The Rock Church

English Club has been well attended!

English clubs have been going well. We’ve had over 70 people sign up for them so far, and we’re hoping to have 100 people sign up by the end of the week. Everyone has been very enthusiastic, and we’ve all loved getting to know the university students. God is fostering the foundations for deeper relationships already, and he’s brought several people for each English Club level, so we have our hands full each day with English clubs!

We haven’t had anyone else yet get saved that we know of, so if you could please be praying that we would continue to have Gospel conversations and see more people pass from death to life, it would be much appreciated!

Here are the general plans for the rest of the week. 
We’re having a cooking class tonight and teaching them how to make pancakes! This should be a very fun time. Also, as this is the middle of the week, it’s likely we’re going to get into deeper conversations with the students, and the same for the rest of the week. It will be the standard English club format for Thursday and Friday, although, on Friday, we’ll hold a sort of “graduation” party to celebrate the end of the week.

On Saturday, we’ll be going on an excursion to the town of Chiavenna! We have already begun to invite the students, but please pray that the majority of them will want to come with us and be able to so we can continue to shine the light of Christ in their lives and love on them! 

Church, we’re so grateful for your continued support while we labor here with the Apisas and the Lehtonens. Have a wonderful day!

Grace and peace, Abbi

Posted in Missions by The Rock Church

Salvation on Day One

Well, we’ve been in Italy a little over 24 hours. We got here with everyone, all our luggage, and only mild jet lag. The weather has been pretty nice for us, so far. We might get rain in the last half of the week. Church was great this morning. We got to worship with about 20 Italian members, so our ten increased the numbers by 1/3. For me, it’s always great to catch up with everyone, give them a hug, and just let them know that they aren’t in this alone.

While we were out seeing some of the sights, one of the church members, Andy, from Ohio, and one of the previous English Club students joined up with us. As we walked through the city, Andy (from Ohio) and Lourdes (from the Utah team), shared their stories of salvation with Pasquale, and he prayed to accept Christ. We don’t usually see salvations every year, but God had been working on his heart from coming to previous English Clubs. Please pray for him, his confidence in his salvation, and clarity on taking steps to start his life as a new creation.

We start the English Clubs tomorrow, so we need a lot of prayers. Pray for everyone that signed up and pray for them to show up. Pray for more people to sign up and show up. Pray for the Holy Spirit to help all of us team members to meet lots of people, listen to what they have to say, and to give us the right things to say and the right way to say them. God is at work in Italy, for sure.

We thank you all for your love and support. We can’t wait to see what God is going to do this week and what amazing things He has planned for everyone in the future. In the meantime, we hope all of you are doing well in your own, daily, personalized mission trips that God hand picked each of you for.

God Bless,

Chris Troxel

Posted in Missions by The Rock Church

Honduras Update #6

Our Comforter

Our last day started out at the University where some of the students danced a traditional Honduran dance and then one girl sang ”This is Amazing Grace.”  She had the most beautiful voice which brought us to tears because we felt God’s presence so strongly in that room worshipping together. We were also able to talk to a lot of them who knew God but were struggling with hard things in their life and had questions about miracles or about death. One girl shared how her grandfather, who had raised her, had died 9 days before. She was so sad and was just asking why. It sounded like her grandfather was a believer and she was looking at this tract with the gospel on it saying that the question on it was her own question of “where will I go when I die?” We were able to remind her of the hope that we can have in Christ and how she will see him again in eternity. 

Posted in Missions by Brent Kendall

Honduras Update #5

I have learned that one way Jesus spreads His good news, which is that He is Lord, is through the suffering love of the saints. Yesterday, I prayed that God would give me extravagant love for the people we were visiting in one of the poorest areas in Honduras. Getting there is difficult, but staying all day is even more difficult. One lady said she feels unsure about God because life is hard. She often doesn’t have enough food to feed her family, and many of them are sick. God did give me such love for her, and I was so excited to tell her how Jesus is taking over this world and the sin in our hearts. The sadness in our eyes is going to change very soon! One of my favorite parts of this day was that our team members and many local church members were engaged in serving this community together. Some were sharing the gospel or praying for healing. Others cared for physical needs, welcomed people, played with children, or chased dogs out of the clinic. 

Thank you for your prayers and support!

-Jenny 

Posted in Missions by Brent Kendall

Honduras Update #4

When All is Stripped Away

Hello, Rock Church. Thank you for your continued prayers. We continue to enjoy the favor of God and the Honduran people with whom God has surrounded us. When the obligations, cares, and concerns of our busy, hectic lives are taken away, it becomes easy to focus on spreading the gospel! God’s Good News is being preached in Honduras! Please keep a couple (Salvador and Victoria) in your prayers. They are fleeing the horrible situation in Venezuela. The other night, they made it to the Nicaragua/Honduras border but were robbed. They are trying to find a way into the United States. Please pray that God provides them safety, security, discernment, and peace

-Tony Rehmer

Posted in Missions by Brent Kendall

Honduras Update #3

“God’s Word Does Not Return Empty”

Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter”. Proverbs 24:11

God gave me the verse above during my first trip to Romania in 2009. I understood it to mean that many people needed to hear His Good News of salvation—especially those who were destitute or neglected and whose only option was to use whatever means necessary just to survive.

On Sunday, we visited an orphanage in Valle de Angeles, here in Honduras. We were touched by the work that they are doing as volunteers—because the government had stopped funding it in 2022. They have 76 residents—ages 3 to 60—who have severe disabilities, like Cerebral Palsy. The saddest part of this visit was to hear some of those individuals had been abandoned—one having been found tied to a chair in a park.

Posted in Missions by Brent Kendall

Honduras Update #2

Medical Clinic Outreach

Today, we had a clinic at the church where we are staying. We set up areas where people could get medical records, talk to nurses and doctors, get prescribed medicine, and an evangelism station where people received prayer and were presented the gospel. We had 85 patients in 4 hours! Many of the church members, people from the community, and people from the disabled home we went to yesterday came. Part of our goal was to encourage and come alongside the medical professionals and church already in that area, and we were encouraged to have 3 doctors, one nurse, and 20 church members join us! My grandparents were on the prayer team and were blown away by how open and vulnerable the Honduran people were. Also, how grateful they were for simply the gift of prayer. Many people shared hard stories about their lives, received prayer, and responded to the gospel! 

Posted in Missions by Brent Kendall

Honduras Update #1

Planting Seeds

Greetings to The Rock Church from Valle de Angeles, Honduras! 
Today we visited some very poor families who are working hard to slowly build their own gardens. One lady named Cindy and her husband had just finished building her house out of clay blocks, which they had worked on for the last 8 months. Surprisingly, they had the garden planted before their house was built! We visited a few other families, and our team was very humbled to see how God worked in the most remote parts of the world. We were also grateful to have fellowship with other Christians who are working hard in their community. 

Posted in Missions by Brent Kendall

Honduras 2024

This year’s Honduras 2024 mission theme verse is Philippians 2:13

“For it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.”

We are praying that as we go, God will be working in us to give us the desire and strength to carry out His will.  Here is the week in numbers:

Posted in Missions by Brent Kendall

Fishing Hole – Kid-Friendly Park Activities

What an incredible way to end the week! The park was full of people from the neighborhood grilling food, playing games, and running around the playground. At least 100 kids were all over the park. Many of the kids and families were familiar faces from the work that had been done in preparation for this moment. The Lord provided a well stocked fishing hole for our team.

On Friday afternoon, while the men were shopping for home repair supplies, we came across a hobby shop or craft store. I wanted to purchase water-based paint to replenish what our kids had used throughout the week. While we were at the store, I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to bless Sarah with supplies to help start the youth ministry that she has been praying for. So, I sent John and Sawyer around the store to help find crafts that pre-teen girls would enjoy. We found kinetic sand, playdough, window markers, and paint bottles. 

Posted in Missions by Brent Kendall