also we will be
going out doing some special vising in our area and in a couple of nearby
villages. We will be going into La Ceiba for a couple of days for some rest and
then be meeting them to bring them out here. Please pray for safety during this
time and that the Lord would be able to use their visit to stir the hearts of
some of the folks here toward salvation.
Kayla has finished her first year of college, and has
spent several weeks visiting with grandparents, and some close friends. She is
now spending the next few weeks as part of the MK program with Preachin’ Time
Ministries. She will be working several weeks of camp, doing whatever is
needed, and also being able to do some special activities with other MK’s who
are there during this time. Please pray that the Lord will do a work in her
heart, and also allow her to be a blessing to those she is able to minister to
this summer. We are thrilled that she will be able to come and spend a couple
of weeks with us in August, before going back to school in the fall.
During the time Institute was in session, we got the
news that my brother, who is the pastor of our church, and his family were in a
very tragic car accident. A head-on collision required that he, his wife Tracy,
and their daughter Jana, be air-lifted to different hospitals. The two younger
children, and the older daughter were taken each to different hospitals. We
praise the Lord for sparing their lives, but we greatly desire your prayers for
them. Philip and Tracy will be a considerable time in recovery, surgeries, and
rehab, as a result of broken bones and injuries.
Also, we have gotten word that our visas are in the
last stages of being approved, so this means that we should be traveling to the
capital city of Tegucigalpa sometime in the near future. Pray that the Lord
will provide the means for us to do this, and also that the Lord would work out
the timing of that trip according to His will.
Thank you for your continued
prays and support for our family.
In His Service,
Gene and Robin Trask and
Family
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