One Year Ago. . . .
. . . . We stashed the last of our belongings in our friend Charity’s attic and headed for Honduras. The subsequent year has been one of many challenges and much growth, so we thought we’d take a few minutes and share an overview of some of the ways we’ve been changed in just a short year.
As the weather has heated up again after the rainy season, we’ve found that it just doesn’t seem so hot. That’s may seem like a little thing, but when it’s 95 degrees with 90% humidity, a little tolerance makes life a lot more pleasant!!
We don’t take for granted time spent with friends and family. Every moment we get to spend with them is so great! And as much as we miss being in the States, we know that God’s direction is always the best.
We see poverty from a whole new perspective. A very well respected and effective missionary in Honduras named John Taylor defines poverty as the inability to get health care and education. With those two things provided for, people may not be affluent, but they have hope and opportunity. A little perspective for us all!
Most importantly, we have witnessed first hand God’s amazing presence and provision in our lives and other’s. Everything from opening our monthly support statement to hearing about how God is working in the local churches has been faith building and given us opportunity to know our great God a little better.
Construction
In addition to the daily maintenance stuff on cars, the hospital, and the water system, Josh has been busy the past few weeks finishing up our apartment, as well as the other two apartments in our building. This has included installing tile countertops and lighting, painting and doing trim. As we speak, Josh and his mom, Linda, are painting Guildy’s room, the last room in our house that needed painting.
Teaching
My math and science classes are pretty well done for the year, so I am enjoying a little break and doing some planning for my classes in the fall. May 5th was Living History Day, which marks the culmination of the home school history co-op’s year of study. For the past 5 years, the group has been progressing through history, starting with the Egyptians, moving onto the Greeks and Romans and the Middle Ages, and finally arriving this year at early American History. Each of the 15 students made a booth highlighting some aspect of the time period, and the evening concluded with a play chronicling the events leading up to the American Revolution. It was a pretty impressive presentation of the kids’ skills and accomplishments.
Browning Briefs
As we mentioned, Josh’s mom, Linda, is here visiting, and her company has been a huge blessing. Guildy loves her, so they have been reading, drawing, and playing pretty much non-stop. We took her out to Utila last weekend for a couple days of great snorkeling and swimming. We are all going to go through withdrawals when Grandma Linda leaves!
In other news, we are planning to be in the States for about 3 weeks during July, and we are super excited to see everyone and enjoy a little of the comparatively cool Montana weather. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!
Prayer Requests
A few specific things to be praying for:
1. The hospital needs another IT/computer person, as well as an anesthetist.
2. One of the full-time missionaries will be doing a fund raising trip specifically for the hospital this summer. Please pray for God’s blessing on that.
3. Please pray for continued effectiveness for the hospital at reaching people with the Gospel.
4. We get pretty homesick sometimes. Please pray that we would have continued joy in what God has us doing here.
In Closing
Thank you all so much for supporting us! We couldn’t be here without you! Let us know how you’re doing and how we can be praying for you!
Blessings,
Josh, Linzy, and Guildy
Support for the Brownings
may be sent to:
CornerStone International
PO Box 192
Wilmore KY 40390
And helping grate cheese.
Fortunately for us, she is in love with her Dora the Explorer DVD, which has two episodes of this wonderfully crafted children's show. This provides an educational diversion for our little helper when we actually need to get something done in a hurry:o)
