Newsletter for International Christian Hospice
February - April 2010
We are joining all believers around the world, this time of year, in remembering and celebrating our Savior’s death and resurrection. We pray that you will join us this Easter season in renewing our faith in Jesus Christ, the risen Lord. He is worthy of all praise, He who offers His grace freely to us, the One who would rather die than be separated from us now and for eternity!
International Christian Hospice has all the more reason to press on in our mission because of the living, risen Christ! He is the giver of each day of life and has a plan to give hope and peace even when we do not know how much time we have left to live.
Central America News
We returned to Guatemala in February to spend time with Dr. Sergio at his small mission hospital in Chocola. We learned both happy and sad news. You may recall our ministry time with Dr. Sergio last July. We had the joy of seeing Bayron and his family decide to follow Jesus. In January, Bayron died of liver disease. We rejoice that God granted him 6 more months with his family as a new man in Christ! Together they joined a local church, where the Pastor and staff had received ICH training, and now Luciana and the three boys are being surrounded by them.
We also learned of two other terminal patients with whom we had the opportunity to do hospice ministry and they have gone on to be with the Lord. Please pray for the grieving family of a 57 year old mother and grandmother as well the family of an 18 year old boy who died of Leukemia. Please pray for Dr. Sergio and his staff. They and many believers who live in this community received ICH training to have an ongoing outreach to those who are dying and their families.
February - April 2010
We are joining all believers around the world, this time of year, in remembering and celebrating our Savior’s death and resurrection. We pray that you will join us this Easter season in renewing our faith in Jesus Christ, the risen Lord. He is worthy of all praise, He who offers His grace freely to us, the One who would rather die than be separated from us now and for eternity!
International Christian Hospice has all the more reason to press on in our mission because of the living, risen Christ! He is the giver of each day of life and has a plan to give hope and peace even when we do not know how much time we have left to live.
Central America News
We returned to Guatemala in February to spend time with Dr. Sergio at his small mission hospital in Chocola. We learned both happy and sad news. You may recall our ministry time with Dr. Sergio last July. We had the joy of seeing Bayron and his family decide to follow Jesus. In January, Bayron died of liver disease. We rejoice that God granted him 6 more months with his family as a new man in Christ! Together they joined a local church, where the Pastor and staff had received ICH training, and now Luciana and the three boys are being surrounded by them.
We also learned of two other terminal patients with whom we had the opportunity to do hospice ministry and they have gone on to be with the Lord. Please pray for the grieving family of a 57 year old mother and grandmother as well the family of an 18 year old boy who died of Leukemia. Please pray for Dr. Sergio and his staff. They and many believers who live in this community received ICH training to have an ongoing outreach to those who are dying and their families.
It is always a joy to report the blessings and success when a team joins us in ministry. In February we welcomed our team of four people to Honduras for a week of training seminars. We extend our thanks to Don and Sue Smith from Lexington Baptist Church, in S.C. who have become experienced ICH team leaders/trainers and brought with them Linda Lovern, also from LBC, for her first field work. Thank you also to Linda Gill, Hospice RN, from Taylorsville, N.C. who came to work with this team. They presented ICH training for 172 people, including interdenominational church workers, community leaders, medical personnel and business owners. 30 of these people are Pastors serving throughout the large central region of Honduras. Once again it was reinforced to us by these folks how they valued the Christian Hospice teaching we shared. Several Pastors came to us personally to say how difficult they find it to visit and minister to people who are ill and facing death. Now they have counseling skills as well as a better understanding of the stages of death and grief that will help them in their desire to help others.
The remainder of our work in Honduras this spring was spent in preparation for the future. God opened the door for a meeting with Dr. Rodas, a leading pioneer in Palliative Medicine, in the capital city, Tegucigalpa. Dr. Barbra McCune, who directs an Episcopal mission clinic, joined us at this meeting and we all shared a common passion of bringing comfort care to people at the end of their lives. Dr. Rodas has a small day clinic where he sees patients with end stage diseases and then he drives to visit hospice patients in their homes within a 2 hour radius of the city. He is an example of the small segment of the medical community who are beginning to be aware of the huge need for end-of-life care. ICH is pressing on in our goals to encourage and educate the nationals, such as Dr. Rodas. We discussed together the possibility in the future for a Hospice/Palliative care workshop for physicians in Central America. Our meeting with him and Dr. Barbra was closed with a sweet time of prayer in which we all recommitted ourselves to serving together to bring comfort, dignity and hope in Jesus’ name to people who are suffering and dying.
While in Tegucigalpa we had the opportunity to make a home visit with our Volunteer Coordinator, Lourdes Argueta. She and her church have been providing hospice support to our young friend Ever, and his family, whom we have known for 1 ½ years now. It was a blessing to see his smiling face and we could detect the huge effort he made to get into the electric wheelchair ICH had provided. Ron was able to make some adjustments to his electric hospital bed and we delivered some much needed food and medications to his home. The toll of chronic, systemic infection was evident in his very thin, frail
body but Ever testified again to God’s faithfulness on the good days and the bad. Please pray for Ever and his family during his slow decline, and for the ICH ministry that is supporting him. Thank you Lourdes, and our other ICH volunteers, who are at work serving God and their own people through ICH in Honduras.
New Mission Members
We wish to welcome Richard and Babara Banis who have joined ICH as missionaries. We had the honor of working with them in Israel 10 years ago and became friends with a common goal in service for the Lord. When we founded ICH seven years ago they were our first supporters and biggest encouragers. We are thankful to God for opening this door of ministry to them and for the experience and skills they are bringing with them. Rich and Babara have served as full time missionaries for 28 years working in many different countries. They both have strong organizational and management skills, as well as Rich’s accounting experience. They are based in Marshall, N.C. and Rich’s primary responsibility will be to keep the financial books for ICH. We believe that God has sent them to minister with us and look forward to serving with them. They are faith-supported missionaries, and will only receive the donations designated for them through ICH.
We wish to welcome Richard and Babara Banis who have joined ICH as missionaries. We had the honor of working with them in Israel 10 years ago and became friends with a common goal in service for the Lord. When we founded ICH seven years ago they were our first supporters and biggest encouragers. We are thankful to God for opening this door of ministry to them and for the experience and skills they are bringing with them. Rich and Babara have served as full time missionaries for 28 years working in many different countries. They both have strong organizational and management skills, as well as Rich’s accounting experience. They are based in Marshall, N.C. and Rich’s primary responsibility will be to keep the financial books for ICH. We believe that God has sent them to minister with us and look forward to serving with them. They are faith-supported missionaries, and will only receive the donations designated for them through ICH.
Please Read their introduction letter.
BANIS BEACON
Winter 2010
Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps”
Dear friends and family,
A new year holds great possibilities. How will God reveal Himself to us? Are we ready at our age to receive from Him new challenges and a new direction? Several years ago our daughter-in-love gave us a beautiful wall hanging that says: “When God closes one door He opens another.” After 28 years with Helps International Ministries, God is closing the door there for us and has opened another door. As we change our direction the Lord has new plans for us.
Seven years ago our friends, Ron and Susan (a hospice nurse) Naish, started a new ministry, International Christian Hospice. We were involved with its inception with suggestions, encouragement and Barbara’s secretarial skills. She was privileged to type the handbook for the seminars that Ron and Susan give. It started slowly, but has since grown to seminars being held in several countries and the U.S. Rich is doing ICH’s accounting and is on the Board of Directors. We feel the Lord calling us to serve Him now through ICH.
The ministry verse of ICH is 2 Cor. 1:3,4, “Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” Not only are seminars held, but what a tremendous opportunity to share the Gospel with the dying and their families. In many overseas countries hospice care is unheard of. When someone has a terminal illness they are left alone to die. Ron and Susan teach caregivers how to care for the dying to make the remainder of their lives more comfortable. Many times the dying and their families hear of God’s saving power and accept Him as their personal Savior. For more information about ICH look at their website: http://www.ichospice.org/ or the blog at http://www.ichospiceblogspot.com/.
We will minister with them as much as possible through accounting, any secretarial skills needed and taking trips overseas when possible. We appreciate the prayer and financial support you have given us over the years and would ask that you continue the support and send it to: ICH, 303 Madison Heights Drive, Marshall, NC 28753. For you who have supported us with prayer we ask you to continue to pray for us especially through this transition. If God leads you to support us in this new ministry we will greatly appreciate it. As always your gifts will be tax deductable.
It has been a pleasure serving the Lord with you these last 28 years and look forward to serving the Lord together again with you.
Still available to Him,
Rich and Barbara
Contact them at : 303 Madison Heights Dr. Marshall, N.C.
South Africa News
ICH in South Africa continues with God’s blessings under the direction of LaVerne Busbee. In just a brief update we can tell you that she is continuing to work in several villages with Home Based Care givers, AIDs patients and is also providing ongoing ICH education. Living with the South African villagers since July ‘09 she has demonstrated daily her compassionate hand-on approach. LaVerne is seeing fruit to her labor as several more people have come to faith in Christ through her ministry. She is now praying about how God is leading her in future ministry with ICH. LaVerne is also faith-supported and receives only the donations designated for her from her supporters.
Another Language
Another piece of exciting news is the completion of our Pastor’s training manual in Haitian Creole. A dear friend named Paula, whom we met in Dominican Republic, has been working for several months on this translation between her own ministry work during this time of turmoil following the earthquake in Haiti. Much thanks to her and to the Lord for this fourth language in which ICH will be available.
Praise:
· Central America ministry time this spring
· Pastors and laypeople trained for Christian Hospice work
· New translation of ICH materials into Haitian Creole
· New believers through ICH ministry
· Rich and Barbara Banis new ICH missionaries
Prayer:
· Team preparation for Guatemala and Honduras in July and August
· LaVerne Busbee, South Africa ICH
· Future plans for Hospice/Palliative Care Center in Honduras
· Financial needs for ICH work to continue
· Web site improvement
· Development of business plan and upcoming Board of Director’s meeting
Thank you for your prayers and interest in International Christian Hospice. We are honored to serve God and be an extension of each of you taking hope and comfort in Christ to rest of the world.
Donations to ICH are tax deductible. Send to:
Winter 2010
Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps”
Dear friends and family,
A new year holds great possibilities. How will God reveal Himself to us? Are we ready at our age to receive from Him new challenges and a new direction? Several years ago our daughter-in-love gave us a beautiful wall hanging that says: “When God closes one door He opens another.” After 28 years with Helps International Ministries, God is closing the door there for us and has opened another door. As we change our direction the Lord has new plans for us.
Seven years ago our friends, Ron and Susan (a hospice nurse) Naish, started a new ministry, International Christian Hospice. We were involved with its inception with suggestions, encouragement and Barbara’s secretarial skills. She was privileged to type the handbook for the seminars that Ron and Susan give. It started slowly, but has since grown to seminars being held in several countries and the U.S. Rich is doing ICH’s accounting and is on the Board of Directors. We feel the Lord calling us to serve Him now through ICH.
The ministry verse of ICH is 2 Cor. 1:3,4, “Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” Not only are seminars held, but what a tremendous opportunity to share the Gospel with the dying and their families. In many overseas countries hospice care is unheard of. When someone has a terminal illness they are left alone to die. Ron and Susan teach caregivers how to care for the dying to make the remainder of their lives more comfortable. Many times the dying and their families hear of God’s saving power and accept Him as their personal Savior. For more information about ICH look at their website: http://www.ichospice.org/ or the blog at http://www.ichospiceblogspot.com/.
We will minister with them as much as possible through accounting, any secretarial skills needed and taking trips overseas when possible. We appreciate the prayer and financial support you have given us over the years and would ask that you continue the support and send it to: ICH, 303 Madison Heights Drive, Marshall, NC 28753. For you who have supported us with prayer we ask you to continue to pray for us especially through this transition. If God leads you to support us in this new ministry we will greatly appreciate it. As always your gifts will be tax deductable.
It has been a pleasure serving the Lord with you these last 28 years and look forward to serving the Lord together again with you.
Still available to Him,
Rich and Barbara
Contact them at : 303 Madison Heights Dr. Marshall, N.C.
South Africa News
ICH in South Africa continues with God’s blessings under the direction of LaVerne Busbee. In just a brief update we can tell you that she is continuing to work in several villages with Home Based Care givers, AIDs patients and is also providing ongoing ICH education. Living with the South African villagers since July ‘09 she has demonstrated daily her compassionate hand-on approach. LaVerne is seeing fruit to her labor as several more people have come to faith in Christ through her ministry. She is now praying about how God is leading her in future ministry with ICH. LaVerne is also faith-supported and receives only the donations designated for her from her supporters.
Another Language
Another piece of exciting news is the completion of our Pastor’s training manual in Haitian Creole. A dear friend named Paula, whom we met in Dominican Republic, has been working for several months on this translation between her own ministry work during this time of turmoil following the earthquake in Haiti. Much thanks to her and to the Lord for this fourth language in which ICH will be available.
Praise:
· Central America ministry time this spring
· Pastors and laypeople trained for Christian Hospice work
· New translation of ICH materials into Haitian Creole
· New believers through ICH ministry
· Rich and Barbara Banis new ICH missionaries
Prayer:
· Team preparation for Guatemala and Honduras in July and August
· LaVerne Busbee, South Africa ICH
· Future plans for Hospice/Palliative Care Center in Honduras
· Financial needs for ICH work to continue
· Web site improvement
· Development of business plan and upcoming Board of Director’s meeting
Thank you for your prayers and interest in International Christian Hospice. We are honored to serve God and be an extension of each of you taking hope and comfort in Christ to rest of the world.
Donations to ICH are tax deductible. Send to:
International Christian Hospice
145 Chillingham Rd.
Irmo, S.C. 29063
145 Chillingham Rd.
Irmo, S.C. 29063
