Summer Teams and Interns
This summer we were blessed with over 300 North American volunteers working with our ministry as part of 15 different mission teams. We also hosted 9 different interns from around the United States. These volunteers are the lifeblood of what we do here. They bring love and relationships as well as funds and supplies to keep the work going. This year our teams built almost 100 homes for needy families, they held clinics, VBS programs, food and clothing give-aways and served food to the homeless. But most importantly they built relationships and touched hearts for God’s glory. They changed lives as they themselves were changed, then returned home to make changes in their own communities.
Courtney Mathews
I am thrilled to announce that Breaking Chains will be hiring Courtney Mathews to work with us full time as our PR director, Head of Fundraising and North American Liason. Courtney has been a true blessing to us over the past year and is already missed terribly by all of us here in Honduras. Having Courtney on board will allow me to focus more on the ministry here and also allow us to communicate more effectively with all of you. Be looking for more information and streamlined communication efforts coming from her in the next few months. Please be praying for Courtney as she makes this transition and as we begin to fundraise the support necessary to keep her in this position.
Breaking Chains is taking off in really exciting ways. Our church service has grown from an average of about 30 people to 80-100 people every Sunday. Our children’s class, started by Courtney, accounts for about a third of that number and has become a highlight of the week for our kids.
We also have several new people living in our building and are up to just over 30 people. This number includes 5 families, 3 elderly people, about 8 single teens, and 1 blind man. Having so many people living in the building provides a unique opportunity for them to learn to live in community and for us to minister to them specifically. There are many challenges ahead and we continue to seek out ways to meet their needs while also empowering them to take control of their lives. We hope to start cooking and beauty classes within the next few months and are looking for sponsors if you are interested in helping us with those endeavors. Thanks to inspiration from Providence Road Church of Christ and their teens, Breaking Chains, yours truly included, has begun to run every night that we feed. We are preparing to run a 5K in early November in conjunction with Providence Road in order to raise funds for the purchase of our building. We would love to have you join us. If you are interested in joining the effort and planning a 5K in your area please let me know.
Shine! Honduras
The Shine! Kids are back at school for another year and very excited to meet their new teacher and get back into the swing of things. Their English continues to improve and I am eager to see where their lives take them. With school starting tutoring starts back up as well. I am thankful to Bart and Melissa Dodson who help out with tutoring two days a week.
My Children
Rosie is a thriving 2 year old quick to give a hug and a kiss, and also quick to drive her mama insane. We’re potty training and dealing with 2 year old rebellion but I couldn’t be happier to have her in my life.
Darwin’s level of responsibility and maturity continues to amaze me. He is now our full time preacher at Breaking Chains and reaches out to them with the understanding and love his past has taught him. He makes me very proud to be a part of his life.
Ariel came back into my life this summer after a two year absence. He stayed with us most of the summer and worked with mission teams. He was a great help and very responsible. I can see in him a yearning to make his paths right and I struggle to make the right decisions for him. He moved back to Mogote about a week ago and is going to be staying the weekends at our house in order to avoid the weekend party temptations. I pray that he continues to seek God and maintain his desire to change.
Future Plans
Next weekend is Children’s Day which rivals Christmas in the hearts of the Hondurans. Plans are underway to have a big Children’s day celebration and draw in other members of the surrounding community.
I’m in the process of putting together a database of everyone we work with. This will give us a better idea of how many people we actually serve as well as better ways to serve them. I also hope to put together an "adopt a Honduran" program from this information.
With summer over and some many young people at our building we are hoping to start our Bible study back up as well as many youth group activities and a study geared specifically towards them.
Prayer List
*During a strong storm part of our roof fell in, in an unused part of the building. Please pray that this doesn’t create problems in the rest of the building and that we can get a new roof soon.
*Pray that the paperwork on the Honduran side for our non-profit goes through quickly.
*Pray that we are able to raise the funds we need to purchase the Breaking Chains building.
*Pray for all the families and teens living in our building. They struggle daily with the decision to leave their pasts behind and follow Christ.
*Pray specifically for Josue. Satan is attacking him hard right now and he’s struggling with making positive decisions. *Pray for Belkis and her oldest son Erickson. Erickson is carrying a lot of hurt from his mother’s past decisions and is having a hard time with forgiveness. *Pray for Ariel as he battles his sinful desires and struggles to make serious changes in his life. *Always pray for God’s wisdom in the lives of Darwin and I as we make the hard decisions necessary to keep our little community running smoothly.
If you would like to donate to our ministry, please send checks to:
Jamie Sweeney
Park Plaza Church of Christ 4930 S. Sheridan
Tulsa, OK 74145 Please make checks out to Park Plaza Church of Christ with Amber Foster/Breaking Chains in the memo line.
Thank you all so much for your love and support. Nothing we do here would be possible without your prayers and financial support. I love to hear about your lives. Please keep in touch and let me know if you would like to know more about anything we are involved with. I’m hoping to get the blog updated and back on track as soon as I get this newsletter sent out. Thank you again.
All my love,
Amber Foster
Breaking Chains Homeless Ministry
www.amberinhonduras.blogspot.com
www.silvermm.org
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