April 28, 2012

WOW…..time really flies!!! It’s hard to believe that on June 5th we will be taking a team down to St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Tegucigalpa, Honduras to do a Vacation Bible School and Retreat. Not only that, Joe will stay behind when the team returns on the 14th of June to begin the process of transition of the Co-Rector position that both of us will have at the school. Yes, that means that we are moving to Tegucigalpa…….for how long? Only the Lord knows……….Yes, we are keeping our home in Sumter. Anyway, Tina returns with the team because our granddaughters; Sarah Catherine and Avery Jones need to have an adult to travel with them because of the age factor. What a privilege it is to be able to have our grandchildren being part of our mission work. Tina will then head to Sydney, Australia the 1st of July to be with Stacey and her family for a few weeks to help Stacey and Simon with their second child who is due on our anniversary, June 18. Also, Tina will be teaching at the Discipleship Training School (DTS) on Spiritual Warfare while at the Youth With a Mission-Island Breeze base where Stacey and Simon are on Staff. Abney, who is at the School of Acting for the Screen (SAS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) at the University of Nations main campus in Kona, Hawaii; is due to return home on the 28th of June. However, she may be able to stay for an internship. She will not know about that until later on in the school. So please keep her in your prayers as she continues to seek the Lord’s direction for her life and what next steps she is to take. We were able to talk to her, via Skype, the other day and she said to let y’all know that she will try and get a note out soon. This time last week, we were on the road to Baton Rouge, Louisiana from Calhoun, Louisiana. We had just finished our team meeting with those from Louisiana and Texas that will be going on our team in June to St. Mary’s School. However, on our way to Louisiana we met with one of our team members in Athens, Georgia who is a student at the University of Georgia. It was good to be able to put faces with names and to get to know our team members a little bit better. We have learned that Team Unity is a must going into any type of ministry. That is why time has to be invested into Team Training. Jesus tells us in John’s Gospel that the world will know that He has come because of our being one with the Father, Him and each other (John 17.21). So, on to Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Bogalusa, and Slidell to touch base with some of our supporters and friends that we have not seen in a long time. It was so good to be able to share with some of the Holy Spirit Church members on Saturday night and to worship with them on Sunday morning. Holy Spirit Church remains a strong presence of Jesus to the world in which she lives. Well, we’re back now and pulling together that final materials needed for the mission trip from June 5-14. And this is where you can be a tremendous help!! We need around $5,000.00 for the materials needed for the VBS, Retreat, visit to El Hogar (an orphanage), and for a service project at St. Mary’s School. It takes $15.00 per child for us to provide: snacks, VBS/Retreat materials, a T-Shirt, and a pizza lunch at St. Mary’s. This year we will only have a few hours at El Hogar, so we will provide only a pizza lunch for the children which will be around $500.00. The service project at St. Mary’s School is around $2,000.00. So, there are many different ways in which you can help us financially with this mission trip; you can write a BIG CHECK and cover the whole thing ($5,000.00). You can write a Big Check and cover the VBS/Retreat /El Hogar ($3,000.00) or the service project ($2,000.00). Maybe a smaller check to cover the meal at El Hogar ($500.00). Or you could write a check to cover the cost of a child ($15.00) at the VBS/Retreat at St. Mary’s. But before you do anything, PRAY……… Ask the Lord what you are to do!!! And if the Lord tells you to give towards this mission trip, write the check out to Good Shepherd Episcopal Church and send it to us at our address below. On the check, please state that it is for “Honduras 2012 Mission”. On a note, state what your desires are for the gift. More than anything else, we desire your prayers for our team: Lisa, Haley, James, John, Molly, Avery, Sarah Catherine, Karla, Waylan, Sarah, Ron, Tina, & Fr. Joe. Please join us in praying daily Psalm 23 which is the scripture that this mission trip is centered around. Thank you and may the Blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you both this day and forevermore. Fr. Joe & Tina The Rev'd Canon Joe & Tina Rhodes 2280 Clematis Trail Sumter, SC 29150 www.win-gs.org www.smestegus.com www.sams-usa.org 803-469-0720