OMOA, Honduras — Twenty-five years ago, in 1998, a young Centralia pastor and his wife began a lifelong journey to serve orphaned and abandoned children in Central America.
After several years of leading a Spanish-language church in the Twin Cities, Oscar and Amy Serrano returned to his hometown of Puerto Cortes, on the Caribbean shore, to follow their shared passion of helping the needy in his home country of Honduras.
The two had met while working on a missionary ship carrying medical supplies to areas in need. Amy, originally from Louisiana, fully shared Oscar’s missionary zeal. On a late 1990s trip to Honduras, recently battered by Hurricane Mitch, they had an extraordinary encounter with a local citizen.
He said God had told him to give them an 8-acre parcel of land out in the countryside.
“What will we do with the land?” they asked.
That’s not my decision, he said. I just need to do what God told me to do.
And so 20 years ago, in 2003, the couple opened the doors of the Heart 2 Heart Children’s Village. They welcomed children who were in desperate circumstances — orphans, or children whose parents couldn’t feed them, or with parents who terribly abused them. Some were found abandoned and dropped off at the village.
Oscar and Amy gave them a home and the love that can give a child the foundation for a good life. Over time they built two houses, one for girls, one for boys, on the two ends of the long, narrow property. They had over 100 children at one point. They also set up a school and clinic.
Having ties back to Lewis County, the Serranos soon made connections with Chehalis-based Bethel Church. Eventually strong relationships developed. Bethel sends a missionary team down each year to support the village by helping build up infrastructure and, more importantly, building relationships with the children living there as part of their extended global family.
Investing in Life
Scott Collins of Chehalis, a Bethel pastor who has been coming to the village for a decade with his wife, Jeannie, said the connections are strong and important to both the American missionaries and the Honduran children whose only family is the village and those connected with it.
“Many of the children have come up to me over the years and said ‘you’ve known me my whole life,” Collins said. “They don’t have a whole lot of people like that.”
Rick Stephens, a retired accountant from Clackamas, has been part of many Bethel teams and has visited on his own several times a year — at least 50 times in total, he estimates. His wife has made just as many visits.
Stephens, who is on the Heart 2 Heart board, said their goal with children is “rescue, raise and restore.”
“We rescue them from whatever their situation is. We give them a loving home, food, clothes and education. We teach them about Jesus. We help them identify dreams and pursue them,” Stephens said. “We provide the kids with opportunities and it’s their job to take advantage of them.”
He talked about a girl who grew up in the village, left to go to college, graduated from medical school and is now a doctor at the local hospital. Her sister is about to graduate from dental school.
Supporting the Mission
Volunteers from Bethel, among other missionary teams, have put in a gravel road, helped prepare for the Village to pour a swimming pool and build a tall wooden play structure that bears a sign reading “Castillo de Bethel” (Bethel Castle) along with many other projects over the years.
My son and I are in Honduras now, part of a 16-person Bethel team spending 10 days working at the village. We’re laying tile in the girls’ house and helping rebuild a play structure.
While that’s important, what’s even better is getting to know these neat kids. They are funny, warm and delighted to have guests spending time with them.
Today during lunch (the younger children insisted that my son and I sit with them at the little kids’ table) my eyes kept dwelling on a picture hanging on the wall. It shows Oscar and Amy under the word Love.
That photo is a reminder of a great love and a great loss. Amy died five years ago of a sudden illness. This woman who built a home for orphans named Heart 2 Heart died, tragically, of a heart condition.
Oscar, 52, is continuing the work he and Amy began. He told me he still doesn’t understand why he lost his wife and partner so early in life.
“But God understands, and that is enough,” he told me.
God Does the Building
Next week I'll write about how the trip has changed those of us fortunate to be working in the Heart 2 Heart village with these wonderful kids.
For now, I'll close with a quote from Amy. Before her unexpected death she was working on a book. Her family finished and published it after her passing. It's called “Answering Compassion’s Call.”
“I am always reminded of how our Heavenly Father gets things done,” Amy Serrano would say. ”It's not about schools, homes, buildings or churches because one day all these things will fade away. It is Him building His dwelling place within us, and Him doing what only He can do within us. He is saving, restoring and rebuilding what cannot be done with human hands. He does not build dollar to dollar or brick to brick. Our Father builds heart to heart.”
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Learn more about the extraordinary work of Worldwide Heart 2 Heart at www.h2hcv.org. You can sponsor a child through the website if you're so inclined. After meeting many of these children over the past few days, I know you'd be making the investment of a lifetime — yours and theirs.
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Brian Mittge can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
