Hey Everyone,
I just want to thank you all for praying for us — we never cease to need a LOT of prayer. Things are always happening and Satan is continually attacking and we need your prayers to cover us continually.
Our biggest news this week is that we got a new little boy today. His name is Josue (Ho-sway — it means Joshua in Spanish). He is 19 months old and really sweet and easy to handle already. He took about 5 minutes to adjust and is already acting at home with all of us. He is sleeping with Cesar and is kind of big for his age so most of Jonathan’s hand-me-downs are perfect for him. His mom had asked me to take him about a year ago and when she never came, I had assumed she had changed her mind. She just showed up today with Erick’s mom (she is a friend of hers from Tegucigalpa). She is 18 years old and is having another baby in July and didn’t seem to care a bit about this little boy. She doesn’t have work and can’t feed him. She didn’t shed a tear when she left and I really doubt that she will be one that is faithful to visit him. Please add him to your prayer list and we will post a picture of him on the web site real soon so you can see his little shining face.
We haven’t heard for sure if we are getting the other two little girls. One is 3-months old named Annie and a 5-year old named Gracie (I’m sure they are spelled differently though). Pray for all things to go well with that situation if it is God’s will for them to grow up in Destino del Reino. Their grandmother was taking care of them and she just recently died and their teenage mom doesn’t have a job and doesn’t have a clue how to care for them.
We’ve had a lot of struggles lately. Carlos’ mom had a scare about having lung cancer this week and Carlos went through so much sadness over that. We prayed for her though and when she went to the doctor for further tests in Tegucigalpa on Friday, he couldn’t find anything — we don’t know if the first doctor was completely wrong or if God chose to heal her — either way, we are rejoicing in God’s faithfulness. Our bus driver, Saul, had a son by another woman before he was a believer and he and his wife have both loved this young man so much. He is about 16 and he tried to commit suicide on Friday evening by taking one of the pills that preserves the beans. It is the most common way to kill your self in Honduras and it is basically irreversible once you have swallowed the pill. I believe that he is still alive though in Tegucigalpa and we are praying that God has done another miracle and that he will live and we can share the love of Christ with him and show him the hope of living when you know Jesus Christ. There have been three suicides this week among the teenagers just that I have heard about in this area, and they all used those same pills. The authorities here are considering outlawing the sale of those pills except to farmers and people who are older. They are just too available and on an impulse, anyone can just grab one and swallow them. It is so sad how high the suicide rate is in Jocon among the young people as well. They just need to know Jesus Christ and keep praying that we will reach many quickly.
The groups that come this year who would like to be a part of the evangelism that we are doing will be going to the village of El Socorro. It is the village where Marta and my older boys attend school. The police in Siguatepeque have told me that it is the only dangerous area in all of Siguatepeque and we want to see Christ make a difference there. There are a lot of gangs in that little village but a whole lot of the children come to our Sunday School each week and several attend school at Destino del Reino. Please be praying for that village by name, El Socorro (“Help” in Spanish and we want to be that for them — help and hope. I am so excited for the goal of reaching this village and seeing what God can do to change the whole village through those who will receive Christ this summer. Thanks for praying.
The kids are doing great and so are the school children. I am amazed at how fast they are learning English. Blanca comes home every day and teaches my little ones the new English she has learned. It shocked me when Cokie said, “I want water, please, Tia.” I am ashamed of myself for not teaching them a long time ago — they are such quick learners and they could have all been bilingual by now if I had worked with them on that.
Cokie and Jonathan are so excited about the new little boy, Josue that moved in. They love being older brother and sister and they are trying to help him with everything.
Please continue to pray about the finances. The carpenter FINALLY (after being 3 months later than he promised) has finished the pavillion windows and expects to be paid this week. Please pray for all the funds to come in that we need. The van had to be fixed as well and we owe quite a bit for those parts. I know God will provide but I have been really stressed about this right now because I HATE owing people. I just need to learn to REST because He has been so faithful and will not change. He has always been right on time and I know He will continue to provide what we need WHEN we need it — but pray for me because I have such little faith at times.
Thanks for praying for Marta, as I asked you to a few months back. God really seems to be working in her and she has so much more joy now. She loves taking care of Sammy but there is more to it than that. She wants to start teaching Sunday School and I am going to teach her how to ask questions and apply the lessons for the kids. She is such a special young lady and I am so glad that God sent her to me.
Please keep praying for our final papers for Destino to get approved in the government. They are finally in Tegucigalpa and we just need them to be pushed through the process quickly. We had such a big answer to prayer this week though. The attorney has been slow at every turn during this whole process and I have prayed that God would just move him to help us more. Carlos and I went to see him about a paper we need on Thursday. I explained that the hurry for the paper was that we need to get the school legalities done in the next 5 months or all the students will not receive credit for this year of school. He perked up and asked what school . When we explained that we had started a school for the very poor children in the area and they received a good education, uniforms, English, food, etc. for free, he got so excited and asked if he could come out and see our ministry on Saturday. Carlos picked him up on Saturday and he and his sister (a principal of another bilingual Christian school in Siguatepeque) spent several hours here and want to get more involved in helping us. When he left, he told us not to come to his office this week for the paper, but that he would like to drive it out to us at Destino because he wanted to come back again anyway — GOD is AMAZING — He turned his heart so towards us that I know he will really work on our projects from here on out. Please pray continually for us to get all of this in on time. Thanks.
Keep praying about the groups and volunteers that will be coming soon, as well as for the projects and the funds for them — the new school and the third house. I am so excited about the plans we have drawn for the school and know that it will be such a great ministry in the years ahead to change many many lives for Christ.
Well, again this is a long one but I count on your prayers for us and want to keep you all very informed. I cannot thank you enough for praying and encouraging me in every way.
Love in His AMAZING faithful grace,
Rhonda
