Odessans set sights to south

It's the second-poorest nation in Central America, is 97 percent Roman Catholic and "has an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income and high unemployment," according to the CIA World Factbook.

It's called Honduras, a little nation of about 8 million people between Guatemala and Nicaragua, and it's a place where a couple of Odessa missionaries may soon call home.

Next week, Christi and Miguel Lopez will go before the Baptist Bible Fellowship International to seek what you might call a certification that will give them the go-ahead to raise the money necessary for their goal to spend as much as a decade or longer bringing the Baptist faith to the nation.

Along with their three boys, who range from 2 to 6 years old, the couple hopes to plant roots in the nation, beginning with the construction of a church facility and possibly with the establishment of a food outreach program for the poorest of the poor in the Honduran capital city of Tegucigalpa.

Of course, they don't expect to get on any airplanes until they manage to raise enough money and enough pledges to sustain their $7,000-per-month financial needs, a tall fundraising order that they expect to take until at least 2011.

"There are all kinds of things we plan to do," 32-year-old Christi Lopez said after mentioning the possibility of a women's shelter. "We plan to be there a long time. It's scary, but it's what we want to do."

Both Odessa natives have bachelor's degrees in missionary work from the Baptist Bible College in Missouri, and they said they have been to Honduras recently for a brief stay.

Their service to God has taken them to other places for short stints of missionary work, including Mexico, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

But Honduras, they said, is where God has a mission for them.

"There are some really modern, wealthy people," Christi Lopez said about the central districts of the capital city, "but then you get up to the mountains and everybody is really, really poor."

"There are so many social and physical needs the country of Honduras has," her husband added. "We want to fulfill their spiritual needs." 

Before choosing their next destination, Miguel Lopez said, the couple had a good, long chat with God.

"It was like, ‘Yeah, this is really where God wants us to be,' " he said. "You just know. It's a God thing."

If they receive the approval of the BBFI oversight board next week, the couple said they will begin calling church after church from across the nation and traveling when necessary to raise the money necessary for their mission.

The money will come primarily in two ways.

Up-front donations will help them get some money together to get started - they expect to need about $2,000 per month for their own expenses like housing, health insurance and their boys' education - and pledging churches will send them money each month to help sustain their work.

"It's like you're living off people's word," Christi Lopez said, "You just hope they send it."

"And sometimes they don't," her spouse softly chimed in, staring at his lap.

The couple said the biggest obstacle they expect to have to overcome is the sheer culture shock of moving from the United States to a Third World nation, especially after what Christi referred to as the "honeymoon stage" of living abroad. 

"It's all fun and adventurous at first," she said, "but then it hits you, ‘OK. I miss America.' "

Fortunately, Christi has a sister and brother-in-law who already are established missionaries not far from where the Lopezes intend to settle in. This connection, they hope, will be a great source of support.

But at the end of the day, Miguel Lopez said, they'll be doing not only what they love, but also what they were called by God to do.

"We'll be teaching and preaching the Bible together," he said.

want to help

>> To help the Lopez family, call Calvary Baptist Church at 362-4181.