Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)
These are exciting times we are living in. You just never know what the next day will bring.
As some of you are probably experiencing restrictions of movement in your area, you can probably understand what we are feeling here, what it is like having to stay home and not leave the house. All I can say is, the house is cleaner and more organized than it has ever been (a lot of time to do things over and over again). Also, we have not pulled our hair out or gone crazy yet (Gene’s hair was gone before this event started).
Starting in mid March, restrictions were put in place for all of Honduras and have gotten tighter each week. This week, week 4 for our town, we are allowed to be out one day a week, according to the last number of our identification number, to go to the grocery stores, pharmacy and/or bank and must wear a face-mask while out. The grocery store & pharmacies will deliver but it does take time (and usually you are missing a few things or it is different from what you actually wanted) . A couple of restaurants deliver during the daytime, only. One of our friends does not drive or have a car so Gene was able to take her to the doctor and grocery store. But, no more than 2 people are allowed in a car at one time.
During week 3 of the toque de queda (curfew) as I was talking with another missionary, we decided to see what we could do to help our communities. Everything has been shut down and most people here live from day to day. There is no such thing as a savings account to rely on. If you do not work today, you do not eat tomorrow. People with no money and little to no food have to be getting hungry and desperate. We got in touch with the mayor’s office and found out they were distributing food to people in need and they could use some help. The operation is very organized. Each community here has a leader elected by the community. These leaders work with the mayor’s office to identify the amount of food and supplies needed for each community. The Honduran government is supplying some food, soaps and toilet paper to cities with relief agencies but the bulk items needed 
to be divided into smaller quantities, bagged and distributed. They also needed more of everything. That is when we sent out a message to ask you, our friends and partners, for help. We praise God for all of you who have prayed and those who have sent in donations! Together with other ministries here in La Esperanza, we have been able to supply food bags to 50 families each week and hope to continue doing so until this is over. Each bag should last a family of 5 one to two weeks. From our own kitchen, we were also able to make relief bags for two of our neighbors. We pray and ask God to multiply the food so that each person can be fed. (Click this LINK to see more photos from the Community Relief Project.)
If you feel you would like to help with this project, you can send your donations for the Community Relief project to the contact information listed at the bottom of the newsletter. Please designate on your donation “Community Relief”. One bag of food cost $15 and feeds a family of five for one to two weeks. The bags include; rice, beans, salt, margarine, coffee, flour, corn flour, chicken broth, lard, tomato sauce, toilet paper and washing soap. To date, we have provided 100 bags to be delivered. Over 2000 bags of food have been delivered since the mayor’s office started delivering. We have assisted in delivery for the last two weeks and plan to continue as long as needed.
This is how this crazy story began for us this month. We had been away from home for a couple of weeks, the end of January and the beginning of February, ministering in La Ceiba which was great fun and a lot of work so we took a couple of days to rest, wash clothes and refocus on our life in La Esperanza. (You can read about the La Ceiba ministry work in last month’s NEWSLETTER) Our food shelves were getting low and we had wanted to get a grill for quite a while, Gene’s parents had given us money for a grill last year but we 
had not found one we really wanted at the right price. So, we set our minds on going to buy a grill and groceries in the larger city, San Pedro Sula, three hours away. As we were looking at Facebook a young man posted that he needed a ride from San Pedro Sula back to Siguatepeque, the city we lived in when we first arrived in Honduras. We decided to give him a ride back since we were going that way. We got up early on Wednesday, March 11 and set out for our destination. Leaving our house at 6:15 am, the sun was rising and the sky was blue, what a beautiful morning. Once there we went to a large hardware store but didn’t find a grill so we went to a large variety store and there it was; we were thrilled! Nothing fancy but very similar to one we had in Georgia and at an affordable price! God is good! This store was in a mall with a grocery store so we purchased the grill, put it in the truck and went grocery shopping. We stocked up because it is usually a couple of months before we get back to a store with name brand items we are used to. Then we went to the food court and ate lunch at Burger King. Yes, I know it is not a healthy meal but every now and then a taste from home is very satisfying. Next on our agenda was a visit to Pricesmart (Honduran version of Costco or Sam’s club) to purchase some meat for the grill. As we drove up to Pricesmart we noticed the parking lot was full, it was around noon so we didn’t think too much about it. As we started driving into the parking lot, we noticed it
was completely full, no empty spaces, cars parked on the curbs, on the grass, everywhere and cars lined up in front of us looking for a parking space. People pushing carts of groceries from the store could not even get to their cars because the lot was so crowded. People parked their shopping carts where they could and carried their items across the parking lot to their car. Then they returned for another arm full until the cart was empty. This was puzzling, why were so many people here? We decided to leave, it took over 1 hour to enter, circle once and leave the parking lot but we finally made it. A little disappointed that we did not get meat to cook on the new grill, we drove over and picked up the young man we were carrying back to his home. We had a pleasant drive back and called it a successful trip as we arrived back home around 6:00 pm with our new grill. When Gene contacted our missionary friend to let him know we couldn’t get into Pricesmart and couldn’t get the items he wanted, we found out that a case of the corona virus was confirmed in Honduras that morning. Quickly, by noon, fear had spread and people started panicking. We now understood the rush on Pricesmart (and why everyone coming out had toilet paper).
Oh yes, schools have been shut down since the start of all of this. Most private schools require students to have a computer so classes have continued on-line for private schools. Gene has been able to teach his Bible classes each Tuesday using Zoom video conferencing. Most students seem to be enjoying the on-line classes.
I think it is amazing that this all happened during the season of Passover, lent, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday! The ole devil is not very smart. It is during this time believers are more focused on God than any other time of the year. Also, during this time, many non-believers pause to think about the death of Jesus. I believe more prayers have been prayed, more people have turned their attention to God and God has worked more miracles than we will ever know. We may never understand why this virus was taken so seriously by our leaders, why all the restrictions were put in place, why so many people got sick or why some had to die but we must trust that God will direct our paths, give us caring hearts for the lost and hurting and lead us on to victory (we are already more than conquerors in Christ)! Our God is an awesome God!
Gene & Robin Willis
If the Lord leads you to support our ministry financially, all gifts are tax deductible and should be mailed to:
Heart of the King Ministries
115 Creden Pl
Alabaster, AL. 35007
Checks should be made payable to Heart of the King Ministries.
If you would like to use a credit or debit card or your PayPal account,
PayPal is available on our website at this LINK.
Click this LINK to view our Honduras photo galleries (newer photos appear toward the bottom of the individual galleries).
