Wishlist

There are few things we are in need of, for the discipleship group, as well as for our classrooms before school starts again. We are excited to say that the bibles, chairs and some fans have been covered! There are still several ways you can help us!

If you would like to purchase one or more of these things for us, just follow the link and scroll to find us and make a donation. If you want it designated for something specific, just send us a message letting us know what you are donating toward!

Things are in order of needed sooner rather than later.

DONATE HERE

Kaitlen's Permanent Residency - This is the last time we will have to file for residency, but it is a big cost!
$1,200

Electricity Regulators for the Computer Lab - To protect our computers from electricity surges and electrical storms. Our computer lab is a huge blessing to the students and the community because the each have their own computer to work on. Public schools either don't have a computer lab or there is one computer for every 3 or 4 students.
$90 each
$450 for 5

Ceiling Fan - We don't have air-conditioning! 

$57

Build a Swing Set - A practical thing for the kids when they come to play!
$350

New Tires - Taking students to classes in Ceiba
and providing transportation for discipleship and
kids program (we live outside the community)

$155 each 
$620 for 4

Shock Absorbers - The road up the mountain is not paved, and it takes 1 and 1/2 hours to get to the city so these are very important!
$75 each or $300 for 4 

Hospitality

"Love one another as members of one family" - Romans 12:10 (AMP)

Recently God has put hospitality on my heart, and I am trying to become better at it.

Even though we've been married for two years, I haven't really been in a position to be a hostess. The first year and half of marriage, we lived with Jose's parents, so she did the cooking, and offering people things. The other reason, that I have been hesitant, is because hospitality is very different here in Honduras. 

To start, visits are spontaneous, unplanned and you never know when someone will show up, for how long, or if they had in mind to spend the night at your house. Visits are just very different here.

But I also had a fear that I might do something wrong, or get judged, since I know how gossipy and judgmental people can be here. I was afraid my house was "too fancy" or my food might be "to different", or even worse, have the most awkward time since I am shy and not good at conversing with people I barely know.

One day a neighbor girl came over and was talking to me and Lesbia, the girl living with us, through the window. After a few minutes, Lesbia invited her in. It was in that moment, that I realized my mindset had to change and quick, because it was my job, as the wife, to invite her in and it hadn't even crossed my mind!

I have been reminded that God has blessed us to bless others, and they will see that as well, as I invite them in and give them something to eat! We are so blessed to have an oven now, and I can bake things whenever I want and give them to visitors! Not only do I get to play the expected role of hostess, but go above and beyond by giving them something unexpected and baked (a real treat here) because God has blessed us!

Sometimes I get frustrated with this style of unplanned visits because the house sometimes is a little messy, but the kids don't care. I watched a sermon online recently that talked about Jesus' return. Just like we don't have time to pick up the house when someone pops in, we won't have time to clean up our lives when he returns. So live with the end in mind and invite others into your lives and homes, even if it's messy, because that's what matter. It's all about relationships, not appearance!

Please pray for kids (and adults) to show up at our house! Because once they come once, even if it's for a different reason, they feel welcome and are likely to come again!

Donate Here

Student Home

   The apartments that we are building are getting close to being finished! Our goal behind building three apartments was to have a space for visitors or volunteers, but most importantly to allow us to invite students to live with us while they study. We were not planning on having anyone live with us this year, but after talking with some students, we felt like it was something that we were ready to do. There are several reasons that we might invite a student to live with us, like economic resources of the family, living far into the mountain, or coming from a single-parent household. Pray for God to bring the right students to us this year and next year to live with us.

     This year, Franklin is living with us while he studies in the 8th grade at the public middle school. We are excited to see what this year brings for Franklin. He is a fun, 13 year old young man, who loves to play soccer. He is already learning lots of things with us, like being more responsible and independent, and he is practicing his English a lot.
     Please pray for us as we guide and parent Franklin during the week (he visits his family on the week-ends), and especially for Kaitlen as she spends most of the day with Franklin. Pray also for his salvation and interest in a personal relationship with our heavenly father.  

Dejando Huellas Ministry

       A short summary of the Dejando Huellas Ministry, what we have been doing 

the past 3 years, and what we are doing this year. 

English and Computer Classes

    Three years ago, we started our middle school in Toncontin because their was no higher education in any of the surrounding communities. This year, that need has been met by the public elementary school as they have extended to become a middle school. For us this means that this year we have a different set up. We are working alongside the public school, which is now a middle school, to help them teach the English and Computer classes while they teach the general classes. These classes are a blessing for the public school, because the government does not provide the schools with computers or English teachers, and we are able to cover those needs for them!
     We are excited about teaching these classes and the students that we get to work with. We love this set up in so many ways, and most of all because it allows us to do more of what we love without having to worry about teaching the general classes. We are also able to serve and love-on more students because more than 70 students are benefiting from our classes this year. This set up also allows us to continue our trade school and discipleship groups. Please pray for us and all of the students we have this year.

10th Grade Program

Our 10th (the start of high school) graders are loving their classes! This year, we are taking 10 students to a public high school in La Ceiba. They receive their classes on the weekend, and we cover the cost of transportation, and school fees for them. Two times a week in Toncontin, we are giving them reinforcement for their classes as well as extra classes like English, computer, Bible, and trade school classes. We are excited to see about this new dynamic, and how God will work in these students!

We made the decision to work with the 10th graders in this way for different reasons. Our hope was to open the high school grades at our school, starting this year but it was impossible. During the last few months there were many changes within the program we use, and their personnel. With all the changes it was nearly impossible to open the high school grades this year.

This year, our goal is to work with the 10th graders in this way, while we work on the legal process to open the high school for the next school year. This gives us time we need to prepare well for the coming year, find good teachers, and raise the money we need. The following year, the 10th graders will be able to transfer to our school as 11th graders, and finish up their studies with us. 

If you would like to sponsor one of our students you can follow this link.

Check out our facebook posts about the 10th graders. 

Changed by Peace

One of our boys has had an incredible transformation in Christ over the past few years. Chenfor moved to our community a few years ago to flee a terrible situation. He stole for a living with his dad until one day when the owner woke up to find them stealing and shot his dad. Chenfor had to run for his life to not be killed as well. He came to our community out of fear, because picture was shown on the news and he was terrified that someone might recognize him and try to kill him.

Jose was spending the night at the school to protect the computers we had, and several of our students were staying with him as well. Chenfor approached Jose to ask him if he could also spend the night, because he was afraid that someone would break into his little house to kill him, and thought the school would be safer. Little did he know how much God would use this fear by drawing him to Jose for safety and into a friendship with him.

After sharing with Jose about his past, he became a part of the discipleship group, but also ask Jose to teach him something since all he knew how to do was steal. Jose began to teach him piano, wood burning, and took him to work with him on our property and on trips to the city. He had also never been to school because he didn’t have a birth certificate. After he got his birth certificate, we worked with him to get caught up to 6^th grade, and this year he received his elementary diploma!

But the most exciting part of Chenfor’s story isn’t about what he has done with his time, but what God has done in his heart. After being in the discipleship group, God has greatly transformed his heart and given him a peace. He used to be very fearful, and always looking over his shoulder from fear that someone was after him, but now he is a new creation in Christ. This past year he was baptized and attends church. He also helps lead worship some days! He has changed from a fearful, macho boy who made jokes of Christians, to a young man of God, who has peace in his Heavenly father.

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Since we see him day to day, I hadn’t really noticed the drastic change that God has brought about in his life, until we were getting ready to go to the states. He was helping pack up the car with Jose and while I was watching them, I noticed Chenfor singing a Christian song. Our driveway is right next to the main road, and it was really neat to see how Chenfor was singing audibly and by choice, a Christian song, in a place where anyone could hear him. He was not ashamed of Christ! This made me reflect back on how he used to be. He came to us a thief, and only listened to pop music. He didn’t even know the words to a Christian song and had no desire for God, and here he is now praising God outside of a church with no care in the world about who can hear him. Praise the Lord for the transforming power of his love!

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God our Father

Most of our boys, and many of our students come from single-mother households, or have a father who doesn’t care about them. It has been neat to see how Jose has come alongside the boys and been a brother/friend/almost father figure to them, and led them to our heavenly father.

The churches in our area teach a lot of legalism and works based faith, and one of those weird ideas that they have is that you can only worship God in a church. The discipleship boys brought this up to Jose once, and Jose had been praying about this complicated situations. This is a hard thing because you can’t prove anything by just talking about worshiping God, it has to be an experience that others must have.

The next time that the boys met, Jose was playing a song on the guitar about the prostitute who came an anointed Jesus’ feet. During this time God gave Jose an image. This was a moment that he was reliving from when he was a boy. One time he broke a bowl and his dad hit him really hard, but in this picture, God showed up in the place of his dad, and said, “It is ok, you are allowed to break things and you will grow”. Jose shared these thought with the boys and they all began to cry. This was the perfect image that the boys needed from God, showing that He is a merciful and loving God, the opposite of what they had been told their whole life. They were really able to understand that he cares for them and they will grow in Him, their heavenly father.
Afterwards, Jose asked them why they were ALL crying. They said, “its because we felt God’s hugs, and we felt His presence, He was here, and we CAN worship Him and be with Him outside of the Church!” Jose was so happy that God had answered his prayers in this way. Not only were the boys able to see more of God’s true character, but they also had the opportunity to experience God’s presence and somewhere outside of the church. Words can only go so far, but when God shows up and people experience His presence and power, hearts are changed.