Educating and equipping with the Word of God
We have been super busy in July and August. It has been hard to catch our breath and take it all in. We really need so much more space to show all the work that is being done and share those special God moments. Please be in prayer over this next month that God uses this ministry to spread the Gospel and make disciples consistently and effectively, and that it will be at the heart of everything we do. Here's a recap of some of the summer's activities.....
What We’re Up To
July was spent working hard to complete the renovations to the ranch house. We were busy painting, laying tile, sealing floors, etc. It has been just one more example of the restoration God is doing in this place. Not just in the physical, but we see it as a reflection of what He is doing in the spiritual world, that which we don't always see. We know that God is at work in the lives of those around us, and in our own lives as well. We see growth in the size of ministry but way more importantly, the depth of ministry. In July, the community outreach branch of the ministry began working daily with different age groups 6-14 with afternoon sports activities as well as a high school group that is now meeting weekly for Bible study. They're also participating in some hikes and outdoor activities on the ranch.
August brought many changes....
At the beginning of August, we made our official move to the ranch. It can be very peaceful at the end of the day, sitting on the little porch with a view of the church and mountains. During the day, it is the hub of a lot of activities, since we are a producing ranch. We also manage the rest of the ministries under Wellspring here, so six days a week there is always a lot happening. We also moved our new pastor, Javier, and his wife Katya from Honduras's capital city to our little community of El Doradito. They now live in the house we built in the village 3 years ago. He is serving as the school Chaplin as well as pastoring the ranch church. He has been busy settling in, meeting people, leading morning devotions for the teachers, and giving Bible study on the ranch. We love his ability to connect with a range of people and teach the Word effectively!
The ranch church has been our biggest blessing this month. We had our first church community workday, which started with our church family helping to thoroughly clean inside and out. Then ended the day by reaching out to different communities bordering the ranch, inviting them to church. We have nearly doubled attendance since that day. We also hosted a team from the US, an organization called Missions to America. They put together 3 days of medical clinics both at the church and at the school. Nearly 200 people were seen, listened to, served and prayed for. In the middle of all that we started back to school. Schools in Honduras continue to be online only but we have a group of teachers who are doing an amazing job teaching online, with little resources. We have four new teachers joining the Cornerstone family, They are Jenny, Riccy, Maritza, and Sophia. Please be praying for them by name! They have already commented how different it is to work at CCA than any other school, because of the dedication to teaching the Word of God, as well as to see both our students and teachers growing in the Lord. We praise God for this because we know it is only through Him that lives are being changed.
We have had a great response to our Sponsor a Student program. But we still have students in need of a Sponsor. We allowed every student that applied for a sponsor to start school, even those that do not yet have a sponsor. We will make sure every student that wants a Christian education will get it. But we need your help. Please be praying that all our students in need will receive a sponsor. We are in need of 10 full sponsors at $40/month and 5 Partial sponsors at $20/mo