Jesus Te Ama!

We love the ability to give gifts to people on the brigades we go to, so we were very excited when Agnes Rost told us she had made us some beautiful crochetted little crosses to hand out to Honduran children here in Honduras.

Agnes is quite the inspirational woman. At 95 years young, Agnes lives at the the Villa St. Vincent, the nursing home my mom works at in Crookston, MN. We met Agnes when we went to the Villa to share with the residents there about the mission work we are doing here in Honduras. She was so kind and fun to talk to. She shows so much love and compassion for those around her. Agnes is so giving that at 95 she is still donating blood! Follow this link to a story about that. http://www.crookstontimes.com/archive/x596329026/Woman-proves-you-re-never-too-old-to-give-gift-of-life

Agnes started making the crosses as gifts to send to our troops in Iraq. After we visited with her she decided to send some to the kids here. She takes breaks once in awhile to eat, but I understand Agnes has been putting her love into the crosses from morning to night. In less than 3 weeks she had made 50 crosses to send back to Honduras with us and another 100 came down with my dad. She hoped to send the message "Jesus loves you" or "Jesus te ama" to the children of Honduras.

While my father was here he was able to pass out some crosses to children we know. The crosses were also given to the pastor of the church to give to those who made first time confessions of faith in Evangelism. The crosses brought smiles to many faces as people heard not only the story of the 95 year old gringa making them, but the Gospel story of our Lord and Savior who loved us so much that He gave his life so that we might live!!

Thank you Agnes for the wonderful message you sent to the children here, for your hard work, and for being such a wonderful inspiration in never giving up on giving from your heart!!

Letter to Jamie's dad

Jamie sent an email to her dad tonight and I was very touched at how she expressed many of the feelings we have here. I wanted to share them, with her permission, to express some of the issues we struggle with being so far away from you. We are really struggling with what we want for our life and if the Lord is calling for something different. We know He will hold us responsible for what He has shown us and we are going through a discernment process of whether we need to stay in Honduras for a longer period of time. Please pray for our discernment and that His will will be fullfilled and that our will, will be His.


Hola Papi!!

We were happy to hear that your trip home went well. We're missing you already in this little old house and for some reason it seems a little emptier. I cannot tell you how much it meant to us, to me, that you came to visit us and participate in what we do. It's such a blessing to have had you here to walk where we walk and see what we see. I enjoyed seeing the Holy Spirit working in and through you. To see the excitement in your face was refreshing and helped to remind me why we are here. I just wish here was not so far from home. It could be worse though, right! Your only a flight away.

Most of the time it feels so right to be here, but there are doubts when the people you hold closest to your heart don't understand why you would choose this life. This is the life we were called to, I know that's what feels right. It's just hard to accept sometimes. Please continue to keep our discernment in your prayers.

It hit me hard today when I was speaking with one of the team members leaving. He was commending me being here and doing this work full-time. He told me that he had felt like he needed to do something like this quite awhile back, but they decided to put his kids first. He thanked me and commended us for putting God first and following his call. After that I thought, how can we follow our own selfish desires. I say this not knowing our future calling, but knowing that whatever it is God will give us the strength and support we need...we need only say YES LORD, YES, YES LORD.

Anyway, thank you again so very very much for coming and for all you did while you were here. We look forward to seeing you and mom soon this May!

Love you,
Jamie

PS. Reed said he saw Grandpa leaving in the airplane while he was on the way back from his field trip. He said it was Continental. His heart was with you. Miss you!

Four hands for the Lord are better than two!

I had the wonderful privilege of serving the Lord in Honduras with a wonderful chiropractor, Dr. Karl Boone, from West Virgina. With his presence we were able to see nearly every patient that wanted to have chiropractic this week which was a total of 576 people! I know that Dr. Boone was able to physically bless so many Hondurans with over half that number being people that he cared for. He also blessed me with encouragement of this ministry, physical relief from pain, and spiritual strengthening from this strong and wonderful Christian.

Dr. Boone served with such a joyous heart and big smile it was great to be by his side while we did His work.

I believe the ministry of chiropractic has such dramatic results on the physical and spiritual needy here in Honduras. Of those 576 patients over 300 of them come with headaches that are cervicogenic in nature and are present more than 3x per week. One or two adjustments will often change their lives and show them a solution to their problem. We saw many damaged shoulders and knees that were able to receive some relief which truly changed how those people felt. We saw many low backs that could not turn without pain, but were able to find aid in our treatment. Many upper backs that suffer from bad posture, carrying small children that received adjustments to get back some extension and relief in their muscles. It was a blessed week!
While all these physical benefits are important, what I believe the divine purpose Dr. Boone and myself are in Honduras is to bring more souls to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior. When we physically touch them to deliver relief, we know that we may be the first health care practitioner to ever try to physically help them. When we show love and compassion for a patient and their physical condition we hope they do not see us, but see the love of Christ.

When we deliver our care and compassion the patient then goes to the evangelism station where a North American missionary will share with them the Gospel of Christ and salvation. They talk about their spiritual walk, where it is at, and many will make a recommitment to the Lord. They talk with some that feel that they cannot come to the Lord, but we know that a seed has been planted. They will talk to some who have never heard of Jesus Christ and that through faith in Him and surrendering ourselves to Him they can have eternal life with our Father. Some will make that commitment. I believe the Lord sent me to Honduras to prepare more souls for His kingdom and that perhaps through our care they will open their hearts to His word. I pray that the Lord will use me everyday He has given me for that glorious purpose!

INFANT WRAPS!!!
Dr. Boone's wife, Sharon, responded to our need listed in our last email to our supporters in Christ. She and her church made 23 infant wraps which Dr. Boone brought down to give to mothers of need. We saw many of those mothers and had the privilege of giving out most of those wraps this week. The wraps provide a break for the shoulders of these women so they do not have to constantly carry their infants. Often times they have to do work, but as many women know, do not have the free hands to accomplish this work. With the help of these wraps you could see the joy and excitement of their faces as they we able to loving carry their children while maintaining the free use of their arms! Thank you so much Sharon for your passion and the work of your women's ministry group. We are so thankful as this is the first fruits of this idea.

This was the 1st blessing that we heard in regards to this new and developing ministry. Currently called our Infant Wrap Ministry. The 2nd blessing came from an email from Sara Asleson who had picked up the ball with the church council at Christ the King. They committed support and the church members donated $880 to fund the development of this ministry! We hope to do some vocational training with some single mothers here in Honduras as well as get more wraps made to give needy mothers at the brigades. Thank you so much to CTK for this support and I believe much fruit will be seen from this. Look to the future for blog updates on this coming from Jamie. She is extremely passionate about getting these into the hands of women here as she refuses to leave the house without the aid of hers!

A Ripe Harvest

My Dad left today from a spiritually fun-filled up lifting time in Honduras. I can't tell you how much we all enjoyed his company and extra helping hand with the three kiddo's. Ella was all ready to go on the plane with him today until she didn't know how she was going to get back.

Dad got to experience many things here in Honduras. Some highlights include watching ballroom dancing in the park at Valle de Angeles, giving lice treatments, singing and dancing with kids at brigade, pouring concrete floors in dirt floor homes, giving a family a roof over their heads instead of paper, providing food and clothing for families, holding lots of babies, helping to purchase property for the Cruz family in Nueve Capital, worshiping with us, working in the pharmacy at brigade, and the thing he seemed to love the most....sharing the Gospel with lost and searching souls here in Honduras.

I asked him to write up a little something for our blog which you'll see below. Our little one bedroom house already feels empty without him. We love you Dad. Thanks so much for sharing in this ministry with us.

Jamie, Ryan, Reed, Ella, and Addy,

Time sure goes by fast when you're doing something that is so fullfilling. It was a blessing to be able to come to Honduras and share in the WGO ministry with you. I felt exta special with not only being able to serve on two brigades, but also had the privledge of seeing my grandkids, along with you and your special friends you work with on a daily basis. Like I said with the Grace of God I will be back again next year to serve on a brigade if not before. The Honduran people are so forever grateful for whatever we do to impact their lives. The Harvest is Ripe. The worker could be You.

Love, Dad

Some pics of our visitors activities while here in Tegucigalpa

Dad with Daniel
(Daniel was the breech baby Ryan helped to turn in June. His parents took over a month to name him. They named him Wilson Daniel (but call him Daniel) after we suggested the name Daniel as it was my fathers name and we liked it a lot)

Dad holding Marjorie (Magda's 6th child) and Angie. The little boy is Darwin (who Reed gave his Zapatos to)

Dad, Denny, and Ryan tinning a roof in Nueve Capital

Washing hair at brigade

Big shot driving in Honduras. I'd like to say he beat me to it, but I did get the courage to drive 5 blocks in town the week before he came to visit.

Fun playing Candy Land with Reed and Ella

On Monday Dad stayed home with the me and the girls and we added some color to Addi's bedroom walls. See everyone...it's not quite as small a room as you thought. Addi just loves it and smiled a big smile when she first laid down in her bed.