Weekly Prayer Requests

Buenos Días,

Once again, I (David Hawthorne) am privileged to bring you, our friends and family, Micah's weekly prayer requests. This has been quite the week! While I was raising my support back home during the summer, I missed the action and swirl of Micah. Now that I'm here, I'm wondering why I was so eager to give up the peace and quiet of home! Micah is once again proving to be an exciting and exhausting ride. As I'm back in the midst of the turmoil, drama, laughter and raw emotions that is life here at Micah, all I can do is bow my head and pray for wisdom, compassion and endurance in order to meet the torrent of needs that arise from Micah life. Please join me in these prayers.

This week, please pray for:

*Health
-Jenna Miller, one of our missionaries, has been sick for over an entire week. On Sunday, we learned that she likely has Dengue Fever. Please pray for her convalescence and that she is soon able to get back on her feet.
- Hauner Amaya. Oscar's younger brother has had a lingering sore throat for almost a week. Please pray that the medicine we bought will help him and that he soon feels able to resume his normal routine.
- Cristofer. Last week he had a 103 degree fever and a very sore throat. Thankfully, the medicine he's taking seems to be working and he's once again out and about. Still, please pray that he continues to recover quickly.

*Upcoming Events
- This weekend, several of us are attended a fundraiser being help in our honor at a local school. The school is looking to promote awareness of homelessness and the plight of street kids as well as raise support for Micah. Please pray for our guys as this is an awesome opportunity for them to share their stories. Also, please pray that some people here in Tegucigalpa are able to learn more about the suffering that happens right here in their own city.
- In almost two weeks, we are taking the guys on a spiritual retreat with the theme of repentance. Please pray that everyone who goes is able to learn and grow. Also, recently, many of our young men have begun to confront the pain left by the horrors of their homes and street life. Please pray that the Lord is able to use this time to bring further healing into their lives.

*Upcoming visits.
- Both Melody Dunne and Bob and Jo Bewley are scheduled to visit within the next few weeks. Please pray that their visits go smoothly and well.

*Wisdom
- Both Micah's Board of Directors and our staff are looking to create a five-year strategic plan for Micah. Please pray for us as we consider our vision for Micah's future.

*Finances
-Please pray for both our own finances as well as all for those suffering in this slow economy - both here in Honduras and in the U.S.
-Please pray that Marvin Soto and Tino Hernandez are able to find work in the U.S. and Honduras, respectively. Both of these young men, alumni of our group home, graduated this May from Missouri Baptist University and have been looking work ever since then.

*Honduras
-Despite a joyous celebration Wednesday night as Honduras earned a placed in the 2010 World Cup, it remains a divided country. Please pray that a peaceful situation will be found, and that the international community will recognize the results of the upcoming national elections.

*Our Neighbors
-John Bell has been working with several young men from our neighbor who have been involved with local gangs. Please pray for two of these young men: for Eduardo as he continues drug rehab and for Hector Alejandro as he examines his future options after successfully completing drug rehab.

*And now, the good stuff: PRAISES AND THANKSGIVING!!
-That we were able to have a relaxing and safe weekend as Roger Figueroa and Marlon Castellones took the guys on a road trip while the remainder of Micah's staff relaxed. Also, praise the Lord that Michael's sermon at a local church went well!
-For Wednesday night's soccer victory. With so many months of tension and fear, the chance for unity and celebration was desperately needed!!

-That the past week was more stable for Micah. The anger of last week seems to have been expended and certain emotional issues are starting to be more appropriately handled.

-Continued stability in Honduras. For the past two weeks, the protests and tensions of the past summer seem to be fading. There is still no end in sight, but violence and anger seem to be on the decline.
-For Pedro Martinez's grades. He is currently studying college-level calculus and is doing quite well!

Many thanks to all of you for your financial, emotional and spiritual support. Thank you, everyone, for your faithfulness in walking this thrilling, exhausting, discouraging and rewarding path with us here at Micah.


Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.


Peace,
David Hawthorne

Wilmer's escape and God's providence

Wilmer went back to the streets last Thursday. He has been with the Micah Project since last July, when he decided to leave his “home” underneath one of the bridges of Tegucigalpa to enter our group home. As a thirteen year old, Wilmer has spent the last several years of his life as a street kid. His older brother, who had already been on the streets, was the one who introduced Wilmer to street life and, particularly, to the addictive yellow glue that traps the kids on the streets once they get there. With his stepfather in jail for a violent crime and his mom moving from room to room in squalid motels in the market district, there didn’t seem to be much hope for Wilmer.

Since joining the Micah Project, Wilmer has struggled to get beyond his addiction to yellow glue. When you get addicted at such a young age, that overpowering need becomes such a part of who you are that it is very, very difficult to overcome. Several times during the past few months, this little boy has left the Micah House and gone back to the streets in order to feed his addiction.

Once such incident was this last Thursday. In an unguarded moment, Wilmer slipped away from the house and went back to the outdoor market district of Tegucigalpa. Less than an hour later, he was high on yellow glue. A couple of our older guys went to search for him on Friday, with no luck. On Saturday, my day off, I decided to do a swing through the market district to see if I could find him. As I was walking down a busy downtown street on the way to the market, two street kids went running by me, laughing and chasing one another. A third street kid was running about fifty feet behind them, trying to catch up. It was Wilmer! He was about to run right by me without noticing that I was there, when I stretched out my arm, causing him to run right into me!

When he looked at me, it looked like he had seen a ghost. All three kids stopped and gathered around me. I began to talk to Wilmer about why he left the Micah House. He was pretty high, which made him subdued and fairly unresponsive. When I asked him to come with me back to the Micah House, he kept telling me that he couldn’t leave his two friends. I responded that, if he wanted to help them, continuing his education was the best way! Using drugs with them on the streets would not help. Wilmer continued to be pretty distant, until I received a call on my cell phone from Becca, who was at a pool with the other Micah guys. I put Wilmer on the phone with Becca, who then passed him around to talk to the other guys. Slowly, Wilmer’s face and vocal expressions began to change. Before he even hung up, he shook hands with the other two street kids as a way to say good-bye. When the phone call was finished, we started to walk back to the Micah House.

By the time we got back, Wilmer was the same affectionate kid that we have grown to love. Today, Sunday, he seems calm ready to get back in the swing of things. We thank God for protecting Wilmer while he was on the streets and for allowing us to find him before he got too consumed into street life again. Putting Wilmer directly in my path and having Becca place a well-timed phone call when he was deciding between Micah or the streets were God’s way of intervening on Wilmer’s behalf. He truly is an awesome God! It reminds me of a verse in Psalm 139, which our guys are currently memorizing: “If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”

Please pray that God’s light would continue to shine in Wilmer’s life; that he would not continue to choose the utter darkness of street life and drug addiction.

Michael