Very near completion is the new Bible Institute where church leaders will be trained. It will include a classroom and dormitories for those who attend fulltime.

Jose Osorio Quintanilla
Age: 67 DOB: 2 January 1944
Baptized on: September 1996 (15 years)
He has 2 married sons
His wife: Milagros Diaz Granados (Christian also)
He wants to learn about the bible and serve to the church.

Jose is planning to interrupt his life by studying to be a preacher/teacher. He plans to live in residence in the new Ocotepeque Bible Institute for 2 years. He will travel to his home congregation to work each weekend, and he will be involved in the church activities in Ocotepeque during the week.

He needs an estimated $90 each month for transportation and food.

This can be sent to the Mt Vernon Church of Christ, 732 S. Landrum, Mt Vernon, MO 65712

Peace Corp volunteers are being sent home from Honduras in January while the organization evaluates what to do about the violence.

This action is going to make us more careful about who travels to Honduras. We will make sure everyone understands the situation, and we will make sure that we do everything we can to keep our teams safe.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduran officials on Friday lamented a U.S. decision to pull 158 Peace Corps volunteers out of the Central American country in January for safety reasons.

Foreign Minister Arturo Corrales said he believes the situation is temporary as Honduras works to restore peace and security in a country notorious for having the highest homicide rate in the world.

“The Peace Corps has done an outstanding job in our country,” added Security Minister Pompey Bonilla. “We are dismayed by the pullout.”

The government reaction came two days after the U.S. government announced it is suspending training for new Peace Corps volunteers in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and bringing home 158 volunteers from Honduras. The current volunteers will remain in the other two countries.

We visited the Ocotepeque prison to determine their condition. It is quite secure and very uncomfortable. The conditions are quite deplorable by our standards. Dea was allowed to treat this open sore that he had had for 7 months and had been without medical treatment for it.
We encourage the local ministers to set up Bible studies there.

The men of the Ocotepeque church work well together and enjoy being together.

The church bus takes the people from La Antigua to their village following Sunday evening Worship in Ocotepeque.

The Ocotepeque church has worship at 5 pm on Sunday and on Wednesday at 6pm. The La Antigua congregation joins them on Sunday. Antigua has Bible study and worship on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Each child in the childrens' sponsor program received a toy at the December meeting! They loved the toys and for many it is the only toy they will get for Christmas.

This is one of the suspension bridges that connects La Antigua (Old Ocotepeque) with the remote villages in the mountains to the west. It is for foot traffic only.

Jorge and Marcos attended a meeting hosted by John Cannon of Katy, Texas and attended by the 4 preachers from the region. The meeting was to encourage them to stand fast in the work of the Lord and work together.

The new facility for the Ocotepeque Bible Institute is nearing completion. This is on top of the auditorium and will have a classroom as well as dormitories for men and women. Classes are scheduled to begin in January 2012.

Construction started in late September 2011 on a mezzanine in the rear 1/3 of the church building. This will serve as a classroom for a new Bible Institute to train church leaders. It will also contain 2 dormitory rooms for men and women who will live there while attending the Institute. The photo shows one of the holes in the auditorium floor for a column.

Marcos Rafael has joined Jorge in the ministry to Ocotepeque. He is a great preacher and evangelist. He graduated from the San Salvador preaching school in 2000. He worked in Atlanta, GA for 8 years as an electrician, then returned to El Salvador to court his childhood sweetheart, Besy. She is a teacher in the La Palma Christian School, and they plan to marry on December 17, 2011.
Marcos has a focus on evangelism in La Antigua, otherwise known as Old Ocotepeque. The original city of Ocotepeque was destroyed by a large mudslide in 1934. About half of the structures were destroyed and hundreds lost their lives. The result was a major move to New Ocotepeque, about 3 miles north. La Antigua has an estimated 500 homes.
Marcos will also be instrumental in opening a Bible Institute in Ocotepeque to train church leaders and teachers.

The Rodriguez family is a great asset to the church. Gloria is an example to the women and a teacher to them and the children. The two older daughters are both teachers. Jorge is a great minister.

If you like kids at all, you can really enjoy the ones at Ocotepeque. They are very loving and like to have a good time.

The children now have 2 classrooms to meet in. Before, all of the children were crowded into a hallway.

The inauguration event was held in December 2010 with area congregations attending to help celebrate.

Here is the facility layout: 4 rooms on the right, restrooms to the rear, commons area in the middle, and auditorium with baptistry on the left.

The front of the new facility after completion: classrooms on the right, auditorium on the left, sliding door in the middle to a commons area.

The auditorium was mostly completed and the first meeting held in the new building in October 2010.

In September 2010 a team from Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri installed wiring in the auditorium, painted the classroom interior walls, and began preparing to pour the auditorium floor.

The auditorium roof was installed in August of 2010.

The front wall of the auditorium was completed by June 2010.

The rear wall of the auditorium was completed to close in the construction area.

The restrooms at the rear were completed and the walls to the auditorium were begun.

Column footings were set by the members themselves as time permitted.

These four rooms were completed by September 2009, and a team from Missouri installed the wiring.

All members of the congregation worked as they had time to do so.

Members continued construction for several months--without machines, it was all done by hand!

This group from Missouri and Arkansas worked for a week clearing the lot and starting to dig footings for the new building.

Tim Bassing from Black Oak, Arkansas preached a series of lessons to the congregation in June 2009 to spur growth. At the same time, a team from Mt. Vernon, MO and Cave Springs, Arkansas started clearing the land owned by the church in preparation for a new building. Tim is shown preaching with Freddy Paraza translating.

The Ocotepeque congregation met in this garage for about 10 years. They could not grow because they did not have space to grow into.

In just 5 weeks our team heads for La Palma for the medical mission. Please be praying for this trip to be safe and successful, and that God will get the glory for many good things.