Hey Everyone,
You can celebrate with us now — we have light. “And God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there WAS light.” God certainly said so this time and every obstacle was broken down and we have electricity in our house now. I am so BEYOND thankful. I had expected to be enjoying fans at night, lamps in the night instead of candles, music all day long, etc. But what I hadn’t expected is that all of a sudden all our lights are SOOOOO BRIGHT!! and the pump fills up the water tanks soooo fast and my stove heats up so quickly and stronger than before, etc. etc. etc. I hadn’t realized how weak the power was with just a generator. So we are getting spoiled quickly — I still can’t believe it and find myself doubting when I go to turn on a light switch on or to plug something in during the daytime. It is really amazing.
The group of men that God sent to us were sooooo wonderful. They worked so hard and with such great enthusiasm. I was so thankful for their generosity in giving of their time and working SOOO hard. It is much different working here in Honduras — they usually have trucks to run them around and haul the materials. Here they had to hike miles every day and use oxen for the materials. The mosquitos were eating them up and they sloshed through lots of mud and kept on and on. Actually, the mud wasn’t bad but for two nights. God answered our prayers to cut back on the rain right in the middle of rainy season and then when they left, the rain picked up again. God is so big and certainly in control of the weather!! We all went out to the transformer on Thursday afternoon about 4:15 p.m. and gave thanks to the Lord for the lights and then flipped on the power — wow — what an unforgettable event. I wish the little ones could really understand what GREAT thing God has done for us. But we will keep re-telling them as they get bigger about the greatness of the Father to provide such a MIRACULOUS thing for us and sending such a great team of men. All that the kids know is that they can watch a movie in the middle of the day now and that I have a light on at 5:00 in the morning when they get up and they can see coming down the hall, ha.
Mike and Janet Bennett were here for the week as well. Mike was the instigator for getting us the electricity but they are also the couple that will be leading our groups in the future. Mike and I had a few hours to talk on Friday while the others went to the water falls for a fun day. We have determined that we need to focus this next year or two on building up the ministry. We want to help groups be involved still in ministry projects but we need to build most of the groups for the coming years around the building projects that need to be done. We have the rest of our years here to reach out to the mountain villages and that is very much on my heart, but right now we need to get this ministry ready and running. We have made a few goals for teams for the coming months and if your groups can help us in any way, please write to me. Of course, if a team of men come to help us in construction projects, they can always bring some extras along and we will still go into a village and do a VBS or distribute clothes. We just won’t focus groups on just ministry for this year to come. There are a couple of groups already scheduled with medical brigades, etc. and we will of course continue with those as they are scheduled, but for those who are wanting to come and have not yet scheduled, please look at the projects below and let me know how your group might be able to fit in somehow:
January — ceramic needs laid in Carlos’ house below our second children’s home.
February — outside bathrooms will be built for the church people as well as our children when they are out playing
March — lay ceramic in the pavillion and build pews for church
There are a lot of other projects that need to be done in the next year and we haven’t exactly scheduled them but they are:
Buildling a fence around the entire compound (this involves making cement posts with a form and using chain length fencing in between)
Building window seats for all the bedrooms for storing clothes (we have no closets in the homes) in the second house
Building book shelves, desks, etc.
Building tables and benches for the dining room later on in the year
Building a carpenter shop — we have a lot of saws, etc. that have been donated to us
Starting on the workers’ homes (Habitat for Humanity style) — $3,500 for each house and a group could get a lot accomplished on one of these homes in a week.
There are more things coming up but that gets us started and I am so glad to set out some goals and actually use our groups to accomplish those goals.
Again, I don’t want to discourage people from coming if they want to do more ministry (VBS, Sunday School, evangelism) but we will work them out to be during the same weeks as we do construction projects. We really have to get some focus and I am thankful for the help to get these things accomplished.
We are hoping to build the third house in July with Steve Clifton and the West Acres Baptist group and will have to start the slab in mid-May or so. That will keep our workers busy and then after that we will have a lot of projects for the rest of the year as we need to finish up under that third house to make a dining hall and big kitchen.
Please let me know if a group from your church can help with any of these projects. I will then have you contact Mike Bennett who will be leading and organizing all the building teams in the future. Thanks so much for praying about these details and helping us in any way you can.
We have WONDERFUL news as well. The man that bought all the land across the road from us has offered us FOR FREE about 8 to 9 acres of land for bringing the electricity to his land. This means we have room to put the workers’ homes, our medical/dental clinic and also have room for the girls’ home (should they decide to build near us). God is so amazing and we are so excited about all He is doing for us continualy. Sometimes I cannot even take it in — it is growing fast and gloriously!!! Thanks for your prayers and please don’t quit — that is exactly what is keeping us going and growing!!
We are going to go ahead with the road repair in the next few weeks. It ended up being a good price they gave us. They had planned to widen the road, build ditches to drain water in parts and smooth out the whole thing. It is well worth it and we may not widen the whole road so it will be less than we had been told anyway. Thanks for continuing to pray about that for us as well. We will save so much money on car repairs and tires if we get this done soon.
We are still praying about the bus situation. Please pray for us to know what the best plan is. The Houston group said they can look in the next few weeks for a good one in the States and then pack it full of things they have to send us. We have been hearing that it is much smarter to buy a good bus in the states and ship it because of the quality there being so much better. Also, the Houston people have 700 pounds of telephone wire to ship us and some other furniture, etc. and can collect some needed things and that would save the expense of sending another container. Please be praying earnestly in this for us because we need to get the bus soon and need God’s wisdom as to where to locate a good one. Enough money was donated that we can get a really good bus and still pay for the shipping and taxes. Thanks for your prayers on all of this.
We are all pretty worn out after the hectic week but rejoicing in the amazing Father that we have — He is beyond comprehension. Please pray for ENORMOUS blessings to be poured out from the Lord on those precious men that sacrificed so much to bring us light!! I know we can never out-give God and He will give so much back to them and they certainly deserve it.
The kids are all doing great. We are going to be getting two newborns in the next two or three weeks so we REALLY need your prayers for that — ha. I am going to hire someone to work Monday through Fridays during the day with me after we get the babies — so don’t worry about me. I really do know how much I can handle and KNOW for sure that I need some help.
Please be praying about our situation for a school next year. The bilingual school that I had planned to put the kids in doesn’t seem to be doing well. I believe we may be needing to build our own bilingual school and I am praying about approaching the director of the former bilingual school (who has left Honduras for a year) to come and build and direct our school. She is excellent and God has given her a great talent for this but we want what God wants and I need some wisdom. If that comes about, we will be busy buildilng a school the following year. Things are hopping, huh?!! Thanks for your encouragement and prayers.
I guess I won’t go on today because I have written enough to put you to sleep by now but I just have so much to share. Thanks for your prayers and I will appreciate your continuing to remember all of these things daily. There is a lot happening but we want to stay on God’s time schedule and also only do those things that He has planned. He brings complete success when it is HIS idea — so that is all we want.
Love to all of you in His EXCELLENT AMAZING GRACE,
Rhonda
