Welcome to our second quarter 2024 Heart of the King Ministries newsletter. May you be blessed as you read. We pray you hear His leading for your own life and the hope that He gives.
(click on photos below to enlarge while viewing on-line)
Romans 15:13 NKJV Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Joy and Peace, isn’t that something we all want! Laughter does good like a medicine and peace calms the spirit in the midst of a storm. Real joy and peace, lasting joy and peace comes from God. When we know Him, we can have everlasting joy and peace.
Amor Que Redime
We find joy and peace in our church “Amor Que Redime” (Love that redeems). We hear God’s word, share meals together, go out as a church blessing and giving to others and have times of fellowship during the week.
Mother’s Day was celebrated with one of the mothers, Carolina, speaking on how each woman in the church was a mother not only to her own children but to those around her. What we do influences and guides others, sometimes even with no words. Actions speak louder than words!
Our series of Stories from the Bible where each family shared a favorite story was concluded with Isaac, a young man in our church, sharing about Moses. He memorized and quoted many scriptures about the life of Moses facing troubles but always following God as he led the people of Israel to the promise land. Isaac made two tablets and wrote the 10 commandments on them to show us God’s faithfulness. In anger, Moses broke the first set of commandments but as Moses repented, God made another set. These commandments show us our sins, only God can forgive us and place peace in our hearts.
Our church family really enjoyed visiting the one room school house, Las Arenas, in February. So we decided to return shortly after Easter for an Easter egg hunt at the school. There were a few more students and the school now had a kindergarten/pre-school teacher. Pastors Jon & Alicia shared a Bible lesson, a gift of crayons and magnetic blocks was presented to the teachers and the students sang a song for us then the Easter egg hunt, a first for these kids and they had a blast! Laughter filled the playground as they searched high and low for eggs. Join us as we pray for the teachers of these small schools that they don’t get discouraged but will continue in the work they are called to.
Amor en Obras
Our friend Sharon, head of Amor en Obras (Love in Works) had a team from Georgia come down. They visited the children’s ward of the local hospital to give out gifts and pray with the children, we were able to join in this activity. Later Sharon asked if we would like to join her in visiting the children’s ward at the local hospital to pray for the children and their families again. We did and it really touched our hearts. We now are going twice a month, when we are permitted, to pray for the children and family members and give coloring pages, juice or other small gifts as well as Christian tracts or Bibles.
Several of the older children took the tracts and immediately began reading them. One teenager had been attacked and was intently reading the tract, Gene went over and talked and prayed with him; another younger boy took the tract and began reading out loud to his mom. The parents are so appreciative of the prayers and encouragement, a few minutes of joy for their children brighten their day! We pray that God will bless this ministry and heal the hurting.
Living in Honduras
We are so blessed and thank you for supporting, praying for and encouraging Heart of the King Ministries! As God leads, we are able to help many around us.
Since we have moved to La Esperanza several good restaurants have opened. Occasionally we ask our missionary friends to join us for lunch out. This is a great time of fellowship sharing stories, burdens and laughter. We really need each other and enjoy this time so much.
One of the ladies from our church decided to build a house for herself and son. She has worked hard to save money to build a home on the property her mother gave her and got the project started. Different friends have helped her out alone the way with wiring, roofing, and other things and we wanted to help also. She needed doors so we took her shopping. She had looked around and knew what she wanted so we took her to a store near us and found what she wanted. A front door with a window and a solid back door. She was so excited to find them at a good price and know her house would be secure. Thank you for your giving so that this family can live in peace and have a secure home.
As I mentioned above, a team came down to work with Amor en Obras in March. We joined them as they visited the hospital and they joined us as we visited the prison. The families of prisoners come on Saturday for a visit. They gather and wait on a side street until time to enter the prison. The guards set up a tent with chairs for them so this is the perfect place for ministry. We go down with Sharon to share a brief message and pray over and with these family members. On the day the team joined us, they bought sodas and chips to pass out to everyone, it gets hot sitting out under the tent so they were appreciative for this. We always take tracts to pass out so they can take them home to read. The Holy Spirit can do great things in the heart of these families with these tracts!
The city park is across the street from the prison so the team walked over there. They had some coloring pages & crayons, slap bracelets and other little gifts to give out to the children there – and of course we had tracts! The children would start coloring and the parents would read the tracts. God’s word is going forth! We were also able to accompany the team on a trip to a local coffee farm. One of the owners walked us through the whole process of planting, growing and harvesting coffee beans – a lot of work goes into a cup of coffee!
As we mentioned in the Q1 newsletter, we attended the wedding of our sweet friends Nikko and Reyna. They had been married legally last year but had the “church” wedding in March. What a beautiful wedding they had honoring God and asking His blessings on their lives as a family. This quarter, we were able to help them move into a very nice new house with a big yard. Their desire is to serve God and work with their church.
When cleaning up our ‘storage’ room I noticed we had another water purification bucket. It sure didn’t need to be sitting around so we decided to give it to a single mother and her son who attend our church. These buckets purify water to 99.9% pure – they are great. This family lives in an area where they only receive water every other day. The water is not clean and is not drinkable without filtration. They don’t have a car and live too far from the local store to easily purchase the 5-gallon pure water bottles so this bucket will be a blessing to them in many ways. You guys just don’t know how wonderful it is when we receive your donations to use to bless others! I know God has and will reward you in many ways.
Prison
Monthly, Gene, Sharon and I go to the local prison and share a word from God. We are so thankful for this opportunity as over 300 men sit attentively singing and listening. One man was released in June after serving his time, he had asked for a Bible which we were able to give him and he said he was going to live a better life now. We pray for Joel and the others, that they truly find their hope in Christ.
There are also 8 women in our local prison. We were honored to be able to give them a mother’s day gift this year. We prepared and delivered gift baskets to the prison for the women inmates and the women guards who are mothers. Also, Sharon was able to meet with the women in June for their first women’s Bible study. Please keep this ministry to the women in your prayers. Sharon said they were very receptive and did want her to come back. I’m not sure if Gene & I would be allowed to go in for this since space is very limited but we will be praying.
During a visit to the prison last year, we met and talked with the new prison director. We found out that he believes very strongly that the inmates need to hear, know and believe the word of God. He said that he wanted to implement a daily reading time for all inmates and asked if we could supply them with Bibles to read. Of course we agreed. During the past few months we have been working with several ministries to get the needed Bibles.
A good friend of ours Dr. Delron Shirley and His wife Peggy have a wonderful teaching ministry named “Teach All Nations Mission” (teachallnationsmission.com). Through their contacts, we were able to get 400 Bibles through the ministry of Mission Cry (missioncry.com). Thanks to Gerald and Trudy for bringing the Bibles from Michigan to Tennessee where we picked them up. We shipped the Bibles down and received them this week. The Bibles will be distributed to the 340+ inmates and all of the guards in the prison as soon as the details can be worked out.
Team Solheim
Saturday afternoons are spent with 20-30 young teens at Club Aslan. Kelly and Steve plan games and teaching activities for these youngsters as well as having special guest in to speak. Occasionally a trip is taken to a local business where the kids can explore different opportunities for their future and learn what it takes to run a business. Recently we visited a coffee shop. A young couple runs this shop and explained that it takes dedication and determination to build a business and keep it going smoothly. The kids enjoy getting out to new and different places.
As we play board games, something new for most of these children, they struggle to wait for their turn and are so excited to be the winner. Kelly and Steve invited a local Pastor up to speak and to bring the youth from his church to play soccer (real football). The kids had a blast! Very seldom do they argue or disagree, they just have fun being a kid for the afternoon!
Kelly and Steve moved to a bigger and better house closer to their office and we were able to help them with the move. God blesses those who love and serve Him with the desires of their heart. This move was an answer to prayer!
TM2L
It is such a privilege to go to school at Teach Me 2 Love with some of the sweetest kids ever! Once a week we get to go play with the kids, help them with their lessons and listen to all they have to say. Many of these kids never had a friend before now they run in with hugs for everyone! We had the annual Easter Egg hunt and they loved it! Everyone searched and found lots of eggs and all went home happy with a bag full of candy. Jesus rules in this school; every day they sing praise and worship songs and end in prayer. We are thankful that God hears their prayers.
Trip to the states
In June we spent 3 weeks in the states. The first week was in Georgia visiting family and a few friends. Gene’s mom had just turned 90 and his dad turned 91. They are doing well, really well for their age and we enjoyed being with them along with the rest of the family. Our 2 sons live there so we were able to visit with them. There was a birthday party, a family cookout, a little shopping and lots of eating.
Then we drove to Colorado to visit with friends there and to visit our Colorado church. We had a good time and were able to share at church about a day in our life as a missionary. Then we drove to New Mexico to meet up with our daughter. She lives in Arizona. We spent the weekend in Albuquerque celebrating our 22nd wedding anniversary and Father’s Day with her. Then we headed back to Alabama to spend the rest of the week with my brothers.
On Saturday we attended the Robertson family reunion, my mom’s family. There was a good attendance with 18 first cousins and many of their family. Of course, food, lots of delicious food, laughter, memories and music! My grandpa Robertson loved music so all the men bring their guitars and sit around and “pic and grin”. There were only a couple of guitar pickers this year but the tradition continues on.
Although we traveled a lot during this trip, I did not hear Gene say “I’m ready to get back to Honduras” one time. Usually by the middle of the second week he is ready to leave but this trip was different. It was restful, peaceful and fun! We needed this time. Thanks to all who housed us, took us out to eat, came over to visit, gave gifts and donations for us to bring back and those who prayed for us. We are back where we belong and ready to continue in the work to which we are called.
May God fill you with peace and joy as we continue to hope for the day of His return.
We love you,
Gene & Robin
Heart of the King Ministries
If the Lord leads you to support our ministry financially, all gifts are tax deductible and should be mailed to:
Heart of the King Ministries
115 Creden Pl
Alabaster, AL. 35007
Checks should be made payable to Heart of the King Ministries.
If you would like to use a credit or debit card or your PayPal account,
PayPal is available on our website at this LINK.
Click this LINK to view all of our Honduras photo galleries (newer photos may appear toward the bottom of the individual galleries).
