February Update

The United States is not the only place that celebrates Valentine’s Day. Honduras also celebrates on February 14^th. Most Hondurans refer to this day as “El día de amor y amistad” (The day of love and friendship). After just living in Honduras for a month and a half, we already have friendships worth celebrating here. More importantly, we wish to celebrate God’s unconditional love that we have experienced and shared over this last month. 

We have experienced love in our home, church, and with our family. 

HOME : We continue to enjoy living in a beautiful home on a property shared with great neighbors, Dennys and Yolanda. We were challenged this month when we went over 3 days without any running water. We always buy purified water to drink, but the water that runs out of the faucets allows us to wash dishes, cook, shower, flush toilets, wash clothes, etc. With no water, we became physically and emotionally drained. Dirty dishes and clothes piled up while Marvin and Dennys worked each day trying to find a solution to the water problem. Thankfully, a local hardware store sold a pump that was able to pull a huge knot of roots out of the pipes, and now we have more water pressure than I have ever seen in Honduras!  

CHURCH: We are excited to have found a church here to connect with. Many of the people that attend are bilingual but the worship and message are in Spanish. We all enjoy the worship and hearing the Bible based teaching each week. We look forward to getting to know more people in the church over the next few weeks and not just connecting with them on Sundays. 

FAMILY: Manuel and Josué have been challenged with the start of the school year. We have enjoyed seeing their commitment to their studies and hope that the rest of the school year goes as well as the first month. Marvin has disenrolled from mechanic school after spending a couple weeks in class and a week in the mechanic shop. He feels like God has other plans for his time here. I am thrilled because we are able to serve together instead of spending most of our time apart. Thomas has adjusted well. He is now eating rice, beans, and tortillas, loves playing outside in our giant yard, and is thrilled to see animals and copy the noises that they make. Our home is full of laughter most of the time, and we hope that doesn’t change any time soon.

We have shared love this month by spending time with Eternal Family Project and House of Blessing Ministry.

Eternal Family Project: On the day of love and friendship, Thomas and I enjoyed celebrating with many of the Eternal Family girls at their school. They played a game where cards were taped onto their backs, and everyone had a chance to write attributes onto those cards. The girls were so excited to remove the cards and get to see what their sisters thought of them. “Inteligent, Kind, Beautiful, Funny, Silly” were just some of the compliments they wrote to one another. Last week, we enjoyed having all the girls over for ice cream and brownies. If you want to learn more about Eternal Family Project or are interested in becoming a monthly sponsor for one of their girls, visit their website at eternalfamilyproject.org. We love seeing the family that God has brought together and how He uses their mommy Allison to show them love and grace each day.    

House of Blessing: Marvin and I had the privilege of teaching the Bible lessons at the House of Blessing Ministry this past Saturday. House of Blessing is a feeding program, but it is also so much more. The directors (our neighbors) Dennys and Yolanda know these children and their families well. The meals provided there on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are a way to meet a great physical need that then allowsthe children to also receive love and spiritual nurturing. 

So February was a month full of love, but we have also faced feelings of fear, sadness, and frustration this month. Thankfully, God’s love remains in those times and TRIUMPHS over all. 

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through peace.”  Ephesians 4:1-3

Please join us in praying for the following this month:

-          * Home- that it would be safe place full or joy

-          * Church- that we will become more connected

-          * Family- Manuel and Josué’s studies, our health, for God's exciting plans to be revealed to us

-          * Eternal Family Project- monthly sponsors, donation of land

-          * House of Blessings- provisions for directors and ministry, Katy (a little girl that comes to House of Blessing whose mother no longer wants her)

-         * WISDOM, PEACE, & UNITY

Our hope for you is that wherever you are, that you too may experience and share the LOVE of CHRIST.

Blessings and Love,

Karen, Marvin, and Thomas Ramos