September 19, 2008 (Adobe PDF File can be found Here.)
Dear Prayer Partners:
PRAISES TO GOD! We praise the Lord to be writing you from Honduras! We arrived here August the 6th. Thank you for your prayers concerning out trip. We had some complications along the way and still have not received the container with our things and vehicle in them. It has been a blessing and exciting to see our family, church family, and other friends again. We are in the rainy season and have had lots of rain from the hurricanes going up the Caribbean Coast on their way to Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. We have had to work on some legal papers for my (Leslie’s) residence visa and for the mission’s papers. We praise the Lord for His blessings and watch care during our furlough. We traveled approximately 70,000 miles and were in 92 different churches, 3 fellowship meetings, a Christian School, and a Bible college in the States of Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina. We were able to visit friends in Virginia and visit Washington D.C. and New York City. We thank the Lord for the hospitality of each pastor and church, of each home where we stayed, and each family who took us out to eat.
PATIENCE NEEDED! The taxes and shipping expenses are more than we were told they would be, so please pray with us about that need. We praise the Lord for the churches who have sent special offerings to help with these extra costs. We are still short on funds to cover it. This has been the most difficult and complicated shipping experience we have ever had. To start with, the shipping company mistakenly sent the container without the correct papers for the car from U.S. Customs, so it had to be sent back to the United States! We have had one setback after another. Yesterday we received word about some water damage inside the container, but do not yet know of the extent of the damage. Please continue to pray about this process.
BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN! It has been a blessing to start preaching in Spanish again. I have been privileged to preach in several churches. The people at Calvary in Barrio Abajo were very happy to see us and had a special welcome dinner for us after our first service back. We also had a special church picnic at our house to celebrate the national Children’s Day with our Sunday School children. I was invited to preach in a church in the capital city that was started by a Baptist missionary in 1970! I was also able to preach in the first church that my Dad started in 1977. What a blessing to see strong indigenous churches that are fulfilling the purpose of the church
PRAYER REQUESTS: This week two ladies from the Tri-City Baptist Church of Gladstone, Oregon are coming to help us in the work here. One will be here for 9 days and the other for three months. She will be having special classes with the children, ladies, and teaching English classes. Please be in prayer for them, especially Mrs. Rosalee Salsbery who is staying the longest. September 27th, we will have a special Teacher’s Seminar with several other churches in the area. My Mom will be teaching it at the Bible Institute. Please be in special prayer for this. We hope to recruit new teachers and encourage our present ones. We have been visiting a family in a new area where we are praying about starting services. Please pray with us about starting this new church work. The area is called San Luis. It is next to another large area called San Francisco.
Thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are honored to be your missionaries in Honduras. May God bless each of you in a very special way. Please note our new email address: lesliepriday@gmail.com. We are also adding updates and pictures to our website: www.lesliepriday.com. We also have a VONAGE© phone if you would like to call us. The number is 817-886-0423.
Yours with Hope For Honduras,
Leslie, Alba, Halbert & Edgar Priday