Less like a Mission, More Like Family

Well, a new year is upon us. We are now looking forward to another visit with our ministry partners in Honduras. They really are more than ministry partners. They are our family! If someone would have tried to explain what our relationship with them would be before we met them we would have never understood. That first trip we were very apprehensive. We had never met them at all. No pictures! Only names! In fact, we worried needlessly about what we would do about a flight delay or cancellation. How would we let them know? But as He has with every aspect of this ministry, The Lord has taken care of us. We immediately were accepted into this wonderful serving family and made to feel very welcome. We are blessed to know many in their extended family also. So you can see why we are eager to return to visit them. It is a wonderful renewal of our friendship as well as the additional blessing of seeing the fruits of their labors in the prisons.

We are looking forward to visiting new areas of Honduras where new programs in the prisons have been growing. On our last visit we met a new volunteer pastor who will be working in these new prisons in the north of Honduras by the Caribbean Sea. The Lord provided this man in answer to our prayers for more volunteers to cover areas of Honduras that are too far away for our country coordinators to travel to on a weekly basis. As I said earlier, He has provided all we have needed for this ministry to reach the prisons of Honduras.

When we were in Honduras last, we had a three day seminar for all the volunteers on coaching. This would be helpful for them in working with their leaders in the various groups in the prisons. One thing we are praying about is that the finances would be available in the future for a retreat for the volunteers. They would gain such encouragement from each other by just getting together. They are spread out over the whole country and do not see each other regularly. We know and have faith that The Lord will provide in this area also. He has been so faithful in providing what is needed in the past.

When people ask us how long we will continue to serve in the prisons of Honduras, Gary and I say, “As long as the Lord allows!” As long as we are blessed with our health and ability to travel, we count it as a privilege to be a part of the Lord’ s ministry in the prisons of Honduras.

Thank you for continuing to pray with us,

Diane

Family Support - Diane writes!!!!

Since I read Carrie's blog post I have felt motivated to write the story of how all three of our wonderful daughters have encouraged us on this journey. You will quickly see that the writing talent in this family did not come from me, but here goes.....

As Carrie referred to in her story, The Lord brought me along on this journey just slightly behind Gary. I thought prison ministry was Gary's calling and that was fine with me. But when he came home and told me we needed 120 dozen cookies for the four day event, I was NOT fine with that. I remember talking to Carrie and she said she would pray for me, that God would change my heart. And He did, but not all at once. Then Emily said, "We can do this at my house. The kids will help and my friends will come and we will get it done!" And Dena had friends from church baking cookies and she delivered them. All the while the girls were helping and praying for a change of my heart. And God answered their prayers.

Then there were posters  and place mats that we also needed for the four day events. That was also a family project. All the grand kids worked on them and even our daughters! Carrie even had her Sunday school class from Indiana do some and sent them to us in the mail. This is all just to explain the support we got from the very beginning.

Now that we are doing what God has so clearly called us to do, we are still getting the great support that we got in the beginning. Before we left for language school Emily had her breast cancer surgery. Thankfully the Lord allowed me to be there for it, but we had to leave the day she came home from the hospital. To ease my worry about who would help Emily and because they love each other, Dena and Carrie each came for many days to be there for Emily. Even though Emily would have rather had me stay home, she still encouraged me to go saying that she would be fine. Always the encourager.

When we were first trying to begin to tell our story of how God brought us to this place of serving Him, the girls all encouraged us to practice telling our story in front of all of them and their husbands. It helped us so much to share our story with them first.  Dena even had a gathering of friends at her house so we could tell them our story. And I must not forget that Dena watches our dog when we leave the country AND takes us to the airport.

So these are just a few instances ( and I am sure I missed some) of the many ways our daughters have supported us. We feel so blessed that our whole family - son-in-laws, grandchildren and everyone is praying for us and supporting us in many, many ways . We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!