Hey Everyone,
I wanted to thank you for praying about the funds coming in to finish up the school. We received a check this week for $30,000 to finish it all. What a HUGE surprise and blessing to Destino. We ask you to pray great blessings on the group that provided this gift because it is certainly going to be rewarded by the Father!!! I know that God likes to teach me to live by faith and we have been from week to week, waiting to see what part of the construction we can continue on, etc. But I have to admit that it is a big relief to just know that the money is there for the rest of this project. We can move a little faster now too and the timing is perfect. We were able to go and pick up the final ceramic yesterday and they are going to finish the floors in all the classes that will start next week. We have the walk-way outside the classrooms finished up to the last classroom now and will continue to work on the rest of the school even after classes have begun. Keep praying for the workers as they are working so hard to get this all done in time for school.
We have had quite a time with the hiring of the teachers. I told you last time that we realized the Director had hired non-Christians for the open positions at the school and we had to un-hire them. Please pray for God to cover our reputation in that way. They hadn’t signed contracts but Sandra had led them to believe it was pretty certain they were on staff and we had to graciously get out of that. I took the blame so that the teachers would not feel so angry at Sandra. We had quite a time though with Sandra because she was very resistent to moving forward and so Carlos and I prayed for the teachers God wanted for Destino. We were able to find a wonderful young man who is married with a baby and he has 5 years of teaching experience and is a graduate of a seminary as well. He is so humble and loves kids and we know that he is straight from God for Destino. We found another young lady who has teaching experience but not exactly the right title to be an official teacher for the regular school so she will be teaching the 4-year olds in the pre-K. She will be excellent and since 4-K is not required here by law, it will not matter that she does not have the right degree. Sandra will continue to teach Preparatory (kindergarten -5K) and also be the director but will have an assistant that can cover her classes for her. Carolina will move up to the 2nd grade with her 1-st graders from last year and the young man, Edwin, will have the 1st grade. We have a lot of peace for how God has worked this out and thanks so much for your prayers. Please continue to pray for Sandra. After a conference with her on Sunday afternoon, we noticed a lot more humility in working with us and I think we had given her too much control. Part of the fault though is with Carlos and I because we really haven’t put a lot of time into meeting with her and working on the school. God has used these mistakes recently to get a lot of things in order for future years. It is better to make these errors now and get some necessary things in place before we grow and it is a really big problem for us. Thanks for praying for us daily for more wisdom.
One of the biggest blessings was that Steve Clifton and Robert (his son) were here this weekend to work on the desks. Steve is the president of the board of Destino in the USA and it was God’s perfect timing to have him here and to show that there is more authority in these decisions than just Carlos and I. I think that went along way in changing Sandra’s attitude about this whole situation. Steve and Robert got a lot done and especially the most difficult part, the desks, so we will be able to finish up the rest with the Hondurans and Carlos.
We had a really big blessing too on Saturday afternoon. Carlos had found another applicant for a teaching position. He said she was a Christian and had the right degree with a year of experience. She seemed so sweet and humble but I wanted to interview her anyway to make sure of her salvation. I began to interview her and ask her about when she received Jesus Christ as her savior. She seemed confused and just told me that she had grown up in her church. In fact, she is the pastor’s daughter of an evangelical church here in Siguatepeque. I continued to phrase my question differently. Finally, I tried something that Steve had suggested in interviewing the teachers. I told her to pretend she was a teacher here at Destino and I was one of her students and I came in and asked her to please tell me how to have eternal life. Well, she began to tell me that I needed to behave well and do good, etc. I realized then that no matter how I had explained that salvation was in Christ alone, she really didn’t get it. So I went and got Carlos because I wanted her to understand and didn’t want my lack of Spanish to throw her off. Carlos began with the question, “If you were to die tonight, where do you believe you would spend eternity?” She answered right out, “In hell”. We couldn’t believe it. So Carlos began to explain to her the grace of Jesus Christ to forgive her and that it was a free gift of eternal life if she would give her life to Jesus Christ and ask him to forgive her sins.” She accepted Jesus as her Savior that day and it was such a precious time with her. We didn’t end up hiring her but I know that God brought her to us so that she could know the truth about salvation in Jesus. How sad to have grown up in a church as the pastor’s daughter and still not understand God’s grace and that she would not go to hell for her sins. Pray for her to grow in her walk with Jesus. Her name is Yanira.
Martha and Eduard started in their new schools this week and they really like their schools and teachers, etc. I am so excited for them to go to really good private schools this year and get an excellent education. Eduard’s school is technical and he will have three preparation years of studying electricity, electronics and mechanics and then the last three years, he will pick one of those areas to specialize in. Martha is studying high school with specialties in computer, English and secretary skills and she can go on after those 3 years to higher education (like nursing) or she can get a good job with just those basic three years. Pray for both of them this year as they will have a lot more homework and responsibility than they have had in the past at the public schools in the village.
We still need 10 more sponsors for the school year so thanks for praying for that continually as well. We are asking for a two week extension to open classes so that we can get the doors and windows and touch-up painting done in the classes and complete the bathrooms. Pray for the extension to be approved. It would be much better to start out the year better prepared than to disturb the kids in classes trying to finish up the construction around them.
I would appreciate your praying for a new ministry. God put it on Carlos’ heart to start working on Wednesday nights with a few young men that want to grow more spiritualy and start doing more ministry with others. He calls it the Evangelical Team of Young People for Destino del Reino. They are going to go into villages and evangelism and ministry with drama and films. Please pray for them as they get started and that they won’t be discouraged as they are trying to find the right places where God wants them to go. This is really the beginning of all our dreams for all the kids that grow up at Destino — that they will be equipped to go into villages and preach the gospel and minister to people while they are younger so they will be prepared to be missionaries later on. Thanks for praying for Carlos’ leadership in this area.
We have a group of Bryan College students coming the first week of March to do VBS and work projects. Please pray for their group and for us to know exactly where God wants to use them that week.
Thank you for all your prayers continually. It is amazing what all God is doing here. Carlos and I are trying to adjust to a lot of new responsibilities as administrators and, as you know, we don’t know what we are doing, so we need God’s wisdom and the ability to hear clearly the Spirit’s voice so that we can lead as God would have us. Thanks for your prayers and we love all of you.
In His grace,
Rhonda
