Lord, Make my cross a little heavier...
LORD, Having seen what you see, please help me and make my cross a little heavier…
After the American visitors left the regular load begins again. This week has been full of blessings and difficulties. The container is in port but we are still wresting away from the powers that be, and it is costly. Prayerfully it will arrive this week and we can distribute the Christmas presents and minister in the churches following. Direct line had to send fewer presents this year even though our need has grown, so we must limit distribution some how. Prayerfully more churches will help in the coming years with this outreach. We see wonderful results every year and it is a good outreach tool for the ministries here. Honduras Missions held its first pastors workshop planning meeting. It was the first time all the preachers we work with were assembled in one place. Some had never met each other. They made plans for evangelistic campaigns and pastors would guest preach in each other church. Fellowship time and other outreaches were set up. My schedule has increased a lot and my burden and vision has been expanded as well. One item I ask of the men was to list their goals, needs and prayer requests for the coming year. I am sure the LORD was pleased with the replies. All were seeking help for souls and ways to grow the churches in truth and wanting materials. One wanted to train some Timothys, Another wanted to see 9 new families saved and join the church, Most of them have very serious issues of meeting places. Some of the financial needs are listed below.
After the American visitors left the regular load begins again. This week has been full of blessings and difficulties. The container is in port but we are still wresting away from the powers that be, and it is costly. Prayerfully it will arrive this week and we can distribute the Christmas presents and minister in the churches following. Direct line had to send fewer presents this year even though our need has grown, so we must limit distribution some how. Prayerfully more churches will help in the coming years with this outreach. We see wonderful results every year and it is a good outreach tool for the ministries here. Honduras Missions held its first pastors workshop planning meeting. It was the first time all the preachers we work with were assembled in one place. Some had never met each other. They made plans for evangelistic campaigns and pastors would guest preach in each other church. Fellowship time and other outreaches were set up. My schedule has increased a lot and my burden and vision has been expanded as well. One item I ask of the men was to list their goals, needs and prayer requests for the coming year. I am sure the LORD was pleased with the replies. All were seeking help for souls and ways to grow the churches in truth and wanting materials. One wanted to train some Timothys, Another wanted to see 9 new families saved and join the church, Most of them have very serious issues of meeting places. Some of the financial needs are listed below.
Lisa made a great lunch even though she was recovering from another allergic reaction to inhaling the burning wood from our marañon trees. Had to rush her to the hospital again to get injections. Not fun. She still looks like she was dragged by a horse and feels like a sunburn all over. There was a heartbreaking night when three children ran away after visits with family during the holidays. God protected and allowed some hard lessons. We found them walking along a long dark stretch of road about 3 hours later. Unfortunately it was just a short time after a man on a bike had stopped and tried to molest 2 of them. They were able to get away but they got scratched up. He was actually the second man. Another tried to entice them into a car a earlier. The older child broke down and cried when she was confronted with the danger she incited and was saved from. She came to me late last night to pray again. I pray it is a lesson learned because these lessons only get more expensive.
Keep us and them in prayer for it is yet another issue to deal with, and a roaring lion lives just outside our gate...
We must enroll the children in school next month and those expenses are weighing heavy right now. We are responsible for putting 25 children in school, 4 of which are higher grades which cost a lot more this year. We must come up with several thousand dollars for clothes, books, tuition ect in just a few weeks. Its is like this every year but this year it is even heavier. But the LORD has always supplied the need.
Below are a few of the big needs from the pastors.
Fountain of Life Baptist Church needs a property and building. When we first started meeting there, the community offered land for free. Later the church found out that it must be shared with other community activities even if the church builds the building. So they opted to keep praying and meeting under the big tree. One member in the community is willing to sell their home for $2500, which would work as a church. It is a newer cement building with a good roof and costs much less than the land and building a new structure.
New Jerusalem Baptist church needs cement on the adobe walls to keep the rains from washing their building away in the spring. Bags of cement up the mountain is no easy task. The cost of cement has increased greatly then moving it to the mountain is also costly. (like a our broken 4x4 Kia from its many trips. It lifted the entire church building in Los Tererros including the water for the cement) They need about 100 bags of cement to ‘stucco’ the walls to keep out the rains. That’s a little under $1000, but will allow their building to last 20 years.
Ven a Mi Baptist Church cannot contain its members. They purchased their property 2 years ago and now need a larger building. It would cost about $5000 but this church is very poor financially. I am amazed they do what they do. This is where the teenager died late year because they did not have the bus fare to bring them down to the hospital nor the money for antibiotics. The pastor walked all the way down to get me one year because his wife was sick. We have remedied that using cell phones and the kia as an ambulance but still it is a poor community in the mountain.
San Geronimo needs a building too but more so the preacher needs reliable transportation. I purchased the mama kia for him to use but could not keep it running and it is now dead. I would like to get the preacher (Marc Antonio) a Chinese motorcycle, that way he can go at the right time and more frequently. They only cost about $12-1500 dollars US for a new one. Then he would have service multiple times a week and he wants to start the bible institute out there.
All the men asked for more materials, a way to copy papers ect. We need a good copier or Risograph. I have bought several old ones in the USA and shipped them here but they did not last. Just to old and parts not available. Lisa had made lots of items when the Risograph was working. When I shared with them the pastors Library they all wanted to use it to make sermons and SS lessons. Just need more books and materials in Spanish.
None of the pastors/preachers items are big things but for us barely feeding all the kids, it adds up to insurmountable amount, yet in God’s hands it is already done… Amen!
And all this in just a week. Most who visit, return thankful for the cross the LORD has given them to bear, and a little ashamed for wanting it lightened… Some even return and ask the LORD for a heavier burden… Amen!
Keep us and them in prayer for it is yet another issue to deal with, and a roaring lion lives just outside our gate...
We must enroll the children in school next month and those expenses are weighing heavy right now. We are responsible for putting 25 children in school, 4 of which are higher grades which cost a lot more this year. We must come up with several thousand dollars for clothes, books, tuition ect in just a few weeks. Its is like this every year but this year it is even heavier. But the LORD has always supplied the need.
Below are a few of the big needs from the pastors.
Fountain of Life Baptist Church needs a property and building. When we first started meeting there, the community offered land for free. Later the church found out that it must be shared with other community activities even if the church builds the building. So they opted to keep praying and meeting under the big tree. One member in the community is willing to sell their home for $2500, which would work as a church. It is a newer cement building with a good roof and costs much less than the land and building a new structure.
New Jerusalem Baptist church needs cement on the adobe walls to keep the rains from washing their building away in the spring. Bags of cement up the mountain is no easy task. The cost of cement has increased greatly then moving it to the mountain is also costly. (like a our broken 4x4 Kia from its many trips. It lifted the entire church building in Los Tererros including the water for the cement) They need about 100 bags of cement to ‘stucco’ the walls to keep out the rains. That’s a little under $1000, but will allow their building to last 20 years.
Ven a Mi Baptist Church cannot contain its members. They purchased their property 2 years ago and now need a larger building. It would cost about $5000 but this church is very poor financially. I am amazed they do what they do. This is where the teenager died late year because they did not have the bus fare to bring them down to the hospital nor the money for antibiotics. The pastor walked all the way down to get me one year because his wife was sick. We have remedied that using cell phones and the kia as an ambulance but still it is a poor community in the mountain.
San Geronimo needs a building too but more so the preacher needs reliable transportation. I purchased the mama kia for him to use but could not keep it running and it is now dead. I would like to get the preacher (Marc Antonio) a Chinese motorcycle, that way he can go at the right time and more frequently. They only cost about $12-1500 dollars US for a new one. Then he would have service multiple times a week and he wants to start the bible institute out there.
All the men asked for more materials, a way to copy papers ect. We need a good copier or Risograph. I have bought several old ones in the USA and shipped them here but they did not last. Just to old and parts not available. Lisa had made lots of items when the Risograph was working. When I shared with them the pastors Library they all wanted to use it to make sermons and SS lessons. Just need more books and materials in Spanish.
None of the pastors/preachers items are big things but for us barely feeding all the kids, it adds up to insurmountable amount, yet in God’s hands it is already done… Amen!
And all this in just a week. Most who visit, return thankful for the cross the LORD has given them to bear, and a little ashamed for wanting it lightened… Some even return and ask the LORD for a heavier burden… Amen!
posted by Honduras Missions @ 3:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home