Hey Friends — I praise God always for your faithfulness to love us and pray for us at Destino. God is always up to great things here and sometimes we see them and sometimes we just walk through the darkness and believe Him that he is doing great things. Right now at Destino it is one of those times that I can actually SEE the great things He is doing and it is so exciting and encouraging.
First, I can’t thank God enough for sending us not one, but two, wonderful men to lead the church at Destino del Reino. Pastor Efrain has an international ministry and is out of the country for a few weeks at a time but when he is here, he is a wonderful Bible teacher and discipler of men and has visions of what God is going to do at Destino. Efrain is considered our head pastor, although he is here less than Pastor Pablo. Pastor Pablo is our worship leader and is so talented in music — I am amazed that God would choose such a gifted man for our little church but we are so grateful. He is going to be our music and band teacher at the school this year and he and his wife, Esther and their three little children have moved in the apartment below the second house at Destino. He not only does music but is a bus driver, welder, mechanic, etc. etc. and so we keep him busy here at Destino. In his free time, he has started drum lessons for 3 of the boys, guitar lessons for three of the girls, piano for 2 girls and one of the boys and is planning to teach two more the trumpet this summer. WOW, above and beyond anything I could have asked God. Esther is a loving humble young woman and her gift is teaching women the Word of God and I will be using her to start our mom’s bible study in the fall. Every week and every service at least one person is surrendering their heart to Jesus Christ and the church is beginning to grow in number as well. This year we are so excited to have our two pastors available to do home visits to our school children and to lead their parents to Christ. We have many children in crises all year long but have never had anyone to send to the families on a regular basis to pray and minister to them. I believe this will increase our outreach in a huge way to the whole community and we wil see great fruit through this outreach. We are going to have our counseling center in the school more active as well this year with teachers volunteering during their free time to pray personally with the different students. God is doing AWESOME AMAZING things and it has only begun!!!!
The school year is fast approaching and we will be having 9th grade for the first time. Every year we add a grade level and 30 to 40 new children — but God hasn’t told u sto slow down so He will provide faithfully. We are not church sponsored in any way but we do try to find sponsors for each student in the school and we still need about 40 so if you or a friend would like to provide both prayer and financial support for one of our students, please go online at www.destinodelreino.org and sign up for that. These kids are coming from the poorest homes and from some really bad situations much more painful than poverty — so we want the to each be prayed for individually and that is our main reason for getting them each sponsorship. God will provide the money one way or another because this is HIS ministry but the kids need a prayer supporter more than anything!!!
We have a new junior high teacher hired and I am very encouraged about her testimony and love for Jesus Christ as well as her experience in junior high and high schools. We only lack hiring a secretary right now so please pray that we will find the right one. It has been amazing to me to find so many adults with degrees here that cannot spell or construct a good sentence so this is a harder task than I would have imagined, ha. We also need a godly secretary to run the office so please pray we find God’s choice for this position.
The junior high is ready — at least the first floor — that is all we need this year. God will provide for the second floor when we need it (next year) and in the meantime, we thank Him for His right-on-time provision to get the junior high ready for 9th graders. We still don’t have bathrooms but they can go to the elementary school for this year. Pray for our other needs. I have put half payments down on shoes, jumpers, shirt, skorts, PE pants, 9th grade books, English books and reading books and of course when these things have been ordered and start to arrive, I need to have the last payments — all in all that is about $9,000. God is able and may have to sell some of his “cattle on a thousand hills” to get it to us, but he will do it and I appreciate your prayers for us as we wait on Him for these needs.
Our school is all freshly painted inside and outside, thanks to our recent group from Augusta. I am so thankful for their hard work every year. This year they also got our dental clinic all prepared for this upcoming school year. The dream is to have a small team of dentists to come in each month and work on our students’ teeth. These children have never been to a dentist so this is a huge task and we ask you to pray that God wil put this ministsry on the hearts of some dentists. Right now we are ready with the building and the suction machine, dental chairs, sinks, hot water, etc. but are praying for a machine that costs about $2,400 to be a mobile unit for the dentists to use which includes everything they would need. As we have different dentists come in and start with this mobile unit, we are hoping they will show us what we need on a permanent basis in our clinic but this will get us started soon. Thanks for praying for the money for the mobile unit and for the container that is coming next week –that we will be able to include that machine on the container. Praise God, speaking of the container, one of our board members was able to find re-built computers, keyboards, etc. for $150 a piece and people have contributed to get us 20 of them which will be arriving on the container. Our computer room was down to only 7 working computers with ’98 windows and 30 kids to a class — we were about to cancel computer class for the year, but, again, God came through for these kids. My kids are anxiously awaiting the container — they are almost completely out of clothes and shoes and I keep saying, “just wait a few more weeks,” — we praise God for all of you who have donated things to be coming on the container. Pray that it will come through the ports without difficulty.
Thanks for praying for our new American teachers that will be coming in as well. I know that it is a huge thing to leave American soil and families and not really know what they are walking into, but I know they will be a huge blessing to our students this year and God will bless them greatly for their sacrifices.
Thanks for your prayers for the kids in ny house. I now am down to 19 children. Sofia returned with her mother yesterday to live in Yoro. I had had her for 3 years and she never was changing and her mother had never signed her in and she wanted to take her home. Blanca and Cesar and jonathan (her brothers and sister) all thought it was a good idea for her to go. It is hard when you can’t help every child that comes to live here but I am trying to hear what God wants for Destino. Sofia had never attached to me or the other children and so it was not a painful goodby, even with her own siblings. Keep praying for Eidy — I have seen a big turnaround in her attitude and she told me that she is seeking the Lord to change her from the inside out. She had a hard day yesterday — pushed open the glass church door and it shattered and cut her in 7 or 8 places and scared her and all of us. She has some really nasty cuts but none required stitches, Praise God!!! Thanks for continuing to pray for all of us here. Pray for Erick too — he is such a great 20 year old and leader and older brother for the children but he needs a man to trust — pray that he will seek one of our pastors to begin meeting with him and discipling him
I will be in Augusta to see my family and also have my other eye surgery from Aug. 23-31 My parents don’t have a car anymore so if anyone could loan me a car for a week so that I can run my mom around and take care of some of her (and my) needs, please let me know. Thanks so much I am so blessed in the way that God provides for all my trips to the US, for free corrective eye surgeries, etc. etc. — I am better off with no salary and having a heavenly father meet my every need, than most people are with their own great salaries. God is an amazing provider and Father. Thanks for all your prayers and for the encouragement you are all to me in so many ways.
Remember to write me, you cannot hit “reply” to this message — you have to write me on FB or at rhondadestino@yahoo.com.
God bless each one of you who is reading this email.
In His rich grace,
Rhonda
