Hey Prayer Partners,
Thanks again (as always) for your faithful consistent prayers for the ministry of Destino del Reino. God is doing so many things in so many areas of the ministry right now that it is hard to really share it all — He is so amazing and this is HIS work and so there is no limit to all that He is doing and plans to do with these people.
The gym is coming along quickly now since we were given a huge grant to finish it off. The roof will be up by Tuesday and by the following Monday, they will pour the floor. It is a HUGE building so that will be a long day with LOTS of people working from dawn until dusk. A group from Augusta is coming in a few weeks to put in the stage and then we will start using it for church by May (most likely). I can’t wait to send pictures of our first worship service in the gym. We have about 550 to 600 on Wednesday nights now and that gym is so big that it will look like 100. We plan to have the Kindergarten and 9th grade graduations in the old church building and then the first-ever high school graduation will be in our new gymnasium. I am so amazed at His goodness to us here.
The plans for the university are coming along as well. I drew out the building on a little piece of scratch paper and Steve Clifton is going to turn it into real blue prints for us. We will most likely start on that building by October. The university students in the fall will meet in one of our extra rooms in the high school building. We are waiting on our official permission to start the university and then we can make some more solid plans. But our attorney has checked into it and says that it really is no more complicated to start the university with accreditation than it was for us to get our accreditation for the high school. She said that the only thing that we need is ample classroom space and a clinic since we are going to have a nursing school. She has never visited our campus so was thinking that maybe our classes were very small and that the clinic might be an impossibility — she did not realize that God has built a beautiful campus with huge classes at Destino, and that we had built the clinic several years ago and it is just sitting there ready to be finished off with paint, ceramic etc. As always, God was ahead of us in our plans. Thanks for praying for the details of all of this to work out. At least now He has increased my faith and relieved my MANY fears about starting a university now and I am just excited to see what He is going to do now. Yesterday I was telling Erick about how much we spend on health insurance every month because the government requires it of us, but they work through a clinic that no one wants to go to — so it is pretty much useless to pay it, but we have no option if we want to stay a non-profit ministry in Honduras. Erick told me that if we have our own clinic at Destino then we are exempt from paying the health insurance to the government!!!! That means that we can take that money each month and pay a doctor to not only work in our clinic if one of our employees needs to see him/her but he or she could be one of our teachers for our nursing students! So now our prayer is that God will send a doctor to Destino. If it is not an American doctor then we need to find a Christian Honduran doctor that will want to come and be a part of this ministry. Thanks for your prayers. As we know, God already has this all worked out. I just need to stay right behind him and listen!
Besides this confirmation about our nursing school, we have a person coming from Arizona in a few months to work on an agriculture project and to start training some of our students interested in the agriculture degree. Pray for the details of that project as well.
Pastor Wade and Anne are here this week and brought their grandson, John, with them as well as their neighbor and friend, Sandy Gee. Ann and Sandy will teach the kids some sewing classes and Wade will be teaching a Bible conference on Monday as well as preaching in our church services this week. John and Wade will also be sharing in some of our Bible classes. Please be praying for a great impact on our students and teachers and families this week. Pastor Wade will be teaching our older students about having a biblical world view — to encourage them to not just pick a career as they are entering university but to ask God how HE would want to use them best to further the gospel in the world. The Bible conference will be all day on Monday and we have about 65 parents coming besides our 28 teachers and some of our staff and about 80 of our high schoolers. I know God will use His word to impact there lives. Thanks for your prayers.
Last night was our monthly Lord’s Supper and worship night. I love these times — so much worship and a smaller group that is truly there to adore HIM!! I was able to introduce David (7) as our newest member of the family of God this week. David accepted Christ as His Savior on Saturday night this week. He has been so happy since then. He has been unafraid to sleep alone, has obeyed immediately when he is told to do something and has had JOY — it is amazing that even in a 7-year old, the moment that the Spirit of God enters a person, there is evidence of His change in them.
Our discipleship classes are going so well this year. Please continue to pray for our students and teachers as they are all participating in these groups. There has been so much spiritual growth evident in both the students and the teachers through this process this school year. God has truly given us HIS idea about how to go about building leaders for the Kingdom.
Many of our former students are returning to church services. A few weeks ago, Marlon (who should have been in our 10th grade class but was asked not to return) accepted Christ at our church service on Wed. night. As much as it broke my heart to obey the Spirit and dismiss about 27 kids last year, I see God’s plan in this so clearly now — there has been a huge change in the atmosphere in the classrooms where those who were uninterested in serving Jesus have left, and also many of those who were not allowed to continue are seeking Him now. We love each and every student at Destino but as they continue here from kindergarten through junior high, by the time they reach high school we have to make some tough decisions about who will continue. Thank you for praying for us continually for the wisdom to know who He wants to be in Destino to be trained up in leadership and preparation for missions.
Speaking of missions, we again had a wonderful Missions Day for our elementary school a few weeks ago. This is always a wonderful time for our kids to learn about other cultures and the need to know Jesus around the world. The teachers always do an amazing job in preparing the stories, artwork, food, and activities to introduce the kids to more of the world’s need for Christ. In May, we will have the Missions Day for junior high and high school and my dear friend and college roommate, Marcia Strauss with SIM will be here to share of her personal experiences as a missionary in Ethiopia for 20 years. I am so excited for the kids to meet a REAL missionary and talk to her. God promised to send many missionaries into the world from Destino one day and I see that process forming more and more each year. Thanks for your prayers.
Personally, please pray for me to just live in the Spirit each day and do what He wants me to do. I am harassed continually with the voice of guilt — “you’re not spending enough time with this kid” or “you should have done this”, etc. I know it is the voice of the Enemy but I want freedom from responding to that or even considering his voice. If I wake up each day and surrender my day to the Spirit and let him speak and work through me, then I will do exactly what He wants and nothing more or less. Please pray for me to trust Him more in this area and to know that He will prompt me when my kids need more attention. There are 22 of them and I want them to always feel the love of Jesus all over them but I know that He can do that even without my help. Thanks for your prayers for that area of my life — peace and freedom from guilt!!
I praise God continually for all of you (some I have never even met) who pray continually for the children and staff and me at Destino. We have seen a real difference too in the way our sponsors are writing and praying more faithfully for their assigned students — that is making a HUGE difference in their individual lives. We will be needing another 35 sponsors for the upcoming year so please be praying that God will send us those sponsors.
Remember that you cannot hit “reply” to this email, but if you would like to write to me, my email is rhondadestino@yahoo.com I’d love to hear from you and know how to be praying for you and your families as well.
Love in His grace,
Rhonda
