Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We are continually reminded of the grace of our Lord and how unworthy we are to serve Him and be called His children. He knows all our sins and failures, yet despite this He can be glorified through our lives.

The last few months have been busy but exciting for our family.  Mark and the boys completed the house for Pastor Oscar in the village of Canculuncos.  The church also celebrated their one year anniversary, and Mark was able to preach for this special service.  There were over 100 in attendance to hear a message from Colossians which explained who Christ is and why He died on the cross.

In February, we enjoyed a visit from a doctor friend and his family from Kentucky. They arrived with all seven of their children, to the delight of ours!  We were able to hold several clinics during the week, including one at Betania Clinic, a ministry of a church here in Siguatepeque, and at Emanuel Children’s Day Home for the children and their families, as well as the surrounding neighborhood.   We also returned to the village of Canculuncos for two days.  This was the first clinic to ever be held in this village.  They have to travel to the next town for medical care.  All the children were seen and given vitamins, as well as many adults.  The children from both families stayed busy during this week helping out at the clinics as well as working hard around MEDA.  It was a great time of work, ministry, and fellowship!

In the providence of the Lord, Mark was forced to preach his first sermon in Spanish.  It was not his plan, but He knew Mark was ready, and none of his trustworthy translators were available.  He mostly read the sermon, but it is a big step toward being able to preach completely in Spanish without a manuscript.  He should now have more opportunities to preach as well as he does not have to be dependent on a translator. The Lord is giving him many opportunities to put this into practice, as we have begun teaching a new children’s class at church on Wednesday nights.  We are teaching through the book Fundamentals of the Faith by John MacArthur.  Please continue to pray for Mark’s ability to proclaim the Word in Spanish.

In the near future, we have many opportunities to visit various villages.  Next weekend we will be traveling back to the village of  Las Lagunas, where Mark will preach for their weekly church service.  We were pleasantly surprised by a phone call Saturday afternoon from Pastor Nabeli who serves in Las Lagunas.   His wife had just given birth to their daughter two days ago here in Siguatepeque, and they had missed their bus.  We were able to give them a ride back home and enjoyed an afternoon of fellowship with this sweet couple and their new baby, Daniela.  Their village is only 15 miles away, but due to the poor mountainous road conditions, it is a one hour trip each way.  We are also excited about visiting many villages who currently have no church.  These village visits are always a highlight for our family!

As an update on the adoption process with Iris, we have met with a lawyer and are in the process of first becoming a foster family.  We have our first meeting with child welfare or IHNFA this coming weekend.  The lawyer expects the entire process to take at least a year.

We truly appreciate the support you have all shown for our family.  We know that many of you give sacrificially to make it possible for our family to be here serving Christ. You are a vital part of this ministry.  Please pray that our family will be faithful to our Lord and honor Him in all we do.

Merry Christmas from the Patterson family!

After sixteen years of sweeping up Legos, army men, and airsoft pellets, we are suddenly sweeping up lip gloss, pink ponytail holders, and teeny, tiny Polly Pocket shoes.  The Lord has blessed us with the arrival of a little girl!  She arrived on November 13, all 45 pounds of her!  Please join us in welcoming eight-year-old Iris Lohana.  As you can imagine, this has been quite a change for our family of rambunctious boys, but she fits right in, and can quickly transform from princess to pirate!

We appreciate your prayers as we begin the adoption process, and for all of us as we adjust to this exciting reshaping of our family!

May the Lord bless your family and draw you closer to Him!

On Wednesday Levi became our first son to receive a cast. He and one of his brothers were playing on the top bunk and he fell off and fractured his wrist. We are thankful to the Lord that more damage didn’t occur to his body. Please pray that his wrist will heal well and quickly.

Yesterday we had the privilege of having another missionary family in our home for dinner. Paul and Beth have been missionaries in Honduras for 45 years. It was a thrill for us to get to know them better and see how the Lord has used them over the years. Paul has literally been all over Honduras ministering in very remote villages. He is still very active in village missions and is currently working in three towns. Mark has the opportunity to go with Paul to one of the villages this Monday to help mark the foundation points for a new church they are building. If the Lord permits Mark will also have the opportunity in the coming weeks to go with him to weld trusses for a church roof in another village. Please pray for our family as we have these opportunities to minister to people in these villages. Please also pray that we will be able to learn much from these faithful servants of Christ.

Tomorrow we will have our final conference of the year at MEDA. We have over 100 people signed up to attend. Please pray for Carlos Montoya as he teaches, also pray that those who attend will be biblically instructed and encouraged. We look forward to seeing Pastor Nabeli and Oswaldo again from Las Lagunas. Oswaldo called Mark the other day and stated that they will be attending. It’s always a joy to see these brothers and spend time with them.

Thanks again for praying for our family and for your support. It is because of your faithfulness that we are able to minister here and be involved in different ways.

Canculuncos

“The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”  Proverbs 16:9…so went our summer!  In July, the influenza (the swine variety) made a visit to the Patterson household.  Although most recovered quickly, Christy experienced complications.  After seeking treatment here, we felt it would be best to return to the States for further care, where she was diagnosed with asthma, post viral syndrome, and a high iron count.  We are happy to report she is doing well and almost completely recovered.

During our two-month stay in Florida, we were able to visit with friends and family, as well as take the boys on some outings, such as canoeing, and swimming.  We also had the opportunity to raise money for Emanuel Children’s Day Home by hosting a car wash and bake sale.

Although we enjoyed our time in Florida, by October, we were ready to return home.  Upon our arrival, we were surprised with a welcome party by our church family, complete with delicious Honduran food, hilarious games, and sweet words of encouragement.  What a blessing it was to be back among our precious friends.

We jumped right back into ministry, including several preaching opportunities for Mark.  He is continuing his study in II Peter at our church, and was able to preach at another church one Sunday night as well.  He has also begun a discipleship Bible study with a man, Michael, who recently began attending our church.

Emanuel Children’s Day Home has added a few new faces, and it is always a joy spending time with these precious children.  Christy was honored to serve as a madrina at the 6th grade graduation of one of the girls.  A madrina walks onto stage with the graduate as she receives her diploma.  Sixth grade graduation is a very important occasion in Honduras, as many children are unable to receive a higher education.  Kathy is an orphan who, along with her younger brother, has been passed around to relatives the last few years.  She came to live with her aunt about nine months ago, and has been attending the day home as well as church.  She is a bright, joyful girl and graduated with honors at the top of her class!  Please pray for the Lord to provide a way for Kathy to continue her education.

Shortly after our return, we heard of a village of indigenous Lenca, living about an hour and half away, who are struggling financially.  They are farmers, with corn being their main crop.  They take their corn into the nearest town and sell it all.  Because corn is a staple in most homes,  they then turn around and purchase their own corn at a higher price to feed their families.  As a result, they barely scrape by.  There is a young man, Oscar, who has moved to Canculuncos to serve as their local pastor, but as the village is unable to fully support him, he may have to leave.

This past Monday, we had the opportunity to visit Canculuncos.  We were immediately surrounded by talkative, smiling children who took our hands, and proceeded to take us on a tour, introducing people, pointing out important buildings, various plants and animals, and even showing us where two men were murdered.  As we walked along, they shared Bible verses and songs they have been learning in Sunday School, as well as some of their favorite foods – squirrel soup and roasted iguana!  One of the women brought us a snack, a delicious cooked vegetable somewhat like a sweet pumpkin.  Mark was able to spend a lot of time talking with Pastor Oscar. He does not own any books to help him study the Scriptures, nor does the church have a Sunday School curriculum.

Thank you for your continued support of our family which allows us the privilege of serving the Lord here in Honduras. Please pray for the people of Canculuncos and for the Lord’s direction in how we can minister to them.

Be sure to check out the new photos in our Photo Album.

About a month ago I was standing outside our church talking with a group of people. Our church was going on a picnic and we were waiting for everyone to arrive. While we were waiting a young man approached us, pushing his brother in a wheelchair. The man started to speak with me in English. I had the privilege of speaking with Carlos for about 45 minutes.  Carlos is a rough looking fellow. He has tattoos all over his arms, along with many scars on his face and arms from fighting. I found out that he learned English in the United States, where he lived for 6 years. He has been in and out of prison twice. His brother in the wheelchair was born handicap, which makes him unable to speak or walk. Carlos also had his 11 year old son with him.

I told Carlos about the gospel – how we are all born sinners and separated from God. I explained that Christ came to take the wrath of God in his place and that He died on the cross for his sins. I gave him a gospel pamphlet in Spanish and invited him to come to church the following Sunday.  

As were were pulling out of the MEDA road the next Sunday and heading to Church I could see Carlos, his brother (Jose) and his son (Jonathan) walking down the road. I waited for them to catch up with us and gave them a ride to church. After church I spoke with Carlos and told him about Christ again. He listened and had several questions. He also invited me and Pastor Melvin to his home that week. 

Pastor Melvin and I visited Carlos’ home and again had the opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Christ to him. I explained to him from the Bible how no one can earn God’s favor. That he could not do enough good things to make God happy with him or earn God’s forgiveness. I also talked with him about the law of God and showed him in Scripture that the law does not save us. Rather, the law only condemns us, it shows us that we are sinners and cannot keep the law of God. Therefore, we all stand guilty before God, we have all broken His law and deserve His judgment. I then explained how Christ took the judgement that we deserve upon Himself and that we need to place our faith/trust in Christ alone for our salvation. Carlos expressed his appreciation for our visit and talking with him about Christ.

Carlos was again at church the following Sunday and this past Sunday. After church yesterday I asked Carlos if he had been thinking about what I had explained to him. He replied that he had and that he wanted to place his faith in Christ. I asked him questions to see if he understood what that meant and afterward he prayed and confessed his sin and his need for Christ to save him. 

Please pray for Carlos that he would mature in Christ and the knowledge of the Word of God. Also, pray for his brother, Jose, and son, Jonathan.

In March, we returned to Florida for our first furlough.  We enjoyed our time visiting with friends and family.  We also had a wonderful time of fellowship with the believers at Grace Bible Church of Tampa, Grace Bible Church of Brandon, and Clarkson Community Church.  We thank everyone for their gracious hospitality and love shown to our family.

Although our time in the U.S. was full of activity and precious memories, we were ready at the end of the month to head home to Honduras and settle back into a normal routine.  Arriving back in Honduras, however, found us on-the-go once more, but this time in the daily aspects of our ministry and life here.  It is such a blessing to be back among those we love to serve.

We arrived home at the end of the dry, smoky season here in Honduras.  The river nearby was dry and we were thankful for the well here at MEDA that supplies us with the clean, fresh water we need.  It is easy to take for granted that water will come out of the tap, but we were reminded of how precious that water really is.  As the rainy season has now begun, we find ourselves amazed at how thankful we are for mud!!!

We returned right just in time to celebrate Semana Santa, or Holy Week.  Parades, parties, and picnics mark the remembrance of our Lord’s Resurrection.  Our church had several activities planned, including daily 5am prayer meetings, an exciting church picnic, a Lord’s Supper service, a movie night, and a sunrise service and breakfast.  This allowed us more opportunities to get to know people, either by praying with them side by side or competing against them in some rowdy picnic games!

We have had several exciting conferences in the last few months, including one on Revelation taught by our friend from our church in Florida, Ken Fuller.  Ken was accompanied by another friend from church, Rhich Nelson, and we enjoyed a continuation of our fellowship with dear friends.  We also enjoyed the annual Women’s Conference taught this year by Ester Pidal from California, and a conference on Creation taught by Henry Morris.  His wife, Jan, accompanied him, and Mark and the boys enjoyed hosting them for breakfast each morning while Christy returned to Florida for the Home School Convention.

Christy arrived refreshed and renewed after her visit to Florida for the Home School convention in May.  She continues to teach a children’s class at church and helping with the Emanuel Children’s Day Home.   We are pleased the Lord has provided enough money to continue until at least the middle of October.  It is always a blessing to visit the day home, see the happy faces, and receive their loving hugs!  Christy is also getting to know the mothers of these children, and is excited to see some begin to attend church.  Recently, the mothers took time off work to attend a Mother’s Day Party in their honor.  It was a blessing to see these hard-working moms enjoying precious time with their little ones.  Dinner was served and our pastor’s wife, Alejandra, taught a lesson from God’s Word.  Please pray for the funds needed to continue this ministry, and for the salvation of the children and their mothers.

The boys are trudging forward with school (no summer break for us, which allows us to remain flexible in our ministry).  One of the benefits of our life here is the wide variant of learning available to the boys.  Not only do they learn vital life skills as they work alongside Mark, such as plumbing, carpentry, auto mechanics and welding, but they have the opportunity to meet, serve, and interact with godly men and women from all over the world, as well as benefit from the teaching of prominent authors/speakers.   Their newest duty is the training and care of a 7-week-old German Shepherd puppy named Maya.  She will be our newest guard dog here at MEDA, and she is keeping them on their toes.  As long as they can keep her away from the transmission fluid, I think she’ll do just fine…

Mark has been working hard as always on projects around MEDA, including laying irrigation pipes, construction projects, and keeping up with repairs.  Besides preaching opportunities at church, he also recently was able to speak in the chapel seminary, and is beginning an evangelism ministry within our local church.  We are excited about ministering in the village of San Marcos.  Currently, there is no local pastor living there.  Please pray for His Word to go forth and for wisdom as we make plans to serve the people in this remote mountain village.

The boys and I are making a bunkbed for a family in town

Levi sanding wood for the bunkbed

Josiah refinishing metal gates

Caleb routing the wood for the bunkbed

Maya - puppy in training

Our church uses this as a way to minister to our community and proclaim the gospel of Christ. Relationships have been developed with these mothers, and some have begun attending our church. Some of the children also come on their own on Sunday mornings. 

Our family has had the privilege to be involved in this ministry in various ways over the year. Our family does the grocery shopping each week, transports clean water, shuttles and supervises children during special outings, maintains a website, etc.

Yesterday, we were notified that as of March, the group that supports this ministry will no longer be able to do so. If we are unable to raise the monthly funds to cover the expenses, the day home will need to close. We know that the Lord is sovereign over all events and that the future of these children are in His hands. If you are interested in supporting this ministry, please send us an email at sixlilgents@mac.com

If you would like more information about the day home or would like to see pictures, you can visit the website by clicking the link below.

Emanuel Day Home Website

Church Ministry

We are thankful to the Lord for our local church Emanual Baptist Church. Pastor Melvin and his family continue to serve the Lord with energy, and are a great example to the rest of the church. Mark has had many opportunities to preach over the last few months and continues to work through 2 Peter. He also had the privilege of preaching at another local church in town (Betania). Christy continues to teach the children on Sunday evenings and stays involved with the children’s day home at our church.  The Day Home was recently blessed with money to purchase Christmas gifts.  She and the other ladies went on a five-hour shopping spree, and were privileged to see all the excited, smiling faces as the gifts were delivered.  We are continuing to strengthen relationships with the other saints and enjoy having them in our home. We also took a two day trip to Copan with a family from church. We enjoyed getting to know them better and seeing other parts of Honduras. This was particularly good for our Spanish as we spoke only Spanish the entire two days.

Please pray that our church would continue to grow in the knowledge of Christ and His word. We desire to see families mature in Christ and obey Him in all things. Pray also for the men of the church. Right now there are only a handful of men who come to church regularly. Pray that these men would be godly husband’s and fathers and that other men would come to church with their families to be taught the Word of God.

MEDA

We ended the year with our biggest conference ever. John MacArthur, Henry Tolopillo, Evis Carballosa, Carlos Montoya, and Adrian Donato were all speakers at our year end conference. We had a little over 700 people attend this two day event. It was a great time of preaching and fellowship. We pray that this conference will be used to help grow the ministry of MEDA in the years to come as more people were exposed to our ministry.

We had several families and friends come from the States to attend the graduation and conference. It was great spending time with our dear friends and being encouraged by them. One “special” surprise guest was a dear friend of our family, Kendall Yates. It was a tremendous blessing to be able to spend several days with him, and he was a great help and encouragement to Mark during the conference and graduation. Kendall began working immediately upon his arrival at MEDA.  He and Mark stayed up till 1:00am his first night here getting things ready for the conference.

Another friend of MEDA, Simon, who is an electrician in the United States, came to serve as well. Simon installed new lighting in our library and worked on several other electrical needs. We are thankful for our brothers in Christ being willing to come serve Christ here at MEDA, by using their gifts to serve.

Thankfulness

Our family is grateful to the Lord for His continued faithfulness and provision for our family. Even with the hard economic times in the United States the saints have continued to support our family in many ways.  We are truly thankful to those who support us faithfully each month, making it possible for us to minister the gospel of Christ here in Honduras. Please pray that the Lord would give us many oppportunities to proclaim the great message of salvation in Christ alone.

Our church in Florida was extremely generous in sending Christmas gifts to our entire family a few weeks ago.  It is such a blessing to see the love of Christ displayed by many people and in various ways. Our boys can’t wait to open all the gifts on Christmas day!

Our boys continue to be a blessing to our family and ministry. Josiah, Caleb and Noah all worked extremely hard during the conference and graduation, mowing, gardening, cleaning, and serving.  Even the little boys pitched in when they could.  Now they are staying busy with the children’s choir at church and getting ready for a Christmas drama here at MEDA.

Please continue to pray for our ablity to communicate in Spanish. We have made good progress, but still have a long way to go. In January, our family hopes to attend a Spanish school in Copan. They have teachers that work one-on-one with the student for one week at a time. It is our desire to attend these classes once a month.

As we draw near to the celebration of the birth of Christ, I hope that each of us will remember that the One born in the manger was no ordinary person, but rather, He was and is God in flesh.  He is the Creator and Sustainer of the world. Jesus came for a specific purpose – to save sinful rebellious people from their sin. The Bible says that everyone born into the world are born sinners and enemies of a Holy Righteous God. But the good news is that Jesus came to give His life for our sins. He came to be nailed to a cross and to be judged by God the father, for your sins and my sins. When He was hanging on the cross God the father was pouring out His wrath on Jesus for the punishment of our sins. In other words, the sinless One was being jugded as a sinner. He was being judged for sins He didn’t commit. So the question is: are you trusting in Him ALONE for your forgiveness of sin? Or are you trusting in a church, baptism, or “good works” to get you to heaven? The scripture says in Acts 4:12

“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

If you want to be forgiven of your sins, you will only find forgiveness in Jesus.

The scripture states that when we die there are only two places where people go – heaven or hell. I know that some churches teach that there is a third place, purgatory; however, this is not taught in the Bible. The scriptures state that those who are trusting in Christ alone for their salvation and forgiveness of sins will enter into the presence of God when they die; however, those who refuse to turn from their sin and who refuse to place their faith in Christ will enter into hell when they die, a place where they will be under the judgment of God for all eternity.

So as we draw near to Christmas and as you think about Jesus coming to earth, think about the reason why He came to earth, think about your own life, soul and eternal destiny. Do you want to continue being a slave of sin, or would you rather be a slave of Christ?

The last two months have been packed with many opportunities to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and teach the precious word of God.  A group from our local church started working in San Marcos this month.  San Marcos is a remote village located about three hours from MEDA. Our church plans on ministring in this village on a regular basis. Currently, San Marcos has a church building and a man who preaches there every Sunday, but they still do not have a pastor who lives in the community. During this trip we visited people in their homes and proclaimed the gospel to them. We broke up into 3 different groups, heading to different parts of the area. Our family was split between the three groups.  Christy, Caleb, and the two younger boys headed down into a valley about 20 minutes away.  She brought along her Spanish children’s story Bible, crayons, and coloring sheets, which came in handy as she was able to visit with children and share the story of creation with them.   Josiah and I were part of the team that walked down the side of a mountain on a 10” path through the trees and brush. The houses were scattered apart, which made for good exercise. I spoke with a 54-year-old lady who had never before heard of Jesus Christ, and therefore knew nothing of Jesus coming to earth or Him dying on the cross. We started at the very begining and talked about God being the Creator and how sin came into the world. Then we went on to talk about the promise of Christ’s coming, His birth, death. and resurrection.  We ended the day by attending a special service.  Please pray as we continue to visit the people in this village and proclaim the wonderful message of Christ to them. Also, pray that we will be able to establish good relationships with the people.

Another highlight of this month was the arrival of a group from our home church in Florida, Grace Bible Church of Brandon, along with another church, Grace Bible Church of Tampa and the Diez Family. The team of 18 people came to perform various work projects at MEDA. This is the very first time a group has come to minister directely to MEDA. It was a great week of hard work and good fellowship. The team was able to get a lot done in such a short amount of time. Some of the items they worked on were: painting the water tower and the office, gardening, constructing 10 bunk beds for the dorms, painting playground equipment, and many other things. They were also able to take a few hours off work and visit the kids at Emanuel Day Home at our church.  I don’t know who had a better time playing, the kids or the adults!  They also left some surprise packages of clothes, shoes, et cet for each child.  The children still light up with excitement when they show me something that was in “their bag”. We look forward to more teams coming down in the future.

This month Mark was asked to speak to a gathering of pastors to celebrate the Day of the Pastor. We met at a local swimming pool for a day of rest and relaxation.. Mark was able to preach, while Christy taught a children’s class. We were thankful for another opportunity to serve Christ and teach His Word.

One exciting recent event for us was the obtaining of our driver’s licenses! We are thankful to the Lord for this provision, as we have been told this was not possible without completing the residency process.  As you know, our residency has been ongoing since we arrived.  Please continue to pray for us to obtain resident status. 

We arrived home, however, to minor destruction here at MEDA.  A small tornado had swept through, uprooting eleven trees, damaging two walls, and the power line was laying in the road. The next day we started the clean up process.  

We are grateful to the Lord for His continual provision for our family and His faithfulness in supplying our needs. It is such a privilege for our family to be able to serve the risen King and to be able to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ here in Honduras. Please continue to pray for our family and ministry that we would be able to have more opportunities to proclaim the Christ to those who remain in darkness.