Hey Everyone,
Thanks for all your prayers. We are amazed at all God is continuing to do at Destino, day by day, year by year. I want to keep my eyes ahead at all He is going to accomplish here instead of getting stuck in the present at times in the daily conflicts. He is good ALL THE TIME and sometimes I just can’t see it until afterwards.
He has really showed off His power and glory this last week in lots of ways. Our worst nightmare happened on Wednesday — one of our children in the school was hit by a car when getting off our school bus on the big highway. She was hit and thrown clear up in the air and landed in the ditch on the side of the road, with her shoes left in the middle of the highway. Just about everyone who we have ever heard about getting hit on that busy highway have been killed instantly, BUT GOD saved her. They picked her out of that ditch and she was bleeding and unconscious but when they got her to the hospital, they found that she had not one broken bone, no concussion, not even the need for one stitch. All the bleeding was from scrapes. There is no explanation except that God protected her. If we could see with heavenly eyes, I think we would have seen angels all around her catching her in the air and laying her softly on the ground in that ditch. Praise God. Her name is
Leidy and please pray for her this week to get over all her soreness. She is in the third grade and I was able to talk to her and pray with her and remind her of the great plan for her life that the Lord has.
We had a group here from the Wesley Foundation at UGA this week and they were great. They did several VBS’s in different areas and were so flexible (we changed the schedule around every day). They finished up a lot of painting and other projects that needed done but more than anything they encouraged me spiritually. They were so thoughtful and had prayer sessions for Carlos and I both and we were blessed. One day when we saw again the protection of the Lord is when we tried to go with our biggest bus to a new area. We got stuck on a sharp curve going steeply down an old road. We spent so much time trying to get out with Carlos and other men in the mud under the bus working on jacking the bus up, etc., that we had to return to use the bus to get the school kids and not continue on down that road. Some of the group went on in the Nissan and had a good time. Later, though, we found out from the men in that area, that if we had continued on the road, we would have
been in danger with that bus because it is automatic and the road is very steep and winding and we very likely would have lost our brakes. God is good when our circumstances are frustrating. He has all the facts and is busy protecting us when we are arguing with him sometimes.
I wanted to share more about what God has put on our hearts about the 100 acres of land that we are praying about buying. I now am sure that God is going to provide this, although I have no idea how he will raise the $100,000 that we need. As other projects at Destino in the past, the Lord just started putting idea after idea in my thinking this past week and it confirmed that this is his will. He showed me that we are to build the campground as soon as we have the land. I have a friend who constructs cabins for another camp in town and he says that one group with $5,000 can put up a cabin in a week. We know that there are no other camps out in the country around here and the churches are always looking for places for retreats and activities for young people and prayer vigils, etc. We would put up the cabins as soon as possible and get it ready and start renting it out. Our lawyer in Tegucigalpa told us several years ago to start praying for a unique way to raise
money to support Destino del Reino in the future and I believe this is part of that plan. Also, we had started having youth rallys a little over a year ago (in fact, we have one going on right now with 50 kids out my office in relays). We started studying on the internet about the low ropes courses and how they build leadership and teamwork among people in these courses. We want to study more about that. One of the ideas that the Lord put in my head is that we not only can rent the campground for retreats, etc. but we can actually do the ropes courses for groups and teach leadership and team unity, etc. and this is something that is not offered anywhere around. We can also use it for our own teachers, church, school etc. We have thought about having the children learn some arts and crafts and we would put a little store there to sell their goods and raise more money for the home.
Carlos and I can go to a ropes course training in the US later on when it gets closer to time to open the camp. I just can’t express how much emotion I had when I sensed the Lord showing me His plans for the future with this land.
Another idea that I believe came from him was that of a boot camp for missionary training. I know that some mission organizations have them in the US to train potential missionaries for extreme emergency living conditions. We can learn from these groups and prepare the same type of training here at Destino for our future missionaries. Please be praying with us that the Lord will open the doors of heaven and pour out this money so that we can secure this land for Destino for His glory and use it to train up leadership and missionaries for the world.
Speaking of future missionaries, I need to share with you something the Lord has been doing for the future of Destino missionaries that I had not known about until a few months back. I have mentioned before that we gave Pastor Scott from Indiana an acre of our land for an evangelical training center. Well, I really had not ever caught on to his plans for this center. I knew that Scott trains students at Ball State University in Indiana to prepare them to be missionaries and to do evangelistic crusades all over the world. I thought he would use the center to just bring groups to Honduras to stay a few weeks and help us in the mountain villages. BUT, he explained to me the whole goal and I got goosepimples to think what God is up to. Scott said that the Lord told him to build a world mission organization to reach the 10-40 window of the world (the most unreached nations in that latitude and longitude). He said that he has been educating and training them and now it
is time to start sending them into these countries. He said his first couple is ready and they are called to Egypt. He said the attrition rate of missionaries being excited and motivated to go and reach those difficult countries is so great that they quickly return discouraged and are not being able to accomplish their vision for reaching those 10-40 countries. He believes that God has shown him to build the center here in Honduras and send every missionary to us for one year before they go on to those other countries. During their time with us at Destino, they will reach the villages with Carlos and at the same time being transitioned into a new culture, new language, harder living conditions, etc. He believes God told him to do this to receive the training from us in the village work and with the children’s home, etc. and they will be more able to endure the future changes when they arrive at their final destinations in these hard-to -reach countries. I was so
happy to know how we would help these young missionaries but all of a sudden, I felt like the Lord opened up a window for me to see what was in this for our Destino children. We will have missionaries ready to go into the world in another 10 or 15 years, and by that time, we will know WELL missionaries in all parts of the world, who have all spent one year with us at Destino del Reino. I can’t hardly express my joy at realizing that God was already preparing those places for our children and that they will be sent to people that we can trust to train them and take care of them in their first years in other countries. God is up to something MIGHTY at Destino and more and more I am catching on to this vision. Our first couple will come May 2009 and she is a teacher and will work in the school that year and her husband will start work on the construction of the center as well as work in the villages with Carlos. WOW — that is all I can say to the Lord’s majesty and
great power in all that he has planned for this place. Never stop praying for us — Satan is as mad as we are excited so the attacks will always be there — but we are more than conquerers in Christ Jesus.
Thanks for all your prayers for my family. Please pray this week as it will b e my sister’s birthday on Friday, the 21st, and that will be a particularly hard day for all of us. Her birthday with the Lord Jesus will be better than any she could have ever imagined though.
The rally today is going well and please pray that at the end of the afternoon when Carlos shares the gospel with them, that many of them will receive Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Pray for us to be consistent and follow up with them with discipleship. Our new kindergarten teacher says he has a “passion” for discipling so we will put him to great use for sure.
Always be praying for the 4 new American teachers we need this year and for the plans for becoming completely bilingual. It is a big undertaking but God will give us wisdom and help in each step. It is part of the further training of missionaries here because they can go into the hard to reach countries as English teachers and undercover missionaries. Thanks for your prayers.
We are so blessed that you are all praying for us. God is great and is up to greater things than I can take in right now — He is faithful and will accomplish al lthat he has purposed here. Just keep praying!! If you want to write me personal notes, my email is rhondadest…@yahoo.com. I noticed that I don’t get as many emails anymore and I think that many of you are trying to hit “reply” on these googlegroup messages and it doesn’t go through. I would love to hear from any of you. Please don’t think that it will make me feel pressure to write yo uback. I type fast and I LOVE the encouragement of knowing you are out there somewhere holding us up in prayer. Also be sure and tell me how to pray for you as well.
We thank you for all your prayers and faithfulness to us. Please pray for the Lord to show us each step of the way so that we don’t run ahead of him on anything nor lag behind for lack of faith.
Love in His grace,
Rhonda
