Merry Christmas!

Mel and I want to wish all our friends and family a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!

Mel had right shoulder relacement surgery on Thursday, December 20th.  The surgery went very well.  It was very extensive so there has been a lot of post operative pain.  Please keep him in your prayers during his time of recovery.

Merry Christmas to All!!!

We love you,

Mel and Trina

Whispers of Hope Horse Farm - Weeks 1 & 2

Mel and I completed a lot of work the two weeks we have been here and we really enjoyed working with all the volunteers here at the Horse Farm.  Mary Elizabeth, the director is amazing to work with.  It was uplifting and a blessing to work with the volunteers especially a couple of the youth volunteers and to get to know them.

This week Mel has been working alone (teamed with a volunteer from time to time) as Trina has been ill.  He has got a lot of work done for them.  

A list of the projects we have been working on these 2 weeks are:

1.  Mowing the grounds and for a neighbor who both are disabled.  
2. Adding fence posts by digging and cementing the posts into the ground.
3. Pulling wire between fence posts.
4. Working with the horses.
5. Welding a pipe in the arena.
6. Using fence posts to create 2 hose hangers where the horses are washed.
7. Help to repair a hydrant leak in a back pasture.
8. Repairing bathroom floor in trailer house.
9. And much much more......  

Please pray for this wonderful program.  They are really helping the children in this community.  There are many needed projects in the works without full funding.  We would love to be able to be here and help contribute through our hands and our monetary contributions.   We pray that God opens a way for us to do both.  

Today, Thanksgiving, we plan on serving turkey dinners at the Salvation Army.  It will be rewarding to help those who have less than we do.

A Blessed Happy Thanksgiving To All!!!!

Click here to see more photos of us helping at Whispers of Hope Horse Farm.

Whispers of Hope - First Few Days

Our first few days at Whispers of Hope were amazing.  There is so much to do to help this organization to continue to provide for these children and families and to make it possible to do even better!  It has been so amazing!  It's hard to put into words so I have added many photos to show you what we are doing and what Whispers of Hope is doing for over 200 children and veterans.

Click here to view more photos from Whispers of Hope Horse Farm.

Whispers for Hope Horse Farm - Wichita Falls, TX

We arrived here today to work for the next 2 weeks.  We took some time over the last 2 weeks to visit Nomad friends in Plano, TX and to visit with Mel's daughter and 4 grandkids.

Below are some pictures of the Horse Farm.  The horse farm is a therapeutic non-profit farm designed to assist physically and mentally challenged youth and children with therapeutic riding at no cost to any child.  There are 28 horses in residence here.  

We are very excited about working with the horses, the children and with anything else that needs to be done.


Click here for pictures from Whispers of Hope Horse Farm.
  Below is a picture of Mel's family in Dallas, TX:

Mel, Jacob, David, Renae, Matthew, Mark, Trina, Joshua

Eva, TN Project Completed!!

The three weeks are over.  We met so many wonderful people.  There was an Women's Emmaus Walk there our first weekend and the Bluebirds of West TN there our last week.  That made our work meaningful to Mel and I. 

The Bluebirds are a Cancer Support Group who meet at Lakeshore twice a year.  They were so happy to talk with us and to see the upgrades that we were able to complete.  

We are now going to take some time to replenish and going over our options for our next project.  Thank you for your prayers and support. 

Trina and Mel


Click Here to see pictures of the projects we completed.

Bluebirds Decorations after our painting was done:  

  (The blue matched their New York City theme.)

Please read the message below from our friends in Puerto Lempira.  It is so heart wrenching and heart warming at the same time.  Please keep them in your prayers.

In Hell!

Another issue of Lamplight Newsletter

Written by: Katrina Jo Ryan Engle, October 18, 2012

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” Psalm 139:7-8  

A couple of months ago I felt like I visited hell.  I was doing a home visit for a baby that had been abandoned in the hospital and brought to us by the local Human Rights representatives.  The baby’s name is Charlie but we nicknamed him Carlos.  Carlos was badly malnourished and had an extreme case of worms that was very hard to treat and caused him diarrhea for months.   

At first we did not know who his family was but then we found out that his grandmother is the owner of a local bar and a well-known crack dealer.  I also found out that the father of the baby had broken the mother’s leg and that she had not been treated and therefore could not come to visit the baby.  So after having the baby for two months without a visit from the mother, I took him to see her. 

I’ve seen squalor, death, disease and poverty so many times I have to fight against becoming numb to it, but I have never been to such an awful place in my life.  When I pulled up, got out of my little tractor cart and asked for directions from a nearby resident, she asked me if I was giving the baby back.  I told her no I just wanted to visit the mother, to which she replied, “That’s good.  You should take the little girl that is there as well.”  She showed me a small alley way in between two cement block walls from which the smell of urine and feces wafted overpoweringly.

On the other side of the alley I came to a little square lot occupied by three deteriorating houses all enclosed by a large cement wall.  It looked like a prison and smelled worse.  I cannot describe the feeling of filth and hopelessness in that place.  I can only tell you it is a living hell.   

Carlos’s mother sat in a piece of a chair, her broken leg still swollen after more than two months.  She looked wretched.  When she saw her baby she reached out for him but could not smile.  I learned that her name was Patricia, that she had three children, and that although she did not look it, she was pregnant with her fourth. 

Quickly the grandmother came down to see me and explain to me that her daughter was a crack addict. (She failed to mention that SHE had been her daughter’s dealer, as well as the dealer who supplied drugs to her eleven other children that were also using.)  She complained that Patricia was good for nothing and used other language regarding her that I found disturbing.  Patricia never tried to defend herself.   Grandmother told me the children’s father was no longer living with them because she ran him off when he broke her daughter’s leg. 

I noticed a sad little girl in dirty clothes whose eyes were sunken in and whose belly was swollen.  This was Patricia’s four year old daughter, Mia, and she was in desperate need of care.  I asked both women if I could take her and care for her until the mother had recuperated.  The grandmother agreed and I left, the little malnourished girl in tow.  The mother never really answered me.   

Mia, the four year old, got a good bath when we got home.  She was dressed in some new clothes, and given a baby-doll and a treatment for parasites.  She never once cried for her mother.  She had a foul mouth and it took weeks for her to smile.  

I took both children to visit their mother three times during which she was too high to talk to me.  I noticed she had burns and scars on her back and chest.  The grandmother told me the boyfriend would burn her with matches and drip burning plastic on her when she was passed out if she would not wake up for him.  Patricia had vulgar jailhouse tattoos on her arms and thighs.  I felt very bad for her but did not feel at that point that much could be done for her except to pray.  

A few weeks later Patricia limped to House of Hope to see her children.  She was cadaverously thin and both of her legs were badly swollen.  She begged to be able to stay with us until she gave birth because her family did not want to help her.  She said she was hungry and she needed help getting off the drugs.  She told me she felt like she was in hell and that it was only a matter of time before she would die there.   I was hesitant to take her in.  She had a very bad reputation and my workers were scared of her.  But I agreed to take her in and then immediately took her to the hospital.  It was the first visit she had made to a doctor during her pregnancy.  She smelled an awful lot like dog food and I honestly couldn’t wait to get her home and give her a bar of soap and a towel!    

The next few weeks saw lots and lots of medical tests for Patricia and her baby.  Day after day we would sit in the hospital waiting to be seen or awaiting test results.  One day while we sat there I remembered going to the health department with Donna Fernandez, the director of the girls Teen Challenge in Davie, Florida.  I remembered that although I was not pregnant I had to get all the tests done to see if I had AIDS or some other disease.  I had wondered why this woman even cared enough to take me and sit with me during all those appointments and I wondered if Patricia felt the same way.  

She would sit slouched, head down, waiting to be called.  We talked about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother and her boyfriend.  She’d had a broken arm (untreated as well) that still looked crooked.  She showed me the scars, in her forehead due to brooms and sticks broken over her head.  We talked about the two miscarriages she’d had when the boyfriend threw her down the stairs or punched her in the belly.  She told me about the times he had chased her down the street with a machete threating to cut her into little pieces.  I came to the conclusion that Patricia is a miracle and that God has something very special for her.  

When we got the results for the HIV test, they were negative.  For the first time since she had come to stay with us she laughed that day.  She told me she thought for sure she had been infected and it was a miracle that she was not.  

Patricia now wants to change her life for her children’s sake and to stay off the drugs.  She wants to go to church to learn about God and learn to be a Christian.  Patricia has a long way to go; I had to get on her case a few days ago for cursing at one of our workers.   I told her that at House of Hope nobody would be allowed to curse at her, but that means she could not talk to others that way either because God wants to fill her heart with love, not hate.  She cried repentantly.   

Please keep Patricia in your prayers.  She has gained weight and been treated for a parasite infection and a urinary tract infection.  She is due to give birth in November.  I am looking into getting her a house built by Habitat for Humanity so that she does not have to return to her old home next door to her mother. 

Both of Patricia’s children, Charlie and Mia, love her and are very protective of her.  The children are doing well and, like their mother, are now gaining weight.  But Patricia cannot live at House of Hope forever.  God will have to open a new door for her after the baby is born.   We can only help for a season. 

Roger and I wish we could have helped our neighbor years ago.  She lived on the lot in front of our house and died when her head was cracked open with a heavy piece of re-bar.  Her husband is in prison for that crime.  She was only twenty-two and had two kids.  We also would have liked to have helped a lady that lived near House of Hope who was virtually decapitated by her husband in broad daylight.  She left seven children behind.  This weekend another woman I know was shot twice in the stomach by her husband.  She is alive, but very weak.  This is the second time he has shot her.  

There is no safety net for these women.  Unfortunately they did not come and ask for my help, either.  But Patricia did and I will do what I can to help her, to protect her and give her a safe environment in which to give birth to her new baby.  I will give her the basic things she needs to take care of it.  It is because of you, our supporters and the supporters of House of Hope, that we can do this little bit for her.   

Sometimes I get discouraged and feel as though I’m not accomplishing anything.  At those times, somebody like Patricia will come along and I will see God’s grace manifested upon them.  I can see that He is still working and still on the throne in Heaven.  He still wants to deliver the oppressed and set the captive free.  Thank-you for being a part of that!

Katrina

First Couple of Days at Lakeshore!

 

We started working at Lakeshore yesterday and got the list of what they want us to complete.  We will be busy! 

We start each day with devotions.  There are 9 of us working here and we have been getting to know each other.  Our team leaders are Bill and Kathy Waters from North Carolina.  The rest of the team is Janet Bruce, George and Lynn Dimuck and George and Terri Lair.
 
Our first jobs are painting the cafeteria a country blue and the trim a light blue (almost white). We started yesterday and got about half of the paneling primed.  We finished the priming today!


The men are building a 16 x 20 storage shed outside the administrative offices. They got one side up yesterday and all 4 sides are up today!

We have been having lots of fun working for the Lord!  

Nomads Annual Meeting

For those who don't know who or what NOMADS are, we are people who enjoy traveling in an RV, we want to share our Christian faith and we enjoy using our skills in service to others.  

The NOMADS Mission Statement is:

Rebuilding lives, homes, and facilities with God’s love and our hands.

At the Nomads annual meeting we were greeted as friends all sharing in the same purpose.  NOMADS are very busy. There is much need all over the country.  We will be signing up for as many projects as possible starting at the Eva Methodist Assembly in Eva, TN on October 8th.  Eva Methodist Assembly is a camp and retreat center like Warren Willis Camp and the Life Enrichment Center in Leesburg, FL.

During the Nomads Annual Event we met with many others with the same passion that we have.  We met each morning for coffee and fellowship, followed by Bible Study and a morning devotion given by a NOMAD who is also a pastor. 

There were a variety of seminars held which we were able to choose from.  Mel and I attended seminars that included one held by the Red Cross, a new member get together that included questions and answers and a seminar about promoting the NOMADS organization and ourselves.  We also learned much about the types of projects that NOMADS work at and how the projects and the agencies are chosen.  NOMADS are always invited into an area, they never go without an invitation.
 

We and the Nomads Organization are in need of funding in order to help where the needs are. Nomads also help where the project sites are not able to cover the entire cost of materials but there is always more need for materials than money available allows. Mel and I are also struggling with the cost of getting to the areas with the price of gas and the cost of maintenance on the RV. 


We want to thank everyone for their prayers and support.  Please continue to pray for us and our ministry for Christ.  We also ask that you pray about supporting our ministry. 

 
And in the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:17

On to Hamburg, NY for Nomads Annual Meeting

Mel and UMVIM Truck

As we finish up here in Tioga and head to the Nomads annual meeting in Hamburg, NY, we want to thank everyone for their prayers and to ask for your continued prayer.  There has been some struggle with the RV and we are still trying to figure out what could be wrong with the brakes.  We have put thousands into the brake system and still have very spongy brakes.  Everything is new in the brake system and the system has been bled multiple times.  Mechanics from Sarasota, to Winter Haven, to Tioga, PA can not figure it out! Any ideas?

Looking out onto street in Athens

We worked in Athens, PA this week in a home that is still gutted! The family is living in a FEMA trailer. It has been a year (this past weekend was the one year anniversary) since the flood occurred due to rain from Tropical Storm Lee. The people of Athens got the evacuation notice at 3 am on that Thursday morning!

Home in Athens

Trina sanding drywall 

Volunteers with UMVIM NEJ (Susquehanna District) came to help these people right after the flood and are still there helping 2 or 3 times a week.  There was a group working with us this week from the Pittsburgh area.  They are currently working on 13 homes with 16 more still to go! Many more volunteers are needed. 

The Nomads Annual meeting is a week long event.  We are looking forward to meeting other Nomads and hearing the many stories and learning as much as we can about Nomads, mission and full-time RVing.

More pictures from Athens (One year later):

Home in Athens

Home in Athens

Home in Athens

Home in Athens

Mel at home in Athens

Prayer Requests

Please pray with us for guidance on what God wants us to do for the victims of Hurricane Isaac. We have been listening to and seeing the destruction that Isaac left behind and want to help the people.  We are praying for them and want to do more. 

We are waiting to hear from the people in Honduras about the water project that we are looking into for the people of Puerto Lempira.

Please pray for us to have the patience to wait for God's timing in all we want to do.  The waiting to see what God is going to do is the hardest to all.



 

Tioga, PA

Ariel view Ive's Run Campground & Park

It's been over a month since we have posted anything about what we have been doing.  We have been very busy!  Working 20 hours a week at Ive's Run State Park is just the beginning.  We are still trimming bushes and weeding the butterfly gardens!! They were a mess!  The bushes were about 8 feet tall or more and we are cutting at least 5 feet off.  We have been enjoying it though!

Our Campsite at Ive's Run where we are working for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Trina mowing

On the gator

Cleaning out under the bushes.

Mel sanding drywall

We have also connected with a United Methodist Church here in the area, Calvary UMC and they are very active in outreach and missions.  We have been working in Athens, PA on flooded homes putting up, mudding and sanding drywall. It is amazing how much damage was done over a year ago and that the people are still living in FEMA trailers or have had to make other arrangements for housing.  Calvary also has a food pantry and clothing pantry for those in need. Although we are just getting to know the pastor and people at Calvary, they welcomed us with open arms and are interested in what we are doing.

We are actively looking into the water project for Puerto Lempira, HN with Water Missions International. There is a Safe Water Project Request that needs to be completed. We are in contact with Alex Waits in Puerto Lempira about this as it asks a lot of information that we do not have.  Water Missions International is a non-profit who helps communities all over the world to create clean water.  They require a lot of information up front because they do a feasibility study at the location to make sure that the community is willing to become vested in the project - like Goodwill says, "Giving people a hand up not a hand out."  

Trinity at 6 months!!

GAiN, Christian Aid Ministries, Tioga, PA

GAiN 

Attached are pictures from Friday, June 22nd and Saturday, June 23rd working at GAiN. Mel and I worked at packaging beans and rice on Friday and at packing new clothing on Saturday.  We met a lot of wonderful people.  While packing the beans and rice, the group broke a record of packing over 17,000 meals in less than 2 hours!!! That could feed a family of four for almost 4 years!! A really touching part, was that when we had finished stacking a pallet, we all gathered around the pallet and prayed for the people who would receive the items.  Very touching to be a part of.

Click here for photos from GAiN

Christian Aid Ministries  

We found another ministry in Lancaster County that is similar to GAiN.  It is called Christian Aid Ministries and we toured their warehouse and are planning on helping them in the future as well.  They also work in disaster relief in the states and send aid to countries around the world.  

 

Tioga, PA Work

July / August

Mel and I arrived at Ives Run Park on July 1 to begin our 2 months of "work kamping".  We are each working 20 hours a week to be able to cover the cost of the campsite,  The first week saw us working on frames to build up filing cabinets in the Visitor Center as well as picking up trash after the 4th of July festivities.  We are looking forward to meeting many people and building relationships while we are here. 

We attended Calvary United Methodist Church today.  They are a very mission oriented church and we made connections to help out in the next 2 months.  After service today, we stepped right in and helped load left over items from their UMW Rummage Sale that is being used to help reduce their mortgage. As soon as we know more, we will post here.

Photos from GAiN