New Beginnings Dec. 2012
Honestly, I am not sure how to start, how to convey what has been building in my heart for 6 years and in 7 weeks will become a reality! I guess a little history must be given so bear with me.
When I agreed to go on my first foreign short term mission trip to Bolivia in 1994, I never expected to have God call me to be a full time missionary to the children of the Quimistan Valley of Honduras in 2004. When He did, my husband, Sam and I had been actively involved with a foundation which had been created to assist the people of Quimistan since 1999. We very comfortably sat on its Board of Directors and made bi-annual trips to work with and love the people we served there.
It was during one of those short-term trips, when I felt God ask me to move to Quimistan and serve the people full time. Since I knew my husband had not received the same calling, I think it was easy to think, “Ok, God, yes I will go, but You must mean after Sam passes away or You will need to call him too.” For I knew God would never call one partner to leave the other and go into ministry for Him.
As Sam and I continued our work, support, and visits to Quimistan, in July of 2008, Sam began to realize that he, too, wanted to live in Quimistan full time. He had retired, so we began looking for land to purchase for a children’s home; took a three week tour of existing homes in Honduras; and began to dream of creating a non-profit. Six months after negotiating a contract for 13.5 acres of land, my mother, a widow, was diagnosed with ALS, a terminal disease.
Honestly, I thought, “Lord, Sam is finally ready and now you allow my mom to get sick! What is up with this?” But knowing and agreeing that my mother’s last years were Biblically calling me to honor her by staying here to care for her (which my entire family lovingly did); we put our dream of moving to Quimistan on hold. We realized that God’s timing is perfect and that He is sovereign. He asked us to go. We said, “Yes”. Then He said, “Not yet.’
My mom would often ask God to take her home so we could go to Quimistan for she had visited there several times and had a love for the people too. But we would tell her, in God’s perfect timing you will go home and we will go to Honduras.
We have been preparing during her illness: We sold our house and moved into a rental. The establishment of Tranquilidad Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, became official in May 2011. We began networking with other non-profits, raising some funding, and created our Board of Directors.
In September of this year, God called my mother home and now our dream is becoming a reality!
What?! We are free to move now! Oh, my gosh! What all do we need to do? A lot! But we continue to pray as we have from the beginning: “Lord, do not let us veer to the left or the right, nor rush ahead, but follow directly behind You.”
Blessed to be a blessing, Roxanne