Dear Family and Friends,
November 2, 2005
What a year this has been in Central America! As you know we live in Honduras and there are still many reminders of the destructive force of the 1998 Hurricane Mitch. Honduras was flooded with over 60 inches of rain in 7 days. Thousands of lives were lost, over 70% of all the crops destroyed, nearly 200 bridges were washed away by the flood waters, and hundreds of thousands of homes flooded. Now this year, 2005, has already had 23 storms. Most of these storms begin in close proximity to Central America. We have had 3 close brushes with hurricanes this season in Honduras.
Hurricane Stan hit south of Veracruz, Mexico and crossed into the high mountains of southern Mexico. Then it crossed into Guatemala with torrential rains. The heavy rains caused hundreds of landslides all over western and southern Guatemala. Approximately 2,000 are dead or missing in the massive mud slides. Thirty-one major bridges were swept away and many others damaged. It is a startling reminder of the damage hurricane Mitch inflicted.
I was able to go with our World Missions Director, Bro. Natan, to survey some of the damage. We waited 7 hours in a 20 kilometer line of traffic to cross on a temporary bridge. On several major Guatemalan highways at least every few hundred feet the road was covered with landslides, boulders, trees, or washed away. It took 16 hours to take a 3 hour drive.
We were able to help in two of the areas that were affected by the hurricane. 400 families in these two areas received food. One of our pastors that had his home and church flooded received disaster relief. However, since there were so many roads closed and our time was limited we were not able to fully see firsthand the damage. A special thanks to all who made this possible. God bless you!
In spite of flooded church, parsonage and surrounding neighborhoods, our church in Quetzaltenango was helping the flood victims. They had a TV marathon to collect clothing, food and other items. Many flood victims were blessed in the Quetzaltenago area by the efforts of the local church that itself was flooded.
Yesterday National Superintendent Vicente Martinez called and said that people from several of our churches in the south had massive loss of property and crops. Also, there are other churches in the Lake Atitlàn area that have been affected. I plan on returning to Guatemala in the next, two weeks to visit and help in the areas where we have churches that were affected by the rain from Hurricane Stan.
We ask for your continued prayers for Guatemala. We are thankful for the donations that have been given to help our brothers in Guatemala. If you would like to donate to this need please let us know.
Please keep us in your prayers and write when you have an opportunity.
Yours for Missions,
Les ,Charlene Scott, Craig & Rosalie Melton
Missionaries to Honduras C.A.
Honduras Ph. 011-504-566-3710
Honduras e-mail: lcmelton@amnethn.com
USA e-mail: l_cmelton@juno.com
Last Updated on 12/18/04