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Dear friends in Christ, February 5, 2008

-The month of December was spent visiting family and friends. I am from the Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, where we went during the first couple of weeks to visit family and our calling church, Immanuel Orthodox Reformed Church of Jordan. We then headed to Lookout Mountain, Georgia (near Covenant College) to visit Betsy’s family. Her sister’s family lives in Chattanooga, and her brother, his wife and their baby were there visiting from Romania.

-Pastor Orlando Sierra preached, taught and visited the members in my absence. We were thankful that he was able to do this while we were in North America. The home that the church was helping rebuild has now been completed, and the church in Nueva Union in the South of Honduras has a new roof.

-We will be having three young people visit us in the beginning of February--Jonathan Rietsma, Matt Van Dyken and Melanie Smit, all from Immanuel Orthodox Reformed Church of Jordan. They will be leading Bible studies in Comayagua and in southern Honduras.

-Rev. Rand Lankheet and elder Ed Korevaar will be coming to visit for a week in the beginning of March.

-Our children are at the tail end of their school vacation here in Honduras from the end of November to the middle of February. My only comment is that there is too much vacation in Honduras, but we kept the guys busy painting the house, building some furniture, and having them catch up on their school work. They kept themselves busy everyday after we were finished with them by inviting their friends and neighbors to come and play soccer.

-I noted an argument about whether it’s the missionary’s job to evangelize the world or all believers. (That of course is rephrasing the argument for my own purposes.) The argument becomes mote when we use the phrase short-term workers/missionaries, since the only short-term workers/missionaries are those who don’t plan to live all that long. Since most of us plan to live much longer, I would encourage those who get involved in short-term projects overseas to think long-term by involving themselves as much as possible in learning language, culture and missions for when they go on short-term projects and to seek to carry Biblical resources to those countries where long-term missionaries have little access. At the same time I would encourage them to use their overseas experiences to carry the gospel to the many foreigners who now reside in North America. May I humbly ask whether we often do things overseas that we do not do in our own countries, and if so, why?

-And there is always the need for new young preachers to rise up and storm the world with the preaching of the gospel. I would encourage young seminarians to spend a summer with one of our home missionaries or church planters. And if they all send a rejection slip, come on down to Honduras—we have a guest room waiting for you!

Yours in Christ,

Ernie Langendoen

Comayagua, Honduras