PRAY FOR:

- A director of the sponsorship program; looking for a married couple who can speak English and Spanish.
- Vivien as she heads back to Brazil for 4 weeks to be at her sister's wedding. She's also preparing for our marriage and our Brazil reception for November, 2 months after our wedding on September 18.
- Tirza, as she continues to teach English in school, lead Bible studies on Wednesday and the children's program on Saturday, and work at the activity center in the afternoons
- Me, as I will be without Vivien for 4 weeks.

SCHEDULE:

- The month of August I am finishing up some renovations in my house as I prepare for a girl to move in.
- The guys will continue with all the work and maintenance around the property.

PRAISES:

- A wonderful week with the work group. It was a blessing to have them here!

OTHER NOTES:

It was a good, busy 2 weeks with the medical team. They did a few projects around the mission, painted the pillars at the activity center, and installed 4 streetlights on the road next to our property.

We had 2 medical days working with the local doctors. We visited the outskirts of areas that don't have medical clinics and people would have to walk 2+ hours to the nearest clinic.

The medical team did a first aid training for some of the local soccer teams and visited a 1-room schoolhouse to do a Bible story, craft, games, and food.

Before coming, the medical team was also able to raise funds ($4,000) for a 10-year-old girl in our sponsorship program who had cataracts and needed surgery in both eyes. They were able to meet her during the trip, and she had surgery the last day they were here. It was a 2-day surgery, 1 day for each eye, and a day of recovery. When I picked her up, they said she was able to read the smallest letter on the chart and see colors better!

PRAY FOR:

- A director of the sponsorship program; looking for a married couple who can speak English and Spanish.
- Tirza, as the initial excitement has worn off and she now faces the daily challenges of disciplining the children both at school and at the activity center.
- Vivien and I as we do all the planning for a wedding in Honduras and reception in Brazil. For all the traveling, preparation and work we get to do in the next 4 ½ weeks!

SCHEDULE:

Monday: Board meeting
Tuesday: Beginning a conversation with a lawyer for my future because my wife is Brazilian and there are legal matters that come with that

- Continue working on my house
- The last week of August we have the 3 days of Triunfo for the sponsorship children here in Providencia

PRAISES:

- For the enjoyment of working hard and seeing a project come to completion, soon!
- For electricity. We had a few good weeks, but it has been going off for 1 or 2 days the past few weeks. I am still part American and like my electricity, especially when trying to work on a house.

OTHER NOTES:

Not every story we share ends with a smile or an easy resolution. Some are hard to hear, but they reflect the reality of the village we are in and invite us to pray. This story is one of them:

There was one afternoon here in the village when an 11-year-old girl wanted our company while she was waiting for the police. She said they were at her house, arresting her uncle, who had apparently abused a mom who lives next door. She mentioned that he was going to spend the night in jail and that it was not the first time something like this had happened. She also said she was a little scared, but even more frightened by the police officers who seemed aggressive to her. After seeing the police car leave with her uncle, she invited Vivien to go to her family’s house. Vivien went there and saw the kids we know along with their mom. Everyone looked normal, even the children, and no one mentioned what had just happened. Later on, the girl came to our mission to work with us and didn’t say anything else about the situation. This week, there were rumors that the girl’s mother had been arrested and that the children might have to move to another house. We don’t know for sure if this is true, but we ask for prayers for this family, especially for the girl, Wendy, who has been very involved with us and with the ministry, and has not been around for a few days this past week. On a more positive note, one day Wendy was at the activity center reading one of the children's books about a Bible story, and she remembered where it was in the Bible. Opening up the Bible to find it, she was excited to show Vivien!

With Vivien in Brazil, I have been focusing on finishing the projects in my house. I started about 7 months ago working every Saturday. I knew there was a lot to do, but this August we had no major plans, so I figured I would be able to finish up then. We are now making a nicer bathroom and kitchen, and I finally got the sink put in and working. It is nice to have a sink in the house!

PRAY FOR:

- A director of the sponsorship program; looking for a married couple who can speak English and Spanish.
- Tirza, as she continues to teach English in school, lead Bible studies on Wednesday, lead the children's program on Saturday, and works at the activity centers in the afternoon.
- Vivien and I as we do all the planning for a wedding in Honduras and reception in Brazil. For all the traveling, preparation, and work we get to do in the next 2 ½ weeks!

SCHEDULE:

Tuesday: Vivien flies to Virginia
Wednesday: I fly to Virginia
Thursday: We get our civil wedding papers
Friday: I fly to Honduras

Tuesday: Vivien flies to Honduras
Saturday: People start arriving for the September 18 wedding!

PRAISES:

- For God working in the hearts of the youth and their excited to learn
- For how fast time can go by!

OTHER NOTES:

The last two weeks I have continued to work on my house.

Since Vivien has been in Brazil, Tirza has been working the activity center and leading the Bible studies. It has been encouraging me to see her excitement as she engages with the youth in learning the Bible.

From Tirza: Axel is one of the kids who is normally shy and doesn’t like to read out loud in front of other people, but he has been reading verses just as much as some of the others. Rosa is also very quiet, but last night was asking questions about some of the verses we were reading. These are all small things, but it’s so exciting to watch and be a part of these kids’ journeys toward a relationship with Jesus!

More From Tirza: Last week, in particular, we had really good conversations. To preface, the week before at the end of our discussion someone had brought up baptism. I told them that we would talk about baptism next Wednesday, and that they were supposed to look up verses about baptism. So last Wednesday, we started with the verses about baptism we had found, but then the conversation went all over the place. We touched on baptism, about what it means to be a disciple and make disciples, and then someone brought up heaven and hell. Joel said he had heard someone who said that we all just go to heaven automatically, so then we read Matthew 25:31–46.
After reading it, Joel was obviously really thinking about what we just read. When I asked him, he said verse 41 really stood out to him. “Then to those on his left the King will say, 'Leave me! For you are under the curse of eternal fire that has been destined for the devil and all his demons. For when you saw me hungry, you gave me no food, and when you saw me thirsty, you gave me no drink'” (Matthew 25:41–42). Joel was obviously really struck by this and thought about it some more. A little while later he asked a question, “So if a person would do all the good things listed here (e.g., feeding the hungry and welcoming the stranger) but didn’t go to church or read their Bible, would they go to heaven?” We looked at Ephesians 2:8–9 then (salvation through grace and not our own works), and I attempted to explain how our works are a result of our faith, not what saves us. That’s hard to explain, especially in a second language, and I don’t think they were really getting it. I told them we would talk about that more in the future, and we wrapped up our conversation for the night. I was super excited about the conversation we had, though, especially Joel’s questions and wrestling with the text. This week we continued our conversation, discussing reasons why baptism is important although it is not what saves us, and continued our conversation about faith versus works. We read James 2:14–26 and discussed how faith without works is dead, but meanwhile kept going back to the truth that we are saved by grace, not by our own works. After we had been talking for over an hour, I asked if there were any more questions or if we wanted to keep talking, and they said, “We want to keep talking, we don’t want to leave!” Whether that was actually because they were enjoying our discussions, or just because they were having fun with friends and didn’t want to go home and be bored, I don’t know. But I do know that the Lord is working in their hearts, and it is so exciting to watch them participating and asking questions.

PRAY FOR:

- A director of the sponsorship program; looking for a married couple who can speak English and Spanish.
- Tirza, as she continues to teach English in school, lead Bible studies on Wednesday, lead the children's program on Saturday, and works at the activity centers in the afternoon.
- Vivien and I as of Sept 18 we begin our marriage life together. As wedding guest arrive and that all the preparations can go as planned. And for perfect weather for the wedding day.
- That the Hondurans can understand the importance of vows and how marriage is part of God’s plan from the beginning, and that God will be glorified through it all!

SCHEDULE:

Saturday: Vivien's parents arrived
Monday: Pastor and 7 from my family arrive
Wed: 10 more from my family and 4 friends and family of Vivien arrive
Thursday: WEDDING DAY!
Honeymoon until tuesday
Friday: Majority of the people head back home
Saturday: Final six leave for home

Thursday: Tirza and us leave for a mission conference/retreat until Sunday

PRAISES:

- The house is ready to live in! (with some projects to finish up later)
- For how smoothly the wedding certificate process went in the states.
- For a wonderful time with friends at the Snokes family.

OTHER NOTES:

We have a marriage certificate! So... are we married now or not?

Technically, yes. Romantically/Spiritually, not quite yet.
We're still two awesome humans... who just happen to be legally bound! 💍
But don’t worry — we won’t truly become "one" until after the 18th.
That’s when the real magic happens 😉
after we make our vows before God and man!