Muñoz Ministries

Hearing more of the Muñoz’ story, their work, and their vision was one of the most encouraging parts of the trip. 

Marlon is from Honduras and had a desire to learn about God from a young age. He grew up in the church and loved to serve. He went to university and got a good job with the government. He liked his job, but God kept saying, “I want you to serve me full time.” Marlon would answer, “That is fine God, I can keep my job and serve you half time.” He wanted to serve, but didn’t want to quit his job. However, he didn’t have peace in his heart so eventually he put his hands up and said “ok God, I’ll serve you.” He then quit his job to begin serving God full time.

Trisha was working as a nurse in Louisiana when she was asked by a trip leader to go on a missions trip to Honduras. She agreed thinking it would be just a one week thing. However, when she came she wanted to come back. She took a few more short term missions trips. On one of these trips God told her that Honduras would be her home. The only way she could see that happening was if she moved to Honduras as a full time missionary. So she did, leaving behind a longtime boyfriend, a job she loved, and security about the future.

Marlon and Trisha visit remote villages to share the gospel with them. On Trisha’s 2^nd short term missions trips they shared the gospel with the village, but later, when Trisha, Marlon, and the rest of the team were in their tents, the people of the village came to kill them. They began dragging away Trisha’s tent with her in it. The rest of the team stopped them. At the time Trisha was thinking, “God, is this how it is going to be when we share the gospel? I don’t know if I want to do this” However,  Marlon shared the gospel with the men who had been trying to kill them and those same men accepted Christ that night. Then Trisha thought, “God, if this is what it takes for people to come to You, I’m in.”

Marlon and Trisha met on Trisha’s very first weeklong mission trip. They served together as friends for a few years before noticing eachother. They got married in 2005 and now have a very cute little girl, Madison.

One of my favorite things about this trip is that while working I was able to remind myself of their work and the greater purpose of the buildings we were designing. Our work would help the Muñoz ministry to continue to take the gospel to villages in Honduras and teach them more from the Bible. I can’t find the words to describe how refreshing and motivating it was to work with a purpose that I care about: to bring others to Jesus.

On to Honduras!

We have been in language school for the last two weeks, studying Spanish. This really helped me and it is exciting to learn a new language, but I’m still not very good. I can understand twice as much as I can speak. This week we have some more orientation in the office as well as preparation for our project trips. Allison and I along with Tim Clem, the project trip leader, will be leaving on Saturday for Honduras, Lord willing. We will be meeting up with the rest of the project team at the airport there. There are 10 design professionals coming from the US, the UK, and Canada. We will be working with a missionary couple there: Marlon and Trisha Muñoz. Here are the details of the trip that Allison and I wrote:

The Mission: The Muñoz family has graciously opened their home for years as a base camp for visiting international mission teams. Together, they travel into remote villages in southern Honduras along the Patuca River. By hosting about 15 short-term mission teams per year, they have been able to build relationships with remote indigenous people. They share Christ with them, learn their physical, spiritual, and social needs and connect others to serve with them meeting these needs. Many of the indigenous people have said “You have come and shared such news with us and we have believed. We want to know more and learn how to walk the path of the Lord.” Marlon and Trisha have a vision to continue being effective and expand their ministry to these people. Because they have slowly outgrown the capacity of the home, they need a more dedicated space to host mission teams. 

The Vision: The Muñoz family has acquired a 63-acre parcel of land about 25 minutes outside of Danli, Honduras. They are hoping to develop this land into a missions base and training center. Their passion is to grow new believers and church leaders, especially those from the communities off of the Patuca River. This center will also provide a much needed place for baptisms, church events and conferences for local churches. In addition, they have a vision to use this ministry base to teach preventative medicine, teach pastors a trade so they can support themselves since most of the time their congregation doesn’t have the financial capabilities to do so. They plan to build a home on the new property and raise their family there so they can continue being intimately involved with the ministry work. 

Our Work: The EMI team will design a master plan for the site, providing a detailed design for a multi-purpose facility that will house mission teams and serve the community. We will also design a new well to provide water and design the connections of power lines on the adjacent property to provide electricity. We

also hope to use solar energy for sustainability. The Muñoz family is excited to see the design God will provide through the EMI team.

We crave your prayers for health, unity, and the ability to design a facility that will help to further His kingdom.

Cultural Tidbits

Daniel, Maria Paula (my host sister), and Maryfer (Brad's host sister) in the minivan-bus

Last weekend Kevin, Brad and I went to Puntarenas with the youth of our church here. It was an outreach event and we played a bunch of rough house games in the sand and sang songs. The gospel was shared around a very unnecessary campfire. The sand stuck to all the sunscreen we had just put on. It was pretty fun. We took a 12 passenger minivan there and back. On the way back we stopped at a “convenience store”: an outdoor store of fruit, refrescos (beverages), and snacks. Everyone piled out to buy drinks and snacks. When we got back in the van everyone was passing snacks back and forth and sharing drinks so that I couldn’t even tell who had originally bought what. I leaned over to Kevin, who had bought a Fresca, and said “They are sharing everything. Everyone who wants some, gets some, and they pass stuff around so that everyone can have some.” So, Kevin said, “Anyone want any Fresca?” (in Spanish, of course). Immediately, there was a “yes” from the back and a second later “There is Fresca?” and Kevin’s drink was being passed around as well. In the U.S. I would expect snacks to be shared with the person next to you in the van, while drinks would only be shared with really good friends. I'd been told that the culture here was more communal, but it was fascinating to see it express itself.