Hey Everyone,
Well, we have started another year, once again, and still claiming God’s promises that He will provide all that we need to complete another year of education for 300 students at Destino del Reino. Until HE tells us to stop growing, we will just keep going in faith. It is amazing to me how He provides each year. We have some sponsorships for the students but always lack about 30 and, even if we did have full sponsorships for all the students, we would fall short by about $35,000 to cover all expenses and YET, God provides for us and we keep going and each week we check the bank account and there is just enough to feed all 300 and keep them in materials and pay their teachers and pay for gas and repairs for the 4 buses, etc. etc. It is amazing and always we live just one day at a time — faith walking. I am kind of used to it and forget sometimes to really look at all that God does for us on a daily basis. I panic when there are big bills to pay at times but He is faithful then as well. Thanks to all of you for your faithful prayers for us and we look forward to seeing what God will do with these lives for His glory and for His Kingdom. The world is in a mess right now and I thank God that these students are being raised up to be missionaries and leaders to bring the knowledge of the love of Jesus Christ to the nations.
Thank you for praying for each of our teachers. I am going to give you a list below and would love for you to pray for one or two of them by name this year:
Wendy — our director of the kindergarten and school — she has a lot on her shoulders and her husband is in the US working and she has 3 teenage boys to raise alone.
Nora — our new director over the junior high and high school – -she is taking on a lot of responsibility as well as continuing as a teacher in the junior high school. Pray for her for wisdom as she transitions into this new area.
Mildred — our teacher of math and physics in the junior high and high school
Esther — teacher for social studies and science in the junior high. She is raising two little children alone at home as well.
Josefa — new teacher for the high school. She is a strong believer and has lots of experience but pray for her as she gets to know our older students — wisdom for counseling them.
Edita — she is beginning her 5th year here as the 5th and 6th grade teacher. That is a tough age — pray for her.
Gladys — she is our new teacher for 3rd and 4th grades — those two classes (especially 4th) have been known for being our rowdiest classes and I have told her she has to get their respect first and really show them she is firm — pray for her with this tough assignment.
Roxana — new teacher for 2nd graders. She also has a small child at home she is raising alone.
Yulisa — This is her third year at Destino but first year teaching the first grade. Pray for her — this is a very important grade as she is teaching them to read (and to sit in class all day for the first time!)
Yohana — Teacher for the Kindergarten. Most of our kids in the kindergarten haven’t been disciplined in the home so it is tough getting them adjusted to class work. She needs a lot of patience.
Yolibeth — new assistant — single young lady.
Adela — a widow who has been assisting in classes for 2 years now. She is assistant in first and second grades this year as well as teaching all our Bible classes up to 4th grade.
Maria Sofia — new assistant but also starting up our program for adults who have not been educated before. It will be Monday and Wednesday mornings. Pray for this new program as well.
Irma — she is our new secretary — she seems so efficient and very good in the office. She needs a lot of patience with all of us. She also is covering our computer classes.
Brenda — another new assistant over all — young single lady.
Martha — our new floating teacher — we have one every year that teaches a few classes in different grades to give the main teacher a break during the day. She is a sweet believer — needs wisdom with lots of ages and prayer for firmness with the tough classes.
I will share more about our American teachers in another update — most of them have a lot of prayer support anyway so I really would appreciate some of you taking one of the above-mentioned Honduran teachers and pray for them regularly. Thanks soooo much.
Please also continue to pray for our pastors, Pablo and Efrain. The church is really growing and we are praying for the funds to build the gym as soon as possible — not only for the church but also for PE classes and meetings with all the parents. We cannot fit all the parents in the cafeteria anymore and we know God knows this GREAT need so pray with us that we will have a gym by this time next year.
I only have two little ones at home in the mornings now — Dariana (2) and Marisol (4) so we are all hoping God sends us another baby to start caring for. In the meantime, we love on Erick’s baby girl (Mari) and also on Oscar and Kelin’s baby, Caleb. We have a sweet neighborhood at Destino now that we have Pastor Pablo’s family, Erick’s family and Oscar’s families all living here. Thanks for your prayers for continued unity and family love here at Destino. God has blessed us so much and we praise Him for all His wonderful works here.
We are soooo thankful for the finishing of the beautiful junior high and high school building. It is finished and it is wonderful. The kids feel the love of God for them as they come to school, leaving behind mud shacks and tiny dark rooms and are welcomed with love by the teachers into these spacious beautiful classrooms. I am so amazed at the love of God for the poor children here in Honduras — to give them above and beyond anything they could have imagined.
The last project we are going to do until God provides for the gym is to cover the basketball court and put in some cement seating there — that will hold us over until we have an actual gym. Pray for the funds to finish up that project and for the men to do it QUICK!!
Personally pray for me for discipline to stay in the Word of God — that is my strength and I need it but it sure is hard to fit it into my day sometimes and I need to FIGHT to make it part of my daily life no matter the obstacles. It is tough with 18 kids — waking up at 5:00 a.m. I sometimes have my time at 4:00 and love that the Father wakes me up earlier than the kids. Thanks for your prayers — this is so important for me to continue to hear from Him, to find my peace in Him before the craziness of the day begins. Also I am going on a vacation (first one in my life) in early October. I have to leave the country anyway for my visa and my life-long friend, Leslie, and I are going to Maine for 4 days to rest and pray and grieve and just enjoy some relaxation — her mama went to be with Jesus the week my daddy went and she loved my parents as her second family and I loved her mama as my second mama so we have a lot of healing to receive from the Father. Please pray for us October 6-10 in Maine. I know this will be a really long needed REST for me.
Thanks for praying for us as well are going to see a lawyer this next week. Pray for wisdom for him — we need permissions for our American teachers (and me) to not have to travel every three months. We need him to get an order of the court to enforce the law against the electricity company attaching to all our poles and wires and decreasing our power voltage. We need him to renew our Honduran board papers and get us a new license of operating here and we just need an honest person to trust. We have had constant battles to find an honest lawyer who will work for Destino and help us with the legal matters that come up. This is a huge need. Thanks for your prayers.
Please pray for Oscar too. He is so diligent and hard-working and got the building done just in the knick of time for us. He never takes his days off each week and I just want him to be so blessed by the Lord for all he is doing for Destino. He is our supervisor over Destino and is in charge of EVERYTHING for me. He is so gracious and loving and patient and leads in a great way. Lift him up in prayer often as he is really the key to my being able to keep this place going with school, children’s home, groups, employees, business situations, repairs, etc.
Well, I gave you a LOT to pray for so I hope some of you will really pray continually for us at Destino. I know all of you have such great needs all around you but thanks for taking some time to seek the Father on our behalf as well. I am amazed at all He has done and is doing and I know it is your prayers that are the key.
Love in His amazing, sustaining grace,
Rhonda
