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