Hey Everyone,
Again, thanks so much for your prayers for us here at Destino del Reino. I cannot imagine how many people “out there” are praying for me that I will never know about this side of heaven — but God is answering your prayers and please continue faithfully to lift up our needs to the Father.
We had lots of distractions and holidays for the first month of classes but are finally off to a good start for this school year. I am so very thankful for our teachers and assistants, both Hondurans and Americans. There is a real sweet spirit in the school and unity this year. The teachers have weekly prayer groups and are supporting one another in discipleship and that has created the right atmosphere for the whole school. We started a Big Brother/Big Sister program this year so all the children have someone to pray with regularly as well. Prayer is absolutely the most needed thing at Destino del Reino and we are emphasizing that more this year. Also, the teachers have the opportunity and time in their schedules to pray with students individually and to counsel them through so many difficult home situations. Thanks for your prayers for all of these.
Thanks for praying for the tech school. It has been a long time coming but the organization who will be providing the teaching staff and the materials has finally found the right teacher for our young men and the classes are to begin on January 22. We are so happy to be able to provide training for at least 20 young men who have no other possible work. During the time in our courses they will also be encouraged in their relationship with Jesus Christ and to be leaders for the Kingdom of Christ in their future occupations.
We were only able to buy one bus so far and the need is GREAT!!! We have six buses now and had to use money that was donated for another bus to fix up 5 other very very old buses. We had no choice because we could not have classes without at least 4 buses running. Please pray for the situation. Now that the buses are all running, we hope to sell three of the old ones for the money to buy one newer one. We were not able to find another bus to buy at this point either but have found a Christian man who says he will be receiving several buses in the next month or so and we will try to purchase at least one of those. Thanks for your prayers — this is crucial to our ministry, both school and church and bringing in our workers to the children’s home and farm each day as well. We were blessed to have a group of men here this past week who are planning to pay for the repair of our road in January. That will be a great help to all our vehicles. The rugged road right now is really doing a lot of harm to all our cars and buses.
The men who came this past week were able to build our new stable in just 2 days and our new cow, “Blessing”, is happy in her new home — she will be having her new calf in just two weeks so pray for that to go smoothly. The group worked so quickly that they had an extra day for helping us with a project and they were able to put in the drop ceiling in our last classroom in the high school building — they did it in less than 4 hours — amazing!!!
Thanks for your prayers for decisions about my older kids that are pursuing college. After I sent out the email about trying to get a soccer scholarship for Cesar at my alma mater, Bryan College, and about looking for nursing school for Blanca and engineering for Franklin, one of my friends from Bryan wrote and said “all your kids can go to Bryan because they now have pre-nursing and engineering” — the thought that my kids could go together to college gave me goosebumps!!! It almost sounded too wonderful to even dream of, but we have started pursuing this in faith. The same week we started praying about this, I got notice on my alumni page from Bryan that they had lowered the tuition from $25,000 a year to $16,000 this year — that is still a lot of money but was a possible confirmation that God was going to work this out. I contacted the men’s soccer coach about Cesar and the women’s soccer coach about Blanca to inquire about scholarships for them. They need to be seen by the coaches before any decision could be made. We took the kids to get their passport appointments and they cannot even get in to apply for their passports for two more months and then after that they would have to get an appointment in immigration for visitation visas to the US. I had a “crazy” idea (usually seem crazy when God gives me an idea) that maybe I could fly the two coaches to Honduras instead of paying for the three of us to get to Tennessee and it would be late in the spring. I invited the two coaches and they responded immediately that they would come in January. While they are here they are going to do a short soccer clinic with our kids and give their testimonies — I am so excited that God is bringing them here to see the ministry and maybe open more doors in the future for other students as well. As I have been praying, I really believe that we are to send Carlos to Bryan as well for his biology degree. So that means, we are praying to send 4 kids to college in August and have no idea how God is going to work this out. I have had a few people suggest that I write to their churches and seek sponsorship and I know God will show us what is next in His plan for my four older children. They are wonderful kids who love Jesus and plan to serve Him and I know that my job of teaching them and rearing them up in the Word is done and now it is time for God to finish off His preparation for their future ministries. Please be praying for every detail of this process. Because they are international students, Bryan College requires that they have guaranteed payment for the first year and after they complete the first year, they can work out payment plans, etc. But we have a BIG God and He loves these kids and I know He will provide miraculously for them. So many of my friends who graduated from Bryan went on to the mission fields of the world and I thank God the way that Bryan emphasizes missions as we do at Destino del Reino.
Chris Eng, one of our American teachers here at Destino, has started tutoring my four kids to prepare them to take the ACT or CLT exams for entrance into college in the US. Their English is really good but of course they will struggle more than an American student taking the exam. Please be praying for them to be diligent and that God will enable them to pass the exams and use this training and tutoring to prepare them to study in English in the US.
I will have a very sad heart when I send off four of my babies at one time but at the same time will be rejoicing that God is up to BIG things in their lives and we have not yet even seen a glimpse of it. He is faithful and He will perfect the work He has begun in each one of them.
Our Destino del Reino University is still in the works and we will be submitting the documentation (finally after 2 years or more) to the government for approval and acceptance and accredidation. Supposedly it takes at least a year and a half to be approved but God can work miracles in that timing as well. We have so many graduates who have gone on and not been able to continue their education and so are working jobs that pay very little, if they even could find jobs. God has bigger things for all our graduates and we are praying that the university will be established quickly. Thanks for your prayers for all those details as well.
God faithfully provides for us with all the expenses of running such a huge ministry and He continues to amaze me. Just last week, we had almost no money in the bank and owed the light bill and needed more food for the 300 kids we feed each day. I prayed on Sunday night that God would talk to someone about our need. The next morning there was money in the PayPal account from friends that I rarely am in contact with. When I thanked him in a message and told him that the Holy Spirit must have spoken to him, he said, “yes He did. I was reading in Philippians this morning about participating in the ministry, and I asked God whose ministry are we supposed to be participating in and God said ‘Rhonda Jackson’” I am forever amazed at God’s faithfulness to us here to do HIS work. It is all His and as Pastor Wade says, “God never orders anything that He doesn’t pay for.” So clearly He is still ordering Destino to continue preparing children to become leaders for His glory here in Honduras and into the whole world. Thanks for all your participation in His ministry both in giving and prayers. We are blessed to have every one of you on the Destino team.
Blessings in His amazing grace,
Rhonda
