February 23, 2019, Rio Viejo, Atlántida, Honduras
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue this work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6
We have been dreaming and praying for the ability to expand our medical services in Rio Viejo for many years. We are blown away by what God has been able to do with us up to this point, but he has given us the dream of doing more.
We have been working on our expansion project for just over a year. This project includes adding some longer term housing and expanding the amount of land we have in Rio Viejo, all for the purpose of housing more health care providers to expand the services we can offer the people of Honduras. We already have the source of some of those people: we are listed among the mission hospitals that Samaritan’s Purse/World Medical Mission partners with. Once we have a place to house them, we can begin hosting health care providers and other volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse who volunteer for two year commitments.
We have been praying and seeking God’s favor in this expansion project, and we have finally begun to see movement in that direction as we prepare for this season of growth.
At the beginning of February, our board members were here to help us break ground on a building that will hold three apartments designated for long-term volunteers. There will be two one-bedroom apartments and one two-bedroom apartment for families that are sent to us. We plan to have construction completed by this fall. We will then begin building a three bedroom apartment on our adjacent property.
The biggest part of our expansion project is the large piece of property between our current property and the river. We have been trying to purchase this property for years. Upon purchase, it will expand our property by eight acres. Our vision is to build houses on this property for permanent volunteers as needed. We also want to be able to build other facilities on this property for our volunteers, and for the hospital.
In December, after three years of negotiations and weeding our way through various owners, we finally signed a purchase agreement. This agreement set the price of the property in stone so it could not change while our lawyer went through the records to ensure that no one else could claim ownership of the property. This was a huge step forward! During this process and waiting period, we were able to clear the overgrown fields. This was in preparation to be able to grade, fence, and begin construction once we officially owned the property.
We had an engineer and his crew come in January to measure and survey the property. The government-operated electricity company also visited to evaluate how to provide electricity to those fields. Because of this evaluation, we will be getting more lights on the road and a new transformer to support the future homes on the new property.
These are just a few of the contacts that we have made. Politicians, engineers, and heads of big companies are all coming together to help us make our dreams a reality. Even the First Lady of Honduras has shown interest in our ministry and may come for a visit soon. We are incredibly moved by the support we have gotten from the people here.
On February 7, 2019, the final purchase documents were signed! We now officially own eight additional acres of land in Rio Viejo, making the hospital property close to 10 acres in size. Plenty of area to grow and expand.
We are so grateful to everyone who has been involved in this project up to this point. Everyone who has given towards our dream with donations and prayers, we thank you. Continue to keep us in your prayers, because our work isn’t done yet.
God is expanding our tents, and our next task is to begin filling them.
“Enlarge the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords,
And strengthen your stakes. Isaiah 54:2
For more information, check out our video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OXc_6Cxmq34