Updates on Daniel Hernandez
June 26, 2006
Dear friends and family,
The situation with Daniel remains the same. The only difference is that the director of INHFA was in the First Lady’s office and said in a loud voice “No one not even the First Lady could convince her to give a child in adoption.” Please pray for Honduras as things a quite turbulent right now with a new president.
The ministers and men who are in training to go to the Bible Institute have been meeting for leadership training the last several weeks. The training is based from John Maxwell’s books. The men have really enjoyed the all day classes and having been learning a lot.
Toby has meetings with these same men on Monday and Wednesday nights. Monday night is a study from Bill Gothard’s Basic Life Principles. This study is a great blessing as it trains the men to see things from God’s point of view and trains them in character. These men for the most part have never been taught right from wrong or have an understanding of why something is wrong like lying. They also don’t understand that their children are learning and watching them. The other night Toby took Sarah, our white tornado(those of you who know our Sarah will understand this nickname given by her grandparents and aptly applies). I was shocked Toby took her. I thought he would be back with her in 15 minutes. It turned out to be a big blessing. Sarah was really good overall but provided several teaching points. Toby said it was amazing to watch the men slowly understand why their children were acting a certain way and how to apply discipline to their own children. In the mountain it is typically for a parent to beat their child for everything. Toby also teaches a class for our current ministers who have children in the morning. They are going through the book of Genesis discussing the various families, issues they face, and how they apply today.
On Wednesday nights, Toby is going through the books of Corinthians in depth. Toby is so excited about both studies as the men are really asking insightful questions. They have a hunger for learning and do not want to stop the class after two hours of study. More and more questions about cultural issues are coming up. There are certain beliefs and practices here in the mountain. The men go to the Bible and find out what the Bible says about it. This will have a tremendous impact on our churches. Toby has incredible paciense with the men. He has over the years allowed them to slowly understand the Bible and put it into practice as they develop understanding. It would be easier to say this is how it is going to be down but whenever we leave they would go back to the old way. God has used Toby’s patience to slowly change these men’s thinking to the Biblical view.
We have recently told our men that they will be responsible for monthly reporting to me and I in return will type up the news to send to you. What kind of news are you interested in? What kind of pictures would you like to see? With our digital camera I can always send pictures with an e-mail Last weekend we had a baptism that took place in our old water tank. There was also another baptism in Cofradia. Please let me know what you want to hear and know and I will pass it on to the guys.
May God bless you,
Toby, Amy, Cassandra, Sarah, and Jonathan.
June 26, 2006
Dear friends and family,
The lawyer for the adopting family of Daniel just found out right now that she has a meeting with the First Lady of Honduras. She appointed the director of IHNFA so she has the power to fire or do whatever to help this adoption along. We only have the President and the First Lady to go through since the director says no one will convince her to give any child up for adoption. It is understood of course that God can use many different avenues to get this adoption done. The appointment is sometime tomorrow morning. We don’t know when but please be in prayer. I will know sometime tomorrow afternoon what her answer was. Thanks in advance for your prayers.
Keep praying,
Amy Hill
July 9, 2006
Dear friends and family,
Many of you have asked what is the news with Daniel. It has been weeks of ups and downs as we try to figure out the best approach to get the director of IHNFA to sign. I never knew what to write because things were so crazy with constant changes on what we could do to get the director to sign.. Today I called the lawyer today to get an update. I was so excited and thankful to God to hear that the director of IHNFA signed Thursday/Friday. I don’t know what convinced the director to sign(besides God using something/someone to convict her) but she did sign and that is what is important. This week the lawyer will pick up the sealed signed documents. Monday the court reopens from a 3 week vacation. The lawyer then will hand deliver the sealed package to the judge. Please pray that the judge will be willing to review the documentation as quickly as possible. Once the documents have been approved by the court the only thing left of the Honduran side is the Public Writing which officially makes the Barkdoll’s the legal parents of Daniel. Then is just the American part. Please pray that this goes quickly. What a blessing though that the director who absolutely refused to sign, signed the document.
Praising God,
Amy Hill
