A COMMUNITY OF GRACE
UPDATES:
*Pray for the mission work being done throughout the summer by various groups coming to Honduras.
*Pray for the people of Honduras as they witness the love of Christ through all these groups.
*Pray for the groups and their home congregations.
for additional information go to bchonduras.org
In 2012 we began support of Courtney Mathews Sullivan with Breaking Chains Honduras. Breaking Chains
Honduras serves as a homeless and urban outreach ministry in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The ministry was
formed by Oklahoma Christian graduate Amber Foster in January 2009 and became known as Breaking Chains.
Since then Breaking Chains has reached out to thousands of people by meeting their physical needs, forming relationships and sharing the love of Christ. Courtney is the Communications Manager and North American liaison and lives half of her time in Honduras, and the other half in the United States. Through her fund raising efforts, she was able to generate support to help pay for their Honduras building that houses this ministry and many homeless people.
In August of 2014, Oakcrest began supporting a young evangelist, Wualter Osorio, in Honduras who was born and raised in Tegucigalpa. He is a graduate of Baxter Institute who has been volunteering and working in a few churches, but also spent a good deal of his time since graduation working for a children’s home and in other social service avenues. He was one of twelve children, and there were times when he was younger that he had to beg for food. Wualter’s past experiences allow him to relate to the teens in their ministry, and that is primarily the area in which he will be working with Breaking Chains Honduras.
First Quarter Report, 2019
Hi Oakcrest family! Thank you so much for your continued support of my work and of Breaking Chains. We really appreciate your consistent generosity. I was able to visit Honduras in March with the little man, and it was awesome to be able to introduce him to the people I love so much there. The people the ministry serves really are like extended family, and it was a blessing to bring those two worlds together. The ministry in Honduras is continuing to grow. Currently, we have 10 young adults living at the building. The majority of them have aged out of children’s homes but don’t have anywhere else to go until they become independent. They are all studying at a local high school, and one of our young adults (Jimmy) just began his first semester at college. We also have four new house parents on staff who are really pouring into the teens spiritually and helping them make strides in their everyday lives. Please keep all of our young adults in your prayers as they try to maintain good attitudes and overcome past hurts as they seek better lives. We will begin welcoming our summer groups at the end of May, and we are excited to have the Oakcrest youth joining us again this year. Please keep the ministry in your prayers over the group season.
Second Quarter Report , June 2016
Hi Oakcrest! Thank you so much for your continued support of Wualter, myself, and Breaking Chains as a whole. I apologize that it has taken me so long to get this update to you. We are in the middle of group season right now, and it has been busy busy to say the least.
Teen updates:
Rolando:
We are excited to say that Rolando is our most recent high school graduate! Rolando has been a part of the ministry for the last year and a half, and he was able to graduate in May after completing his final project and internship for his high school curriculum. He is currently working as an apprentice in a
barber shop and hopes to begin studying at the national university in the fall. Graduating high school is a huge accomplishment, so we ask that you join us in praising God for this achievement. Since there is a break in time before Rolando is able to begin college classes, we ask that you also continue to pray that God give him wisdom and strength to stay on the right track and resist temptation during the interim. We believe that Rolando can accomplish all of his goals if he is able to stay focused and maintain the right perspective.
Rolando on his way to his internship earlier this spring at a local department store.
Escarlet:
In the last report, we introduced you to Escarlet, one of the young adult girls who has rejoined our ministry. Escarlet has been attending school on Saturdays and is doing well so far. One thing that we are very excited about is that Escarlet just began working with another area ministry called
Mi Esperanza,(thewomenofmyhope.org). Mi Esperanza is a ministry in Tegucigalpa that seeks to empower women through skills training in the areas of computer technology, sewing, beauty or jewelry making. Escarlet has recently joined their jewelry making program and is loving it so far.
Though Escarlet lacks traditional skills like reading and writing that come with formal education, has always shown an incredible aptitude for art and design. With Mi Esperanza, she is learning to make jewelry items which will be sold in the ministry’s own store or sold to their various business partners in the fashion industry. Escarlet’s teacher says she is a natural, and we are very excited
about this opportunity for her as it could mean actual employment in the future. Being able to really excel in a field that she enjoys is doing wonderful things for her overall confidence and feelings of self-worth. It is our prayer that those feelings can empower her to move forward in other areas of life as well.
Escarlet showing off a necklace that she designed and created.
Alexander:
In our last report, I introduced you to our new preacher Alexander. We are sad to say that after five months of working with Breaking Chains, Alexander has chosen to take another position working at a new children’s home outside of the city. We believe that Alexander and his family will do well in this new position and we wish them luck. His departure, however, means that we are again in the position of searching for a new full-time minister. Unfortunately, Alexander’s departure comes at the beginning of our busiest season (summer), so we are postponing our search for a new preacher until we have more time to dedicate. In the meantime, a few men from area churches are helping us out by rotating in and taking on the task of Sunday preaching. Please pray that we can find a good candidate who can find a home with us and believes in the ministry’s mission and God’s plan for it.
Lead interns:
We are blessed this summer to have two lead interns, Vicky Hernandez and Leah Sorrells. The lead internship is something new that we started this year. In addition to our other interns who are with us for a few weeks or a month, Vicky and Leah will be with us all summer. The idea behind the lead interns was to recruit a couple of college-age students who had a genuine interest in urban ministry that could take
on more responsibility and really invest in the work in Honduras. We are so excited about Vicky and Leah’s involvement with us so far. They have been instrumental in helping with our visiting mission teams, teaching the middle school class at church on Sundays, and forming substantial relationships with the young adults and families the ministry serves. We are thankful that God allowed our paths to cross, and we pray for a wonderful second half of the summer.
Vicky and Leah teaching the middle school class during church.
Mission groups:
Mid-May through early August is our busiest season of the year as we welcome and host various mission groups from around the country. This year, we will have twelve groups visit over the course of the summer. The groups will support Breaking Chains by doing work at our ministry building, participating in our worship services and street outreach, building houses for BC church families and community members in need, and pouring love into the people we serve. We greatly enjoy the encouragement and the spirit of service that the groups bring; however, coordinating all of the moving parts is quite the task for our small team. So while I ask that you pray for safe, fruitful and empowering trips for our visiting mission teams, I also ask that you pray for strength, wisdom and energy for our BC staff.
Team members from Memorial Road visit one of the bilingual schools that our BC kids attend.
A group of college students from Ohio completes a house for one of Wualter’s family members in need.
A group of students from Memorial Road poses with the family in front of a house they built for a family who worships at Breaking Chains.
Education:
We are blessed to have 19 students sponsored for school as part of our education initiative. Eight of those students attend bilingual school while the others attend a regular private school. The bilingual school year is on an American schedule, so it runs August through June. The rest of the students are on a Honduran schedule which runs February to November. Our bilingual students are now on summer break and are very excited about their time off! Bilingual school is a more demanding academic environment, however, so some of our kids will still need to attend summer school in July or receive a couple of days of tutoring each week to make sure they stay on track. We have been blessed this year to make contact with a wonderful tutor who has been pouring into our students who need extra help. We are so thankful for Lesly and for the impact she is having on the kids and their confidence.
The Honduran school year will continue to run for the next several months. Please continue to be in prayer for these students, especially the older ones, as they seek the motivation to commit to their studies daily and stay on the right track.
Lesly tutoring a couple of BC kids after school.
Francois, Jennifer and Allison before school at Integrity Academy.
Jonathan, Arol and a classmate participate in the school science fair.
Thank you:
On behalf of Wualter and I, we are so grateful to have the continued support of Oakcrest. We can’t tell you what it means to know that we have people praying and encouraging us daily. We pray God’s richest blessings on the church family at Oakcrest, and we ask that God continue to pour out his love, mercy and wisdom on you as you seek to serve others. We are so grateful for your love, support, and belief in the work in Honduras. Thank you.
You can view more photos on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/bchonduras
First Quarter Report 2016 from Courtney
Dear Oakcrest,
Thank you so so much for continuing to support Wualter and me! I can’t tell you what a blessing it is to know such generous, loving hearts. We are grateful to know you, and we think of and pray for you often as you seek to serve God and love others in Oklahoma City.
2016 has already provided much growth and change within our small ministry. At the beginning of the year, we hired our new minster, Alexander. Alexander is a graduate of the Baxter Institute, a four year seminary school in Tegucigalpa. Upon graduation from Baxter, Alexander and his family moved back to work in their home country of Nicaragua. He has experience working in churches as well as with addicts and street ministry.
When our preaching position opened up in August, we looked to our Honduran staff for recommendations first. Wualter strongly encouraged us to consider Alexander as Alexander was without work at the time and Wualter spoke highly of his character and qualifications. Alexander came to work with Breaking Chains in the fall of last year for a one-month trial. He seemed to really connect with the people we work with and displayed many good qualities, so we offered him the position in December of last year. He accepted, and he and his family moved to Tegucigalpa in January.
Alexander has a wife, Alda, and two children, Aldo and Alexa. Alda has some chronic health problems which, at times, cause a financial and logistical burden on the family. In an effort to help relieve some of that stress, we secured sponsors for Aldo and Alexa as part of our education program to eliminate that cost for the family. Aldo has started fourth grade and Alexa is in pre-K
We have been very blessed by Alexander so far. He does a wonderful job preaching on Sunday mornings and seems to easily connect with our church members and teenagers. He has also started a mid-week bible study in two of the communities in which many of our church members live. Being more invested spiritually in the communities in which we work has been a goal for a long time, so we are so grateful to Alexander for taking the initiative.
We are very excited for Alexander’s vision to help spiritually grow the BC church community and for his heart for service. We ask that you please pray for him and his family as they continue to adjust to life in Tegucigalpa, for Alda’s health, and for a successful school year for Aldo and Alexa.
Our church services have been going well with Alexander at the help. We had a few people trading off during the interim, but it is unbelievable the difference that a steady, local preacher with a vision can make. It seems that the congregation feels more settled and comfortable now, and they are reaching out to the rest of their community.
One of the Sunday school classes at Breaking Chains with teacher Marisol.
Due to the increase in attendees, we have had to split the children into three or four separate classes. A few ladies from the congregation have stepped up to teach each Sunday and it has been a huge help. We are so thankful for them, and we are praying about ways to properly equip them so that they feel confident and prepared in teaching and so that they also don’t get burnt out (because that problem is universal for Sunday School teachers!)
Prayer during worship.
We have also added a few new students to our education sponsorship program this year, bringing our total up to 19 students. Some of the new additions include Leonardo (the son of our house parents Oscar and Alba) and Aldo and Alexa (Alexander’s children).
Aside from about $900 worth of upfront costs that the ministry paid out of pocket, these 19 students are all fully sponsored! That is such an incredible blessing! When we mapped out on paper how many students would be enrolled this year and the costs associated with that, it was a little overwhelming. But God has been extremely faithful in moving in the hearts of so many people to give and invest in these young souls. We could not be more thankful for everyone’s prayers and support!
The goal with sponsoring students has always been to give them the best shot at a quality education in order to help them grow academically and in the confidence they need to succeed. Public school in Honduras is typically riddled with obstacles that prevent students from learning in the best way (understaffing, lack of resources, etc.). So having the opportunity for a private education is HUGE. It is our hope that through education, these students will be able to break the cycle of poverty for their families and open themselves up to a brighter future.
Please continue to pray for these students throughout the year! And pray for their parents as well. During the course of their educations, many students will exceed (or already have succeeded) the level of schooling of their parents. So we also pray for the parents that they can continue to motivate their children to have the best future possible.
Jonathan, Rosie, Escarlen and Arol after their school parade last year.
Francois, Allison, and Jennifer on their first day of bilingual school.
Michel and Escarlen in their new school uniforms.
The Santa Monica kids at the end of the 2015 school year.
Breaking Chains isn’t able to help everyone with education sponsorship, so for the rest of the children who worship with us we do our best to help with school supplies. A typical family will have to pay $50 to fulfill each child’s school supply lists. That’s two weeks’ worth of work for many people, and it’s even more difficult to take on if a family has more than one child. So thanks to donations from individuals in the U.S., we have been able to fulfill lists for 109 children this year. We still have about 50 that we would like to purchase for if we are able to raise the necessary funds.
Our young adults are also starting off the New Year in their schools, internships and jobs. Each of the young adults who live at our Breaking Chains building have overcome or are struggling through difficult backgrounds and life circumstances (drugs, past abuse, abandonment, etc.). So it gives us such joy and we praise God when we see them succeed even in the littlest of ways.
Each young adult who comes to live for a period of time at Breaking Chains has a different story and a different path. They require different motivations, disciplines and levels of support in order to feel affirmed and succeed. Several of the young adults with whom we are working are nearing the point where they will move on from our ministry to hopefully be independent (though they will always have the love and support of our BC staff). Please be in prayer as the BC team works hard to develop a rhythm, goals and a transition strategy for these young people.
One thing that each of the young people who visits us have in common is that they all have past hurts and are looking for hope and a family. We pray every day that God continues to penetrate their hearts and that they allow for His healing. Please join us in praying that the young adults who come to Breaking Chains are able to become a part of a physical and spiritual family with us and with God as their father.
Thank you again for the love, prayers and support that the Oakcrest family continues to shower on our ministry staff and ministry as a whole. We are so blessed to call you family, and we pray that God continues to shower Oakcrest with his love and faithfulness this year.
First Quarter Report 2016 from Wualter
Dear brothers, I am very grateful in my heart for your prayers and support in my ministry with our Breaking Chains teens. I thank God that he has used you all in order to allow me to help others.
After a big change in my life, going from being single to married (a BIG change!), I can say that being married is an awesome experience – very difficult, a lot to learn, and a lot of changes – but God in His wisdom has given me a great wife. Together we are learning, and overcoming challenges, but what is great and resides in us is love for God and our desire to serve. That unites us and enables us to love one another with the pure and holy love of God.
Entering 2016 has brought challenges, changes and blessings. We have started the school process with our teens – getting them enrolled, purchasing school supplies and uniforms, and preparing all the necessary documentation. Knowing their complicated histories and figuring out where to go to find and file a document from their previous schools is a big challenge. But the blessing of God that we have received is that all of our teens now have everything in order to advance their studies. We are also well pleased because of the wonderful progress and improvement in their attitudes. Their behavior has improved, and they have learned to value, know and believe that it is never too late to continue, or to get up after falling. Their lives are being blessed.
We have two new teens with us this year: Bryan and Escarleth. … We’re showing love to our teens. That is the first ingredient that everyone should feel in life, and yet, so many of our teens have felt so little of it. So that is our number one challenge – to give them love, make them feel a part of a family, and help them know that they matter to God and that His power can change their lives. We know that all this is possible with God.
Bryan
“We know that his life and his relationship with God are growing each day. We love Bryan a lot .”– Wualter
Escarleth
“We are looking for a school for her now…We are seeing what the best option for her is, and we know that God will help her through.” -Wualter
Well, lastly I want to apologize. There are many things that, with all my heart, I wanted to send you – photos and videos of my house, pictures and videos of my wedding, but I could not because of lack of resources. I am working on a video to send to you with Courtney next time so that you can see my house, and part of what happened at my wedding, my honeymoon, and many other good things that I have enjoyed in recent months.
Thanks brothers. I love you very much. Last year it was fantastic to meet and work with some of you and I miss you a lot. Thank you. I want to send hugs to everyone – Jamie, Vicki, Samantha, Parker, Phil, Levi, Cassidy, and everyone else.
Blessings. May God dwell in our hearts forever.
Oakcrest Missions Report 01/06/16
from Courtney
Beach Christmas:
Beach Christmas this year was, yet again, a wonderful experience. This year we had a lot of families attending with us (a couple of them for the first time) so that made things really neat. Most of those parents and the children had not ever been to a beach before. Seeing the parents interact with their kids was really precious thing to witness. So often, our parents are in survival mode and they are stressed out from trying to provide for their children under tough circumstances. We don’t always get to see them be carefree and loving with their kids. Being away from the city and distractions allowed those parents to do just that, and I think it was a bonding experience for those families all around. The parents of the families commented over and over how grateful they were for the experience and how much they had needed it.
Once again, we played on the beach, opened presents from generous sponsors, ate good food, and had a wonderful time of fellowship. I love being able to end the year in this way because it gives everyone an opportunity to reflect and renew before the New Year starts.
Thank you for your sponsorship of Wualter and Nuria. We had a wonderful time with them on the beach. I also had assigned you to one of our young fathers, Juan. Unfortunately, he had a family member who was ill and was unable to make the trip. We did still give him the presents we purchased, and he was very grateful. I just don’t have pictures, unfortunately.
Wualter and Nuria’s wedding:
Wualter had a wonderful wedding earlier in December that we were grateful to be a part of. That was my first experience with a Honduran wedding (and as a
wedding photographer) and it was a really neat thing to witness. There are several traditions that are a part of a Honduran wedding that I thought were beautiful, including the parents and godparents of the couple being very involved.
Thanks to gifts from people in the U.S., Wualter and Nuria were able to go on a honeymoon to Roatan. They were very grateful for the experience.
Our hope is that now that they are married, we can get to know Nuria better and she can become a more integral part of our BC family.
New preacher:
Our board has made the decision to hire Alexander, whom I mentioned in my last newsletter, as our new BC preacher. However, due to circumstances regarding Alexander’s family being from Nicaragua, the process of getting everything established is taking longer than anticipated. We are still trying to determine a proper salary based on their need to travel to meet visa requirements, rent a house in Tegucigalpa, etc. We are hopeful to have all of that determined in the next couple of weeks so that Alexander and his family can begin working with us. We are prayerful that Alexander’s arrival can add some stability and energy to our worship services, which have lagged a bit in the interim.
Stateside work:
These next couple of months will be very busy from an U.S. side of things for me. I am wrapping up our goals and budget for this coming year (a little late, but we had several additions to the budget), preparing and sending out donation acknowledgements from the last year, fundraising for a couple of new education students, working on summer planning and getting materials ready for Winterfest in Arlington and Gatlinburg. I love my job, but sometimes it is so broad that I end up taking on too much to do it well. The team in Honduras has been great about wanting to step in to take some things off my plate, which has been nice – I just have to be organized enough that I can pass things off easily.
Bibles Donated to Breaking Chains – July 2015
Thanks to a generous donation, Bibles were purchased for Breaking Chains Honduras.
$1000 was donated to Breaking Chains for the purchase of Bibles. The teens at Breaking Chains were each given a nice Bible. Additionally 120 paperback Bibles were purchased for church members and outreach.
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