Three Groups: Oh Canada, Florida, and Alabama

We have just finished with our first three teams of the summer and "They were awesome."

OH CANADA!
Our first team came down from Canada and they were able to share the Love of Jesus through the giving of food and activities with the boys of the ministry. They were so obedient in what God wanted them to do and we truly miss them as they continually encouraged us and our staff. Here are a few photos of the week.

Food ministry in La Cuesta


FLORIDA
Our next team came from Florida and was able to supply food to the families of some our boys from Danli, VBS, and a Pinewood Derby. They also provided food for our regular route in the food ministry. The light of Jesus was shining in every house they went into and every life they touched. They were truly blessing to the people of Honduras and made all of us feel like we were part they're family. We truly miss our friends from Florida and it was good to see some of our old friends. Here are a few pictures from the trip:



In Danli


Food Ministry In Teguc

Pinewood Derby

Henry and Michele

VBS

Oh yeah Michele and Pat, we brought Henry into the ministry this past Tuesday. God is so Good!

ALABAMA
Our third team came from Birmingham, Alabama this past week and what a week it was. They did door-to-door evangelism in Monte Redondo, activities with the boys, food ministry in another barrio near Rio Abajo, and on top of that they helped with the construction of the bodega. It was a awesome sight to see the people they ministered to come to the Wed. night service. They had four decisions during the service and so many more through the door to door ministry. You Guys Are Awesome! They reminded us so much of our home church and enjoyed sharing in ministry together. When you guys are able to get back down here we will have lunch at Bongos...hahahaha! Here are a few pictures from the week:


Construction on the Bodega

Heading out to share the Gospel in Monte Redondo

Jorge, Luis, and Ever

We just can't say enough for each one of these teams. They each were unique in the how they served and it was truly awesome how they followed God's leading and how flexible they were when the time came. We are looking forward to serve with each of you again and we want you to know that each one of you are very special to us and this ministry. Until next time God Bless you all.

Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

One Stormy Night!

Tonight was an awesome night in Monte Rodondo. My friends Pablo, Freddie, and myself headed out to Monte Rodondo to lead the church service tonight. While on our way we had severe storms and high winds. When we got to the church we realized that the power was out and the total community was covered in darkness. We opened the church and sat there discussing if we could possibly have service since we had no electricity. As we looked around the church we found a rechargeable florescent light in the corner and Gladys showed up with some candles. So we made the decision to continue with the service. The next concern was anybody going to come during the outage. To our amazement people started walking through the door. We had around 50 people show up and the service started. We did praise and worship, but when it came time to give the message the florescent light died on us. As Pablo (translator) and myself stood up to deliver the message the power came back on. As a result of a church being faithful God provided everything we needed and two people came to know the Lord as their personal Savior. God truly is faithful no matter the circumstances and we want to give Him all the Glory in what he accomplished tonight. Please be in prayer for our new brother and sister in Christ and please pray for Lori as she is sick with the flu.

The greatest team and a decision

Well we are back in Honduras and things are back to normal. We were able to see the little guys play their first soccer game last Thursday in Colonia Kennedy. THEY ARE AWESOME! The final score was 19-1 with our guys being the victors. They had such a great time .

Here are some video and pictures of the game:

A little fancy footwork


Kevin working hard for the goal

The Team: Back row Carlos, Cesar, Amilcar, Kevin, Delmer, and Deybi

Front row Beto, Saul, Samy, Carlos, and Lubin

After the game, we all went the concession area for the boys to get their well deserved cokes and God had something else in store to make the day just a little better. While standing in line ordering the team cokes I heard a little voice coming from around the corner "gringo, fresco por favor". There stood a small boy by the name of Henry looking up at me with these big sad eyes. We bought Henry a coke, gave him some food and were able to share the Gospel with him. I have never seen a little childs eyes light up like his did as he listened to the Gospel. After sharing with him the plan of Salvation, Herny accepted Christ as his Savior. What a wonderful ending to our morning. Please pray for Henry as he is out on the streets at 7 years old. Maybe one day he will be a part of Forgottn Children Ministries.

Sharing the Gospel with Henry

Henry after his decision

This week we started breaking ground on the new storage building at the farm. The holes were dug today and the poles are going to be set this week. Our first team will be arriving this Saturday and start framing the much needed building. Please pray for the team as they are preparing to come.

Week four of the boys Bible study was completed today and will be finishing up our first study in two weeks. The boys are really enjoying the time we have been spending in the word. We will be staring another series once we are finished .

Lori is doing a great job with the English classes. I went into her class today and got bombarded with tons of questions in English. It was truly awesome to hear them asking so many questions and laughing as they asked them.

Lori, Freddie, and myself went last night to a school event for two of our older boys and it truly amazes me how God works in every place he takes us to. While we were waiting for the boys, to take them back to the farm, there was a street kid right in the midst of the crowd. We had a bag of food with us and asked him if he had eaten and as usual the reponse was no. So we gave him the food and started to share the Gospel with him. His name is Nelson. He began to share with us that he had made a decision to follow Christ some time back. So we fellowshiped with him for a few minutes and it broke our hearts as we pulled out of the parking lot knowing he was going back to the streets. Still in the midst of his circumstance Nelson had the biggest smile on his face because of the little food he received. Pray for Nelson and another opportunity to share more about the ministry with him.

Well that's all for now and we will rty to update more from Honduras as soon as possible. Take care and God Bless!

Where to begin?

Well we are now going on three months of being in Honduras and getting ready to head back to the States for two weeks. We are currently in the process for residency here, but we aren't far enough along in the process to stay longer than 90 days.


Here is a little info. on what's taken place so far.

We have started the English classes with all the boys in the ministry and let me tell you it's pretty cool to hear them speaking English. Lori has really bonded with the boys and most of them are eager to learn the language. Here is a little video of one of the classes:




Teaching the older boys



Every Tuesday we have chapel with the boys at the school. There is a time of worship with a short message following.

Worship with the boys


Sharing the Word during chapel



We have also started Bible Studies at the farm with the older boys. It has been awesome to see them ask questions and share about The Word of God.

Bible study with the boys from the farm


We have also been involved with the staff meeting every month. What an awesome time it is to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Honduras. Sometimes it's a little difficult understanding everything, since we are still adjusting to the language. God was gracious to me and the words that came out of my mouth, as I was asked to share The Word in Spanish this past week during our meeting. God truly is GOOD!

Sharing with the staff

Luis leading the meeting

Lori has also just completed our quarterly Birthday Party with the boys who had a Birthday during the first part of this year. They were so excited and now the rest of them tell us they have a birthday tomorrow...hahahaha!

As you can tell, nobody wanted to stand that close to the guy that was blind folded.

These are just a few things that has been going on with us lately, but God has done so much more since we've been here. We are reminded of His power, love, and mercy on a daily basis. He truly is an Awesome God!

We have 16 teams coming in this summer starting May 31. Please be in prayer for these teams and their captains as they prepare to come. Also pray for the staff here as they prepare for the teams.

Til next time.....God Bless!
Richie and Lori

Meet Our New Friend!

Meeting new people here is always nice, but there is one special friend I want to guys to meet. His name is Noel and he begs for money at the Dippsa Station in Cerro Grande. I normally see him when I have to go grab something from the store and I usually buy him something to eat. Well today as I was working outside when I heard a little voice through my gate saying "Hola Mi Amigo" (Hello My Friend) and it was Noel. He wanted to know if he could help me wash the ministry truck. He began to share with me that he had parents, but that they did not have a job so he goes and begs for money to help them out with the everyday essentials to live. He lives in the city and walks every Monday to the Dippsa and stays there until Saturday morning when he returns home with his weeks pay. What's even more surprising is that he is only 10 years old. It just blew me away how he still smiles in the midst of his circumstance. I have never seen anyone smile as much as he did while washing that truck. When we finished washing the truck, he wanted to know if we could take a picture of it now that it was clean. This kid is AWESOME! Lori prepared him some food and then we parted ways. Please pray for Noel and for his safety.

Life in Honduras

Well we have been here for three weeks now and things are going well. We are able to finally get around the city by ourselves and have just about finished with the painting in our house. Most of the time we have just been hanging out with the boys and building relationships with them. It's truly amazing what God has done in the lives of these boys.



A few weeks ago we went to the National museum with the boys from Noah's Arc School and there was a moment that made me realize exactly where God brought them from. We were crossing Puente Chile and as we got to the corner on the other side one of the boys sitting next to me covered his nose and mouth due to the horrible smell. The same place he used to live. The same river he took a bath in and drank his water from. The same place he used to find food at. It was overwhelming to see the provisions of God for this young boy. God is Good and to Him be the glory!

Every morning we still see the kids in the streets, dumpster, and down on the river, just trying to survive the cruel streets of Teguc. We know that God has a plan and we trust in His grace that he will provide. Please pray for these kids and their protection.

God has really opened up doors for us while we have been here. I will be speaking at the International School here in Tegucigalpa the week after Semana Santa or Holy Week. I will have the opportunity to share about the ministry and a message to the the students there. Also yesterday we met a man at church that works with the Micah Project. They also work with street kids in Honduras. We have found an attorney to start our paper work for residency and she just happens to be the sister of one of the guys that works at the shelter. She specializes in immigration. We have also become friends with the Honduran Consulate while being here and have been invited to eat lunch with her and her husband before they head back to the States. God has put all kinds of resources in front of us that could be vital to the ministry here.

Lori will be starting some English Classes soon and the boys keep asking her "when are we going to start". It's like watching a kid in a candy store when they ask. They are very excited to have the opportunity to learn another language. Pray for Lori as she prepares for the classes.


We will have a team coming in from Chattanooga, Tn (Silverdale Baptist) this coming weekend and we ask that pray for them while they minister to the people of Honduras.


Special Prayer Request

My best friend was called up to serve in Iraq and we ask that you pray for him and is family. His name is Mitch.

We've made it at last!

Well after numerous prayers and 4 years of waiting we finally made it to Honduras. It has been a challenge since we arrived, but things are coming together quite nicely. The first Sunday we were here was awesome. Stan had told us about an indigenous group called the Miskito Indians that had a church in Tegucigalpa and that three of the ladies in that church were going to be Baptized at the farm in our water reservoir. It was awesome to see these young ladies begin a new journey in Christ. First they sang a few hymns in their native language and then the Baptism.

Friday morning we went to the National museum with the boys from the Noah's Ark School. It was exciting to see them taking notes and wanting to learn all they could about their country. Later that day two of the boys had gotten permission to come and hang out at our house. It was just an awesome time of building relationships and they really enjoyed the movie and pizza.

This morning I was able to preach to the people of Monte Redondo and as always God does what he does best and repairs our hearts. We had one lady come to know Christ as her Savior and many others learned how to get through the trials we face each and every day. We also got to be a part of The Lord's Supper this morning and the presentation of a new baby (baby dedication). We are now preparing for the Bible Classes and Lori has been working on getting information on some new boys that have entered the ministry. Please be praying for us during this time of preparation and building relationships with the boys and communities.