Hey Everyone,
Thanks so much for your many faithful prayers for the past week or so.
West Acres came in on Saturday (9th) and then a few men from Trinity on the Hill and one from Curtis Baptist joined us on that Wednesday. We had a great week and many were treated by the doctors, ministered to and led to Christ and the medical clinic and third house made great progress with all the help of the men. It was amazing the unity and love among the group and I am so thankful for all they contributed to the ministry here. Steve Clifton drew up all the plans for the new school and we will plan to start the foundation on it this week. Please pray for us as we have just a little over 6 months to complete this and we need things to go smoothly for that to happen. It is really going to be beautiful and such a tribute of God’s goodness and love for the poor children of Honduras.
I still don’t feel so great and the kids have really bad coughs and colds but we are getting better daily. I think the lack of sleep and exhaustion when groups are here is what has kept me from getting better — it is my fault though because I don’t delegate very well and also get overwhelmed with a lot of people. Thanks for your prayers as I have two more groups this next month and then one each month until December.
Fernando’s mom came last week and suddenly told me that she was going to have to take Fernando back with her because his grandmother and his father were insisting on it. They had abused him terribly before he came here at the age of two and I about died when she told me that. God gave me strength and wisdom though to talk to her and let her know that I would not release him until I talked to a judge. She really doesn’t want Fernando with them but they threaten her and tell her they will take her kids away from her. We want to go to a judge and have HIM tell her that she has the rights and they are just bluffing. The laws in favor of children are very strong here in Honduras and if there is a witness to abuse, the children will be proclaimed “at risk” and the government will help us protect them. I will be going this week and his mom went on back to Jocon. I told her to tell his father that he can come and get Fernando himself but I will still not release him unless he sees a judge wit hme. Carlos said that if there is a witness to abuse of a child, that person will go to jail for 7 years immmediately. So I think we are protected but I need to get some clarity on how to protect these children in the future. If I had thought through this before, I would have done something to protect Cokie and Eidy from being removed for that month last year. Pray for us to have wisdom and get the right answers to how to proceed when a parent that is abusive or cannot feed the kids tries to take them back just to have control over them again.
The kids are doing so well. Josue just blooms before our eyes — he gets more and more animated and full of life and emotion every day. I am so thankful for the prayers for him. He is so precious and has been so neglected for so long but is really fitting in with thekids now and they love him so much.
Please continue to pray for Carlos and Wendy every day. They are working on their marriage and I know that Satan would love to destroy their family and we always need your prayers for protection for them.
I thank all of you for your prayers for me continually and don’t know what I would do without you behind me in prayer. The work gets harder and a little more overwhelming every month but we are confident that God will send more help in the near future. The harvest is so great here but there are so few to help us nurture and disciple the new believers and that is hard to handle at times. I just want to go kidnap some American Christians and MAKE them come here and help us. The short term trips are nice but they don’t really put a dent in the really great needs for spiritual discipleship here in this place. Please pray that God will send us the workers to help with all the ministry that he has sent to us.
Love you all and praise God for your prayers.
In His grace,
Rhonda
