Dear Friends and Family,
Happy fall! It’s crazy how fast time is flying– I hope everyone had a wonderful summer! It still feels like summer here in Honduras (always!), and I’m jealous of those of you who get to enjoy cooler, cozy weather!
The last three months have been a whirlwind for us, full of work, people, and travel. Mario finished the fence project late August and since then has been working overall on cleanup around the property, which has been much needed. The next project is a small two-room “house” here on our property that needs to be redone, the final product to be a nice little guest house. Anyone wanna come visit?? ;)
Vienne and I got to take a 4-week trip up to Wyoming, which was absolutely delightful. She had the best time playing with cousins, and it’s always a precious time for me to be with my family and friends there in Cody. Traveling solo with an active, curious, outgoing baby certainly wasn’t easy, but overall she really was such a great little traveler and it was totally worth it. Along with sweet time with my people, I had the opportunity to work cleaning vacation rentals most days. God is so good in His constant faithfulness to us, and to always open doors for me to work while I’m home.
Here in Honduras, we still need to figure out some electrical details and get a kennel put in so we can get going with selling coffee at least just here out on our porch a couple nights a week. A few nights ago we were making coffee like crazy for a ton of guests we had and it just made me so excited to think about getting Taza de Gozo up and running again, even if on a small scale. Hopefully I’ll have more to write about it for my winter update!
The biggest news since last I wrote is the official beginning of a home church here at our house. Our heart in buying this house was for hosting and ministry, and God has made that happen in a way I wasn’t expecting, but I’m so glad He works in ways we may not imagine. It felt overwhelming and daunting when things started moving in that direction, but a couple months in and it has been such a blessing to us. Mario and I are simply the hosts and serve in whatever way necessary, but it’s Roger, a good friend of ours from the city, that has been doing the teaching. He is the pastor of a church in Tegucigalpa that meets on Sunday mornings and had the desire to start something here in La Venta with us on Saturday evenings. What a gift! He and his wife and two sons come every Saturday and leave Sunday morning to be in time for the other church service he teaches in the city. They don’t have a car, so Mario and I go pick them up every Saturday and take them back in to their other church every Sunday. If any of you feel a desire to help them in their ministry and help provide for a car, please reach out. Mario and I are so thankful for the car we have and are happy to provide transportation for Roger and his family, but we also know what a difference it makes to have one’s own car... The church they pastor in the city is named LOGOS and the home church we have here now at our house is basically a branch of it. Please be praying for us in this beginning season, most of all that we would keep Jesus always at the center and that through this fellowship, many people would experience the transformation and freedom that God alone can bring. It is both a huge responsibility and a huge privilege to be a part of this! I am excited to see what God will do.
The last little update since last I wrote is that Mario and I, along with some of our good friends, graduated in July from Level 1 of INSTE, the Bible college course we began in the beginning of 2021. It’s taken longer than expected to get going with Level 2, but we hope to begin this next week and we are so excited! I would encourage anyone who wants to go more in depth with the Lord to look into it– it’s available in many countries, including the US!
Prayer Requests:
As already mentioned, LOGOS La Venta, and all of us in leadership, need prayer! In too many ways to list them all… Direction, love, humility, fruitfulness, faithfulness, obedience, etc.
We are in the planning stages for having a women’s soccer team here in Honduras for a week in December. It will be the first team here since covid so please be praying for everything to go smoothly with travel– it’s a bit more complicated than it used to be! We are so excited to have another group come down here though!
Mario’s visa– I was hoping to have a positive answer by the end of September, but instead we got another hiccup and so have to repeat some things we’ve already done. I honestly feel so frustrated and discouraged as I’m so ready to get to take him to my Wyoming and have him meet all my people, but it really seems like it’s just one problem after another… However, I know that God’s timing is perfect, He is Sovereign, and He knows what He’s doing and why He allows what He does, so I take hope. But I also do ask for prayers that God would open the necessary doors and show us favor in this process. It’s going to be so fun to finally get to show Mario “my world”!
God is so good, friends. He is so kind. I pray that He draws each of you in deeper and reveals Himself more and more to you. How amazing and beautiful and unfathomable it is that He loves us! Praise Him!
Katie and Mario Velasquez
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