Monday, November 3, 2008

Newsletter October 2008
Ron and Susan Naish
International Christian Hospice

“Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and forever.”

We hope to bring you encouraging words from the Living Word and from our hearts. This is a tumultuous time in history for our country and our entire world. Our natural response is fear when things seen out of control. We are tempted to turn our focus onto ourselves and find ourselves wringing our hands in worry. We need to turn our thoughts to the One we have placed our faith in, whether in good times or bad. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me ALL the days of my life.” These words from scripture are not only for the good days, or only on the days when we feel secure. There have been many times of uncertainty and chaos since our world began but God is not caught off guard. His sovereignty and power have not wavered. We need to ask ourselves what we are really trusting in. As believers we have a steadfast Rock, an anchor in the midst of the storm-Christ Jesus our Lord! Right now is a wonderful opportunity for us to return to our faith personally and nationally!

We must not let fear immobilize us or turn us inward! The condition of people around the world has not changed nor our Lord’s passion for them to know Him. The governments and economics of most developing countries are in chaos and near collapse everyday. People in these countries live with these conditions in their normal, daily lives. It is nothing new to be on the brink of disaster at the whim of their government’s corruption and greed. Millions live not only in national crisis but in personal crisis facing death and eternity with no answers. God’s commission to us has not changed to bring His message of hope, comfort and peace through International Christian Hospice. We see this as a time of stretching ourselves in greater faith to follow Him through the many open doors before us.

There is so much to share with you about the past three months of ministry. God has kept us on the edge of our faith-seat as we have seen Him work His wonders. We flew back to Central America in late July. Our car was stored with friends in Sequatepeque, Honduras (we will be back to Sequat. again in our story), and we saddled up for the first leg of ministry which took us to Guatemala. Our plan was to spend a week working with Dr. Sergio Castillo in a small village called Chocola in the tropical, and very hot coastal highlands. It was our honor to host the Ballard family, from our home church Biltmore Baptist in Asheville. Paul, a Physician’s Assistant and Kathy, a Family Nurse Practicianer worked along side Dr. Sergio to provide medical care in his Hospital Cristiano daily clinics.

Their two daughters, Carter and Caroline, helped to conduct VBS for over 50 chilren. The small hospital was the perfect setting for 30 Pastors and church leaders to attend our ICH training. This region of Guatemala includes four indigenous Indian groups. During our week here Dr. Sergio performed a successful surgery on a young man from a remote Tzutujil village four hours walk away. This young man named Manuel, in his mid-twenties, works for a coffee plantation picking and carrying 100 lb. bags out of the mountains for .80 cents a day. Dr. Sergio told us that he had never seen such a large and painful hernia as this man had. We were honored to join Dr. Sergio as he prayed with Manuel and with his small family clan who accompanied him. Later Manuel asked Dr. Sergio “which god did you pray to for me?” Dr. Sergio told him about the Most High God who loves him. Manuel told Dr. Sergio and Paul that in his village they worshipped many gods but “now I have seen the power of Sergio’s One True God”. Please pray for this family and for this unreached village who have been introduced for the first time to the Gospel. Pray for Dr. Sergio as he offers healing of the body and the soul as he treats more than 10,000 people a year.
While in Chocola, we also had the privilege of spending time praying and counseling with a very distraught couple. They are grieving the loss of their daughter-in-law and grandchild in childbirth. They were barely able to hold the family together in the midst of their anger and depression. We shared with them the normal stages of grief that they were experiencing, and also some practical things they can do to help their son and grandson. Psalm 139 spoke God’s reassurances to them and we saw a transformation in their faces. They told us that “now we know that God really does still love us and we can keep going, one day at a time”.
After this time of ministry we began to discuss with Dr. Sergio a common dream. He is interested in opening a Hospice unit within his hospital. This would be the first like this in Guatemala and could meet the needs of people who are dying and have nowhere to be cared for. Please pray for God’s direction and future hospice plans in Chocola.


The next chapter of our work in August took us back to Honduras. An ICH training team arrived to work with us for a week of seminars in the capital city Tegucigalpa and also in the small town of Sequatepeque, which we mentioned earlier. Don and Sue Smith were the team leaders accompanied by Linda Gill, RN and Beverly Decker all from Lexington Baptist Church in S.C. Our hospice training this week began at the Evangelical Hospital with 50+ health promoters who provide healthcare and education in villages all over central Honduras. We were thrilled that these nationals will take the new knowledge of Christian Hospice care and minister to hundreds we could never reach. Another “divine appointment” we had was to meet the General Physician, Dr. Manuel, and learn of his desire to open a hospice unit in this hospital. We are in awe of God giving us this second contact with His people of like mind and vision! There is more to come about this.
Before this week was over God had given us ministry opportunities with 14 different churches, a group of 26 teachers and staff of a Christian school, 2 large elementary school assemblies, several personal counseling and home visits. And as always, we received many invitations to other churches and other towns. This ICH team has truly experienced the eagerness these people have for learning about hospice. They are making plans to return and continue the work early next year.

The last week of August we drove down to Nicaragua and were hosted in their home in Leon by Mike and Maria Saeli, missionaries with Nehemiah Institute, for 5 days. We are blessed with these new friends, who are a delight and inspiration to us! Maria, who had been a hospice nurse in the U.S., accompanied us to the Chinandega area where we presented ICH training to a group of Pastors and church leaders at Bethel Christian Center. In this northern part of Nicaragua many of the men who have been sugar cane field workers are dying of renal failure. Some of them attended our seminar. We also were able to visit in the home of Aleandro who is 31 and his wife Maria, who live in a small Village named Bethel. He told us his story that he was diagnosed with renal failure 6 years ago and gave his heart to Christ 1 year ago. He showed us a photo of him with his brother two days before his brother’s death from renal disease. He spoke of his concern for his two children and wife because he knows he has only months to live. We encouraged him in the knowledge that he has given them the ultimate gift in His example and legacy of faith in Christ. His wife expressed her gratitude, through tears, for our visit and for praying for their family.
God has brought us into Nicaragua to plant the seeds of Christian Hospice and we pray for more opportunities and for more workers to return and water these seeds for the Lord of the harvest.

On September 2nd we traveled to the central part of Nicaragua and met our second ICH team from Lexington Baptist in S.C. We have been so blessed by the partnership we have received from our friends at Lexington. Chuck McCurry was the team leader, accompanied by Margaret Taylor, Shari Phillips, RN and Joyce Turpin. Our thanks to Mike and Joan Vilasi who are missionaries in the small southern town of Rivas. Through their efforts arrangements were made with local believers for a very full and fruitful training schedule. God allowed us to work in some beautiful, but needy locations.
We began by crossing Lake Nicaragua by ferry to the island of Ometepe. On a little side note of interest, this is the only fresh water lake in the world with sharks. Ometepe is made up of twin volcanoes and jungle and is home to about 30,000 people. We spent two days in presenting hospice training to Pastors and church leaders on both sides of the island. God had another divine appointment for us. Pastor Dennis hosted our training in his church, New Jerusalem, then requested that we visit someone with him. He led us down a path through a banana grove and behind a small house to a small, thatched lean-to, home of Alberto. He requires lifting and much assistance just to get dressed and out of the bed. Due to his severe, advanced arthritis Alberto experiences constant pain, depression and other related problems. We discussed some comfort measures and diet plan, gave him some Tylenol and although we encouraged him with scripture and prayer we felt so inadequate as we left. One thing God reminded us of is that Alberto is precious to Him and He called us to that remote spot to bring His touch through our hands. We later learned of a Christian MD who has a clinic on the island and the Vilasis will be working with her to provide care for Alberto.
Back in Rivas we gave a two day seminar in Rain of Grace Church. And rain it did! This is the rainy season and the church was flooded and mud filled the day before we were scheduled. But thankfully the sun came out and church members spent hours cleaning and drying the floor. Many different churches were represented by Pastors and church leaders as well as community leaders and Dr. Aguilar, who is the Director of the public Hospital of Rivas. An amazing discussion took place that day. God brought two specific Pastors and Dr. Aguilar together with us, each of us having the common dream of opening a Christian Hospice facility in Rivas. This was neither preplanned nor expected but I am sure God smiled as we talked excitedly together. Plans began that day for the Christian community and the Medical community to join in ministering to the homeless and needy who are dying. Only our great God could orchestrate this, our third such development in Central America in a matter of weeks, bringing the right people together sharing our vision for hospice. Please pray with us over this third possible opportunity to partner with the national Christians in Central America in Hospice facility ministry.

Before we left Nicaragua our team presented training at the Nehemiah Institute in Managua. 20+ people who are ministering in a huge variety of ways now have received training in hospice care. Our dear missionary friend, Maria Saeli from Leon attended this seminar and boldly told us she would like continue presenting ICH training in the northern region of Nicaragua. Her love for the Nicaraguans and her heart for hospice in Jesus’ name have inspired her. Within days of our leaving Central America we got an email from Maria. She and another missionary, Angi Hopkins, are presenting the training in a church who heard about us but their members could not come when we were there. How we praise God that He is at work in a far greater way than we could have ever imagined!

As we promised, we would like to make one more mention of Sequatepeque. Once again we are storing our car in this town in the heart of Honduras while we are in the U.S. Since we began to work in Central America almost 5 years ago we have felt that one day God would establish a central place for an ICH office. Please pray with us as we are considering this town as our base from which we, and our teams, could easily travel to any Central American country. We are also praying for a national Christian to help us staff this office. For now this is only in the projection stage because we are still awaiting our non-profit status. We are told by the lawyer that it is possible that we will have it by January 2009. In the meantime, we can accept donations for ICH and will give tax receipts as soon as possible.

We hope that you have taken the time to read about our busy ministry over the past three months. Even in light of the difficult economic times for us personally, and we know for many of you, we know that God’s work will continue in His time. He has been our faithful provider and He promises to complete His work in us. Our prayer for you is that you will earnestly seek to know Him and to make Him known!


Our notebooks and calendar are full of contacts and places who have requested ICH training. We feel that we have only scratched the surface. The nations are calling! Our brothers and sisters in the faith are calling to us for the knowledge and tools which we have available at our fingertips. “How can I face death and grief? Does God really care that I am suffering?” These questions haunt us from conversations we have had in a stark, hospital ward in Honduras, in a thatched roof home in Guatemala, beside a hammock bed in Nicaragua, or in a dirt-floored shack in many third world countries.