Message from the Missionaries

“Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
– Ephesians 5:15-17

In these times it is easy to be lazy with our faith. It is easy to get relaxed in our prayer life. It is easy to ignore the voice of God or so it seems. God puts opportunity in front of us to be ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In some situations it may seem impossible or too difficult to do but God is there motivating us on. We may know the will of the Lord and yet we get tired, bored, frustrated, scared, nervous, and confused. That is when the wisdom of God through the gift that we received in the Holy Spirit to discern and understand the will of the Lord. He will say something simple and yet powerful as Go and Do; just like he did with the Patriarchs of the Bible. We have noticed that during these evil days that many more Christians here in Honduras are walking away from their faith because God is asking them to Go and Do. The men and women of the Bible and there key to success wasn’t the completion of a task, or how well they performed there task but that they responded with a WENT and DID attitude. Are you doing and going?

Prison Ministry

Since the beginning of the month of March we have been working three days a week and some 4 ½ hours each day inside prison in removing tattoos. We have been blessed to be able to help 36 ex-gang members. Getting these men into the program of removing tattoos is one thing but the “next day” is even harder. Why you may ask? Well Satan doesn’t like what we are doing. So he is discouraging these men to continue on with the very long (in some cases 1 year or more) process of removing their tattoos. These men are anxious, nervous in the outcome, scared for the future and so much more. The two men that I preached about when we were home (shadow and the beast) who had tattoos covering their bodies from head to toe (even on there private areas) well they have been struggling the most. Every day when we go in we have to encourage them to keep going, not to fall into depression, not to use huge amounts of drugs, not to revert to their old ways and just not give up. One day Shadow was lying down on a bench to have his tattoos removed from his face and I started working on his forehead the pain was excruciating and his mouth twitched and moans came forth. I explained to him there was no spray or cream to help with the pain. After about 5 minutes of pain he jumped up off the bench and yelled out loud, “it is better for me to go back. It would be better for me to grab my machete and kill 21 one people.” Oh he was fired up. The demon that is inside of him didn’t like what was happening and so Shadow ran from one area to another talking nonsense. The other men didn’t want to enter into the process of removal because of the nervousness they had with Shadow. They didn’t know what he would do. So we packed up and left until things cooled down. We went the following day and when I entered I saw him sitting on the same bench. I walked to him and knelt down and took his hand and said I’m sorry my friend for the pain you received. Don’t be mad but continue to move forward. Try! He smiled and said, “I’m not mad at you, there is a war inside of me that I can’t explain.” Change is a process and these men are committed to God and then to us in finishing what they have started. Every day is a challenge and every day is a fight. Like God said to me one morning while praying, “Michael go and remove tattoos today and I’ll be with you both.” I said Lord I don’t feel motivated today to do this. The Lord spoke loud and said, “GO!”. I got up and we went to Tamara Prison. When we went into the area of the ex gang members we saw the men lined up and waiting for us. They hugged us and asked why you are late?

Honduras Kairos

We have been working on trying to make connections with the Cardinal of the Catholic Church so we can receive support from them in the form of volunteers and to also help in reopening doors for us inside Tamara prison so we may use the church inside for our men’s weekends. Also we had a meeting with the Methodist Superintendent in allowing us to use his church for our weekends as well. He has helped us out by opening his doors to us in using the Methodist church and also he will be helping us to find volunteers as well. Both of these things have been some big issues and stunting the growth of Kairos Honduras. God is at work and is opening up doors for our community. We would like to ask for all of you to pray for our upcoming women’s weekend June 11-14, 2009. Also Glenda and I will be heading to Nicaragua with 4 other Kairos Honduras volunteers to a Central American Kairos Conference-Training. We will be going April 22-24, 2009. So please pray for our travels as I drive to Nicaragua for the first time.

School Projects

Being down and discouraged and confused seems to be the theme throughout the world today. I had an opportunity one morning when I went to the Venezuela School to meet with Pastor Giron. While waiting Director Flores came to me and we started a conversation. I noticed that his esteem was down and he had a change of direction but his new direction seemed clouded and confused. As I continued with him in conversation I noticed that he had three different groups equally confused and yet putting pressure on him for some decisions he needed to make about the school and the building. He was receiving 20-30 computers from the government and the government wanted to place these new computers in one of the class rooms instead of waiting on the completion of the building. Another was that the 5th grade classes were being held outside and at the Catholic Church across the street and the parents were pressured to build a wooden class room. He was searching in what to do. I said may I speak direct. He said, “Michael I need some outside advice”. I spoke to him about what the Lord’s will was and is for him and the Venezuela school. I told him to go and speak to school officials and explain the plans of the Lord to them and God will do the rest. I said all you need to do is Go and believe. Well he saw me a few days latter and he came with a whole new outlook and with joy. He said everything is working out. The government will put the computers in the new building and they praised God for it, the 5th grade class is back in there room and the parents don’t need to build. He also said that God truly wants this work to be done. He and the community are anxiously waiting for the help that comes from God in the form of work teams in May.

Community Projects

The sponsored children are in tests and we should be receiving there report cards in the next month. We will be sending them out as soon as possible. Also Glenda has been working on translating the letters of each sponsored child. We have mailed out the majority of them out in a form of a package that consists of a letter from your child, photo of your child and a letter from us. Some of you will be receiving your package in 10 to 12 days. Many thanks to all of you for your support of these 83 children.

A Personal Outlook

Ephesians 5:18-21 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in you heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Why do we submit? Why should we love each other and give thanks for what we have? Because He submitted his life to serve us with all his heart, mind, and soul. Why is it so hard for us to do the same? This picture we printed out and gave it to each of our older youth. The majority studied the picture and didn’t say much but there reaction was humbling. One girl however laughed at it. She didn’t want to come to reality that one man died for us and forgave us for our sins. What happened to that picture? Well you would probably think it was thrown away but she still has it in her bedroom.

Prayer Requests

Emelin in her studies, all of our 82 sponsored children, to the children in the streets who can’t go to school because of the lack of, to all those who are out of work, our youth groups, to the men and women we are ministering in prison, Jonathan a young man who has given up on life and holds resentment towards his mom and dad, to all the missionaries who are in the field and also to keep in prayer this ministry our board and the two teams that will be coming down in May. Team #5 Victory Highway Wesleyan May 1-10, 2009. Team #6 Penn. Ave UMC May 22-31, 2009. The formation of team #7 Victory Highway Wesleyan Youth late July.

Prayer

Father may we always thank you with praise from our lips and from our hearts in the good times and well as in the bad. In knowing that you are God and you are in control of all these millions of peoples’ lives. It is always amazing how you hear all of our prayers and tend to all of our needs and how you stay involved in each of our lives. It is awe inspiring to see brothers and sisters working together for the same common good and for the advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you Lord for all those back at home for their prayers and support of this ministry and their trust in us to do this work. We also thank you Lord for all those who work or have apart in the different ministries we have going in Honduras. God, thank you.

In Jesus name, Amen.