Thursday, December 7, 2017


                           International Christian Hospice      Newsletter  December 2017


Christmas greetings from ICH to you and your family!  We are reminded during this season of the most precious gift of all…Jesus!  Because of Jesus ICH can bring the message of hope for the dying and comfort in Christ to all!   II Cor. 1,3-4

 We thank God for all who have been our faithful friends and prayer partners throughout 2017!  Please enjoy the following highlights of ICH ministry this year! 

 Travel to Guatemala

 God blessed with a great time of ministry in Guatemala!  The highlight of our trip was to travel to Hospital Santa Fe and spend time with Dr. Sergio and Veronica. ICH has partnered with them for several years and seen God work in amazing ways through their faithful service to the Mayan Indigenous.  We had the opportunity to assist in post op clinic, counseling and prayer with some of the patients.  Because these people live in remote locations and poor financial situations Hospital Santa Fe provides the only accessible medical care.  Dr. Sergio and his family have lived among them, gaining their trust.  God has opened a new opportunity for them to reach even more.  They took us to the new clinic site which is under construction in San Antonio.  San Antonio is a small market town and “cross road” for the Indigenous.  Dr. Sergio and Veronica are eager to open the doors of medical ministry as well as reaching more with Bibles and the message of the Gospel. 

 Travel to Honduras

 Highlights:

Spending time with Pastor Francisco Ilias, his family and church in Choloma.  God has blessed them with 15 years of ministry and we had the opportunity to participate in their anniversary celebration. 

 Spending time Cacao, a small village on the northeast coast.  Pastor Jeronimo and his wife are serving in a new church plant, involved in ministry feeding poor children in the community, providing Bible classes for all ages, assisting in developing a small shoe factory to provide income for the poor.  We provided ICH training in the past in this community and are planning other future ministry.

 Spending time with our friend Marvin who is the Director of The Eye clinic in El Progreso.  Opportunity to make further referrals for people who need vision care provided by medical teams from the US.

 New Territory opens for ICH in Cuba

 Highlights:  

ICH training in 3 locations.  Home ministry and 3 salvations.  Working with small home churches which are allowed by the government.  Assisting Rob White Ministry team sharing the Gospel and Bible distribution in Havana.

 New Territory opens for ICH in Oaxaca, Mexico

 We are seeing one of our dreams for ICH fulfilled.  God is answering one of our prayers for national believers to take ICH into their own culture.  Pastor Francisco was invited to travel to Mexico to provide encouragement and outreach among believers there.  He had the opportunity to present workshops on Hospice Volunteer training at 3 different churches.   The groups were small but they were eager to learn and to begin their own Volunteer Hospice Ministry in Oaxaca.  Pastor Francisco has worked with us in ICH for 13 years throughout Central America and has dedicated his life to ministry and to ICH.  He has many personal stories of people who were dying and grieving in his community and how God has changes lives through the ICH message of hope and comfort in Christ. 

 

 












































Praise and Prayers  

 

·        Praise for those who trusted Christ this year through ICH

·        Praise for new ICH work in Cuba and Mexico this year

·        Praise for God reaching into the lives of those who are hurting through ICH

·        Prayer for new believers and those who received Bibles

·        Prayer for newly trained Christian Hospice workers

·        Prayer for ongoing ICH partnerships and open doors in ministry around the world

·        Prayer for financial support to ICH to continue ministry

 

 

Thank you each one for the ongoing support of your friendship and prayers for ICH! 

We pray that you and your family will have a very blessed Christmas and joy and peace in the coming New Year of 2018!

 

Serving Him Together,

 

Ron and Susan Naish

Directors and Founders of International Christian Hospice

170 Bethview Dr.

Irmo, S.C.  29063

803-781-0656


 

 

 

 

  
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

                 International Christian Hospice   Newsletter    Spring 2017
Cuba Trip

We are so thankful for this newly opened door for ministry.  Thank you to Pastor Rob and Sandy White for your invitation for us to join you in ministry.  The Rob White Ministry organization has been going to Cuba for 17 years.  Rob is now a retired Pastor who serves with the S.C. Baptist Mission Board.   Through their faithful work and support of the Pastors and churches of Cuba in difficult times it was God’s perfect timing for ICH to bring our training program.  We felt as though we were stepping through a time portal into the past.  Socialism and communism have been a normal way of life in Cuba for 60+ years.    One new believer put it this way, “As I grew up and went to school everyone was taught that you do good things for the government.  There is no God.  We have been taught to live to serve the government.”   

The Church is beginning to grow in new ways.  Up until a few years ago, the government limited all gatherings to 25 people. Church groups were not allowed to own or build. However the body of Christ, His church, is alive and well!  God used these restrictions which caused amazing multiplication of hundreds of house churches.  We had the opportunity to visit with many of those “house churches”.  Whether they meet in an apartment, under a covered porch, or in a small wood and thatch building we experienced many warm embraces and heard testimonies of God’s presence and faithfulness.   

Our time in Cuba was divided between a rural, coastal region about 4 hours west of Havana and the city itself.  The people in this region are supported by agriculture and a fishing industry.  But unlike our free enterprise the crops are grown and sold to the government, and the fish and seafood as well.  In fact it is illegal to keep any food, or to sell it yourself.  It is harvested and trucked to Havana then products are redistributed to small government shops where individuals purchase their food.  Each family is given vouchers for a quantity for each month even down to the number of eggs.  Socialism and communism are a normal way of life.  But praise God the window of change is beginning to crack open.  Today, as in  the past 60+ years, people still only receive news via radio or TV that is government controlled.  Cell phones have arrived but there are no international calling options.  The internet has arrived but is very expensive and only available at “Hot Spots” in major cities.













We learned and interest
ing story about out accommodations in the “campo”.  An 80 year old Pastor Humberto applied to the government and was allowed to build a small conference center with guest rooms and meeting areas.  Over his 40 years as a Pastor life was very hard and he had to remain very quiet in his ministry.   Other Pastors were being imprisoned for preaching a philosophy different from the government.  But God allowed him to established 11 house churches in his region.  The conference center has been used by government groups or civic organizations for meetings and retreats.  Our mission team was the first Christian group to come to the area and use the buildings.  In thanks we were able to bless the kitchen workers and translators with small gift bags with a few simple items.  They were in tears with gratitude telling us that none of the groups had ever given them anything personal.  

Please enjoy the following pictures.    



The goal of our trip was to learn about Cuba and how we can be a part of bringing the Gospel of hope and peace in Christ to the Cuban people.  Regardless of the geographic location or the organized government under which these people live (both things we cannot change) Christ offers the gift of forgiveness, peace and His presence amid the stresses of life.  And He promises an eternal home with Him for those who trust Him in this life! 

Highlights of our trip

  • Presenting ICH workshops in 3 locations, with Pastors and leaders from 9 different churches.   
  • ICH home visits resulting in 3 new believers 
(A mother and her adult son received Christ after the recent death of her husband.  A mother with advanced liver cancer received Christ in her home.  Praise God!)

  • 80+ new believers through the team sharing the Gospel home to home and street evangelism
(No groups are allowed to gather in parks or public areas but we were free to stroll around Havana and share Gospel tracts and talk with individuals on the street or in parks.) 
  • Worshipping and studying God’s Word together with other believers  
  • Enjoying the beauty of this Caribbean Island, and historic city of Havana.  
  • Seeing the statue of Jesus standing over the city of Havana restored. During the Castro years the statue was broken with the head removed and one arm taken off. Now its very beautiful and stands as a figure of hope in a new era in Cuba.

Testimonies


Pastor Antonio shares that he has many people in his church who are sick.  “I have never had this information so that I can understand what they are going through.  I will teach this to my church leaders and we will be able to help people all around us in our town. Many are dying and they do not know Jesus!”

40 year old Carlos shares with us about his father’s death.  “My father had a heart condition and he was getting weaker.  In his final days he told my mother and me that he had become a believer in Jesus.  He died about one month ago.  Yes, today I will believe in Jesus too because you came to my house and because my father did!” 

Pastora Rebecca says, “This information is so important!  It is very difficult to talk to people who are sick and dying.  Thank you for coming to teach us and give us these booklets.  I feel like now we can understand and talk to people who are dying.  Now we can help them before it is too late.”   

We noticed that everywhere we went the people were like “sponges” and so hungry for information.  They were asking us when we can return and bring more literature to help them.  Time and again we saw how the decades of closed society has created a hunger for education, particularly among the believers who desire to learn how to reach others for Christ. 

Please continue to pray for the people of Cuba, and especially the new believers.  Please pray that the ICH training and materials we left with the people there will be used by God to bring hope and comfort to many more!   Pray with us about future opportunities to work in Cuba!

We pray that the power of the Cross and the Resurrection will be our message at Easter and every day until He returns! 

Serving Him together,
Ron and Susan                   


Tax deductible Donations received at:    ICH  c/o Banis    303 Madison Hts. Dr.  Marshall, NC 28753 

Thursday, March 23, 2017

      International Christian Hospice      News Letter     February 2017


Greetings to all of our family and friends!  We can hardly believe 2017 is already well underway!  

This month we traveled to Guatemala and Honduras.  Thank you for your prayers for us and for the ICH ministry as we visited sites in Central America to planned for ministry opportunities this year.   

Guatemala
  
God is leading us forward in partnership with ministry in Guatemala City.   Seteca Seminary is developing a plan with ICH for adding the grief training we offer to their Pastoral counseling program.   Potters House ministry, which is an outreach into the city dump village, is requesting ICH training for their staff.  Over 3,000 people live in the dump area.  A few months ago after heavy rains there was a devastating loss of over 70 lives.  As in any close knit community these families and friends are dealing with complicated grief over this sudden loss.  Every day they struggle with survival against extreme poverty and disease.  Potters House reaches out with feeding programs, medical clinics, Bible classes, education for children and job opportunities for youth.  ICH is partnering with them to prepare staff for dealing with the current tragedy and those these people cope with every day.   

How exciting to witness God advancing His work among the Mayan peopleHospital Santa Fe in the jungle highlands, Dr. Sergio and his wife Veronica, stand on the front lines.  A surgical team had recently helped perform 35 surgeries.  Ron, Susan and Chuck McCurry were able to help with post op procedures, counseling and prayer.   In addition to the hospital in the jungle highlands Dr. Sergio rents space for a clinic in a nearby market town, San Antonio.  Taking a step of faith Dr. Sergio is purchasing a small strip of land in this town to build his own clinic.  San Antonio is a “cross road” in the Mayan world where people come out of distant villages for market and work.  The clinic is easily accessible and serves people from 4 different Mayan groups.  Dr. Sergio not only has a desire to bring physical healing but also to shine the light of Jesus’ love into very dark and fearful lives.  He has shared many stories with us of the powerful influence of the witch doctors, superstition and their fear of “curses”.  Dr. Sergio plans for the new clinic in San Antonio to be the site of literacy classes using God’s Word and Bible stories.  

Pray with us:   
  • ICH training in Seteca Seminary Guatemala City 
  • ICH training for staff of Potter’s House ministry in Guatemala City
  • Teams in the future to bring the Gospel through medical, educational and Bible training to reach the Mayans. 

Honduras

We were blessed to continue our travels this month into Honduras.  Pastor Francisco accompanied us on a return trip to Cacao, on the northern coast.  Here we witnessed how God is growing the new church plant from Vision Cristiano Ministerio, a nondenominational evangelical organization in Central America.  Pastor Jeronimo Garcia and his wife Suwani have served in Cacao for two years.  He is a Godly man of vision and hard work.  Over the past year Pastor Jeronimo and his church members have completed the main “open-air” worship building and constructed a small tin children’s building.  It has already become too small and inadequate for the 70 children who attend Bible classes on Wednesdays and Sundays.  Pastor Jeronimo also provides a lunch feeding program three days a week in this tin building for 50 of the poorest children in the village.  He and some of the young men have started a shoe factory to provide jobs right there in Cacao.    We are praying that God will open doors for us to return with additional help for Pastor Jeronimo.  This village is an excellent site for teams to help with church construction, children’s ministry, youth outreach, medical ministry and community development.  

Please pray with us:
  • ICH outreach to the believers training them in outreach for Christ  
  • Teams to work with Pastor Jeronimo in Cacao

Our dear friend Dionisio is walking well with his leg prosthesis and we were able to visit with him before we left the north coast.  He is struggling with his two arm prosthesis but Ron was able to make a few adjustments that will help.  

A special thanks to Pastor Francisco who not only has served as ICH Central American Director but leads a thriving, missions-minded church in Choloma, Honduras.  We were honored to celebrate the 15th anniversary of his church while we were there.  He and Blanca moved to Choloma to start this Vision Cristiano church as newlyweds.  God has blessed them and their 3 children as the church has grown to over 200 members and they are greatly respected and loved in their community.  

Our translator, Lourdes Argueta, and dear friend of 14 years also joined us on this trip. On our final day in Honduras we were able to arrange an appointment for her at the Christian Eye Clinic in El Progreso.  Maxine Perry and Pastor Daniel Castro founded this clinic in the 1980’s.  Today the clinic is staffed by trained doctors and nurses as well as regular rotation of surgical doctors from the US.     

One final prayer request is our upcoming ministry travel to Cuba in March.   This is the first time we have had this opportunity and are looking forward to seeing God touch lives through the ICH message of hope and comfort in Christ.   
   
Thank you, each one, for your interest, prayers and support for ICH!  Please pray with us as we move forward with God’s plans for ICH in the coming months.  

Serving Him together,

Ron and Susan 

Tax deductible Donations received at:    ICH  c/o Banis     303 Madison Heights Dr.   Marshall, N.C.  28753