One part of my work involves distributing powdered
milk to those families most needy. This has to be
accomplished determinedly and nearly secretly because
the requests far outweigh the supply. The powdered
milk is purchased here with donations from you. There
is no governmental or church help as in years past
when the Episcopal church had a ´source´.

Another perpetual aspect of my work is education.
There are children and teens of all age groups that
need help. Some need help with uniforms and
notebooks, etc. Some in jr.-high and high-school need
additional help with tuition and travel. Starting
this past year, nearly every student that had interest
in continuing studying, either in a technical area or
in the úniversity´, needed help with everything -
travel or living expenses as well as books and
tuition. This meant that very few could continue
studying, because this help comes from you and others
interested in seeing an interested student continue to
have that opportunity. Living expenses for a student
in a group home situation are around $2000 and the
same amount for tuition and books. I have a few
people (very few) supporting a student in this way.
Many students have the interest, but no one to help
them.

The fourth focus of my work is in the clinic. Some of
our meds. are donated. Many we have to buy, and the
doctor is always hunting via his computer for what we
need at reasonable prices,(world wide). Reading
glasses and hearing -aids are a need, nearly without a
present source. Vitamins are available for purchase
at times. Menthol cough drops we ask of anyone who we
hear is coming down from the U.S. Visiting brigades
are at times helpful with specific needs. A surgery
group is coming in March and I hope to repair a hernia
at that time.

If you have read this far, this is a personal
invitation to you to consider helping a student or a
family in one of these areas. $100 helps a great deal
with powdered milk or food staples Help at any level
for a student means an opportunity for perhaps a more
productive future. Financial help for families in
need of food needs no explanation. A seed not planted
cannot sprout.

If you are interested in helping financially in any of
these areas, you can contact me via email and I will
explain the procedure. Thank you.

I hope you enjoy your holiday season with friends and
family, and that you will consider sharing your
prosperity with those with whom I work daily. It is a
privilege for me to be able to live and work here and
to both learn and teach more of what it means to be
conformed to the image of Christ.

Here is my Christmas gift to you. It is a quote from
Brennan Manning in his book Abba´s Child, the chapter
of The Rabbi´s Heartbeat.
The rhythm of relentless tenderness in the
Rabbi´s heart makes loving terribly personal, terribly
immediate, and terribly urgent. He says ´I give you a
new commandment; it is MY commandment; it is ALL I
command you: Love one another as I have loved you.´
Only compassion and forgiveness count. Love is the
key to everything. Living and loving are one.
Heart speaks to heart. The Rabbi implores,
´Don´t you understand that discipleship is not about
being right or being perfect or being efficient? It´s
all about the way you live with each other.´ In
every encounter we either give life or we drain it.
There is no neutral exchange. We enhance human
dignity, or we diminish it. The success or failure of
a given day is measured by the quality of our interest
and compassion toward those around us. We define
ourselves by our response to human need. The question
is not how we feel about our neighbor but what we have
done for him or her. We reveal our heart in the way
we listen to a child, speak to the person who delivers
mail, bear an injury, and share our resources with the
indigent.
An old anecdote is told about a farm boy whose
one skill was finding lost donkeys. When asked how he
did this, he answered, Í just figured out where I
would go if I was a jackass, and there it was.´
Turning this in a more positive direction, listening
to the Rabbi´s heartbeat, the disciple hears where
Jesus would be in any given situation, and there He
is.

December, 2007

---------------------------------------

Dear Amigos en Instituto El Rey,

! Saludos en el Nombre de Jesús!

Earl has given over the writing of this letter to me (but only for this month!). First, I think I need to go get a bit of chocolate from my jelly bean and chocolate stash. As I said, Earl always writes the letters and you can probably already tell why. *_*

Oh, my, so much happens in the space of one to two months that it is not difficult to write about what God is doing here!

But first, there has been something I have had in my mind to write for a long time. --- We live in a beautiful place. The mountainous valley is threaded with a river that has a beautiful clear green color at times and other times it is a chocolate milk color. The river bed is strewn with rocks and boulders of all sizes. It is very dramatic and never ceases to attract my attention. There is one dirt road that connects us from La Ceiba on the north coast and it continues up this river valley for 21 miles to the last town of Urraco . Now, that road is not as pretty as the river and most of the time it feels like we are driving directly down the center of the riverbed. We jerk and bounce along for about an hour to arrive to town in our truck. During these rides (which one of us or both make 2 or 3 times a week) I look at the variety of trees and flowers that abound on the sides the road ---along with the pigs and chickens and cows! I am never bored. *_*

Some of the flowers on the hillsides are hibiscus, acacias, bougainvilleas, bird of paradise and many others, of which I do not know the names of, are blooming at their appointed times of the year. There is never a lack of color here. It is wonderful. Now…, there is one plant called the poinsettia that grows here. I know that you are familiar with this plant, especially at Christmas time, but what I was surprised to find out is that the poinsettia blooms twice a year—once at Easter time and the other at Christmas time. A simple fact; nevertheless, it brings humbled pleasure to me to recall the birth, the death and resurrection of Jesus when I see the red flowers. I have often wanted to have a specie of each flower growing at the school---someday in my spare time!!

Well, I had better get back to the task at hand and report about the school.

In September Larry Smoak, missionary in another village, led about a five-day, two hours per day, seminar with the students called “Amar es Esperar”, or Love is to Wait. It addresses something that strikes at one of the strongholds of the enemy, particularly in this culture! During this series of meetings, God was moving in great power reaching into the very hearts of the young people to bring liberty to the captives! at the end of this series of meetings, the young people were challenged to make a decision TO WAIT!! They were asked to sign a card testifying to their desire and to the intent of their hearts, if they were indeed serious about waiting! And about 130 out of 169 who were in attendance, signed the card!!!! Halelujeh! After this final meeting, while the students were waiting for the bus, a very powerful wind came roaring down the valley and struck the school, sending the students running for cover! It was the most powerful burst of wind I have experienced in the eight years we have been here!! It tore branches off trees, and IT BUCKLED THE ROOF ON THE HALF-FINISHED MINISTRY HOUSE!! the Bible says (Satan) is “the prince of the power of the air”—Eph.2:2. Earlier in the year, Ester, our Director, was talking to the students during one of our chapel services about the family, and as she was praying, a huge gust of wind knocked the free-standing blackboard over on top of her! Fortunately she was not hurt!

We give praise to God for His protection each day as we minister to these young people whom God is going to use in a mighty and powerful way to be world changers, changing the world around us!

This past week-end, beginning at 3pm Friday, and going until Sunday at 11am, our two students, Heydy Celenia Banegas and Lesbia Ibania Reyes (Lesbia is just 11 years old!) gathered with 139 other students from 16 of the 18 states of Honduras along with 50 teachers (Liliana Galindo Buck, one of our math teachers, was invited to go, also!) to compete in the national math competition!! It was an excellent time and experience for all-- though Heydy and Lesbia did not win any medals, they still were winners!! We were one of the few private institutions to participate. I have to also add that they stayed at a very fancy hotel in La Ceiba—a very rare experience for our students!

Just today, I delivered the last piece of paper to our legal assistant to get final approval for the school to operate!! It has been a huge undertaking that has taken literally hours upon hours of work (to say 100’s of hours might not be that much of an exaggeration!)!! About 6,000 official size pages were delivered to Toribio!!! Sharon Struna did an enormous amount of work—we praise and thank the Lord for her help!! Please pray for favor with the Ministry of Education, that Instituto El Rey will receive speedy approval, which by the way, is needed BEFORE the graduation ceremonies of 17 November, which is exactly one month away!!

Next week the students take their final exams, then there will be no more classes!! There is excitement in the air!!! Some of our students have had a wonderfully successful yearl! It looks like we will end the year with 179 students! What a blessing Instituto El Rey has been to the students, and it is made possible because of your faithfulness to pray; to give financially; to visit and to work; to write letters; to form relationships!!

WE NEED TWO ENGLISH TEACHERS!!!!! Please pray for English teachers!! God has always provided a North American to teach our English classes, and I believe He will do so again next year! If you think you could possibly come to teach English, please let us know soon!! Or maybe you know of someone who might like to teach for a year, let us know, give us their e-mail address and we will contact them!!

There was one bigger item that happened. Earl and I received an invitation to go to an educational forum in La Ceiba hosted by the District Board of Education. Our school made a large “county fair grange” type of exhibit showing the products of the valley in which we live. (They were interviewed by 3 TV stations!!) We found out that the meeting was to “give honor to whom honor is due”. The Board of Education recognized about 10 people for their contribution to education in Honduras . Honor was given to various people from the Governor of the state of Atlántida and to a faithful custodian of an elementary school. Somewhere in between were Earl and Sharon. Indeed, we felt honored to be with and stand with the other Hondurans who believe education changes lives. *_*

We praise and thank the Lord for blessing us with Chris and Sharon Struna, who have made a decision after much prayer to stay until at least June of 2009! Chris has been teaching computers at IER for 4 years now, and it was he who set up the computer lab.; Sharon, his wife, has helped us tremendously in many ways also, one being the student support program here in Honduras . She makes sure we all do our jobs of writing letters in a timely fashion.

Again, we invite any one of you to come for a visit and see what God is doing here through Instituto El Rey to impact the lives of young people here in La Cuenca del Cangrejal!

God bless you and keep you in His care. And now, ”To Gain for the Lamb the Reward of His Sacrifice”, Earl and Sharon Washburn, Administrators, Instituto El Rey

The opening of school and colegio is about to happen
the first week of Feb. Students are scrambling to
secure necessary blood tests and photos and birth
certificates, all necessary to begin the year.
Uniforms, school supplies and back-packs are also
necessary annually. There are numerous children and
teens who do not enroll for lack of funds to outfit
their eductional opportunity. Some just stay at home
and help with the daily work. Others who are old
enough to find work, do so, but rarely return to the
world of studying. There is much illiteracy here,
especially in the forty-and-up age group.

The health clinic and library which were built a year
ago are both very active. Patients come from various
villages and some need to be referred to more
specialized facilities for treatment. A number of
cerebral palsy children benefitted from a physical
therapist from Florida who was down visiting family
over the holidays. Eye patients are referred to a
distant clinic that seeks to help the poor. I am
planning to build another library/clinic complex in an
adjacent village when funds are available. The
proposed clinic will be equipped for dental and eye
care. One lot has been purchased and an adjacent one
is needed for the building site to be of sufficient
size. Some of the needed equipment for the clinic is
available, having been retired from the U.S. If you
or your group have interest in helping with this
one-time building project, or if you are aware of
businesses that would like to help with the literacy
and health needs here in the Third World, please pass
the word. I do not know how to look for grants for
such cause, but perhaps some of you do.

Many students are in need of financial help with their
school year - either a one-time gift, or monthly
correspondence with financial help. My mailing
address is A.P.D. 458, La Ceiba, Honduras, and my
e-mail address is above.

During your times of prayer you may choose to remember
the following:
1. The teens who will be invited to participate in the
weekly discipleship group - tht they would take
seriously their roles as examples and friends to their
fellow students.

2. Amado, in his last year of study, that he would
show responsibility and wisdom in his daily choices.
His daily life, heretofore, has been one of deception.

3. The family of Israel, that some will realize te
emptiness of such intense `living for self`.

4. For so many families rich in good health and
numerous opportunities, that they would realize an
appreciation and love for each other, and the older
siblings set good examples for the younger ones. I
recently explained to some older teens (with numerous
younger siblings) that when I was a young teen I
sincerely wished for my parents to have more children
(for me to help raise). I urged the teens to spend
time with and teach their younger brothers and
sisters, and they would not forever have these
opportunities. I believe that is why I so enjoy my
work - I see them all as my younger brothers and
sissters.

Thanks for reading this. I hope to hear from you.
love, Peter, in Honduras

_________________
Instituto El Rey Annual Report December 2005

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus,

Greetings from a finally sunny Honduras!

There are many scriptures in the Bible that say "...give thanks to God...". I would like to quote one of those scriptures in its entirety, Psalm 100 - in my Bible it is titled "A Psalm for Thanksgiving"; maybe it is entitled the same in yours.
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before Him with joyful singing.
Know that the Lord Himself is God.
It is He who has made us and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Then verse 4 says, Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him; bless His name.
verse 5, For the Lord is good.
His lovinging kindness is everlasting
And HIs faithfulness to all generations.

As I reflect on the events of this past year, I am so grateful to God for His goodness; for His loving kindness, and for His faithfulness to go before us and prepare the way. What a blessing and a wonder it is to behold Him through what He is doing here, in and through Insitituto El Rey!

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving - a day of giving thanks to God for all that He has blessed us with. We hope and pray that you also enjoyed a wonderful day of giving thanks.

During a period of 3 weeks beginning about October 23 we have been pummelled by hurricanes Beta, Wilma and Gamma. It rained about 30 inches during the first two hurricanes, but Hurricane Gamma, which began November 16, became a deluge of about 35 inches causing the rivers near the school to become raging torrents which swept away the nearby bridge isolating the villages of Yaruca, Toncontin, Urraco and others off the main road. These villages represent about 725 families, or about 5, 075 people, who were totally cut off from food supplies for five days until the rivers subsided and allowed some to begin to cross to Rio Viejo. Two churches in La Ceiba brought up food and clothing which we helped distribute. We thank God for all of you who have prayed for the people and for us during this time!

We had the closing ceremony for the school year on November 10. In this ceremony we recognize the top scholars, perfect attendance, the teachers and the parents come to receive the report cards for their students. We started the year with 142 students in the 7th thru 11th grades. Four students left school for various reasons thus giving us a closing total of 138! Of those, 29 received academic excellence with an average of 91% or greater. Six students received our highest award called "sobresaliente". In all their classes they always earned a grade of 91% or higher during the entire school year. (For the higher grades that included non-optional classes as chemistry, physics and statistics.) We had nine students with perfect attendance. Three other students missed perfect attendance by one day because the river was too high to cross.

In the first week of November we had pre-matricula for the coming year. Prospective students and their parents came for an interview with the principal and took a short admission test. We have more than 65 matriculated for the 7th grade, but we have openings for 48 students. It is a bitter-sweet situation.

Our teachers are the key to the "success" of the school! They are Ester Ramirez, our principal, who has been with us for 5 years; Cesar Banegas has also been with us since the beginning and teaches chemistry, physics, biology and general science; our Spanish teacher is Julia Palma; Liliana Buck teaches mathematics and has a master's degree in Finance; Nely Mejia teaches Practical Activities, art and Music; Milvia Corea teaches social studies and civics; Joseph Medina teaches computer classes and physical education; Damaris Martinez teaches math, accounting and Bible; and David Fortin teaches social studies, Spanish, Bible and Music. Nely and Damaris were born here in the valley and have returned to work in this ministry. These are our Honduran teachers.

We have volunteer teachers - Chris Struna has been developing and teaching the computer program for the past two years. Susie Substad and her family have been helping at the school this past year. While she taught English her husband taught the carpentry class and her 4 children helped in various ways at the school. Kimberley Roelofs from Minneapolis helped out for a month, and Mike Seger, a teacher from our home in Maple Valley came to teach for two month during the summer. Jennifer Morgan who was with us the end of last year and this year taught English, music, physical education and cooked lunches for our teachers. And then there is us - administrators. We also teach English, Bible, art, math and a physics lab.

So there you have it. A mixture of people bringing their talents, personality and creativity saying "Use me, Lord". What a blessing each one has been in this ministry to the students!

By the way, next year we will need another science teacher and one, if not two, English teachers. Perhaps God is calling you to one of these needs!

The cost this year to operate the school was about $78,000. God has miraculously supplied what was needed through the years! Thank you so much for your generous giving, giving to the scholarship program and praying for Instituto El Rey.

We hope you have a most wonderful and blessed Christmas as you celebrate the birth of Jesus.

God bless you.

And now - "To gain for the Lamb the reward of His sacrifice", Earl and Sharon Washburn, Administrators of Instituto El Rey.

i walked to the city today, a two hour walk, in order to buy food and communicate with you. a few folks near me have lost their mud house, due to the rain. a few
have lost their roofs due to the wind. if any of you are interested in helping any of these folks with their losses, you can post a comment or write to me at A.P.D 458, La Ceiba, Honduras.
will write more later
with love, Peter Johnson, Honduras

Another to pray for is Alberto, who is working on
construction at present, but wants to get back to
studying with the new year in February. Pray that he
will keep his objectives in mind with his daily
decisions, and also be able to find a colegio with
space for him. He needs Jesus, but does not see that
at this point.

Milton is the sixteen-yr-old who lives with me and
broke his arm badly a few weeks ago. His interest in
studying is not great, but he plods along and is
trying to re-adjust with his repaired, but very sore
and out- of-practice arm. His favorite older brother
has again surfaced to be in trouble of various sorts
(he gravitates to it consistently with his arrogant,
superior attitude). he wants someone to bail him out
in some form, but I have refused as he will only
return with more vigor to his òther life`. this is his
modus operandum. pray that milton and his family will
eventually understand that the best way to love this
brother is to let him fail and be responsible for the
consequences of his behavior. they have had many
opportunities to learn this, but have instead joined
forces to help each other continue to fail.

Alfredo left yesterday headed for the U.S. with a
friend. this is a very common occurrence here, for
folks to try to get to the U.S. by just travelling any
way they can and without any visa or passport or any
legal papers at all. many get caught and get returned,
but enough get through to give the rest the initiative
to try. there are many families here with someone in
the states `helping`them financially to some extent.

On Sunday afternoon, after the weekly Bible study with
the discipleship group, we will share a meal in order
to celebrate the birthday of the woman who directs the
colegio and also assists each week with the
discipleship group.

thank you each for your interest and your prayers for
my friends here in Honduras. I always enjoy hearing
from you.
much love, peter

In mid-March we announced again that up to 15 boys who ran a half marathon course along our mountainous dirt road in less than two hours would qualify to go to "El Maraton de La Prensa," the most prestigious race in all of Honduras.

So the boys started running a little here and there. And beginning in April I went to IER every Thursday during PE class to lead the interested boys in their running. We discussed how much to run, diet, stride and form, and spiritual parallels to running. And we ran together. Most days there were the typical junior high boy complaints, the "I cant's" and the "I'm sick's." But I would ask them “What do you really want?” And we would quote together "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Then the day of the time trial arrived, and I thought we might have five or six boys qualify. If the steamy 95 F and 85% humidity, and the rocky, mountainous 13.1-mile course was intimidating to me, a seasoned marathon runner, I wondered what was going through the minds of these boys. I encouraged them to run as brothers and not as competitors against each other, that in pairs they would encourage one another when each wanted to give up. The goal I told them was to love each other as one team in their running, and to dig down into themselves and see what really calls the shots in their lives when things get tough. Was it their body and its desires or their inner man that united with God’s Spirit trusts and obeys our Heavenly Father?

At 8 a.m. the gun went off, with Jay and Ryan escorting us in two trucks, one to provide drinks in front and the other to pick up the stragglers. The boys ran well. In fact they surprised us all. There were the three front runners, David, Lesbin, and Denis who ran the whole way as a group and crossed the line in 1:39. In fact most of the boys paired up in groups and encouraged each other. Duani, who ran in long pants and cheap tennis shoes, crossed the line in about 1:44. He announced in front of all his teammates, I would have given up if it had not been for Fernando here who encouraged me to keep going. The two ran the last mile hand in hand. Then there was Kevin who at the last minute decided to race the time trial even though he had not trained for it. Many times he felt like quitting, and began to walk on several occasions. But Ryan was there with the truck to give him a little toot with the horn, to say, "You can do it!" So Kevin kept on keeping on until he crossed the line in 1:54, last of the qualifiers, dead tired, but delighted to be headed to San Pedro Sula. Fourteen out of 18 runners qualified.

Now, on Saturday, June 25th the boys and I will travel to San Pedro Sula to run along side of about 1,400 runners from Honduras, Latin and North America. For some of them it will be the first time in the most modern and industrial city of Honduras. With crowds of people lining the streets to cheer them on, these boys and I will push ourselves once again. We may not win a gold medal, but we will proclaim to ourselves and to a world that has little idea they even exist, who they really are, beautiful creations and redeemed sons of God.

Thank you for helping make my life here possible by your prayers and support. Please continue to pray that God’s life and love would be the one thing revealed in and through me.

on Sunday i was walking near the school to take jimi back to his mom when a box truck came down the road from el pital and crashed into the little bridge near the school . the guy was drunk and destroyed the truck- ripped the front wheels right off and also the bottom of the motor as there was oil everywhere. i
sizable piece of cement from the bridge flew down the road and landed near where we were walking. the guy got out and walked around the truck and then got back in and tried to start the truck!ª!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello?!?!?!?!
on Sat . night just below the bridge at the bottom of the hill, two groups of men were at odds with each other and they stopped all traffic and walkers in both directionis for some time, armed with guns. larry and ryan and the substads were coming home from celebrating mothers day in ceiba and folks from las mangas were walking home from church in el naranjo. after some time they were allowed to pass without any shooting.
the church here near the campus is growing again. the new pastor and family are very nice, common, orrdinary friendly folks. four kids. folks who had left the
church long ago and over the past year, have tried it out and now attend regularly.
milton´s mom is sick again and so goes today for more tests. his niece who llost her arm last year in the assault in front of my house went to the hosp. in
teguc. to get an artificial arm, but she does not like it and so does not use it. she wanted one with fingers and the woman paying for it would only pay for one
with a pincer-type thing at the end.
jimi is growing and changing. will send some photos.
hope you both are doing well and feeling better.
much love, peter
For more pics, head to http://christruna.myphotoalbum.com/