Hilton church sponsors ninth team to Honduras

Team IX to Morazan, Yoro, Honduras, included members of three different local churches: Parma Christian Fellowship, Hilton; Albion Free Methodist Church, and The Chapel, Portales, New Mexico. Pictured front (l-r): Connie Bridges, Lisa Bierdeman, Jory Bierdeman, Brenda Bierdeman, Pam Merrill, Mary Miller, Ana Bridges, Blythe Luong. Back row: Mark Sitterly, David Bierdeman, Chad Bierdeman, Evan Witters, Ben Luong, Sue Morgan and Pastor Myke Merrill.

Hilton church sponsors ninth team to Honduras

Parma Christian Fellowship, based in Hilton, sent its ninth team to Morazan, Yoro, Honduras for an 11-day trip of ministry, support and cultural exchange through a school sponsored by the church, LaEscuela de La Verdad y La Vida (The School of Truth and Life). The team traveled to Honduras July 10 through 20 and offered the fiesta vacation bible school program in Spanish to the 130 children of the school. The closing program brought nearly 200 people from the community to the school. The team accompanied students of the school and their parents to the Copan Ruins in western Honduras, on the Guatemala border, for a day-long educational experience. Most of the Hondurans had never traveled that far from home, nor seen any of the historic sites in their own country.

Parma Christian Fellowship sponsors 72 scholarships for students needing financial help in gaining an education. In addition, the church provides educational scholarships to all nine teachers, who are preparing on the weekends for educational certification at the Pedagogical University in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Teams travel to Honduras three times per year, and have completed a wide variety of projects. Mark Sitterly, Mary Miller and Pastor Myke Merrill are owners of the school as representatives of the church. Classes are provided for kindergarten through sixth grade for 200 days per year. The head teacher and local director is Jose Antonio Carcamo. Through a special arrangement with the government of Morazan, the school uses a large city-owned building, repaired by the church. The school provides space for the regional education office of the state of Yoro, through its director Nelson Morales, and his staff.

Donations of school supplies or books, financial support for scholarships or team travel, and many other needed items are needed. Parma Christian Fellowship is a four-year old independent church, and meets at 155 Lake Avenue, Hilton in the old church building of St. Leo's.