Blog - 61 Isaiah

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.

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