Casa de Refugio Ministry - Lawrence & Sharon Mims, Directors

08/24/2020

Good morning, family and friends.

I (Sharon) write this message to you from a near-empty international airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, as I wait to board a plane to Dallas.

Lawrence and I had planned a trip to the states in late October to meet Baby Boy Hendrick, our number two grand, spend time with friends and family, and celebrate Thanksgiving stateside before returning home.

But God has a different calling for me beginning today. My mother passed away yesterday, so I am off to Texas to stay with my dad for a while and help him out with whatever he needs me to do. I also now will be stateside when Julia has the baby and can be an extra set of hands to help her with cooking or playing with Nora. Lawrence will join me in late October.

Honduras’ commerce seems to slowly be opening again. Lawrence and I were driving around the city last week, and we noticed it looked a little more like it did before it shut down in March. The system set in place for circulation to buy groceries and do business has increased from once every 14 days to once every 10 days. In other words, businesses and banks are now open for business on the weekends.

There are still people standing at traffic lights and in areas where traffic has to slow down, but we see that they are generally the same faces. Many of them recognize our vehicle and are now a little more aggressive, even when we don’t have bags for them. We came to the conclusion it was about time to suspend distributions in that manner.

Several years ago I had dreamed of keeping a few bags on hand in our car when we went out to give to the random person we saw here and there, and I plan to implement that when we return in December.

There is still enough money in the food distribution account to buy food items for 100 bags.

We can’t thank you enough for all your generous donations since May that allowed us to do our part to help our neighbors.

As we turn this little corner in our family life, we appreciate your prayers for Lawrence and the kids over the next couple of months as they continue to navigate life in Honduras and for me as I emerge from the COVID lockdown.

Love to all of you 💕.

Jeremiah 29:11

08/07/2020

08/01/2020

🇭🇳 Honduras Food Distribution Update – July 31, 2020

Hello, family and friends.

Happy, happy birthday to my dad, Jim Lane, who is 83 years young today! And happy birthday to my cousin Nathan (is your baby 39 today, Lexie and Mark?) and to 10-year-old Elijah Machado, our dear friend Alyson’s oldest grand. I’ll never forget having the opportunity to photograph him the day after he was born in his parents’ home in Talanga. July 31 is a good day!

We last posted an update on July 3, several of you continued/began sending donations for the food bags, and we continued with the food distribution project throughout the month. We applied for and received permission from the government to circulate within the city every weekday from 7 am to 5 pm to distribute food bags. Not only does that allow us to go out more than three days every two weeks, it helps me to not feel quite so locked down. Although we can’t go shopping or browsing in the stores if it’s not one of our “legal” days and although Lawrence and I still can’t go into a store together, at least we can go through the drive-thru, get a burger, and have a side-street car date on a day that’s not Wednesday or Thursday of one week or Tuesday of the next week. Sometimes the little things help a lot!

On Wednesday, July 23, our friend Jennifer Olsen, founder of One Day Revival Ministries, who you partnered with by providing funds for food bags, delivered 40 bags to an extremely impoverished area of Tegucigalpa where she has contact with 18th Street gang members and their families. This is her story of the day:

~~~~~
“THANK YOU for your prayers today.
The food provision bag delivery could not have gone smoother. God is so good.
We got there & prayed all together with Nilson & the guys who helped us deliver the bags. They hauled all 40 bags around this maze of a place & were content to help. Since Nilson is who invited us there to share this blessing, I asked him to pray for us in the morning & for our time there. Though a bit shy to pray in front of the guys, he prayed a powerful prayer asking for forgiveness for himself & blessing for each of the families to receive the bags.

We gave out all 40 bags today to families with massive need. It was easy to see why God wanted us there; I am so glad we obeyed!

At the end of the time we bought a plate of food for each person and shared lunch together.

It was a really beautiful time 100% guided by the Holy Spirit.”
~~~~~​

On July 22nd Cristiana Godoy, our good friend and founder of Eleva Honduras, contacted us to let us know she raised more money to purchase and deliver food bags to the areas in south Honduras where she serves and asked if Casa de Refugio would like to make a matching donation. There was plenty of money in the food project account to once again match her fundraising efforts. Not only did we (through you) help monetarily, we had the opportunity to get in the pickup and go out of town for the first time since March 13th!

Last Saturday, July 25, we picked Cristi up at her house at 4 am, drove down to Guapinol, dropped off 70 bags (her uncle delivered 30 bags to another town), visited with the pastor and his family for a few minutes, turned around, stopped for one bathroom break where I would have done my Grandmother Day proud with my potty-squatting and not touching anything (plastic food service gloves are great – why didn’t I think of them before COVID???), and came back to Tegucigalpa. Even though we spent seven hours in the car, it was so good to have the opportunity to leave the city. It is our rainy season, and the countryside was green and beautiful.

As we continue distributing bags on the streets here in the city, we are beginning to recognize some of the people, and some of them definitely recognize our vehicle. The other day, as I returned from my friend’s neighborhood after our daily walk together, I saw a couple of women on the street as I slowed for the traffic light. One woman pointed to our vehicle and turned to talk to the woman next to her.

Please keep us in your prayers for wisdom and discernment and humbled hearts as we continue to be of service to others through the food distribution. Judgments, assumptions, and bad attitudes on my part (I can only speak for myself) can get in the way after a while.

For example, the other day Lawrence and I were out distributing food. A young lady came to Lawrence’s side of the car, acted like she was entirely entitled but highly put out to have to cross the street to come to the car. She literally grabbed the bag out of Lawrence’s hand and sauntered off with nary a word of thanks, only to then come stick her nose into my business and holler at me about something as I was working with some kids on my side of the car. Honestly, I was pretty put out with her, to put it nicely. I told Lawrence, “Wellllll (Can’t you just hear that righteous indignation oozing out of that word?), I’ll just not come back to this light until I get through being mad at that old so-and-so.”

Then I started thinking about how my anger at the one person might keep another person who had nothing to do with the situation from receiving a bag. Besides, that’s where my precious little Itty-Bitty in the pink socks and her family ask for help.

I decided to have a put-myself-in-her-shoes mental moment, and it was a pretty gnarly feeling to mentally stand myself out on the public street, at the mercy of others’ attitudes and judgments, to beg for assistance. When I thought about it a little longer, I thought, with my personality, I would be more likely to act like her to cover my pain. Maybe the display of haughty spirit and a puffed-up chest is the only way she can handle doing what she‘s having to do – to ask for help. Lord, forgive me for my judgmental spirit. I feel awful about my attitude right now in the recounting of the story.

Osman’s method of distribution is interesting. My favorite time to distribute is when he and I go together. Everything is done from his side of the window, and he can talk to and manage the people.

This is his method: If we see a kid on the street who is alone, Osman will give him/her a bag. If we see a person apart from a big group who is selling little things, like gum or air fresheners, which keeps them from outright begging (I really do not like that word), he gives them a food bag. If we see a family apart from a big group and there might be a mom or dad and their kids right there with them, Osman will give them at least one, sometimes two bags.

Many times, though, we will distribute at traffic light intersections or in the areas of the highway where the police are checking IDs and traffic has slowed or stopped. Those areas attract several adults, and they will camp out on the median for the day. The moms use the strategy of “divide and conquer.” Instead of keeping her kids next to her, she will have them break up and go from car to car. Osman’s awareness of this method of asking for money has caused him to make the determination to only give bags to the mothers/fathers in those two situations. We try to get in and out of these areas quickly. Invariably, though, some of the adults, or the people who are alone that we serve, ask for bags for their friends, sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers at home, but Osman says no. It’s hard to say no, but we have to have our boundaries, and Osman has extremely sharp street smarts that are trustworthy.

Our kids are surviving but not necessarily thriving. Carmen and Herby continue their education online and are either in classes or studying most of the time. Osman is still in waiting mode – waiting to be able to enroll in university. For now, he keeps busy doing whatever he can. He does most all the work in putting the food bags together, and he always makes himself available to help Lawrence and me negotiate our business when we need the assistance. This morning I told him, “Osman, you’re the best son I never had!” And he is.

You may recall one of our posts where I wrote about our partnership with our local doctor friend, Dra. Leticia Zapata, a sweet soul some of you know, wherein she distributed food bags in her clinic and in areas where she was aware of people in need. A couple weeks ago we received word that she was in the hospital with COVID. Cristiana just reported that she is now home, is heavily medicated, but she is doing better. Praise God for that report!

The stats:

• Your donations have allowed us to distribute approximately 500 food bags
• We have about 125 bags in-house that are being put together or are ready for distribution
• You have partnered with two ministries on three occasions to distribute food in areas not accessible to Casa de Refugio
• There are still funds to purchase 100 bags

What will we be doing in the coming days? More of the same:

• We will continue distributing food as long as there is monetary provision
• We will continue partnering with other trusted ministries as they come to our attention and we feel directed by God to assist, either through money and/or hand’s-on assistance

A reminder of the giving avenues if you’d like to begin/continue donating to this project:

• PayPal – [email protected] – please designate your offering as a gift, which alleviates processing fees
• Mail your check to Casa de Refugio Ministry, P.O. Box 1316, Weatherford, TX 76086. If you choose this option, please send Sharon a message so we can ask our daughter to check the post office box before her usual schedule

We can’t tell you enough how much you mean to us personally and to the operation of this ministry. Your gifts really are making a difference in the day of the life of a hungry person. The food bags do matter to those precious souls out there on the street. We see their smiles behind their masks and we hear the thankfulness in their voices.

Enjoy the attached photos.

Psalm 136:1, 23-26
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Who remembered us in our low estate, for His lovingkindness is everlasting,
and has rescued us from our adversaries, for His lovingkindness is everlasting;
who gives food to all flesh, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

07/03/2020

07/03/2020

🇭🇳 Honduras Food Distribution Update 6 (and other things — it’s a long one):

Good morning, family and friends.

Your generosity continues to give hope to and sincere expressions of appreciation from its recipients! ❤️❤️

Wednesday morning Lawrence and Osman distributed bags in various areas around the city.

When Osman took out the trash later that evening, there was a man and his young son digging through the trash. The man asked Osman for a job. Osman told him he didn’t have a job to give, but he could give some food. The man also asked for a shirt and shoes, I believe.

Osman came inside, grabbed a couple of food bags, went to his room to find a shirt and shoes (he quite literally will give the shirt off his back to someone in need), and packed it all into one of his backpacks and gave it to the man.

Yesterday morning your donations assisted “one of our own,” Naun and his family. Naun, who several of you know, lived with us for about 18 months. He got a job in April 2016 in a small town about an hour from here, and he has worked there since that time.

A couple of weeks ago some of you saw Naun’s FB post wherein he basically announced to his contacts that he has a two-year-old son.

Not being one to let that type of news pass without investigation, I immediately contacted him. He called me the next morning, filled me in, and told me he didn’t tell us, and others, because he was afraid we would be angry with him.

I asked him, “Well, Naun, is anyone angry with you?”

“No, Tia Sharon, they’re not.”

We continued talking over the next couple of days, and he shared with me his struggles to feed his family. He does still have his job, but his hours have been cut and his family has not been able to shop in a grocery store in larger towns, only the pulperías (neighborhood convenience stores) where food is sold singly and is more expensive.

He had seen a post about the food bags, and he asked if he could have one.

But it’s Naun!

I told him to come to our house as soon as he could get someone to bring him, and we would provide him with some groceries. He came yesterday and brought Erika and Liam with him.

Let me tell you, trying to reconcile germs and physical distancing with giving assurances of acceptance to someone who feels like they were deceptive requires compassion and physical touch and makes for tricky decisionmaking situations. It was important for Naun to know that we love him and that we also love and accept Liam and Erika. Naun receives affirmation through hugs. We hugged and carried on on the open-air patio and back yard in a somewhat normal (what’s normal anymore?) manner.

While Lawrence and I were both satisfied with the level of protocol we used during their visit, after they left I suddenly became extremely anxious about the correlation of our visit and potential COVID germs jumping around on all of us and the current state of the nation, even though I had prayed and asked God to protect all of us in our actions and decisions because we were about His business.

Lawrence experienced the same type of anxiety a couple weeks ago when he needed to visit a local clinic for his allergy shots and was in close proximity to other patients with unknown maladies.

As I was trying to identify what was going on with my anxiety, emotions, and concern of having done something wrong, Lawrence pegged our respective funks succinctly with one word.

REALITY. It’s sinking in.

We are almost 120 days in strict lockdown quarantine — four months — 1/3 of a year. The health and economic situation is still worsening each day. This IS our life. The feeling of temporary disruption from the pandemic wanes each day as the nation’s closure drags on.

As our planned trip to the states in October to see family and meet our first grandson approaches, our hope of actually being able to board the plane with relatively secure knowledge of being able to return in the timeline necessary to acquire our permanent residency in January fades with each passing day. Our chosen airline, AA, isn’t currently an approved carrier for the very limited flights in and out of Honduras.

This is downright shameful to admit, and maybe we should think past our gate more and remember the images real suffering, but we don’t have peace and then we do have peace. We question. We wonder. We fuss. We make up. We get mentally fatigued. We move through some days a portion at a time — yay, we made it through lunch; yay, we made it to the end of the day! We get renewed and refreshed just enough, it seems, to be able to go through another day. And that’s just Lawrence and me!

Our kids are wilted. Those poor souls are having to live in their home country with two old gringos in a predominantly North Americanized household with little relief of face-to-face interaction with their countrymen. They’re stressed.

But God continues to assure us that we are right where He wants us to be. He provides. Our kids are safe and fed. They are able to continue their educational journey online. And we have had the opportunity, through our close and now unique living situation, to continue building our relationships with them.

After Naun and his family left, I took Herby to the doctor, and then we went to a grocery store near our home. As we waited to turn left at the traffic light after I shopped, I saw a wee little girl holding her donation can. We weren’t prepared with bags, so I had Herby give her the little bit of change I had handy, 8 lempiras - 32 cents. That precious baby shouted out “GRACIAS” with the exuberance of a child who just received a most desired gift! Little Miss Itty-bitty then continued walking among the cars, and I could see her getting smaller in my rear view mirror.

The situation is sad every time we pass through our gate, but I usually don’t cry about it. Today though... 😭😭😭.

I pictured my own baby girls, Julia and Kelli, having to go up and down the street asking for money for food, and I was crushed! It’s not fair for kids to have to beg, my mind screamed.

As soon as Herby and I returned home, Lawrence and I loaded up the bags and headed back to the traffic light. I told Lawrence to look for a very small girl. He asked, “The one with pink pants?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

I swear, the food bag was nearly as big as Little Miss Itty-bitty. Once again we received that upbeat “GRACIAS” as he handed her the bag.

Toward the end of our journey we encountered a woman who had five children with her. They were settled in a newspaper stand across a busy intersection where we had stopped at a red light to give bags to other people. We were able to get her attention.

Something that impressed me, which I have seen time and time again with other young mommas and daddies who are not typical panhandlers, is that she was very attentive to keeping her children safe as she worked her way over to receive her bags. Although it was urgent that she get to us while the light was red, she made sure her little ducklings were safe as they crossed the street.

As that momma got closer to the car and I could see her more clearly, I was afraid I was going to lose it again. Her appearance, which was more dire in comparison, reminded me of the famous depression era, Dorothea Lange photo of an old-looking 32-year-old woman and her children. It was heartbreaking. I asked Lawrence to please give her an extra bag.

I wholeheartedly enjoy representing you in our community, but today was extremely difficult.

Yesterday I received an update from my friend Jennifer of One Day Revival Ministry, the organization we partnered with by giving a monetary donation, and she will have enough funds in about two weeks to purchase food for the neighborhood I wrote about in the previous post.

For accountability purposes, the stats to date are as follows:

• Approximately 325 bags have been given on the streets.
• You have partnered with 2 ministries for wider food distribution opportunities.
•. You have, through my shopping trip yesterday afternoon, purchased food to assemble 100 bags.

Isn’t that amazing? I think it is. Thank you so very much for allowing us to do this.

We have arrived at a juncture. There is currently $92.14 in the food distribution line. Several of you are the source of God’s provision for this project. The only way we can continue is through donations, either repeat donations and/or donations from others who have read our posts, trust what we are doing, and are prompted by the Holy Spirit to give.

I’m at peace if God decides our time on the streets and beyond is “mission accomplished” and I’m at peace if He continues to provide the funds for us to keep going out.

There may be other areas where I struggle for peace, but this project absolutely IS one area where I have unwavering peace ☺️.

We can receive tax-deductible donations through PayPal ([email protected], please check the gift option to avoid fees) or you may mail a check to Casa de Refugio, PO Box 1316, Weatherford, TX 76086. Our daughter checks the box once a month, so if anyone sends a check, please send me a message so she will know to go to the post office in the interim.

We pray peace and blessings over all of you. We hope you enjoy your holiday weekend. And if you are blessed to be in the physical presence of friends and family, treasure the time spent together.

Psalm 9:9-10
The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

❤️❤️❤️

06/12/2020

🇭🇳 Food Distribution Update # 4:

Good evening, family and friends.

Your generosity just keeps multiplying!

Monday Lawrence and Osman picked up a new food order at our neighborhood grocery store. Tuesday I went to two other grocery stores to finish out the list for the next 160 bags.

We had 24 bags left to distribute, so Osman and I went out Tuesday, and they were gone within 10 minutes.

As our doctor friend distributes bags, she consistently sends us photos of people who receive them.

A few days ago we found out that a dear local friend, whom we serve alongside from time to time, is raising funds to deliver food provisions to an area on the south coast of Honduras. Lawrence and Osman have taken weekend trips with her and her team to this particular area. Most of the people rely on fishing for their income. Our rainy season began with gusto three weeks ago with a tropical storm system that pummeled their area, which caused major disruption to their fishing revenue. Without the fish and with very little products coming into their area because of lockdowns and closures, they hit a food crisis. The pastor our friend works with reached out for help.

After prayer and discussion, Lawrence and I decided to help our friend’s fundraising efforts with a matching program and set aside a portion of your donations for that project. Her plan was to make a trip next week and meet the pastor at the barrier with a minimum of 50 provision bags, which contain a bit more food than ours, but she wants to go with 100. At this moment she has raised funds for 35 bags and Casa de Refugio is matching bag for bag, so she is getting closer to her goal.

Your generosity is spreading!

Now I give you an update about Honduras. Although we have been in lockdown for over 90 days, the confirmed case numbers are still on the rise, especially the last three days or so. The hospitals around the country are bursting at the seams and they lack everything. The government began an economic opening plan this week, but with citizens on continued lockdown except for one day every two weeks and with businesses all but closed on Saturdays and Sundays, the process will be very slow.

There are many people on the streets, and we will continue to help where we can as long as we have the resources.

Here are the stats as of this evening. I initially included monetary donation and expenditure amounts, then I decided it’s better to just say if you’d like to know those numbers, let me know and I’ll send you a private message.

Your donations - contact me
Expenditures, including the provision matching partnership - contact me
Bags Distributed - 164
Bags In-House for Distribution beginning next week - 160

We continually give thanks to all of you for allowing us the opportunity to serve in this manner. Much love from the Casa!

A generous person will prosper;
whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Proverbs 11:25

06/05/2020

🇭🇳 Food Distribution Update #3:

Hi family and friends.

Yesterday Lawrence and Osman took 50 bags to our doctor friend, and she was able to take them to an area she knows of where many single moms live. She told Lawrence she would take some photos and Lawrence told her it wasn’t necessary, but she did send one this morning. Lawrence and Osman also had 10 bags in hand to give to anyone they saw during their errands.

Today was my day out. Osman and I took 15 bags with us. We had one remaining bag, and I pulled into a business parking lot to turn around. We saw a woman sitting under a tree and we said in unison, “There’s who needs the last bag.”

Osman got out to give the lady the bag and she got really mad at him. She said she didn’t want the food and she said she didn’t even have a home. He told me he didn’t think she was all there mentally.😢

This afternoon I needed to drop Carmen off somewhere, and there were several people out in the road as we were on our way. It broke my heart. I called Lawrence and asked him to prepare 25 more bags. I picked up Osman from his mom’s house, where he had been to celebrate her birthday, we picked up the bags and went back to that area.

So, dear ones, several of you sowed into several lives and hopefully hearts over the last few days. I wish I could video the appreciation and thankfulness of some of the recipients of your food gifts. I could hear the sincerity in their voices when they spoke.

Here is an accounting:

1. 164 food bags purchased
2. 140 food bags distributed
3. 24 bags in house
4. There is still enough money to purchase food for approximately 325 bags!
5. Osman and I will place an order with our grocer and pick it up on our day out next week.
6. We will spend our time next week making up the bags and then begin distributing them again the week after next.

As a side note, I send a personal thank you and hug to you guys for giving our household the opportunity to serve our community in this manner.

This is not an easy time for anyone and I don’t minimize anyone’s challenges by sharing and comparing ours. I share only to let you know how thankful we are to spread your love on our days out and to let you know how much I enjoy the extra time during the day to be out of the house.

If you are able to take a drive just as a distraction anytime and anywhere you want, including weekends, you have more freedom than Honduran residents who live in a country that is basically shut down on Saturdays and Sundays. If you are able to choose the day you need to go shopping, you have more freedom than Honduran residents who can only go out one day every two weeks (or once a week if you have a passport with the last digit being in the off week.) If you are under 60 and are able to slip relatively quickly in and out of the grocery store or hardware store or bank, then you have more freedom and flexibility than Honduran residents who must wait an hour or two in a car line just to park and then a long people line before entering a business or bank whose daily hours of operation are reduced because they serve the elderly, pregnant, and disabled from 7 am until 9 am and close before the national daily curfew at 5 pm. If you are able to go into a business with your spouse, you have more freedom than Honduran residents who have differing end numbers on their IDs. I would venture to guess most married missionaries down here have ID numbers one digit apart from each other.

Lawrence is a 3 and I am a 4. The only way we can have a “date” is to ride in the car together and pick up something from a drive-thru near our home and eat it in the car. Go to the park or other open area, you might suggest? Nope. Parks are closed down.

We’re fine, we’re healthy (and heavier, in my case), and I’m trying not to be whiny about it all. But we do stress not only about our adopted country but our home country as well, especially this last week.

The beginning of March when schools started shutting their doors and then when we were all relegated to our homes except one day a week not of our choosing, we began to wonder if we really even had a purpose down here anymore. We were struggling and depressed and missing our family in the states. We prayed for direction. We talked with our family and board members and asked them to pray alongside us for a period of time. God answered. And the good news is we definitely still have purpose here. At this moment I hear one purpose singing upstairs, and another purpose is studying on the sofa.

And God even went one better (anybody surprised about that?) He allowed for this project to tangibly help others, one that requires planning and time commitment, something I desperately needed. So thank you.

I encourage you during this time to try not to get angry at the state of things. I really appreciated Jeremiah Gibson’s post from this morning. Go find it. I shared it on my wall.

Love to you all from us! ❤️❤️❤️