Dear friends
and family,
What a year and a half full of
blessing, new experiences, and God’s grace I have had at Envision Wired in El
Salvador! I wish I could tell you all my stories of language learning and
learning to be culturally correct and cooking with Salvadoran women and
worshipping with Christian brothers and sisters, and learning to drive stick
shift in a 15 passenger van, and traveling/exploring the country, and, and,
and! The list goes on! I have spent the last 18 months growing to deeply love
the team that I am privileged to work with (now lovingly known as my Wired
family) and growing to love the people and work that God is doing in that
country, even more so than I did before. I’ve learned better what it means to
be a servant leader being in a position of leadership with the short-term groups
that come down. I’ve experienced fresh every day God’s grace in every trial and
failure and His loving pleasure in upholding us and giving us His strength when
we ask. He has a great plan for each of our lives. I am incredibly thankful
that He chose to send me to El Salvador and I’m thankful for all that He has
taught me there, the joyful lessons and the hard ones alike!
The past months have found me
continuing to work with the short-term groups, being in charge of the Broken
Campaign (contact me or go to www.brokencampaign.com for more information), being a part
of Comunidad de Adoracion (my church family there) and serving the Mullinax
family. Their family returned in late July after a year of home-assignment,
following 3 years serving in El Salvador. Since then, at least 4 days a week, I
have the joy of spending after-school time with them, helping the kids with
homework, playing, and helping with their family’s evening routine.
I am writing to you again to let you
know that I will be returning to El Salvador on February 9th, 2014
to continue working at Envision Wired. I’m signing-up for another year, but
will be on a year-to-year plan, which means at the end of this next year we
will evaluate and decide if I can stay another year. My heart is in El Salvador
and I will stay there as long as God allows! I cannot thank you enough for your
support during the last 18 months. I am overwhelmed by your generosity and
consistency and faithfulness in praying for me. If you would like to give (or
continue to give) you can give online at http://secure.cmalliance.org/give/ and enter: “ENV – 1-47609-49-12
Melissa Lonas”. If you wish to support me monthly check the box “make this a
recurring gift”. You can send checks to the following address with
“1-47609-49-12 ENV Melissa Lonas” designated on the memo line.
The
C&MA/Envision Office
Attn:
Becky Gorton
The
Christian and Missionary Alliance
PO
Box 35000
Colorado
Springs, CO 80935
My expenses this year will be $1,500
monthly which adds up to quite a bit. To make it seem more attainable, if I can
get just 150 people to commit to $10 a month, I’d be covered! Thank you for
considering supporting me financially.
As I look forward to going back,
please be praying for:
- Blessed time spent with my family the rest of this month
before I leave again. Also, peace for my family as they send me out once again!
- Fundraising!! Oh boy!
-A moldable heart as God grows me closer to Him through every
situation and I come to know Him better.
- Envision Wired: the work in El Salvador, the staff, the
short-term groups coming this next year, the Broken ministry.
I hope (and will try my very best)
to stay in much closer touch with all of you during this next term. Keep checking in on this blog for posts, pictures, prayer requests and more! And, if you would like to receive my email updates, please email me at honeybeehope@gmail.com so that I can add your email address to my list of prayer supporters.
May God bless you richly!
With love,
Melissa
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