Hey Everyone,
As always, I want to start by telling you thanks for your prayers. I hope you recognize how powerful prayer is and that you are upholding us and sustaining us through so many difficulties with your prayers and we are blessed to have so many of you as our prayer partners.
I guess you saw my email about our getting another bus. It really is amazing how quickly God answered this prayer. I put out the email that we needed $10,000 for a bus and went off to teach my Bible classes. When I came back and looked at the email, there was already someone donating that $10,000. I couldn’t believe it and just started crying. Then I was in the process of calling our friend, Robin, who was buying the buses and shipping them here and had offered to get us a bus at no earnings to himself — just the cost, which was a huge blessing. While I was waiting for his call, my father said that he thought that the bus would be several thousand more tha the $10,000 that I had asked for. Within an hour, I got another email from friends in Texas promising $5,000 toward the bus and just praised God that although I asked for the wrong amount, HE knew I needed more and was sending it. It ends up costing right at $14,000 but we are getting it for about half the price it would have cost and he has found a great bus for us from a school district in the US and is sending it next week. He also had a lot of new clothes donated by Samaritans Purse and is sending them to us to use here in Honduras. God is so amazing. In the meantime, while we are waiting for the other bus, Robin generously loaned us one of the big buses that was already in Honduras to use while we are waiting on our bus. Well, the timing was perfect because on Monday morning (after getting the borrowed bus on Saturday), our big bus’ brakes went out. If we had not had that other bus, we would have had no way to pick up the children for school. God’s timing is perfect and “His ways past finding out.” I told Carlos that it just proves to us that when something is God’s timing, he moves hearts and provides even as fast as the very day, that gives us more faith for the things that we have prayed for and He has not answered yet, knowing that it is not HIS perfect timing. He is faithful although at times we don’t know what He is doing.
An example of waiting and waiting, is our medical/dental clinic. We just now have received money towards working on the clinic and we are really getting busy on that, but the structure has been there for over 3 years, just waiting on God’s timing. We will have used up the money sent in about a month and then the church in Texas promised to send another $6,000 towards finishing up more of it. We will still lack about $8,000 after that, but I know that God will provide in HIS perfect timing yet again.
Thanks for praying for our finances always. We have such huge electric bills here because of having to pump water up from so deep and to the school, etc. and we now owe two months. Pray for the money to come in to cover that debt please.
We praise God for the children at Destino (children’s home and school) They continue to amaze us with their humility and gratitude and leadership qualities. God is doing a great work and we see missionaries being formed before our eyes!! Pray for our Mission Day in February — it is a day in the school where we spend the whole day with the children going from class to class learning in detail about other countries and their people and their need for Jesus Christ. We are concentrating this year on only countries under great persecution and praying that the Lord will make the teachers enthusiastic about learning and praying for these needy people groups and they will be able to pass that enthusiasm to the children. Who knows which of our children will feel the call of God in their heart from one of these countries and someday become missionary there. Times are short, I believe, and we have much to do to reach the world for Jesus Christ.
A new dream is starting to develop in our hearts and I believe it is a window to see what God might be up to at Destino in a new phase. We are praying and believing God to use us to start a teen rehab program in our new land. We wanted to do a teen camp and I still have that dream but that would only be a few weeks of the year. We are rescuing children at Destino right now but the teens in the nearby villages are desperate. There is no work for them and they, in their boredom, end up in gangs and with addictions to alcohol and drugs. It is a huge problem in this country. Alcoholism is causing just about every family to suffer here and we need to catch some of these teens while they can be redirected. We can teach them agriculture and keep them busy and then they will have counseling and Bible studies, etc. in the evenings. They need tobe busy and also to learn a skill to give them purpose, as well of course, they need JESUS CHRIST. Pray for us as we are praying on this new vision. I believe it is from the Father and He will do it. I may have shared with you that the government already asked us if they can help us with training in agriculture and they will provide the materials and the pay for the engineers and teachers who would come to teach in our junior high (which we hope to open in two years) — we could incorporate the same training for these young men in the rehab program and they would actually leave with a degree in agriculture. God is doing great things and I believe it is HIM who is putting this vision in our hearts.
Pray continually for the safety of all of us. Things are tough here and the gangs are increasingly more dangerous. But, as they say, “we are safer in God’s will here, than we would be in another place outside of the will of God.” One of the young girls who accompanies one of our students to the highway to wait for the Destino bus, was attacked and raped when she was walking back to her house this week. There are rumors that someone is planning to kidnap one of the Destino school children too and we are planning to run the bus into the village (extra 5 or 6 minutes is all) so that the children don’t need to be taken to the highway. The village of El Soccorro is a very dangerous part of this area as far as gang activity, and most of our children come from there. Pray for the Lord to protect but also that we might continue to evangelize that area with the gospel and that many of these people will come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ and turn
that village around.
There are many conflicts and battles here but God is showing His will to us through it all. Although we cannot imagine why God would pick people like us to lead this place, He gets all the glory as He changes our lives and then uses us to present Jesus Christ’s life changing grace to so many around us. Continue to pray for Carlos and Wendy and I and all that is going on with our lives and that God will change and empower us to do so great a work here. We are blessed but there is battle and we need your prayers.
Continue to pray for the details of sending the tractor and equipment to Destino. We really would like to get started on the agriculture as soon as possible and just need the Father to provide the shipping fees for the equipment to b e sent. The equipment is already generously donated and we are waiting on God’s timing.
Thanks for your many many prayers for us here in Honduras. Pray for us to be able to guard our vision on the future of what God is up to here and not be so discouraged over the battles we face each day. He is GOD and He is doing things that we don’t understand and will continue to do HIS will as we follow Him.
Love to all of you and let me know how to pray for you too.
In His grace,
Rhonda
