Stones of Remembrance - Latin America
Wyly and Candy Gammon - Honduras
What follows is a brief summary of what the Lord has done in Honduras this year. Sara and Jesse Eggman are the Directors of our brand new Bible school which began in July called Escuela Biblical de Hechos (Acts School of Ministry)! This will be a 2 year program.
The Lord blessed Wyly and Candy Gammon with a 400 acre farm and they will raise crops for funding ministry and grow food for hungry children. They currently feed 80,000 meals a year and will do much more once the farm is established.
Seth Carpenter has 9 young men who are in drug and alcohol rehab, taking his carpentry class and finding great success in their trade and skills, and even more liberty in the Lord Jesus. It is astounding what the Lord has done to birth new hope in their lives!
Alison and Nathan Atwood have a passion to help people get freedom through Restoring the Foundations (RTF) ministry. RTF has been a wonderful source of liberty and healing for many missionaries. The Atwoods are currently getting certified and already have many powerful testimonies of changed lives! Two beautiful Honduran babies are being adopted by them as well. These are children who were abandoned and found their way into a family of God!
We have many ongoing ministries and as well as orphanages that we minister to regularly. The gang ridden area of La Lopez gives us a chance to start children 4-12 years old on firm ground by discipling them in an upbeat program each Saturday. Don and Lindsey Luttrell and Garito and Gwen Stanley are leading this! We continue to train and cast vision for ministry to children as much as possible in the local church and a street evangelism program! Nancy Osorio our Colombian, S.A. missionary is leading our training for Super Church for Children.
John and Judy Whitener – Mexico
On Sunday night December 18th Fire From Heaven celebrated it's twenty-ninth graduation! These students come to the Institute shy, insecure, uninformed, un-molded and leave set upon a firm foundation with renewed vision and energy. The backgrounds of some are hard to comprehend. Almost all of them have been yanked from impossible circumstances those of which you and I have no idea. They trust themselves with small faith upon the "Potter's Wheel" and for two years the Master applies the pressure, forms the shape and creates in them what He always had in His heart. Faith grows, hunger increases, tears swell. But two years in an institute are not enough. Life will go forward for these valiant ones and it is certain that just as the oven awaits the soft, pliable clay of the potter, fire awaits to temper what He has formed. Then, in His timing the hardened clay will be highly decorated. Strength dressed with beauty, the product of the Lord. I love it! (Excerpt from newsletter)
Sharon Malcom – Peru
After much prayer and soul searching for these last several months the Lord has opened doors for me to reach out to other Indian tribes here in Peru. While the need to continue with the Shawi communities we have been working with is desperate, the same is true for those tribes who have never heard the Gospel message yet. Therefore, I am asserting my efforts to reach the less-reached villages as well.
Since May I have been able to visit and work with three different Indian groups in bringing the Gospel message to them or help train them for evangelism. In May, I joined with another American missionary to help him and his team do a 5-day oral training for the Condozi Indians. In August, I went to minister the Word of God to the Cocamillrio Indians (not sure of the spelling), five hours north of where I live. Last week I met an Ashéninka village and in the New Year I will try and make contact with the Maijuna Indians. I also had the chance to meet another Shawi village, which I visited on several occasions with Peruvian teams to minister the Word of God.
According to the Joshua Project the Ashénika tribe has a population of 58,000 people. Only 2% are reached with the Gospel. Through a series of contacts I was able to visit one of the Ashénika villages called Santa Rosa and minister the Word of God to them. The response was very positive and the people showed a great hunger for the Lord by praying to accept Him as their Savior.
I was able to make a second trip in December to bring Bibles and short Bible studies for the people to continue in their walk with the Lord. The Church of God has started a work with this community in the past and has been training a man named Juaneco in the village to be able to lead the people in the things of God and has plans to build a church in the community.
I will continue working in this village with Juaneco and the Church of God to help the community with their growth in Christ and visit other Ashénika villages as well. Our purpose is to train up more people in the villages like Juaneco to reach their communities with the Gospel and disciple new believers.
We also are continuing to train the Shawi Indian villages that we have been working with since 2007 to raise them up to be leaders in their villages to evangelize and disciple their own people as well. This past November we had a 3-day training on how to study the Bible using 3 simple methods. We then used these methods to study the birth of Christ, His baptism and His resurrection. After examining the Scriptures in this way the people were able to explain all of these on their own. Our goal was to teach these methods so that they can continue using them with their people when they return to their village. (Excerpts from peruvillager.blogspot.com)
Garito Stanley –Honduras
"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done." Philippians 4:6
Journey…
One afternoon, I got a call from my cousin that was arriving in the city that night to be taking to the airport. I was saying to myself, my day is already long and I do not want to add anything more to it. I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to pick her up from the bus station and make myself available for support.
Once we made it to the airline ticket counter. My cousin was notified that she would not be able to travel with her underage son because there were two different dates on the documents and it was not acceptable. I then look at the paperwork again and noticed that the difference between the dates was one day difference. The agents told me that we needed to see immigration.
Then the amazing thing happen, as I got in line to see someone at immigration. I prayed to God for a miracle and at that moment, I knew there was going to be one.
I waited in line while the only two workers at immigration were tending two other families. My cousin had already been denied by the woman and suggested I speak to the man, maybe he would show favor. I told her not to worry and that God was going to take care of it. When he was done with his customer, he helped the other worker and packed up to go home. While he was leaving, my cousin told me to catch him before he leaves. I said okay and waved him down as he was passing me by I ask him if he can help me? He said “no.” “My coworker will help you.” At this point, I could have given up but I knew somehow, someway, God was going to come through as He always does.
Before the man could make it pass the line I was standing in, another family stopped him with questions. When he concluded his conversation with that family, suddenly he turned and started to walk back in the immigration office. It was like God pick him up and turned him 180 degree. He walks back into the office, not even looking my way and started doing other things around his desk. I felt a nudge to go to him, so I went to the window. He looks up and says, “How can I help you." I give him the two documents. He started looking over the documents & tells me same thing I heard earlier from the ticket agents, "the date is wrong." I told him "I know, but it wasn't my cousin's fault. The lawyers that fix the paperwork made the mistake and put the wrong date.” Then something amazing started to take place right before my eyes. While he was saying this, his hand was doing opposite from what his mouth was saying. His hand was processing the paperwork as he was telling us he could not help us. Amazingly! Then he asks my cousin for their passport and then took her picture. I ask him if he needed her son as well as he was at the ticket counter with their luggage. He told me no. Then stamp the passports and hands them back approved for my cousin and her son to fly. Glory to God!
My cousin started hugging me with tears in her eyes saying that she can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit upon me. As we got back to the ticket counter, the agents ask us what we are going to do? We handed them the passports with the approve stamp to fly. They ask me “How and what did I do?” In amazement, I told them I prayed and believe. They were still puzzled. I continue to say that I have seen God miracle work first hand and there is nothing too big for Him. One of the ticket agents told me she felt like crying, then handed my cousin their boarding tickets.
But God!