MDM Honduras Update #3

MDM Honduras Leadership Team Update

Hello again, we pray that this new update finds you and your family in good health. You are part of our extended family, and we wanted you to know that as a leadership team, we keep you and your loved ones in our prayers.

In recent weeks, we have made extra effort to keep you up-to-date on the COVID-19 crisis in Honduras. We have shared the rising number of cases in Honduras and the negative impact it has had on both the country and the ministry of MDM Honduras. Today, we hope to share a few more updates, and perhaps share a few ways you might help. First a few updates:

• The quarantine has been extended until April 26 with experts calling for it to be extended even a few more weeks
• Honduran citizens are allowed to be out for food, fuel, medications, and banking for a few hours, one day per week
• On top of the COVID-19 crisis, Honduras is dealing with a severe drought and at present, there are over 200 wildfires burning across the country and water is being rationed, particularly in the larger cities

Clearly, this is a very important time to be praying for our brothers and sisters in Honduras.

As you know, our ministry motto is:

“Transforming lives, one child, one family, one community at a time.”

For years, the education of each child, “One Child”, has been a primary avenue to reach the family and ultimately the community. With education at a halt and the concern that the school year could even be canceled, we are beginning to refocus our 2020 goals onto the second part of our motto, “One Family.” This week, Roxana and some of the volunteer tutors began contacting the families of our students, to evaluate their specific needs. We are finding out that a good number of homes are struggling with getting food and medication. We also know there will be those that have lost jobs due to the circumstances of COVID-19. And we know the stress level in homes will be high. Perhaps we will even discover that HOPE is beginning to fade. Our purpose in this process is to understand more about the needs our families are experiencing and discern how God may call us to respond.

At the same time, our own financial support programs are being impacted by the ongoing crisis:

• Sponsorship funding support is trending downward
• Financial and ministry resources normally provided through short-term mission teams are impacted because teams cannot travel
• Fundraising events like our Annual Benefit Trapshoot are likely to be impacted
• Some current partners and potential donors are considering how to best direct funds toward ministering to those affected the most by the crisis

So as our ministry family, how might God inspire you to help as OUR Hondurans brothers and sisters find themselves recovering from this crisis? Here are some opportunities you might consider:

1. Your prayers for the kids, families, and communities will be needed more than ever.
   As we understand more about specific family needs, we will communicate these and ask you to pray specifically for each need.
2. When it is safe, your presence on the mountain will be needed more than ever.
   It is not too early to encourage the mission teams you are connected with to prayerfully anticipate returning to Honduras. In the meantime, might your team consider sending an equivalent gift in the coming weeks in lieu of travel and project costs?
3. Your financial gifts will be as essential as ever.
   We know your own budgets may be stressed during this crisis. Yet, we also know the human heart has always responded with generous giving in times of disaster. Might you reach a little deeper and help us build a COVID-19 Response Fund to solve significant needs we will uncover while visiting families across the mountain?

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We know we’ve already asked for a lot. But might we ask for one more thing? Dixie, Juvenal, and Roxana have done an amazing job of equipping the volunteer tutors to teach and work with the students.

Today, we see that Roxana and all these ladies “were created for such a time as this,” and God is using them to minister to the families in San Matias in extraordinary ways. These women are truly the hands and feet of our ministry during this season since Dixie, Juvenal and Francisco cannot be on the mountain at all. Please take a couple of minutes right now to pray for Roxana, Karla, Iris, Lily, Karen, Jeimy, Vanessa, Lesly, Azucena, Digna, Lourdes, Fabiola, Leonela, Mychell, Jackelyn, Lisbeth, and Miguel Angel.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6