10.03.2016

Strength for Today

by Wayne Goranson

Thank you for taking the time to stop and read this latest Update! Your prayers, financial support and encouragement have been a blessing to us on this journey to recovery.

My orthopedic surgeon gave me a good report this past month; I am healing so the aches and pains I am experiencing are normal for this type of injury. Some bones in the hip are still broken but healing. The ankle bone is totally healed. So he does not need to see me again unless something comes apart. There is no need for the use of a cane and he wants me to exercise often. So praise the Lord for His healing power!

I did not realize how much this was weighing on my mind until I felt a sense of relief and calm fall on me after the appointment. I have been taking it real easy over the past few months because the hip was popping and creaking and the last thing I wanted to do was re-injure it. 

So now we press on to the new normal. There is no going back to pre December 2014. There will always be some kind of limitations but praise God I am able to do the things I can do!

Moving On
So where do we go from here? As I mentioned last time, we believe the Lord has been directing us tochurch plant here in Central America. Costa Rica seems like the natural place to start, but we also have an invitation to come to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. We visited our friends in San Ramon de Alajuela before going to spend time with our grand children in August. Our friend, Pastor Federico Acuna, has invited us to come and start an international church there. His church is Iglesia Olivo Verde  (Green Olive Tree), which is located across the street from the University of Costa Rica. Pastor Federico translated Inductive Bible Study Seminars for me back in 2008 and 2009. He is now teaching the seminars throughout Costa Rica and other parts of Central America. We also have a heart for Mexico and would be open to plant a church in Ensenada or Guadalajara, two places with large expatriate communities.

The world is our drawing board and we are willing and able to pretty much go anywhere the Lord directs. Our ministry verse for the past 8 years has been;  A mans heart plans his ways,but the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9 

So we pray and ask you to pray with us for the Lord's direction. Pray the Lord will bring us in contact with young men with a vision to plant churches and a desire for an older couple to come along side to help them. Specific to now, please pray as we travel around in Oct/Nov and visit locations to discover God's plan for us.

I have also been asked to lead a Men's Bible Study at Horizon Church. We will be going through the book of Proverbs. Please pray for the men that need to attend and that will attend!

August and September
We had a great time with the grand children in Honduras in August while Jon and Marillyn travelled to the States to share with a few supporting churches and have a "baby moon" before baby Cinco arrives. (No that is not the name. It just means 5 in Spanish!) I also spent time directing the Honduran crew while they installed the roof on the new staff residence, Casa de Apoyo (Support Home). The kids also participated in the first ever RO4Y summer Olympics; javelin toss, grape fruit toss, soccer ball control, 50 meter dash. What a blast!
                                          

In September we went back to Iowa for doctors appointments. while there we also spent time with family and spoke at 3 supporting churches (CC Des MoinesCC Mason CityBritt Free Church). Here is the message I taught at CCDM, "Live Like You're Dying!" Thank you to everyone who welcomed us into their homes and churches and made us feel so loved!
 
One Flesh
I realized as I am typing this Update that I rarely share what a blessing my wife, Brooke, is to me. She has left many of her creature comforts to follow me around different parts of the world. She has experienced many things that would take out a much weaker woman; malaria, bugs galore, funky food, bad beds, jet lag, etc... not to mention having to put up with me. So I want to take this time to let you all know how much I love this woman and I am blessed to have her by my side and also venturing into the areas of ministry in which the Lord has gifted her. She has taken up so much of the burden these past 2 years as I recovered!

This month we celebrate 33 years of marriage and 27 years in ministry! Thank you Brooke Emily Goranson for being my help mate!

8.01.2016

Direction


Greetings Friends!
These past few months have been a time of much contemplation regarding the future direction of our ministry, Water, Worship & the Word. I am gaining strength daily now and understanding more clearly the physical constraints of my new normal. Brooke and I have also been diligently seeking to hear God clearly on what, where and when! Just recently, we found ourselves talking about planting an International Church* somewhere in Central America. Part of this stirring was the remembrance of several prophecies I have received over the years, that I am to be planting churches, not just one but several. The first one was way back in 1993 while on a missions trip in Australia and the most recent was just this past February.

As I look back over the years, I can see where I have been considering this call and then find myself off doing other things; coming along side ministries to build, teaching at Bible colleges, training foreign Pastors. All good things but perhaps not God’s best. One of these things I love to do and do well is construction, so it is easy to find myself sidetracked and saying yes, especially to my daughter for whom I have built several projects at their ministry, Rancho Oasis 4 Youth in Honduras. But God in His sovereignty, in December of 2014, while I was in fact building a home for my daughter’s family, allowed my life course to change radically. As a result of that day, that accident, I am no longer able to construct much of anything. I can no longer squat, bend down, climb a ladder, get on my hands and knees or lift heavy objects. Hence, this has become less of a distraction for me. Granted I can still supervise and will be doing so with the installation of a roof at Rancho Oasis in August and other things through December, but I do not see myself actively involved in constructing and building on the mission field any longer.

Although I could be disappointed because I love it, I am actually excited that now perhaps I can focus wholeheartedly on what I believe is our call moving into 2017. God has already revealed locations that we are praying over and we trust He will also bring the confirmation of where the first church plant will take place. Additionally, He has shown me that I am to involve young married men in these plants, one Spanish speaking and one English speaking, with the purpose of training and raising them up and then when they are ready, passing the church on and moving on. How all of this will come to pass I do not know, but I know it is already planned out and now we must walk forward and watch God open doors and do what He does best, accomplish His will! I will be teaching at a few Calvary Chapel Bible Colleges in Latin America until we get clear marching orders. Perhaps out of these colleges will come partners for planting.

You, our many supporters, have been such a big part of this. Your words of encouragement and prayers over the years and especially this past year, have kept us going and looking and making ourselves available. All God wants is an available heart, one that will say yes! We just sold our home in Iowa so we are once again unburdened and ready to go whenever and wherever. Please pray that we would place our feet rightly behind His and let Him lead us out!

*For those who are not familiar with the term, International Church, it is an English speaking church partnering with, in our case, a Spanish speaking church. There are many places where people from the USA and Canada have moved to retire (or escape) and this type of church reaches out to these people as well as the locals. There is a growing need in many areas of C. A. for these International churches.

Thank you for standing with us through this past year and a half! It has been an amazing journey! One that I would have never asked for, but also a journey I would never want to change! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and loving friends and family like you!

In His grace,
Wayne & Brooke