July 2018

On May 7, 2018 we welcomed Silas Boaz Morel into this world, at 6 lbs. 4oz and 21″ long! We thank you all for your prayers in this area. We were blessed with the opportunity to have a normal birth here in our home, attended by a local doctor. Nicole’s mom, was also here which was a tremendous help to us in this time. She was able to come down for a week to help us with the girls, and enjoy her grandbabies, and meet the newest edition of our family. We hated to see her leave. The girls loved having their Gammi here, and were so sad to see her leave.

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3 days before Silas’s arrival. I got a call from the ladies of the church. They had prepared a baby shower for myself and 2 other expecting mothers. They didn’t think I would be able to attend, due to Silas’s arrival but we were still waiting on him, and so they gave me a call. I got to attend a lovely baby shower, that was showered with love, laughter, and prayer by the women of our church. I was quite happy that we were still waiting for Silas to arrive, because being able to attend the shower, was a huge blessing for me. And it helped strengthen the bond of friendship and love with the church women.

I was also blessed with a baby shower from our fellow Co-Op moms. Having these ladies as friends has really impacted our lives. Being able to share ones joys, and burdens with fellow missionary moms, has been a great blessings for me.

In Our last blog I mentioned I mentioned the girls and I attended a co-op made up of several homeschooling missionary families. Our first semester has ended and we are all taking a summer break. Most missionaries have a very packed summer filled with groups coming and going, so they put co-op on hold for a bit. We will start the next semester in August, and the girls are so excited to be able to get together with their friends again.

The Mary Poppins play turned out so wondering! Jubilee and all the other children did a wonderful job! Jubilee thrived in this, and she looks forward to the next one. Both the girls, still run around the house singing the sounds and acting out different parts! The students and parents did a amazing job putting this together. It was a lot of hard work on everyone’s part, but completely worth it in the end!

Jubilee is the little orange fox!

We continue to build relationships with the people of the church. Allan continues to visits to different families throughout the week. Since Silas has come the kids and I haven’t been able to go with him, but we hope to change that soon! This weekend we’ll be attending a little girl’s 10th birthday, we’ve committed to take the piñata, and couldn’t be more excited about it!

We have started a new class on Sundays for new believers and 3 people that have been attending have expressed their desire to be baptized. We will hold a group baptism when the class is completed.

With many youth at the church, that we are hoping to partner with fellow missionaries to start a purity class for our youth. We see this as a great need for these young people. Parents here don’t seem to talk to their children about the importance of waiting until marriage, and we want to fill in this gap. We are in the process working out the details with our fellow missionaries, and hope we can get the class started soon.

Right now our youth meet twice a week, once for visiting others in the community, and on Saturdays for their youth service which begins with games, and ending with a message. We are really enjoying getting to know the youth, and Allan has build some strong relationships with them, especially the guys. They often come to him for advice and counseling.

The ladies of the church have been doing activities to raise money to finish the church kitchen, which includes putting in counters, a sink and a few other things. The ladies and youth, use our church kitchen quite often, and they felt the need to finish it soon. They have been raising money for a few months now, and soon will have their kitchen finished.

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Over the last few months, Allan continues to visit the school in the Porvenir community. On Mondays Allan and the Youth Pastor of our church, Douglas, goes to share a message, and offer counseling throughout the week. There are been many Saturday projects at the school, that has also given Allan the opportunity to meet some of the parents and work along side them. Allan recently help dig the hole for a septic tank to be made for the school, as well as paint the bottle of trees, to help keep bugs away (something the Hondurans do here).

 

Prayer Requests:

• Continue to build strong relationship with the people of the church and in that area. That they come to know Christ in a true way and continue to grow their relationship with Christ.
• For us, as a family, that we stay united and continue to be the light God wants us to be.
• That we can get the purity class started soon.
• Allan, as he continues to serve and counsel the people in Porvenir. For strength, and wisdom as he deals with all kinds of situations.
• For married couples in our church, recently we have really seen Satan attacking these couples and trying to divide them. Pray remain strong in their faith in Christ and their love for each other

Praise

• Silas’s birth went well, and both Nicole and Silas are doing great. Having a new baby has its challenges but we are finally finding our new “normal.”
• We have seen many results in the students in the school, and they are getting more involved in their school projects.
• We have seem many members of our church stepping up to serve God more in our church and the community.
• The youth group continues to grow and flourish in their faith. Recently the school celebrate the “day of the Students” and our youth put together dramas and a whole program to minister to the student of the school.
• The 3 new members that have expressed their desire to be Baptized! May they continue to grow in their faith and follow in the footsteps of Christ.

 

 

April 2018

The last two months have flew by so quickly! A lot of new things happening in our lives right now, and its been a time of change and adjustment.

In the last post, we mentioned Allan taking on a Deacon position at our church. He has since, started going to the church daily to study there and welcome any of the members that need to talk to join him. He has started a men’s bible study 2 nights a week, for the young men in the church who want to dig deeper in their walk with Christ. He currently has 3 young men attending. He also has partnered with the local high school in the community, and has offered to counsel the youth that are in need of it. He has met several young youth, and is able to really help them figure out their next step after school, and how to fix current issues they may be having at home. On top of the men’s bible study, and helping the school, he continues to preach every Thursday evening and Sunday mornings at the church. On Wednesday and sometimes Friday, we try, as a family, to go and visit church members in their homes. It has been a great way to get to know everyone in the church personally and spend some time with them.

In January the girls started attending their first homeschool co-op! Every Wednesday we gather with several other missionary families. The girls are taking art class, drama class, which will be putting on a Mary Poppins production, and Honduran sign language class. This has been a wonderful opportunity for the girls to meet new friends their age, as well as for me getting to spend time with fellow missionary-homeschooling moms. Jubilee has been given the role of a Market seller, and the fox in the Mary Poppins production that will happen on April 27th. She is very excited about her parts and will be a star for sure! Pictures will follow!
Sign language here in Honduras is very different in many ways compared to the states, I’m so excited that the girls get to learn it. We have a little deaf girl in our church that Jubilee plays with a lot, and this has been a way for Jubilee and this little girl to communicate more!

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In February, we had the chance to attend a Missionary Retreat with over 200 other missionaries serving in different parts of Honduras. This retreat is put on by the organization, (Honduran Fellowship of Missionaries & Ministries) we are apart of here in Honduras. It was a time of refreshment and a great blessing. We were able to enjoy worship in English with fellow missionaries,  and attend different workshops fitting the things we needed at this time. I got to attend workshops that were focused more on children ministry, as well as workshop focusing on our children as missionary kids and the transition they go through. Allan was able attend workshops focused on time management, and Strategic planning for ministry related things. In the main sessions we listened to Dr. Don Mingo on the importance of Soul-Awareness and Soul-Care. This was our first year to fully attend this event and it was a complete blessings for us. The girls each had a blast in their separate classes and still talk about it often and how they look forward to doing it again next year.

Can you find us?

 

We are about 5 weeks away from meeting our little boy! We are very excited to be welcoming our little man into the family soon. The girls each have names they want to give him, and are constantly asking if he’s coming soon. We have met our doctors, and are confidant in them. So far, all is going well. and baby is growing just as he is supposed to! Please pray for a safe delivery and healthy baby. And for a smooth transition to having another baby around for the girls.

I wanted to share with you a little about Eric, its been a difficult transition letting Eric go to another family. But we do believe it was what we needed to do. Eric stayed in a temporary home from November 2017 until this March. We got to visit with him several times, and it was such a joyous time, until we had to leave him again. But we knew he was doing well in his temporary home, and we got updates often. In March, they moved him to a more permanent home. We are told that this family has 2 little girls, Jubilee’s and Lily’s age, and that Eric transitioned wonderfully into their family, and was already sleeping throughout the night!  It was such a relief to hear that he is doing well in his new home. We do get updates on him often, and will one day see him again.
We were blessed tremendously by that little boy, and he will always hold a piece of our hearts.

 

Prayer Requests:

• That God will continue to open doors of opportunity for us in our new ministry.
• A smooth birth and transition for our family as we welcome our little man soon.
• Please keep Pastor Denis from Cortes, Honduras in your prayers, as lately he has had some health issues.
• Jubilee, and the rest of the cast will perform wonderfully, and will have fun while doing it. The performance will be April 27th.
• Allan’s residency papers are still in the process. There is another step that we have to take, but we’re praying soon we will have a interview. This process has taken longer than what we expect, but the end is near. Please continue to pray as we go through this last step and that we can get the interview soon!

 

 

 

 

January 2018

Happy New Years! The first blog of the year! We are so sorry we haven’t blogged in the past months, all our computers decided to crash at the same time and we’ve just recently gotten one we’re able to use again.

Lots of things have happened since the last blog post, if you follow us on our private Facebook page you know of these changes, but for those that don’t, here is a little update.
This year, we believe will bring about many changes. This last month Allan was voted on to our church’s elders board. He will be participating more in the functions of the church and behind the scenes. He continues to preach most Sunday mornings, as well as starting to preach on Thursday evenings. We continue to build close relationship with the families in the church and love having new friendships there.

Through a lot of prayer and because of certain circumstances, we came to a hard decision of giving Eric up to another family. This happened back in November during Thanksgiving week. We are constantly getting updates on Eric, and we recently were able to visit him and take Christmas presents to him, after a month of not having him. It has been a hard adjustment on all of us, as Eric was a part of our family for almost 2 years.
The girls were thrilled to be able to see him again, and he was so happy to see us as well. The visit went well, even with a tearful “see you later.” We know he is in the best place he could be in right now, and we are truly thankful for the time we had with him. We’ll continue to be a part of his live, as we get to visit as often as we’d like. We are taking the visits slow for now, as he’s still adjusting to being there. Please continue to pray for him, that they will soon find his forever home, and he’ll adjust to it all well.

 

Our family will grow around the beginning of May! We will be welcoming a little boy, and couldn’t be more excited! Pray for continued health for myself and baby. We have not decided if we will go with another home birth or a birth at a local clinic. Pray for wisdom.

 

The girls and I had a amazing time in the states this last month. We were blessed to have more time with family and friends. One of the greatest thing was the girls experiencing snow for the fist time! Right before we left, Jubilee expressed how much she would love to see snow. Seeing as my family lives in Southeast Texas, its not very often they get snows, and I explained that to Jubilee. Yet she prayed for snow, and sure enough when we were visiting Santa’s Wonderland at College States. The girls were able to experience snow for the first time! This was also Lily’s first Christmas in the States, and what a experience for her and Jubilee both. We all really enjoyed our time in the States and were truly blessed, we pray that next time Allan will be able to go with us! We are still waiting for his interview at the US embassy to decide wither he’ll get to travel to the States for his residency. Continue to pray for that! Thank you so all that loved on us, and supported us through buying our coffee! Until next time!

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September 2017

This last month has been filled with several challenges and blessings. But most importantly we have very exciting news for you!

Saying a final, “See you later”

At the beginning of the month, we had to say “see you later” to our 3 foster kids we introduced you to in last months blog. It was a very emotional day for all of us. We were blessed to have “N”,”B” and baby “I.” We’ve been told that they are doing well in their new place, and both girl are able to continue their studies. We hope to be able to visit them soon, to check on them and see how big baby “I” is getting. What was only supposed to be for a few days, turned into 2 months, and we felt that their time with us was coming to a close. We know we made the right decision in letting them go, but its never easy opening your hearts and your home to someone, then having to say goodbye. Continue to pray for their case, as there are many unknowns still. We’re told that their case could still take many more months to be complete. Yet the girls are ready to go back with Family. Pray they continue to adjust well in their new environment.

WE’VE BEEN

This week we received news from our immigration lawyer that our Spouse application has been approved! What this means is, we’re entering the final stages of getting Allan’s paperwork! We are collecting the final paperworks, and will be sending them to the lawyer this next week. The next step is to get the interview appointment at the U.S. Embassy here in Honduras. Our lawyer will inform us when that will be. We’re told it can take up to 4 to 6 months to receive the interview date. Pray that we get one quickly! We are so close to Allan being able to travel to the States!

The girls and I have brooked our tickets to the States! We will be in the States, November 26 – Dec. 26, 2017. We will be in Texas for a month, and would love to be able to visit with you all. If you would like to visit with us just shoot us a email and we’ll set up a visit!

Over the last month, Allan has begun a new project. He has started building picnic tables for families that have no table at all. Below is a picture of the first table he made for a family in our church. They didn’t have a table and Allan felt that we needed to meet this need. We were able to purchase all we needed, and blessed them with the table. We now visit them almost every week with a yummy desert, and hang out them them for several hours. Our girls love playing with their kids, who are around their age, and enjoy seeing the pigs and bunnies that they raise. This is the beginning of a great friendship for us and for them.

Allan has many more tables planned for the near future to be able to bless other families in the church.

Joel, Ruth, Fatima, Alex and Bella with Jubilee in the picture too.

As we continue to attend a local church, Iglesia Centro Americana el Eden and assist them. Allan has recently started a Spiritual Growth series at the church and the people have really enjoyed this new study.
On Thursdays, Allan has started a class in the church “Camino al Cielo”, where he will be teaching through the book of Genesis.

We thank you for all of your support. We couldn’t have done all this without you love, prayers and support.

Prayer Requests:

• That “B, N, and Baby I” continue to adjust well in their new environment.
• That we obtain a visa appointment quickly, and that we’ll be approved so Allan can travel to the states someday soon.
• Pray for the families we come into contact with. And the ministry that Allan does at both churches.

August 2017

As many of you know, a little over a year ago our family entered into a new ministry. We have partnered with Identity Missions and have become a foster family here in Honduras. Soon after our training, we received our first foster kids, “E” who has been with us ever since June 2016. (For the privacy and protection of our foster kids, we will just use the first letter of their name to identify them.)

About a month ago, we received 3 new foster kids. They are two sisters, “N” age 14 with her newborn baby “I”, and “N’s” sister “B” age 10.

We don’t know how long we will have them, but we are blessed with the opportunities to love on them and to show them the love of Christ. These last two weeks have been a learning experience for us all, but we are excited to see the growth in these girls in many areas of their lives.

In June, we were also able to love on a 2 month old baby girl for two nights, just until they were able to take her to her more permanent home.

About 2 months ago, Allan and another leader in the church we attend, stepped into the role as “Pastor” as our Pastor has taken a 3 month vacation to visit his daughter in another country. Allan has been preaching for the last 3 weeks, sometimes twice on Sundays. A few Sundays ago, Allan was blessed with the opportunity to present his first baby dedication. This has been a wonderful opportunity for Allan and he has really enjoyed helping our church out in this area.

Allan’s first baby dedication.

Allan is also becoming more involved with our youth group. He has had  the opportunity to speak with them and is teaching them to become servants by reaching out and doing projects for those in need.

Every Thursday, Allan also teaches to a smaller group in another local church. He has been helping this smaller church since about January 2017.

On Fridays, Allan heads to a local soccer field,  and teaches at a soccer camp. There are  70 kids ages 6-15.  He has slowly been introducing them to the 10 Commandments.

The girls helping their daddy

Over 70 kids of all ages listening to Allan as he teaches them the 10 Commandments. And even some parents were listing

 

This month has been busier than most, but we are loving it! Thank you all for you prayers and support. We know we couldn’t do this if it weren’t for the team that we have supporting us. Thank you so very much.

Prayer Requests:

• Please be praying for a new foster kids, as their future is still unsure. We are praying that they will be able to return to family, and sooner than later as they really miss their family. Its already hard to be away from family, but even harder when you just have a baby and only want the support of your family. “N” is doing a fantastic job with baby “I” and she’s really learned what it means to be a mom and how to properly care for baby. I have loved having the opportunity to show her how to properly care for baby, and what it truly means to be a mom.
• For the many opportunities we have had this month. That we continue to follow as God leads us, and we keep spreading the good news of the Gospel. That we won’t get worn out, and we stay focused on the goal.
• For our family: That our girls, and “E” will not be affected much when our 3 foster kids “N, B, and Baby “I”, leave us to go on to their permanent place. So far Jubilee, Lily, and “E” have done great when foster kids come and go. We are concerned how this might affect them in the long run. We have had many talks with the girls to let them know that kids that come into our home might not stay for long. And the girls have done wonderfully accepting this. We enjoy the time we have with the foster kids that enter into our home.