Honduras or Bust

WHY HONDURAS?
Three years ago I (Kelly) was able to spend a semester abroad living as a student in Las Mangas, Honduras, a small farming village located approximately seven (long) miles up the mountain from La Ceiba, the third largest city in the country. I was able to return to Las Mangas in the fall of 2001 for a 10 day visit, and Tom and I have been praying about returning for a longer term even before we were engaged.
It is wonderfully humbling to see how God has prepared our hearts and our way for this day. Part of that process was bringing us together with Joe and Rachel Staven, good friends who also graduated from Covenant College and have had similar desires in their heart for living overseas. We’ve been living with them for the last two months, and have been mightily encouraged by the fellowship God has given us with them. Now the door is open for us to return to Honduras alongside the Stavens for about 10 months. God is good!

WHERE IS HONDURAS?
Republica de Honduras is located in Central America. Slightly larger than the state of Tennessee, it borders Nicaragua to the Southeast, El Salvador to the West, and Guatemala to the North. On the northern, Carribean coast, near the three Bay Islands, is the city of La Ceiba. This is the closest city to the village where we’ll be living.

WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING THERE?
Language School: September 26th- October 25th
On Friday, September 26th we fly from Miami to La Ceiba, Honduras. On Monday the 29th we begin Spanish language study in La Ceiba at the Centro International de Idiomas. We will experience an intense, one-month total immersion program in which we study four hours a day with a personal tutor while spending our meals and evenings with a host family.
This will be both an intense time of learning Spanish as well as learning the ropes of the city: how to fare in the market, where to buy batteries and other supplies, how to get a post office box and check e-mail, and so on.
It will also be a time of looking at the tin-roof, concrete floor, wooden walled, four-room house the four of us are hoping to rent in Las Mangas and discovering what supplies we need to gather before moving in. Finally, it will be a time of meeting with contacts we have throughout the river valley area (where Las Mangas is located), hearing of the projects they have underway, and discovering ways we can plug in and be of help.

Las Mangas Life: October 25th- Early July
At the end of language school, we will travel the gravel road up the mountainside to the place we will be calling home for the next nine months and begin entering into relationship with our neighbors. We have five general goals for our time, and beyond that many more concrete hopes and desires.

General Goals
1. To spread the gospel by encouraging and making new followers of Jesus
2. To live with and serve the poor
3. To be conformed to the image of Christ
4. To learn from and interact with Honduran culture
5. To be a bridge between the Honduran and American Church

Hopes and Desires
1. Since the river valley is a farming area that depends largely on trading crops, there is little to no cash flow. A community bank has been established in order to make small loans available to people wanting to do things such as change their roof from grass to tin. We hope to learn more about this bank and see how we can be more involved.
2. Recently a Collegio (secondary school) was built by American missionaries for children living in the river valley area. Before, any child wishing to attend school beyond the elementary level needed to gather enough money to ride the bus to and from the city every day. Since families could not afford this, most children did not attend school beyond the fifth grade. We hope to learn more about this school and see how we can be more involved – whether by teaching or other support.
3. I (Kelly) have had the opportunity to teach English to mostly Guatemalan immigrants at a local hispanic mission for the past six months, and have loved it! In Las Mangas, I hope to see about the possibility of teaching English to mothers and children who are interested in learning the language.
4. An American friend of ours who has been living in Honduras for the last nine years will be just down the road from us, and we expect to spend some of our days enjoying fellowship with him and working alongside him.
5. Aside from these things, there will be the very important stuff of day to day life: procuring food and supplies, making meals, keeping our house in good repair, playing soccer, and so on. We hope to learn a lot from our Honduran and American neighbors about these things. Since most of our neighbors will be farmers, Joe and I (Tom) expect to spend some time working in the fields with them. Kelly and Rachel will likely spend some time getting to know the women by helping them with child care and household chores. In all these things, we want to overflow with the life of Jesus (John 4:14).

HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED
Prayer
Many of you have been praying with us along the way, and we ask that you continue to do so faithfully. Please, continue to share with us what the Lord is doing in your life and how we can be praying for you and continue asking how you can be praying for us. We have already been encouraged by the prayers of so many of you. For now,
1. Pray for all the last minute details we need to have finished before leaving the country.
2. Pray for unity among the four of us.
3. And pray for our first month in Honduras – it will be intense and we will be sifting through the effects of culture shock at the same time.
4. Finally, pray for us as we are far away from friends and family to whom we are very close. Pray that we will trust the Father without reservation.
Also, if you would like to receive emails and/or letters, please send us your contact information. We plan to write regularly.

Financial Support
Many of you have also expressed a desire to support us financially. Here is a line-item list of our major costs:
Cost for 9-11 Months Per Couple
Airfare $1,200
Language School $1,500
Food/Shelter $5,000
Medical Insurance $3,500
Teaching Supplies, etc. $500
Total $11,700

Tom and I have been blessed to save $5000 of what we need. Beyond that we have the initial cost of language school, the monthly costs, and the cost of returning plane tickets. If you would like to support us monthly or with a one-time gift, a tax-deductible account has been set up for us by the good folk at Bethlehem-Wiley United Methodist Church, our church here in Chattanooga. Make checks out to:
Bethlehem-Wiley UMC
200 West 38th Street
Chattanooga, TN 37410
Be sure to note in the Memo line that the money is intended for “Tom and Kelly Okie/ Honduras.” If you plan to support us on a monthly basis, please mail your checks to the church before the 15th of each month.

IN CLOSING
We love you all very much and rejoice for the rich fellowship we’ve been given these first seven months of marriage. Our contact information will be changing a lot over the next couple months, so the best way to reach us is via e-mail. Keep trusting.