We greet you in the precious name, the sweetest name of Jesus, our Messiah! We would like to share with you a little bit about how life is for us here in the land of Honduras.
We are adapting to life in Honduras. Life in Christ is beautiful, whether here or there!
We are enjoying our hot and humid days along with the variety of fruit that this area has to offer.
We are blessed by the support of fellow missionaries, and local brothers and sisters.
We want to say THANKS for your love and support for us.
Below, in this letter, Noelia will update you about our children.
We will now share with you some of the things that are taking place in our ministry.
Story# 1
Just a day after we arrived here, there was a tragic accident; a little boy jumped out of a school bus and was killed instantly. After service that Wednesday night, I first heard about the driver of the bus that the little boy jumped from. I had a great burden for the soul of this man, after I heard that he wanted to commit suicide because of what was happening in his life. Friday of that very week, we, brother Jeremiah, Lucas, and I went to the house of the driver. We approached the house and we were welcomed in. There, without a shirt, sat a white haired (now dyed brown in the picture) man in his 60’s whose name is… Jesus.The Lord sent us to that house in His time.
The day before we got to this man’s house, he was seriously seeking what to do next in his life. After talking with a farmer friend of his, he was encouraged by this farmer to trust in the Lord God. That very day, the Lord started working in this man’s heart. So we came to his house to offer what we have, and that would be JESUS. After we shared the Powerful Word of God with him, we prayed, and then left. Mr. Jesus is now faithfully attending church, but best of all he told me just today that he has decided to follow JESUS CHRIST all the days of his life!
Mr. Jesus told me today that he had not eaten for 3 days before we got to his house that day. And he said that after we left his house, he said to his wife, “I feel great, please give me something to eat.” Praise be unto our miracle working God! The Lord Jesus Christ still saves souls, even in Honduras!
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Story# 2
It was May 5, 2014, at 11:59 PM, and brother Tim and I had just made it back from a very sad, sad event in El Eden, let me tell you how it all began.It was Saturday morning when brother Lucas and I went to a house in the village of El Eden to drop off some groceries that the Lord God provided for Margarita, (a very, very poor lady with three young children, two little boys and one girl). We went into the little, very poor house, and placed the groceries on the table, prayed over them, and asked the Lord to multiply them for this dear, poor family. We left Margarita’s little house and started on our way back. Just a few meters away, there was a group of men gambling right there on the grassy road. I stopped the vehicle and started sharing with them. I briefly shared with them how the Powerful Gospel of Jesus transformed my life. I invited them to follow Christ and then we Left. Among that group of men was a very well-known thief, Melvin (they call him “Pipian”). He was wearing a red t-shirt and he looked me straight in the eye with a big smile while I was speaking. We left and that was it, until early Sunday morning, when we received the very sad news that while pedaling his bicycle, come home from a neighboring village, Melvin was shot right beside the road and died while still holding on to his bicycle’s handlebars.
Late that Monday night, brother Tim and I attended that funeral. We were invited to share The Word of God which holds Great Hope for the ones left behind. As we were on our way there, I was thinking about what to share with this crowd of people. We made it to the house, and the scene was horrifying to me. People were sitting outside, and in a very small, humble, living room on a rough wooden table covered with cloth and clear plastic, lay the black casket. I could see from outside some people crying and throwing themselves onto the casket. I stood outside for a while, but soon came to the door and stood there waiting for my opportunity, because what I had in front of me was a very unique opportunity, and I wanted to take advantage of it. The brother of the deceased young man gave us the okay, and brother Tim introduced me to the crowd. I opened my Bible to read what I believe was the scripture that the Lord gave me for that very moment. “Verily, verily , I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am the Bread of life.” I briefly shared how my life was transformed after I met the Lord Jesus Christ, and then preached to them the powerful, everlasting, truthful Gospel of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I invited them to turn from their wicked ways and look unto Jesus, which is, by the way, the only hope for their families, for their village, and for the whole nation of Honduras. We closed with a prayer and then I walked towards the black casket, there lay the body of that lifeless young man wearing a white long sleeve shirt. I looked straight into his dead face. The smile on his face was no longer there. I took a close look at his face for a good while with very much sadness in my heart.
After greeting a few people, we left the house and were on our way back home. Brother Tim and I talked about the sad scene we had just left, but in the midst of all this, the Lord God of Israel is working. What has happened here today encouraged me to share the Gospel with even more boldness and with a great sense of urgency with everyone.
May the Name of the Living God be exalted forever!
Honor and Glory to the Lamb that was slain for my, your, and their sins!
May the Lord God do mighty things in this land!
May the Lord God fulfill His purpose in us all!
Jesus is Alive forever more!
The Holy Spirit is at work in Honduras.
On the 15th of May, Lucas and I traveled to a village in the mountains above the town of Jesus de Otoro in the departamento of Intibuca, about a three-hour drive from where we live. I was there to preach for 4 days at an Evangelistic Campaign, and Lucas, a brother from the local church here in El Eden, was my travel companion. Every morning and every evening people came from different parts of the village and other places to hear the message of hope in Jesus Christ. The Lord God prospered our path and many souls came to Jesus, repenting of their sinful life styles and turning their lives to the one who gives real Life, Jesus the Messiah.Two Pics
Saturday of that week, we made a trip with few people to the local river to baptize new followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Our time and fellowship there with those sweet brothers and sisters was a great blessing. The pastor’s wife gave me a live turkey as an appreciation gift to take home, and another dear lady gave me some green mangos to take home. It is a great privilege to serve God in Honduras! We started on our way back home that Sunday night after the last service was held. We left the village in the mountains and drove down the valley to a town called Jesus de Otoro where we spent the night at pastor Vicente Palacios’ house. The next morning, I was invited to speak for 30 minutes on the FM radio station, Otoro Radio. I spoke on “The Name that is above every name, Jesus”. After we were done there, we went back to the house that we had stayed at during the night to pick up the live turkey and to say thanks and goodbye.
Story# 3
When we arrived at the house, as we were getting out of the car, we met a young man by the name of Douglas carrying some scrap metal in his hands. I pointed the man to Lucas and he starting talking to him. After sharing with him for awhile, Douglas said he was deported from the USA only 7 days prior to that day, and was deported to the city of San Pedro Sula. He is from Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, which is approximately a 6 hour drive from San Pedro Sula. He said he desperately wanted to go there but had no money to pay the bus ticket and said he was staying at the nearby cemetery, sleeping inside the empty graves. After talking some, he said goodbye, and was beginning to leave, and then I started my conversation with the young fellow with tattoos on his body. I asked him where he lived in the states and he said Maryland. I told him that if he really wants to go home we will pay the bus ticket to which he gladly agreed then I urged him to receive the Lord Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior since I felt this was his day for Salvation. After sharing and pleading with him for a while, brother Marcos, who was with us also, pleaded with him to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior. Next thing I knew Douglas was kneeling down in the middle of the road. Marcos knelt, Lucas knelt, and then I followed after them. Douglas, with a lot of tears running down his cheeks, there in the middle of the dusty road, repented of his sins and believed the in the Gospel for his personal salvation. After a while he stood up and quickly removed the earring he was wearing and threw it away saying, “I do not need this anymore”. Lucas gave Douglas a new set of clothes and after a while we were picking up Douglas at the gas station and took him to the bus stop which was about 45 minutes away in Siguatepeque. The Lord provided a bus ticket, food for the way, and 200 lempiras (about $10) for Douglas. We also left for our place in Los Naranjos and a couple hours after I got home I received a call from Marcos saying that he had just seen Douglas at a grocery store back in Jesus de Otoro. At first I was very discouraged about this young man’s attitude toward us and God. We are learning a whole new way of living even in my own culture. Whether Douglas was sincere in what he did there in the middle of that dusty road, God knows. But this one thing I know, nothing like this will discourage me from sharing such a profound Truth as the Gospel of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which is the only Hope for Honduras and the world.Picture
When I say God is at work in Honduras, believe me, He is! Wherever we travel, we share the wonderful news of Jesus, and so far, no one has rejected the Gospel. People are open and ready for change in this dark country.
We are encouraging intercessory prayer among us on behalf of our community and this country. We are begging God for revival in this land, we are repenting of our sins, we are confessing the sins of our ancestors,and we are renouncing the idolatry, witchcraft, and Satanism in this land. We are renouncing our own idolatry. We are renouncing the immoral ways of life in this land. We are renouncing alcoholism, drug addictions, and prostitution in this land. We are repenting of our wicked ways of living and continually believing that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our Holy God, can bring REVIVAL in our life time.
The Holy Spirit provides new opportunities to share the Gospel every day, and people are still open and hungry for God’s Word in this country.
Story# 4
Yesterday, May 12, I met Victor Manuel, the man with the curly hair. He almost believed that his case is incurable. Just on the other side of the wire fence, the path, and then the plot of beans that Manuel was pulling weeds out of, Lucas and I approached him while he was at work. I wanted to ask him about the two little girls just up the road in front of the house that we are staying at. They ask Noelia some strange questions and told her some things, and said that the man just below us is their uncle, so we approached Manuel and started a conversation. I partially and briefly shared how my life was transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and specifically shared a few things with him. We told him that his problem is curable and that the cure is found in the person of Jesus Christ. He is gay and had lost hope, believing the lies of the devil. But Manuel desires new life, and is very open to the Gospel. While we were talking I saw clearly how he wiped the tears out of his eyes at least two times.Picture
We meet a lot of people with all kind of real needs, and we would like to help them all, but it is not possible to help everybody at this point. May the Lord give us wisdom to discern who we really should help. We are for sure supplying the number one need they have and that is the need of The Gospel.
We are trying our best to be obedient and faithful to our call.
The last week of the month of May finally came and I picked up my dear brother, John Weaver, from the airport on Monday, May 26. That was my very first trip to the airport and I spent quality time the whole week with him, traveling to different places together. We made a trip to La Esperanza one of those days and took medicine for the clinic. Matt Troyer and Dannie Erb met us there to talk to Brother John and to take the medicine the rest of the way to Carrizal, Lempira where the clinic is. My time spent with brother John was well invested.
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Thank you brother John for all you do for the missionaries in Honduras and for the people of Honduras. May the Lord God richly bless you even more.
From Noelia:
We praise the Lord for good health in spite of changes and hot weather. All of us are doing well. We are also thankful for good relationships with people we have met so far. We feel we are connecting with the church from El Eden. We are blessed with fellowship with the brother and sisters and feel happy to be part of a cell group where we study the bible, share and get to know each other a little bit more.We also praise the Lord for the blessing of living in a place with so many good, fresh, and local fruits and vegetables and bread. They are without comparison!! Simply yum!! I am learning to do groceries without a planned menu because it is just not the way things are done here. Here you buy what you need in the moment just prior to cooking unless you want to cook something special like chicken or beef. For those who know us well you know we like organic meats so last week Jose bought some very organic family raised chickens at a very good price. Now we are enjoying dishes made with real chicken that taste and smells like chicken.
Our children are doing great by God’s grace. Ruth is learning to like the countryside, and the bugs. Today for the first time she went out to play by herself without shoes! She now gets her flip-flops and starts killing ants. Sometimes this task takes a moment and sometimes more than that. There are some neighbors that have black cows with white patches so whenever she sees them she says, “Mami, those cows are from Chick -fil- A”. She is getting back to her school time and doing it very well. She enjoys the time her dad is at home, especially when Jose is cooking or eating something. She loves her brother so much that she would play with him all day long if she could. Isaac is sitting up and grabbing everything that comes his way. He is our skinny boy and we love him just as he is. He is sleeping well and eating more solid food now. He smiles at everybody, and is a happy little missionary.
We have so many, many opportunities every day to be a witness for the Lord, by our words or our lives, as we come in contact with different kinds of people. We are just starting to see the needs at church and of course outside church. In the past weeks Sister Naomi and I have visited sisters from church. This give me a chance to talk to them and to pray for their needs. Pray that we can use these opportunities wisely and be a light wherever we go. I am grateful for the fellow missionaries’ families who have invited over and have taken the time to guide us through this transition.
Thank you for your prayers, love and support.
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The Lord has blessed the work of our hands. Our garden is now producing organic red radishes and lettuce so far.
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Things to pray for :
- Please pray for Victor Manuel, we believe that Jesus sets homosexuals free from that and any kind of bondage.
- Please pray for our protection from the evil one.
- Please pray for Isaac’s, Ruth’s, Noelia’s, and my health.
- Pray that we will always lift high the Standard of Truth.
- Pray for conviction of sin falling upon every heart in the village of El Eden, El Jaral, Pena Blanca, Los Naranjos and Campanario.
- Please pray for my throat. Every time I preach it hurts afterwards and I get fevers and stay sick for couple of days. I am trusting the Lord for total healing for whatever is happening to my throat.
“May The Lamb receive the reward of His sufferings”
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!
