Mary Faith update

It is hard to believe it has already been 16 months since Trish sent out the request and need for additional staff members for their team at Sowers4pastors and I (Mary Faith) felt the urge to reach out and request more information! After my month long visit last August, and after many prayers and seeking advice, the decision was made to move forward with the goal of joining the team. We knew it wouldn’t be a fast process. Despite that we were, and still are, committed to God’s plan and timing. 

I was able to spend another two weeks at the mission in March. It confirmed my love for Honduras, the mission, and the people there.
I have a number of things that still need to be worked out here in Arizona, but it is very clear that doors are beginning to open. One of the biggest concerns was my responsibilities at work with my son. It is amazing how God has been working with that situation and, as far as work is concerned, I will be free as early as the beginning of September!
With all of that falling into place, the need for monthly support has risen to the top of the list. In other words, as soon as I have raised enough support, I will be free to go.

The first thing on the list is language school. The ideal plan is a minimum of 3 months attending school in person at the Spanish Institute of Honduras. Since Honduras allows a three-month visa, the idea is to be able to go to school sometime in September and stay until the end of November. The plan would be to return to the states for the holiday season with the goal to make the more permanent move to the mission sometime in January. If funding allows for it, ideally, I will do 3 more months of language school online.

I will need funds for the initial move to Honduras. That will include renting a house and setting up housekeeping. I will be able to take a few things with me, but it will make the most sense to purchase the majority of what I will need after I am there. The greatest need will be monthly support. I have copied a part of what was written in a prior blog post that explains the need.

Unlike the Honduran staff who work on salary, the goal is for North American missionaries to raise their own support. (If you're curious about why we handle things this way, click here for a blog post about that!) Raising support is what Mary Faith is working on now, so that she can move to Honduras and work with Sowers4Pastors full time! Please consider helping her, through prayers and financial support. In the past some of the potential North American staff members didn’t work out. Sometimes people would visit with a team and expect that daily tasks during non-team times would still involve fun things like playing games with small children all the time. Mary Faith is well aware that the bulk of her responsibilities will be more like customer service tasks with a smattering of accounting thrown in for good measure. She is up for the job! Helping to support Mary Faith through prayers and donations is one very tangible way to support the ongoing work of Sowers4Pastors. (Mary Faith has been added to the list of donation categories on the website, to make it easy to donate toward her support).

I will be needing a minimum of $1500 monthly support to be able to live there. The initial moving cost will be around $5,000. Please prayerfully consider supporting me monthly or giving a one-time donation for my move to Honduras.

Please continue to pray as I work to finish my obligations here at home. Pray that the financial part of it all will work out. There are parts of it that still look rather daunting and have more questions than answers. Pray that I can rest in God’s perfect timing!

- posted by Mary Faith

Things on the Back Burners

If you’ve ever tried to prepare a big holiday meal, you understand the importance of back burners. That’s where you can put things that, while still being important to the meal, don’t require immediate attention. And obviously, they make a great analogy for how life can be sometimes when things get hectic, and some things are simmering in the background. Rachel took some time to share things that are happening in the background for her family.

Brandy is working toward getting US citizenship. And it is a long, drawn-out process requiring mountains of paperwork. Before he can get citizenship, he needs an immigrant visa. To quote Rachel, “We’re always in the process of waiting for something concerning that. The embassy in Honduras has a very long wait for visas. The current wait for tourist visas is more than 800 days out! We don’t know yet what the wait is for the type of visa Brandy needs, but prayers are appreciated.”

Speaking of citizenship… It has been about five years since Nathan gained dual citizenship. Even though Rachel is a US citizen, the process was complicated because she hasn’t lived in the States as an adult. Nathan was able to get citizenship based on Trish’s and Allen’s citizenship. When Michael was born, Rachel started working on the citizenship process for him. But she soon discovered she was pregnant with Levi, so it seemed prudent to wait until the baby was born and make both applications at the same time. When Levi was born, the same thing happened, and she found she was pregnant with Charlotte. Well, now she is very hopeful that she will be able to apply for citizenship for Michael, Levi, and Charlotte at the same time! The process involves a lot of time, money, and extra stress but it is important to make sure that each of the children has dual citizenship.

With so much else going on, you may have forgotten about Rachel and Brandy’s construction of a new house on the ministry’s property. Having a home on the property is a matter of practicality. The office is there, and Rachel is a full-time working mother of four. Even with a nanny helping with the little ones, she needs to be able to see them throughout the day. 

When Rachel and Brandy first moved to Gracias, they knew their finances would change with Brandy leaving the military. They didn’t anticipate how much their needs would increase, though! Fundraising has been sitting on the back burner even as their family grew and grew. The cost for their diapers and milk alone is sizable! Rachel estimates that they are currently going through five giant boxes of diapers a month.

The added financial needs have been a big concern to Brandy, in particular. When they found out they were expecting sweet baby Charlotte, they kept it under wraps for a few months. They hadn’t even shared the big news with family when Kirstin told Rachel that Brandy looked more stressed out than usual! After praying about it, Brandy came to the realization that if God was going to send them four kids that He was going to have to provide for them.

Please pray that all these simmering things on the back burners will continue towards their completion. We trust in God, both in the big things and the little things. We will consider all the different stressors an exercise in "casting cares." If you feel led to be an instrument of God's provision, and committing to partnering with the Sowers Reyes family, you can click on this link. Thank you for your support!

- posted by Christi