Eight years ago Rick & Kim left Memphis for their year of language school before entering YFC’s mission field in Honduras. Just months ago was their first time to spend the holidays at home in the USA with family and friends. Needless to say, it was a time of encouragement and support for Rick & Kim; it was a special time for Kevin & Jimmy, and it was a significant time for the YFC mission in Honduras.
The travel home was a time of support for Rick & Kim. Usually when one reads the word, “support” in a missionary newsletter…. one thinks of “funding”. Indeed, being with donors during the end of the year is important, especially during today’s economic challenges. However, I intend to use another definition of the word, “support”. “Support” can be synonymous with “encouragement”. The encouragement / support that we received, as we visited with family and friends, was much needed. This type of support renews the heart and strengthens the soul. The privilege to be at home (and to feel at home) is appreciated in a special way by missionaries, soldiers, and ex-patriots. After living cross-culturally for 8 years it was support much needed.The trip to the USA was a special time for Kevin and Jimmy, 2 of our Honduran foster children. They traveled to the states for the first time… a process that began in May of 2008 and was completed the day before we left Tegucigalpa, Nov 23rd. And, it was a process that impeded their 2 sisters from traveling. Michelle & Nuri encountered countless problems at the Honduran “registry of persons”, as we tried without success to correct erroneous birth certificates. Such mistakes kept them from ever receiving Honduran passports. It was back in July that we knew that US visas for the girls was “out of the question”. But, we all watched and accepted the way that God “worked-it-out” for Kevin and Jimmy to receive USA visas. Our foster boys anticipated meeting the “gringo” side of their new family. Also, it was a time that broadened their world view, as they left home to fly over the Caribbean Sea, the island nations, communist Cuba, and into Florida. They experienced what it was like to legally be in the country where nearly all their Honduran family and friends could only dream of being. They experienced cold weather, snow, sledding, ice-skating and seeing their breath in the winter air. But, more importantly, they experienced how a team, a body, of people from various walks of life, from different churches, and denominations have sent 2 missionaries to Honduras… to them, and the youth of their country. They saw how God has orchestrated a mighty work to the benefit of their young lives. It was a very special time for Kevin and Jimmy.
Our time in the USA was a significant time to our mission work back in Honduras in that the ministry continued strong while we were gone. We, as a team, learned how to communicate “long-distance” with cell phone calls, text messaging, and e-mails. This was the first time for some of our Honduran team to use such modes of communication. We learned how to wire money and disperse it to the right persons to cover on-going ministry expenses. And, we learned that as we make plans for our much needed year of furlough, God’s work that was started in Honduras nearly 7 years ago will continue strong. This is reassuring to know.
