Hey Everyone,
Thanks for your faithfulness to pray for Destino del Reino and now we need some powerful prayer for three things:
(1)   The people that are considering buying all the land on the other side of us up to the highway are the Mormons.  They want to build a conference center on our road.  PLEASE PRAY against this.  We know God picked our land for us and we will trust Him to keep this place as a haven for His children.  Thanks for praying against the sale of the land to the Mormon church.

(2)  Fernando’s parents are saying they are going to take him out since Martha (his aunt) has moved away.  Martha has tried to talk sense into them but they have not listened to her.  We are praying against this because the only person that really wants Fernando out of here is the grandmother who has abused him in the past.  Every couple of months, Fernando’s parents have a big fight and his mom moves back to her mother in Jocon.  THey have never married and are not consistently living together.  Please pray that they will not take Fernando out in the next few weeks and then split up and he will be left again with that horrible grandmother in Yoro.  Fernando is so happy here and when he was visiting there for a week last year, he was very depressed and quiet.  I am really concerned for him.  I want what God wants and will trust Him because only HE knows the future, but from where I see things right now, I don’t believe this could possibly be his will for Fernando.  Please pray fervently about this situation.  I am going to insist that they cannot send Martha for Fernando.  If they want Fernando out of here they need to come themselves because I need to have a very stern talk with them about his wellbeing.  That may hinder their plans because neither one of them are willing to travel to even visit him so I doubt they will try to come and get him out.  Please pray though.  This is so hard for us.  Martha’s parents don’t want Fernando to leave Destino either so they will help us fight for him to stay here.  Thanks for your faithful prayers.

(3)  The school is going well in some ways but when we were getting ready to re-sign contracts with our first and second grade teachers, I had a private conference with each of them and told them that I realize the former director lied and complained about Carlos for over a year.  I told them that if they had been affected in any way by her “poison”, that I would prefer they not sign the new contracts.  They each assured me that all was well and they had high respect for Carlos and his authority, etc.   But during the past week, we have learned differently and have serious doubts about both of them.  We have not had them sign their contracts yet and are praying and waiting throughout the next week for God’s confirmation about this situation.  Please pray for us.  We are putting out an announcement about a new director and will look at various applications for teachers as well.  Both of these teachers are resistent to attend Destino church at least once a week, and that is one of our requirements.  We believe that God wants unity among us and this requirement will cause more unity in purpose for all our workers and teachers and staff.  We need to find another first grade teacher, second grade teacher and a director this week — it will take a miracle but God can do it.  If we don’t have perfect peace in the teachers available, we will continue through the next 6 months with those we have, but I believe it would be better to change immediately and get all new people here who are willing to obey our rules.  One of the problems is that the school was completely relaxed before and now that God is showing us some things that need to change (i.e. all kids to be supervised at all times, etc.) the teachers are resistent and don’t want to work so hard.  Thanks for praying for us.  God is clearly helping us in every way to find the wisdom we need for the school so we can get it on the right foundation before it grows any bigger.  I think he maybe be opening up the way for new teachers immediately though because yesterday I talked to the administrators of the school down the road from us and they have a great person for 1st grade that is not working right now.  Carlos ran into a director from another private school and she has a lot of applications for good teachers looking for work, and today a man is bringing a bus load of teachers to Destino to see the ministry and to talk about his project (developing interest in forestry for students) which will be built in the land next to us.  These are not coincidences, I don’t believe, so God is probably already busy answering our urgent prayer request for different teachers.  Please pray for wisdom and patience and for us to KNOW what He wants for us to do this next week.

We have had great times of worship in the church recently and the church has been absolutely packed the past 3 meetings.  We have discipleship on Thursday nights for only about 15 and it is one of my favorite meetings of the week because it is so informal and everyone has so many questions about what the Bible has to say on every subject.   Thanks for your prayers for all of these precious people under our ministry.   It is such a privilege to work with such humble and teachable people.

Praise God we got enough money for the AWANA kids — now we are waiting for some of them to return to attending regularly so we can get their sizes and buy their t-shirts.   We were discouraged because it seemed like during this vacation time (their school is out until February 15th), many were not coming.  But last week we had over 140 in AWANAs so we still have a club more than double the size of any other club in Siguatepeque.  That is also a big privilege to have so many children coming and learning the word of God each week.  Please keep praying for more leaders for AWANAs.  The need is so great and there are so few leaders right now.

Please keep praying for Travis Bennett as he is adjusting to his life at Destino.  He is learning Spanish and is very disciplined in studying every day.  He is picking it up really fast and everyone is enjoying talking with him.  Please pray for him to be patient as God is revealing to him His plans for his life.  He is absolutely committed to obeying Jesus Christ and following Him anywhere and giving up everything so I KNOW that God has great plans for using His life in Kingdom work.

Continue to pray about the possiblity of Porter coming to help us at the school.  We have to have a Honduran director but he would be a wonderful administrator for us.  We are praying that he can come and help us at Destino to get things really on track and to make up forms and systems of operating for us.  He is praying for God’s clear direction but at this point is waiting for the people from the other school in Comayagua to return from the US so he can talk to them before resigning from that position.   He and the couple (Mark and Paula)  that I have written about from the children’s home down the road from us are all from the same church in Texas.  I had never asked them where the church was or what the name of it it was and the other day they mentioned it as “Restoration” and I realized they are from Dudley Hall’s church in the Fort Worth area — I couldn’t believe it.  I really love Dudley’s teaching and it is so fun to know that God has put us all together over here in Honduras.  I think the two ministries may be joined in some way in the future but I don’t know how.  Their children’s home is really struggling in a lot of ways.  The children who were placed with them through the state have had so much abuse and it is so hard to know how to help them heal up their wounds — emotionally and spiritually.  Their 3 littlest boys are in our school and need so much attention and are an extra stress on the teachers at Destino but we just want to help them so much.  Please pray for these little boys.

Travis’ parents, grandparents, girlfriend and another couple (friends of mine) are coming in on the15th for a week.  Pray for our time together and that we will be able to get some projects  done with these extra helpers here.  We plan to paint the public bathrooms, organize and distribute some clothing in a village and also pour a lot of sidewalks between the houses and church during that week.

Our next big group will be here the middle of March so that is just about 6 weeks away.  Please pray for us to know exactly what to do with each group and that we will be able to really encourage the people that come through Destino during the next 4 or 5 months.  We have a VERY full calendar but are looking forward to all God will do through and in each person that comes to Destino in 2007.

I am so grateful for your prayers.  Please keep praying for us who lead to be in the Word and in prayer faithfully.  It is such a temptation to cut that part of our day short becuase of the hectic schedule, when in fact that is the most important part of our entire day.  Carlos was preaching on Friday night and asking everyone if they wanted to know God better, of course, everyone was saying “si, si” (yes, yes).  Then he pointed at different individuals and said, “You want to know God better, right?   How much time did you spend reading your bible and talking to him in prayer today?”   So many said maybe 20 minutes or even less at times.  He is so transparent with them so they are honest too when he asks them things in church like that.  His point was that how can we know God if we won’t take time to spend with him.  If he is our priority, then our schedule each day should demonstrate that he is the priority.  It was convicting to me and I ask you to pray for me to really guard that time every day with Him.  He is the only source of power and strength for me to do what He has called me to do at Destino so I CANNOT neglect that time with Him.

I love all of you and praise God for putting such a team of prayer warriors together for us at Destino.  We are so blessed to have you behind us.

Love in His grace,
Rhonda

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