Wednesday, March 13, 2024

So Many Babies!!

People want to know how Rachel is doing in her current pregnancy. In order to share how she is doing today, we’re going to also talk about their other children and God’s obvious sense of humor.

Once upon a time, in the faraway land of Honduras, a couple named Brandy and Rachel were dating. Even then, they spoke of serious things–distant things–like children. Brandy thought he might like to have two children, but certainly no more than three. Rachel, on the other hand, wanted four children, no fewer than three. Obviously, they felt like three kids would be a good number.

After Rachel and Brandy were married, they learned that sometimes it doesn’t matter what plans you make! Rachel seems to have a gift for getting pregnant at times that cause her due date to fall during inopportune times. When she was pregnant with Nathan, his due date fell within weeks of the MK camp she had already scheduled. She was at the camp while she was (to put it in biblical terms) “great with child.” Her pregnancy with Nathan was good but her experience at the hospital left a lot to be desired. Basically, as a first-time mom, she didn’t know what she needed to fight for. She was induced at 38 weeks for absolutely no reason. 

Michael is a bit obsessed with his Papa

A couple of years after Nathan was born, Brandy and Rachel were ready for a second child. However, the next pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. A month later, it was discovered that Rachel had a large ovarian cyst that required surgery. Fortunately, the cyst was benign, but it was a scary time.


The first two pregnancies had happened quickly. After the surgery, that changed. It took about a year to get pregnant for a third time. The waiting was difficult. During that time, Rachel spoke to a pastor who had gone to Honduras on a retreat for missionaries. The pastor prayed with her. He said that she would have a baby and that he would be as beautiful as Moses was, referring to two verses that speak about what a beautiful child Moses was. The story of Michael’s pregnancy is one of the most amazing stories to Rachel.

Brandy and Rachel’s church was doing a Daniel fast. Rachel decided that all she wanted to pray for was for her to get pregnant. One Sunday, as the church was ending its fast, Rachel stayed home to watch the afternoon service online. While sitting there she felt a strong urge to go take a pregnancy test. Even though pregnancy tests are best taken first thing in the morning, her late afternoon test came back positive. Keep in mind this was all happening during the church service. Michael, who is truly a beautiful child with a beautiful personality, was named after the pastor of that church, who died of COVID a few months prior to baby Michael’s birth.

Brandy and Rachel thought that since it took so long to get pregnant with Michael that it might take a while before baby number three came along. Surprise! Michael was born in October and they found out they were expecting Levi the following July. Levi was a March baby and there were a lot of things going on toward the end of that pregnancy–including the coffee farm going up in flames, new staff that was still being trained, and bedrest for Rachel. None of that helped Rachel’s stress level. Plus, at an early sonogram appointment, the doctor had assured them that Levi was a girl. Obviously, he was not. Surprise, again!

Rachel often finds herself under a pile of small humans

Brandy and Rachel decided that three was indeed a good number. They were done! Finished. No more babies. But Rachel likes saying God has a sense of humor. Surprise! Number four is now on the way, due early June. Three sonograms have confirmed that this baby is a girl. Rachel described their feelings as being “very excited, horrified, and scared at the same time. Well, maybe not horrified. But definitely scared! I was grieved that we weren’t going to have a girl, especially when we had been told that Levi was a girl and I'd been excited for it. But we were trusting that God knows best. Now, we are trusting that God knows best again!”


Please pray that this pregnancy does not require Rachel to go on bedrest - she had to go on bedrest with both Michael and Levi's pregnancies. It would be very challenging with so many little ones in the home. Currently, Levi is starting to walk and Michael is running around like a bumper car on the loose. And anyone who has met Nathan knows he is a bundle of energy that doesn't stop. Pray for Brandy’s sanity during this fun yet hectic time. He was never planning on having four children. That’s a lot of milk and diapers! Pray for God’s continued provision. 


If you would like to help Rachel acquire some pink things after having to buy many blue things (plus extra items she needs because they will have three under the age of three when the new one is born), she has a baby registry, link below. A family friend has generously offered to help bring the stuff down to Honduras.


Rachel's Baby Registry


-posted by Christi

Levi living his best life. Dude knows how to chill.



Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Let's Talk Teachers

It’s time for some teacher talk. Teachers are more than a classroom background noise in a Charlie Brown special. “Wah wah woh wah wah wah.” So let’s hear it for the teachers! Today we’re recognizing the incredible commitment and passion it takes to be a schoolteacher in the communities within Lempira. 

Last week, while collecting letters from sponsored children, staff members of Sowers4Pastors met a new teacher. She is currently traveling more than two hours each morning to get to her school. This isn’t like some lengthy but bearable commute in the U.S. She’s not cruising along listening to podcasts or audiobooks or catching up on some sleep while riding a commuter train. She is traveling two hours on bad roads. Her children currently attend school close to their home but she believes it will be necessary to have them attend the school where she is currently teaching. She is hoping to find an affordable rental house near the school since there are no apartments in the area. 


Alejandro explained, “Being a teacher is not just a job people do for income in Honduras. It is a passion for the students. The schools don’t have many resources. Because of that, the teachers have to search for help with supplies and classroom resources. If they don’t find the help, they will never get the resources they need.”


Recently, S4P brought some classroom decorations for the schools. These included numbers and alphabet letters to go on the wall–the sort of things we might find at Dollar Tree, but that are highly valued commodities in rural Honduran classrooms. 


The schools usually only have two or three teachers. However, there are some schools within the Lighthouse Church sponsorship area with only one teacher. That teacher is fully responsible for educating 1st-6th grade students. It’s like something straight out of a “Little House on the Prairie” episode. Understandably, it is not an easy task for the teachers. 



“We know they are not just in it for the money,” Alejandro said. “We pray every day that God will give them strength in their hearts and the wisdom to do their jobs in the schools. Each time we go to the schools to give backpacks, we take extra supplies for the schools. Each time, the teachers start crying. The government doesn’t help with supplies. The teachers are so grateful for everything they receive. Last year, Lighthouse Church also brought supplies for each school in their program. Sometimes the schools don’t have markers to use–or even paper. These gifts gave them the tools and supplies they needed for their classes. We pray for every teacher to have the strength to continue to teach their students.”


There was some sad news, as well. Last week, a teacher of more than fifteen years was a victim of a bus accident. This was a teacher the S4P staff knew well. She was always the one to open their doors to the ministry each time they visited. Last year, when a team from Lighthouse Church painted the school where she taught, she was in tears. She shared that it was an answered prayer. She will be missed by the ministry and certainly by the students whose lives she touched. 


On the day we spoke, Alejandro said they were getting ready to give out backpacks to kids from three different locations, in the FBC and Settle programs. They were going to set up at one location and the children would be rotated in and out of that area to receive their backpacks. They will give out backpacks to 250 kids, as well as some classroom supplies to help make the lives of the teachers a little easier. Several of the sister churches in the States chose to donate supplies to the schools this year, which is a huge blessing, and those get handed out when the S4P staff is on site delivering backpacks.



Please pray for the teachers of the programs who sacrifice so much so the children of Honduras can get an education. And please pray for the S4P as they travel about to distribute the backpacks and supplies.


- posted by Christi


Teachers and Sunday School teachers from the sponsorship programs at a training event



Friday, March 1, 2024

An Allen Update: Hurry Up and Wait

Allen and Trish are glad to have progressed 
to the point where they are seeing actual
neurosurgeons! Yay!


It has been about a month since our last big Allen medical update. At that time, he’d seen one neurosurgeon for a consultation and had an appointment to get a second opinion. A lot of progress can be made in a month. Sometimes. And sometimes a month can feel a little bit like being stuck on a hamster wheel. As far as Allen’s back goes, the past thirty-ish days were more like the hamster wheel variety. 


Allen and Trish did see a PA at the second neurosurgeon’s office. After consulting with the doctor, the PA shared their analysis of Allen’s condition. The PA and the doctor were in agreement that there is one area of Allen’s back where the nerves are so badly pinched that, if left untreated, he would possibly lose his ability to walk. That’s the sort of news that gets your attention and takes returning to Honduras without treatment completely off the table. 


The second neurosurgeon says that Allen should have the two surgeries previously discussed. The first surgery would be on the lower back, since that is the more pressing issue. Allen and Trish were told they could make an appointment to meet with the surgeon and then book the first surgery. That should have been about a six-week process. Except . . . 


Insurance isn’t going to approve surgery until Allen goes through rounds of treatment with a pain management specialist. The pain specialist disagreed with the second neurosurgeon’s opinion. The second neurosurgeon’s opinion had been different from that of the first neurosurgeon. Ultimately, none of that really matters at this point since it all comes down to what insurance is willing to do at this moment. 


So Allen went in for his first injection in his lower back. However, things didn’t go as planned because the pieces of bone were so tightly pinched that it was impossible to insert the needle at the chosen location. Instead injections were given between the vertebrae above and below that spot. The injections are being used as a diagnostic tool to see how the pain changes. Before injections, it is necessary for Allen to cut way back on his pain meds for two weeks. After the injections, it’s a two-week waiting period before seeing the pain specialist again. Then it’s another couple of weeks before getting more injections. 


Trish said, “This could drag on and on. You don’t even know what to hope for! I’m just hoping to get things going and stop spending so much time waiting!”


A major concern is the fact that Allen’s back is continuing to worsen. While Allen does think the physical therapy may be helping him to decline less rapidly, the overall deterioration is still happening faster than they are getting help. If the delays continue, the concern is that they will affect the final outcome. 


As of this writing, a telehealth appointment is scheduled with the second neurosurgeon for today (February 28th). Allen and Trish have heard that it may be possible to ask the insurance agency to reconsider the previous request for surgery. All of this will be discussed with the surgeon. 


The surgeries suggested are both pretty major – involving a bunch of fusions.  Allen and Trish are having to think about what all of this means for their future. Even if something changes and the first surgery is approved quickly, it will not be a speedy process. There will be a two or three month recovery time from the first surgery. Then Allen would likely need to undergo the pain management procedures again (in his neck this time) before insurance would give the go-ahead for the second surgery. Naturally, that would require more recovery time before thinking about going back to Honduras. It’s a lot to deal with. 


To end on a happier note, Allen and Trish are glad to be plugged into a local church. They are enjoying the services and are starting to get to know people. Also, they have spoken to the owner of the home where they are staying. He has assured them that they will be able to stay there through March and possibly through April. He promised to give them thirty days notice before they need to move. That’s a comfort! 


As always, your prayers are appreciated. 



 - posted by Christi

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

What's Cooking at the Feeding Centers?

Over the past year, Esdras has had the pleasure of visiting many of the feeding centers sponsored by Sowers4Pastors. He was eager to share what’s going on with them.

The S4P feeding centers are run by local pastors through Sunday school programs. The pastors drive to Gracias to pick up the food. Then they return back to their communities loaded down with rice, beans, and vegetables. Protein-packed meals are prepared each Sunday, providing physical food to go along with the spiritual food that is being served up to the children in attendance.



This past Sunday, Esdras visited Pastor Henry’s church, which is about a three-hour drive from Gracias. That church has around three hundred kids in attendance each Sunday. The Sunday school program has grown to include things like a music school and a barber school. Yes, a barber school! Thinking I might have misunderstood him, I asked Esdras to clarify that last point. Here’s what he said:


“Some people in this area don’t have money to pay for a haircut. This ministry is on the street–working with people who may not have homes.” 


Yes, Pastor Henry is an innovative man who saw a need and found a way to fill it. This isn’t the only feeding center he oversees. Pastor Henry serves six different locations, serving a total of 1200 kids in his area. 


“It’s an awesome opportunity to see in person what the goal is when we are donating to the feeding centers. Sometimes when we give out the rice to the pastors, we can’t see the whole picture. But I saw kids involved in music and in serving with skills like barbering,” said Edras.


In two weeks, Sowers4Pastors is hosting a meeting for the leaders of all the feeding centers, which will take place in Gracias. The idea behind this meeting is to make sure that each center is given quality Sunday school materials and how to use them.


Esdras shared, “The food centers are sharing stories from the Bible but many of them don’t have a system or age-appropriate materials.” 



S4P wants to supply each center with good resources that cover topics such as grace and mercy. Esdras has been working with some other people on this and a curriculum has been found. While the kids are given nutritious food to assist in their physical growth, they will also be receiving food to help them grow in God. 


If you’d like to make an extra donation to the feeding center program, head over to the ministry website. Your donation can make a huge impact.

   

- posted by Christi.

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Meeting Mary Faith

The announcement has been made and the word is out that Mary Faith Yoder will be joining Sowers4Pastors as a full-time staff member–serving in an administrative capacity. Today we get to actually “meet” Mary Faith. Without further ado… Everyone, this is Mary Faith!

Mary Faith is mom to three grown sons, and grew up in a family with many siblings. She first felt called into missions as a teenager. However, she married at the age of twenty-one and got busy starting a family. She thought she would have to give up her dream of becoming a missionary. 

She said, “My original dream was to be a missionary schoolteacher. That never happened. But I did teach school for two years before homeschooling my three boys. My oldest was in the 4th grade and my middle son was in 1st grade when I started. I continued until my youngest son, who is now twenty-one, was through high school. So that’s something like eighteen years of homeschooling.”

Life doesn’t always work out as planned and Mary Faith didn’t plan on becoming a single mom when her sons were five, ten, and twelve years old. She and her sons share an incredibly close bond, and they are very supportive of her decision to move to Honduras. They probably aren’t completely surprised. She went on her first mission trip to Africa with her youngest son when he was just sixteen. It was a four-week trip! After that she went on multiple other mission trips, including another one to Africa. She talked to her boys about the possibility of moving to Honduras before making any serious decisions. 

How did she find out about the position? Mary Faith has been Facebook friends with Trish since shortly after the kidnapping. So back in April or May when Trish put out a request on Facebook for someone who would like to join S4P to primarily work in the office, Mary Faith felt the urge to reach out to her. She visited Honduras for three and a half weeks in August and got a feel for it. 

Her entire family is behind her decision to go for it! Mary Faith and her sons moved from North Carolina to Phoenix seven years ago, primarily to be closer to her parents. Her father passed away from COVID in 2020 and she was a little concerned about moving away from her mom at this time. However, her mom is healthy, active, and retired. And Mary Faith’s younger sisters are close by. It was her mom who said, “Look, if you ever want to do something like this, now is the time to do it.” 

Mary Faith with her sons and daughter-in-law.
From left to right: Adrian, Shannon, Mary Faith, Travis, Karaline

Travel to and from Honduras won’t take that much longer than when she lived in North Carolina. Mary Faith knows that the work is flexible enough that she will be able to go home for a visit when needed. 

When asked what she is most looking forward to, she said, “That’s a good question. I feel like it’s being able to make a difference. Especially since my boys are grown, it’s been my passion to do something and go somewhere I can make a difference. We all have different callings and I know there are people called to make a difference in America. But this has been a dream of mine for many years and I feel like it’s an opportunity.”

In case you’re wondering, Mary Faith is currently trying to learn Spanish. She said, “From my teenage years, I wanted to go somewhere that spoke Spanish. I wish I could have learned when I was younger and it would have been easier. But I’m excited about learning. I’ve been doing Duolingo for quite a while. I think the plan is to send me to Spanish school for a month or so when I move there.”

Trish, ready for some reinforcements in the office

Even though she is currently still raising support to be able to move to Honduras full-time, she is planning on going down in March for two weeks to help with updating the profiles of kids in the sponsorship program. Her plan is to get training and then bring a bunch of the work home to do it from there. 

Please pray for Mary Faith as she gets things in order. The timeframe of her move is dependent upon how long it takes to raise financial support. Pray also for her sons. Yes, they are grown men now but she’s still a mom! She currently works in the business of one of her sons. Pray that he will find someone to replace her in her role, as well. And, of course, pray for her upcoming trip for training.

If you want to help Mary Faith out with her fundraising, you can donate here.

-posted by Christi.


Thursday, February 15, 2024

Stories of Home Visits

During our most recent chat, Brandy was with a visiting team as they ate breakfast before heading out for a busy day. He graciously delayed his own breakfast long enough to talk about his love of going out with sponsors to visit the children they sponsor, and their families, in their homes. 

He said, “Home visits are important and I love doing home visits with team members. It’s big for me. I just love people in general. I love spending time with people and I love that the people we visit have a lot to share that isn’t material. You get to know the people and how they live. And when you get to know them, they aren’t just numbers. Working in the Sowers4Pastors office, we see lists and there are numbers for the kids. But when we meet, they are not numbers. We meet their families and understand their struggles. These are people that live close to me but they have different needs. It’s a real blessing because you realize they are happy. You might see a kid playing with a piece of wood his father carved into the shape of a car. The families have good relationships. 



“They visit each other when someone is sick. If one family’s mango tree ripens early, they take mangoes to others. As a staff member, it reminds me of how important the ministry is. We are a channel of blessing and what we do has a big purpose. We share the love of Christ; we share the love that Jesus has for us. 


“The other thing I enjoy is that I can speak English, even though it’s not perfect. As I translate, I am able to connect two cultures. The sponsors and the families can share stories. They hug. They cry. They pray. It is amazing!”


Brandy admitted that he could have talked all morning on this topic but he limited things to stories involving three home visits.



Story 1


Three weeks ago, team members from the Lighthouse program were doing home visits. One of those visits was to a family whose house had caught fire about six or seven months ago. While the fire could have been worse, the family lost clothing, beds, and other possessions. Since the fire happened during the day, neither the family nor their neighbors were home. However, the church was very close and the pastor was there working on a sermon. The pastor was able to help extinguish the fire and comfort the family in the aftermath. 


Brandy pointed out that while it was sad because the family had lost possessions, there was a bright side in seeing the community step in to help them. The community joined together to give the family clothing for their children. Someone gave them a bed. As a result of the experience, the family began attending church. They are now strong Christians. The parents, who weren’t married before, got married. The oldest daughter joined the worship team and is now a Sunday school teacher. 


S4P is trying to help them replace part of their roof that is leaking, and repair electrical wiring that was damaged. The ministry is also planning to change out a sink and purchase two beds for the kids.


Story 2


Two days ago, Brandy was with team members in Guacutao. One of the children in the program lost his father only a week earlier. While the child’s sponsor was there, she wasn’t sure it would be an appropriate time to pay the family a visit. When asked, the family agreed to a visit. They were able to share their pain. The sponsor was able to cry with them and pray with them. 


The child’s father had been working in the States for a year. He was actively involved in a worship team, as he had been in Honduras. About five months ago, he was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer. He told his family that he was ready to die in the States and told them not to go to the expense of transporting his body back to Honduras. Somehow, he was able to travel back home just eight days before he died. 


While that is an incredibly sad situation, the sponsor and Brandy were able to hold a sacred space for the family in which they could share their grief.


Story 3 (which involved 3 houses)


The final stories are happier than the last one. They involve visits with the Lighthouse team. 


Brandy said, “When a sponsor comes, the neighbors, aunts, and cousins also come to visit. At the first house, there were people waiting for the sponsor. We played cards and watched the kids play soccer.”


At the second house, they also played a card game the sponsor had brought along. It was a hit! In fact, it was such a hit that people at the next house heard the noise and started coming over one-by-one. Then the mother from the next house said that she had food for them. She gave the guests chicken soup, which Brandy declared to be the best he’s ever had. The homes were just a few feet away from each other so the maker of the fine chicken soup went back to playing the boisterous card game. 



Final Thoughts from Brandy


“It’s difficult for a lot of people to come down and visit their child. I understand that.” Brandy laughed and said, “I don’t know how I would do it if three hundred people wanted to come. But I know it’s important and I enjoy doing the home visits. I feel very blessed.”




-posted by Christi.


Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Help is On the Way!!!

Office work!!!!


Grab a handful of confetti and toss it in the air because help is on the way! A new North
Mary Faith
American missionary, Mary Faith Yoder, is going to be moving to Honduras to join the Sowers4Pastors team. S4P could not be happier about it. This is particularly good news for Trish.

Throughout the early years of the ministry, Trish was focused on running a household and being a homeschooling mom. Her plate was full but she also did things like writing the newsletters and teaching Sunday school lessons. She describes herself as a minor player in the ministry during that time. The fact that so many of her children are now involved in full-time mission work would indicate she wasn’t really a minor player at all, but you get her point. She wasn’t involved in much of the day-to-day operations of Sowers4Pastors back then. 


Just at the point when she wasn’t homeschooling a whole passel of kids, the sponsorship program came into being. When it first started, Trish really, really didn’t want to be the person in charge of maintaining all of the record-keeping. She had hoped to move into a more creative aspect of the ministry. Alas, Trish ended up being the person to step into the role of chief runner of the website. It was not her dream job but she has done it faithfully since 2018. 


Trish pointed out that during these years she has learned “how to do a lot of things that you only learn through trial and error.” She became an expert at contacting customer support for the website. She learned how to do surprisingly tricky mundane tasks such as changing a donor’s email address on the website. (There are more steps to this than you might imagine!) She can manipulate the site to make it run specific reports - also surprisingly tricky! She became the go-to person on staff for that sort of thing. 


Trish's not-ready-for-Instagram
workspace in Florida
Trish said, “People come to you because you’re the person who has already spent the time figuring out how to do things. That’s fine, since it saves time for everyone. But what happens if someday I can’t do it anymore? It’s not that I’m retiring. I’m not out of the picture! But we want to know that if something should happen to me there will be someone else who knows how to complete all of those tasks. Mary Faith is the person coming in to learn how to do this.”


Finding people who are dedicated to being behind-the-scenes support staff isn’t an easy task. As Trish said, “Office work doesn’t make for great selfies on Instagram.”


Mary Faith came down to Honduras last year for a month to see if this was something she felt called to pursue. During that time, she learned a lot about using the system. Everyone believes she will get up to speed quickly. She’s coming for another short-term visit soon - and at a perfect time, as it’s the season when all of the sponsorship kids’ profiles are updated. This is the time of year when it becomes impossible for Trish to keep up with all of the updates and her regular work. There are tight deadlines for the profile updates because churches in the States set up sponsorship Sundays to encourage new sponsors to sign up, and all of that church's children need to be updated by that set date. It’s a big load of work on a tight schedule. 


Sowers4Pastors website donation page
(click photo for better viewing)
Unlike the Honduran staff who work on salary, the goal is for North American missionaries to raise their own support. (If you're curious about why we handle things this way, click here for a blog post about that!) Raising support is what Mary Faith is working on now, so that she can move to Honduras and work with Sowers4Pastors full time! Please consider helping her, through prayers and financial support. In the past some of the potential North American staff members didn’t work out. Sometimes people would visit with a team and expect that daily tasks during non-team times would still involve fun things like playing games with small children all the time. Mary Faith is well aware that the bulk of her responsibilities will be more like customer service tasks with a smattering of accounting thrown in for good measure. She is up for the job! Helping to support Mary Faith through prayers and donations is one very tangible way to support the ongoing work of Sowers4Pastors. (Mary Faith has been added to the list of donation categories on the website, to make it easy to donate toward her support).


- posted by Christi