International Christian Hospice: February 2008

News letter International Christian Hospice
January 30, 2008
Ron and Susan Naish

Welcome again to our blogspot updating you on our latest ICH news. We are so thankful for your interest and prayers for our ministry. We pray God’s blessing and direction in your life for this New Year!

We had several weeks in the U.S. over the holidays and enjoyed some great time with family and friends and now we have returned to Latin America for Ministry.

MMI Intl. Dir. Brian, Elizabeth Saunarine , Directors Training

On January 6 Ron flew to Peru for a mission conference with Medical Missions International (MMI). We met their Director of Integrated Health, Elizabeth Saunarine, in November when we presented ICH training at the MMI hospital in Dominican Republic. She invited us to come to the international conference in Peru and Ron presented our ICH training seminar to MMI directors and staff from 7 countries. Ron also had the opportunity to offer the same two day ICH training in a large Catholic church in down town Arequipa. There were 17 attendees from the Catholic Church and a priest from the Anglican Church. These opportunities to present hospice training in both locations, has opened doors for ICH to expand into Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. A big thanks for the MMI team and Directors Brian and Elizabeth for the invitation to present the ICH training to their staff. Please pray for discernment of God’s plan and timing for us to begin work in these countries.

On January 11 Susan flew to Honduras to meet Ron, who flew from Peru, for ministry work in Central America. Sarah Workman, the author and artist who wrote our children’s book God’s Plan, accompanied Susan and she is working with us for a few weeks. She is such a blessing because of her excellent Spanish and her compassion for people and missions. Sarah received her master’s degree in Art Education in December. Please pray with her as she seeks God’s direction for her future.

Sarah Teaching Children´s Book below.

Tag less car after one year.
Pastor Francisco, Blanca & baby,

Our first few days in Honduras involved some of the practical issues of life for us in Central America. We hope you remember our story of January ’07 when we drove down from N.C. with our new ministry vehicle, a 2001 Ford Escape. In February ‘07 we registered it in Honduras and applied for tags (they require one on the front and the rear). We were told that there were none in the country. We have been waiting for a year for their arrival along with thousands of other drivers of tag less cars. Ron drove to the city of our registration only to be issued a cardboard provisional tag. Still no metal tags in Honduras. This provisional tag, now proudly displayed in the front window, allows us legal passage over the roads in Honduras but we cannot go across country borders until we have the official metal tags in place. We heard a rumor today that the tags may be issued the first week of February and if you do not pick them up on time you will be substantially fined. So we have developed plan A, B and C. We are scheduled to travel to Nicaragua in February so (A) Susan may travel on alone by bus (ahhh…fond memories of early days of ministry in Central America!) to get the ministry going while Ron remains in Honduras, continuing to inquire daily at the tag office. Or (B) we may both travel by bus to Nicaragua leaving the car in Tegucigalpa and Ron will return for the tags later. Or (C) we both wait and postpone our work in Nicaragua. We thank many of you who are praying for us and trust that God will reveal what we should do according to His plan.

Another interesting thing happened just today regarding our car. Ron noticed that the gears were shifting hard as we ascended and descended the steep hills here in Tegucigapa (some say it reminds them of San Francisco). We made it up the last incline and into the parking space of the hotel to discover that the clutch had gone out. God reminded us again of how good He is by his protection and we praise Him that this did not happen 2 days ago. On Monday we drove across 5 mountain ranges from San Pedro to Tegucigalpa bringing Sarah, Pastor Francisco, his wife and 5 week old baby with us. God also arranged for us to make it to the hotel parking lot where the hotel owner will allow us to leave it for a few days. Not only are we and the car safe but we are expecting our mission team from Lexington S.C. to arrive tomorrow. After several emails and phone calls to them we are resting in the knowledge that they will be bringing the needed parts with them. A big thank you to our friends in Lexington! Is our God big??? Huge!!!

It may be hard for some people to understand the importance of our transportation but our ministry happens because we are mobile. We spend our entire time traveling from city to town to village bringing the Hospice training to the people. This is the heart of Hospice; going where the people live and die with the message of hope and comfort in Jesus name.

Over the past two weeks we have given ICH seminars in three churches. Now there are 110 more Christians trained in Hospice ministry. We also had the opportunity to introduce ICH to a gathering of 250 Evangelical Pastors at a Central American Missions Association meeting. The concept of Hospice care is unknown here and sharing this unique concept as a church outreach program interests everyone we talk to. We have had several meetings with our web site developer and now have some video interviews, which were done in a small television station, added to our web page. We hope that this will personalize our ministry information that is available.

CAM Pastors Association

Ron & Susan On TV for Web Page

We must include two stories about people with whom we visited and how God is using ICH. Our missionary friend, Dr. Barbra McCune who works here in Tegucigalpa, told us about a little 4 year old girl named Marta Cristina. Her parents brought her to the government hospital here in December. She had been treated unsuccessfully for parasites for many weeks in her small town clinic as her tummy grew larger. Her diagnostic tests revealed a large,

inoperable tumor. Dr. McCune is consulting on her case and we arranged to visit her at the hospital along with our ICH Coordinator Lourdes Argueta. The government hospital offers “free” medical care but that does not include sheets, towels, personal care items, food, medicines or tests. Cristina’s parents have been taking shifts staying with her, one at a time as the rules allow, while the other sleeps in the hallway on the floor or goes out to buy food and necessities. Occasionally her father will travel two hours by bus back to their home to see their other two children left in the care of relatives. When we arrived her father had gone to the lab in another building to deliver Cristina’s blood specimen drawn by the ward nurse. Susan was able to take gifts of towels, shampoo and soap enough to share with the other 20 children in the ward. She cried, talked and prayed with the mom, Miriam, and little Cristina. Dr. McCune shared that the prognosis is poor and so we are so thankful that Lourdes met this family and will be able to provide ICH trained people to support and minister to this family. Please also pray for the parents who are nominal Catholics that God’s message of hope in Christ will transform the life of their family for eternity.

Below is Cristina and her mother in the hospital.

Lourdes, Susan & Dr McCune and Ron Cristina’s Father in Center

One evening, after we had presented our Hospice training in a church on the outskirts of the city, we walked down a rocky, dusty road to the home of Ever. He is an 18 year old, double complete amputee, who lives with his 72 year old grandmother and caregiver. Two years ago Ever had a gunshot wound to his lumbar spine. Due to severe infections in the bones of both legs he had total leg amputations to save his life. He also has a colostomy and urinary catheter, as well as bedsores on both hips. The sadness in our hearts over this tragic situation was lightened by Ever’s beautiful smile when we arrived unannounced. He was lying in a clean bed, on an air mattress, and his worn Gideon New Testament was on the bed beside him. His room was bare except for a small TV with rabbit ears and snowy reception on a small table. Ever assured us that he had placed his faith in God and trusted Him with the rest of his life. We are humbled by the great love our Father has for “the least of these” and we praise Him for bringing us to this church and neighborhood so we could meet this extraordinary young man of faith. Dr. Fu, our ICH Honduran Medical Coordinator, was with us that day too. He is planning to visit and manage Ever’s medical care in his home for free. This compassionate Christian doctor was sent to us from God last August when he attended one of our hospice training seminars. He has committed himself to giving free home medical care for any ICH patients. He not only ministers to them medically but he also prays, sings and reads scripture with them. We overheard him discussing plans to return with food which he will cook for Ever and his grandmother. The truth that God has “a future and a plan for us, to prosper us and not to harm us” as Jeremiah 29:11 tells us was evident in this home that day. In the face of tragedy and a very poor prognosis Ever’s attitude of peace and trust spoke volumes. Please pray for Ever, his grandmother and also the ICH volunteers who will be ministering to this family.

Ever with a great attitude, Dr. Fu, Grandmother, Ron & Ever

As you can see these few weeks of ministry have been full, demanding and rewarding. How thankful we have a Savior who is adequate for every situation and who longs to show His love for all people whether they have many years or a few days left to live.
We are here because God has called you to be our support in prayer and in giving and we thank Him for each of you. We are blessed with the opportunity of a life time to be here serving the one who is Faithful.

We would love to hear from you through our main email address ronnaish@bellsouth.net.
Check out our web site at: www.ichospice.org
We are receiving ministry donations at: (Note donations are Tax Deductible)

International Christian Hospice
145 Chillingham Rd.
Irmo, SC 29063

With grateful hearts,

Ron and Susan Naish
February 8, 2008
Newsletter for International Christian Hospice from
Ron and Susan Naish

Thank you for returning to our blogspot and for your interest in our ministry. We hope you had a chance to read our newsletter from January 30th. This update will tell you the “Rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say. A lot has happened in just 8 days.

We welcomed our International Christian Hospice mission team from Lexington, S.C. on January 31st. We know that you have joined us in praying for our vision that God would raise up Christians from the U.S. to bring this ministry of hope in Christ to other countries around the world and also national Christians to lead ICH in Central America. It has been exciting to see how God has brought these two teams together. From Honduras we have our Central American ICH Director Pastor Francisco Ilias, our ICH Honduran Coordinator/Translator Lourdes Argueta and our ICH Honduran Medical Coordinator Dr. Marcos Fu. From Lexington we have our ICH Team Leader Chuck McCurry, and team members Don Smith, Devon Shelton and Shari Phillips. We believe that each of these people have been hand picked by God to participate in the eternal impact of this ministry. What a joy to work together as a team over the past week!

Devon Shelton with Ever, Don Smith with Ever, Team from Lexington Baptist

We introduced you to Ever in our last letter. Visiting with Ever was one of the first events on our team’s agenda. The people from Lexington brought medical supplies and gifts for Ever and his grandmother and we had a great time visiting with them. Dr. Fu is giving Ever free medical care in his home although his prognosis is poor. Shari and Susan were able to give some practical nursing instructions. He is currently battling a serious infection and large bedsores and we are praying he will respond to treatment that will give him comfort and a better quality of life. Ever and his grandmother continue to testify to God’s love and peace in midst of this physical tragedy.

Dr. Barbra McCune, our missionary consultant here in Honduras, met with the team briefly. We learned that little Cristina is still in the hospital receiving some treatment to hopefully shrink the size of her liver tumor. She has continued to weaken and will soon be in the arms of Jesus. Our ICH volunteers are continuing to visit to provide support and prayer and Dr. Barbra is following with both physical and spiritual care. Please continue to pray for this family.

The team was invited to present our first ICH seminar at Jehovah Shalom Evangelical Church by Pastor Giraldo, who is a completed Jew in Jesus. After thirty minutes of vibrant praise and worship we presented hospice training to 60 people, most of which were older teens and young adults. These young Christians are

Team with Pastor Giraldo & wife, Sheri teaching at Shalom, Excitement over ICH Certificates

already going out in small teams to surrounding villages sharing the Gospel. A group of 10 volunteered to specifically organize Hospice outreach as an additional ministry of this church.

We left the mountainous capital city, Tegucigalpa, by van and traveled out into the dry, dusty interior of Honduras known as Olancho. This reminded us a little of the “wild west” as we saw cattle and cowboys in the long stretches between towns. The team presented training in two towns to 78 representatives from several different denominations. The highlight of our time with these believers was joining them in visiting patients at the local hospital. We were honored to encourage and pray with many people who were very sick. The nurse from the church also shared scripture and poems from our Words of Comfort booklet with several patients. These believers know the reality of being the hands and feet of Jesus. That day we also accompanied two of the ladies who received our hospice training out to a small village to visit Julia, her husband and three children. This couple both have AIDs and we know that the ICH newly trained volunteers will be continuing to minister to them.
Julia in village HIV positive
Devon comforting patient , Team praying for patient in hospitalBefore we left the town of Catacamas we enjoyed a short tour of some ancient caves. As we walked on the trail above the underground river we were able to get a glimpse into the life of the ancient people who buried their dead high up in crevasses in the caverns.

On Tuesday Feb. 5 we all returned to Tegucigalpa. The Lexington team caught their flight back to the U.S. It was a great time of ministry and plans were made for future work together with the Honduran ICH Team. We are anticipating a future of growth as God continues to build International Christian Hospice staff both here in Central America and the U.S.

New tags and windshield, Replacing windshield

We also want to let you know how God has answered prayers about the issues with our Ford Escape. The Lexington team was true to their word and they arrived with the new parts we needed. Ron was able to fix the car himself here in the hotel parking lot. Also Ron made a phone call a few days ago to the license tag office and learned that our tags are finally here, Praise the Lord! It has been a long year of uncertainty. Since the office is on the other side of Honduras it was necessary yesterday for him to fly to the city of La Ceiba to pick them up then back to Tegucigalpa. Late yesterday afternoon we drove the Escape and Ron was able to change gears smoothly (Thank you Lexington friends!) and proudly “sport” our shiny, new tags. In Central America tags stay with a vehicle for it’s life. We also want to say a big thank you to donors who provided for a replacement windshield. Last year a rock and the hot sun cracked it severely. God is Good!

We want to give you a preview of our plans for the next few weeks of ministry so you can be praying specifically. Tomorrow we will drive south and cross the border for our first trip into Nicaragua. We are now able to do this since we have our official tags on the car. Our plans are uncertain but we are hoping to make contact with missionaries, national Pastors and medical facilities in the northern area of Leon, midway down the country in the capital of Managua then south in Rivas. Please continue to pray for our safety in travel, for God to connect us with the people He chooses and for open doors for Christian Hospice.

We know that you all, our family and friends, have been so faithful and supportive in praying and also giving to International Christian Hospice. Thank you because we know that you are behind us. We feel your prayers. We are learning more each day about walking by faith in God’s provision for ministry needs through you. God’s blessings to you! Please watch our blogspot (ichospice.blogspot.com) for more news next month. Also our web site: www.ichospice.org

We are receiving ministry donations :