Love disguised as a concrete floor

I had the wonderful opportunity to help with the medical brigade on Tuesday. I wanted to share a little about another element we are adding to the brigades. The local church picks a family from the congregation and we have a small construction team from the brigade go and pour concrete floors in their house. Most people here in Honduras have only dirt floors. The dirt here is teeming with bacteria and of course just imagine the respiratory problems that the family and little children have. The family we worked with on Monday and Tuesday were Rigo and Maria. They have three adorable children and another on the way. The also live with there with her mother and aunt in a house that is smaller than your typical front porch in the US. Now the medical brigades in themselves are touching, but to see the effect on the team members when they are in a small 10x20ft shack of mud and boards and you can remove the family's entire possessions in one armful, that is powerful. And the family is there also, so the team members get up close and personal with another of God's children, who just so happens to live in Honduras. And when you are looking into their eyes and their heart, you are humbled and moved to action. So can God's love be seen in a concrete floor? Does that small little thing make a world of difference to a Honduran family? If you looked into Maria's eyes on Tuesday, you would know that the answer is a resounding yes.

----Alan
(I will try and have some of the team members email the pictures that they took so that I can post them on here)

A story about WGO Founder Allen Dansforth

We wanted to share a story about Allen Dansforth, the founder of WGO. It shows the heart of a true man of God.

This is in the form of two emails. The first one is from Dana relating the story that she heard and the second part a reply from Steve Razor, a missionary with WGO.

Dana's original email: Hello everyone, hope you are all doing well. I just wanted to share a story that our neighbor Terri Riley shared with me the other day. Weekend before last she and her husband were conducting a youth retreat for about 150 youth in Zepate (on the road to Olancho). There was a pulperia right outside of Proyecto Victoria that she had to visit for more supplies. There was a sweet little old lady there who asked Terri where she was from. After she told the woman that she was from Tegus, the woman asked her if she had ever met of Allen Danforth. Terri told her that she got to meet him one time at the Mission House. The little old lady proceeded to tell Terri that her daughter was born deaf and mute and that Allen had arranged a scholarship for her daughter to study in the States. Her daughter is now a missionary for the deaf.

Terri couldn't remember the girls name but she made a comment on how sometimes in our lifetime as missionaries we won't get to see the fruit of our work but it's encouraging to us now to see the fruit of Allen's work. I thought it was a great to hear how Allen's compassion and efforts for this young girl are now being used to further God's kingdom.



Steve's Reply: This young lady is Aura Diaz. She is working with Christy Owen (formerly with WGO's Deaf Ministry) here in Tegucigalpa. WGO launched Christy and New Life Deaf Ministry about 5 years ago and it is now an independent 501 (c)(3) ministry based in Little Rock.

Aura lived in Little Rock for several years with a family by the name of Ernie and Barbara Northup. This arrangement was set up by Allen when he lived in Little Rock. Ernie Northup is also deaf and now a member of the board of directors at New Life Deaf Ministry.

Aura was married here in Tegucigalpa 2 or 3 years ago to a young deaf man. Aura is a supported missionary and her husband works in Tegucigalpa. They had a baby a year or 2 ago.


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