On Feb. 14, 1997, Betsy and two Hondurans from her church began to visit an area of the city at night that was known for prostitution. They were struck by the women’s openness to the Gospel and by the overwhelming love of Jesus that flooded their hearts for these women trapped in prostitution. They took coffee and cookies and would often sit on the curb with the women to share the scriptures...kind of curbside Bible studies. After a year of visits to the streets and to the women’s prison, God allowed them to be midwives to the first woman who would leave the streets by the power of Christ. Nancy accepted Christ without much fanfare but it was a real conversion. She confessed later that she had wanted to leave the little street gathering that April night in 1999 but the Holy Spirit kept drawing her back. After she accepted Christ, the women from Jericho asked if they could give her a ride home. She declined, relating that she had a debt to pay of 500 lempiras (approximate $30 US). The Jericho crew took down her name and address and promised to visit her the next day.

They arrived the next day at the address that Nancy had provided and that’s when Nancy shared two surprises.  First she told of how a man approached her on the streets after she had prayed to accept Christ.  She explained that he was not a client and that she began to tell this man of her encounter with Christ earlier in the evening. He encouraged her to get off the streets and told her he would help support her if she promised to go to church and to stay off the streets. And then he pulled a 500 lempira bill out of his pocket and gave it to her. “Was this the hand of God?”, she asked her new friends from Jericho. They were all in clear agreement that God had used this man (angel?) to encourage not only Nancy, but the Jericho crew as well. They needed to know that God would sustain those whom He had called.

The next surprise had to do with a woman they had come to know as Pati.  Betsy had met her the first night they went to the streets and had spoken with Pati on several occasions. What was she doing there at Nancy’s? The story unfolded as Nancy revealed that Pati was actually her mother. They did not tell people of this truth simply because it caused them shame. If  you ask the women the main reason they are on the streets, they will almost always state the reason as wanting to provide a “better life” for their children. But of course actions speak louder than words and although Pati had helped Nancy to get halfway through High School, Nancy dropped out of school and followed her Mom to the streets. Pati had been out on the streets for over 20 years. The night that Nancy came to Christ, Pati was sitting on the curb, too, and she prayed silently that Christ would free her from the life of hopelessness she felt trapped in.

Pati’s coming to Christ had a huge impact on the lives of the women still on the streets. On the Saturday night visits that the Jericho crew made, the women would always ask, “Is Pati still with you?” The women from Jericho knew that what they were really being asked was, “Is God’s power enough to free us from a lifestyle of sin?” It was evident that Nancy and Pati would need some means of gainful employment.   Betsy asked Nancy what she would like to do and Nancy mentioned that she had wanted to learn to sew since she was a child.   Betsy found two new sewing machines and got permission from her mission society to rent a small space on the same block where the women solicited.   Nancy and Betsy laugh now when they think of those early placemats that were made and sold to kind mission teams who had mercy on them. Within five months that two room rental area was filled with eight “rescued women” as they called themselves, a store filled with placemats, and an office.

It was bursting with activity and so they all prayed for a bigger place. God was providing just enough for the salaries and the rent and so this would take a step of faith to trust Him for more. Every month God would provide just what was needed. One day there was nothing in the account and it was payday. All of the women at Jericho got on their knees and cried out to God. That afternoon a mission team from Japan came and bought out the entire Guatemala section of placemats enabling the ministry to make payroll. 

After several months, God led the ministry to a space down the road where all eight women could sew comfortably. The Lord provided enough funds to rent both the original space for the office /store and for the second floor sewing workshop which was one block away. Eventually the space below the sewing workshop became available and the ministry was able to operate in one area with space for everything except a children’s ministry.     

From the start the Jericho team knew they needed to help the women with their children. Many of the women didn’t have a safe place for their kids so in January of 2002 when $9000 extra came in through donations, it seemed that it was finally time to start Jericho Kid’s Ministry. The second floor apartment over the offices became available and so by May, God provided everything needed for a day care center. The first teachers were a Dartmouth student, a Korean volunteer, and a Honduran missionary in training.  These three worked together to help the children begin to live in a more structured environment filled with love and healthy discipline.

    Not long after the day care center was up and running, Neyda, one of the rescued women expressed a deep concern.  Her 8 year old son was already running with gang members. There was a four hour gap between the time he got home from school and the time his mom got home from work and so it was during this unsupervised time that he was getting involved with the gangs. The ministry prayed together and sensed the urge to start an elementary school for the older children. Once again everything fell into place….everything except the teachers, that is. They moved ahead with plans to start on Feb. 9, 2003 but there were still no teachers one month before, two weeks before, one week before, until finally two teachers came TWO days before starting Jericho Christian Elementary School. God’s timing was definitely different than the team’s but He was faithful to His promise to provide all that was needed.

The next area of expansion had to do with land. The ministry began to sense a real need for a place in the country. So many of the women were experiencing freedom in Christ from addictions and unproductive behavior patterns but some of them needed to make a clean break with their past to find freedom. (See Laura’s Story). After much prayer and fasting the Lord led the ministry to a 100 acre wood in the country just 68 km outside of Tegucigalpa (Click on photo story, home page). It seemed like the perfect place to focus on God for healing and restoration. After six months Betsy and her staff received the go ahead from God to make a final offer that was received by the bank. The bank owner accepted Christ with Elvia and Betsy that morning of the 23rd of December 2004 as they signed the papers. There was much rejoicing in heaven and on earth!
  

The rehabilitation center and water tank were started next and the progress, though slow, was good. God sent a team from St. Mark’s, Geneva in June 2005 and on that team was Chris Miller. Chris, a professor of architecture at Judson College, offered his time and talent and he came up with some magnificent drawings. He began to visit Jericho frequently to work with Fito to make an adobe building for God’s glory. This rehab center purpose is set up to teach the women skills such as cooking, baking, canning, woodcarving, sewing, hair styling and computation. The women will also spend time in Bible study, prayer, as well as in recreation in the great outdoor sanctuary.

In the middle of the construction of the rehabilitation center, the Lord brought a house in Tegucigalpa to the attention of the Jericho staff. The owners were desperate to sell and had been praying for three years that a Christian family or ministry would buy it. It didn’t seem big enough on first inspection, but with the addition of three classrooms above the patio out back and a bit of remodeling, it seemed just the place for the growing Jericho family. God then provided the exact amount that the house cost through a one time donation!

The area of town is much easier to access and the whole atmosphere of the ministry is much more “homelike”.  You can’t miss the house because it’s rather orange in color!   The “Jericho House” is home to a store to sell products made by the rescued women, classrooms, a library, playgrounds, a small workshop for the Jericho graduates, offices, and a future coffee shop/bakery which will be called K-Fe (pronounced “café” ….Fe means faith in Spanish).

 

In January 0f 2007 the rehab center in Jericho Villa was close to being finished and there was an international crowd present to help inaugurate the facilities to set them apart for God’s glory.   In January of 2008 we had three women come to Jericho for help and we sensed that they were ready to enter the rehab program in the Villa.  But after only one month, all three women independently of one another, chose to return to the city.   One woman snuck out quietly leaving her two daughters behind, trusting that the ministry  would care for them.   At the same time Jericho held a medical brigade with Drs. Ken and Pat Holden from Charleston, SC. and during this brigade, an 11 year old begged them to take her in.  She confessed that she was already involved in prostitution and was desperate to get out.  They realized that their initial design of ministering to women and their children for a two year period was being stretched to include  children either already involved in prostitution or at high risk for entering prostitution which involved a longer term commitment.  They prayed and sensed this was His will.  The rehab center up and running with three girls!

A month later Betsy was diagnosed with amyloidosis and multiple myeloma. The whole ministry went into a state of flux. Now it seemed like God's grace that they didn't have more than the three young girls out at the Villa because Hae Young and Elvia, Betsy’s closest co-workers in the ministry, would be able to take turns caring for her in NYC.

The healing journey took time.   Betsy felt trapped in a body that seemed anything but her own.  She begged God to heal her instantly but He had so much He needed to teach her and her staff about learning to trust God for the impossible. The doctors said there was no hope and that death was imminent. God spoke to them over and over again that He was going to bring forth a complete healing. They chose to believe the Promises of God over the doctor's dictate. It made all the difference. Betsy returned to ministry fulltime a year after she was diagnosed and has had many beautiful opportunities to share about His healing with others. (See stories for His glory for the link to her testimony)

The Lord continued to speak about focusing on the children of the women. He seemed to whisper in their hearts that He was very interested in the “next generation”. And then He began to bring the children into the ministry until some of their households seemed so full that they would burst from the sheer number of children.   This ministry to the next generation is called D.A.R. which stands for “De Alto Riesgo” in Spanish or “High Risk Children” in English.   Their prayer is that these children, by the power of Christ, will be able to lead lives that glorify God, thus breaking the generational chains of prostitution, sexual abuse, and various addictions that have plagued their families.  Jericho is committed to their physical, emotional and spiritual development until their own mothers can care for them in a godly way or until they are able to live for Christ on their own.  Eleven of the children live out in our rehab center in the country and 14 children live with 4 different staff members here in town.  Jericho is responsible for their education through our school. 

Apart from the children mentioned above, Jericho has also been able to provide an education this year for other children who are also socially at risk but who are able to live with their families.  Jericho Christian School provides a solid Christian education that these children would normally not have access to.  Presently Jericho ministers to almost 100 children in their schools.
Jericho Ministries continues to reach out to the marginalized women and children of the city whose lives reflect a hopelessness that can only be changed through the power of Jesus Christ.  These first years have been full of challenges, laughter and sorrow but most of all joy at watching Jesus do only what He can do…...transform lives from the inside out!    One of our biggest joys is watching God do what the world deems impossible.....bringing beauty from ashes, healing the incurable, transforming the abused and rejected.