A New Chapter

After 3½ years of fulltime ministry in La Ceiba, we are leaving Honduras. The Lord has called us to be fulltime missionaries in Puerto Escondido, southern Mexico.

This is not sudden and it is not without an abundance of pain and prayer. As with every decision we make, we want to make sure and be confident it was from the Lord and we know how prayer makes a difference. For those of you who receive our updates, you were asked to pray about this possibility which we feel has now become very clear to us.

To review, we as a family recently visited Puerto Escondido and spent 13 days with the ministry and other missionaries and nationals with whom we will be working and we walked away with two obvious conclusions: 1) Moving to and living in Puerto Escondido will be challenging, and 2) The ministry was made for us.

Honduras

We do not leave Honduras lightly. Honduras is our home and we have come to love much about the country and people. We are not leaving behind unfinished worked, unqualified replacements or conflict. We love the nationals we’ve worked with and those we have worked alongside and there is nothing driving us away. Leaving our friends and closing out our life in Honduras is only being done because we are following the Lord. We have initiated and completed several community projects that have been taken over by nationals and we know they can continue without us. We are confident in knowing that what the Lord began through us is in competent hands and will continue to be a blessing to the communities where we have served.

Mexico

We will be joining a great team of missionaries and nationals in the city of Puerto Escondido in the southernmost part of Mexico (state of Oaxaca). The official language of the country is of course Spanish, but there are indigenousness groups of people with very different dialects in villages scattered around the mountains surrounding this area. We do not plan on learning any of these dialects as the majority of our work will be with Spanish speakers and we’ll use translators as needed if we do any work in these villages. As we did in Honduras, our focus in Mexico will be to raise up and train national partners to serve their own people.

Corey will be working with an existing church, called “El Faro”, to reach out to the surrounding community through personal evangelism. We will be using the current culture of surfing, which is prominent in this town, as a sports outreach to connect with the community and share our faith. Surfing has taken off here in the past decade and is an ideal tool to reach the community to connect with them on a personal level. Corey has 10 years of experience in this type of evangelism ministry so the fit is just right. El Faro is a unique church in this area providing solid biblical teaching in a way that attracts the beach community. Corey will be teaching discipleship groups as well, sharing God’s truth throughout the week.

Kirsten will be assisting existing Bible study groups and be salt and light wherever the Lord leads. She will continue to homeschool our boys and assist in ministry in the church where needed.

Timeline

We have a trip planned to the Pacific Northwest in the beginning of December. We have been slowly transitioning out of our roles here and will sell some belongings in our home before our U.S. trip. While in the U.S. we will visit some of our supporting churches and share more about what the Lord has done and is doing. Our plan is to return to Honduras toward the end of January to our current home. After our return we will pack things up in our truck and trailer and move from Honduras to Mexico, about a two day drive.

You

It is our prayer you will continue to pray for and financially support our family as we follow the Lord’s clear calling to Mexico. For a long time you have partnered with our family to follow the Lord’s leading to and in Honduras, we pray you will join us in this new chapter of our ministry in Mexico. If you would like to continue to financially partner with us, DO NOTHING DIFFERENT. The account where you currently send regular support will continue to be our support account (World Outreach Ministries). If you would like to start supporting our new ministry CLICK HERE (select our name from the dropdown list and follow the prompts).

Pray

This is a hard decision for us. We would not do this if it was not clear it was the Lord’s will. We are leaving an established life in Honduras and it will be difficult to get re-established in Mexico. With any transition and change comes challenges and faith-stretching experiences. We know that this transition will be difficult and we are preparing for that. But through it, our prayer is that we grow closer to the Lord and hold onto His promises and remember His words to us. And that hopefully through this process, we may be able to encourage others in their faith. Please pray for us! With that, welcome to the new chapter for your missionaries.

Looking Back to Look Forward

Planning for the future

In our last update we were able to celebrate our third year in Honduras. God is good! He has done amazing things, through us and in us! You have played a big role in this by your prayers and support. This past year it has been incredible to see how God has directed us. It's very important for us to look back to see what God has done and to see where he is leading. At the end of every summer we do this as an intentional way to evaluate our ministry here, to take time to pray about the past year and year to come. This evaluation helps us to see patterns and to make changes if needed to be more effective in the future and be obedient to God's leading.

In our recent review of the past year, we have indeed seen patterns and are led by the Lord to share those with you. One pattern we've seen is that our main ministry has been a “help” ministry to other ministries. This means we have helped other ministries expand their efforts. Some of these other ministries have been other missionaries, but most have been ministries led by local people (primarily Garifuna). All of these help ministries have had shorter timelines as far as our involvement has gone. We've initiated contact, planning, connections, funding, etc. and have quickly turned over what was begun to be led by locals. This has been great as it allows locals to lead so much better and more effectively than we can, and it empowers them to do what God has created them to do.

Corey and the boys at Pacific City, OR, in 2012.

Another pattern we've seen over the past year is a “nudging” by the Lord to use surfing again as ministry. We were once involved with surfing ministry for over 10 years and saw a lot of fruit come from this type of ministry, and we left this ministry to pursue ministry in Honduras. During this time with the surfing ministry, we were also involved with the Luis Palau Association, Reid Saunders Association, Passion4People Int'l, Next Generation Alliance, and numerous other extreme sports related ministries involved with BMX, skateboarding, and surfing. These ministries use extreme sports to appeal to a different audience. Using a sport that others are interested in can create common ground like no other thing can. And this opens up conversations about life and builds relationships giving opportunity to talk about Jesus and how he's changed our lives.

Before moving to Honduras, we hoped to do something similar by using surfing as a way to reach the Garifuna along the north coast. But we soon realized surfing just doesn't exist in Honduras (no waves to surf) and we wouldn't be using this form of outreach here. We know God's timing is perfect and he would use this means of ministry if he willed in the future. 

Special Ministry Trip to Mexico 

Looking back to look forward, we see how nudgings from the Lord over the past year (such as former surf ministry partners contacting us) has led us to follow some obvious open doors for us to use surfing as ministry, although not exactly how we foresaw.

Us and the Allbutt family.

In August, we were able to take a ministry trip to southern Mexico. For the past ten years, we have been praying for our friend Mike and his family (pictured right), whom we met through Christian Surfers, the surfing ministry we were once involved in. We had learned ten years ago that Mike was being called by God to move he and his family from Australia (where Christian Surfers was founded) to southern Mexico to start Christian Surfers Mexico, and did so in 2007 establishing a ministry there to surfers. The community they minister in, Puerto Escondido, is known by surfers worldwide. It's a quiet fishing community that is filled with surfers, mostly Mexicans, who have caught onto the sport over the last decade or so and made this little fishing town more known for surfing than fishing, an ideal place for this new surf ministry.

Attending Surfers Bible Study on
the beach.

Following God's leading to do so, we went to visit Mike and his family to see what the ministry was like there. It was also a chance to show our boys several other Latin countries driving through parts of Honduras we have not seen, all throughout Guatemala, and then through southern Mexico. Just the trip there and back was an experience of a lifetime! Although Puerto Escondido is exactly due west of us in Honduras and on a map is the same distance to drive from Salem, Oregon, to Redding, California, it took three days to drive there on windy, bumpy roads. 
 

Visiting Martha in Oaxaca.

After our arrival, the next two weeks were filled with meeting new people, ministering side-by-side with Mike and others (such as the Surfers Bible Study on the beach pictured here), and having many opportunities to disciple new believers, be a witness to unbelievers, and encourage others. On our trip back to Honduras, we were also able to stop and see our good friends and fellow missionaries Brenton and Martha Trent in Oaxaca City (Martha and us pictured right). We stayed with them a few days touring the city and spent quality time with them encouraging one another. Overall, our trip was very fruitful and reminded us of our first love: seeing people come to know Jesus personally as their Savior.

Praying About What’s Next...

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness
and the world's deep hunger meet.”
–Frederick Buechner

The quote above is one of our favorite as of lately. It speaks to our God-given gifts and how those gifts collide with the world around us. In our annual ministry review we see that God has given us many good things to be involved in. We have taken what God has given us in Honduras and have done as well as we can with the opportunities he's put before us and it has been a joy to do so. It has been humbling and awe-inspiring to see God use our weaknesses and strengths for His purposes.

Attending the Wednesday night Bible study at El Faro.

Although we were very encouraged by our trip to Mexico and were able to be used by the Lord in many ways, we weren't quite sure what it all meant. We have been praying that the Lord would reveal this to us and we believe he has. In the past month since our visit to southern Mexico, the church we were involved with there (“El Faro”) has invited us as the Lord wills to become part of their team to reach out to the surf community through relational evangelism and discipleship. We are honored by this request, especially knowing our personal passions and spiritual giftings in these areas. With this invitation, of course, would come a relocation of our ministry to Puerto Escondido, Mexico. With our annual ministry review since our return and being able to look back, we have seen obvious patterns leading to something like this. So we are prayerfully considering what this would look like for us and our family in the future. 

In light of our current ministry in Honduras, a change such as this can only be done in God's timeframe. A lot of the work we have started here has come to completion or is in progress of being completed in a short time. So we see the Lord's timing in this and how a transition may work well. But there is still much to pray about. We will be communicating more in our future updates what God puts on our hearts and what doors may open or close. In the meantime, we ask that you please pray with us about this as we also prayerfully consider how this change might be more impactful for the Kingdom and bring God glory... because in the end, that's what it's all about! 

To us, location doesn't matter. And we believe that it doesn't matter to God either. What matters is our availability and obedience. We have changed a lot in the past few years and have drawn closer to our mighty God in many ways and for that we thank Him. Please pray we would obey, no matter the location, so that we may glorify God in who he is and what he does!

Praise God!

Lowering the pump into the well.

Please take a moment to praise God with us as our water project in Nueva Armenia has been completed! The well was connected to the community tank and pump was installed. The tank filled overnight and the community, over 2000 people, were able to turn on their faucets the next day and have water running in their homes for the first time in over 3 YEARS! Imagine not having water in your home for this long... and having to haul buckets of water (several times a day) from a dirty river to your home... Praise God we were able to be a light and blessing to this community in this way!

Thank you to all who contributed to and prayed for this project!

Prayer & Praises: 

• Praise that the water project in Nueva Armenia is complete! We were able to install the well pump, wire all the electrical, and connect the well to the community water tank. They now have a continual source of water!  
• Praise that we sold our SUV and we have purchased a truck. We outgrew our SUV—more leg room was needed, better parts availability, as well as needing a truck bed to haul things. The Lord worked out our SUV sale to a new missionary family and we were able to buy a 2002 Dodge Ram Crewcab truck from a missionary family leaving on furlough. Praise God for his timing and provision! 
• Continued prayer for Kirsten as she homeschools our boys. 
• Pray for our boys as they grow rapidly into fine young men devoted to our Lord Jesus.  
• Pray for discernment and wisdom in moving forward with ministry plans and about the new ministry the Lord has put before us.  
• Pray we would all, daily, be drawn closer to the Lord and hear his sweet voice. 
• Pray for protection spiritually and for Satan's plans to be defeated. 

We want to remind you to keep us daily surrounded with your prayers. They are vitally important to us and to the Kingdom. Thank you for your support and partnership in ministry! We are grateful to you for the sacrifice of your time to pray and financial gifts to us to allow us to be salt and light where God leads us.

Living all for One,
Corey, Kirsten, Gavin & Garret

Three year anniversary

Three Years!

Today, August 13, marks end of our third year in Honduras. Can you believe it? It is amazing to us to think about all that has happened in the past three years. It's amazing to think about how God has changed our hearts to be more like his. It's amazing to think about lives that have been changed through our own. And it's amazing to think about how God will use us in the coming years! We wanted to take a moment to reflect on where we've been and give God glory for what he has done over the past few years...
 

A Look Back: Year One

In our first year in Honduras, we lived in the mountain town of Siguatepeque surrounded by pine forests and small mountain villages where farmers grow coffee among other higher altitude crops. We studied Spanish at the Honduras Spanish Institute for nine months. During this time we explored the country, using the Spanish we learned in the prior days, weeks and months. We visited numerous Garifuna communities and villages, learning as much as we could about their culture and people since it would be our future ministry area. At the same time we learned more and more about the Latin culture of Honduras. It was a very memorable time as it was a huge change in our lives! Hard, yes, but through it we saw God's grace upon grace helping us to overcome many new challenges. We met many wonderful people, all who played a big part in our new lives as "Catrachos" (the Spanish name for Hondurans).

Vic & John proclaiming the gospel from their BMX bikes.

We also we able to host a team from the U.S. with Reid Saunders Association and minister to many through medical clinics and a festival held in the middle of town. Our friends Vic and John with Action Sports Outreach, a BMX ministry, shared the Gospel along with Reid and the rest of the team. One of our joys from this team, apart from the many people who accepted Christ as their savior, was that in the weeks following the festival a new church sprung out of a handful of new, young believers who rode BMX bikes and heard the Gospel message at the festival from our friends Vic and John. They partnered with the local YWAM group and started "BMX Church" based out of the YWAM base using their covered soccer court as a place to ride bikes. The ramps that were left from Reid's team were donated to this group and they now have a very active BMX ministry in Siguatepeque. Praise God! Our first year in Honduras finished well.
 

Year Two

Corey helping a work team put a roof on a church member's home.

Our second year began with our completion of language school and exploratory trips to the north coast of Honduras to determine the best place to begin ministry. The Lord led us to move to La Ceiba in October of that year and began working with a Garifuna Bible Institute and a Garifuna church association. We met many new people and made great connections.

Much of our second year was spent working alongside other ministries to get a better idea of needs and culture and helping to grow God's kingdom through our partnerships. We were able to come alongside one ministry to help provide roofs for churches and pastor's homes. We came alongside another to provide homes for very poor families. And Corey was able to teach at a pastor's conference to over 100 pastors and church leaders. Through this work we realized the need to connect the existing church in Garifuna communities with the people in the community so that the church could have a greater influence in the lives of unsaved people and with discipling new believers.

A team from Calvary Community Church helping
us in Honduras.

Later in our second year we were also able to work with Calvary Community Church from Albany, Oregon, our second team team to assist us in ministry. With them we hosted a Garifuna pastor's conference and ministered in schools in two different communities.

We also began work in Nueva Armenia, the main community we work in today. Working with an existing work group of about 10 people, we were able to multiply it to around 40. The Lord has opened doors for us to use this group to bless others in the community and to share our hope in Jesus through it. God has formed many new relationships through our work there and through the work of our partner ministries. We thank him for the unity he creates!

Year Three

Corey with the initial work group in Nueva Armenia.

As we moved into our third year, we realized our need to focus on one community. So we began meeting with leadership of Nueva Armenia to discover their needs, both physically and spiritually. Much of our third year was spent building relationships in Nueva Armenia and meeting with local leadership. It was here that we began a water project in January in order to meet a basic need and give opportunity for the body of Christ to show their faith in word and deed. The project is nearly complete as we have drilled a well and have plans to install a water filtration system in one of the local churches.

We were also blessed to be able to help start a feeding center which is in its beginning stages. The feeding center is a way for the local church to care for the children and elderly in the community and to share God's love with them. We anticipate our involvement to be minimal and mainly to help get the center started with resources and connections we have made to relief food sources.

We have spent a great amount of time finding sources for food, clean water, and other resources to add to "Mutatio Ministries", a ministry we launched in May to help connect churches and ministries to basic needs resources. The idea of this ministry was to help the Garifuna churches be a conduit of help to their own communities. We thank God for allowing us to be involved in this work!
 

So what’s in store for year four?

As our projects in Nueva Armenia wind down we anticipate changes in our ministry in the near future. Prior to moving to Honduras many people asked us how long we planned to stay. Our answer was always “as long as the Lord allows.” To us that could mean two years or twenty years. Bottom line is we were, and are, available to our Lord to serve him wherever and for however long.

With that said, we have planned our ministry here in Honduras with an “exit plan”, meaning we have always intended to work through local ministries and people so that any movement that God created through us would be easily transferable. So to answer the title question, the answer is “we don't know exactly!” But we do sense God moving in ways that, if all goes in the direction we see it going, we can only give HIM GLORY! He has been rekindling in us something we thought long past. We ask that you pray for wisdom in our ministry direction as we discern His leading.

So stay tuned....

Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. (Psalm 115:1)

Please pray and praise with us!

• Pray for our future ministry and that God would make clear the "what, where, why, and how".
• Pray for our involvement in Nueva Armenia and that the projects we are involved in there would be a way to be "salt and light".
• Pray for wisdom about our ministry/family vehicle. We would like to sell it and find something more reliable for long trips and a vehicle with more parts availability.
• Praise for an answer to our prayers about Gavin's schooling situation. We will be homeschooling him and Garret both this coming year!
• Pray for Kirsten as she prepares homeschool materials for a new school year.

As always, thank you for your financial and prayer support. We thank God for you and your faithfulness to him and supporting his work through us!

In His mighty grip,
Corey, Kirsten, Gavin & Garret

Water and food: check!

Here's a quick update on what's been going on in Honduras!

Water Project

The water project we started back in January is still moving along in typical Latin style. Although water is a great need in Nueva Armenia, the main community we work in, locals have resigned to the fact that water just isn't available in their homes. They understand that the process of getting something done here takes longer, and in our case, this is true as well. We were blessed with the donation of the majority of the well pump and parts to go along with the installation. But with this comes the delay from shipping the pump and parts from the U.S.  The quality of this pump is way beyond what could be purchased here, so we are OK with waiting (as are they) and giving this community something that will last into the future.

Phase II:

Existing structure to house
the water filtration.

While we've been waiting for the pump we've been talking with two pastors of two churches in the community about starting a filling station for filtered water. One of the churches had at one point already had this idea and had started the project a few years earlier. Due to lack of funding and no water flow to the community, this project had stopped altogether. Because they had already started this project in the past, there is already a small cement slab, roof and semi-secure area next to the church. The next step will be to extend tubing to the street and create a clean filling area next to the main road through town. The filtration system can be setup in the already existing cement slab and then fully secured. The filling area will be a huge blessing to the community, and will be a way for these two churches to connect to people in the community on a different level.

Community Service = Food for the Hungry

Corey with the original members of the work group.

About one year ago we began work in Nueva Armenia by helping to supplement food to a community work group, which at the time was about 10 people made up of 2 to 3 families, mostly women. We provide food for the group in exchange for community service (cleaning up trash, clearing frequently used trails, repairing structures and/or homes for elderly, etc). Today it has grown to around 40 people including a larger group of men and young men who do the majority of the heavy work (construction, digging, etc.). The purpose of helping to expand this work group was to create unity in the community and to also expand the influence of our message of hope in Jesus Christ. Since October of last year, we've been able to include two churches in this work program expanding their influence as well by giving them a way to share Christ. We anticipate turning this project over completely to the churches by the end of the summer. Praise God!

Feeding Center

Feeding center location (cement slab) next to the church.

Because of our involvement with the community work group, we've made connections with various organizations and ministries who specialize in providing food for needy communities and people. We recently heard from one of the pastor's wives, Oneyda, that she has had a desire to start a feeding center for the children and elderly of the community. With our existing connections to these food sources, we are in the beginning stages of helping her start a feeding center in Nueva Armenia, centered out of one of the churches. Her dream is to build a center with a kitchen, food storage area, and dining room/eating area. The feeding center would start by feeding children a protein and vitamin rich breakfast and also teach them God's Word using the Garifuna Bible. By doing this, they are teaching their culture and language all wrapped into God's Word. Eventually, as God provides, they wish to expand the program to breakfast and lunch giving around 70 children and elderly at least one solid meal a day.

Transferable & Multipliable

One of our ministry policies working within Garifuna communities is that in everything we do, it must be transferable, multipliable or both. It must also be their idea, not ours—led by them, not by us. Ownership happens when the idea comes from them, even when we think our way is better. Our role is to help carry out their plans by connecting them to resources that are already here.

Our plan is to eventually turn the ministry over to a local group or entity. So far, God has grown this ministry very quickly (especially for a Latin country!). He has connected (and proven these connections through our projects) to provide basic needs of water and food to this needy community. Community leaders have responded to lead their people. Pastors have volunteered to use what God has provided to challenge and love their community members. THIS is what we desire.

THANK YOU!

We thank you for your continuing support for our ministry and for our family in so many ways, prayerfully, financially, and in the form of special gifts and help that many of you have provided. We thank God for you!

The Wells Family

May/June Ministry Update

A New Partnership

In the first few weeks of the month of May, we received news that our in-country “covering” organization, HFMM (Honduran Fellowship of Missionaries & Ministries), had partnered with Networking Honduras, a non-profit org based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. Networking Honduras has been working for more than 8 years with NGOs (Non-Governmental Orgs) and ministries focused on Honduras. Most of these organizations are based in the U.S. and take teams to Honduras to help people “on the ground”. HFMM helps missionaries and ministries within Honduras (such as us). The partnership between these two organizations has opened up many more opportunities and will help to ease our work here and work of others through the resources they provide.

One of the greatest benefits of this new partnership is that of being connected to many more ministries whose desire is to help the Honduran people. By working together we can accomplish a lot more in Honduras and expose our work, the work of others, and the need in the communities we work in to a larger audience.

Family selfie in
“Downtown Disney”.

A Trip to Orlando

Through Networking Honduras and HFMM, we also now have the benefit of being able to participate in conferences for the purpose of networking and sharing resources. We have taken advantage of this new blessing by attending a conference at the end of May in Orlando, Florida, hosted by Networking Honduras. We took a short 8-day trip to Orlando to both attend the conference and enjoy a family gift of tickets to a popular Florida “theme park”, of which we are very thankful! It was a much needed break and very refreshing in many ways as a family and for our ministry.

Meeting the Vice President of Honduras

Vice President Alvarez opening the
conference in Orlando.

 One more benefit to attending the conference in Orlando was being able to meet the Vice President of Honduras, Ricardo Alvarez (pictured) and his wife Lucrecia. Ricardo was a keynote speaker at the conference and Lucrecia led one of the breakout sessions. Both have had extensive experience with missionaries and ministries and volunteer with various ministries on a regular basis. We had an opportunity to speak with them in an informal meeting at the end of the conference. They are committed to helping missionaries and ministries in Honduras accomplish what God has called them to do. It is amazing the doors God has opened here in Honduras, not just for us, but for every missionary, ministry and NGO doing work here.

The Forgotten People of Honduras:
Garifuna & Moskito

Two days after our return from Florida, I (Corey) had the opportunity to join a team whom I connected with over a year ago called AHMEN (Alabama-Honduras Medical Education Network). They invited me to join them to La Mosquitia, the eastern most part of Honduras known as the Mosquito Coast, for a 5-day trip. This region is home to the Moskito people, an indigenousness indian people group, as well as to Garifuna communities living among them along the eastern coast. This team has been providing workshops to help lesser reached people groups learn new skills and to provide needed resources. A main goal of this group is to train local leaders in order to train others (multiplication). The focus of the workshops were to address local problems such as water filtration, infant care, nutrition, and how to form community groups to initiate positive change. All the workshops are done through local pastors/churches and include a message centered around the Lordship of Jesus Christ and as the ultimate source of hope and lasting change.

Workshop in Cusuna at a local church with pastor leading.

It was a great team with 4 doctors, 3 national pastors, 3 missionaries, 2 educators, 2 water experts, and a handful of others from the U.S., England, Columbia, Costa Rica and Honduras. After five days in La Mosquitia and a very adventurous trip there and back (I was one of the drivers/navigators), I came back with lots of new ideas for ministry. One of those ideas is that of workshops that we've already begun to develop. These workshops will go hand-in-hand with what our ministry already focuses on (namely empowerment of local people with a Christ-based message and providing connections to resources). Please pray with us about developing these workshops and that they would have lasting impact.

Corey and Chris in La Mosquitia.

Another blessing on this trip with the AHMEN team was meeting a young man named Chris. He is from a Garifuna community that we stopped and visited. This community is home to a medical clinic that was established through the help of AHMEN. Chris' family has been helping at the clinic since it's opening several years ago. One doctor who works at the clinic joined the team as well as Chris to help in whatever way he could. He speaks Garifuna, Spanish, and some English so was a great help. Through the trip, we were able to talk about ministry and his desires. He has studied social development in the university level and has an interest in joining us in ministry. We're giving Chris an “internship” to help us and learn firsthand about the ministry. Our desire is to eventually hand-off the ministry we're developing to nationals, preferrably young Garifuna men such as Chris, with a desire to serve. Chris' Christian character and desire to serve is evident, so we ask you please pray for him and his involvement with our ministry in the near future. Thank you!

Darren hiking across a suspension bridge
in the Pico Bonito jungle.

Meet our college intern, Darren!

Darren, who is a university student from Louisiana, is with us for six weeks as he helps our missionary friends and us in various aspects this summer. He's learning what ministry is like in La Ceiba and experiencing the culture of Honduras. He's been with us for a week now and is feeling more part of the family every day. Pray God would show him his glory and purposes while he stays with us. We're glad to have him!

The Need is not the same as the Call

God called us to Honduras, not because of the location, the need, or to serve in a certain capacity or vocation. God called us to a people called the Garifuna, a rich African-rooted culture with a troubled history and a need for hope. We often recall how God “called” us. It was not a need to fill (although there are plenty) or a desire on our part (and plenty of those as well). The need is not the same as the call we receive. The need is the opportunity for us to exercise the call. It was an obedience to God telling us to share the hope we have with these people.

We also realize that this call is not only to change others, but to change us. God often works in mysterious ways, but one thing we know for sure about him is that he wants what's best for us and desires to shape us into his image through whatever means he desires. Our calling most likely will shift and change someday, but until then we are to be obedient to do and be what he has given us to do and be.

So our message to you is this: Be a missionary where you are at! He may call you overseas to a foreign land, but more likely is he is calling you right where you are. God can use you in amazing ways if only you obey and follow. Count the cost (because it is high) and realize his calling and your response to that call is what matters.

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” (Acts 20:24)

What work has been assigned to you to carry out?

Please pray with us!

• Our water project is still underway. We are waiting for a pump to arrive via the States that was donated to us. Praise God for this blessing! And please pray for the remaining details to fall into place.
• Pray for Chris and his involvement in our ministry.
• Pray for healing for Kirsten and her family as they mourn the loss of their aunt who was very close to the family.
• Pray for the process of getting Gavin transferred to a new school. The process is difficult, but we trust the outcome will be best for him.

Thank you for your on-going prayers and partnership!

In His mighty grip,
Corey, Kirsten, Gavin & Garret

May Ministry Update

The water project in our community has been on-going and has ran into many delays. But through all of the delays we have had many opportunities to speak to the leaders we work with in the community (and the usual small crowd of people who surround us while we are there) about God's timing, patience, and the blessings of God.

It has been a busy time here in Honduras through the month of April. While we had some good family time at the end of March during Samana Santa (Holy Week, considered the “spring break” of Latin America), we have had a busy schedule since then.

 

Water Project

We praise God for providing 100% of our need for Phase I of our project! We had so much response, some financially, logistically, and in the form of sending us supplies. Our next steps with the well will be to build a pump house that will include a cement slab to secure the pump and electrical components.

Phase II of the water project will be to install a holding tank and water filtration system for purified drinking water. It will also include a path and covered area around the well site for filling buckets that we will distribute to the community. The filtration system depends on our water test results. If the results show the water is drinkable, obviously we can eliminate the holding tank and filter. Either way, God will provide!

Please pray with us!

• Pray for the water project and for God's timing on the well drilling. Pray for patience for us as we see God's purposes in the delays.
• Pray for Corey as he will be traveling to La Mosquitia (eastern Honduras) at the beginning of June. He will be assisting a training and development group from Alabama and will be teaching, driving, and translating among many other things. Pray for safety for the group as there has been ongoing conflict in that area between “narcos” (drug cartel), the Mosquitia people, and Honduran/U.S. military groups.
• Pray for the development of our ministry and for continued partnerships and resources.
• Pray for our decision to move Gavin to a different school next year (August). We feel the Lord leading in this direction, but need continued wisdom. Pray continually for Kirsten as she homeschools Garret.

Thank you for your on-going prayers and partnership!

In His mighty grip,
Corey, Kirsten, Gavin & Garret

Water Project Update

The water project we initiated at the beginning of February has gotten off to a good start. We were able to raise 70% of the funds we needed to start Phase One of this project! Praise God!

Phase One consists of drilling the actual water well, purchasing the pump needed for the well, and building a pump house to secure the pump and electrical components.

Phase Two is installing a filtration system which consists of a water purifier and holding tank. Phase Two is dependent on water tests from the well as it may not be needed depending on those results.

Phase Three is building a filling station around the pump/well area. There is a community water tower nearby the well site, but we are reluctant to use it (and its existing water pipes into the community) due to contamination and years of neglect. So the filling station will be for the community to use with water buckets we will distribute as part of Phase Three.

Although our funding is nearly there for Phase One, we have run into some problems. As with all of the work we do here, we try to involve other ministries who specialize in the areas we are working in. We have selected a ministry here that specializes in well drilling, however, during tests prior to drilling the hydraulic pump broke down on the drilling rig. The past few weeks have been spent getting this pump repaired, tested, repaired, and tested. Parts are not readily available so this adds to the waiting time that we have grown accustom to living here.

Through this waiting time, we have been able to talk with the community leaders about God's timing in everything. More opportunities to share with them and others around them have came up because of the delay. For this, we thank God!

We are nearly there for our Phase One goal and ask that you would give, if led, to this project so we can be good stewards of the work God has given us to do. We thank you in advance!

Please pray about this project:

• That the well drilling rig is repaired and funds for such repairs are available to the well drilling ministry.
• That we are given more opportunities to build up our community leaders, two leaders in particular: Margarita and Pastor Miguel. Margarita leads a community work team of 30+ people and needs perseverance in what she does. Miguel donated the land for the well, and we are working with him to involve his church in the project and to have influence in the community as well as with Margarita's work team.
• That people who are a part of the work team for the water project have soft hearts to hear the nudging of the Spirit, and that our opportunities to speak into their lives line up with this nudging.

Thank you for your on-going prayers and partnership!

In His mighty grip,
Corey, Kirsten, Gavin & Garret