Hey Everyone,
Thanks for the continual prayers for Destino del Reino and for me personally. We are all doing well and have been given a lot of grace already to get through a hectic season. The next few weeks we need a LOT of prayer because we have 3 groups in about 5 weeks and that is a lot for us. I know God is in control and each of the groups will be blessed and God will work out each detail miraculously but please be praying.
I have a very big request for prayer for you. About 5 years ago when I would ride on the long bus ride from Jocon back to Siguatepeque (2 years before we lived at Destino), I would get this tug on my heart when I would see a village down in a valley right off the road. It is called La Mision. After we lived here and Carlos and I would have to make frequent trips down the highway to San Pedro Sula, the same tug would be there when I would see that village. I used to say to Carlos that we need to go there sometime. Well, last week we FINALLY went because we wanted to know where God wants us to use these groups coming and also because Carlos and I had talked about taking his Wednesday night men’s team to show a Christian film there. We drove in and found out just how big the village is. There is only ONE tiny evangelical church in the whole village. The pastor was overwhelmed when we told him we wanted to help win his village to Christ. When we talked about bringing the film to his church, he kept asking how much it would cost, etc. He just didn’t understand our motive. After he finally understood, he was sooooo grateful and excited. He said there are almost no believers in his village and that no team for evangelism or medical had ever come to help the people in the village. We were so excited. There are over 300 houses in the village and so probably about 2,000 people. I just KNOW that God is up to something very big there and we need your prayers. Tomorrow night will be the showing of an evangelical film and then Carlos will announce that the group from Trinity on the Hill will be there to do medical the following THursday and Friday. We need to be covered in so much prayer because Satan has had control of this area for many generations and he will do all he can to maintain his control. Thanks for praying. We are counting on you. We plan to send a team for Vacation Bible School as well during the summer months so be praying about that. Then we will do door-to-door evangelism in the village with our Honduran belivers here at the church. I can’t express our excitement because there was just this strong feeling that something great was going to take place there and we KNOW God was directing me there for several years now. I hate that I took so long to obey Him and respond to that tug on my heart.
The kids are all doing so well. They have such a great time everyday. We finished the big open pavillion outside and so they have shelter from the rain and strong sun on other days. We can use the pavillion for groups as well for their lunches and for the Sunday School classes as well.
Please be praying about the new OANSA (“AWANA”) classes for leaders that starts tonight. THis is new to everyone here and we need lots of leaders and enthusiam. We hope to start our program on the 9th of July (Sunday morning). We will have the program on Sunday mornings in place of Sunday School for a few weeks until we are through with the groups that travel on Saturdays, and then we will change over to Satruday afternoon clubs. This is really a big request for us as well because we want to reach so many children with OANSA — it is such an excellent program for memorizing scripture! Thanks for praying.
Please continue to pray for us in administrative areas. Right now, there are a couple of the ladies that I need to let go and it is hard on me because they become like our family here. My regular women are going to take turns and each of them stay one night a week to sleep (or not sleep) with the babies. Carlos and I will be having a very serious talk with Martha tomorrow and we need to know if God wants her to continue here or not. There are a lot of problems and she is not helping and is actually a hindrance but she also is very special to me so this is a very hard situation and I would appreciate your prayers that if it is time for her to leave, that she will keep walking with the Lord, and also that she would leave on a good note and not be bitter at us for anything. We also need a lot of prayer about the teachers for this year. We are learning as we are going and so we have to change things as God reveals to us what His plan is for the school. We haven’t required much of the teachers before but are sure that we need them to be accountable for church attendance and for Bible study. We have told them that we will be checking with their pastors before school starts in August to see that they are attending church as well as we have given them a Bible study to work on during the vacation. I know these things are vital to having Christian leadership for our students, but we also have added these things and are praying tha the teachers will respond well to the new requirements. It is also obvious we may have to look for a couple of new teachers before school because we know that two of them will probably not attend church — so pray for us in every situation like this. We praise God for His clear leading of us but we are certainly new to all of thes ethings and we have not had a chance to think out each new issue as it comes up — still completely confused as to why God would pick Carlos and I for such a big job — but the job is HIS and not ours!! Pray for lots of wisdom and patience for those around us, ha.
We still haven’t gotten baby Sophie yet and are waiting for her to come to live here sometime soon. Emily is getting fatter every day and is the best baby I have ever seen — she just looks so happy and pleasant all the time and never cries. Ana is growing so fast and is now really filling out and has the sweetest little temperament — laughing at such a young age. Sammy thinks he is one of the big kids now and wrestles with them on the floor and follows them everywhere. Thankfully, they all take very good gentle care of him. He is just 17 months and thinks he is a 5 year old. ha. Jonathan is still uninterested in potty-training — I don’t think I have ever known a child more complacent than him, he just says, “whatever?” to everything. It is frustrating sometimes but then he smiles with all those dimples and you have to be patient with him. Cokie is still the little mama here. Pray for her as she has had more temper tantrums this week than usual and must be a little insecure for some reason right now. Fernando, Carlitos and Cesar are playing so well together but they really liked school this year and are anxious to return. Eidy is getting better every day in her attitude. She just needs LOTS of personal attention and I am praying she will receive the Lord as her savior at a very young age — we will see a BIG change in her then, I’m sure. She has been through so much abuse in her life and we just need to pray for her regularly (thanks for helping me with that). Blanca, as always, is the peacemaker and helper for me. Josue calls for her every morning to get him out of his crib. She is such a great encouragement to me. Josue is developing every day more and more happy and secure. He has been here over a year now and is so EXTREMELY different than the little boy that came to us, neglected, abused and unemotional. Praise God for all the work he has done in this little precious boy. Eduard and Erick are living in the second house and doing well. They are such helpers and always do it cheerfully. Carlos told a story about Eduard last week. The men and Carlos worked all day on the electricity in the new pavillion and when it was all done, the lights would not work. He said that Eduard had humbly said several times that the wires were not quite right and Carlos ignored him all the time thinking the men knew more than a 15-year old. Finally in the evening, Eduard quietly said to Carlos again that there was one wire not right. This time, in frustration, Carlos just said, if you think you know — go ahead and try it. Well, in about 10 minutes the lights were fixed. Carlos said that was a humbling thing for him and good that God used it for him to see his own pride. But Eduard is really amazing for his age — he can fix most things for us and I am so glad to have him around here helping me. He needs prayer for his grades though. He is really struggling in school right now. He had a horrible foundation in education in Jocon and it still costs him.
The church is growing stronger and stronger and it is so exciting the prayer warriors in our church. One man, William, has only been a believer for a bout a year now. His wife, Jenny, left him a few weeks ago. Carlos went to see him this week and he had been fasting and praying for two days for his wife to return. At the end of the second day, she walked in the door. He just welcomed her home and made her some supper and fixed her some coffee and they talked. That was this week and she was in church last night. Carlos’ message was powerful on the love of God — that we do not undrestand it but if we could ever grasp it, we would be free!! At the end he called some of us up to pray for the requests in the church. Jenny came up and we prayed for her and God did such a work in her heart. It was so powerful.
All of this was in the dark by candlelight — please pray for us as we have had continual problems with the electricity in this area — not just ours but the villages around us. It is so frustrating because we also go without water if tthe electricity is off for very long. The good thing is that it reminds me how we used to live the first two years out here (without water and lights) and I am so grateful all over again for God’s huge provisions for us. The kids are all so happy all the time and don’t really know we have been “suffering” ha. Please pray for us to get the electricity figured out though. Actually two times when we have had church by candlelight, the people were more attentive than other times — without any distractions. After church last night, I told Carlos that maybe we should just purposely have church by candlelight because it was so powerful last night and everyone listened to every single word. It was great — God is so great to use hard circumstances for HIS glory and for a bigger purpose.
I guess I’ll close as this is getting too long but thanks for all your prayers and faithfulness to us. There is so much going on and so many decisions to make etc. but God is about people and we want to never lose our focus on those that we need to minister to each new day. Pray for Carlos daily too please because he is the core of this place and he is attacked in a lot of ways continually but is growing stronger each day and I praise God for that.
Love in the AMAZING grace of Jesus Christ,
Rhonda
Thanks for the continual prayers for Destino del Reino and for me personally. We are all doing well and have been given a lot of grace already to get through a hectic season. The next few weeks we need a LOT of prayer because we have 3 groups in about 5 weeks and that is a lot for us. I know God is in control and each of the groups will be blessed and God will work out each detail miraculously but please be praying.
I have a very big request for prayer for you. About 5 years ago when I would ride on the long bus ride from Jocon back to Siguatepeque (2 years before we lived at Destino), I would get this tug on my heart when I would see a village down in a valley right off the road. It is called La Mision. After we lived here and Carlos and I would have to make frequent trips down the highway to San Pedro Sula, the same tug would be there when I would see that village. I used to say to Carlos that we need to go there sometime. Well, last week we FINALLY went because we wanted to know where God wants us to use these groups coming and also because Carlos and I had talked about taking his Wednesday night men’s team to show a Christian film there. We drove in and found out just how big the village is. There is only ONE tiny evangelical church in the whole village. The pastor was overwhelmed when we told him we wanted to help win his village to Christ. When we talked about bringing the film to his church, he kept asking how much it would cost, etc. He just didn’t understand our motive. After he finally understood, he was sooooo grateful and excited. He said there are almost no believers in his village and that no team for evangelism or medical had ever come to help the people in the village. We were so excited. There are over 300 houses in the village and so probably about 2,000 people. I just KNOW that God is up to something very big there and we need your prayers. Tomorrow night will be the showing of an evangelical film and then Carlos will announce that the group from Trinity on the Hill will be there to do medical the following THursday and Friday. We need to be covered in so much prayer because Satan has had control of this area for many generations and he will do all he can to maintain his control. Thanks for praying. We are counting on you. We plan to send a team for Vacation Bible School as well during the summer months so be praying about that. Then we will do door-to-door evangelism in the village with our Honduran belivers here at the church. I can’t express our excitement because there was just this strong feeling that something great was going to take place there and we KNOW God was directing me there for several years now. I hate that I took so long to obey Him and respond to that tug on my heart.
The kids are all doing so well. They have such a great time everyday. We finished the big open pavillion outside and so they have shelter from the rain and strong sun on other days. We can use the pavillion for groups as well for their lunches and for the Sunday School classes as well.
Please be praying about the new OANSA (“AWANA”) classes for leaders that starts tonight. THis is new to everyone here and we need lots of leaders and enthusiam. We hope to start our program on the 9th of July (Sunday morning). We will have the program on Sunday mornings in place of Sunday School for a few weeks until we are through with the groups that travel on Saturdays, and then we will change over to Satruday afternoon clubs. This is really a big request for us as well because we want to reach so many children with OANSA — it is such an excellent program for memorizing scripture! Thanks for praying.
Please continue to pray for us in administrative areas. Right now, there are a couple of the ladies that I need to let go and it is hard on me because they become like our family here. My regular women are going to take turns and each of them stay one night a week to sleep (or not sleep) with the babies. Carlos and I will be having a very serious talk with Martha tomorrow and we need to know if God wants her to continue here or not. There are a lot of problems and she is not helping and is actually a hindrance but she also is very special to me so this is a very hard situation and I would appreciate your prayers that if it is time for her to leave, that she will keep walking with the Lord, and also that she would leave on a good note and not be bitter at us for anything. We also need a lot of prayer about the teachers for this year. We are learning as we are going and so we have to change things as God reveals to us what His plan is for the school. We haven’t required much of the teachers before but are sure that we need them to be accountable for church attendance and for Bible study. We have told them that we will be checking with their pastors before school starts in August to see that they are attending church as well as we have given them a Bible study to work on during the vacation. I know these things are vital to having Christian leadership for our students, but we also have added these things and are praying tha the teachers will respond well to the new requirements. It is also obvious we may have to look for a couple of new teachers before school because we know that two of them will probably not attend church — so pray for us in every situation like this. We praise God for His clear leading of us but we are certainly new to all of thes ethings and we have not had a chance to think out each new issue as it comes up — still completely confused as to why God would pick Carlos and I for such a big job — but the job is HIS and not ours!! Pray for lots of wisdom and patience for those around us, ha.
We still haven’t gotten baby Sophie yet and are waiting for her to come to live here sometime soon. Emily is getting fatter every day and is the best baby I have ever seen — she just looks so happy and pleasant all the time and never cries. Ana is growing so fast and is now really filling out and has the sweetest little temperament — laughing at such a young age. Sammy thinks he is one of the big kids now and wrestles with them on the floor and follows them everywhere. Thankfully, they all take very good gentle care of him. He is just 17 months and thinks he is a 5 year old. ha. Jonathan is still uninterested in potty-training — I don’t think I have ever known a child more complacent than him, he just says, “whatever?” to everything. It is frustrating sometimes but then he smiles with all those dimples and you have to be patient with him. Cokie is still the little mama here. Pray for her as she has had more temper tantrums this week than usual and must be a little insecure for some reason right now. Fernando, Carlitos and Cesar are playing so well together but they really liked school this year and are anxious to return. Eidy is getting better every day in her attitude. She just needs LOTS of personal attention and I am praying she will receive the Lord as her savior at a very young age — we will see a BIG change in her then, I’m sure. She has been through so much abuse in her life and we just need to pray for her regularly (thanks for helping me with that). Blanca, as always, is the peacemaker and helper for me. Josue calls for her every morning to get him out of his crib. She is such a great encouragement to me. Josue is developing every day more and more happy and secure. He has been here over a year now and is so EXTREMELY different than the little boy that came to us, neglected, abused and unemotional. Praise God for all the work he has done in this little precious boy. Eduard and Erick are living in the second house and doing well. They are such helpers and always do it cheerfully. Carlos told a story about Eduard last week. The men and Carlos worked all day on the electricity in the new pavillion and when it was all done, the lights would not work. He said that Eduard had humbly said several times that the wires were not quite right and Carlos ignored him all the time thinking the men knew more than a 15-year old. Finally in the evening, Eduard quietly said to Carlos again that there was one wire not right. This time, in frustration, Carlos just said, if you think you know — go ahead and try it. Well, in about 10 minutes the lights were fixed. Carlos said that was a humbling thing for him and good that God used it for him to see his own pride. But Eduard is really amazing for his age — he can fix most things for us and I am so glad to have him around here helping me. He needs prayer for his grades though. He is really struggling in school right now. He had a horrible foundation in education in Jocon and it still costs him.
The church is growing stronger and stronger and it is so exciting the prayer warriors in our church. One man, William, has only been a believer for a bout a year now. His wife, Jenny, left him a few weeks ago. Carlos went to see him this week and he had been fasting and praying for two days for his wife to return. At the end of the second day, she walked in the door. He just welcomed her home and made her some supper and fixed her some coffee and they talked. That was this week and she was in church last night. Carlos’ message was powerful on the love of God — that we do not undrestand it but if we could ever grasp it, we would be free!! At the end he called some of us up to pray for the requests in the church. Jenny came up and we prayed for her and God did such a work in her heart. It was so powerful.
All of this was in the dark by candlelight — please pray for us as we have had continual problems with the electricity in this area — not just ours but the villages around us. It is so frustrating because we also go without water if tthe electricity is off for very long. The good thing is that it reminds me how we used to live the first two years out here (without water and lights) and I am so grateful all over again for God’s huge provisions for us. The kids are all so happy all the time and don’t really know we have been “suffering” ha. Please pray for us to get the electricity figured out though. Actually two times when we have had church by candlelight, the people were more attentive than other times — without any distractions. After church last night, I told Carlos that maybe we should just purposely have church by candlelight because it was so powerful last night and everyone listened to every single word. It was great — God is so great to use hard circumstances for HIS glory and for a bigger purpose.
I guess I’ll close as this is getting too long but thanks for all your prayers and faithfulness to us. There is so much going on and so many decisions to make etc. but God is about people and we want to never lose our focus on those that we need to minister to each new day. Pray for Carlos daily too please because he is the core of this place and he is attacked in a lot of ways continually but is growing stronger each day and I praise God for that.
Love in the AMAZING grace of Jesus Christ,
Rhonda
