Loma de Luz - Honduras

Iain, Liz and Samuel became the Host Family for Cornerstone Foundation in July 2004, based in La Ceiba, where they helped coordinate the visits of individual volunteers and short-term mission teams to the hospital by looking after the needs of visitors and their accommodations. They also have been key personnel in materials and supply purchasing for the hospital.

Their calling: "We believe we have been called to Honduras to develop two projects: a foster home and a house for children from extreme rural areas that will enable them to access education. Working with Cornerstone as host family has provided us with the opportunity to learn Spanish and an understanding of the local culture and to make important contacts in Honduras as we waited for the Lord to show us the next stage of His plans."

From its inception, Cornerstone Foundation had anticipated and planned for work in children's care – the McKenzies had a corresponding vision. In 2006 we began to further develop these projects together, with a plan for the McKenzies to direct the work. Iain, Liz and Samuel moved from La Ceiba to live in Balfate in July 2006 as they prepared to start the projects and fulfill the vision they received from the Lord. Construction began in October 2006 and was completed in June 2008. As they waited for the new center to be completed, they started receiving children into the house they were renting. They moved into the newly completed center with 6 children and admitted another the same day. The center can house 24 children and runs pretty close to capacity most of the time.

They have two sons: Samuel (12/01/97), who is with them in Honduras. Their older son, Simon, lives in Scotland along with his wife (Jackie) and children (Katelyn and Dylan).

More about The Cornerstone Foundation

Three organizations combining together towards one goal:

The Cornerstone Foundation is a USA based Christian charitable organization 501(c)(3) dedicated to building, administering, and maintaining service-oriented, facility-centered Christian outreach such as hospitals, schools, & foster children's care centers in response to clear need particularly in developing nations.   We build facilities in needy places and support and encourage God's people to meet those needs.

Loma de Luz is a Christian charitable outreach on the North Coast of Honduras, in the Departamento de Colón.  Hospital Loma de Luz was the original focus of this work, and still is the hub of the wheel of related service oriented ministries in the same locale, now including the Hospital, the Bilingual School ,'Escuela Bilingue El Camino', Sanctuary House Children's Center, Finca Loma de Luz Agricultural Outreach, Community Development, Church Planting, and more to come.

APAH, Asociación Piedra Angular de Honduras (The Cornerstone Organization of Honduras), is the Honduran Charitable non-profit organization which serves as the legal administrative framework within Honduras for all of the work of Loma de Luz.

The Cornerstone Foundation was formed to enable the development and ongoing work of Loma de Luz.  APAH was formed to enable the Cornerstone Foundation's work within Honduras.  Loma de Luz is still the primary work of both organizations.  The history, development, and ongoing functioning of all three are inextricably intertwined.

The Vision

The vision of Loma de Luz is one of a diverse community of Christian believers cooperating to provide medical care and a constant, present, on-going hearing of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of the north coast of Honduras, and ultimately the inland, the Mosquita, and to national and international sailors in that part of the Caribbean.

In order to accomplish this task, a tertiary care referral hospital is the structural hub of various services and outreaches that include education, foster children's care, agricultural projects, public health, chaplaincy, community development, home health nursing, and pastoral and Christian leadership training. We work daily for it to be an outreach that not only meets physical needs, but also the needs of the spirit and the soul.  We pray for the hospital and community surrounding it to be a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. It is our goal that the people who would come to the hospital for medical care, the people who would find employment related to the hospital, and the people who would benefit from other connected services would not only hear the gospel preached, but also see it lived out in the lives of the missionaries and Christian workers.

Visit http://www.crstone.org/ for further info.

Read a recent interview with Iain and Liz here http://www.highland-news.co.uk/News/Inverness-family-in-Honduras-adventure-28062011.htm.