Merendon Mountain Mission

Back In Honduras

2009-12-06T15:31:09Z

Dear friends and family,

We arrived back to Honduras on Wednesday. The staff gave us a wonderful welcome home! There have been some problems obtaining my residency card. I was so grateful to God for allowing me to return without any problems. Thursday, I rested and worked on getting the house organized. Toby has been talking with the ministers and studying.

Yesterday was a very busy day. Our guard and Anabel accompanied me on errands. I saw a few patients at the clinic. Only the people from the Penitas church knew the clinic was open. We wanted to get everything organized so we can start with a "normal" schedule on Monday. So we paid bills, picked up mail, went to immigration for my residency card, and of course we had to get Christmas lights. I don't know who has been worse the staff or the kids with getting the Christmas tree and lights up. As soon as I walked in the door, we were putting up the Christmas treeJ

Monday everything will go back to normal. Toby has talked to the Institute students. They will start on Monday. While in the states we were able to find a lot of books to help Toby in teaching the men. Toby's goal has always been to bring the ministers in Honduras together in theology and giving them study tools. We have a lot of books now to do that. The clinic will reopen on Monday full time. Homeschooling will also begin again. Today, hopefully all that material will be organized. On the personal side of things I have been hives free for 6 weeks! The girls were able to take swimming lessons and progressed very well. Sarah's speech greatly improved.

Our time in the states was extremely profitable in all the things we learned. We attend our first home school convention, North American Christian Convention, Hillsboro Family Camp, Creation Institute Leadership conference, Global Medical Conference, and National Missionary Convention. We loved visiting with many of you. Toby was able to visit with many people who are and will be a great encouragement to the ministry here. The National Missionary Convention was an excellent place for contacts and supplies for the Institute.

The political situation has now stabilized. Elections were last Sunday. Just having the elections is an incredible miracle. Some people went hungry to keep their democracy since the US cut off all aid to Honduras. Please pray that Honduras can now rebuild and have a peaceful future.

We ask for your prayers for the Institute as it gets started. Please pray for Leonel as he started a new church plant that recently begun church services in Los Caminos. He had 5 people rededicate their lives and one baptism last week. Pray that more men will be interested in attending the Bible Institute. Many people have been very sick in the mountain so I will need wisdom on how to treat them. We thank you for your prayers and continued support.

May God bless you,

Toby and Amy Hill

Pray for Les Melton

2009-10-15T01:12:35Z

This is the latest update on Les Melton. Please pray for him and his family and pass this on to those who will pray. He has taken a turn for the worse. "Les' condition has not improved ... Charlene is having a difficult time. #1 Pray for the doctor that he will do what is best for Les and help get him evacuated ASAP. #2 Pray for the insurance company ...th...at they will get what they need from the doctor and make the right decisions.

Thank you,

Amy

P.S. Les Melton is a missionary based out of San Pedro Sula, Honduras. He fell sometime Friday/Saturday from the roof of a construction site. They think he may have been electrocuted since the latter was still standing. It may have been 24 hours before he was found and up to 48 hours before treated.

Itinerary and Update 10/11/09

2009-10-14T09:53:53Z

We apologize for it being so long since we last wrote. It has been a busy summer visiting around 20 some churches, attending conferences, conventions, and other things. We are pleased to tell you that we will be sending out snail mail updates on a monthly basis. You should be receiving your first one soon. We are still in the U.S. due to the political situation in Honduras. We have several friends who have political connections who have advised us to wait until after the November 29^th elections. I just made our reservations to go back on December 2^nd so hopefully things will be cleared up by then. We are very homesick and ready to get back to work.

We plan on using our time here to visit individuals and churches. We also want to attend the National Missionary Convention. Toby may be attending a Leadership Conference as well. He plans to go back to Honduras, for five days, to get some needed work done at the end of October. I have started to home school our children. They are enjoying getting to experience the states in a way they never have before due to intense traveling. I have been having significant health problems since my anaphylactic shock in February. So I am undergoing testing to find out what is causing everything. Please pray they figure it out and I can be completely healed. We look forward to visiting with some of you whom we haven't gotten to see yet.

We have had 30 baptisms this year plus one that occurred today. The San Antonio church is bursting at the seams. They are doing an excellent job with evangelism! If you have not seen our video, written by our staff, just let us know so we can send you one. Leonel found a house to rent in Dos Caminos for $15 a month. He is moving out there now to live full time. The mountain people are really missing the clinic. Financial hardships are occurring so many of them can't afford any other care. Please pray for them that they would be healthy and find food to eat.

Please pray for our good missionary friend Les Melton. He fell yesterday from the roof of a construction project in a very rural area. They don't know how long it happened before someone found him. He was found unconscious and vomiting. They found he has a fractured skull. I don't know if he has regained consciousness yet. They are transporting him by ambulance to Managua, Nicaragua. From there they hope to evacuate him to the U.S. for medical care. Please pray that the Lord will heal him completely as well as for his family.

We thank you for your continued support and prayers. Please continue to lift up the political situation in Honduras. The stores in the mountain have very little food. It is hard to come by money due to the political situation. The public schools have not been in session for 2 months and have just decided to shut down for the school year. The political problems are significantly affecting everyone's lives. We will be housing sitting for one of our supporters Dave Burns. We are so thankful to him and his wife for opening their home. So the best way to contact us will be by email.

May God bless you,

Toby and Amy Hill

Instability in Honduras; Amy's Ear Infection

2009-09-24T11:06:45Z

Some of you may not know that Mel Zelaya, ex president of Honduras, snuck into Honduras in the truck of a diplotmat on Monday. An immediate curfew was placed in Honduras. Our staff didn't have any food available. All of Honduras is suffering because of the sanctions that the US has taken against her. So we have been on the phone talking with various individuals in the states as well as Honduras. I think that we have things worked out. The main problem will be our staff getting ahold of money since many people will be taking out a lot with Mel being back in Country. Jim Webster and Paul Redwine approved that we used our judgement in helping our staff. There is talk of bringing in UN troops to keep the peace. Please don't believe any of the lies you hear on CNN, CBS, ABC or any of those type of networks. It is peaceful overall in Honduras as far as politically. The majority of Hondurans don't want Mel back in power. I could go on but I will stop at that. I don't watch them but have been informed that the lies are pretty blantant. Some of the "protest" you see on these networks is the long line waiting to get into the grocery store.

We talked with Marvin and Aracely(Honduran staff), Jim Webster, Paul Redwine tonight plus input from various family members on both sides. The common theme we are getting from these individuals is you might want to think about going back until it is safer. Our current plane tickets are for October 13th. We probably won't make a definite decision until it is closer to that time but we are definitely thinking of staying until the November 29th elections are over especially since Mel is telling people give me back the country or die(Aracely told us that). Please keep Honduras in your prayers and our staff. Aracely at least since that is who I talked to is very stressed. I am assuming everyone else is too.

On another note. I have a severe middle ear infection. The doctor felt that my tympanic membrane will rupture. I can only sleep upright because the pain is so bad. I am back on antibiotics. Every time I have taken them I have a reaction since the February anaphalactic shock. So please pray that the antibiotics will work and there will be no reaction. I will close for now but we are beginning to plan to stay here til after the elections and maybe after that depending on the situation.

Thanks for all your prayers,

Toby and Amy

Update on Amy

2009-02-27T17:02:56Z

I went the pneumologist this morning. Unfortunately they had no electricity which sent me into an asthma attack. Thankfully, she prescribed lots of wonderful drugs that will help me to start to breath more easily. I can't walk very far without getting short of breath and talking is out for the most part because I get short of breath as well. Those who know me that shows how sick I am...if I can't talk. I am still pretty itchy all over. I am pretty tired and worn out. I am typing this before Toby comes home and finds me out of bed:) I am thankful for our awesome staff who is coming together to help us out. I will send this and go back and get some more rest.

Thank you for all the prayers. They are very appreciated.

Amy

Back Home

2009-01-06T13:13:55Z

Dear friends and family,

We arrived home on Saturday. It is great to be home. We were very grateful it was sunny and the roads are dry since all our staff had been telling us it had been raining nonstop and that the roads are horrible. There are 2 ½ foot ruts but at least the road is dry.

We had wonderful reports from our staff. The Penitas church had 100 people in attendance on New Year's Eve service and the San Antonio church had 200 people. The church was full on Sunday. It was hard to find a place to sit (what a wonderful problem!) Leonel report that the 3 groups meeting in homes are doing well. He would like to our guard with him on the weekend so evangelize since Orlando has to work a lot. Toby was able to talk with each of the ministers by Sunday morning and get updates. Toby and Leonel have been discussing the Bible Institute the last couple of days. There are several young men with families interested in attending but at this time the mission cannot afford to support large young families. There are several older individuals who are interested so Toby and Leonel will be meeting with them today. The idea right now to work on the older men and train them.

Yesterday the clinic reopened. Sunday, a young man in his last year of medical school called to see if he could come up to help at the clinic. We enjoy having him. I was really surprised to have 21 patients. Usually, it starts off really slow. I guess a lot of people wanted to be seen before the rain comes back. We were able to get the ultrasound set up. I am slowly figuring how to use it.

We appreciate your support and encouragement in 2008. We pray that you will have a blessed 2009.

May God bless you,

Tob and Amy Hill