February Update from the Runkles

2016 Begins A groundbreaking ceremony was held to dedicate the start of House #4.  We had a time of worship and prayer, and then everyone joined hands around the building site to pray for the home and the parents and children that will one day live there. House #3 is very close to completion!  Within the next few months, the new couple should be moving in, and soon after they'll become parents for 6 or 7 orphaned children.  It is very excited to know that 12-16 more children will have a home and a family once both houses are complete!   LEARNING AND GROWING The school year has passed the half-way point.  Only 4 months to go!  The school library continues to grow.  Erin has a constant mountain of books that need to be labeled and put into the computer system, which is a good problem to have!  It's fun to see how excited the students are about getting books each week.  Some of them even come in during recess to get new books or help with the library work! VISITORS!   We've had two sets of visitors already in 2016.  Darryl and Jenny Brenzel (from our home church) serve at Orphanage Emanuel in another part of Honduras.  After their week there, they visited with us for a couple of days, to help out and learn about La Providencia.  Darryl also shared his saxophone with us in music classes! The day after the Brenzels left, Erin's sister Ashley arrived!  She currently lives in Korea, working as an ESL teacher.  She was here for about a week and a half, and it was really nice to have her help, as well as the familiarity of a family member. The new year has been quite full so far, and we hope the second half of our time here will be even better than the first!

PRAYER & PRAISE -Praise for visitors coming and a girls' weekend with the other teachers that really lifted Erin's spirits! -Praise for ongoing good health (for the most part), and Jesse's healing from his dog bite. -Praise for continued financial provision. -Praise for the (almost) completion of House #3! -Praise for La Providencia's continued growth and ability to care for more orphaned and vulnerable children. -Praise for God's sovereignty over all situations, large and small! -Prayer for family unity and protection against the effects of stress on ourselves and our family. -Prayer for continued safety and health.  (Heath probably has Chikungunya virus, and another mosquito-transmitted disease called Zika is now causing concern here.) -Prayer for wisdom and good attitudes in the challenges of our work here. -Prayer for time and energy to persevere and to keep our family's/children's needs top priority. -Prayer for finding next year's teachers for Academia La Providencia. -Prayer for the new couple and children who will soon move into House #3. Financial Status We have been very blessed to have both prayer and financial support from so many of you during these six months so far.  Thank you so much for being a part of this ministry! Due to situations we weren't aware of before we came (required trips out of the country every 90 days, and some expenses being higher than anticipated), it looks like we will be about $5,000 short for the year's expenses.  While not an emergency, that extra support would allow us to return home this summer without having to use the little bit we have set aside for our transition period when we move back.  If you are interested in contributing financially, please click this link and/or ask us if you have any questions.  Runkles Family Financial Support Thank you again to all of you who have helped with our financial needs, as well as all of you who pray for us regularly.  We need and appreciate you all very much!