Hey Everyone,

It has been 5 weeks since i wrote (at least) and soooo much has happened in that time.  I am so sorry that I have not written earlier to report.  God has blessed us so much.  All the children returned to school on Wednesday and were so glad to be back.    We have a great group of teachers this year, both Honduran and American.  I am so looking forward to a great year.

God provided a very big financial gift which enabled us to pay off all the books, teachers’ bonus (required by law), uniforms and shoes as well as pay our electric bill (which was two months behind).  It was such a huge miracle for us.   We still owe quite a bit of money for some other things and ask that you continue to pray for us financially.  God will provide though — He is always right on time and always faithful.

This has been a very hard time though as far as spiritual battles.  We have had a whole lot of problems from day to day — cars and buses breaking down continually, rain fall continually, conflicts with staff, rumors and gossip, etc. and it has been very obvious that Satan too is expecting that we may have a wonderful year of fruit ahead of us spiritually this year.  Thanks for your continual prayers for us.   I think the main thing (as I have shared before) is that we need prayer that Carlos and I both will spend more time in the Word of God and in prayer and not let the crises each day rob us of that very important time.  There is so much happening here all the time that it really is an effort to put first things first.  We both need more discipline in that area and I ask you to pray for that for us.

Sunday School has been going so well.  We are bussing down about 120 people from the village above us every week and it has been an incredible opportunity.   It is different working with people from the village and I have to remember to work with them differently.  Many of the adults do not read and so we can’t use overheads, etc. and I asked 3 weeks in Sunday School who had a birthday that week, and no one ever responded and then I remembered they probably don’t KNOW their birthdays.  These people are so precious and i am so privileged to work with them.

Carlos and I are teaching 6th grade Bible class two days a week this year and are going to do the attributes of God, for the first part of the year.  I know the study will be good for me as well as the kids.  Please pray for these 6th grade kids.  They seem cold and indifferent in some ways and I want to see them fall absolutely in love with the Lord Jesus this year.

God is continually protecting us but we ask you to always be praying for our safety as well.  We have had several occasions where our night watchman has had to shoot in the air to scare off people in the night that are trying to come on the campus and rob us.  Also, this week there was a mud slide and trees fell on the highway and killed some people in a car.  I think I missed being in that accident by about one minute or less.  I was in the white van with Sammy and Emily returning from Siguatepeque and it was storming so badly and there were waterfalls coming off all the high rocks on the highway and all of a sudden, I told the kids to look to the right because the land was falling too — then found out that is exactly where the trees came down in the mudslide and crashed on the highway.  God is so perfect in his care for us.  Siguatepeque has become much more dangerous lately — a lot of murders and assaults and robberies in just a few weeks.  These people need to know Jesus Christ and we are here for a great purpose.  I think this may be one of the most “Christian nations” in the world, as far as freedom to teach the Word, and many many pepole claiming to be Christians, but there has been so little discipleship and so the people are very cold spiritually in many ways.  Please be praying for all of us here who want to make a real difference and raise up true disciples for Jesus Christ.

My kids are all doing very well.  Emily started preschool this week and she is so excited to be walking to school every morning with the “big kids”.  Keep praying for Alexander to learn to talk.  I have one of the women working with him for a while each day but so far no progress.  He doesn’t want to use his tongue and so he only says consonants that use his lips or the back of his throat and doesn’t form any words that way.  Only God can do this miracle for this precious little boy but He is able so keep praying for him, please.

We are finishing up the clinic in the next couple of months and then will be moving on to start on the work on the new chapel with classrooms for junior high underneath.  Please pray for the funds to come in for this very necessary project.  Some people are considering the idea of a butler building (prefabricated metal building) that could be sent on a container and they say maybe only cost about $20,000 for a 100 ft by 200 ft building, including doors, windows, trusses and roof, etc.  that sounds like a wonderful idea but we need to know exactly what God wants for Destino for this next step in the education.  We will need the bigger chapel for the students and for their families for meetings as well as the church at Destino is growing constantly and we need more Sunday School room so we believe this is the next phase necessary and we have to have the junior high rooms ready by this time next year so this is a critical time for planning.  Thanks for your prayers.   I think maybe if we can get the sheet sales fundraiser going well, we can completely pay for that butler building with just the sheet sales.   Please pray for us for that financial need.  if anyone wants to help sell the sheets they can find more info on the website www.destinodelreino.org under “Support Destino” and under that there is “Ministry Partners’ and the name of the project is Innovative Fundraising — click on the button that says “contact us” and you will get the info you need.  Thanks to all of you who are helping us with that.

I am soooo thankful for all you are doing for us at Destino.  I have to admit that sometimes it is overwhelming here and I actually fantasize about what it would be like to have a “normal” life without so much pressure and continual attacks from the Enemy, but the truth is there is not a better life in the world than watching a new generation be raised up to bring the Truth to the rest of the world.  We are blessed to be a part of all that God is doing here.

Love in His grace,

Rhonda

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