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Don't Rock the Boat

Change... there are two groups of people: the adventurous group who hears the word and thinks "Yes!!! A new adventure!" and then there is the group of people(of which I am in) that thinks it is a curse word. The very sound of someone saying the word sends a chill up my spine and caused many tantrums when I was a child.  Even still, it makes me cringe in anticipation of the loss and the pain that it brings with it. The loss of the familiar, the loss or change of friendships, the growing pains that come with it, the fear of the unknown. 
In a large mission like this with a big hospital, a children's home, a school, and a church it seems like it is always in a state of change as missionaries come and go. Missions has changed drastically over the past generation. It used to be that missionaries committed their entire lives to bringing the Gospel to one people group but now "long term missions" is any commitment of more than a year with majority of volunteers coming through for less then that. In 2018 alone, over 400 short term volunteers came through in commitment of a week to 6 months. That is hard on the hearts of those of us committed for long periods of time and for the Honduran community that we are serving. The other day my Honduran friend was over at my house sobbing because she found out that another one of our beloved missionary families is heading back to the States. She started pleading with me not to leave because she doesn't know how much more her heart can take. 
Envision a little boy playing with a toy sailboat on a pond. The sailboat (the mission) is floating peacefully on the still water when the little boy starts throwing rocks (change) into the pond. The water isn't still anymore as the plop of the rock in water causes ripples to rock the boat. The bigger the rock, the bigger the wave. Sometimes it's a huge boulder hitting the water with a huge splash and waves so big that they splash over the boat and cause it topple over. Then the little boy has to reach out and upright the boat again. 
I have been thinking a lot about the story of Jesus in Matthew 8: 24- 27 when He told his disciples that they were going to leave the city of Caperneum to go into the country of the Gaderenes by way of crossing the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and his disciples were crossing the sea by boat when "there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, 'Save us, Lord; we are perishing!' He said to them, 'Why are you afraid,  you men of little faith?' Then He got up and rebuked the wind and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed and said, 'What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?'" The account of the same story in Mark says that Jesus' sleep was deep and sound even through the storm, which was "already filling the boat". The Bible says the sleep of the believer will be sweet and peaceful because he knows that the Lord is with him (Proverbs 3:24, Psalm 4:8) . Jesus was calmly sleeping in the boat because he knew that he was in the hands of God the Father. Just like Jesus, I am learning to trust God the Father so deeply that I can fall asleep in the boat as the storms rage. 

 Praise!
1) Rainy season is here! We are all enjoying the cooler weather (by cooler I mean it reaches 85 during the day and drops to a chilly 70 degrees at night) and wearing jackets and socks at night.
2) A multiple shipping containers have arrived in the past several months bringing us much needed supplies from the States including lots of stretchers, dressing supplies, exam tables, and baby warmers. 
3) The gospel is being preached!

Prayer requests:

1) Continue to Pray for God to send someone to teach how to use the ventilators and how to take care of ventilated babies. 
2) Pray for my heart as my really good friends and neighbors moved back to the States unexpectedly last month. My heart is grieving them as they were my family away from my family. I miss them so much.
3) Pray for God's provision of new labor and delivery beds.  We are moving our labor ward and expanding it from two beds to three. We are in desperate need of three new beds.
4) Financial provision is always a prayer request. I would not be here if it were not for all of you! If you feel led to support me financially, you can do so by clicking here.

Making Christmas Tamales at Julisa's house
A BBQ with these crazy awesome friends


Making snowball cookies with my sweet girls
as I did with my mom growing up

My sweet new dog Paisley who is a huge blessing
given to me by missionaries in Teguc who returned to the States
Now you can by your groceries and a new car at the store
Convenient one stop shopping

Our 300th baby of the year who was quickly followed by
7 more bringing our count to 60 more babies born than last year

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