Hey Y’all,
I finally arrived back at Jocon yesterday afternoon. I had left on April 25th to go to Siguatepeque to meet my parents and the Bargerons and ended up going straight from there to the US for a month, and then straight from there back to Siguatepeque to build the second house and then straight from there to La Ceiba to help with the mission team from Tomball, Texas this past week. I was so happy to see my little Honduran family again and they always make me feel SO loved — Marinita was especially excited to have her sleeping buddy back with her again. My room now has a new tin roof over it so I won’t have to move the bed around during rain storms to avoid the leaks anymore!! Praise God. They also put up more cement blocks above the walls so there isn’t so much space for the mosquitos to enter in anymore. Lots of things to be thankful for. I’m also thankful for the fact that the spiders here are NOT poisonous. The spiders in my room are bigger than the mice that I used to have in here (I’m not exaggerating) — but Praise God, they are harmless. (I still don’t like them much though).
We had an AWESOME week in La Ceiba this past week. There were 44 of us and there were 4 different teams — well-drilling, construction projects at a church in a nearby village, children’s ministry in the schools in the same village area; and evangelism teams for door-to-door evangelism in the same areas. We were able to work in various ways to make a great impact for Christ in that area. I was on the evangelism team and we had about 10 of us going out each day. We saw between 80-100 people come to Christ in just 5 days, several were healed of illnesses, and many many more were encouraged in their relationship with Christ. It was such a blessing to all of us. I would appreciate your prayers for those who have so recently received Christ — that they would be discipled and encouraged to grow in understanding of their new life in Jesus. I wanted to name a few of them specifically that are on my heart that need prayer. Two young men received Christ on Wednesday (Wilmer – age 17 and Hector – age 19) — there is such a need for leadership among the men in Honduras and so I pray that they will grow up in Christ together — they are cousins. Also on Friday, Travis and I were able to lead to Christ two more young men who Travis had built relationships with this week playing soccer, etc. Their names are Daniel and Harold — again they are young men (around 19 -20) so please pray for these four by name as often as you can remember. One other young girl (probably about 16) is very special to me now. Her name is Ilsa. Val and I were able to lead her to pray to receive Jesus Christ on Friday morning, but even though we knew her prayer was sincere, she did not have the breakthrough of joy as so many of the people do when they pray to receive Christ. We felt like there was a spirit of unworthiness on her that was holding her back from even making good eye contact with us, possibly through abuse of some kind. Val and I left to get her a Bible and when we returned, we felt that God would have us wash her feet and so we knelt in the dirt there and washed her precious little filthy feet and prayed over her that God would show her that HE had made her worthy and that she would receive His EXTRAVAGANT love for her. We anointed her feet with oil and prayed that she would see Jesus, and not us, knelt there before her to demonstrate to her how very precious she is to Him. When we left that day, she was on the side of the road waving at us with a beautiful BIG smile of joy all over her face. PLEASE PRAY for Ilsa and add her to your daily prayer lists as she needs so much encouragement. It is so difficult for us to have led these precious people to Christ and then to leave them, not knowing who will follow up to encourage them. The Father loves them more than we do though, so we will trust them to Him — but please be praying with us. Thanks.
I have such a burden for the village (Las Jermanias) next to Destino del Reino. Now that I see how many can be reached for Christ in just 5 days, it makes me so excited about the day God sends me a group of about 10 who will go door to door in that little village too. Let me know if you’re interested in bringing some people for that kind of ministry in the future —
God did some incredible things in all of us as well and He really ministered to me in showing me more areas of pride in my life. That has been my prayer for about a year and a half now and it is very very painful when He answers that prayer — but at the same time, it brings such joy when He cleans me on an even deeper level. I was praying with a friend on the trip for some deeper freedom and as we read the scriptures on forgiveness in Genesis, where Joseph forgave his brothers who had sold him into slavery, my heart was just torn open with grief that I have not completely forgiven some people in my life. Joseph not only forgave his brothers, but he even told them he didn’t want them to feel guilty about what they had done to him. I have actually prayed that the Lord would make people sorry about how they had treated me. I was sooooo convicted about that SICK prayer — I need to have such supernatural grace in my life to release forgiveness for any wrong and then to pray blessings on those people and even pray that they won’t feel badly if they ever do realize what they have done to me. It is SOOOOO great when the Lord shows us more areas that are not completely surrendered to Him and then we even break out with more joy than we have ever had before. I know the Lord ministered to many of us on the team (as well as those to whom we ministered in the village) — and I praise Him for using such precious people in my life to encourage me. I was trying to help others and then God restored me in a precious way on a deeper level. It reminded me of what it says at the end of the book of Job, “when Job prayed for his friends, he was healed.”
Thanks for all your prayers for me — God continues to work in me and I want to be absolutely surrendered in every area for Him to work through me with much fruitfulness for the kingdom of God.
I went to Yoro today to use my computer and returned to the place where I had seen some little children who may need to be sent to Destino del Reino. As we entered the area today, we found a mother with 4 children and several other children around her. They are living in little mud huts (not even houses in most cases, just carved out mud holes). There are probably 4 or 5 mothers in that little muddy area with many children and we talked to two of the mothers about the home and they are going to tell the other moms — I really believe we will get several children from this place and I am so thankful we found them there. The one mother we talked to today said she was definitely sending her 4 year old to us and will check with the others. So keep praying. We talked to the prison guard about the 4-year old boy who lives in the prison with his mother and we will hear if his mother is willing to send him to us in the next few weeks. I continue to be so convinced of the wisdom of God’s plan for us to take these children from this area and raise them up as disciples to return with HOPE for the people. Two more teenagers in Jocon committed suicide this month. (they were both 13 years old and both hung themselves). That makes 4 in a year and a few others tried unsuccessfully. There are only about 3,000 people in my village and that is so sad that this many teenagers would be so hopeless. This village is known for his homosexuality and witchcraft and DARKNESS in every area. God has not forgotten though and has a plan for their futures. I am so thankful to be a part of that hope!!!
The well has not been drilled yet so please keep praying. There is one more well to drill before ours and a part on the drilling rig keeps breaking. This is Honduras and so things are slow — Very SSSLLLOOOWWWW — But it will be in God’s perfect timing when the man comes to drill. It has already been a blessing though that he didn’t come earlier. The construction of the second house took more than we had counted on and so they had to use the $2,000 we had been saving for the well parts when the man comes. He will not wait for us so the day he calls, if we do not have all the tubes and equipment needed for the well, he will go on — please pray that we will re-supply our finances quickly so that when he calls, we will have exactly what we need in the bank. Thanks.
The other work on the house is at a standstill right now. We cannot use our money for materials and labor until we know there is enough for the well materials. We will be able, though, to have the ceramic tile put in once we receive that money from the Bargerons. Linda was able to raise the entire amount so that we will have ceramic tile floors instead of cement ones. God is doing above and beyond all we could ask or think — just like He promised!!
The bus is scheduled to leave on July 6th. It should be here on the 16th of July and we are praying for God’s favor as we get it through Customs. Thanks for your prayers on all of these details. There has been a lot of confusion over the President’s new law but from many experts around here we are finding that those laws apply to vehicles that are entereing the country to be sold and do not apply to buses and donated vehicles older than ’95. So keep praying for these things to be cleared up. Our van is still waiting to be shipped from Mobile, Alabama because the man there is not clear on the meaning of the new law. Please pray that we will be able to work this out soon. Thanks so much. This will all take miracles — but God is in the habit of doing those for us continually!!
He has orchestrated some more beautiful things in my life. It amazes me how he puts me in just the right place at the right time. In a restaurant in Tela, I found Dr. Linda Flowers with a group, sitting at the next table. About 15 years ago when I first went to Girls’ Country, I got double pneumonia and she was the doctor that prayed over me and treated me and saved my life. I am so thankful to have her now as one of my prayer partners and please pray for her as she leads groups to Honduras to help in so many ways also. Also, I had tried in vain to locate a good friend from college who is married to a Honduran pilot. I had tried to find her before coming to Honduras and all anyone knew in the States was the name of her husband. I was here 4 days (3 years ago) and she MIRACULOUSLY walked up to me in the middle of the airport. We exchanged information to get together sometime and both of us lost that information. So three years (almost) later, I haven’t been able to find her. I had known she was moving to one of the islands by Roatan but had no idea how to locate her. I was sitting in my missionary friends’ house last Saturday and a visitor came in and I started talking to her about her family. She said her youngest son had talked to “Jack Medenza” about being a pilot — I stopped her and asked where he was (this was the name of my friend’s husband). It turns out that Liz and Jack Medenza are on the board of directors of my friends’ mission organization and they all had her telephone number all this time. We have talked on the phone now and are so thankful to have found each other again. I was so amazed at the Father’s love for me to orchestrate my finding Liz again. Apparently, her husband is a wealthy Honduran businessman and they live on an exclusive island on the other side of the Roatan Islands. I plan to go see her one day soon and really catch up on these 20+ years apart. God has continually MIRACULOUSLY lined up my meeting and re-meeting people that have encouraged me so much and are becoming prayer warriors for Destino del Reino. Sometimes I can just imagine Him up there moving these people like a chess game into my daily path — He is so amazing.
Well, this email is rather long but I have so much to share with all of you. Thanks for being so interested in the ministry and please keep up all the prayers — they are being answered continually and I need a lot of patience right now to just wait for God’s perfect timing for opening the home to the children. He is perfect in all His ways and we can trust Him completely.
I love you all —
Rhonda
