News from
the Francises
So what has
been happening in the Francis family since the Fall?
1. Teaching a course on Inductive Study
of the Bible to a group of students in Châteauguay
During the
Fall I began travelling to Châteauguay (a little over two hours from here)
every second Sunday, to teach a course on Inductive Bible Study, to a group of
eighteen students, using the epistle to the Colossians. We stopped in mid-November, and will be
continuing the course in February. Most of those Sundays, I also preached in
the morning.
2. Teaching a course on Social Justice
in the Prophets at "Parole de Vie/Bethel" (the French language Word of Life
campus)
Wesley
Peach, dean of studies at the French language Word of Life campus here in
Sherbrooke, asked me to teach a ten-hour course in December on Social Justice
in the Prophets. As I had never prepared a course on this subject before, I
found it a challenge. However I was motivated, as the subject is close to my
heart, and I enjoyed the interaction with the students
.
3. Learning of a Crisis at the Vida y
Libertad Home in Honduras where Melodie works
In November
we learned that the Vida y Libertad Home in Honduras, where our daughter
Melodie works (and where we consider the 40 children to be our “grandchildren”,
was going through a crisis regarding security. The necessary additional
security measures are causing a larger financial burden on an institution that
is already under supported. (By the way, if any are interested, the Children’s
Home is included in our fellowship’s FAIR projects, and you can contribute on
either a one-time basis or monthly through FAIR).
4. Learning about political violence in
Honduras as a result of an apparently stolen election
In December
there was an election in Honduras, for both Congress and the President. The
Honduran government does not seem to have the confidence of the population and
is widely believed to be immensely corrupt. Also, the Honduran Constitution
forbids even the contemplation of a President competing for a second term of office.
And yet, the sitting president, after changing some of the judges on the
Supreme Court, managed to get permission to run again for office. His opposition was a left/right alliance of
several parties, led by Salvador Nasrallah. During the evening, as the votes
were being counted, the opposition leader was leading by 5%. Then there was a
blackout. When the computers started up again, the sitting president began to
lead! After a week or two, the sitting
president was declared the winner, in spite of the fact that the Organisation
of American States (OAS) recommended repeating the election. This was not accepted by the opposition, and
there was violence in the streets in several cities, with road blocks on major
highways. Several people were killed, including small children and people who
were not involved, victims of stray bullets.
Later, in January, as the inauguration of the Congress and the President
approached, the violence picked up again.
Town Hall in Siguatepeque damaged by rocks and fire:
5. A new grandchild
On December
31st, an event of considerable importance took place in Quebec City.
Emma, our third grandchild, and second child to our son Daniel, was born, to
the delight of her big sister Elena, and, of course, of the grandparents
6. A trip to Honduras
On January
9th, Lise and I boarded an Aero Mexico plane for Honduras. Our
purpose was to attend the annual convention of Baptist Churches in Honduras,
where I was to give a conference to the pastors, and also speak at a
graduation. While sitting in the plane, waiting for takeoff, and just before we
were asked to turn off our phones, I received a message informing me that the
Convention had been cancelled, or rather postponed till March, due to the
threat of more political violence, as the inauguration of Congress and of the
President was approaching. Church
representatives could not be sure of being able to travel to the Convention at
this time. My first reaction was: “Now
what do I do?” And the second was: “I am so glad that I can be sure God is in
control. Even if I don’t understand, this trip is not going to be a waste.” The
Convention will be held March 1st to 4th.
During our
stay there was more violence. A Marriott hotel was burned down in Tegucigalpa.
There was an increased military presence on the roads. There was not much
trouble in the area of Siguatepeque, where we were staying, however.
On our
first day in Siguatepeque, I learned that a class I was to visit in Yoro had
been cancelled. On the third day I learned that the graduation in El Progreso
was also cancelled. So our working visit was turned into a sort of holiday. (Do
retired people need holidays?) Temperatures would vary between 10º C and 20º C,
and it rained most of the time.
Our “son”
Roberto, who is in the army, based in Siguatepeque, had been posted in San
Pedro Sula, one of the world’s more dangerous cities, during this time, so it
seemed as though we would not be able to see him. However he was given
permission to come to Siguatepeque for a day and we were able to spend some
time with him. I was concerned about his return to his base in San Pedro, as
soldiers out of uniform are recognized by their haircuts and are sometimes
attacked when found alone. One had recently been killed. We were happy to learn
that he had arrived safely at his post.
We spent a
good part of our two weeks visiting with some of the church members, and with
the pastor, Hector Villatoro. It was good fellowship, and we hope we were able
to be an encouragement to them. The ETBIL courses are continuing well in the
church in Siguatepeque.
We also
spent some time with our daughter Melodie and her husband Yeffri, sleeping in
their home a couple of nights (the rest of the time they were mostly away), and
eating with them, sometimes in their home and sometimes in restaurants.
Just before leaving, I was blessed with an event that gave me a great deal of joy. Two years ago, before leaving Honduras, I had a small class in our local church. A lady named Alicia had been attending church for some time "just to learn". She had come on account of her son who attended the AWANA program. My assistant teacher challenged Alicia in our very first class, and she expressed for the first time her trust in her Lord and Saviour. She had some struggles after that, but continued to attend church regularly. Well, our last Sunday evening, we learned that there was to be a baptism at our church. I didn't know who was to be baptized, but to my great delight, Alicia was one of them! It was so good to see that her faith had taken shape and that she was now truly committed to following the Lord.
We still
are not sure why it all happened as it did, but we do know that God is in
charge. I plan to travel to the Convention at the beginning of March, but this
time I will travel alone and it will be for only one week.
When we arrived in Canada on the morning of the 24th, our friends Jean-Michel and Suzanne met us at the airport and drove us to their home for breakfast, where we were able to retrieve our car in their yard. We then drove back to Sherbrooke, rather exhausted.
7. Departures
On
arriving, we were sorry to learn of the loss of three friends. One of the
students in my class in Chateauguay had died suddenly. He had been expected to
live for at least another year or so. Then Gilles Saulnier, one of our Quebec
pastors, who had been diagnosed with Cancer in the Fall, also died while we
were away. I attended his funeral on Saturday, along with about 500 others. The
day after the funeral, we learned that Eugene Ciria, a missionary I had worked
with during our 18 years in Spain, had died, also of cancer in Hamilton,
Ontario. He had been fighting that disease for a number of years. Eugene and I
had developed a great friendship and working relationship. He will be sorely
missed. His funeral will be in Hamilton on Saturday, February 3rd.
We wish to
thank you all for your interest and your prayers. May the Lord bless you.
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