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