Teaching Biblical Reformed Theology to the World
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Daily Quote
I share with you the blessings corresponding to the month of June 2026. This period has been a profound combination of individual counseling and pastoral care, theological training for leaders, and a massive evangelistic effort that has impacted hundreds of lives in Honduras and Nicaragua. Every mile traveled reaffirms God's faithfulness and the urgency to continue consolidating the ministry in the region.
My journey to the Nicaraguan field began on Saturday, May 30th, at 4:00 a.m. Relying entirely on public transportation, I started by boarding a first bus headed to Nacaome, where I transferred to a bus for the city of Choluteca, and then took a third unit to reach the terrestrial customs border of Guasaule. I arrived at the border line between 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m., and after completing the migration procedures on foot, managed to board the bus on the Nicaraguan side at 2:00 p.m. After waiting for that transport to depart toward Chinandega, I made an immediate connection to the capital, Managua, arriving around 7:00 p.m. In order not to miss the last local bus of the day, I had to run for about five minutes with my backpacks and suitcases on my back. That final bus dropped me off at a service station on the outskirts of Masaya, where I had to call a night taxi which, due to the late hour, charged double the usual fare. I finally arrived at the church that would serve as my lodging at 9:00 p.m. — a continuous seventeen-hour journey.
I share this not as a complaint, but so you may know the day-to-day reality of the field and join me in prayer over it. Traveling on these local buses is not comfortable at all. Because people walk long distances under the sun, they sweat heavily, and many travel without having bathed, generating very foul odors. The units are packed so tightly that one must travel pressed against strangers who do not mind the extreme heat inside — a harsh combination of bad odors, overcrowding, and unscrupulous individuals speaking in vulgar language that turns the commute into a genuinely distressing and exhausting experience.
Upon arriving at the ministry base in Masaya, I also faced the reality that there are no brothers with vehicles or the willingness to assist with reception logistics. In many parts of Latin America an entrenched custom persists where people wait to see what the missionary is bringing them in terms of money or food, rather than developing a spirit of service and hospitality. Arriving so late, I swept the room and dusted off the bedsheets on my own — in fact, from experience, I now always travel with my own sheets and towels. To add to this, the food sold along the routes is street food and usually gives me diarrhea, so I complete almost the entire trip sustaining myself only on water and bread brought from home. Although I was able to buy a proper meal once in Masaya, due to how late it was, getting proper nourishment was not possible.
And yet the Lord had work waiting on the other side of that road.
I woke up on Sunday, June 1st, and in the morning I had the opportunity to preach the Word of God in both English and Spanish, due to visitors we had from the United States representing the Korean Presbytery. They had arrived with the purpose of supporting the local church with a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the children. During the following two days, June 1st and 2nd, I joyfully integrated into the children's activities that this Korean church had prepared. Consider the picture: a Honduran missionary, an American-Korean team, and a Nicaraguan congregation, all laboring together over the same group of children. That is the body of Christ crossing every line drawn on a map.
Once the activities with the children concluded, I relocated to the city of Tipitapa, where I dedicated an intensive 8 continuous hours to training the pastors of the area. As always, these brothers showed themselves completely willing, respectful, and eager to make the most of this time of biblical equipping. Eight hours is a demanding day for a teacher and a longer one for students, but not one of them flagged. This is the quiet engine of the entire work — men going home better equipped to feed their own congregations long after I have gone.
The return to Honduras followed the exact same path and complexity. The church where I stayed is not close to the town center, so regular public transportation units do not begin running until 6:00 a.m. or 7:00 a.m. Because of my need to catch an early bus at the main terminal to advance on the cross-border route, I had to walk for several minutes in the darkness of the early morning until I could find a unit to get me closer.
Upon returning to Honduras, I dedicated a full week to providing direct pastoral care and attention to our beloved brother Priciliano Ríos, who recently celebrated his 109th birthday. Although his advanced age no longer allows him to move on his own, his general health remains optimal.
In order to bless him and watch over his well-being, I moved him from the city of Tegucigalpa to Comayagua, where we had the opportunity to take him out to a restaurant and perform detailed medical checkups for the strict management of his health. His relatives have processed his passport and are looking forward to being able to take him to the United States in the near future.
One hundred and nine years. Consider what this man has watched God do across more than a century — wars, regimes, famines, revivals, and the steady faithfulness of the Lord through all of it. There is no line on a ministry budget for taking an elderly saint to lunch and making sure his medications are right. But I would defend that week as some of the most important work I did all month. The church that forgets its oldest members has forgotten something about the character of God.
Immediately after finishing this period of pastoral care, I undertook a new return trip to Nicaragua, specifically to the city of Chinandega, on June 19th and 20th. Fortunately, this journey was shorter than the last.
At this base we successfully held the second training of the year, with an attendance of 25 people, among whom were 15 pastors from the region. These are men who are coming to know the doctrine more deeply and who continue to grow theologically and ministerially through the Academy.
I want you to see the arithmetic of this. Fifteen pastors, each shepherding a congregation. Whatever those men carried home from those two days will be preached, taught, and lived out in front of hundreds of people I will never personally meet. This is precisely why the Academy exists — not to gather crowds, but to strengthen the men who stand in front of them every week.
Concluding in Chinandega, I returned to Honduras, traveling directly to the city of Gracias, Lempira, on a grueling journey that took around 10 hours of continuous travel.
In this beautiful city, from June 21st to 24th, we intensively carried out a Medical and Dental Campaign project, utilizing physical health as a blessed bridge to preach the Gospel of Christ. The method is simple and profoundly biblical: people come because they need a doctor or a dentist, and while their bodies are being attended to, someone sits with them, face to face, and tells them about Jesus Christ. Not a crowd addressed from a platform. Not a broadcast. One soul at a time, personally, with their name known and their eyes met.
Over those four days, more than 1,300 people listened to the Good News of Salvation in a personalized, face-to-face manner — and the Holy Spirit produced results that only He can generate:
That is 638 people in four days who either surrendered their lives to Christ or said aloud that they knew they needed to. Some of them had walked considerable distances to get a tooth pulled and left having found the Savior. Therefore, we remain confident that the seed sown will not return void.
Since finishing this intense journey in Lempira, I have actively continued teaching the Word through virtual platforms. I am currently teaching a detailed study of the book of Philemon via Zoom meetings and WhatsApp groups to a very dear and friendly church that deeply values scriptural study. Philemon is a short letter about reconciliation, forgiveness, and receiving back a brother who was once written off — and it is a joy to teach it to people hungry enough to gather on a phone screen to hear it.
At this moment, I am preparing my bags and logistics to depart this coming July 1st to El Salvador, where we will continue expanding the structure of the Academy and training new local teams.
Looking ahead to the coming months, the Lord has opened strategic and large-scale doors for the expansion of the ministry and the strengthening of the church in the region:
Eight hundred Bibles across three countries in three months — placed into the hands of people who in many cases have never owned one.
In Christ,
Isaias Martinez
Field Missionary
“Prosperity cannot be a proof of God's favor, since it is what the devil promises to those who worship him. (Matt. 4:9).”
