Is Giving Up the American Dream Worth It?

Steve Solheim, Missionary, Honduras
The Call, January-March 2017

Ah, the good ol’ American dream. There we were in our little house with our little family and our little dog. We were well on our way in our careers and livin’ the dream. What more could we want as we sang: “Our house, in the middle of our street”? We had two cars in the driveway, and we’d just completed our deck—the biggest one on the block, mind you. Yes, we were doing our best to keep up with the Joneses.

I started my career in the military and worked my way into a great position managing the battalion helpdesk. After I left the Marines, I landed a contract job in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Wow, I thought, these people are paying me to do what I love. How lucky can I get? For the next several years I bounced around from contract to contract, trying to land my dream job.

After 15 years I finally started my job as a systems engineer doing software deployment. But, there was one tiny problem with my dream job—I hated it. You see, I started out serving my country in the Marines. Then, I worked at various positions helping people with their computer problems. And now, I was stuck in an isolated corner way back in the IT department with no contact with the people I was there to help.

Meanwhile, we had just switched to a new church with a great youth program. Unbeknownst to us, it also had a great missions program. Through a series of well-orchestrated moves by God, we went on a two-week work team and a year-long volunteer assignment followed by a complete career change to honor and follow Him in Honduras. I was using my spiritual gifts of Helper and Service again as well as one I was completely unaware of: Faith.

With the extreme cut in income that we took going to the mission field, we thought we wouldn’t be able to do all the things we loved to do and that we would never be able to do the things we always dreamed of doing. That was a lie. For everything that we gave up, God has blessed us with more opportunities and even given us the opportunity to do things that we never even dreamed possible when we were trapped in the American dream.

ACT: This month, hide the words of 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 in your heart. Memorize this passage as a reminder for your missions journey.

Weathering Hurricane Mitch

Weathering Hurricane Mitch

Marion Lewton, Retiree
January-March 2016

When natural disasters occur, pictures help us better understand the severity of the tragedy. That was true in 1998 when Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras. In this reprinted article from the March/April 1999 Call to Prayer, retiree Marion Lewton shares her travel story to El Sembrador, a school for underprivileged boys in Honduras. Marion served with her late husband, Gene, in Kenya for 35 years and at WGM headquarters for seven years.

How fortunate, or unfortunate, we were to be in Honduras, Central America, with a Men With Vision work team when Hurricane Mitch hit! My husband, Gene, had been asked if he would direct the work team because the former director had not been able to go. We were glad we were free to help. Rain began falling Sunday night, October 25, and continued day and night for a week.

The pictures tell a better story than many words. Devastation was all around us. Many thousands of people lost everything—homes, belongings, and family members. What sorrow and sadness enveloped the nation of Honduras. Villages and families, homes, and possessions slid down the mountainsides, never to be seen again.

Most of the farmland along the river bottom at El Sembrador will have to be worked with a lot of fertilizer and topsoil to bring it back into production. Many trees were taken out by the roots and washed downstream. The farm lost its banana plants and cocoa trees. Yes, there will be many days, weeks, and months of hard work for everyone.

The school year usually ends the middle of November in Honduras. However, the president declared all schools closed and said there should be no graduation celebrations. A special meal was served for all of the students and staff at the farm school and the graduates were recognized, but they did not do the traditional march to receive their diplomas or have parties. All of the students understood. There was too much sorrow. Everyone had heavy hearts. This will be a year to be remembered by all.

It has been wonderful to hear of the many organizations, Christian and non-Christian, that have gone to Central America to help rebuild. Tons of beans, corn, rice, medicines, and clothing have been sent.

Rebuilding homes, bridges, and farmland will take years of work. God is at work. The churches have banded together and are helping the needy. This could be the beginning of real revival. God will bring victory and blessing out of tragedy.

El Sembrador has weathered this storm and God has truly blessed this ministry. With God’s help, more than 7,000 students have been ministered to through its programs.

GIVE: Help students continue to flourish in Honduras through the El Sembrador Sponsorship Program. Learn more about choosing a child to sponsor at www.wgm.org/elsembrador.

Don’t Miss Out

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Sharon Hawk, Retiree
October-December 2015

Flexibility was certainly a key word for peace of mind and sanity for me on the mission field. It’s not something I learned quickly, but as I immersed myself in ministry, I found it to be so important.

Tim and I worked at El Sembrador farm school in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I fell in love with the ministry there. Watching the boys arrive at the beginning of the school year with so many needs, and then seeing the physical and spiritual changes in their lives throughout the year was incredible. Nothing compares to that. It was hard work, but so rewarding.

In 1983, Tim was asked to be the Honduras field director. That meant we had to leave the farm school and move to the capital city. I found it very hard to be flexible and leave the ministry I loved so much. How in the world could I love another ministry as much as El Sembrador? Packing up and moving to the city was very hard.

But it didn’t take long before we were content in our new responsibilities. Living in the city opened up a whole new world to us: the national church. We began meeting pastors and visiting churches, working with some of the greatest people we have ever met. I would have been happy to spend the rest of my life in this ministry.

But, once again, God had other plans for us. This time it was leaving Honduras and moving back to the United States to work at WGM headquarters. This move really did test my flexibility. I left Honduras with many tears and lots of apprehensions of what was ahead. Upon arriving at headquarters, I was asked to work in the Media Department. My main responsibility was helping missionaries put their slide presentations together so they could share their ministry with their support teams. I had no formal training in this area, but I was willing to do my best. Soon I realized the great opportunity I had to get to know every missionary in WGM. We worked many hours together making their presentations the best possible. I felt so blessed to have a small part in each missionary’s ministry. Those are memories I will never forget.

Being flexible is so important! If I hadn’t been, I would have missed out on so much that God had planned for me.

ACT: Has God been asking you to make a change in your life? Have you created excuses to cover your fears? Surrender your fears to God this week and take the steps in faith to follow His leading. His plans are always greater than our plans.

A Purpose for my Life

An excerpt from...

A Purpose for my Life

By Jorge Pinto, Board of Directors
July-September 2014

My older brother, Oscar, and I were born in El Salvador. Our father abandoned us, so our mother, Maria Herminia Pinto, had to make a living as a maid in order to support us. Around 1960 we returned to her native land of Honduras where she married Santos Tomas Sanchez. Sadly, both passed away. In 1964, my uncle Saul Gomez took us to El Sembrador, a school for poor children in Catacamas, Olancho. My brother and I were under the care of don Donaldo and doña Twana Hawk. I remained in El Sembrador school for many years. There I learned about work, study, and, above all, the Word of God.

Today I am happily married to my lovely wife, Marta Isabel. God has given us three children: Helga Ruth, Helga Esther, and Jorge. We have five grandchildren. I am a pastor and serve as president of the Evangelical Holiness Church of Honduras. I am also blessed to be president and founder of the Manuelito Project, an organization that rescues and educates the street children of my country. I am the president of La Agencia Misionera de Santidad Latino Americana, AMSLA (the Latin American Holiness Missionary Agency), which I am honored to represent on the Board of Directors of World Gospel Mission in Marion, Indiana.

Looking back, I understand that God has had a purpose for my life and that he has used people in my spiritual formation and calling to whom I am indebted. I am nothing more than an instrument in God’s hands. To Him be the glory.

As part of God’s creative design, He used the ministry of Escuela El Sembrador to shape the life of Jorge Pinto.

GIVE: Become a significant part in the future of more students like Jorge through the El Sembrador Sponsorship Program. A gift of $125 per month, or $1,500 per year, will provide a child with education and room and board for one year. Donations can be made to World Gospel Mission and sent to:

El Sembrador Sponsorship Program
World Gospel Mission
P.O. Box 948
Marion, IN 46952

Honduras: Disadvantaged Youth

The Honduran constitution formally stipulates that minors have to have their educational needs met; however, many Hondurans arrive at adulthood without learning to read or write. More than half a million people in this country are illiterate, which is the equivalent of the entire population between 15 and 40 years old.

Many children find themselves in single-parent homes with a necessity of increasing the family income. Children are often required to leave school prematurely to work.

WGM Honduras has responded to this issue through Escuela El Sembrador (School of the Sower). El Sembrador is a boarding school for underprivileged Honduran boys founded in 1954. The primary purpose of the school is to teach the Word of God with love and a genuine concern for the boys.

ACT: Consider sponsoring a student at El Sembrador. WGM Honduras invites sponsors to take an active role with their students—writing letters and praying for the students on a regular basis. Just $125 per month provides a student with an academic scholarship (account # 23493-CALL). Other options for sponsoring are available as well. Learn more at www.escuelaelsembrador.org.