Hey Dear Prayer Partners,
Thank you so much for your faithfulness in praying for us at Destino del Reino. There is never a dull day here (although I could use one once in a while). As most of you know on FB, we have had wildfires all around Destino since Sunday evening. We saw clearly the hand of God over us on Wednesday night when the fires had been coming toward us for 2 days and were very near our house and property — we left to take shelter in a hotel in town and when we returned the next morning there was horrible smoke all the way to the highway and I could not imagine what condition our school and house would be in. BUT GOD had protected us completely and when we approached the school as we returned from town, the air was clear and there was no damage to our property whatsoever. Our watchman said that after two or days of coming towards Destino, suddenly the fires changed direction and went around the back way. We still have fires going though and need some rain soon for protection for others in the area. God is so amazing and He takes such tender perfect care of His children. We are so blessed to be HIS!!
I am so grateful for the way God has taken care of us as well since Carlos left Destino. It is amazing how he has sent people to help me with so much wisdom and integrity and I am so grateful. Oscar (Sammy’s dad) is supervising the men and all the things going on here as far as construction and maintenance, etc. Everything gets fixed almost the very day we ask him about it. The men are all working so hard under his leadership. He turns in every receipt and perfect change to me every day and it is just great to have someone to whom I can turn over so much responsibility. Also, when Carlos left, the one thing that I could not figure out was what God wanted me to do about church. I knew that we couldn’t just stop having church because many in this area would not go to another church because of the lack of transportation to get to a church in the city, etc. God put Efrain in my mind (whom I had not seen for several years) and I saw him the same week in the grocery store. He told me he would help us cover the Wednesday night church services when he was in town (he has another international ministry that takes him out of town at times). Pastor Efrain is an amazing teacher and keeps everyone’s attention (even the children) and teaches more deeply from the Word than many churches around the area. Since he started, it seems that he has grown in his desire to help Destino and now is starting our Sunday morning services this Sunday morning. Please pray that many will come. I was a little resistent at first because I love teaching Sunday School, but I think later on we will do SS at the same time as the Sunday morning service and I can continue to teach the children. Pastor Efrain also started bringing a very precious man and his family to church (Pablo). Pablo is so gifted in leading worship and praise and he is going to be our worship leader at Destino. I praise God for this HUGE help. For years, I have been in charge of the music and finding someone to preach or teach or lead the church service and now I can just go to church and worship and hear God’s Word and get encouraged without ANY responsibility — that is HUGE to me. Thanks for your prayers for the growth of our church and for continued leading for Pastor Efrain as to how God wants the church at Destino to be. I believe we will have a lot more adults coming because we live in a dangerous area and many were too afraid to attend night church and I believe with a morning service, there will be more that are willing to come. Thanks for the prayers.
REMINDER — Just two more weeks before we need all the things for the container collected. There is still time to help us if you want your SS class or other groups to collect used clothing and shoes and school supplies. Thanks for all your help. We really need a LOT of things, I realize but I am hoping you have those things in your garage and God will just move them to Honduras, ha ha. I wanted to give you the sizes of my children so you may be able to collect for them more easily.
BOYS:
Erick – small men’s shirts and size 18 pants for boys;
Franklin – size 12
Carlos – size 14
Cesar – size 14
Josue – size 14
Jonathan – size 12
Sammy – size 8 or 10 (slim)
Santos – size 7
David – size 5
GIRLS:
Blanca – size 3 teens
Eidy – size 14 girls or 2 teens
Karina – size 12 or 14 girls (but VERY petite)
Coki – size 12
Nicole – size 10
Emily – size 10
Abi – size 8
Sofia – size 7
Estella – size 6
Marisol – size 4
Dariana – size 2
If you don’t have the other items on the container list, just go back on the website www.destinodelreino.org and look at my last update. Thanks.
Thanks for praying that God will put what HE wants to in the container and that we can receive it without difficulty. Now that we are friends with the top people in the country (because of God’s favor), I think we will have no problem in the future getting these things through. But we always want to be praying for God’s protection and favor.
Thanks for praying for the American teachers that we need for this upcoming year. We have 6 for sures and have room for one more and I just got an email about one young woman who is interested, so it might be her!!! Please be praying for each of them as they are making big sacrifices and changes in their lives. They need to raise $500 a month and need a lot of prayer support. I praise God for the way He just puts Destino on the hearts of those that He has chosen and we never have to recruit. It is truly amazing!!!
Also be praying for school sponsors. We never got 15 sponsors for this year so 15 children were not prayed for by name this year — that bothers me so much more than the fact that we did not get their $60 sponsorship money. God provides for all the children — they all eat a hot meal every day, have wonderful teachers and materials, uniforms, everything — but they REALLY need someone praying for them by name. We need 35 more this upcoming year so that means we lack 50 for September. Please be praying and ask people to consider at least doing a half sponsorship and praying faithfully for these students. They can get on line at www.destinodelreino.org and sign up for sponsorship. If you cannot give through a sponsorship but really would like to be faithful to pray for one child by name, please let me know. That will be a great blessing. These children are all at risk for dropping out at any minute (especially those in junior high) — their families never were educated and so they do not really dream very big for their children and it is easy to just encourage your kids to stay home and help out or to go out and collect cans for a little bit of money to buy food each day, instead of dreaming for a real career for their children. Thanks for praying.
Please be praying for two of my kids specifically right now. Josue has been with me since 20 months and he is now 10 years old. He still has a deep-seated anger that is becoming explosive at times and it is causing a lot of problems here in the house and in school at times. I have prayed for him, over him, with him, — please help me in prayer. Also Eidy is still going through rebellion, lying, deceit, etc. I have had her now for 10 years and feel like a failure but know that God will do something with her life — it is just such a battle continually. She needs a LOT of prayer (and so do I). Thanks for always being willing to pray for these needs.
We really need to pray for the finances right now. Praise God we are almost done with the two junior high classrooms that we need in August (we just lack the flooring for one and the lights for the two and windows – probably $2,000 in all). Then we need to build the bathrooms during the summer, if possible so we can finally separate the junior high from the elementary school. The biggest pressure right now though is the downpayments for shoes, pants, jumpers, skirts, athletic pants, etc. for all the 270 kids for next year. Thanks for your faithful prayers — God will provide in His perfect timing but He does honor our prayers and ask you to join me in praying for those things. Thanks so much.
My dad is in a rehab center still for several more weeks. Our family needs wisdom and direction right now. We cannot put my parents in assisted living until my dad can maneuver himself in a wheelchair or walk with a walker. He is improving a little every day. Thanks for your prayers for my parents and my sister Kathi who is helping them make the decisions. I will be going to Augusta on May 29th for a week and helping out and visiting my parents. Also, thank you, Brad Bertram, for providing for cataract surgery for me during that week as well. I really am having a hard time seeing these days so it is getting desperate. God provides everything and is so gracious to me through so many of His children. Thanks for all your prayers. (If anyone has a car that I could use that week, please let me know — thanks).
Thanks for all your encouragement and prayers. I am so blessed with such a huge team of warriors in prayer that fight with me for the needs and battles at Destino del Reino. I really have no idea how many of you are “out there” praying — I hear from people I don’t know that are praying daily for us through emails they have had forwarded to them, etc. It will be amazing in heaven when I get to see how very huge was the Destino team. Thanks to everyone of you. Please remember that you can’t hit “reply” to this email — you have to write to me directly at rhondadestino@yahoo.com if you want to respond. Please let me know how to be praying for you as well. I want to be on YOUR “team” as well.
Love in His grace,
Rhonda
