Hey Friends and Prayer Partners,
I am in urgent need of prayer for the visas for my four oldest kids to get to Bryan College to begin classes on Monday. We need a miracle and you know that God has proved Himself powerful and strong on our behalf many many times so we just need to all agree in prayer. God has already worked out some miraculous steps to get their petition to the White House and actually be put on list to be expedited but “expedited” may be longer than we need it to be. So thanks for your support and prayers. I don’t think God would have gotten us to the point of having their names listed in the White House request for visas if He was not planning to do this but who knows?? He is God and I am not so it is a waiting game right now. Thanks for praying that the Father (OUR FATHER) who is above all principalities and powers and officials, etc., can do ANYTHING that He wants, will move hearts and hands to get this done IMMEDIATELY!!!
We have been having a great time this long LOOOOOONNNGGG vacation and thankfully my kids have not been complainers, but some days I just wake up in the morning and think, “Father, I’m tired of this!!” I know all of you are feeling the same way. I pray for more patience and to just enjoy each of my kids each day and mostly to enjoy my Father who is always with me.
We have had some very sweet family prayer times and fun times and I am forever amazed at the sweet kids that the Father has gifted to me — they are truly amazing and I am blessed to be their “mama”.
Something that is really hard for me right now is that I have to cut off the salaries of the teachers from our school. We have paid them for 5 months now to complete the contracts and the promises we had made to them for a one-year commitment (even though they have not had any work to do during this time). But now that the contracts are complete and the schools cannot open until February, I need to use the donations at Destino to work on projects to better Destino’s ministries and update and repair the buildings and surrounding land, etc. Thanks for your prayers that God will provide everything our sweet teachers need during this time. He is always faithful but it was a hard decision to make. Also, we have decided since they will not let students attend classes until February and the normal school schedule in Honduras is February to November, we are changing our yearly schedule to line up with Honduras’ schedule and so the kids will start their year in February and not have to have homework taken to their homes, etc. in August through February. We cannot do on-line classes as the other bilingual schools are doing because we are a bilingual school for the poor and they do not have the ability to work on computers, etc. Thanks for praying for our papers to go through quickly to make this adjustment to our schedule. I think it is a great decision though because there are many more advantages to being on the Feb-Nov schedule. One is that our groups come in the summer and they always wish they could see the other 300 kids in our school. We will still be able to cancel classes when there is a camp for the kids, or whatever activity but for the most part, they will be in classes during the summer months. Thanks for your prayers.
We also need to have two more Americans to come and teach English this year. Please pray for God to put this on the hearts of those He is calling to Honduras. They will not need to be here until the first of February and they would need to raise about $600 a month in support. Please be praying for this need and also tell any friends you know who may be interested in mission work.
We also need sponsors for our 45 new incoming kindergarten children. A sponsorship is $60 or $70 a month and the promise to pray for the student regularly by name. Prayer is the most important think of course but we also need the sponsorship financially to provide for their meals, uniforms, shoes, materials, bus transportation, teachers’ salaries, etc. Thanks for praying.
I thank you for always being there for us and giving so generously to keep us going. I am so excited that my first 4 are leaving the nest to go out and get more education and spiritual encouragement to be leaders for the Kingdom of Christ. Thanks for your prayers for each of them. They have a lot of battles ahead but that is when they will find just how true their Savior is.
Love to all of you. Remember you cannot hit “reply” to this message but write me at rhondadestino@yahoo.com and I would love to know how to pray for you all as well. I pray that you are all safe and well and mostly that you are drawing more into the Father’s love and presence each day and recognizing in all this confusion in the world, that He is the only Truth and Rock for our lives — He never changes and we need not fear!
Love in His grace,
Rhonda
