Prayer list:
School. Talks are still going on about turning the school at the farm into an accredited private school. I haven’t heard any new news as of yet, but I’m still really hopeful about this situation. This would be a great opportunity for PTC to directly minister to the surrounding area. Yet, before we form a real school at the farm, lots of planning, structure, personnel, and who knows what all else will be needed. Please keep this situation in your prayers as it will be a great opportunity to minister to the community and also provide a somewhat more stable future for some who are volunteer workers at the moment.
Church. The church has been set into motion since the last update I’ve given here. Currently, the church is mostly comprised of youth-aged individuals from the community. As of now, the church is meeting at the farm on Thursday and Saturday nights. We have around 40 or 50 people attending the services. On Thursday nights, Pastor Flavio has a very short lesson and then we have an extended, group prayer session. Its amazing to see and hear how Hondurans pray. Everybody just goes at it. Its hard to explain, but really encouraging and exciting to be a part of. On Saturdays, Flavio has more of a traditional service, although it is directed at youth. There is around a 20 to 30 minute lesson followed by music. Yet, the music is a bit different than what you might expect in America. Obviously its in Spanish for starters. But secondly, folks dance. Maybe a quarter to half of the youth and leaders go and dance and sing to the music that goes on for maybe 20 more minutes. The girls absolutely love it. It really is a great thing to witness. I think God is ok with us being excited about Him. But please keep the church in your prayers. Its off to a fantastic start. I hope it becomes another way that God uses the farm to spread his love to the community. Please pray that God will continue to bless the progression of the church. I’ve never seen a church started, but I hear there are often times bumps in the road. My prayer is that this church continues to be so focused on God that the bumps go completely unnoticed.
Vehicles. I’m not entirely sure what is going on with the vehicles. Vehicles seems like a rather silly topic coming right after “school” and “church”. But with around 30 girls, it’s a rather important issue. We have been looking for a nice, full sized truck. Recently we’ve been offered a trade of a new van for our large, broken down van. This might be a great deal since its dry season. The roads are incredibly dusty and you don’t really want girls exposed in the back of a truck. I’m going to relist the specs of the truck we’re looking for anyhow. Foreign (Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, ect.), extended cab, extended bed, 4x4, diesel, less than 10 years old. If you have any idea where we might find something like that, please contact me or somebody at the farm. Yet, please pray that God would lead us into good vehicle deals. Again, with so many people, changing seasons, and changing money situations, its over my head to think about it all. But I know that God’s got it. Please join us in praying for this area.
Haley Harris. Well, this situation is more of a person than a situation at all. My good friend Haley Harris is a missionary that works down here at the farm. Most of you reading this blog know Haley. Haley kind of does everything at the farm. She teaches, loves, leads bible studies and devotions, potty trains, drives girls around, cooks, translates, keeps books, disciplines, makes news letters…… the list could go on for several pages. She is a volunteer missionary here that simply does a TON of things to help out. Well, her 1 year commitment ends in December. Yet, Haley decided last week that God is leading her back to the Farm for a while (another year I think?). We praise God that Haley is coming back. Yet, also, Haley has a lot of things to get together in preparation for her next year of service to the Lord. Please pray that God will be with Haley and will make the paths clear for her to come back next year. She wouldn’t want me to say this, but some people reading this might have the opportunity to help Haley get back to serving all these girls at the farm next year (wink wink).
Mrs. Pam Demott. Mrs. Pam, Aka "Mama", is the director of the girls' home down here at PTC. I'm not sure director is the official title, but Mrs. Pam is running the show down here (right behind God of course). Yet, Wednesday the 27, Mrs. Pam is leaving Honduras to visit the states for a month or so. I think we're really going to need alot of prayer in her absence. There's going to be a few of us attempting to fill her shoes while she's gone, but I feel certain we won't get close to accomplishing what she does for these girls. Please be in prayer that Mrs. Pam will have safe travels and a nice visit with her family in the states. Also, please pray for the farm in her absence. We're going to need it.
Letters:
So here’s the deal. Before I left, I got Sunday School classes and a few families from my church to commit to pray for and write letters to specific girls down here at the farm in Honduras. This has been really neat so far. I can’t explain how much it means to the girls to get letters. They like getting letters from folks they know and from folks they don’t. Long letters and short messages. In a box or with a fox. Ok, maybe I got out of hand there. But it really does mean a lot to many of the girls here to know that somebody cares enough about them to write them a letter.
So, I wanted to open the floor to anybody who wants to write letters. The link for the farm’s website can be found at http://www.sikm.org/ . Look for the girls profiles to find pictures and information on all the girls. If you feel like you want to write to somebody, let me know and I will get you connected with a girl in a heart beat. If you have somebody in particular, that’s fine too. But I can’t stress enough how little work these letters are and how much it means to some of the girls. The way the system works is you send me an e-mail to your girl, I print it out and hand it to them, they send you an e-mail back. Whenever it is possible, they will send real live letters back to the states that I will get into your hands. This just seems to me to be a great way to minister with very little sacrifice. Now, I think God wants us to be sacrificial givers, but who wouldn’t jump on an easy opportunity to show love? Think it over, and if sending letters is something you want to do, send me an e-mail at Bheath09@gmail.com .
Well, that’s about it for this week. That turned out a bit longer than I hoped. I’m becoming a bit long winded. I’ll have a regular blog up sometime soon that contains personal stories and other things in the next week. Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully get connected to this ministry down here through your prayers and letters. They have a value that is greater than you could imagine.
-Ben Heath
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