Hey Everyone,
Thank you SO much for all your prayers this past week. God did great things and we are praising Him for all His goodness.
The West Acres group arrived on Saturday afternoon and just left this morning (Monday). They stayed a few days longer than most groups but we needed all that time to accomplish the things that we did. Several of the men worked on the roof for the new pavillion and the rest of the group went to three different villages to bring medical help to the people there. We were in the villages of Potrerillos, San Isidro and Las Jermanias. So many people were touched by the love of the Lord Jesus through these precious servants. The first day in the villages, we had to turn people away at the end of the day because there was just not enough time to meet all their needs. It was very sad to all of us but we know that we will return there soon with more help. That village is Potrerillos and we plan to take the group from Texas (August 1st) to do evangelism. Please be praying that the people’s hearts will be ripe for the gospel — I believe that we planted many seeds in the giving of the free medical help and medicines this week. Before going to the second village, a few of the women felt that the Holy Spirit told them to wash feet during the next day of the medical brigade (San Isidro) and that was definitely proved to have been from the Holy Spirit because that ministry touched so many lives and hearts and 33 people came to Christ as they shared His love with them there on their knees. It was a very precious thing for all of us to witness. The third day, the medical brigade was in Las Jermanias — our adopted village above Destino. Afterwards we were reminded that there needs to be much discipleship among those people as there was such a high percentage of STD there in that village. Please be praying for us as we begin disciplining in this next few months. We intend to use the pavillion, once it is wired with lights, for weekly meetings and to bus the people down from Las Jermanias for those meetings.
As for the building project — Steve Clifton headed up that part of the team. Steve did not know until the last few days that we were planning to put a metal roof and metal trusses up. Carlos is a welder but the job was enormous and couldn’t have been accomplished in a week by just Carlos. ONLY GOD knew all of this in advance and sent a man with this team who is a welder. Steve knew that Mike is a carpenter and had planned to use him for building the wooden trusses (which he thought we would be needing). It was a surprise to everyone that Mike was being sent here by God to WELD. Mike and Carlos worked VERY hard all day long for 5 1/2 days to complete all the welding and the last day the men were able to put on the panels and almost finished the roof. They all worked incredibly hard and LOOOONG hours and on that last day, we ran out of the panels — about 12 short — so they were forced to quit on Saturday evening — I believe that was God’s timing and plan though — it was time to REST!! They got enough done to really get a great picture of how it will look when finished. The men here are finishing the cement floor this week and Carlos will get the rest of the metal panels in on Thursday so it should be finished by Saturday and I’ll send a picture of the new pavillion in my next news letter.
All in all it was a wonderful week and soooo much was accomplished. The doctors/nurses were great and ministered in such great love to the Honduran people and everyone was so unified in purpose and ministry. Please pray for the Lord to specially bless each one of them for their great sacrifice in ministering to all of us here.
The kids are all doing great. We have had a busy week and kind of chaotic but they are back on schedule today and happy. We celebrated three birthdays on Sunday (Carlito, Fernando and Cokey) and will celebrate the other two when the group from Texas comes (Cesar and Eidy).
Fernando’s mom came to visit us last weekend. She is in an abusive situation and is now moving back to her mom’s house in Jocon. In August, she is planning to bring Gabriela ( Fernando’s little sister) to live with us. I am so excited for her to be able to grow up with Fernando. She looks just like Fernando in the face but she has almost blonde hair — very unusual in Honduras. She is quite a strong-willed little 2 year old and will be a little bit difficult to handle at first but I know she will fit in great and learn quickly. please pray for her to get here soon so we can get her used to some discipline. I want to get her trained while she is still very young.
Please pray for Eidy and Cokey’s father, Gerson. I really want him to come back to visit the girls but he has moved in with another woman and has not returned for over 3 months now. I was afraid this might happen since he is so young and alone there in Jocon. I would hate for him to just walk away from these precious little girls though and am praying that he will know he needs to visit them more often.
Christine Freed from Bryan College is here helping me for 5 weeks and that has been a huge blessing — especially with the hecticness of having the groups here. God sure sends people to me at the perfect time!!
We have not yet looked into purchasing the bus but I think we are very close to the amount of money we need to get one. We actually can wait a few more weeks until we have the pavillion ready with lights before we will need the bus for bringing in groups of people for discipleship — so just pray that we can find the right bus for us and at the right price and that God will provide any additional funds we need in His perfect timing.
We are in need of a fence around Destino del Reino for security reasons and I would appreciate your prayers that we can have the funds to start that soon. We will build a solid wall with metal gates on the front side of the property and then have cement base and posts with chain link fence between them around the rest of the boundaries. I think we need to put up this fence soon as a prevention to strangers entering our land. Please continue to pray for us to know exactly what God’s timing is for each of the needed projects right now. We are continuing to work on the second house and we plan to move Carlos and his family in there once it is finished, while we finish up the underneath part for a home for them in the next few months. Pray for the funds, the wisdom and the right timing for all of this. Thanks.
Steve Clifton has agreed to get our plans for the third house worked out and please pray for the Lord to clearly show him what his part is to be in this ministry. He is a talented contractor and I praise God for sending him to help us so far and am praying that God will use him to help us continue the building of Destino. We would like to start the third house next summer and then we can complete that underneath part for the dining room for all the kids that next year as well. God will show us the right timing and provide all we need at each step of the way. That is how He keeps us from moving ahead of Him and I am so thankful for that.
Please be praying for the group coming in on the first of August. We plan to have 4 projects going at one time (whew!!) — (1) children’s VBS; (2) building of the beds for the second house; (3) evangelism; (4) electricity. pray for all the details to be worked out in all of these areas and for strength for us to accomplish all that God has for us for that week.
I’m sorry if this email sounds a little choppy — I am so exhausted that I can hardly think straight. Thanks for your love and patience with me and for the many many prayers that keep us going. Thanks for your prayers for me personally right now — for strength, for more quality time in the Word and in prayer (that is where my strength comes from) and for wisdom with the children and for strategizing for reaching the neighboring villages for Christ. There is soooo much to do and we need to hear clearly from the Spirit as to HIS plans and not do anything less or more than He gives us to do — He never gives more than we have strength to do, so I need to KNOW what He wants. Thanks for your prayers for those things.
Love in His GREAT GRACE,
Rhonda
