Memories of Joe

My dear M.M.M. family and friends, I’m dedicating this newsletter in memory of my dear husband Joseph, whom God allowed to rest on Wednesday August 17, 2022. You have been with us through the sorrows and joys of ministry, so let us go down memory lane together. There might be some smiles, and there might be some tears.

People often ask, how did we ever end up in Honduras and how did we accomplish all that has been done? Well, we know it was God and only God! But God needed someone to say, “Here am I, send me.” And that’s what Joe did 24 years ago after Hurricane Mitch had devastated the country of Honduras. Joe was always ready to act when a disaster took place.

When it was decided that we would take a group of students and staff from Hartland College to help out in disaster relief, it was time to move into action. Someone had to go ahead to meet the container and set up everything for the group. Joe said, “I’ll go ahead and take care of things!” I remember saying to him, ”Honey, you don’t speak Spanish, you don’t know where you are going, or how you are going to get around.” And he said, “Don’t worry. God will be with me. God will help me because we’re going to help the people.“

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“Men of stamina are wanted, men who will not wait to have their way smoothed and every obstacle removed; men who will inspire with fresh zeal the flagging efforts of dispirited workers; men whose hearts are warm with Christian love, and whose hands are strong to do their Master’s work.”

GW 290

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That was Joe, he was always ready to move without fear into the unknown. So, months after we had come back from Honduras, we could not forget the great need we had seen, and decided that if it was God’s will, we were willing to move there.

Joe once again ventured to go scouting for land for a future outpost. This time he took one of the students as a translator. He spent two weeks going from place to place praying for God’s guidance. And it was not until the Friday, before his flight back on Monday, that he reluctantly went up the mountain. And as they went around a curve, Joe looked over to the right and said, “That’s it!! That’s what I’m looking for!” You see God was leading him, and the rest is history. Joe was a true pioneer.

Moving forward, he went back to Honduras and camped on that piece of property, “to get the feel of it” he would say, and there began doing his drawings and designs of the outpost building. It was because of Joe that we got to Honduras. It was his determination. He would often tell the boys, “Don’t let anything discourage you or distract you from doing God’s will.”