September 2013

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118.24 We feel it is time to rejoice and give thanks because of God’s faithfulness and to share with you who pray and support our ministry, what has been going on in our lives here in Honduras. In August, we returned to Tegucigalpa in time for our teacher’s orientation week before school began. We returned to find two teachers who would not be returning, but the Lord very quickly took care of the situation. There probably were the normal glitches that occur in any school at the beginning of the year, but before we could be weighed down the Lord gave us Psalm 118 to begin to use as our prayer over St. Mary’s School and Church on August 8, 2013. Please take the time to read it! You will catch a glimpse of what we have felt like and possibly have been dealing with without giving any details of all the things that we faced to begin this new school year. We still have more challenges, but we certainly have seen the Lord’s right hand doing mighty things and for that we are grateful. No! We still do not have a new roof, but the patchwork is holding up pretty well and we have had rain almost every day since we have returned. The new year has brought us the same number of students that we had at the end of the school year. This is good, but please pray that we will receive more students. We need at least 200 in order to operate better. On the high school level, we introduced the block system for classes. The classes are longer, but the students do not take the same class every day. Therefore, instead of taking 12 to 13 classes a day, they take 6 to 7. The students and teachers really love it! Also, we extended our school day by 30 minutes so we could offer some extracurricular activities. That has proven to be quite an exciting thing with sports, art lessons, chorus, yearbook staff, cooking club, book club, acolytes (church helpers club), Honduran folk dance, puzzle club, jam musica (club where they gather with guitars and other musical instruments and just jam)! The second quarter of school we have added a sewing club, a taste of Japan to learn about the Japanese culture, and gymnastics. It is hard to believe that our last 30 minutes of each day is ending with such marvelous activities, because last year the school had none of this!! God is so good!! We are about to come to the end of our first quarter or partial as they say here. There is a lot that still needs to be accomplished, but a lot has been accomplished already. “O, Lord, you have saved us; O, Lord, you have granted us success.” Psalm 118:25 We ask for your prayer support by praying Psalm 118 when you think of us and St. Mary’s School and Church. On October 11, we return to the states for a few days to take Abney to “double New York,” as she called it on her first trip there when she was 7 years old. Abney has been accepted to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA). We are planning to take her and help her get settled in before returning to Sumter. We are proud of her and excited that the Lord has opened the door for her to study what she loves! We will return to Honduras around the 22nd of October to begin the 2nd partial of the school year. Sundays here are special for us as Joe conducts the English service at St. Mary’s and then he helps at the next service with the Spanish congregation. Sunday afternoons have turned into a real special gift to us. Just up the road from us is a huge mega non-denominational Church and at 4:00PM on Sundays they have an English service. The people who attend this service are missionaries from several countries. A mixed group of many denominations coming together to worship, fellowship and be encouraged to go back out to serve in all the many different areas and ministries here in Tegucigalpa and the surrounding areas. The worship team there is amazing and has blessed us so much! Joe was asked this past Sunday afternoon to share about the Holy Spirit and give his testimony of how the Holy Spirit has worked in his life. We realized that it was 34 years ago, almost to the day, that we were in Darien, Connecticut under the teaching of the Reverend Terry Fullum and hearing about the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit for ministry!! Well, this letter is short, but long in gratefulness and thanksgiving for you and your gifts of prayer and money to enable us to serve the Lord here in Honduras. We “give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 118.29 Be Blessed to be a Blessing, Tina and Fr. Joe Prayer Requests: Yes, we still need money for several things concerning the school: Scholarships, Roof, Ceilings, Paint, Computers, Projectors; but more than anything else we ask that you will pray for our students, teachers, and staff. And if the Lord puts it on your heart to send some money down to help the school out, email us and we’ll give you the information you need to make a “tax deductible” contribution.

Life is a Journey with the Lord

“The Great Commission” is the last thing that Jesus told the disciples. Interesting enough, Jesus entrusted this commission to only eleven people. Eleven people that had walked with him for no more than three years. A few years later, the apostle Paul was added to the number. And Paul writing to the church in Thessalonica wrote the following, “we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.” (1 Thessalonians 2.4) I remember a few years back, that the word translated to nations means people groups. So with this in mind, you can start looking around and identify various people groups in your sphere of influence. The infants, the youth, young adults, adults, grocery store, bank, school, etc. Most of us don’t think in these terms. I know I don’t unless I’m very much aware of the different people around me. Yet, this is a challenge for each of us to be ready to share the gospel with others. So what each of us needs to do is to be aware of the world in which we move and have our being. Well, it’s been a very busy two months since our last newsletter in May and we have been blessed to be going and making disciples. We had a wonderful VBS and Youth Retreat at St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Our theme revolved around being a “Child of God”…..How do you become a Child of God? Who you are as His Child. Who your heavenly Father is and where you are going. Many seeds were planted! Of course this work had some pretty awesome helpers. Our team from the states was small, only 4, but we combined them with 11 high school students from St. Mary’s and the worship leader from St. Mary’s Cathedral to do the VBS and Youth Retreat. An amazing team and we thank the Lord for their gift of time to help make disciples. There are many steps to making disciples and if we all do the part we are called to do, God will bring about the growth. On June 25, we returned to Sumter, SC to rest and to prepare to leave for our Australian mission on July 1. While home, we saw our new grandson, Colton Rhodes Jones. Marie and Paul’s son who was born on the 3rd of May. Then we also celebrated our “baby’s” 21st birthday. Yes!!! Abney is now 21! In our April newsletter we had requested help in getting the worship leader from St. Mary’s Cathedral to be a part of our team going to Australia. God worked a couple of miracles here because the VISA process to get Jose Juarez to Australia was a nightmare!! He had waited weeks upon weeks for an answer and not until we returned to the states on June 25th did he hear from the Australian Embassy, which was in Mexico City for citizens of Honduras, that he had been approved to enter Australia (Miracle #1). Jose contacted us and then we were able to able to book a flight for him from Tegucigalpa to Sydney, leaving the next day so that Jose could attend a Hillsong Conference on Worship from July 1-5 (Miracle #2). The registration for the conference was CLOSED!!! However, our daughter, Stacey, who is on staff at the Youth With A Mission – Island Breeze Sydney Base was able to get Jose a ticket for the conference. She told those in charge of the conference about Jose’s story of how he had always wanted to attend a Hillsong Conference in Sydney and that he had been in the process of getting a VISA for weeks on end and that he had finally received his VISA to come to Australia that day. Now, Miracle #3! After hearing Jose’s story, the people at Hillsong felt that God was working to get him there so they sold a ticket to Stacey for Jose to attend the Conference! Boy, if you could have seen how blessed Jose felt!! He was in a whirlwind of joy!! We do serve a mighty God and when doors close, only He can open them!! While Jose was attending the Hillsong Conference, we arrived on July 3 in Sydney with Dalana Barnett, our 4th team member. Dalana is our WIN-GS intercessor administrator and a prayer warrior. What a blessing to our Team!! Our time in Sydney was short but filled with fellowship with the YWAM staff, students, and guests. Some of the students we had taught before in years past and Joe was able to preach at the Samoan Church where Stacey, Simon and the children attend. After church we had a feast!! It is amazing how God’s people anywhere love to celebrate and eat! But it was a special time for us to be with Stacey, Simon, Taimane & Gideon and to share in their life. Skype is nice, but does not replace the physical presence of someone. We also found out that Stacey is expecting another child in December. This will bless us with 9 grandchildren—5 boys and 4 girls. On the 12th of July, the team left for Brisbane. Simon, Stacey and their children drove up to Brisbane and we flew. Simon has family in the Brisbane area and they needed to take a much needed break from their duties at the YWAM Island Breeze-Sydney Base. This also allowed us to have some more time with them during our stay in North Lakes where our son in law is in charge of a church plant with the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane. On July 13th in Brisbane, The Queensland Music Festival opened. It began by setting two World Records. Our grandson, Isaiah plays the trumpet and was able to participate in setting the World Record for the largest gathering of trumpet players directed and conducted by James Morrison. Mr. Morrison is a world renowned Australian jazz trumpeter. He is also a dynamic Christian. The trumpet players gathered in front of the Brisbane Court House and practiced, “Purcell’s Trumpet Voluntaire” and “When the Saints Go Marching In” before parading through the streets of down town Brisbane and it’s open air mall. Then later in the day at the Sun Corp Stadium, The World’s Biggest orchestra (also directed and conducted by Mr. Morrison) played. Isaiah, along with all the earlier group of trumpeters and even more, came together to make an orchestra of 7,223 people! This broke the previous record of 6,400. They had to perform over 5 minutes without stopping. Please view on You Tube….”World’s Biggest Orchestra.” An amazing event to attend! Thank you Lord! That evening, Jose was contacted by his family to let him know that his grandmother was very ill and the next morning she had died. This was a difficult time for Jose since he could not return home in time for the funeral. But the Lord provided another miracle for Jose and his sister who is in Spain doing her residency in Pediatrics and could not return home either. Both were able to attend their grandmother’s funeral through Skype!! Then a few days later, Dalana’s father in law died. She was able to return home in time for the funeral. The Lord opened a seat for her on the plane that morning. We were amazed that in 3 hours’ time from when she received her message; she was at the Brisbane airport heading home. This time in our trip was difficult, but the Lord sustained all of us and took care of all the needs. Our Brisbane invitation had come from our son in law, Daniel Berris, who is an Anglican priest in North Lakes just north of Brisbane. We had been invited to talk and share about short term missions from our experiences over the last 35 years in missions. Joe & Jose met with several informal men’s groups and Tina met twice with the women’s Bible study group; all from North Lakes Anglican Church. We were also blessed to address several home church groups and Joe was able to preach one Sunday at North Lakes Anglican Church. Towards the end of our time there, we had a one day seminar at St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Bulimba for the newly ordained clergy in the Diocese of Brisbane. It was a time of teaching not only about the value of short term missions, but the awareness of the mission field around us every day. We were able to encourage and pray for those gathered and share lots of good resource information. This mission was about discipling in our everyday lives, interacting with people in everyday situations. The mission field is right where you are and may we always have eyes, ears, and a heart for others because “we have been entrusted with the good news of the Gospel.” Now this mission was different because our times of teaching were spread out and blended in with many family activities. One day at lunch some friends of Daniel and Kerry’s came to visit and as we talked, we realized there were 11 different nations present! We were also blessed to share in the 1st birthday party of our grandson Gideon Siuta Surielu Fua. Tina made the birthday cake and we gathered with many of Simon and Stacey’s relatives and friends at the YWAM Island Breeze-Brisbane Base. It was a Samoan feast with a pig roasted in the ground! Food in abundance again! We did have our fun tourist moments….Jose and Dalana saw kangaroos in the school yard of our grandson, Ethan. This is in the city and so for us it is unusual to have kangaroos hopping along the streets. Well, this is a brief synopsis of our God filled mission. We especially want to thank Daniel, Kerry and the congregation of North Lakes Anglican for their hospitality; for both YWAM-Island Breeze bases in Sydney and Brisbane for their hospitality; and for the hospitality and generosity of the Samoan congregation in Sydney. We could not do what we do without your support so again our hearts are filled with gratitude for you and thank you again for enabling us to go and make disciples. Little by little, step by step, day by day, and moment by moment…. “making disciples of all nations (people groups), teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 Be Blessed to be a Blessing….You are on a Mission…and “YOU will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1.8 Fr. Joe & Tina Sowing Seeds for the extension of the Kingdom of God List of needs: 1. New roof for St. Mary’s school 2. Lower and upper school needs painting 3. Covering for an eating area 4. Picnic tables for the eating area 5. Scholarship Fund for St. Mary’s staff, teachers, clergy, and families with special needs 6. VBS & Youth Retreat fund 7. More supporters for our ministry Prayer Needs: 1. New school year of 2013-14 for St. Mary’s School family. We need 200 students to keep the school up and running. 2. For the school to adjust to all that is “new:” New families, new teachers, new schedules, & new activities 3. For the needed repairs to the campus of St. Mary’s to be accomplished. 4. For the school to get out of debt! 5. For every member of our St. Mary’s family to grow daily in their walk with the Lord. 6. For God to raise up individuals and teams to come and walk along side us at St. Mary’s Personal prayer: 1. Good health for Joe & Tina 2. Abney…preparation and arrival in New York City on October 16 to attend AMDA..American Musical and Dramatic Academy. 3. Our trip home to help Abney move to New York 4. For our daughters and their families here in SC and Australia 5. For a healthy and safe delivery of Stacey and Simon’s little boy in December…this is #3 for them

November 2012 update

To the Saints that are holding us before the throne of our God. May His grace and love shower over you in ways that you never expect! “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 118:1 This Thursday is Thanksgiving and a day when friends and family gather together to celebrate the blessings of life! This will be only the 3rd Thanksgiving in our 44 years of knowing each other that we will not be gathering with the Rhodes’ family in Estill, SC. We have been so blessed to have been able to keep that tradition for so many years. We will miss our family as they gather there, but the Lord is good. Joe and I will be gathering with some new friends in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and sharing a meal. The Lord provides many new blessings each day to us here. We pray that your Thanksgiving is a most blessed one that is filled with God’s blessings, love, fellowship and lots of good food! It’s hard to realize that this time last month Abney was here with us. Now she is in Brisbane, Australia nannying for her sister, Stacey, with her two little ones; while Stacey and Simon attend the School of Redeeming Cultures. After Abney left, Jack Melvin who is also a SAMS (Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders) missionary stayed with us for two weeks until he was able to find an apartment. It turns out that he’s next door to us, but four floors up. We continue to find ourselves facing new ways of life and change! Each day we see the Lord’s hand upon us as we go about our work here at St. Mary’s School and Church. We stay busy and time seems to fly by so quickly. We are so grateful for our apartment across from St. Mary’s and feel so at home now. We have enjoyed our Thursday night Bible Studies at St. Mary’s Church. There is always a little eating time afterwards. I have been able to make a caramel and chocolate cake for two birthdays we celebrated! The cakes turned out pretty good even with the high altitude here in Tegucigalpa. Our daily life at St. Mary’s School is so exciting, busy, challenging, and prayer filled!! Joe helps with the chapel service for the high school when Fr. Gerardo Alonzo, the Dean of St. Mary’s Co-Cathedral is absent. He also teaches Christian Education to the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. When I am not helping with my English Coordinator duties, I teach Christian Education to the Kinder, Preparatory, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. Last week I went with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders for a day Retreat at the El Hogar Institute which is located in the Amarateca valley. We had a blast!! Many of the children could not believe how fast this grey headed lady could run when we played “Duck, Duck, Goose.” Of course when I tripped, fell, and rolled in the grass all of them raced and stood over me silent until I rolled over laughing!! Praise God for thick uncut grass!! The very first Saturday in November, the Daughters of the King Chapters here in Honduras had their first Diocesan Assembly. I was able to attend. This time brought back many memories from the early years of the DOK in the Diocese of SC when we held our first Diocesan Assembly. Two DOKs from the United States were present. Missy Denny, the new National 1st Vice President from San Antonio, TX and a dear friend, Lana Valenta, from Dallas,TX. I had quite a surprise to see my friend there. She knew I was coming to the Assembly, but I had no idea she would be there. A sweet, special time was had by all!! A couple of weeks ago, St. Mary’s Church held a supper for married couples. There was candle light, special music for entertainment and good food. Joe and I were the speakers for this event, sharing about our life as a married couple. Thank you Lord for our 41 years of marriage: our children, their husbands, and our grandchildren! Speaking of grandchildren…our daughter Marie and her husband Paul are expecting #4 in May!! God is so good!!! Our Sundays here are special. Joe leads the English service for St. Mary’s. We are small in number but full of life!! Then we remain for the Spanish service where Joe helps Fr. Gerardo with distributing communion. It is a wonderful Spirit filled worship service! Recently we attended Fr. Gerardo’s 5th anniversary celebration to the priesthood. Fr. Gerardo and his family have been friends of ours for almost 18 years. God is so good!!! This past Friday, Joe went to the airport to meet a team from All Saint’s Episcopal Church in Lakeland, FL to deliver two translators for them from St. Mary’s School and to pick up 50 Bilingual Bibles that were purchased through a gift from the Church Periodical Club’s “Miles of Pennies Fund” of the Episcopal Church Women from the Diocese of South Carolina. It’s always good to know when teams are coming down, because they can always bring something to help the missionaries in the field. Last Saturday, we attended the 6th grade graduation of the children from the El Hogar Orphanage. Truly a day of celebration for these young girls and boys. They definitely know how good God is and how His love endures forever! In closing we have a few prayer requests and invitations for you! First, we will be returning to the states on the 11th of December to Sumter, SC for Christmas break and will be returning to Honduras on January 8, 2013. Our prayer request is for safe travel, good connections, good weather, easy entrance through immigration and customs going both ways! Also, wise use of our time while we are home. We have many people to see and things to accomplish in our short time there. Second, pray about attending the New Wineskins Conference -- April 4-7, 2013 at Ridgecrest Conference Center, Ridgecrest, NC. This is a wonderful gathering of brothers and sisters from all over the world sharing about the Kingdom work they are doing. It is a time for worshipping together, attending workshops, networking, fellowshipping, and praying together as a Church. There are so many wonderful speakers and teachers! Check out their web site at www.newwineskins.org. Third, it is that time of year to issue our Team invitation to come and help at St. Mary’s Episcopal School with their VBS/Youth Retreat and service project. The dates are from June 4-15, 2013. Please let us know by December 21, 2012 if you would like to be a part of this Team, then we’ll contact you with further details. And Fourth, our VISA process. Upon our return to Honduras in January we will be able to finalize our VISA process. We would love to have it all completed by April before we attend the New Wineskins Conference. Pray for quick approval!! Thank you again for your love, support and prayers….and continuing on in Psalm 118… “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! The Lord’s right hand is lifted high. The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!” vs. 15-16 And, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Vs 24 Be Blessed to be a Blessing, Tina and Joe The Reverend Canon Joe & Tina Rhodes 2280 Clematis Trail Sumter, SC 29150 USA 803-469-0720 HN 011-504-977-1531

Prayers Requested

Please join us in praying for our daughter, Stacey, and the team that she is bringing to the USA next month to tour in various cities across the nation. The group is made up of 13 young men and women: 7 with the Performing Arts Ministry and 6 with the School of Worshipping Warriors; all from the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Island Breeze (IBS)ministry in Sydney, Australia.

The purpose of this tour is to bless this country and the people who live in it. The group will be doing a production called JIRIYAY. The word Jiriyay comes from the Indigenous Australian tribe, the Dharuk. The Island Breeze-Sydney base is located on the land/territory of the Dharuk Nation. Jiriyay in Dharuk is a war/battle cry.

The production, JIRIYAY, is a modern Indigenous Australian story telling of the Creation of the world, a look at humanity, the story of the cross and resurrection. Throughout Jiriyay, you will experience the sounds and sights of God’s people from around the world. It is a celebration of life, cultures, and a call for the Lord’s army to rise up!

However, Stacey wants you to know that the team can do a lot of other things than just the production which lasts about an hour. They can be available to help with service projects, various teachings and testimonies. They have a desire to meet with the clergy and pastors of the various cities that they go to in order to pray for them and bless them.

Since most of the team members come from developing nations, their need for finances to make the trip is a big need for them. The list of the team members are below along with their native people group/country.

Performing Arts Ministry (PAM):
Simon………….Samoa
Stacey & Taimane……USA/Australian(USA-Samoan)
Will……………..Samoa
Eli……………….Indigenous Australian
Alipate…………Figi
Falita…………..Figi
Sierra…………..USA

School of Worshipping Warriors (SOWW):
Abney………….USA
Lowana……….Indigenous Australian
Angelina……..Taiwain
Jimmy………..Australia
Judah…………Tonga
Jamie…………Nivan/Vanuatu





Tour Dates/Cities: (Subject to change)

October 10-23 Los Angeles, CA\
Oct/Nov 24-2 Montana
November 2-8 Dallas, TX
November 9-10 Garden Valley, TX
November 11-21 Louisiana
Nov-Dec 22-7 South Carolina
December 8-12 Washington, DC
December 13-22 New York, NY

Prayers Needed For:

 Finances from all their supporters to come in
 Special VISAS needed for:
o Falita & Alipate who are Fijians
o Simon & Taimane because they will be out of Australia for longer than 90 days
 Taimane’s passport to be processed
 Stacey’s renewed passport to be returned soon
 Good prices on flights and rentals of vans
 Good flight connections
 Safe travel in the air and along the roads they travel
 Good weather
 No customs or immigration problems
 Good health
 Good accommodations along the way
 Divine appointments with people along the journey
 God’s blessing upon this team and those they minister to along the way
 Anointing on Jiriyay for God’s people to rise up and be His people
 Simon’s ankle to heal

We realize that this is a lot to ask prayer for, so you might want to pick a specific area and focus of that one area, such as Good Health. Let the Lord direct your prayers.

Thank you for joining us in prayer for this Team and their call to minister in the USA.

Be Blessed to be a Blessing,
Fr. Joe & Tina