Greetings from Honduras! We pray you are doing well. We wanted to update you with what has been going on with us and our ministry over the last few months. Since the last update we had another team come at the end of July from New York. They helped with construction, vbs, home visits, and doctors’ consults. It was a great week and we got to reach a lot more families with the help of extra hands, feet, and God given gifts. After the team left we headed to the States for a shortened fundraising trip. Since we had a timeline for traveling from the doctor, we did not get the opportunity to see all of you. We wish we could have! Thank you to everyone who hosted us and welcomed us into your homes and churches, the trip was encouraging; to see all the people that have partnered with us, and to make new connections along the way.

Many people have asked how the fundraising went, and our response would be that it went great. However, we did not raise the monthly addition we need to maintain the daycare on a monthly basis. We raised the start up costs, but are still in need of an additional $2000 to pay for teachers salaries and the costs of the daycare. Our desire is to be open from 7am-4pm to assist mothers in the community that are working and need someone to watch their children in a safe environment. Within the past few weeks we have had 5 new families with small children start attending the church. We do not know if word has spread about the daycare, but we do know that it is a very large need in the community. The added cost of running a daycare from 7am-4pm is that we will provide 2 meals for the kids that are there all day. We currently have one meal a day for the kids in the school.

Upon returning home, we were greeted by a team of 8 girls that have been with us for the month of September. They have been a huge help all around, since we are preparing for the baby, and the road is a little to rough for Jenny to travel up there everyday.

Since our last update, the daycare has been completed. There are doors, windows, a bathroom, and tile floors. We still need to paint and add electricity, but the structure is complete! We have also completed another season of soccer tournaments and will start with a new round later this month. We continue to have the boys come to the church after each game for water and to hear the Gospel. We are looking forward to the next season.

Please be in prayer for Fabio and his family. Those of you who have visited have met Fabio and have seen his servant’s heart. He is a huge blessing to our ministry and very responsible in working with us. About four months ago his niece (then 6 months old) was diagnosed with a rare pulmonary condition. After many operations and even the removal of one lung, she passed away last Wednesday night. It has been a long, hard four months for this family, emotionally and financially.

Lastly, a short update on our family. We went to the doctor last Thursday and everything looks great. Everyone looks healthy and the baby should be making her appearance in about 4 weeks.

Thank you for your partnership in this ministry. We are thankful that God has called you to serve with us.

Daycare Update

The day has finally arrived! We are beginning work to construct the new daycare! We could not be more relieved and excited to start the process. The past few months have been A LOT of talking with not much action. Last Thursday everything with the land and the neighbors was solved without any problems and Friday we started to work. We have a young man from the church who will be helping us with most of the work.

The first step from here is to move Demaris and her 3 kids to the property we bought for them. She will be renting a room for a few weeks while we construct her a wood house on the other side of the neighborhood. This will be a huge blessing to her and her family because she will not longer be a squatter and the location is very close to a bus terminal, to make working much easier. Once we have her moved, we will begin to extend the perimeter wall. Aben and I have been brainstorming about the dimensions of the daycare, bathroom and pila (a concrete wash basin to wash clothes). Here are some pictures of the first few days of work.

Demaris' 3 kids, getting ready to move (before)

After taking apart the house, getting ready to build the day care

We are excited to have 2 small teams, 1 big team and an intern this summer. We are still waiting to hear back from another team that might come. It will be an exciting summer of growth and energy; its always fun and encouraging to have people come and share the vision and the work!

Its' a girl! Due October 21

Other big news for the year is that we will be having a baby girl mid- October. It’s been a long couple months of not feeling so great, but hopefully Jenny will start to feel better in time for the summer! Because of the fundraising and flying situation, we will try to do our fundraising trip in the month of August. Since everything is normal, the baby looks great, and there are no complications, the doctor says we can fly until the first week in September. That being said, we will try to make the most of our short time in each place and might not be able to visit every church this year.

Graduation and the coming year

It’s great to be home and back to the routine of things. However, telling you that routine is another story. Until next week, when school starts again, every day is completely different. We had a great trip to the States and God has provided more than we could have asked or imagined.

The third graduation of the Rock school was last Saturday. This year’s graduation was special because it was our first group of kids to go through the program. Since most of these kids have never been in school, we help them complete 6 grade levels in 3 years (2 grades per year). We had 4 kids graduate from 6^th grade and 23 graduate from kindergarten. The 6^th grade graduates will be going to a local public high school. If you are asking, how can these kids afford school now, if they could not before? The difference is now these kids can work to pay for their own studies. We have poured into their lives the importance of education and they have accomplished something they never thought they would be able to. Now, they have dreams and the ability go farther in life. For a child that cannot afford to go to school when they are young, they do not completely comprehend what they are missing. As they grow, they are not dreaming more and more about completing school, they are simply trying to survive. This is why our kindergarten is equally important. It sets a standard and routine for learning. The parents have committed time and learned responsibility and now these kids can continue in the public school. We are educating the parents the importance of education, so they can fight for their child’s education.

The new school year will start next Monday. We will lose one of our older students because he has caught up to his grade level and will now go to public school with other students his age. Our next update will let you know about the new students! We are looking forward to introducing English to the students 5 days a week. This will open doors for the kids to know English.

The kindergarteners singing

When I say God provided more that we could have asked or imagined, we are talking about our goals for the year. Whether you were at the beginning of our trip, or the end, you know we shared about opening a daycare in the neighborhood where we work, and are planning to start teaching trades and starting micro-loans. When we originally talked about these ideas and plans, “we thought” it would take about a year to raise the funds and get started. However, “God thought” otherwise. God has provided the funds for the construction of the daycare and to start micro-loans. We want to thank God for opening doors and providing for the families we will help! It’s still a long road ahead, but God moved us forward to the action stage quicker than we thought! Thank you to everyone who has helped us with this step.

Other encouraging news from our trip is that we will have more teams coming down this year to help reach this community and start working on developing micro-loans, constructing the daycare, training youth pastors, and outreach. We are also excited to have a few interns this year too! Please let us know if you are interested in coming down with a group or as an intern. God’s doing great things in this ministry and would love for you to come along side and help us.