Please PRAY......

Last night was a sad time in the lives of the members of Team Honduras. We all have friends and family that we witness to and even sometimes do so on a daily basis. This event proves that no man knows the day he will be departing from this world to spend eternity in Heaven or Hell. Nico was a dear friend and neighbor of Robbie and Christine Ellis. After being invited to church on several occasions and having heard a clear gospel presentation he and his family decide to go to church. Then, life took an unexpected turn. I have linked you below to Christine's blog page so that you can read the "rest of the story". Please pray for this family, and all of the team members of TEAM HONDURAS. I know that they will covet your prayers. Also, please keep in mind when you pray, the dangers that they face for living in a foreign country. Safety will also be a large request for our family and the kids in the home. However, I know that through the sincere prayers of prayer warriors, God can and will put a hedge around "HIS SERVANTS". I also know that like Job, the Lord only lets the devil get so close to his people. Thank you all again for your prayers at this time.

http://www.realmissionsreallife.blogspot.com/

Honduras Building Update

We are excited about the progress of the new church building in Honduras. It is so amazing to see just how far it has come. What is even more of a blessing is that this building once finished will be completely debt free. PRAISE THE LORD for that. Things can be built with less funds and cheaper labor.....however the sacrifice for giving is just as great for them. Sometimes, I think that we don't give because we are afraid of what we will be giving up worldly....while these people give because it is truly in their hearts to give and they want to serve the Lord. I remember when we were there for our trip and to see the offering plates full of coins and lempiras. It was such a blessing to see how eager and excited they were to give. Most of the people did not in our eyes have a dime to spare but they chose to give to the Lord. I fully believe that because of their faithfulness both to Him through giving and outreach they are a better people. They have a church that has out grown its current building and has almost 200 in attendance.  So here are a few pictures to show you just what is going on and where we will be serving the Lord at soon.

"Let Your Light So Shine.......through WORLD OUTREACH!"

While attending our home church of Hilltop in North Carolina the Lord brought Robbie and Christine Ellis to share their burden and their vision for the country of Honduras. That night while listening to Bro. Robbie's service and what he wanted to see take place in Honduras.......really sparked a fire in the heart of myself and in Mark. Neither of us knew how each other felt but the Lord was preparing us both at the same time. "The LORD planted the seed" that night. Mark and I both felt that we needed to do more for our missionaries and that meant praying more and giving more to missions. Even though that was the first time I had ever seen or heard of the Ellis'....I felt that I had known Christine my whole life.  It was as if I knew that she would become one of my best friends. I was teaching K5 at our school and we always adopted a missionary each year. Every year my missionaries were always the Ellis'. We built a long distance friendship. In 2007 the Lord opened the door and paved the way for us to end up in the country of Honduras as chaperones for a group of college kids. That would be a trip that would change the rest of our lives.

We would pass out over 6,000 tracks in the week our group was there and to see the people hungry for the GOSPEL was truly breath taking. We would walk the streets and have people following us as if we were handing out a million dollars. It was hard to leave that week knowing when God made it clear that some how we belonged there. We came home however, and after a few months we got back into our daily lives and that "NEW" feeling seem to have worn off. Then, the mail came one day with a Honduras Update.......it was funny because I read it through my email and Mark read it by himself and we both read the words...WHO WILL GO?.......it is so amazing at how the Lord works. With that we prayed about the chance that it could be us that would go. We called Brother Robbie and Ms. Christine and set up a meeting and it was not long after that they along with Hope Children's Home offered us the opportunity to be the fourth team members of Team Honduras.

Now as we prepare to leave for language school on April 26th we are grateful to know that the work of outreach still continues in Honduras. The Lord is still moving and they are seeing many new people join their congregation. A church that is about five years old has already out grown its current property.  Their first building project is almost complete as they are averaging 198 on Sundays and 197 on Wednesday nights....yes that is correct...197! How many"U.S." Pastors would love to only be one short for a Wednesday night service instead of about 50% of of its people. We are excited that while we still have a year before we are on the ground of Honduras the work is growing and the need is great. I pray that while we have not hit the field that we have been called to yet we will still labor for "HIS CAUSE", in all the places that our feet will trod. Here in Tampa our missions conference theme was "From the Cross, Through the Church, To the WORLD"......Are we all doing our part to let our light shine and share the Love of Jesus to all we meet!

"Let you light so shine before men, that they may see you good works, and glorify you Father which is in heaven."

Matthew 5:16

LORD, make my life a window for YOUR light to shine through and a mirror to reflect YOUR love to all I meet. AMEN!

God Still Answers Prayers

Wow it is so amazing at how God works through prayer. As a christian this should be our main communication with our "Heavenly Father". However, most of us cry out to HIM only when we are in seroius need or in a deep valley. I am thankful that I can say that I can praise HIM for his answers to my prayers.

Many of you know that before having Josiah I lost three babies which now rest in the loving arms of my Savior. I must confess that losing the first one was no walk in the park. I often questioned WHY LORD?...(as many of us do if we are honest with ourselves!) But you know he allowed me to get pregnant two other times before I realized that it just was not HIS WILL or maybe not HIS Timing. So, with that said we ventured to the country of Honduras May 24, 2007. Oh, what the Lord had in store was way more than Mark and I could have ever expected. The way he used that trip to change our hearts and lives from that point forward was amazing. That brings us to today. As you all know we are on our journey to the country of Honduras to start and run Hope of Honduras Children's Home. We sold everything we had and put our house on the market,packed our van with clothes and the kids and drove 13 hours to Tampa, Florida.

The Lord has been there with us every step of the way. We have had a few trials that the Devil himself threw in our path for no other reason but to discourage us and cause us to question. But through prayer and people like you who just read our stories and pray for us helped us climb that mountain. We have only been on deputation now for about 6 months and are at about 95% committed support....PRAISE THE LORD!! The Lord has also provided for us in ways that you could never imagine. From sitting in a restaurant and the manager coming up to tell us that our meal was on the house. (Which We had no complaints but they felt they were behind on our service...) Thank the Lord for providing... and that same day the Lord answered yet another prayer request that we had heavy on our hearts and the hearts of our friends and supporters....the selling of our home in North Carolina. After receiving the news from the manager that our meal was free we received a call that we had a good offer on our home and that the buyers were very excited about the house. PRAISE The LORD! We stopped right there to thank the Lord for what he has done for us and how his timing is always RIGHT! God still answers prayers so don't give up just pray that much harder for your time may not be HIS TIME!

We also want to say that we are so grateful for those who do lift us up in prayer along with our needs.  God answers prayer through people like YOU!

AND ALL THINGS,WHATSOEVER YE SHALL ASK IN PRAYER,BELIEVING, YE SHALL RECEIVE. MATTHEW 21:22

Taking a LEAP of FAITH

As you all know we have been in Tampa now since August 2nd 2009. We started deputation in mid September to begin raising the funds needed for language school and of coarse our needs once we head to Honduras. We need about $35,000 for the year of language school plus the money we need for our support which is about $1500 a month.

The Lord sure has been so good to us with helping raise our funds and gain many supporters. The Lord has blessed us with so many individual and family supporters and we are very grateful for the commitments. We know that each of those givers are making a sacrifice to help the children of Honduras.

However, if you have ever planned to do something as time draws closer and closer so does the anticipation and the excitement. Mark and I sat down with Pastor Mike (the director here in Tampa) to talk about our future plans. We still do not have 100% committed support and only lack about $200 a month from being able to go. We weighed the pros and cons and then just decided to go on FAITH. You see, if we prolong going to language school until September then that means that we will not be in Honduras until September 2011. Mark and I both look at it like this.....the longer it takes for us to get to Honduras.....the more children could die without hope of knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So, we decided that we are stepping out on faith and the Lord would provide the remaining funds that we need to get there. So, on April 26th we will be flying out to the Spanish Language Institute in Costa Rica. Please help us by praying that we gain our support and our home sells in North Carolina before we go.