June-August 2009

Family visits Just before we left for furlough, we were encouraged by a visit from Jennifer’s brother and his 2 sons to Honduras as well as a visit by Jennifer’s aunt and cousin. We really loved their visit with us since it extended our annual time together (which is always short but great) and gave them a chance to see where and how we live. We also got to serve together in ministry and that was a really neat opportunity too. Thanks for coming, you guys!! We loved it!

Photos are of the following:

1) Rodolfo and Aunt Johna nervously enjoying parrots at a bird sanctuary near the Copan Indian Ruins in northern Honduras.

2) Isaac and his boys having lunch with us in a typical village outside of Tegucigalpa after site seeing.

3) Isaac sharing part of his testimony with extremely poor who live and/or work at the city dump gathering recyclable junk

4) Jennifer, cousin Laina, and Aunt Johna working with medical team for a day, mainly spending time in children's ministry

5) Another city dump photo serving lunch to about 100 adults and children who live/work at the dump collecting junk to resell

Our furlough Then we headed back to the States for furlough and really enjoyed the long-awaited time with family and friends. Ministry has been a challenge for us for a while and our last furlough had been 1½ years ago, so we really felt worn out and in need of family time and a cultural change. We got to go to Arkansas, Indiana, and California and loved every minute of it. We enjoyed time with supporters, got treated to Wild River Country in Little Rock, got spoiled at the William’s lake house, and much, much more. We even got some time with family members we haven’t seen since our wedding 8 years ago. The bummer about our furlough is that we only see most family and friends for a day or two each due to the time limitations with traveling to see them, so every moment was very valuable and enjoyable to us. We also got 2 weeks to work on our rental house in California that Robert bought years ago (Jennifer calls that our “missionary retirement plan”). It was an opportunity for us to teach Rodolfo some basic home repair skills as well as giving him an opportunity to earn some spending money for the summer. Then toward the end of our trip, family invited us to Disneyland to celebrate Robert’s 40th birthday. It was a ton of fun, too, and another “first” for Rodolfo. The time in the States was a real treat for us and revived us in the ways we needed in order to be geared up and ready to return to Honduras.

Photos are the following: 1) Us building a fence at rental in California 2) Rodolfo with cousins in Indiana

3) Rodolfo with cousins in California 4) Jennifer and mom at friend's baby shower 5, 6) with family in California

Political struggles Our return to Honduras has fortunately been uneventful as far as politics is concerned. Our airplane was only to 20% occupancy, which the airline stewardess said has been typical since the political instability over the past 2 months. Our Bridge House youth are all safe although at one point 2 of them accidentally found themselves way too close for comfort to the riots and violence. But God protected them both and gave them a way of escape into safety once again. We did see the Popeye’s Restaurant that got burned down in the next neighborhood, and all of the graffiti that litters the walls of each main road in the city announcing anti- and pro-political slurs. It is sad to see but a reminder just the same for the great need for prayer as political issues are still unstable. Even with its instability, the need for ministry is still great and, just as the graffiti, can also be seen everywhere. Please pray for our safety while we continue to serve in Honduras.

Blessings, Robert and Jennifer Butts

July, Audust 2009

The country of Honduras has been going through some struggles for the past couple of years and things have gotten more intense politically as we have moved into the summer months and the new presidential elections. Because of the instability, we have had extra food and water stored for emergencies and talked with the youth in preparation for more dangers in the city as the political leadership has made more serious moves. Please keep the entire country in your prayers. Despite political unrest, there will always be so much ministry to do. Please pray with us that we can keep focused on the ministering that God has called us to in Honduras.

The Bridge House still has 6 youth and all are doing well, praise God. But as we move into the second half of the year, we are looking at the next 6 youth that will move in around Christmas time, totaling 12 Bridge House youth plus Rodolfo. With the focus of preparing the youth for Christ-honoring independence, we stay open to ways we can improve our transition home, always seeking to prepare them more and more for the day each of them move out on their own. With that in mind, please pray with us for wisdom in how to best work with our youth.

Robert, Rodolfo, and I are all in the States now for our furlough. It has been a year and a half since we have had a furlough and it seems long overdue. We have been emotionally exhausted and could hardly wait for some time off. We have already been to Arkansas and Indiana to enjoy family and friends in that part of the U.S. We were blessed to see many of you guys and really had a great time visiting with you all. The weather was great for us wherever we went (or maybe we are just getting used to the heat of Honduras). Now we are in California and are excited to get together with as many people as possible here. Keep us in your prayers over the next few weeks. Pray for our time with everyone, that it is a blessing for us as well as for those we see.

Thanks for all your support both financially and prayerfully. We really appreciate it all. God continues to bless us in amazing ways. Thank you all for being a part of that.

Blessings, Robert and Jennifer Butts

Spring 2009

"Christ has risen!" and "He has risen indeed!" were the sounds coming from Easter Sunday at our sunrise service as we focused our minds and hearts on Christ's perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.

College Life
We now have five of our six youth in college and one in his senior year in high school. For all new college students (and we have three new ones right now), we always remind them to study like never before since college requirements and exams are much harder than those of high school. Even with our warnings of the difficulty to come, we always get a, “Yep, I’m studying several hours a day.” and a “Yes, I’m ready for the tests”, even though we have our doubts. Then when they come back from those first killer exams, get really quiet, and don’t want to look us in the eye, we cringe and keep reminding them to REALLY study like never before. They always manage to do fine in the end, but every new student serves as a reminder for us to keep pushing and praying for each of them as they move into new phases of life.

Our own lives

Rodolfo has been involved in a citywide school soccer tournament. It was his school’s first time to participate. Rodolfo and his team had a lot of fun, even though they didn’t win. Jennifer has been busy making candles, lotions, and chocolates to sell at a couple of local craft fairs. It has been a great way for Jennifer to get her creativity going and to earn a little extra cash to cover costs and to provide extra items for gifts. Robert has been helping some with ministry finances and has enjoyed spending the time with Steve Razor on various projects.

Easter Break
For Easter week, Robert, Rodolfo, and I were blessed to be able to participate in our 4th retreat with Christian Reformed World Missions. Each time has been a blessing in several ways. We have been encouraged spiritually, challenged in our ministries, and had a chance to rest. It’s also been great getting to know other missionaries in Central America and to hear what they are doing in ministry.

WE ARE TRAVELING BACK TO THE STATES FOR THE SUMMER!!

We will be in Arkansas from June 23-July 15
and in California until August 18th.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.

February 2009

"When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things."

1 Corinthians 13:11

Our Reality at the Bridge House

The month of February has been a mixture of emotions, not too different from other months, I suppose. Living and working directly with youth is very rewarding but also can be tiresome as we think and work through various situations and questions about life. The circular conversations and misunderstandings certainly do get wearisome, though. The above verse is a blessing to us as it comes to mind regularly, reminding us that we all went through those years the same and, praise God, came out stronger and wiser in the end. We have a friend with kids the same age as the Bridge youth and she shared that there is a disconnect in the reasoning part of the brain that only completely connects at about age 23 or so. With that knowledge in mind, we laughed together as we shared our struggles and were all encouraged that life would be looking much brighter if we could just hold on and be patient. I love that God gives us good relationships with older, wiser friends for times like these.

WGO Scholarships

WGO offers a full scholarship to our youth at the Bridge House (school and books, room and board, and extra cash to cover to all toiletries, clothes, etc) and like all scholarships, requires the youth to meet and complete the requirements of that scholarship: receiving good grades, getting along well with others at home and following house rules, and working or volunteering part time. Those requirements, although not always popular, have pushed our youth to excel in most if not all areas on a regular basis. As the youth relax in an area and slow down or stop meeting that requirement, their living expenses also shrink in a small way to get their attention. This has proven to be the motivation that has truly worked well for the youth. It has stretched them and grown them socially, emotionally, and spiritually. It has made them question how their friends and others do things and has helped them understand the value of harder work and natural pressures that so many around them experience. The ministry has blessed them with such a good opportunity to learn and better their own future. It has helped them seriously prepare for whatever comes thier way.

Please Pray for Us Please keep the youth, as well as us, in your prayers. Pray that we all have patience with each other as we work our way through the blessed life God has given each of us. Pray that we learn well and honor God in all we do. May we show mercy, grace, and forgiveness to each other as God does to us. Remembering that we work with young adults and the challenges that go along with that age group, we often have to remind ourselves that these youth are a "work in progress" just as we all are in God's eyes. May God give us His patience and understanding. We have a neat group in our house and we are thankful for them and how they are maturing and preparing for life on their own. Praise God! We have to keep reminding ourselves that He knows exactly what each of us needs in our own personal training under His care in preparation to some day be with Him in eternity.

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been known fully. But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:12, 13

Thanks!

How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have

in the presence of our God because of you? 1 Thes. 3:9

We want to send a special thanks to all of you who regularly pray for us and for those who sacrifice to give financially to us in Honduras. We really appreciate all that you do to help us serve in Honduras. Please know that we are working hard daily to honor the Lord in our service and that we strive always to be responsible with every dollar we are intrusted with. So again we say...

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

January 2009

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

Every January brings new hope to each of us as we are blessed to move into another year. It is a time of reflection for how we did last year and what we hope to change for the future. It's a perfect picture of God's grace to us as He continues to forgive us, have mercy on us as undeserving as we are, and mold us into the people He has designed us to be. It makes me humble and proud to be called His child.

The month of January has been a calm month at the Bridge House. Praise God! We have a great group of youth in the house right now who encourage each other and work well together. We are thankful for that. Let us take this opportunity to update you on each of the youth and what they are doing.

Franklin Hernandez is our last high school student in the house. He is starting his senior year in high school, earning a double degree in general education and computer. He is involved in his church, keeps busy tutoring children in the neighborhood, and is planning to start taking some seminary classes while finishing high school. He is also translating with WGO brigades.


Franklin Canales is in his second year of university studying Industrial Engineering. His grades are great and he works really hard at each class. He spends most of his time studying and offers tutoring to classmates as a way to serve others and learn more at the same time. He is a great example of setting a difficult goal such as engineering and then consistantly working hard at each step in order to reach that goal.

Oscar is our newest arrival in the house. He is working full-time with WGO bridgades as a translater while studing psychology at a local university at nights. He will be super busy doing both but will really enjoy the experience. So many of us worked and went to school at the same time and can look back on the experience with pride, knowing it was hard work but a great learning process. The others in our house will really be watching him to see how things go, gaining courage to push themselves at greater levels too.

Miriam is also starting college and is beginning to study law. She spent her Christmas break working at a local shoe store and volunteered a little bit at a local center for cancer patients. She has been fun to watch grow and mature as she finds new ways to improve her life and to seek to honor God.

Cintia is finishing her last year of college studying tourism. She is learning aspects of many areas of tourism from restaurant operations and cooking to hotel management. She has plans to perhaps work in tourism throughout Central America when she graduates. Aside from her own personal studies, she has also tutored and taught English to children and adults in our neighborhood.

Nilsy is starting college and studying psychology. Her desire is to use her degree someday to work with children in need. She spent her Christmas break creating an ESL eight-week program for a local church. She also helped that church with various service projects such as painting a home, serving breakfast, and mentoring childen in a poor neighborhood.

Thank you all so much for your faithful giving to and prayer for our work in Honduras!! We all really appreciate it. May this new year be a time for all of us to grow closer to the Lord, find ways to serve others, and make us better in all we put our hands to do. Blessings and thanks for everything you do to help our work in Honduras.

November/December 2008

We hope you all had a great Christmas with friends and family and are enjoying the new year already. May 2009 be full of blessings and a great year of getting closer to God. We are all doing well and are excited about whatever is in store for us in the new year.

November and December brought many blessings to us. We had 2 of our Bridge girls graduate from high school. Several of the Bridge youth are working during the 2-3 month Christmas break. Jennifer was able to travel to Arkansas for a few days. And Rodolfo enjoyed participating in his first school Christmas choir.

• Nilsy, Oscar (who is moving into the Bridge House in January), and Miriam all celebrated their high school graduations. It is always neat to see our ministry youth accomplish this goal. So few Hondurans continue their education through high school. And then only about 3% of Hondurans ever get a college degree. So to see our guys strive for educational success in high school and then in college is really huge. We are proud as these three youth now prepare for college and mentally gear up for all the work ahead of them. They have enrolled together in a well known university in the city with plans to start classes at the beginning of January.

Work and volunteerism are emphasized in the Bridge House as the youth prepare for life on their own. As they begin their adult lives, they must learn some key skills for work such as dependability, promptness, hard work, leadership, ethics, etc. So during school breaks it is time to put into practice what they know by getting a full time job. All of them work or volunteer part time throughout the year but during their longer vacations they must find full-time jobs. This year 2 of our university students were in school without much of a break but our other 4 youth all found jobs quickly and are enjoying the experience. We even have one of the older girls from Rancho Ebenezer living with us during her Christmas break in order to work in the city. Franklin Hernandez is working at a local Christian book store, Nilsy is creating an 8-week curriculum for an ESL program (English as a Second Language) at a local church, Miriam is working at Payless Shoes, Wilmer is working at a hardware store, and Nancy (from Rancho Ebenezer who's photo is shown to the left) is working at a men's clothing store. We are proud of them all for finding their jobs and doing so well at their work.

At the beginning of November Jennifer was able to visit her mom and try to be of assistance after Carol's double knee replacement surgery. The visit was short but it was nice to be with mom and to see some of the family as well as a great friend in Conway. Mom's surgery went really well and she is recuperating nicely. Robert held down the fort in Honduras and got to spend some good time with Rodolfo and the other Bridge residents.

During the Christmas holidays, most of the youth in our house traveled to be with family and friends while some stayed with us at the Bridge and enjoyed holiday activities in town. Rodolfo got to sing for the first time in his school choir. They practiced during the month of December and sang at 2 local malls and participated in a city-wide choir competition. He loves music and really enjoyed the experience.