By Lisa Steele, FLM Executive Director

En Español

At Family Life Missions, we have 30/30 vision. No, that is not a typo! The American Optometric Association (AOA) developed 30/30 vision as a benchmark for eye health several years ago. The 30/30 vision standard is based on the premise that all people should have perfect vision in both eyes. The AOA defines perfect vision as 20/20 in each eye with no limits to sharpness or distance. That includes the ability to see details 20 feet in front of them. However, when someone has 30/30 vision, they can see fine details at a distance of 30 feet. It is a condition where someone can see clearly both near and far. It helps improve their overall quality of life.

We have 30/30 vision at FLM after 30 years of serving the Catacamas community. We can look back over the past 30 years and see how we have cared for vulnerable children and families. We can also look ahead to see how we will continue this care. We have changed over those 30 years as God has directed our path. Today, fewer children live in our Residential Home as many have been reintegrated into their biological families. Some children who would have come to live with us are instead in our Foster Care Program and live in a loving, Christian home. Many children do not have to go live with us as they are part of our Family Preservation Program, where we strive to keep families together through workshops, counseling, and education.

Our 30/30 vision continues with a clear path to the future. It also represents our need for 30 donors willing to commit $30 monthly to help us support these children and families in our community. These monthly donations help us support our Foster families, our workshops, and help our students at our Por Los Niños Christian School.

We love looking back at 30  years of care in our community. We also love looking forward with anticipation to what God has planned for us. One thing that has not changed in 30 years and will not change in the future is our reliance on God and following the path He lays before us as we continue to care for the children and families in Catacamas who need our love, support, and care.

 And always, we point them to the One who provides it all.

By Lisa Steele, FLM Executive Director with Molly Borneman, FLM Social Media Manager

En Español

“The end is near! Repent!”

I heard these words as I walked past a man reading from Revelation last Saturday at my town's Farmer’s Market. People walked by him without a glance. He kept loudly proclaiming this truth, yet no one was listening. It made me wonder why he was doing it. He is there every Saturday morning. Yet, he engages no one in conversation. There is no connection—no relationship forming. The words are true, but the action is missing.

I think about Marleny, Belkis, Carlitos, Selvin, Jandy, Wilson, Carolina, and many others who have received blessings from our Family Life Missions volunteers. Whether they are recipients of our programs or serve as FLM staff, they have seen words put into action. 

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”—James 2:14-17

Our volunteers are living out this verse when they serve the Catacamas community. They are also blessed as they bless others with their words and actions.

“Participating with FLM left me inspired, encouraged, challenged, and stronger in faith. Whether interpreting a Bible story for the school devotionals, or on the Building Dreams worksite, interacting with the FLM staff, or entertaining the children on campus, each experience gave me a wonderful view of Christ’s kingdom lived out in diverse and practical ways.”—Elizabeth, Mission Team Member from Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

by Carmen Solis,  Coordinator of Holistic Care and Social Worker

En Español

At Family Life Missions, we believe that the reason for hope is: God is Faithful! This assures us that we can trust God to fulfill his promises, as we have seen in human history. This conviction keeps us alert, hopeful, and permanently vigilant as we discover “God with us” in the programs we serve and our environment as He fulfills His promises. For 30 years, as we have been serving the community of Catacamas, we have had the certainty of His support and accompaniment.

Family Life Missions staff focuses daily on doing the work that the Lord our God has entrusted in our hands. The challenge is knowing how to wait tirelessly, creating the conditions to do everything excellently. We are convicted that God has our back in a life of commitment and constant work.

Thinking about the community families we serve through our Family Preservation program, we focus on the fruit of Hope and Joy. It is not that we are moved by a primary emotion or a feeling but by virtue of the Christian life. "Live always joyful, give thanks on every occasion," Paul writes in the letter to the Thessalonians. This is a call for all, without exception, to practice joy in the midst of life's adversities and the changing circumstances that families have to face. Joy is contagious, bears witness to Christian hope, and is acquired solely based on practicing it through faith. This is the case of the Vásquez family, whom we have served since 2017, and this year they had the opportunity to help them have a decent home, filling them with happiness and gratitude while fulfilling a dream they had been asking for in prayer for many years.

by José Chinchilla, Honduras National Director

En Español

Unfortunately, around the world, there are many children without families. This is for many reasons: parents who continue using past cycles of abuse and mistreatment and who have decided to live the same cycles with their children, spiritual death, poverty, migration, etc. Many children have not had the opportunity to raise their voices and say, "Mom, I'm hungry," "Daddy, I want to play with you," or "Mom and Dad, can you hug me." Many of these children are going through life without much hope of having a family. Many are being placed in children's homes and orphanages. This is not an unpleasant option, but it's not the best space God provided for a child to grow up and live in a safe place.

It is within a loving, flawless/flawed family, where peace and security reign,  that a child needs to live. We see in the Bible the importance that God gives to the concept of family. We can observe entire lineages. The books of Kings and Chronicles are full of offspring. This is a great sign that family is very important to God and has a lot to do with our identity in Jesus. In these 30 years of serving vulnerable children, Family Life Missions has realized that working for the family is what God wants us to do. These children from "hard places," as Dr. Karyn Purvis called them, need a family where they can heal their wounds and trauma. Sadly, they remain the most forgotten population today, with the church forgetting the call to care "... for the youngest of my brothers...". For this reason, we work with the churches of Catacamas to embrace this call so that we can give a family to these children who need it most.