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.