Sabbatical Update

Our "home base" for sabbatical has been Ellen's mom's snowbird house in central Florida. We call it our House of Refuge. So thankful to my mother-in-law for this blessing! 

To answer the two common questions that come up: No, we haven't been to the beach as it's a two hour drive either east or west, and no we haven't been to Disney World.  Another common assumption is that the climate here in Florida is just like Honduras, but actually this time of year La Paz (where we used to live) is much cooler and even more so up in the mountains.

So, what have we been up to on sabbatical?  It's been a lot of reading, praying, self-assessment projects, "zooming" with our coaches, and experiencing God. One of those big experiences came in the form of the little guy we are holding in the above photo.

That's our 6th grand baby, Lorcan Zell. We traveled out to Indiana to be with our son Brandon's family for the birth, and to be able to fulfill our grandparent roles by watching the other three kids.  But the birth required an emergency C-section, and Lorcan came into the world unresponsive and not breathing.  Within the first hours of life he had his first helicopter ride to NICU.  He had signs of liver and kidney damage, his digestive system was not functioning, and prognosis wasn't good for brain trauma.  Three days into the NICU and things looked very bad, but then the miracle started.  It was slow, but things started changing.  His body was healing.  When they finally did the MRI, the neurologist said that it was rare that she had good news for parents in the NICU, but it was all good news for them!  PTL!  After 18 days in the NICU, Lorcan left to go home, no tubes, and a fairly clean bill of health.  His kidneys will have to be checked throughout his childhood, but that seems like a small thing compared to what could have happened.  

Being close on the sideline watching this as we took care of the other three kids at home was often surreal.  God is always good but that doesn't always equate to what we want. To this day I am blown away by his amazing healing. We are so thankful for all the medical support. Even the doctors and nurses were using words like "miracle" and "there must be a lot of people praying."

It brings to the forefront that life starts fragile and weak, and yet this is how our Savior chose to come.  He humbled Himself to be born in this incredibly vulnerable state as a baby, to go through the joys and pains of growing, so that He could die for our sins on a cross.  

In this season we celebrate Jesus' coming, Emmanuel, and that He is coming again!  

God loves you so much that He sent His only Son to come and die for you. That's the real Christmas present and it continues in that we can have relationship with our God now and forever!  That's good news!

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14:6

Home-going

The top picture is of Arturo and Griselda Reyes. Arturo and his family were in many of our earlier newsletters. He was a Honduran who went to the States years ago, became a citizen both of heaven and of the US, got married and had kids... 6 kids!  He felt a burden to go back and share the good news of Jesus with folks in Honduras. He and his family did that for more than 11 years, and then the Lord took him home on June 13th. He was dropping off people in the church bus after the Sunday service, and a driver in a white pickup swerved around him, firing into the front of the bus. A tragic end to a precious life. 

His body was flown for the States for a service in Texas, their hometown.  Because Ellen and I were home in the US, we were able to attend the funeral and comfort our dear friends. Arturo was 47.

It hurts that Arturo is gone, it seems so senseless, and yet our faithful Father is sovereign over all things.  Arturo now sees Jesus face to face. That was his great desire, and his desire for others.  

But as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him"  1Corinthians 2:9 

Graduation

CFI, the education ministry we partnered with for these past many years, had it's first high school graduation.  This at a time when most schools in Honduras are struggling as part of the fallout from COVID.  Carlos and Esmeralda and all the teachers have been faithful laborers to help these youths achieve their dream of a high school diploma.  

We were disappointed that we could not be there, but God's plans are always good. The graduation was held at the training center pavilion. You can see in the photos how amazingly everything was decorated.  Pine needles covered the floor as decoration and for that sweet pine smell.  Colorful sheer fabric was draped from the rafters, and a red carpet was rolled out for the graduates to walk down! What a transformation!

You may remember our April update that reported on the first three CFI students who had accepted Christ. Although we don't know of any more professions of faith, we know the Lord is working in their lives. All the students had to write about their time in CFI. They shared of learning of God, seeing God, and the effect of God in their lives! They have expressed interest to know more. Seeds have been planted! While they have completed this great step of graduating high school, our prayer is that they will also be ready to graduate from this life into the life eternal!  

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."  Philippians 1:6

Coming Up

After finishing our sabbatical, we are looking forward to our first trip back to Honduras in the first quarter of 2022 for about a month.  This will give us a chance to take care of some mandatory administrative details with the Fellowship of Missionaries we are part of, as well as be up at the farm and training center to plan with Carlos and Esmeralda.  

As we move forward in ministry, we are looking to make two to four trips a year to Honduras with each probably being about a month in length.  Some trips will be just us.  Other trips may include a pastor from the States join us for a week to help in training the Honduran pastors, or a team may come for a week to conduct a VBS, or construction, or just help out at the farm.  

We are looking to continue the training with the pastors and the work with the CFI program. As you can see in the photos there are some new new puppeteers that we would like to meet and the aquaponic system has been re-established up in Tutule at the home of Darwin and Nery.  

While we are stateside, we will be assisting at Equip headquarters with the Community Health Evangelism trainings along with other trainings, and helping with new missionaries starting their journey.

Just a quick update on my (Matt's) long COVID.  I'm doing mucho mejor or much better!  PTL!  Most of my taste is back but not my smell... since November 2020!  My fatigue and headaches have cleared up and so now I'll have to blame those things on something else when they come up. ;)  I am so thankful to have been here in the US healing, as it's just easier!

Team Honduras!!