Hey Everyone,
Thanks for your prayers for us at Destino, as always.
We’ve had so much going on right now with the finishing up of the 4 classes for school and trying to finish up the whole school roofing as well. We have less workers so the project is going to go slower but God can still do the miracle we need in the timing of everything.
School is supposed to start the last week of February so we have about 3 weeks yet to finish it all but we certainly need your prayers for this. God has provided the ceramic for the school and it is beautiful and very durable. This school is going to be so beautiful and a real tribute to our God, who gives the best to the neediest!! The classes are almost completely full and every day more people come and want to put their children here. I wish we had more space because it is such a wonderful opportunity. Please be praying for the teachers that God would have us have here. Yesterday, Carlos and I had kind of a shock. I had been praying a week or so ago about the school and felt the Holy Spirit tell me that Carlos and I needed to be in on the final interviews of each of the new teachers. There is wisdom in having more than one person making decisions. Carlos and I don’t hire anyone without both having peace about the decision so I realized that we shouldn’t leave the entire decisions about teachers up to the director, Sandra. Sandra agreed that it would be best and we had our first interview with the newest teacher she was hiring. I told Carlos beforehand that I didn’t know what to ask other than maybe that each teacher could give us their testimony about how and when they came to know Jesus Christ personally. Carlos didn’t have any other ideas either so we started out that way, and to our surprise, the teacher didn’t know Jesus Christ as her Savior. Afterwards I talked to Sandra and she said two of the 3 new teachers are not Christians but it is hard to find Christian teachers and these people are really experienced with specialties. We explained to her that this is not just a school, it is a ministry and the purpose of the whole ministry of Destino (including the school) is to raise up strong leaders and disciples of Jesus Christ to change Honduras one day. Non-believers cannot raise up disciples and we can’t compromise in that area. She was upset with us at first but finally is praying with us and looking to see what we can find. We need urgent prayer because it is time to have them hired already and other Christian schools around are looking for people as well and not finding them. We prayed about it and last night Carlos talked to a young pastor here and his sister is qualified with the right degree and experiecne and is a christian looking for a position . So this might be our answer for one of the positions. Thanks for praying for yet another miracle for us here at Destino. Start praying please too for the teachers for the years to come because this is going to always be a struggle to find qualified Christian teachers here in Honduras. Thanks so much.
We had a really unusual Sunday this week. About 2:00 in the afternoon, my neighbors came running up the road and yelling to me that a huge bus full of people had been hit by a 18-wheeler and it had rolled down the mountain at our turn on the highway with people wounded everywhere. We all jumped in the truck and I told them that they were God’s team today and they needed to be aware how to help people and to offer to pray with them, etc. They were an incredible team that day and God was honored in all of them. When we got there, most of my neighbor men and Carlos and his nephew (who came back from Siguatepeque when they heard the news) were already down the mountain pulling up people with ropes and stretchers made of rough wood. There were 5 people only that died in the crash and the police later came to bag those bodies up and take them to town. For 3 hours we had so many opportunities to pray with all the wounded people and to give them blankets and Tylenol for their pain. There are so few ambulances here and only the very serious cases were taken by ambulance. Another 30 or so people sat around waiting for family to come from 3 hours away, most of them with broken arms and head wounds, etc. It was so pitiful and they were trembling from the terror of the bus flying over the cliff like that, but we got to pray with many of them and encourage them that God had a very special plan for their lives or they would not be alive. When you saw the bus it was so obvious that God had spared many lives miraculously. Another amazing thing (especially in Honduras) was that not one child or baby was on the bus!! That just is never the case here. The youngest boy was 14 and traveling alone and he did not have a scratch on him. I brought him and 3 other young people to the house after a couple of hours to get something to eat and use the restrooms and got to share the plan of salvation with them. Carlos prayed with one of the older women who was hurt really badly, as she was on the stretcher to leave in the ambulance. She accepted Jesus as her Savior before going to the hospital. It was a really hard day but so glorifying to God because so many heard of and saw his love demonstrated. I was so glad that if an accident like that had to happen in Honduras, that it happened close to this sweet group of believers in our church that wanted to be ministers of the love of Jesus to the wounded. I was so proud of all of them!!
Steve Clifton and his son, Robert, will be here in two days to work fast and furiously on the school desks for us. They will be here for 3 and a half days and so please pray for no hindrances and that they will be safe and healthy and able to accomplish all that they want to in this short trip. I am so grateful for this help. The carpenters in Honduras always promise to get things done by a certain date, and two or three months after the time, they show up with the finished work. We couldn’t trust them for the desks and tables and chairs for the kindergarten so we are so grateful for Steve and Robert’s help.
We had to fire our worker, Gloria this week but God worked every detail out and she is going to be fine and is continuing to come to church with us, etc. I know God has something very special for her ahead and please pray for her to find good employment so she can provide for her 4 children and herself. She is a precious sister in Christ so the decision was hard but we knew it was God’s decision. Thanks for praying for her.
YEAH!! We got our government approval and now have a card to enter containers in without any fees or hassles in the future. This will be a huge relief to the ministry here and we are so grateful for God’s favor which he gave us with the government of Honduras for this.
YEAH!! The lawyer in Tegucigalpa is getting my residency for me and I should be a resident within 6 months. This will enable me to go to the States according to what is convenient to my schedule and not every 3 months when the government requires it of me. Please pray for this to get finalized without any problems. This new attorney is such a Godsend to us because he prays for each situation and sees God do the impossible for our ministry over and over again. We are so grateful.
Thanks for continuing to pray for Carlos and the church ministry. God is changing him continually and he is preaching with more and more power every week. Thanks for your prayers for him and his family. Satan sure has tried to pull him down but God is the VICTOR!!
We still don’t have our new baby, Sophi, but she will probably come in March. Emily is growing more every day and is such a beautiful 2-month old baby. Sammy loves her and seems to know she is his little sister. He loves to cuddle her.
I forgot to tell everyone in my last update that Carlos did not get his visa for the States because we did not have all the right documentation. The web site was completely in error on what it told us to take to the Ambassador’s office, so we will be well-prepared the next time. He should get his next appointment with their office for about April and then he could possibly come to the USA in May. If he gets the visa, it will be for 5 or 10 years and so he can come several times in the next few years and share in more churches. Please pray for this all to be worked out smoothly too. Everyone assured us that the only problem was our lack of documentation and he should have no problem when we have all the right papres the next time. Our lawyer is going to help him through the process the next time too. If Carlos does not come in May, I will still be coming to the States that month to visit. It will have been 7 months by then and I usually get home every 6 months but wanted to wait to see if Carlos can work it out this time. Thanks for your prayers.
Sometime ago, I asked you to pray for our neighbor man who had decided not to permit his children or wife to come to church anymore. We never did understand what that was about but after about 5 weeks, he let the children continue back to church. Just a few weeks ago, he started talking to Carlos one night about his relationship with God and said he really wants to start studying the Bible with Carlos and getting to know the Lord Jesus better. Carlos is going to start meeting with him and he came to church on Friday night for the men’s Bible study. We are all sooooo excited. He also told his “wife” that he wants to finally get married officially. We are so excited and hoping to have another wedding one day soon for them. They have 7 kids, mostly all grown, so this would be a big event for everyone and a big testimony for the whole area. Please pray for him faithfully. His name is Luis.
My Bible study is going so well and every week more and more of the ladies feel free to answer my questions. It was so difficult at first because they had never been in an informal Bible study and so I had to do all the talking. Thanks for praying for me and for them. We are learning so much in the book of James — it is sooooo convicting for me as well as them every week but we want to be very different in the way we live and think when we finish studying this book of the Bible. THey always assure me every week that they understood every word I spoke, and that is the biggest MIRACLE of all!! Thanks for the prayers.
Thanks to some of you who have now offered to sponsor kids for the school year coming up. We need about 15 more so please pray for oothers to sign up that God has in mind for this ministry of sponsorship. We are still praying for the funds (about $20,000) to finish up the school as well so please remember that in your prayers daily too. God is so perfect and the whole school is such a testimony of his miracle-working power. He has provided so much money through so many people and we are at the very last stages and I KNOW He will finish what he has started.
Thanks again for all your faithful love and prayer for this ministry. I need to stand back sometimes and see the whole picture to really appreciate all of God’s goodness here. We can get lost in the everyday struggles (and there are many of those right now) and forget to see the whole beautiful picture of lives being changed and children prepared for incredible leadership and ministry.
Thanks for praying for me personally. I can’t really explain well all that has been going on in my life but I will tell you that God has moved me out of a position of “coasting” in my spiritual life, to really fighting the enemy and rising to be a stronger woman of faith and obedience. Thanks for continuing to pray for me personally as I still am struggling in some areas.
Love to everyone of you and please let me know how to pray for you personally as well. We are all a part of the same team and need one another.
Love in His grace,
Rhonda
