New Roof on Las Casitas

The church at Las Casitas, where Jorge Vargas, MPRC Director, is preaching, completed the roof of their church building last weekend (22nd of November). Completion, which was expected several weeks ago, was slowed by the Honduran tendency toward extended rainy periods and also extensive power outages - once in Oct. for as long as 8 days!

The church celebrated the roof completion with a devotional time. Youth classes were started the very next day. (See Spotlight on Las Casitas)

Rainy Season?

Yes, the rainy season is supposed to end late September or early October in Olancho. Then typically until December, the rains we get here are due to tropical depressions or hurricanes that generate in the warm Caribbean waters off the coasts of Central America and northern South America. They blossom, bluster, and blow over with a lot of rain in a short time.

This year God decided to give us a little more than usual. We have had continual, drenching rains from early October. They have never been heavy (OK, maybe a few times), but just an average of 1 to 2 inches per day. Because of the unusual and continual rains, there has been widespread problems. People in the north coast have been flooded out and the newspapers report 1000s in refuge centers in the San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba areas.

There is another problem that those of us who have lived in Texas or Florida may forget. Because Honduras is about 80% mountains, a little rain quickly gathers in the lower 20% and it usually has a high velocity. And only the major roads have any sort of bridges. We have been told that even as late as last year the vehicles traveling the major highway from the capital city, Tegucigalpa, to Catacamas had to ford a major river. Thus many people from the countryside have had to cross dangerous, rain-swollen rivers to buy needed supplies or get back to their homes.

Here in Catacamas, we have been thankful that we have been spared many of these problems. Yes, the power was off for more than a week because the transmission towers were toppled by the flood waters. And yes, we were without water because the city reservoir decided it was a good time to burst. And yes, numerous possessions were lost and houses were flooded with water in low-lying areas. But we have not heard of any loss of life here due to the rain.

Please pray for those who have lost loved ones in Honduras, pray that the churches here are able to reach out to those who are hurting, and pray that we have some break to the rain so that the corn crop can be harvested.