A True Fairy Tale

A True Fairy Tale . . . 

Once upon a time in the merry land of Maryland there dwelt a man and wife by the names of Heath and Erin.  In this merry land, Heath and Erin had four wonderful children (two “homegrown” and two welcomed from a kingdom far, far away).  While Heath and Erin felt that no more children would be coming from kingdoms far, far away (or kingdoms close by for that matter), there remained within them a desire to help other children living without a forever family.  So, in the year of our Lord 2012, they gathered together a group of like-minded people from within their church, and together they all began Abba's Hands and Heart orphan ministry.  
In the winter of 2014 a few of these AHHers visited the far off land of Honduras, and fell in love with a ministry there called La Providencia.  The “Laprovidencians” are a kind-hearted people, desiring to help orphans and widows and to build up the community around them by showing and teaching the love of the True King.  The Laprovidencians give many children the chance to have the love and stability of a family as well as a strong bilingual education; they also improve the economic and social well-being of their community in healthy ways.
The next year the AHHers decided to take a bigger team to experience the land of the Laprovidencians.  So in the winter of 2015 several AHHers returned to Honduras and were warmly welcomed by the people of the land.  During these visits, Heath and Erin were drawn into close fellowship with the children and adults, and greatly enjoyed the culture, the climate, and the coffee.  They would joke about moving to the land of the Laprovidencians, but always returned to their “normal” life in their home in Merry Land.  
After returning to Merry Land the second time, and unbeknownst to each other, Heath and Erin had frequent pleasant thoughts of returning to Honduras to work with the Laprovidencians.  About three weeks after they got home, Erin said to Heath, “You were kidding about going to La Providencia to live for a year, right?”  And Heath replied, “No.”  As happens so often in the home of Heath and Erin, the wonderful children deterred the conversation from going any farther.  So later on, Erin questioned Heath again.  “You were kidding about saying you weren't kidding about going to La Providencia, right?”  “Um, what?” Heath replied.  Upon further investigation it was discovered that both Heath and Erin were open to and excited about the idea of living in Honduras for a year and working as missionaries for La Providencia.  

However, being the “normal” Merry Landers that they are, becoming temporary Laprovidencians seemed a wee bit crazy.  So Erin emailed Miss K in the Land of La Providencia, to confirm that all the reasons this Crazy Idea wouldn't work were in fact valid.  That way Erin would be able to stop thinking about this Crazy Idea.  But Miss K's email claimed that all the objections to this Crazy Idea were in fact not problems at all!  Over the next few weeks, counsel was sought, prayers were prayed, and research was done, all pointing to the feasibility and divine calling of this Crazy Idea.  “Coincidences” continued to pop up, doors and windows were flung open, peace guarded their hearts and minds, and Heath and Erin began to think this Crazy Idea might not be so crazy after all, but might actually be the calling of the True King beckoning them to another section of His Kingdom.  

And thus the adventure begins . . . 

(Translation:  We're moving to Honduras as missionaries for a year!!!  We'll leave around August 1st.  If you would like to receive our updates, or if you would be able to support us financially or by praying for us, please let us know.  We'd love to have you on our team!)  

Shadow

On March 20th, we said goodbye to our dog, Shadow.  She was 14 years old, and finally having enough health problems that it was time to let her go.  Heath and I had had her since our first year of marriage, and the kids had never known life without her.  Even though I complained about her sometimes (ok, quite a lot), she really was a wonderful pet and we all miss her.  It was a very difficult few days, and it's been hardest on Ethan, but we are all recovering.  We're very thankful for the special pet she was and all the years we had with her.

Jesse's Baptism

Jesse was baptized today!  We are so happy to see him growing in  his faith, and to see his heart that is sensitive to the Lord.  We're looking forward to seeing him mature as a Christian and pray that he will always walk close with the Lord.

Tabitha's 7th Birthday

Tabitha turned 7 on May 10th.  It's really hard to believe she's that old!  We had a fun lego-themed party for her, and she is thrilled to be a 7 year old.  This year she has accomplished a lot.  She's learning to read, and she loves taking care of her little sister.  They're the best of friends.

Happy birthday, Tabitha!  We love you.

Rayanna Turns Four!

Well, this might be the latest blog post ever, but give me a break...by the fourth child it's amazing I even remember everybody's birthdays at all!  Almost a month ago--on March 21st--Rayanna turned four!  I've been barely keeping up with life, and blogging seems to be at the bottom of the priority list.  But, lest anyone think we forgot our baby's birthday, here is proof that we did indeed celebrate.  

Rayanna continues to bring lots of laughter and fun to our family.  She has grown and learned so much, and it is such a joy to watch her.  It's hard to believe she's 4 already!  This year she has taken a real interest in playing with the big kids, increasing her vocabulary, and "doing school."

Happy (late) Birthday, Rayanna.  We love you so much!

Home from Honduras

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

We are back from Honduras and had a wonderfully blessed time!  I know I won't be able to fully express in words the amazing things we experienced, but I'll do my best to give you a taste of what went on there.  Unlike most trips we've been familiar with, this was not a “project” trip.  We didn't build anything or “accomplish” anything.  And yet, we feel that it was an extremely valuable time of learning about orphan care and building relationships.

Our guide Douglas and his wife Karla

We learned a lot about what it means to be an orphan.  Although we've adopted two children, and even seen the less-than-ideal orphanage where Rayanna lived, on this trip we came face-to-face with the reality of what it means to be an orphan, especially in a country without much help available.

On a couple of our days there, we visited foster homes and private orphanages.  I had expected physical needs to be the most obvious needs we'd encounter, but I was surprised.  Most of these places had their physical needs met at least at a basic level.  But their overwhelming emotional/spiritual needs hit us hard.  Several of the girls we met were victims of incest, two of them bearing their father's child, and several of them having been raped repeatedly.  One girl's family had all been murdered while she hid in the bathroom.  One group of children with special needs were virtually homeless, living in an abandoned school with food provided but nothing else.  Some of the children's parents had simply disappeared and no one knew where they were.  One little 7-year-old girl had been digging through garbage to find food for herself and two younger siblings.

Of course, we've all heard stories like this before, but to meet these beautiful children in person and interact with them and see into their eyes and their souls . . . it was heart-wrenching.  Even the ones who were in “good” places didn't appear to have any help in dealing with their trauma, and several were unable to go to school because of missing paperwork or not being able to afford supplies.  Without counseling, without permanent families, without education, without hope.

Two days later we visited these places again, and I'm so glad we were able to go back.  We returned with Bibles and gifts, spent some time doing artwork with them, and read a letter of encouragement and hope in Christ that we had written for them.   Our guide and translator was wonderful and made it possible for us to share the gospel with them, and hopefully bring them some encouragement.  It was a precious time to spend with them, seeing a glimmer of happiness on their faces.  But it was so hard to leave, knowing that we can't fix things for them.

That was another thing I learned.  I already knew there's no easy fix for these situations, and we aren't going to “save the world” by visiting for a week.  But the firsthand experience really let me feel how small we are compared to the size of this problem.  However, that feeling also brings me to the lesson we learned in the happier parts of the trip—that the body of Christ is connected throughout the world by something deeper than culture or language or location.  We're connected by the Spirit of God, and we can work together to spread Christ's love and be His body to a suffering world.

The ministry that we partnered with there is called Providence World.  The contrast between the hopelessness of kids without homes and the joy in the families at La Providencia was amazing!  We spent a lot of time that week at La Providencia, learning about their ministry and their vision, and we are so excited to work with them!  

La Providencia is working on the orphan problem at a deep level—not a bandaid for the problems, but a solution.  Their model is placing children into families—a couple with up to 8 children, committed for the child's growing up years.  They ask to have children placed with them that (for one reason or another) can't be adopted, so that these children will have a family.  They provide excellent medical care and education, Christian training, and the love of committed parents.  These children will grow up to be assets to their local community and help improve the plight of children in Honduras.  But they don't stop with just the orphans!  Their excellent school includes children from the community as well (which raises the value of orphans in their society).  They provide surgeries for needy children in the area.  They are constantly looking for ways to reach out to the community and strengthen families, so that the root causes of children being orphaned will be diminished.  Their future goals which they are actively working toward include self-sustainability, a home for widows (“grandmothers” to the children), building more orphan homes, and much more.  We are thrilled to see what God is doing through them, and were so blessed to be a part of it.

The atmosphere was very enjoyable there too.  We felt much safer than we'd expected to, all the people we met were warm and friendly and welcomed us readily.  Even the scenery was beautiful!  We were up in the mountains, surrounded by gorgeous views everywhere we looked!  Up there it wasn't too hot.  It was in the 60's in the morning and would get up to maybe 80 in the afternoon.  We sure weren't in a hurry to return to the never-ending winter Maryland's having this year!

We are excited to go back to Honduras, and to take more people from our church with us next time.  We want to help this beautiful part of the body of Christ in the work they're doing.  And we desire to be a part of reaching out to orphans in Honduras and building relationships with the Honduran branch of our spiritual family tree.  If you have any interest in learning more about La Providencia, please visit their website at providenceworld.com.  You can sponsor a child, give a financial gift, buy coffee from them (I actually had my first full cup of coffee EVER while we were there.  It's good stuff!)  Or even find out about taking a trip there yourself.  You won't regret it!

Bound for Honduras!

Well, life has a way of passing by day after day, even when I haven't finished my to-do list.  I've been meaning to post on here for quite some time about our plans for a orphan-care mission trip to Honduras, but I just haven't gotten around to it.  So, taking the easy way out, I'm just posting our support letter and update letter below.  If you've already read those you can skip this post.  

December 2013

Dear Friends & Family,

We are excited to tell you about the ministry we've been serving in this past year and a mission trip that we are participating in this spring! We hope that you will be a part of the ministry too--by praying for us and/or contributing financially if you are able.

About a year and a half ago, we started planning an orphan ministry with some other people in our church. It's been encouraging to see that God is moving in other people's hearts as well as our own! Several families within our church have told us that God was leading them to be involved in orphan care, and we have witnessed His perfect timing as He brought us together in this ministry.

The ministry is known as Abba's Hands & Heart and is part of Mountain View Community Church. So far as a ministry, we have all been excited to establish a fund for adopting families and walk with two families through their adoption journey. We've also gotten to share in the excitement of two other families who hosted orphans from Latvia in their home last summer. We're looking forward to getting involved in the foster care system locally. And we've been so blessed to find friends and prayer partners who share a passion for orphaned children.

Along with the rest of the AHH leadership team, we want to provide an international mission trip opportunity for our church, specifically for ministry to orphans. Before taking a team though, our church leaders have asked us to go as a small group to “test the waters” and discern if this location would be a good fit for a larger team from our church. So this spring, March 1^st-8^th, four of us will be traveling to Honduras. The trip is being coordinated by Visiting Orphans, a ministry who plans trips specifically for the purpose of ministering to orphans. While in Honduras we will be helping out at a couple different orphanages.

One is a Christian organization called La Providencia. This ministry is unique in that, rather than a large institution, children are placed into homes of about 8 children with a “mom” and a “dad.” They are provided with education, health care, and loving Christian house parents. We will also spend some of the days helping at a state-run orphanage. These are the institutional buildings that most people think of when they hear of an orphanage. We are excited to go and help these children and their caretakers however we are needed. Some of the things we might do include playing games with the kids, cleaning rooms, helping with a building project, rocking babies, making music with the children, doing laundry, or whatever else is needed.

Our hope is that this will indeed be a good fit for our church so that we can return with a team next year and continue to serve the same community for years to come. We also hope that you will join with us in praying for God to lead us and be glorified in every aspect of this ministry—before, during, and after the trip!

If you are interested in receiving updates about the trip, or if we can count on you to pray for us, please let us know at erin.runkles@gmail.com. If you are interested in contributing financially toward the $2200 cost of the trip (preferably by early January) please visit www.visitingorphans.org and click on “donate”, or send a check to Visiting Orphans; 449 Metroplex Drive; Nashville, TN 37211. On a separate paper (not on the check), write Mountain View Honduras Trip—Heath & Erin Runkles.

Thank you for reading this and for keeping us in your thoughts and prayer. We appreciate it very much. Have a wonderful Christmas!

God bless,

Heath & Erin Runkles

Feb 1, 2014
Greetings Friends!

Thank you all so much for your prayer and/or financial support of our upcoming trip to Honduras.  We are so thankful for each one of you!

We just wanted to send a brief update as we continue to get ready for the trip.  One big praise we have is that all of the money needed for our expenses has been provided!  Any future donations will help the rest of the team, and after that be given directly to the orphanage we'll be working with.  Praise the Lord for His provision!

Another exciting thing is that my (Erin's) mom will be coming to stay with our kids while we're gone.  Since my parents live in Nebraska they don't get to see the kids very often, so this will be a very special time for Grandma and the grandkids.  

Over the past several weeks we've been completing a Bible study and having discussions with the rest of our team.  It's been a good study on discipleship that will help us as we serve in Honduras as well as at home in our regular lives.  With our team, we're also working on planning for activities to do with the kids when we're there.  This is the most uncomfortable part of the planning because we don't know exactly how things will go.  Our coordinator at Visiting Orphans keeps saying, "Plan well but be flexible!"  We should have teaching, crafts, stories, games, etc. to do with the kids for about 3 hours each day, but be prepared if the staff wants us to do something totally different instead.  We need to be ready for anything!  I (Erin) love to plan, but this will definitely be good practice in the flexibility part for me.  

Besides actual ministry to the kids and caretakers there, we also have the responsibility of deciding whether or not to recommend this as a larger-team trip for our church orphan ministry for next year.  This feels like a huge decision, so please pray for wisdom and unity for the four of us to see how God leads.  

Of course, prayer for safety is appreciated as well, especially since Honduras isn't the safest of locations, and we are both going and leaving our kids home.  

Thank you so much for your prayer and support.  We'll plan to send one more update before we leave (March 1st).  God bless you and your families, and thank you so much for joining us in this ministry to orphans!

In Him,

Heath & Erin Runkles