Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The Prodigal


Many of you have faithfully followed the story of 16-yr-old Erick over the years and particularly through the struggles of the past twelve months… watching him change from an intuitive and insightful young boy, to an out-of-control addict destroying not only himself but those around him. The weeping of our hearts for Erick continued even as we rejoiced with many of the other Micah guys in their movement forward… and releasing Erick from Micah in January was one of the hardest things we have done. At the rate he was falling back then, it felt like we were allowing him to go to his death.

But… we serve a God of mercy and many chances, and a God who destroyed death and breaks chains through the blood of His Son… and a God who has brought Erick back! After nearly destroying himself and those around him in the first part of this year, he spent the past three months working and living with his sister in the remote mountains nearly seven hours from Tegucigalpa. When he came back to Tegucigalpa a few weeks ago, he told us he was ready to pursue long-term rehab. We could see that something was different; for the first time in a long time, he was clear-eyed and spoke with determination. As of today, he has now successfully completed the first three weeks in a six-month Christian rehabilitation center outside of the city! As we wrote about on May 14th, three of our other young men are currently there as well (Darwin Matute, Jerson, and Juan Carlos), getting the professional help that they have long needed, and they are all encouraging each other onward in this battle against addiction and bondage. I take a few of the guys out to the rehab facility every Sunday afternoon; we want to make sure that they stay connected to the Micah family and are cared for emotionally and spiritually through this journey.

If you go back to the blog entries from February, you will remember the amazing number of people around the world who joined us praying and fasting for Erick. In some ways we realize that while we asked for your fervent prayers for months on Erick’s behalf, we ourselves sometimes doubted that God would actually bring the change we so longed for… and we ask for forgiveness for that! Once again, He is doing above and beyond what we can imagine, in His own time… but the fight for Erick’s future is still just beginning, and the road will be long, so we beg once again for your continued prayers for this precious son of God.

Muchas gracias,

Rebecca Haver
Micah Project Director of Operations

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Update on "Running the Extra Mile"

I wanted to let you know that an article was published in the Portland area "Tigard Times" about Darin Swanson's plan to run a fifty mile ultramarathon and to benefit the Micah Project in the process. The article is called "'It comes down to why not' Bull Mountain runner says about racing for a cause". The article's subtitle says "Swanson is running to benefit a nonprofit Christian organization and scholarship fund that helps boys in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, get off the streets and get into school." You can read the full article here. We will be praying for Darin's stamina on July 26 as he undertakes the Mt. Hood Pacific Crest Trail Ultramarathon.

Also, I've just put our new summer photo album on our www.micahcentral.org website. You can access it here. There are lots of great pictures!

Su hermano en Cristo,

Michael

Monday, July 7, 2008

Running the Extra Mile

I wanted to share an important link with you all: http://runnerwhocodes.blogspot.com/2008/07/micah-project.html. It is a blog by Darin Swanson, who is a friend of future Micah missionary Brian Wiggs in Tigard, Oregon. Darin will be running a 50 mile race on July 26 called the Mt. Hood Pacific Crest Trail Ultramarathon. As he explains in his blog, Darin will be taking pledges based on his time or his placement, and the funds raised will be donated to the Micah Project. What a creative (and painful!) way to raise funds for this ministry. We wish him very happy trails!

We thank Darin for using his talents to support this ministry!