Thursday, June 30, 2011

Prayer List

Please pray for:

Everything Jessica and I do to bring glory to God

Our hearts to remain open to His leading

Us to be free from anxiety and be able to focus on our preparations and work

The people we will work with in Honduras, that their hearts will be open to the seeds of His Word

The missionary family in Santa Rosa, the Waldrons (Phil, Donna, Harrison, and Laura)

The teens we worked with last year—hopefully we'll be able to follow up with them

Our preparations, packing and travel to go smoothly (and that we won't forget anything!)

Our safety while traveling, including our bags

Our health and safety while we are there

The other LST team who will be there either just before us (from Washington)

Dale and Caleb, that things will go smoothly for them here at home while we are gone

Our Team

Cindy (Me!)
Jessica – my daughter, who will be in tenth grade

The C's:
Owen & Debbie – the parents
Auston – a Harding University student
Meridith – will be in twelfth grade
Lizzy – will be in ninth grade
Connor – will be in sixth grade

Monica Y – an eighth grader who has already worked on three LST projects in Honduras and China

Morgan D – a Harding University student

What God Has Done So Far

June 2010
Jessica and I went to Santa Rosa de Copán on an LST Young Friends project (a version of LST for teenagers). We originally signed up for a mission trip to The Dominican Republic, but God directed us to Honduras instead!

July 2010
Jessica and I had a desire to go back to Honduras, so we began discussing various possibilities with the Waldrons.

January 2011
God had closed several doors and opened others, and over time we had come to suspect He might be guiding us to work on an LST project in Santa Rosa.

February 2011
After much prayer and agonizing over the decision, Jessica and I made the commitment to LST. We were terrified because we didn't have a team or the funds to go. We needed a team of about seven and $4400.

I began sending fund-raising letters and a prayer list as soon as I could. I actually sent the first batch during a city-paralyzing snowstorm, having to drive to a mailbox since we weren't receiving mail!

March 2011
By the beginning of March we had over half our funds raised and a team of ten! We believe God used this as a powerful confirmation that He wanted us to return to Santa Rosa on an LST team because He answered these prayers so quickly.

In late March we started our weekly LST training, which lasted about eight weeks.

April 2011
We finished our fund-raising two months ahead of schedule, thanks to God and the generosity of our family and friends!

We went to Dallas for additional LST training. We spent the weekend getting to know the other team members and learning more about the LST materials and methods.

May and June 2011
We finished our training in May and started making final preparations and plans for our trip!

We leave July 9, 2011!

Basic Information About Our Mission Trip

My daughter, Jessica, and I are going to Honduras in July for a mission trip. I'm going to start a blog series about it, and hopefully I'll be able to update it while we're there.

First, the basics. Jessica and I are going to Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras, which is in western Honduras in the mountains.

MAP OF HONDURAS

We are going as part of a Let's Start Talking (LST) project. We will be working with Hondurans who want to improve their English, using Bible text and questions as our catalyst for conversations.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LST

We will be in Honduras July 9th through July 23rd and will be traveling down with five other people, with three others to arrive on July 16th (ten people total).

We will be working with Mission Upreach, an organization founded by Phil & Donna Waldron in 2008 that facilitates short-term mission trips like LST projects and medical brigades, and also long-term projects like Bible classes in public schools and Bible training for adults who want to be evangelists.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MISSION UPREACH