Hey Everyone,
I thank you (as I always do) for your faithful prayers for us. I am absolutely convinced that that is the reason that God is doing such mighty things at Destino del Reino and I thank you for being a big part of it.
First of all, thanks for praying about the land. We now have almost one-third of the money promised — I am so amazed. We have a little more than $30,000 promised and we have to raise $100,000 – BUT GOD can do it and he seems to be confirming that he is planning to do it. Keep praying with us about the timing and for God to lay it on the hearts of those He intends to use in this way. I really trust the Lord to lay it on the hearts of His people. It is proof that he is in this because of the many people that I don’t even know well who have pledged money because God put it on their hearts. He is really amazing. Last year sometime, I wrote an email saying that there is a guy who wants to give, as his tithe, brand new Toyota cars and we only had to come up with $7,000 for shipping and title and taxes. Amazingly, not one of you responded that you felt led to help us with that. Well — it turned out to be a complete hoax and one of our
missionary friends was taken for $7,000 and could not get it back. So that goes to say, that when you all start hearing from the Spirit to pledge to this land, that is a b ig confirmation that He plans to do this. Thanks for praying for the wisdom we need for all of this deal. It is very simple really here and we just go to a lawyer when we have the money, pay him and there is no wait at all for the official papers and we will be able to start working on the land immediately. My dream is to get it all paid for and in our name before the groups come this summer and they can help us work on some cabins and ot her projects there on the land to be used in early fall and start making some money for Destino’s school and children’s home. Just pray — God will do it HIS way!!
Speaking of the school, we are having some real ups and downs but God is doing His will clearly in all of this. We were so excited because, out of nowhere, we got two great applications for Honduran school teachers. We had looked everywhere last year for a teacher with a diploma even if they didn’t have any experience and now God sent us two that have more than 5 years each in the classroom and they are mature. What we didn’t know is that we were going to lose two teachers the same week. Yesterday, I let go our pre-school teacher. He had been here only during the 3-month probation time so there is no financial responsibility for Destino del Reino, but it was a hard situation. He is completely proud and unwilling to submit to any authority (especially a woman — Wendy is the director of the kinder classes) and he had a lot of other situations of disobedience to Carlos and I directly. It was the end of his 3-month probation and I certainly wasn’t
going to give him a contract so we ended that but he is very difficult and was already talking among the many Baptist pastors in town and critical of our ministry and Carlos specifically — so PLEASE pray that God will close his mouth and that he will learn what God wants to teach him in this situation. I talked very honestly with him about his strongpoints and gifts of teaching but explained that authority is a BIG DEAL to God and until he learns to live under authority in his life, God will not be able to use him as he wants to. Then today, the man that was acting as co-director and helping us get our papers, has had so many financial problems and some other problems he will not tell us about, and so today he quit as well. Thankfully, the kids in pre-k and second grade did not lack a teacher or even a full day. God was just lining up the ones we needed before we thought we needed them, ha. He is SOOOOO faithful.
Some great news is that a friend of mine who is a missionary here and has homeschooled or 7 kids for years, is also an expert on bilingual schools and finding right curriculums etc. She offered to come and observe our school on Tuesday and afterwards we talked about what we want for our bilingual school. She is preparing several options of great curriculum that she wants to suggest to us and we can make the final decision. She also is using our director to come up with a really strong Honduran curriculum because she has found that most bilingual schools here are very weak in their own Spanish language, and we certainly don’t want that. Please be praying for us at this stage of the planning. We need to decide on the curriculum in the next few weeks and then get word out to all of you that might be able to give us some names or ideas about getting these books at discount prices or even donated. This will be a big part of the expenses for a bilingual
school but necessary and we will trust the Lord to provide every step of the way. She also strongly suggested that we start RIGHT NOW in heavy English in the school to better prepare the children for classes in September. The American teachers are doing some now and they will start stronger in their classes and push harder for more preparation in English and I am going to teach the third graders English 4 times a week to get them ready. Please pray for me because I know that I have a lot on my plate right now but this is really a big priority and it will only be two months so I can last that long — with prayer!!
Sunday was our first day of Sunday School again and it went GREAT. We will have more children every week as they tell other children in the villages but it was a good start. Wendy and I have the majority of the children and we had a great time and I LOVED teaching them — another prayer request for another job for me, but at least I am enjoying it. Thanks for praying. Carlos will lead the older teens and adults and two of the ladies that work with me anyway on Sundays will cover the littler kids. I am really excitd and we really know this is something we needed to add to our church. But PRAY.
Thanks for praying for the men’s team that went to the village last Saturday. They had a wonderful time but were scared to death going up there. They said that even in the 4×4 Ford pick-up, they had to go very slow because the roads are so steep and slippery. They made it though and several people received Jesus Christ as their savior that night and many more were encouraged and prayed for. We are talking about them going on to the other village nearby next week where even more people died on that bus wreck and that area has never had any evangelism there. Be praying about that as far as safety and timing. My friend who is from that village told us that they need to go during daylight and come home during daylight for safety reasons — not only the bad roads, but the bad people. So pray with us about that. Thanks.
The kids are doing well. We are still waiting on the new baby boy to come. We picked the name Daniel for him (but will probably call him “Danny” most of the time). We are excited to have a newborn again. Pray for his safety and the mother when she gives birth to him.
Things are slower right now in projects as we wait on funds, but Carlos and the guys are doing some painting and detail work finishing up on the school. We have some precious friends that are tithing on their inheritance and they say that will cover the finishing of the school, the finishing of the basketball court and soccer field, and also the finishing of the big workshop that is in process. We are so thankful for that and it will be so good to FINISH some things!!! Those projects really will keep us busy for the remaining part of this year and hopefully, the Lord will provide the funds to finish up the clinic and third house next year. Thanks for praying for us in every step.
Carlos and I talked this morning about how critical it is that we hear from the Holy Spirit every step of the way so that we will end well. Up to this point, we KNOW that everything we have done here has been Spirit-initiated and so is the Lord’s will and pleasing to him. As we grow though, we need to be so cautious to stay humble and not rely on our own “good” ideas and man’s wisdom. Please pray continually that we will not ever neglect our time in the presence of the Lord in the Word so that we always walk in His perfect plans for this place and don’t head off with our own logical thinking or reason. Thank you for praying for us always. We are so blessed to have such a team behind us.
We love you all and praise God for your encouragement.
