Hey Everyone,
I am so thankful there are so many of you “out there” praying for us at Destino del Reino. It has been a very hard few months and I thank you for remembering us always in your faithful prayers.
My heart is pretty broken right now as my 15-year old, Coki, left us a week ago. I won’t give any details to protect her but she was entering into more and more rebellion and found an aunt that she had never known to take her in. She is now living in San Pedro Sula. A huge lesson in all of this for me was to see where resentment and unforgiveness will lead to open rebellion. When we choose to not forgive (no matter how badly we have been wronged), then we are disobeying the Word and opening the door to Satan’s lies in our lives. I teach my kids about the importance of forgiveness continually but we can’t get in their hearts and MAKE them forgive — and there is a high cost to pay in that bitterness. I believe she has only heard Satan’s lies for the past two years and because of that she could not even hear the Father’s words of love for her and that we all love her as well. Thanks for your prayers for her and for me. I need to not listen to Satan’s lies either about failures on my part or that I didn’t love her enough — God gives us strength to do whatever He calls us to do and He covers for all of our inabilities and weaknesses. Thanks for your prayers in this situation.
Another need for prayer for me is for more faith. I have been battling the past few weeks to truly believe that God can and will finish the work for the university. I have believed it is His will for two years now but as the process continues to move along so slowly and the money is so low right now, it is easy for me to look at circumstances instead of believing what He has promised. Please pray for me to be full of hope in Him and His promises and not look around at circumstances or lack of money, etc. I love the promise in Timothy — “When we are without faith, He remains faithful.” Whew, it is a good thing because my faith is so weak most of the time. It shouldn’t be because all I need to do is look around me and see all the miracles that God has done here in this place and the funds he has provided every year and every month to pay every employee and teacher and to feed about 300 kids daily — He remains faithful and will not stop now. Thanks for your prayers for me to truly believe HIM!!
Many great things have been happening at Destino del Reino, in spite of the battles that I have been facing. We have a new pastor who believes that God wants him to build a true New Testament church at Destino del Reino. Since the beginning of our ministry here, we have always had someone in the pulpit each week to teach the Word of God but we have not had anything more than that — no leadership or ministries, etc. Please pray for Pastor Gerardo Pacheco as he has felt the Spirit say to him that he is to take this leadership and build the church. He has his own church in Siguatepeque which is very big and is making many many disciples and building leaders and his church is going to kind of absorb our church into its ministry. We are so blessed and I feel such a relief that God has shown up to rescue me from this responsibility. I have known this pastor for many years and he is a great teacher of the Word and is also filled with the mercy of God to reach everyone for the Kingdom of God.
We also have a new person at Destino, Chris Eng. He is an engineer and has felt God calling him to Destino del Reino to serve here. He is sharing an apartment here at Destino with my cousin, Ryan Frazee, and the two of them are accomplishing so much already to build up the ministry and the children here at Destino. Chris will be the university professor for math and science and is right now helping to organize the collecting and shipping of lab materials and furniture and equipment for our medical clinic (a requirement of our nursing program). Please pray for the equipment and furniture, etc. to be donated and sent to us soon. God is amazing in how He leads us to just the right people and just the right people to us.
Please be praying for the American teachers we need for next fall. We have several applicants and are praying for who God wants here. He has a specific plan and we just need to hear from HIM.
We have been able to build the classroom for the tech school and it is almost ready — we just lack the built-in wall tables. Please continue to pray that God will send Christian men to teach these skills to our young men. We are blessed that the ENFOB group is going to give us all the books and send their own specialists to teach the classes but we are praying that those specialists will be Christian men who will be examples to our students. Thanks for praying for this with us.
The kids are all doing well. We are happy for some warm weather again so we can use the pool every day. There is another virus going through the house though this week and I have 5 out of school today. Please be praying for us to all get healthy quick!!! Spring break is next week and we are looking forward to some relaxing time. We do not travel during spring break as it is more dangerous throughout the country. There have been multiple assaults on public buses in the past month and they say there will be many more during the vacation time. My son, Carlos (17) got word this past week that his mother was a victim on a bus assault and was killed on Monday morning. A group of people, including Carlos’ mom, decided they could stand against the thieves and resist giving up all their money. But the gunmen shot several of them and his mom was the only casualty. Please continue to pray for Carlos — it was a hard thing for him and especially since his mom had only visited once in the past 10 years. He is so precious and I pray that God will heal his heart and recognize Father God as his true and faithful father.
Again, thanks so much for your prayers. I feel kind of scattered today but I hope this email at least catches you up a little on what is going on at Destino. Always pray for the finances. It is amazing how God provides for us when our needs are SO great. That is His reputation though — always Faithful.
Remember you cannot hit “reply” to this message but you can write me a personal note at rhondadestino@yahoo.com I would love to know how to be praying for you.
Love in His great mercy,
Rhonda
