Hello Partners in Missions:

We want to share with you the progress of our ministry at Ministerios de Fe Vida Nueva, Azacualpa, Honduras. As many of you know, our ministry is focused more in children and poor families, that doesn’t meant that we ignore those that have no material needs, we all need a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

Our feeding program continues serving a nutritious meal at lunch time for 75-80 kids that are brought Monday through Friday, one or two days during the week, they receive a gospel presentation or a Bible story about Jesus by Alex, Mariana or one of the teachers, of course, they enjoy a time of games and the playground area.

My House Project has been a blessing for five families that now live in a nice home made of concrete block, concrete floor, metal roof and a indoor bathroom, thanks to donors and contributions from individuals and churches designated for this housing program, this year we are still building a house for Jefferson’s grandma Beralize and might start building a house for Cristina and her three children. We have found that many groups enjoy participating in the “makeover”.

Beralize and her children

Alex and Mariana are working hard with the congregation; there are 60 to 75 people that attend regularly the Sunday evening service, energetic worship is provide and a presentation of the Gospel delivered by pastor Alex.

The Christian academy is expanding, last year we had 24 students, this year are 43 and we are projecting 65 for next year 2015, because the growing of the students population, we are adding four more classrooms, two will be used for a library and a computer lab, and the other two as classrooms, thank you to those that are funding scholarships for some families that cannot afford it.

We are still getting groups and missionary teams visiting every year, many people have had a great and unforgettable faith experience, we are so glad that we can be part of that.

Please keep supporting, praying and giving toward this ministry.

Blessings,

Dago and Dilia Zelaya

 

 

 

 

Are you looking to build great family memories? Full of adventure? A unique family vacation away from the usual tourist traps? One that your children will never forget? Then look no further; you have found your “fun in the sun” destination: Ministries of Faith and New Life at Azacualpa, Honduras! Come with me and let me share our experiences with this five-star family vacation spot!

How do I sum up a family vacation dream come true?! For years I waited for the right timing. God had put a dream in my heart to go on a family mission trip way back when our two oldest boys were little in 1999. In Aug. 2001, Burt and I went with First Baptist (Marshalltown) with the exciting purpose of purchasing a plot of land in Azacualpa for yet another dream. This dream was one planted in Dago’s heart: to build a children’s home. On that trip, I had such neat experiences like touring the public school and traveling into the mountains one day. I wanted my boys to experience some of the same things, so I had a big list of expectations. Burt went back the first year and helped with engineering plans as the first two buildings became reality. In my mind, all I could remember was the plot of land being a field.

The years passed and over time God put a clearer target date in view, June 6-14, 2013! It was going to become reality! Daniel at 17, David at 15, and Stephen at 9 were going to Honduras with Mom and Dad. We put in our reservations with our travel agent, Dago. Oh, the anticipation as we ordered passports, purchased tickets, and bought up holiday clearance merchandise for pinata candy and crafts! We cleaned out closets taking from our abundance, ready to give to those in need. I had a mighty list of expectations for family experiences put on the altar! God is so good! He totally fulfilled all of those desires of my heart and gave so much more! Ephesians 3:20 says it all “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

Our basic ministry included David using a puppet to sing along with the kids about King Jesus. Daniel taught “Jesus loves you (me)” in English and a few other phrases. Stephen and Mary shared the Gospel through our puppet, Scruffy the

dog, while Burt explained salvation using the Wordless Book. We provided a craft and ended with a pinata.

In five days of ministry we shared the Gospel with 440 different kids (and numerous adults standing around). For four days we gave the Bible lesson to the fifty feeding program kids. We passed out 272 party goodie bags, sixty-five beanie babies, three hundred crafts, two hundred paint sheets, three hundred pencils, two hundred balloons, over eighteen thousand stickers and two hundred copies of the Body Blessing,. We used ten pinatas with nine groups of kids. God IS able to do more than we ask or imagine!

Besides helping with the Christian school and feeding program, we also were able to go to three mountain villages, Loma Alta, La Puerta, and a public school classroom at Piedra Larga. It was at our first outreach at Loma Alta that I will never forget. (Actually, I’ll never forget any of them!) We anticipated forty to fifty kids. We had sixty goodie bags but brought plenty of candy, pencils, balloons and stickers if we needed more. Well over one hundred children showed up. As it started to rain and I had a combination of hair spray, mascara, and sunscreen going into my eyes, I had what seemed like thirty to forty hands reaching in my face saying, “Lapiz!” It was a basic pencil, nothing fancy. I’m not sure that kids in America even would have been interested in a plain pencil. My heart is so broken for the kids there who have so little and for the kids here who have so much, not appreciating it or even realizing it.

At La Puerta we passed through two rivers and the most adventurous roads to share the Gospel. Olga, a teacher at Piedra Larga, graciously allowed us to come into her classroom to present our message. Twenty-nine of her thirty students came forward to receive Christ! Besides these mountain experiences, we presented the Gospel at El Eslabon and Sandres both near Azacualpa. We presented the Gospel in two classrooms at the public elementary school in town as well.

My most memorable part of our trip was praying a very special blessing over each child at the children’s home. God put this Body Blessing on my heart when my oldest boys were only four and two. I was passing on our family

tradition. For the girls I prayed this blessing and then presented each girl with a tiara, noting that each one was a daughter of King Jesus! It was so fun to see each girl’s reaction looking in the mirror and seeing herself wearing a tiara.

Is Ministries of Faith and New Life at Azacualpa, Honduras really a five star family vacation spot? It is a GOD-GIVEN “fun in the sun” adventure that your family will NEVER forget! God will take your mighty list of expectations for family memories and ZAP them into reality (plus give you a few more to show God is really in charge). Your family’s blessings come from God, so that your family can be a blessing to others! What are you waiting for? Call Dago today to make your reservation. You will be blessed beyond measure!

 

Now where were we?  Oh yes.  Here.  At Victoria’s.

Hello!  My name is Stephanie Taylor and my husband, Tim and I had the opportunity to be adult leaders with a team of youth from our church in Marshalltown Iowa. We arrived in Honduras on Friday, December 28 after very smooth travels.  On Saturday morning we went to the home of Victoria, a woman in Azacualpa, that we would be building a house for.  Our task for the morning was to tear down her old house.  The hard-working youth made quick work of it, and we returned to the children’s home to play soccer and prepare for the evening ministry.

 

After losing badly to the Honduran soccer team, our team and the children from the home headed into town to do a program in the town square.  We sang a few songs in Spanish, the youths performed a drama about how Christ saves us from our sins, and three on our team shared their testimonies with Dago translating.  The drama particularly drew a crowd, and we pray that those that watched it were touched by the Holy Spirit and open their lives to salvation through Christ.

Sunday night we attended the church service, which included the kids’ Christmas program.  It was wonderful!  All of the kids did a great job singing and doing their readings.  I wish we had programs like that here in the US!

 

On Monday we went back to the worksite—it was time to dig footers!  Once the holes where ready; we started forming the first of many bucket brigades to get water to the cement mixer.   Later in the morning, half of the team stayed on site, and the other half went back to the home to help with the feeding program.  That night we had a special meal with the kids and staff at the home, and then set off fireworks to ring in the New Year. 

 

A couple of the teens on our trip had raised “extra” support, and they decided to use the money to buy groceries to distribute in the community.  Through this support, God enabled us to provide 3 bags of groceries to 15 different families in the community!  One of the families that received groceries included an older gentleman who had an abscess on his foot that had been there for years, causing a lot of pain. We took time to gather around him and pray for him and his family.  I think that doing that was more of a blessing to them than the groceries.

 

When I went to Honduras, I expected to enjoy it, and I loved it so much more than I thought I would!  The hardest part of the week for me was leaving to come home!  I was so blessed by the staff and the children at Ministries of Faith, as well as the beautiful, loving children in the feeding program.  I know that they are used to teams coming and going a lot, but it did not hinder their desire to spend time and build relationships with us.

 

I was also very impressed with the stewardship of Dago & Dilia and the ministry God has given them in Azacualpa.  While there are a million reasons not to help others and thousands of obstacles to reaching those in need, Ministries of Faith and New Life focuses on what can be done, and is generous with others in the community, while maintaining healthy boundaries and expectations for how the resources are used.

To God be the glory!

 

 

Each year, the mission team does something a little different. This year is Honduras Home-Makeover. Located just a couple miles from the Ministries of Faith and New Life is a “house” where a woman named Victoria lives. She has extreme health issues and suffers from severe asthma. A lot of this is due to her living arrangements. Because she is so poor, she lives in a house made of clay, sticks, and tarp. She has a stove just a foot or two away from her bed, and animal feces scatter the floor of the house. The floor is nothing but dirt. The house is currently in the process of being demolished so that our mission team can build Victoria a brand new house and get her back on her feet with the necessities.

Thoughts from Patty Goldsmith

I find that every time I come here I am reminded of things we have done. After seven years, I have lost some of the wide-eyed wonderment until I see someone new to Honduras have that awed experience and I see things through new eyes.

I think I know what to expect and then God shows me and shares with me something I have seen before but haven’t taken notice of. Like, the mist raising from the ground up towards the mountain tops, the children knelling and praying at the altar after breakfast. The sounds of Honduran, children laughing, singing, people in conversation, music playing, the sounds of people working. Who could forget the sounds of barking dogs, crowing roosters, birds singing, a cacophony of sounds. And, the smells of Honduras-wood fires in the stoves, flowers and a smell that is Honduras.

I am in awe of God who has created all this and continues to create new life here as He does at home. I wonder what God sees as He looks on us. I hope He sees each of us working to become more Christ like. One day, one person, one life at a time-a change that brings Him glory, honor and praise all the days of our lives.

Thoughts from Dave O’Byrne

Today is our last full day here. Yesterday we finished our work on Victorias house. Our bodies are tired and sore, but our hears are full from the blessings we received from God through the gratitude of Victoria and many others. The neighborhood where Victoria’s house is located is called Nazareth. It reminded me of John 1:46 where Nathaniel says, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” That’s what the response of many people here would be of that neighborhood. The “Nazareth” in Azacualpa isn’t the home of the Savior of the world, but it is the home of many people who love the Savior of the world. In spite of what we see as poverty, they have found treasure worth more than diamonds and gold.

 

 

 

Hello Friends and Partners in Missions:

It is that time again, when we celebrate the birth
of our Lord and Savior, a time to rejoice and be glad that the
Heavenly Father sent his only begotten son into this world to save us.
We, at the Children’s Home in Azacualpa, Honduras, will be celebrating
with a special Living Christmas Tree Cantata, 30 kids will be participating singing to Jesus.
We’ll be at the neighborhood, where most of the kids come for our feeding program, at the plaza and the city hall.

We want to say thanks for your support, love and prayers. FELIZ NAVIDAD from the bottom of our hearts.

Every day is full of activities at Ministries of Faith New Life. The children and teenagers of both the Home and the feeding program are full of energy. Daily we ask ourselves, what does God want us to do for these children and teenagers? With this question in mind, I started thinking about a reading program.

 
Most of the children that live in rural Honduras do not have access to childrens books or fiction books. Story time is not something readily available to them and even at home story time is non-existent. There is no local library where imagination is encouraged. I took a small number of books from our small library and introduced them to the children. I asked how many of them would like to start reading some books, the reply was an overwhelming YES by every single child. We formed groups based on their reading level. Their eyes were shining with excitement. They were thrilled to read a book that was not a text book or a homework assignment.

 
They read books like, “I Love my Shadow, Daniel’s Pet, Too Many Tamales, The True Story of the Three Little Piggies, My Grandma is Awesome, Jesus and His Friends, Pedro the Courageous, The Chest Vendor and a few other books. I can honestly say that I have never seen them so captured by an activity. Their hunger for reading was astonishing. To read a book is such a small thing but it has the power to make these children happy. I thought about when Jesus would sit and children would flock to sit by Him. What kind of stories did He have to tell?

Working with young minds reminds us that we can have an impact on the future of this country, even if it is something as small as getting them to read. We want to encourage you, whenever you travel, to take an extra book or two with you and leave it behind to someone who has none. Even better, read a child a book and experience the happiness and excitement they feel.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

We are getting close to that time of the year when we celebrate with great joy and happiness about our Lord and Savior’s ultimate victory over death, sin and Satan. And that is the reason for us to rejoice in HIM, the reason to proclaim and shout to the world, that JESUS is what this world needs in order to be save. We hope and pray that you will be celebrating with all your heart the Risen Christ.

Our activities in Azacualpa, Honduras continue day by day, the kids are growing and some of them are talking about their future and things they would like to do in life.

Leonardo is in his second year at the Agricultural School, we get good reports from his teachers saying that he is an outstanding student with a great potential to continue his studies at one of the Agricultural Universities in Honduras; we pray daily for him asking the Lord to keep his feet straight.

Ricci started her 10th grade at the Bilingual School, she is doing very good, she is dedicated to her studies and hopefully in year 2014 she will attend the University in San Pedro Sula.

Dania is in her 9th grade and her plans are to attend the Agricultural School, we hope that she will fit there, as for now those are her plans.

Yeini, Milton, Keidy and Brayan are attending 8th grade and doing good as for now; Milton is learning mechanics during the day and attending school in the evening, his plans are to attend the same school as Leonardo.

This year we got to new kids; Maiky Ariel, he is brother of Yeini and is 9 years old, he is in 4th grade; and Carlos Estiven, brother of Ricci, Brayan and Breidy, he is in 3rd grade.

Our plans to finish the new building for the school will be accomplish next month, tomorrow the constructor will start laying the ceramic tile; the building is being used for sunday school program and hopefully for February 2013 we’ll start the Bilingual School.

Dilia and I are coming to the US in May 18th to June 8th, to attend the World Mission Conference that will be taking place in Green Lake, WI. The conference will be on May 18th to 25th and of course we’ll take the rest of the time to visit some churches, pastors, groups and friends. We might see some of you, that will be a blessing to shake your hand and give you a hug from our hearts.

Please keep praying for me and Dilia and all the kids, also for Alex and Mariana and their two girls.

Thanks for supporting this ministry, we couldn’t do this without you, please keep doing so.

Happy Easter,

Dago and Dilia Zelaya
Missionaries in Honduras, Central America

 

My name is Matthew and I am from Gladbrook, Iowa. After being blessed with the experience of a previous one-week mission trip to Ministerio de fe Vida Nueva, during which I and a group from E-Free Christian Church of Marshalltown assisted in the construction of the bilingual Christian school, I was filled with excitement at being able to be a part of what God is doing in Honduras. Wanting to get a better feel for how individuals are serving God in missions and to gain perspective from living in a developing country, I asked if I could return, but this time for longer. Dago gave his permission, and the eight weeks of November 13, 2011- January 6, 2012, were scheduled for my stay.

Right from the start this trip was different from my previous stay. Instead of staying in the dorm building, I got to live in the boys’ house. While there, some of my responsibilities included leading the boys in prayer, helping make sure the chores were done and the house was clean, and getting them to bed on time. I also got to share in the responsibility of maintaining and developing the Children’s Home. Mowing the lawn, working on the school, and helping Alex or Leo with whatever needed done made up most of my day. The rest of my day was filled with playing soccer, teaching the kids English (or them teaching me Spanish), and washing sweaty clothes. Through all of these activities I have developed new friendships with the kids and staff of the children’s home. I was also blessed with being able to see more of Azacualpa and the surrounding area. I especially enjoyed trips out of the compound because it provided me with a chance to see what Honduras was really like.

All-in-all, I would consider my volunteer stay at the Children’s Home to have been a hundred times more rewarding than my amazing one-week experience. I would highly encourage anyone who has a heart for service or wants to experience what God is doing in missions to consider spending any amount of time at this amazing place.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The year 2011 has been a time of harvesting blessings. First off, we would like to thank the creator of the universe, the provider, the great I am. We would also like to thank everyone who in one way or another has contributed to Ministries of Faith here in Honduras. Daily we put out trust in His promise, “my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19.

Time is an incredible thing. It has been three years since we came to Honduras as full-time missionaries. When we arrived, we had many dreams and goals for Ministries of Faith. One of our dreams was to have our own water well. This year, thanks to the help and collaboration of the Rotary club in Champaign, Illinois and San Pedro Sula, Honduras, we have an abundance of clean quality water. Praise the Lord!

After moving back, we quickly recognized the need for Sunday school rooms. We wanted a place where we could teach the children the word of God. In January, we began building the classrooms in faith. God has been sending construction teams and providing monetary help. We hope to have the Sunday school classrooms finished by spring 2012. To God be the glory. Our desire for this building is for it to function not only as Sunday school classrooms but to be a bilingual Christian school. We want to enroll children who would otherwise have no financial means of attending a bilingual school. We pray that once the school opens we will have the ability to give scholarships to these children.

The feeding program has been a tremendous blessing to our ministry. Around 80 children ages 5 to 14 are given a daily nutritious lunch during the year. This part of the ministry has been a success because of the church members and churches who have supported us financially and prayerfully. The children are taught the Word because they need spiritual nourishment as well as physical. It is heartwarming to see how the children love Ministries of Faith. They enjoy and look forward to an afternoon here. Right now they are thrilled to be practicing for a Christmas program.

The children and teenagers that live at Ministries of Faith are on break from school. Here in Honduras the typical American “summer vacation” is during November, December and January. The young ladies have been busy learning how to cook and the young men have been working in the fields. They have also been working on the sidewalks that connect to the classrooms. It has been a great experience to see them grow and mature both physically and spiritually. All the children are having English classes taught by two interns who are currently at the Children’s home.

We give the glory to God because every day we can serve Him through the many little things that happen here.
We would like to sincerely thank everyone who has prayed, visited and supported us financially. God Bless you.

Dago and Dilia Zelaya