Newsletter – February 2010

Message from the Missionaries

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

When I read this verse and looked at the phrase “a good measure,” I started to think. Jesus is not talking about money – in fact, the word isn’t in the scripture, but our mind’s first thought would be money. I thought more on the “good measure,” in what He may mean. Then I thought about the last 6 years we have been in Honduras and what has transpired over those years. One thing is factual money isn’t the focus. It is the love we give to the children, youth, people in communities, prisoners, and all whom we serve through this ministry God has given to us to work at. The good measure is loving others so our love will be over flowing. This over flowing love will carry us through the good times of service and through the bad times as well. It will bring us into the realization that we are not serving man but God himself every time we send a child to school, or hear a person’s testimony in how they have suffered and struggled to be accepted by family or society. When you give love, you put yourself into position to receive abundant love – the kind of love that sustains you and motivates you to go on and do more for others.

Prison Ministry

The scripture above does reflect our first meeting with the ex-gang members. We must admit we prayed in the van before going in that we would be received and that they haven’t given up on the programs we have instituted. We walked in and were hugged by all of them. Many asked how did it go while we were home, are we still going to help them to remove tattoos, are we going to have more classes, and so much more. We were impressed as we walked into the main building where they live and saw the cross quilt hanging on the wall that we gave to them last year to help remind them what Jesus has done for them. Rambo (Farid), about whom I spoke while home with you, said “Michael I’ve noticed that you always take the time to hug each man or at least greet each one with a hand shake and question.” He also said that has put a huge seed in them of Love and respect.

Honduras Kairos

Since we have been back for one month and so busy with reconnecting with everyone, Kairos is moving forward but with plans in the making. Our inside monthly reunions in the women’s prison are going strong. It is amazing to hear the women testifying that they have invites from our 1st Kairos to our latest 4th weekend. The Director of the women’s prison is impressed and taking notes on how our Kairos’ volunteers work and act.
So far we are working on a possible June weekend for the women’s prison and the Honduran volunteers are working on fund raising so they can pay for one weekend without help from KPIM. This will be a huge achievement.

School Projects

Every year when school starts we are blessed to hear many testimonies from those parents whose children receive a scholarship. There is one woman’s testimony I want to share. There is lady who is old in age and can not work because of health issues and was searching for a scholarship for her son. She asked us for a scholarship and we placed her on the waiting list. As she was signing up, tears were being held back. She was nervous and yet willing to wait. When she received a phone call from Glenda she cried and praised God. She came to the school and dropped off a letter to us and the letter said that she was so thankful for the scholarship and that she cried that night away because she knew that her boy would go to school. She told us in the letter that she struggled in finding ways to find money to buy her sons books, or school supplies or to pay for the monthly payments. She said she can now rest and not worry about how this year was going to play out for her. So many women tell us testimonies that are similar and heart wrenching. Many times I submerge it and press it in until I have time to reflect and then the tears well up in my own eyes and then I look to the sky and know that this is the will of God. That we are blessing many by serving our Lord. All of you have taken this once small ministry of 5 and turned it into 121 students that have the chance to go to school and receive a proper education without worry or fear that he or she needs to drop out because of the “lack of” factor.

Community Projects

As Glenda and I were heading to a school parents meeting at the Venezuela school we saw many mothers sitting on the sidewalk inside the school waiting for the meeting to start. You just never know how these meetings go because of the tension of rising costs, looking for a new guard, the talk of the new building, electing officers for the school board and so much more. So as we continued to greet the moms, some said to others “here comes our shinning light.” One mom came and said we are bringing hope to a Barrio that didn’t have much. We smiled and kept going. The meeting was hot and very conversational. (In Latino culture this means you couldn’t hear yourself think let alone talk.) Director Flores gave me time to stand and speak and when I got up to talk it was like someone lowered the volume. Dead silence. Then I got nervous. I started to talk about dreams and their dreams for the Barrio that they had back in 2005. I then proceeded about volunteers and the need of them for cooking the lunches for the 200 plus children. Still more dead silence. At first I thought maybe I’m not speaking right in Spanish so I looked to Glenda and she said you’re doing well. So I continued to talk about helping other schools and that we still have a couple more projects left to do at the Venezuela School. I heard many “Amens!” But what came from this was days later I had a meeting with Flores and he explained that the mothers organized themselves by grade and have leaders from each grade who volunteered to cook. He than told us they want to meet with us the 13th of March to get things moving. This is exactly what we were looking for.

A Personal Outlook

Coming back has been a real eye opener for us. We can see the relationships we have built or still are building. The trust we have and the friendships we have been blessed with. This is the love that we received that Jesus was talking about. Enjoying each other and learning from each other is something to be cherished. One thing we are still learning and probably will always be learning is this simple lesson: You can serve man and burn out quickly and have your passion and fire extinguished. Or, you can serve God and have an overflowing amount of enthusiasm and passion to keep going. I believe this is to be shared with all of you as we walk and live this ministry together. Your enthusiasm while we were home and your new passions gave us a motivation to look to God to see what He has in store for us.

Prayer Requests

John Carlos who attacked Jonathan with a baseball bat. Jonathan who has made a commitment to enter our boys youth group for the third time and quit pot smoking. Glenda’s 102 grandmother who had surgery. For our 3 teams that will be coming this year. Team #7 David and Cynthia Pearson. For Mark Erway and his leadership for Team #8 and our friends Steve and Lisa Caracci who will be leading Team #9 from Victory Highway. That God will put someone in our path to work for BBM in our scholarship ministry.

Prayer

Lord we pray for continued patience. We pray for your guidance in all that we do. Lord we want to say thank you to you for your love, support, and making dreams come true for so many children. Lord we praise you for your faithfulness and by your mighty hand in watering the seed that was planted in the hearts of the men in the prison. Lord you have expanded our territories and have given us many challenges in various ways. We let it stress us but when we feel that pressure build up we are blessed to receive a nudging from you to tell us to pray and look to you in these battles. Father protect us and watch over us and all those who are walking with this ministry. In Jesus’ name, Amen.