Hey Everyone,
Thanks so much for your prayers for us. I always start out that way because that is always on my heart — you are the team that keeps us going with your faithful prayers and encouragement.
I really need a lot of prayer right now. I think the newest strategy of Satan against me personally is FEAR. I have had a struggle with that conflict so much in my life and lately it has been even in my dreams every night. I have been reading the Word right before bedtime and praying out loud for protection but it is still a struggle. Please pray for me specifically for this right now. During the day, I have struggled with fears of “what ifs” and I know that it is sin to fear because God said “DO NOT FEAR” — The Lord showed me something so precious this week though. I was reading in Psalms and all of a sudden a verse really hit me “I will walk in the light of your countenance.” I closed my eyes to think about that and the Lord showed me this high path with deep pits on both sides of the path. He was in front of the path and the light from his face was shining and as long as I kept my eyes on Him, I could walk securely forward on the path.
But when I tried to look down into those pits, I would freeze in fear and couldn’t go on. He told me that those were the “what ifs” that were plaguing me and that I need to keep my eyes on Him and walk confidently forward every day. It was so sweet and that is what I am trying to concentrate on each new day. There are lots of things in our futures that we don’t know about and that will be hard, b ut most likely they won’t be the things that we even imagine. So, as God tells us over and over in the Word, don’t worry about tomorrow. Please be praying for me in this area. It can be so crippling at times and there is no bases for my fears — just oppression from Satan and from my own sinful flesh.
One of the things that I have been guilty of worrying about is the kids and the chance that they will leave. I want to love them 100% every day and use each day to the fullest in teaching the Word of God to them and loving and nurturing them. Their futures are in God’s hands, not mine.
We have a situation right now where the two new little girls, Jackie and Josey, were given up by their 19-year old mom and then we found out they have a great Christian father who has a good job and he and the grandmother could take good care of these little girls. I just hate being part of the separation of them from their father. We tried to talk to the government agency IHNFA about not wanting tobe part of this separation because they should have investigated better and found this father before they took away the parental rights. The director was offended at our second-guessing her and started threatening that if we keep calling her on this, she will come and take Ana away from us. Ana is the little girl who was thrown away in a field the day she was born and we have had her for 2 and 1/2 years. She is our baby and the director of IHNFA just wants to threaten us because that is the only one of our children that they have control over. Please
pray for us. At this point, we are just praying that the Lord will change the directorship and then we will approach the new director to help us restore the girls to their father. God is the one who controls these children and we have to leave it in his hands and NOT FEAR.
Church and Sunday School are growing every week. I really love teaching the children and have not done that for years. We had over 40 in the 6-11 year olds (my class) and the teenage class is growing every week. Keep praying for us.
The men’s evangelism team went to the village last Saturday again and are being able to minister to many people. They will be going to a new village this week so pray for them on Saturday night again. This is a dual purpose ministry. Carlos is not only reaching people for Christ but also training up the young men he takes along to do evangelism and outreach. Thanks for praying for our young men that go with Carlos every week. Several of them already are sensing that God is calling them to be pastors one day and there is a huge need for pastors in these villages. We need to train them well though and get them established in the Word — so many times in Honduras, the churches put young men very new in their faith into the pastorates and they fall away quickly. Then the villages use the fall of the pastor as an excuse to reject Christianity. It is a very common thing here.
Thanks for your prayers for the school. We haven’t heard a word again from the embittered teacher that we let go a few weeks ago. I think the Lord has truly shut his mouth and he has quit his curses against us. God is good to reveal to us that he needed to leave and after we saw all the poison that came out of him through this experience, it confirmed that God is truly protecting our ministry and cleaning out those that are not good examples for the children. Please continue to pray for the new English-speaking teachers we need. I think, like our finances, the Lord will wait until the last possible moment to answer so he can stretch our faith even more. He doesn’t waste any opportunity to do that in me but it is sure hard to WAIT on Him sometimes.
Thanks for praying about the land. We have exactly one-third of the land now (over $33,000) and we need the other t o come in within a few more weeks. I don’t have an exact deadline but we are just praying that it is provided soon and we can get this purchase behind us and start working on the camp. Please keep this in your prayers. I realized this week that I have such a problem sharing about financial needs here but it is ridiculous because I don’t even receive a salary so this cannot be selfish. I don’t know why I hesitate to tell people where they can be used in buildling the kingdom of God here in Honduras and helping to prepare missionaries for the world one day. I do believe that everyone that gives will be greatly rewarded and blessed by the Lord so I don’t know why I struggle to just tell them about opportunities to give and be blessed. Pray for me to be more open and comfortable with that area. I know people really do want to know
what we need and I am so hesitant to share most of the time.
Carlos and the men are working now on the basketball court. We are also praying for favor with the mayor and the military battalion for their help in coming out to fix the road permanently and to finish up our soccer field. We will still have to pay for their gas and maintenance of their machines but it will be much cheaper than hiring a private company. Please pray for God’s favor to be on Destino as we approach these people for their help. I was remembering when I was praying about that this week how the Israelites were led out of Egypt by Moses by the power of the Lord and the Lord even caused the Egyptians to give of their wealth to the Israelites — we need the people here, even unbelievers, to be moved by the Lord to help us in this ministry. Thanks for praying for that for us. Carlos is planning to use the basketball court and soccer field on Saturday afternoons, once they are finished. He will have competitions for all the young men
around in the villages and use that draw to evangelize and disciple them. There are so many young men in these villages getting into the gangs because they are bored, poor and no work is available. This is a GREAT opportunity to raise up more leaders for the kingdom so please be praying for the funds to arrive to finish those projects and for the favor of the mayor and battalion to come out soon and help us get these done. Thanks.
Thanks for all your prayers. We are always in a battle but at the same time God is always doing great things — we just need to keep our armor on (stay in the Word and prayer) and keep on reaping the great harvest God has prepared for us here in Honduras. Thanks for praying faithfully for us and I am sooo encouraged by those of you that write me notes sometimes. Thanks for taking time to do that.
Love in His GRACE,
Rhonda
