MINISTRY

Prayer Requests:

- More helpers; a director of the sponsorship program and English teachers and counselors for expanding our sponsorship program
- Wisdom as we start more ministries, and that God would close and open the doors for the things He wants done
- Our sponsorship fundraisers this spring, to find sponsors for the children who do not yet have one
- Our community, where alcohol abuse is a concern, and for discernment and wisdom for the protection of children who gather at the activity center

Praises:

- The lives being changed; David wants to be a better dad and husband, and Stephany has a desire to learn more about the Bible and the truth
- Good conversations we are having during Thursday morning devotions

- All the prayers and financial support you all provide!

Schedule:

Check out our website, Porquenotu.com, to see all that is happening; we keep it updated with everything we are doing.

Other Notes:

Every child in the Sponsorship Program has the goal of memorizing a Bible verse each month. In one of the areas where we have the program, Cordoncillos, there is an eight-year-old boy whose sister is part of the program, but he is not. Even so, this boy memorized all the verses from last year. His sister is older, so she is assigned longer and more challenging verses, while the younger children receive shorter ones. Yet, this little boy joyfully memorized the verses meant for the older kids. He gladly recited every verse to us, verses he learned simply because he wanted to.

I was able to build and set up the book shelves for the library. Next week, with school starting, we are having high schoolers volunteer at the activity center. They will be in charge of getting out games and coloring books, monitoring the library, printing off homework, and helping keep things quiet in this area.

School starts on Monday, February 2! The counselors have been very busy buying all the supplies and uniforms for all the children.

PERSONAL

Prayer Requests:

- Our ability to continue to learn more Spanish
- Finding the balance between ministry and personal time
- Wisdom as we learn to lead and disciple the children
- More churches to support us through prayer and finances

In November, we went to Brazil and had a wedding reception to celebrate our marriage with family and friends that were not able to come to Honduras. I was able to meet the lady who gave us Vivien's engagement ring!

Vivien and I have been enjoying hosting people in our home. We have been having families over for a meal and then playing games together. We have also been hosting a weekly time where we watch The Chosen in Spanish.

MINISTRY

Prayer Requests:

- More helpers; a director of the sponsorship program, counselors, and another secretary for expanding our sponsorship program
- Our sponsorship fundraisers on April 29, to find sponsors for the children who do not yet have one
- We will be reading through the entire Bible in a week, March 22–29, here in Providencia. We are looking for 2 more churches to come and help read. We desire to see God move and continue to fight the spiritual battle against the spiritual forces of evil by reading the Truth.

Praises:

- We will have electricity now when the power goes out! We will not have to close the computer room, and I will be able to work in the shop and not have to reorganize my days!
- Our Spanish is improving with daily interactions and the need to learn.
- The Bible study for teens, which was started last year with Tirza, has continued. The group continues to enjoy the time and looks forward to next week.

Other Notes:

We now have 6 high school girls who are helping out in the activity center. They have been learning a lot about responsibility and dealing with some mischievous children. We will have a meeting with them once a month for them to talk about the problems together, give advice, and talk through issues our town is experiencing, and we will be able to pray for them. 

Summers & Zim's were here for a week to install a generator. It was a more complicated project than normal as there are 4 buildings that can be run off it when we lose power! Thank you to everyone who contributed and helped make this possible! We truly appreciate all that you did. We are also grateful to those who donated their time and effort to bring everything together.

We were able to install the ceiling in the meeting room of the activity center.

PERSONAL

Prayer Requests:

- Finding the balance between ministry, spending time with work groups, and personal time
- There is a chance to visit and connect with 4 new churches in Virginia as we look to expand our support base. 
- We still need to learn more Spanish as we are not yet fluent.

Praises:

- With Vivien's birthday on February 27, we decided to get away for the weekend to celebrate and get a little rest away from constant translations.
- We feel so spoiled—we found a grocery store that has so many good things from America!

Other Notes;

With getting married and starting to think about children (we are just planning ahead), next year we want to change our living room into a bedroom. Our house only has 1 bedroom, which means we are building an outdoor living room this year. With the generous donation of Mt. Vernon Christian Church, we have been able to start this project.

MINISTRY

Prayer Requests:

 - Encounter Church will be here April 8–15. They will be helping with church ministry, speaking at 3 different churches, and helping out with our programs and activities around the mission.
- Vivien and I will be in the US for 3 weeks visiting churches, holding a sponsorship fundraiser banquet, and looking to support another 30 children.

Praises:

 - The Bible week went very well with 8 churches helping us to read the entire Bible in 8 days. Our staff stepped up and came to read early and stay late just to stay on track!
- Reconciliations are happening in our area between families! goes here

Other Notes:

With a donation, we were finally able to purchase a TV for the meeting room above the activity center. We are now starting to watch "The Chosen" series there, hosting more people than what we could fit into our house. There are still a few more projects at the activity center like staining and protecting the floor and trim work, but with sunny weather there are outside projects that became a priority.

Thanks to generous donations, we were able to buy 3 more female goats. We now have 1 billy goat, 7 does (2 are about to give birth), and 2 kids.

PERSONAL

Prayer Requests:

 - Our time in the US as Vivien will finally be able to meet more of my family.
- That even in the business, we can still be rejuvenated when we return to Honduras and keep serving with a full heart.

Praises:

 - We are very grateful for all the prayers and support from all our family and friends!

Other Notes:

Vivien needed a new passport, so we traveled to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, which is about 4 hours away from us. They said it would take 1 day, but I still didn't trust Honduras. Fortunately, everything went very smoothly, and we had the passport in about 3 hours. We were also able to visit some friends we met at a conference that live near there. It is always interesting to talk with other missionaries and hear their stories, which can be similar to ours as we talk about the new culture we are learning.

Our backyard project is coming along. We now need to wait for the rain to come and compact the dirt. We are also really busy for the next 4 months with going to the US and then hosting 4 different groups!

MINISTRY

Prayer Requests:

- Wisdom as I lead and look to expand and acquire more property
- For more laborers: a director of the sponsorship program, a farmer to help expand and experiment with what we have, a director of the English teaching program, and teachers

Praises:

- For the encouragement the work group from Encounter Church was to us and our staff in the week they spent with us in Honduras!!!
- For all our support who pray for us and are financially generous

Other Notes:

Thanks to a donation, we were able to purchase a portable battery sound system for Naun to use when he visits the 2 locations where we are preaching!

We had a wonderful time with the work group from Encounter. Their focus was more on church services, being very intentional about praying for the individuals and area. They were able to share at 3 different church services, devotions and Bible Study with the Hondurans, and help out with our ministries in the activity center and visiting families. They also did some odd jobs around the mission and helped David as he has started to build his house.

Our 18 days in the US went really well. We were able to connect with 9 different churches and held a sponsorship banquet. We were able to find sponsors for 11 more of the children and received many generous donations.

PERSONAL

Prayer Requests:

- As we continue to learn how to balance family and ministry life
- As Vivien continues to adjust to the Honduras lifestyle that can be challenging with the lack of a Christian community
- To be intentional about studying Spanish

Praises:

- For the time we were able to spend with my family!
- For the time in Virginia, getting to recount with Vivien's friends and "family," be more connected to churches, and for all the hospitality and encouragement they gave to us!
- Thank you for your prayers; knowing that we have prayer partners is very encouraging!
- For all the generous gifts that were given during our stay.

Other Notes;

Our time in PA was very special! Vivien was able to see what my life used to be like before moving to Honduras—my family and the people from my life, the places I used to go, and the many memories during the years I lived in the US.

While in the US, we were able to have meals with our family and friends, filling up our time with food and fellowship!

We also held a casual reception for friends and family who were not able to attend our wedding in Honduras!

We were also able to play some pickle ball for the first time. We both really enjoyed it and are looking forward to playing it here in Honduras.

Back in Honduras! Our first meal out was the one we had both been missing — the honduran typical meal, eggs, beans and cheese!