Blog - 61 Isaiah

Homesick for Two Homes

September 29, 2023 by Lindsey Moreno 1 Comment

And a few days ago I said goodbye to home again. You would think that after three years of the same trip, the same goodbyes, the same routine that things would be easier. But it seems that each time we say goodbye it becomes harder to leave– harder to leave my family in the states and harder to leave the family I’ve found in Honduras. Funny how that works.

I think one of the hardest parts of being a missionary is feeling like you have two homes, like your heart is in two different places. If you’ve ever moved far from home, you’ve probably felt the same way.

Home has always been an important concept to me. Home is a place where despite your shortcomings, you are safe, you are welcomed, you belong.

I remember three years ago, when I moved to Honduras how hard it was. I missed Texas. I missed my family. I missed my home. Transitioning to a new home in Honduras was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done.

I came across an old passage in my journal a few weeks back. I was wrestling with God. I felt so isolated and alone. I missed home. I missed knowing I belonged.

“Father, I feel stripped and bare in so many ways. You never promised easy, but You did promise that You are good and Your ways are good. Father, my heart in so many ways is breaking. When left to myself I feel the breaking. I feel the pieces falling and crashing.

Loss. I feel the loss of the things I didn’t even know I loved. These things that I didn’t believe I loved, taken away. And I realize how much I loved them. Oh Father how much I loved them instead of You.

I didn’t know. Or maybe I did and chose to ignore the signs.

My hypocrisy was so deep inside of me I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t see that my identity was not in you. I believed it was. My heart told me it was.

But liar. I now call the liar, as everything is ripped away– my friends, family, reputation, job, status, home, country, belonging, power, language, culture– everything. In this I realize that I had leaned into these things. I looked for life where there was none. I thought chasing these things was good. I didn’t even realize what I had let myself do.

Then it was gone.

Strong. I used to think myself strong; we can believe that when there is nothing causing us to break. But when we have the floor ripped out from under us, then what? I have been gripping white knuckled to the remnants of the foundation of dust which I had built my identity on.”

God worked on me in that season. He had to strip me bare of my old identity to bring me into a fuller understanding of who He is and what it really means to be home.

“‘Let go, my child,’ He was saying to me, ‘Let go. You cannot hold onto My hands when you won’t let go of what has already passed and gone.’

And He sits in sackcloth beside me, the King of Kings sits in the ashes of my old identity. And He holds my hands in His. The scars of my salvation staring back at me. Can I look into His eyes knowing what I have done?

‘Guilt is not your portion, and neither is the shame. I was broken for you, and I broke you for my kingdom.’

He motions to the dust around me, the ashes of my broken kingdom.

‘These ashes will grow gardens if you let them. Life will spring forth in a place where there was only a wasteland. Mourn no more. This is my promise to you.’

He wipes the tears from my face and I look into His eyes.

‘Are you brave? I will be with you every step of the way.’”

When I wrote these words, I wasn’t sure I had the strength to be brave. But God. He does more than we could ever ask or imagine. It’s been several years since I wrote these words, and I have seen gardens spring forth from the ashes. His promises ring true. The loss I felt was filled with blessings. Once I let go of my own kingdom, It made space for God to show me a piece of his kingdom, a part of his home. I’ve found a place where I am safe, I am welcomed, I belong.

Now, home is here in Honduras and it’s back in Texas, and I am so thankful for the deep relationships I have in both places. It is hard at times to feel my heart in both places, and it’s a funny problem to have. Only because of God’s blessings and goodness can I call both places home.

I know that my homesickness for two homes will be a struggle for as long as we live in Honduras and even when we say goodbye. But I also know that one day the Kingdom of Heaven will be a home where my heart doesn’t have to be homesick, where there will be no division between Honduras and Texas, where my Heavenly Father will look me in the eyes and say, “I am so proud of you for being brave, welcome home my child, welcome home.”

New Beginnings

September 8, 2023 by Joshua Dykes 1 Comment

It has been only a little over a month that Abigail and I have moved to Mt. Pleasant, Texas. There are many things to do and many things to process. It is overwhelming. I feel both warmly-welcomed and foreign in my own town after being in a different country for the past 5 years. I am blessed to have good friends and family here to both receive me and wait on me as I process. I am carrying new cultural perspectives into new responsibilities and trying to seek life and love amidst all of the movement.

Abigail has had a more difficult time adjusting to a new place away from family, but she is strong and courageous. We are trusting in God’s grace for each day. We do not understand all of the answers nor do we know what the future holds. What we do know is that our King is always faithful.

I am teaching a 7th grade history class while we figure out residency for Abigail. God has been what we need each day, even on the days we haven’t noticed it. Many of you reading this have been part of God reminding us of His presence. For that, we thank you for your obedience.

Our prayers are with our friends and family of faith in Honduras– especially our ministry family in Gracias.

So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.”

John 6:67-69

Hard Goodbyes

August 25, 2023 by Nelsy Paz Leave a Comment

Saying goodbye is not fun, but as one of my friends says, “Every hello ends with a goodbye.” Two years went by too fast, and they always do when you love what you do. My time working with 61 Isaiah Ministries was an incredible experience that I will treasure for years to come. I met wonderful people, including some of my best friends. Being the ministry’s Field Logistics Coordinator gave me a lot of great experience working with two different cultures at the same time. There were fun times, like when we had pillow fights that made me laugh until my stomach hurt, (which was a great stress reliever!) There were also less fun times, like calling lawyers, waiting in line at the bank, and solving logistical problems on the fly. To be honest, I miss all of that!

Now, we are sad to announce that Jason and I have to say goodbye to the ministry. We moved back to the United States this past July. After more than two years of paperwork and waiting, my residency was approved last August. We were very excited as this allowed me to come visit family and friends in the US for the first time since 2018. But in order to maintain my residency, we could not be outside of the US for more than a few months at a time. Because of this, we decided to move back to the US this summer. Jason has already started his accounting job with Tyson Foods in Springdale, Arkansas, while I will be taking some time off to take care of Addie and to adapt to a new place. Addie has been keeping us all busy as she has been walking, talking, and growing quickly!

We are so thankful that we were able to walk with the team over the last few years, and look forward to visiting in the future. For now, we will be walking with them from afar!

Dirt

May 26, 2023 by Micah Jimison 2 Comments

As a farmer I deal with a lot of dead things. It is not my favorite part of the job when I get to the farm in the morning and see the tell-tale ball of feathers signaling the death of a chicken or the committee of vultures that might mean a goat has been killed. I am not a butcher, and I take no joy in the death of animals or in killing them even when it’s necessary. I will not hesitate to kill when the job needs doing, but I much prefer husbandry of living animals. Keeping them alive is the art I try to master, but nothing stays alive forever and death plays a deep part in the art of living. Dead animals, dead leaves, dead roots, and all the other dead and decomposing things in the soil are what provide the food for the microbes, bacteria, and fungi who create the living soil that produces good crops. We need the dead because without it we cannot keep on living. In this way, dead things are also my favorite part of farming because I enjoy the process of redemption wherein we take dead things and we make life as co-creators with Christ.

You see, Christ is the artist of all artists when it comes to taking something dead and bringing it to life. Ezekiel 37 comes to mind when God shows Ezekiel a vision in the desert of dry dead bones being brought back to life as the living flesh and bodies of an innumerable army. Just before this God tells Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). When Adam sinned all of creation fell, and our hearts of flesh died and turned to stone. Our God of redemption was not done, though. He knew we “were dead in [our] trespasses and sins” but He “made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1 & 5). In fact, our redemption and new life in Christ was only made possible through His death on the cross. But we all know this, right? I doubt I am telling you anything new or showing you any verses you have not already read. Our God is a God of redemption, which should never cease to amaze us, but it also should not surprise us.

The other day something about this did surprise me. I know God is a God of redemption, but I thought He only needed to redeem because we were dead, because the world is dead, because when Adam fell everything fell with Him and now needs redemption. That is true, and a hearty “Amen” to it. I am certainly no stranger to my need or the world’s need for redemption. Yet, it was not the Fall of man that spurred God’s redemptive work. God was already in the business of redeeming before sin ever entered the equation. Look at Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Before sin, before man even existed to sin, God took dust and redeemed it to make a living human being. Think about it. God could have created man from anything or He could have just created Him out of nothing. Both options were equally within His omnipotent ability, but He chose to create man from dust. Why? Because God is a God of redemption from the core of who He is, always has been, and always will be, an eternally redemptive God. He did not have to change at all to deal with the Fall. He already delighted in taking something dead and devoid of life and making it living, well before sin entered the heart of man.

I think maybe the devil missed this. The devil thought, “Shoot, if I can get man to fall and become dirty and sinful then good-ole pretty clean God up there won’t know what to do with him.” But God is a dirty God! He loves dirt. He loves working in the dust and the dirt to create life where no one else could see even the possibility of life. Redeeming dirt is what God is about. When Man fell and the devil thought he had beaten God I bet Jesus must have just started to chuckle. Just more mud to play in for the redemptive hand of God. God was ready to do the dirty work of redemption. He made dirt to be redeemed. Redemption was always part of the plan. From the very beginning when God created us He did not just create us from the dirt. He created us from dust, the very least of dirt. As dead as dead gets is where God decided to start, so when we died in our transgressions and sins God knew exactly what to do with us. Redeem. Restore. Repeat. Just remember, you cannot get too dirty for God. His very eternal nature desires to turn your dirt to life. You, and a lot of things in your life will have to die, but God wants to make you alive.

When Hard Things Happen

May 24, 2023 by Kristi Hopkins 1 Comment

The missionary life is not all it’s cracked up to be sometimes. Yes, we get to live in a beautiful country and have fabulous experiences but this comes at a price. Many times this price affects our kids in the form of loss. Tonight I held my daughter as she grieved having to sell her horse as she prepares to return to a country she doesn’t remember living in. This is just the beginning of the transition. As a parent, you know that there is nothing worse than watching our children hurt. And the missionary kid’s life is full of hurt. They have a loss of identity… Try asking an MK where they are from 😂. People are in and out of their lives, losing friendships and relationships consistently. They have a loss of friendships from here as they leave their host country, the only country they know, the only culture, the only school system, the only food they know. They can’t just come home from college on the weekends to do some laundry and eat a baleada. Even trips have to be weighed by the price of flights.

Usually, I handle it ok, but tonight I am mad. I am mad that my kid has to say goodbye to her life here. I am mad that this is the ask of MK kids. I am heartbroken that she has to say goodbye to her horse, the only constant in her transitional life. I would like to tell you that I am finding my peace in Christ. But to be honest, sometimes this is hard. So as we face these transitions with Emma, please pray for us. And when you think about it, pray for all the other MK kids out there that may be hurting, just like her.

What if the Answer Is No?

May 12, 2023 by Michelle Holloway 1 Comment

We ask for a lot of things in our lifetime. Sometimes we are told yes, sometimes no, and sometimes, maybe later. As a parent, I have responded in these ways more times than I can count, and I often think nothing of it. But, when it comes to my spiritual life and prayer life, these answers take on a whole new meaning.

God ALWAYS answers prayer. While I know and trust this truth wholeheartedly, I am also faced with the truth that sometimes His answer is no, and sometimes it is wait. That is even difficult to type.

We often hear Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” As believers, we love this verse, but what happens when we feel like we are in the will of the Lord and our heart is set on something that is of Him, but it doesn’t happen? Maybe it is a no, and maybe it is a wait, but nonetheless, we cannot see when and/or how it may come to fruition.

For me, this is just a difficult thing. I am a mathematician at heart, so in my thought process, if you have all the factors for the equation and plug them in correctly, you will get the correct answer. Unfortunately for me, life is not a math equation, and things do not always work out as planned. So as I pray and call out to God, I am faced with the truth that, at least for now, the answer is no. How do I deal with that? How do I work that out in my brain?

Well, for now, I am still working on that, but I am constantly reminded of God’s faithfulness. I may not understand the current why of the things that are happening, but I can trust the Lord. He has always been faithful, and I know that He knows what is best, and He has a plan, which I do not understand. I have to remember that He sees the entire picture, not just the piece that I am currently fixed on.

One of my favorite songs that has helped me through difficult seasons of life is “Goodness of God.” The song says, “All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so, so good.” Even in my darkest and most frustrating times, I have to remember this truth. The song goes on to tell of how God has led me through fires, stayed close during the darkest nights, and how He is so so good.

We cannot throw up our hands and act like a child when we don’t get our way, even though it is sometimes tempting, but we have to keep our focus on the truth. We serve a good God. We serve the God that tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.”

His Word is truth, and even in the times when I don’t understand why things are happening as they are, I must trust and believe in His truth. After all, His goodness is running after me, I just need to wait on His perfect will and His perfect timing.

Welcoming Allan to the Team!

April 28, 2023 by Lindsey Moreno Leave a Comment

61 Isaiah is excited to announce that Allan has joined our team as a translator! If you’ve come to Honduras you may have met him as a translator for your team, but if not we wanted to give you the chance to get to know him.

Hey guys, my name is Allan. But you can call me Allen Adam Pipo or something like that! I consider myself a Jack of all trades, and if I can’t do it I know someone who can. Whenever someone has a problem I have a friend or I know someone who can help us with almost everything. Right now I am taking university courses to become a lawyer. I want to be a lawyer so that I can help people from my country and maybe even from outside of Honduras.

I grew up in Gracias, went to Abundant Life Christian School, and helped my family a lot with their local businesses. I recently graduated from Abundant Life Christian School in June of 2022. 61 Isaiah partners with ALCS and teaches Bible classes and devotionals. The school is how I first met the ministry, but I was not really interested in what was going on. Then later I learned more about what 61 was doing and the people involved in it, and I got interested. They cared about Honduras like I did.

I got involved by going to villages with Josh whenever I had any free time. Then trying to help the ministry in anything I could while still in school. I’ve had a rough relationship with God through my youth, but In the past few years I accepted Christ and my relationship with God has improved. The people in 61 Isaiah were a big part of leading me to Christ, and even though I’m a little hard headed, they didn’t give up on me. If you want to know my whole story you’ll have to come down to Honduras and ask!

I decided to work with 61 Isaiah because I felt God calling me to be a part of their ministry. With their guidance and help, I think I could be better than on my own. 61 Isaiah feels like a family where you can take care of other people but also be taken care of. My Job in the ministry is to translate and be a jack of all trades. I fill in the gaps or necessities. I mainly help two days a week with two village communities from Lempira, but I also do a little bit of everything else too.

Working with 61 Isaiah has been one of the biggest opportunities I’ve had in my life to get to know God, my country, and my people better. I also have learned to be patient and to be more humble. I have learned to glorify God in daily life and not anyone else.

I look forward to meeting y’all and building a stronger and better relationship in order to share the gospel together. I am glad 61 Isaiah has walked with me, and I can’t wait to walk with you.

The Everyday Missionary

April 14, 2023 by Lindsey Moreno Leave a Comment

Jesus saved us and called us to make disciples of all nations. He also made each of us and placed us where we are with a purpose. Some are called to other places to serve, but no matter where we find ourselves we are called to make disciples and be ambassadors for God.

Many times we think of mission work only being in far away places or remote villages. While this is important, also as important are the moments many see as normal routine. This last week, Abigail (my wife) and I went to do some common errands around town. When one’s wife tells him he needs a haircut, he gets a haircut, so, we went to our friend Dimas’s barber shop. I have gone there plenty of times during my tenure in Honduras and had some good talks with Dimas.

Dimas lives with his two kids and wife; a very different life from the hard life he had before. He cuts hair all day long in his little barber shop. Many members of our ministry go to him normally, and this give us chances to get to know him.

I sat down in the chair to lose some hair and Abigail struck up a conversation with him. Dimas had some good points and some good questions– which led to my wife sharing the gospel with him #proudhusband. By the time we left, we had some good talks with him about God’s grace and help in life. Dimas, however, told us he was not ready to commit to God yet because he knew it would be a very big commitment. Abigail and I left there and talked about the times before we had shared the Gospel with Dimas. We agreed that even if it took 1,000 times of sharing the Gospel for him to get it, we would keep sharing. Even if Dimas doesn’t decide to believe yet, it is still worth sharing the Gospel.

My point is not that you need to go share the gospel to every person you see at Walmart, but that Jesus is an active and normal part of our lives. If He prompts you to share or act, go for it! He will always be what we need to carry out the mission. Our lives show who He is, even in the smallest of moments, and that is the mission.

Maybe it is at the barber shop or at the table with family, wherever it may be God has placed us where we are with purpose.

Thirteen Years of Faithfulness

March 24, 2023 by Lindsey Moreno Leave a Comment

Once again, like every other year, the calendar marks the 14th of February, and in our country we celebrate Valentine’s Day, the day of love and friendship. This is a day to exchange gifts with your loved ones or even go on a date. Flowers, chocolates, and candies become popular again. For me this date is much more than that. It was the 14th of February in 2010 when I received the calling from God to become a pastor next to my wife and children. They were just kids when this happened Carlos was four, Regina was six, Mauricio was seven, and Elvirita, our adopted daughter was 22 years old.

We started by having church services at my house. After meeting several times, we decided to move to a different building my family owns. We didn’t have any musical instruments, logistics, much less any idea of how to fund a church, but we had a grateful heart to serve God. I knew God would be faithful, and that he had a plan for us. God had shown himself to me and my family demonstrating his love and divine protection by taking care of us when we were in a car accident.

But God had been working on my heart long before that accident. I had been on a spiritual retreat back in 2006, and during that retreat I had a personal encounter with Jesus. For me, everything changed. That’s when I started going to church and studying my bible more. I was thirsty and hungry to learn more from God, the same hunger and thirst I have now. I took every chance I had to learn more. I started going to theology seminars and studied with missionaries that came to our city. I had decided to have a real relationship with my God.

Later I realized that in the church there were things that were anti Biblical, some churches had practices that were contrary to what the sacred scriptures taught us. They used psychology and emotions to keep people there. Yes they were thrilling, but they had very little knowledge of the truth and what they were doing. Practicing retreats where I had given my life to Jesus, God used these retreats to call me but not everything the churches did had basis in the Bible. I decided to step away and stop attending churches. I didn’t want to be a judge of how the other churches work or the strategies and methods they use. I asked God to keep me from having a judgmental heart. I just wanted to have a relationship with Jesus, learn from him and his life, and learn how I could take his message to those who need it.

Returning to my story, it was on the 14th of February that we got out of the comfort of our house and we moved on to a bigger building. At that point we only used CDs for the worship songs. It was during this time that a family who had just recently moved to Gracias showed up timidly asking if this was a church. My wife’s answer was that this isn’t a church, but we do bible studies and you are welcome if you’d like to come in. From that point our church continued to grow.

Working in the Maternity home with the Avenue

Later on God sent a missionary couple and their family down to Honduras, the Hopkins family. They have helped us with their discipling programs, teachings, and connecting us through 61 Isaiah Ministries with other missionaries who live in Honduras, specifically in my town Gracias Lempira. I have walked with them and learned so much from them by visiting churches, villages, and communities. Through 61 Isaiah we formed a partnership with our sister church The Avenue from Waxahachie, Texas. They come down to visit us yearly, helping share the gospel all around. Not only do we share God’s word, but we also work on social projects at Maternity Home for women from far away communities and villages to come stay while they wait to give birth at the local hospital.

The Avenue helping with ceiling construction at Rio de Dios Church

So much has changed since we started our church that February 14th. But what I really want to share with you is that for me, Jose Mauricio Vicente Romero, I can say that by the grace of my Heavenly Father I have the privilege of being the pastor of Rio de Dios. And I can’t be more thankful for having celebrated our 13th anniversary. Every doubt and insecurity I had at the beginning, God has walked through them with me. Little by little God connected me with the right people and has shown me what it means to be part of a healthy church that may truly be a River of pure waters, like in Revelations 22:1, where people may come and find the peace that only God can give us.

Pastor Mauricio and his daughter, Regina

Christmas celebration at the church youth group meeting

It’s Not Always as It Seems

March 10, 2023 by Taylor Chandler 4 Comments

Hi friends and those reading this blog! My hope anytime I write is that I might share a little vulnerability and truth. I hope you stick with me and God uses these words to speak to your heart today. So here I go…

The other day I was speaking to a good friend who had seen a post of mine on social media that some of you may have seen as well. My post was a combination of pictures that had been taken since January including some moments during a staff retreat, valentines day celebrations, and a hike I had just recently gone on with some of my friends here in Honduras. It was pretty cute if I’d say so myself.

My friend and I continued our conversation, and she mentioned my post and the pictures she had seen from our hike saying, “Oh my goodness Taylor, those pictures are so cute… it looks like you guys had so much fun…” and even before she could finish her second sentence I laughed stopping her to explain the moments that were not pictured. “It was not as cute as it seems,” I said. This hike was one of the hardest things I have done, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. However, those hard and difficult moments are not exactly the pictures I shared on social media.

The more I think about this conversation with my friend and her perspective of the hike, I wonder how many times in our life we appear to be “living the best life” whether it be on social media or through interacting with those around us. It is easy to put a mask on, and I’m not talking about a covid mask. At times I find myself living this way, and it’s not intentional. The majority of the time my desire is to be transparent with those around me and share in the hard things going on because honestly that’s what I hope for in return, but just like you my flesh wants people to think I have it all together.

A lot of times we can even do this with God. We want to seem to have it all together even when approaching Him. We place human characteristics and qualities on Him thinking that we should also hide from Him and cover up our messes. (I hate to say it, but we’re just like Adam and Eve). Christ knows where I am. He knows the parts of me that many people don’t see and aren’t pictured. (Having a husband who sees lots of those ugly parts of me day to day is still wild to me– but that is another story). God sees the parts of my life that are not cute. He sees the days when I get home and don’t want to talk to anyone. He sees the days when I lay down in bed with tears streaming down my face because it was a hard day at work. He knows the thoughts I have and I don’t have to cover up that mess or make it seem like I’m okay. He knows and is okay with it. But am I?

Jesus is pretty clear in Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT) when he says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” I think this is a theme running through our ministry seeing that Kylie also quoted this piece of scripture in her blog a few weeks ago. But, there is so much to gain from this passage that Jesus teaches. My prayer for you and for me is that we can come to the Father unashamed of trying to seem okay. But not only that, feel freedom in showing others our true self and the reality of how we are.

We live in a time where many things are romanticized. Social media especially romanticizes life in ways that make other people think you have the perfect life. Envy is another topic for another day, but people probably see your life or mine right now and wish they were us. It’s the “grass is always greener on the other side” mentality. But no matter how hard we might try, Christ is the key to finding freedom and the life we truly desire. We can be freed from the burden to live life perfectly or appear to have it all together. You’re not alone in this, and I have to remind myself that I’m not either.

On Saturday, February 18th at 9:00 am Paul and I started a two day hike, hiking the tallest mountain in Honduras with ten other people. At 4:00 pm, after 7 hours of hiking, we arrived at our camping spot, had coffee, cooked dinner over the fire, and got ready for bed, which at the moment was pretty fun. Those are some of the cute pictures you probably saw. But what I didn’t know was that Paul got injured within 45 minutes of our hike and was still feeling really bad, and to be honest my ankle was hurting pretty bad because back in December I rolled it and it hadn’t recovered 100%. “We’ll just push through it,” we said. That was probably the first wrong decision we made when we started our hike that morning.

The next morning we left our camp at 7:00 am because it rained all night and would have been dangerous to hike any earlier. The original plan was to hike to the top and watch the sunrise but again, it was too dangerous and wet. Before we started our day two of the hike, we were told it would be around 2 hours to the top plus an additional 4 hours back down, or if we chose to start the hike back down it would be around 4 hours. So Paul and I decided because of injuries we would be splitting from the group and begin our hike down instead of hiking to the very top.

As we started down, we noticed the terrain was very slick, muddy, and mostly downhill. I also forgot to mention it was raining off and on. Paul and I hiked for about 3 hours and were hopeful to soon be done only to find that our guide told us incorrectly and we had an additional 6 hours of hiking. We didn’t plan to pack lunch and extra water for this day so we were exhausted and running out of energy. After slipping in mud, being soaking wet, hungry, having a few buckled knees, rolled ankles, and hurt hips, I was angry. I was angry at our guide, the rain, the mud, slipping, and possibly dying. (Yes, I’m a little dramatic). It was a nasty moment of acting out in the flesh. I heard from others that it was a hard hike, but I was not expecting it to be like this. After 8 hours of hiking we finally made it down to the bottom with tears of joy in our eyes.

This isn’t necessarily the picture I painted in my post. I wanted it to seem like it was the best day of our lives, but to Paul and me it wasn’t. We probably won’t hike Celaque again. We did it, but probably won’t do it again. God was our strength through our literal weaknesses and helped us in the moments when we didn’t want to take another step.

Our hiking story might be a silly example of what it’s like to want to appear a certain way before your peers, but I hope you get my point. I don’t want to hide and seem to have it all together when I really don’t. Here’s to vulnerability and allowing Christ to use my weaknesses for His glory.

When you feel the need to appear a certain way, whether that be on social media or in your relationships, humble yourself and share the rawness and truth of what’s really going on. I will do this as well. The next time someone asks, “how are you doing? ” answer honestly. And lastly, be real with the Creator of the universe because He really does see you.

Seeking Help

February 24, 2023 by Kylie Johnson 1 Comment

I hate asking for help. I am not entirely sure if it is a pride issue or an insecurity issue. Honestly, it’s probably both. Whatever it is, at the end of the day I avoid help like the plague. With that said, I can ask for help with more minor things. I don’t mind someone helping me change a flat tire on my car, because honestly, I’m not sure I can get the tightly screwed lug nuts off by myself. The areas I hate asking for help in are much deeper and more personal.

Truthfully, I find it challenging to face the emotions I have when it comes to asking for help. There is a vulnerability when it comes to seeking help outside of yourself. I would have to acknowledge being incapable of being able to control the situation. Not only that, but I would be inviting people in to see me powerless and scared. Failure would laugh in my face and others would be there to witness it. Therefore, I “bravely” hold onto what I am facing alone. The weight of my burdens that I decide to keep is heavy. Still, I hold onto things because if I talk about my worries, insecurities, fears, and emotions, they will overwhelm me.

Avoidance becomes my best friend and my worst enemy. The lie of avoidance is this, “If I don’t tell others how I am feeling, then I don’t have to confront the uncomfortable. If I don’t confront the uncomfortable, then my problems aren’t really there.” Well, let me be the first to tell you that lie is absolute rubbish. Yet, I still struggle with it. I find myself instinctively choosing to bear my burdens alone, and I also find myself suffering alone.

At some point, we will all be faced with burdens that are too heavy for us to carry on our own. Life circumstances quickly show us that seeking help outside of ourselves is necessary even if it is undesirable. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, many people looked to different things to help alleviate their burdens. They looked to status, money, relationships, and religion (many of the things they sought help with are similar, if not the same, as where we seek help today). Yet, they still found that their souls were in want of something more.

What they needed and what we need wasn’t a thing, it was and is a person: Jesus. The only way we can truly help ourselves is to humbly recognize that we cannot. To be honest, this sucks, but it is exactly where Jesus wants us to be. When it comes to following Christ, all he asks is that you come as you are, mess and all. He doesn’t tell us that we have to clean up our act for him to even consider helping us. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve been weary. I’ve been burdened. I am weary. I am burdened. He then goes on to say to those who come to him, “…you will find rest for your souls.”

Recently, I have been overwhelmed. Emotions have started rising to the surface that I don’t want to deal with. In the midst of feeling helpless, I decided that I wanted something different. I made a list of what was causing me to feel overwhelmed. As I looked at my list, I realized that there were people who could help me in some of the areas that were causing stress and anxiety. People who God has lovingly placed in my life. So, I humbled myself and asked for help. Some of the things on my list I am still struggling with. They aren’t easy fixes. Yet, there were other things I was able to overcome with help.

I know that God doesn’t want us to live our lives weary and burdened, but sometimes I don’t believe that.

God has started challenging me to come rest in Him. He is reminding me that I can find rest for my soul and that I don’t have to suffer alone. You don’t have to suffer alone either. Trust me, I know it is hard to ask for help, but the love that you’ll encounter from God will bring healing.

My Next Step

February 10, 2023 by Edith Ayala Bonilla 1 Comment

When I was about to graduate high school I was trying to figure out what was next in my life, where I needed to go, and what God wanted me to do. God answered my prayers by opening doors, and I was able to go to college to get a degree in hospitality and work with 61 Isaiah ministries. Little did I know the blessing and the family I was getting myself into.

It’s been almost 7 years since I joined the ministry. I have no idea the amount of sermons I translated, the amount of time I spent with pastors and their families, the amount of visits I made to hospitals or clinics with families from communities, The amount of preparation we did for teams, or the amount of laughing I did in so many places with so many people. My last 7 years brought me so much spiritual growth. I have learned by not just reading the Bible or listening to sermons, but by seeing people living their faith and showing what it really means to love people and their families well.

2022 was a hard year, a year that truly made me face my fears, and my faith. So many things changed, I was graduating from college, and again I had to ask God what was next. I can say with all certainty that the past 7 years have been an awesome journey. A journey that has given me a second great family, friends far away joined in prayer, and a great spiritual growth that prepared me to face the world and my journey ahead in a whole different way than I would have faced it years ago.

Many of you may wonder what is next. My next step is to attend flight attendant school in San Pedro Sula. After that, I will be seeking the Lord’s direction for a position in the airline industry. I am so grateful to take all of the skills I have learned in the ministry to this new field. The hours spent serving others and meeting them in their good times and bad times will help me to better serve and see the needs of people I will meet every day.

Working in ministry, I have come to realize that all people have basic needs to hear about our Lord and Savior, and to be loved, cared for, and accepted. I will have the opportunity to be this for countless people and I look forward to see how God will use me.

The past seven years have been full of ups and downs and many twists and turns. I’d like to leave you some of my favorite memories that will hopefully make you laugh.

Teaching Shannon Spanish is one of my favorite things to do. Primero (first) because I’m not good at explaining rules, Segundo (Second) because accents are hard for English speakers, and tercero(third) because many words sound so similar and it’s hard to pronounce them right. Also, feel free to ask Shannon about the tercera (third) reason.

In 7 years of visiting pastors and their families in the communities my name is still not remembered by them, in fact, I gained some more names. I am the translator, the girl that comes with Shannon, Iveth, Iris, Cindy, la hermana, (the sister). Most of the time I answered to anything because I knew they couldn’t remember my name.

During my time in the ministry I developed an awesome gift that I know came from the Lord because He knows how much I like to sleep. I can sleep in the car up or down the mountain anytime. Bumps don’t bother me, I just need to find a good spot and game over.

Translating sermons has helped me gain a lot of knowledge and not specifically by just knowing the word, but by saying a word that is not the right one and saying something completely different in the middle of a sermon. After a lot of mistakes I decided that some English words were not going to be in my vocabulary. Some words you mispronounce and it becomes a VERY different word altogether. I rather explain to people what it is and have them say the word.

These memories and experiences I will have forever. Thank you all for your love and support over the last seven years. I will not forget you and the experiences we shared. I pray you will continue to lift me up in prayer as I follow the path before me, as I will continue to pray for you and the work of 61 Isaiah Ministry.

My 61 Isaias team is the bomb diggity bomb!

The Upward Calling

January 13, 2023 by Jeff Holloway 1 Comment

Samuel, Jeff, Michelle, and Caroline Holloway

Our Family has been here just over two years serving with 61 Isaiah Ministry. It has been a wonderful two years full of struggles, blessings, failures, and successes. I could spend my time sharing about the difficulties of moving to a third world country during a pandemic between two hurricanes, leaving all my family has known as a church family and home to join in what God is doing to reach a beautiful and wonderful people in Honduras with the gospel. I could talk about the blessing it has been to have a team that took care of us and prepared for us to be here and so many supporters who made it possible for us to be here. I could tell of many failures including all the trial-and-error mistakes with my poor Spanish, making cultural mistakes, and probably offending more than my share of people who have been so gracious to forgive. At the same time God has blessed us with so many successes: churches and individuals growing in faith, sharing the gospel, discipling believers, and so many more amazing things.

As I was thinking of the new year and what I wanted to share one scripture kept coming to mind, Philippians 3:14, “Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” This is a life verse for me. One that I have been returning to over and over since my pastor, Herb Thompson, shared it with our football team my freshman year just before we stepped on the field the for the first game of the playoffs.

His message was inspiring, and I clung to it for all these many years returning to it repeatedly to remind myself to press on. Just like many scriptures, it has grown in depth and width and inspiration as I have grown. That night I took it as a rally cry that God wanted me to do my best and that even though we were in the playoffs, we couldn’t rely on what we had done in our past, good or bad, to get us to the future and win these games that were before us. Yes, I was fully convinced that I would do my best and bring God glory through performing well.

As I grew in my faith and understanding God has used this verse time and time again to remind me to press on. Also, as I grew, I learned to look at his Word in greater context. I need to see why this was being said, what was Paul writing about to understand it with greater depth, width, and application. This is not a complete interpretation; I have much more to learn, but I would like to humbly share what God has shown me so far. With that in mind, I would like to take just a few more verses before and share a little more.

Philippians 3:10-14, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

In verses 10 and 11 we see a deep expression of love, worship, and hope in Jesus, a deep and abiding desire to live like Him, to die like Him, and to join Him in heaven. In verse 12 Paul confesses he has not arrived at this but that he will press on no matter the struggle, no matter the suffering to join Christ because Christ has taken hold of him. In verse 13 he repeats that he has not yet arrived, but he explains one thing he does.

Wow, when Paul says the one thing he does, we might need to listen closely to what he is about to say.

“Forgetting what is behind”– This has come to mean so much more than it did in high school. Not different but more. We can forget all the sins, problems, and mistakes that could entrap us and keep us imprisoned in the past, keep us from living the life of fullness, freedom, and kingdom impact that Christ desires for us to have. I can press on because I have been forgiven and set free to join in His wonderful ministry of redemption and restoration. Looking back and focusing on the life I have been set free from can lead me into a life that is empty and never full, entrapped in a world of condemnation and pain and one of impact but not for the kingdom of Christ but my own kingdom.

We also must forget all those amazing accomplishments and achievements included in “forgetting what is behind.” We tend to look back and see what God has accomplished in our lives and drift into a place of pride thinking we have accomplished these things. We tend to look back and say, “look what I have done!” And then we get caught in resting on our laurels. Like the farmer who puts his hand to the plow and looks back at what he has done instead of focusing on what is ahead. Our life gets off track and we find ourselves trapped in the past. When we look back at our past “accomplishments” and claim these accomplishments as our own, we get caught in our own kingdom instead of pressing on for His kingdom.

I am not saying that we don’t learn and grow from the good and the bad in our past, but when it is our focus, we become stagnant and trapped.

Then Paul says, “straining for what is ahead”– I look forward to Christ and what He has in store. Not just looking forward but using all my energy straining through whatever comes my way to see Him glorified, to see His kingdom increased, to join with Him.

As I look forward to the coming year, I need my focus on Him. I need my heart, my mind, and my soul stiving forward to His upward call. No matter what has happened, good or bad, I will continue to see his kingdom increased.

I am reminded of the story of Desmond Doss who won the Congressional Medal of Honor but never carried a gun. He kept going back and retrieving wounded from both sides while praying for God to give him strength to go get just one more. His focus was clear he wanted to save as many lives as possible.

The game is not over, the time has not come to rest and relax, but to press on to the upward calling.

Walking with Carlos

December 9, 2022 by Paul Chandler 1 Comment

Hello to everyone reading this blog post! My name is Paul and I am one of the missionaries over here in Honduras with 61 Isaiah Ministries. I am married to Taylor Chandler, and we have been here for a little over a year. Here at 61 we love to build relationships by walking with people, as many of you have heard one of our sayings, “Come walk with us!” The end goal of walking with someone is to share the Gospel and help spiritually deepen whoever it is we’re walking with. For me and Taylor, that has been Carlos.

When Carlos first started coming over to our house he really wasn’t super interested in studying the Bible or learning about how to grow. We had established with him early on that he did believe in Jesus but there was a catch. While he believed in Jesus, he did not believe in the Trinity. He did not believe in God the Father or the Holy Spirit. This belief came from an apostolic church background which neither Taylor nor I had ever encountered before. We kept loving Carlos and having him over, and after about one month he agreed to a more focused discipleship study. He had seen our love for each other and for God, and this created a desire in him to grow deeper in his faith. We started to study the book of John together because John clearly describes the story of Jesus in a very Trinitarian way.

Our first night I asked Carlos a simple question, “Do you believe that the Holy Bible is God’s divinely inspired word?” Without hesitation he said, “Yes! Of course!” Without knowing this was music to my ears. From there I began to show him some scriptures referencing the Trinity to which he responded by saying, “Paul I may not fully understand how the Trinity works, but I do know that the Bible very clearly discusses the Father, Son, and Spirit. If the Bible says it, then it must be true!” After picking my jaw up off the floor I asked him some more questions to make sure he understood.

Surely it couldn’t be this easy… right!?

He believed in the truth of the Bible so much that despite what his church taught, he was able to see the truth. Taylor and I were elated and honestly were touched by how much trust he put in the Word of God. If only everyone accepted the truth so readily! It was such a beautiful moment and in the last year he has continued to affirm the existence of the Trinity.

Another cool victory with Carlos is that after about seven months or so he came to me and said he felt convicted about something. He told me that for the last eight years he has been living with a woman he never married. They have two kids together and from the outside looking in you could never tell they weren’t married. After spending so much time in the Bible he felt the need to get married. The Holy Spirit was convicting Carlos, and during the month of December Carlos is getting married to his soon to be wife!

This is a huge victory, especially considering how difficult it is to get married here in Honduras. I’d like to say that all the growth Carlos has experienced is because of me, but I had nothing to do with it. You can’t force anyone to trust the Bible like Carlos does and you certainly can’t convict someone of sin. God has been growing Carlos and sanctifying him through His power

alone and for some reason God has allowed Taylor and I a front row seat. Please continue to pray for Carlos and his family as God continues to work in them.

I challenge you to have the same kind of trust in the Word of God, and the same trust in the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that Carlos displayed. Imagine just taking God at His word and trusting Him without hesitation.

That is faith right there.

It Matters

November 26, 2022 by Lindsey Moreno Leave a Comment

Do you ever find yourself asking the question, “does it really matter?”

“Do my daily choices matter? Do the habits I make matter? Does my work matter? Does my life matter?”

I ask myself those questions a lot. I ask God those questions a lot too. In the monotony of day to day life, I often wonder quite frankly if any of “this”– life, work, struggles, responsibilities– matters. Deep down, I want to know “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3). Is everything really just vanity? Does everything just crumble to dust?

I know in my head, of course I matter, I was thought up in the mind of God, and of course what I do matters, I am where he called me to be. But doubt is my best friend, and to borrow the Spanish terms what I saber (know by facts) in my head is not always what I conocer (know by experience) in my heart.

I used to have this idea that if anyone in life had work that really mattered, it would be a missionary. I mean, you can’t get more purposeful as a Christian than leaving everything to serve God in a different country, right? If anyone had meaningful work it would be the ones who are actively leading people to God, right? There was almost this golden haze of meaning surrounding the life of a missionary.

But the truth is, missionary, or working in the states, the doubts are still there and the question of meaning and purpose is always lurking in the background. Surprise! The question of “does this really matter?” doesn’t change and it doesn’t go away.

I think people are always looking for meaning and reassurance in the work they do in life. Is the thing that we pour our every drop of life and every ounce of passion making a difference? We all want what we do to “matter,” but meaning, value, and success is defined a little differently by each person, country, and culture.

Does it really matter? For me, I like to be able to answer that question with results: facts, numbers, and figures. I like success to be easy to measure and easy to see. I want something to show for my work. I like tangible results to assure me of the fact that I really matter.

Recently, I have taken a pivot in the ministry work I have been doing in Honduras. I decided to step away from the school and explore other facets of ministry. That has led me to helping Micah on the farm, going out to villages, doing office work, visiting the pregnancy center, and even getting involved with a local deaf ministry. Every day is a little different and I get to experience a different part of the goodness of God. And while it may sound romantic on paper in the day to day aspect the romanticism is easily wiped away.

Feeding chickens, stumbling through half cohesive Spanish conversations, answering emails, serving arroz con leche to pregnant women, and cleaning up after kids hardly seems like kingdom work or work that really “matters.”

A few weeks ago I got a message from a high school friend. I have seen her maybe once since high school, aside from the occasional photos and comments on instagram. She told me her and her husband had been talking about how they had met and realized it was because I had invited her to come to church. She shared, “Thanks to a small gesture and church invite my life is on a completely new and Godly path.”

To tell you the truth, I don’t remember exactly when we met or that I invited her to church. Those memories have faded into the mundane day-to-day moments of my life. But she remembers. To me I never imagined that something as small as an invitation could truly matter to someone.

But I think that is God’s secret. He works more in the day-to-day motions than the mountain top highs. Sometimes the things that seem small to us or the work that seems in vain is actually where God works to change lives. And we don’t always get to see the results.

So to answer the question does it really matter? The facts and figures I want to use to measure the value of my work and my success are meaningless– they are vanity. Your work doesn’t need to matter for you to matter. God knows what matters, even if you don’t always understand, and that is enough. God works in the daily motions and movements in ways that we can’t even begin to imagine. All he asks is that we remain faithful to him.

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going…These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth… But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:8-16).

The Lord Has Saved Me from Worse

November 11, 2022 by Edith Ayala Bonilla 2 Comments

Around a month ago, we visited a community called San Lucas where we stayed for church service. At the end, when the pastor was giving the announcement, he asked the church to join him in prayer for a lady that was probably in her last days of life. We all left and went to Doña Francisca house. She was in bed, she could barely open her eyes, and she could barely talk.

I sat on the side of her bed and held her hand while the pastor was giving her words of encouragement and praying for her. She had diabetes, and had been taking medicine, but she wasn’t getting any better. We truly thought she was not going to make it; she looked bad. After we prayed for her, I told her that we would keep praying for her and she turned to see me and said, “Sister, the Lord has saved me from worse.”

The words, “God has saved me from worse”, got stuck in my mind. How could this lady, who was surrounded by worried loved ones and in an awful condition, say such a thing? Doña Francisca had so much faith that God was going to get her out of bed walking that a week later we got to see what she believed become real.

When we returned to San Lucas the next week, we saw a lady cleaning beans in front of her house. For a moment I thought it was Doña Francisca, but I told myself that it couldn’t be her because she was really sick last time I saw her. There was no way she was already back in the kitchen working. We walked to her house, and to my surprise it was her. She was already working. As soon as she saw us, she ran to the house to get chairs and coffee for us.

Doña Francisca is a huge example of what it means to have faith in God. She knew that to her God, sickness and diabetes was not a problem. What seemed to be the end for us was just the beginning of another testimony.

Faith is a small word that can change our lives and make it better. Walking by faith is something so hard to do but so powerful. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Most of the time we like to see things happening, but what about those times that we can’t? What about when the people surrounding you think that you’re about to pass away? What about the times that the only thing we have is our faith in the One that makes all things possible?

Faith is focusing on God and not on the storm that is happening around you. Faith is putting your eyes and mind on Him and not on the circumstances. Yes, diabetes can be treated and it might be a matter of taking enough insulin, but it is not as easy in a community where people don’t have the knowledge to treat it or the medicine to heal it. This lady might not have access to many things but she has access to God and truly puts her faith in Him.

We would all be better people, better Christians, if we had faith like Doña Francisca. If we would change our minds and trust Him; trust Him in everything. Trusting in Him even if we don’t receive what we want. Trusting that whatever happens is his way of saving us from worse.

My prayer is that our faith gets strengthened and we learn to live it.

Patiently Waiting

October 28, 2022 by Michelle Holloway 3 Comments

I am not known for my patience. I usually see a problem and attack full force to solve it. The quicker you solve the issue, the better, right? Well sometimes that is the case, but oftentimes I have to wait, and like I said I am not usually patient in that waiting. The Lord has been working with me recently in this facet of my life. A couple of verses that the Lord has given me are Romans 8:25, “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently,” and Psalm 37:7, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” That “p” word is tough, but it is also life.

My head is often swimming with different thoughts and ideas. I try to figure out solutions to problems I see; I try to make things happen. The problem with that sentence is there are a lot of “I’s.” I feel like the Lord is using this season to teach me to wait, but not only to wait, but to do so with a patient expectation of the work He is doing. Just because I am ready, doesn’t mean that everyone else affected by the situation is. I often take for granted that God sees the big picture. Only He knows how the puzzle works, I only see my little piece of that puzzle.

One such example of this that stands out is a recent trip to Mongual. I love the village of Mongual and the sweet fellowship that congregates there. Jeff, Javi, and I have the pleasure of serving there every Thursday evening. It is a wonderful time of fellowship and study of God’s Word, but it is late in the evening at the end of what is almost always a long week. This particular Thursday, we also had Paul and Taylor with us. We are in rainy season, so we sometimes face issues such as people having difficulty getting to church in the rain and the distracting noise of the rain hitting the metal roof (great for napping, not so great for Bible study). When we arrived, there were very few people at the church. There had been a funeral that day, and with all the rain not many had made it to Bible study.

We were thinking we would pray and then leave early. Yay for getting to bed early! But, that wasn’t God’s plan. We began with a time of prayer and then Jeff was sharing a word. I noticed a man sitting outside the church door. He seemed a little out of sorts, so I walked back to ask him if he wanted to come inside. This sparked a conversation that my Spanish skills were not up for, so I motioned for the Pastor to help. Little did I know that Pastor Hugo had been praying for this man and looking for opportunities to speak with him.

The man, Roger, has been struggling with alcoholism and was seeking refuge at the church. We saw him pray and call out to God, and as a congregation we prayed for his healing. Had we gone home early we would have missed this opportunity to minister to Roger, to encourage him, and to point him to Jesus. We left the service excited about what we had just seen the Lord do. But, as I look back on that night, I am once again humbled by God’s grace.

He showed me that night His timing is perfect. That even when we are tired and overwhelmed when we wait on Him, the rewards are immeasurable. I don’t know what decisions Roger will make, but I do know that when I am patient and wait on the Lord He shows up in ways that are far greater than anything I can imagine. So I continue to wait patiently and expectantly on the Lord.

Hurting with the Hurt

October 14, 2022 by Taylor Chandler 1 Comment

61 Team Members on their first day of school

Each morning in my devotional class at ALCS we spend some time in prayer. On a normal day we pray for Honduran fútbol players, animals to be rescued and have homes, or something political. However, one particular day after the bell rang, a girl in class pulled me aside and asked for prayer. She did not feel comfortable sharing with the entire class but proceeded to tell me her request. We prayed together, and while we prayed streams of tears fell down her face.

There are many people I know and love who are hurting during this season. You might find yourself in a similar situation. Loss is hard. Heartbreak is hard. Not hearing from God is hard. Bad news is hard. Sickness is hard. (Fill in the blank) ________ is hard.

My heart hurts because people are hurting. If I’m being honest, my flesh wants to be the bandage to your heart. I want to have the right words, but I don’t have the words to put all the broken pieces together. But what I do have is something better. Someone better. Access to a Holy God who sits on the Throne and will not be moved. My God is a God of all comfort. He sees the pain and the tears that fall, and He knows and understands the parts of our lives that we don’t understand.

2 Corinthians 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

We find multiple times in the gospels that Jesus was moved with compassion for people that were hurting. He met them in their need, and the same is true today for you and for me. He not only meets us in our need, but gives us access to comfort those around us in need. Prayer is so important when we or our loved ones are facing unfortunate circumstances because God is the source of all hope and joy.

I need to remind myself of these truths quite often. I’m thankful for those in my life who constantly point me to the source of life. They comfort me, and remind me to call on His name in prayer because He hears us. I hope I may remind you to call on His name when you are in a similar season. God is faithful today and every tomorrow yet to come.

Psalm 145:18-19 “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.”

Deuteronomy 31:8 “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

If you find yourself in a season of hurting, continue reading 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. God is faithful.

Wonderfully Made

September 23, 2022 by Nelsy Paz Leave a Comment

Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

These have been some of my favorite verses for a long time, but they took on a whole new meaning for me when I became a mom. When I look at my daughter, I cannot help but be in awe of God’s craftsmanship. I take great comfort knowing that God created her exactly how He wanted her to be. I look at her and see God’s beautiful, perfect creation. It is easy for me to see all of these things in her. It is much more difficult, however, for me to see myself in this light. If I make a mistake, thoughts can creep in that I am not good enough, or that I’m not worthy of God’s love. I begin to doubt that God could really love me. I surely don’t deserve it! But I do not love my daughter because of what she does or how she acts. Instead, I love her because of who she is– my daughter.

If I, as a human parent, can feel this much love for my child, how much more must my heavenly father love His children? He loves me because I am his child, not because of what I do. I am also God’s beautiful creation. Just like my daughter, God made me exactly how He wants me to be. I am a child of God. Nothing can change that. And because of this, nothing can separate me from his love.

Hearing Loss for the Hearing

June 10, 2022 by Jeff Holloway 3 Comments

Almost 2 years ago God called us to move to a new country to join with 61 Isaiah ministry in sharing the gospel with the Lenca. This meant we had to leave all our old friends and make new friends, leave some comfortable customs and learn some new ones. It meant that we needed to learn a new language so we could communicate the gospel we were called to communicate.

Our whole family began to take Spanish classes. I had known a little Spanish before but just enough to get by with a few basic things. Most of the Spanish I knew was picked up by listening to people and joining in on the conversation. Michelle is doing much better than I am as she listens and practices with her teacher.

One thing that has made it difficult is that we moved here during a pandemic, and everyone is wearing a mask. You can’t see their lips when they speak and their voice is muffled. Well, this made it hard for someone who learns by listening. Now we all had that problem, but I found out I had an even bigger problem.

For a few years, Michelle had joked about me having selective hearing, and then that grew to me just not getting every word that was said in a noisy room. I would begin to hear my family say things like “does the T.V. have to be so loud” or “remember I told you that” then we would be somewhere and I would hear some of the smallest quietest sounds and they would come to the conclusion that I had selective hearing.

Well in learning a new language, we began to find out that even though I was repeating what I heard I was not pronouncing the words correctly. We realized something was wrong with my hearing. I just didn’t hear the same things other people did. We decided to get my hearing tested.
We took a 5-hour drive to Tegucigalpa for an appointment with an audiologist. After about an hour of testing, he brought me into his office, and he said he had some bad news and some good news. He asked me if I had ear infections as a child – I did. He asked me if I was in a place regularly that caused me to be around loud music. I said I was a youth Pastor and went to many concerts and also helped backstage during concerts.

He knew my hearing history from these tests. He said the bad news was that I have a diagnosis of hearing loss for the hearing. This has three very noticeable symptoms. 1. When you are in a room where many people are talking you can’t hear clearly, everything just mushes together. 2. When you’re talking with people you need to look at them and see their lips. 3. When learning a new language, you can’t pick up all the words correctly and hear different things that other people hear.

The latter symptom is the one we need to deal with the most. It seems that I can’t hear certain sounds of letters. I can’t hear B, P, T, V, S, and a few more. It was fine when I was only around English words. When people would speak English to me, and my ears didn’t hear those sounds my brain would fill in the blanks with the right sounds, so I thought I was hearing those sounds. It was what I was used to and expected. I didn’t think I was missing anything I believed and knew I was hearing those sounds. Now when I began learning a new language there would be blanks and my brain would try to fill in the blanks with the English sounds. Now when the word was close to an English word, I did fine but when the words were not I struggled. Michelle and others would repeat the words and I would say what I just knew was being said and I was wrong.

Well, when the audiologist put in a demo set of hearing aids adjusted for this, things did not sound louder, but they sounded clearer. Then he began to speak to me in Spanish and say a few words that included those letters. I was wowed. I had to ask him if these words really sounded that way and on one word, I argued with him but when Michelle walked in and said the word it sounded just like him and I was hearing the wrong thing the whole time.

Romans 12:2 tells us “Do not be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We need to be careful not to have hearing loss for the hearing spiritually. This is when we have a tradition or practice that we have done our whole life and even when we read a scripture that says something different, we have already decided and all we hear is what we want to. Or maybe we have an idea or thought that we believe and want to be true that when we hear teaching or see something that isn’t that way we refuse to see or hear the truth.

I have been a Christian for 44 years and for 30 of those years I was positively sure there were only 2 of each animal on Noah’s Ark. Then one day while reading the story to my kids in Genesis 7:2 I read the word seven. What?!!! 7 clean animals of each kind – Wow. You mean all those songs and all those movies, and all those bible stories were not right. Then a few years later I was reading it again for a project and how did I miss that it was 7 pairs of each clean animal – what ?!!! you mean 14 of each clean animal and bird. I had hearing loss for the hearing with Noah’s Ark. How many more things were clear in scripture that I was doing the same thing? How many times had I decided that since someone told me that is the way it is, and they put two or three scriptures together and it sounded so good and it was what I wanted to hear so I believed it to be that way?

I believe that the bible is the Word of God and that all of it is true. The problem is that many people want to give certain scriptures more weight than others. Any time we have a belief or a teaching that requires us to lessen or explain away another scripture, I think we may be experiencing a little hearing loss for the hearing spiritually. We need to be very careful when we decide that we want to hear what we want to hear and make one scripture less than another in importance. I have found throughout the years of studying God’s word I have had hearing loss for the hearing and needed to look at scripture for what it says and not what I want it to say. It is amazing what happens when we simply let God’s word be our hearing aid and correct us.

ALCS Teachers

June 15, 2023 by Kristi Hopkins 1 Comment

As many of you know, by the way, that I speak about my students, I truly love my job. But it’s not just my students who are great. Last week was our seniors’ last week of school, and I invited our teachers to come and pray over them. Through tears, I watched them lay hands on these students that they have guided and loved for the last 12 years. Some of the teachers had this set of students in 1st grade. Some have only come to know them in the last couple of years. But regardless, each teacher has poured their heart into our students. As a coworker, I am appreciative. As a parent, I am eternally grateful. My children are who they are largely because of this set of people who have given their time, their love, and their knowledge of the Lord. I asked this class to keep 2 Timothy 3:14-17 in their hearts as they leave our school which says, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” It is because of these teachers that I can say with confidence our students have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood and are thoroughly equipped for every good work. I look forward to seeing how God uses them in the future. Thank you, Abundant Life Teachers, for your role in this.

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