Dear Friends,
Merry Christmas! I hope you had a great Christmas with family and friends! Rachel and I had a really nice Christmas with our family here in NM.
On the 13th of December we arrived back in the states from our tour in Honduras. The time we spent in Central America was awesome! We saw God at work in so many different ways. We were and still are humbled that God would choose to use us as His vessels.
While in Honduras we were able to lead worship and share the gospel in four different churches and in their various ministries. Some of these ministries included schools, feeding programs for kids and elderly people, youth groups, Christian radio and television. The three feeding programs rescued kids from scavenging in dumps and now gives them two nutritious meals a week as well as teaching them basic reading and writing skills. At one of the centers, we also saw the opening of a dental clinic that would give the kids free dental check-ups and basic care.
I was really encouraged to see the ways that these churches have impacted their towns. When a church is providing education, food, radio, television, medical, and sharing the gospel of Jesus through it all to their community, I really believe that’s what ‘being the church’ is meant to look like.
Rachel was able to teach several dance classes while we were in Honduras and I know the students were really encouraged and very grateful for what Rachel was able to teach them. I had a great time teaching guitar to two men for three afternoons. It definitely stretched my mind to teach guitar and lead worship in Spanish! I also had to stretch my language skills as I constructed a bookshelf with a young man who spoke only a few words in English.
I think one of the biggest highlights for us was getting to minister to the kids in the feeding programs. To be able to impart the joy of the Lord through music to these young lives while helping give them a healthy meal was so awesome! To think of where they have been and what they have seen in the short time they have been alive, that none of us will probably ever experience was hard to comprehend. But to see them healthy and being fed in more ways than one and to hear the local minister’s heart for them brought a smile to my face!
This is what God has done, and is still doing for us! He finds us scavenging in the world trying to find something to satisfy our souls to give us that sense of fulfillment, and He draws us out to draw us in to His arms. To a place where we find true satisfaction, true hope, a place where we find fulfillment in Him!
One of the most impactful ways that I saw God use us in Honduras was to be an encouragement to the ministers and the young leaders that we were able to meet. We had a lot of opportunities to be with people one-on-one and in small groups. We listened to the visions God had put on their hearts for the people and could cheer them on to keep doing what God has called them to do. Once again, we are humbled that God would send us around the world to lead people in worship and be His light to both brothers and sisters and to those to whom God is still calling. I think we were also a blessing to our host home in Tegucigalpa, the Morales’s, who enjoyed listening to live music everyday reverberate around their home.
Thank you to all those who gave and made it possible for us to go! You might not have been there physically, but when you gave you stepped into being on mission with us!
As this year comes to a close, I am once again so grateful to all of you and to God for allowing us to do what we do. This has been our first year of full time ministry, and we are excited to see what God has in store as we move forward. It hasn’t all been easy sailing. We have had some unexpected expenses with the RV and some months we weren’t as busy as we would have liked but I have to believe that wherever we were and whatever we were doing God has a purpose for it all. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” ESV
Currently, we are busy planning this next year! We have 10 dates so far in a spring tour with more on the way. We will be heading east again on this first tour. So far, we have a number of churches, youth groups, The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association headquarters, and some teen challenge centers. This year, we are planning on sharing at Teen Challenge Centers all around the country as we travel. Teen Challenge is a recovery program that is Christ centered with an amazing success rate. Find out more about them by clicking here. We want to visit these centers and share with them of the new life that they have been offered in Christ Jesus. We would also like to be able to bless them with some gifts of music or t-shirts, so stay tuned, and I will write a follow-up email on this specifically soon.
If you would like to sow into the ministry of this next year and step out on mission with us you can click on the donate button below.
Here are a few ways you can help sponsor:
- A tank of gas – $95
- RV park spaces in between events – $35
- A gift of a CD to a Teen Challenge student – $10
- Repairs/maintenance to the RV – $1200
As always, all donations are tax deductible. Thank you in advance for partnering with us to make this ministry possible!
We hope that you have a great New Year!
Much Love and Blessing,
Jeremiah & Rachel
Leave a Reply