The Journey Continues

As I write this latest entry, we are back in the states and so much has happened it is hard to know where to begin. We came back on June 3rd for our scheduled furlough and it is now August and we are still here without a set return date. Our hearts are in Monjas but we see God working in so many areas of our lives and ministry that we have peace with the process.

As most of you know, until now we have been self-supporting. We have had to accept that this is no longer and probably never has been a good way to approach missions. Several people with much more experience in the mission field than we, have pointed that we need to be reliant on God’s provisions and stop trying to do it “all on our own”. While this was never our conscious intention we now see that it was how we approached the financial aspect of our ministry.

In short, our monthly financial need in order to carry out this ministry in Guatemala is approximately $3,500. We have been speaking at some churches as we have been invited and have received a commitment of $200/month so far.

To address this, we have set up a giving plan on our website and will be looking for 100 people to partner with us to reach our goal and allow us to return to Monjas and Shadow of His Wings. Our eyes have been opened through this process as to the blessing it is to others to be a part of what God is doing whether by prayer, going themselves, partnering financially or offering support in an endless number of ways. In order to grow our ministry in this area, we are looking for opportunities to speak to small groups, Bible studies, Sunday schools, churches or just a group of friends at someone’s home who are interested in hearing what God is doing in Monjas, Guatemala and our participation in it. If you would like to contact us about this you can use the contact icon on this web page and we will be happy to speak with you.

Other developments are: We now have a wonderful website ,logo and Facebook page!! Thank you to Kevin Burgess from our board and our friend Steve Petronek for all of their hard work in designing and setting up these useful tools.

We should be hearing from the IRS any day now about our 501c3 approval, so please continue to pray with us for that. Our board has been very supportive, committed and devoted to discovering God’s will for the ministry and to be continually moving in that direction.

Salem: We are re-evaluating our ministry in Salem and have decided to sell the building. While we had a lot of hopes for potential ministry there, the responsibilities of financing, maintaining and overseeing the renovation necessary to achieve those goals far outweighed the fruits we were seeing these past 7 months. It was taking too much of our focus and so after much prayer and discussion have reached this decision. The Salem ministry still has a lot of potential and we have met with other individuals and churches doing work in Salem and are encouraged by what we have heard. We will be praying about our continued role in that area as we move forward.

Guatemala: To summarize our experiences there this year: WOW! We have been privileged to witness so many transformations and answered prayers there, and it is hard to adequately put into words. We worked with several teams from the states and witnessed the love of Christ displayed through them not only to our children at Shadow but to us, our families and to the community of Monjas. We saw God transform the hearts of more than one child who came to us scared, angry, hurt and full of despair into hearts with hope and love that only Jesus can offer. We saw elderly people from our community receive food when they had none and accept prayer all in the name of Jesus. We participated in worship with people from many different places who spoke different languages all only seeking to praise Him. We saw some of our children receive medical care that they would have had no hope of receiving all because someone answered the call to serve “the least of these”.

We can honestly tell you that God is doing a great work in Guatemala and we know that He has called us to be a part of it. Please pray that our needs will be met and that we will be able to return soon. Thank You for praying for and encouraging us and God Bless!

Renee’