While Evan and I were in La Ceiba, Honduras with our church, we had the opportunity to do several portrait sessions with some of the missionary families who were stationed there. I was so excited to bless them in this way, because we often forget how much our brothers and sisters in Christ sacrifice when they move across the world to serve the Lord. We all think of the obvious – air conditioning, our favorite foods and shopping malls, etc. But they also miss out on some of the little indulgences we have at our disposal here in the U.S. – such as family photos!

Michelle and Adam Cain, along with their two boys, Jacob and Asher, have been in LA Ceiba since 2013 as part of a church planting team. Adam recruits nationals for church leadership and trains them in discipleship, theology, and ministry to their communities.

Before moving to Honduras, Adam and Michelle met at Texas Christian University and lived, worked and did ministry in Texas and Phoenix, AZ. They discovered on their second date that they had a mutual love for missions (aww) and answered the Lord’s call to serve in Honduras ten years later. Adam was drawn to the orphans, broken homes, poverty and need for the Gospel while on a short term mission trip to Honduras, and came home to tell Michelle, who was 8 months pregnant at the time.

They love the people of La Ceiba, first and foremost. The culture in Honduras focuses on people and relationship over busy schedules and work, which allows the Cains to build relationships with the local people. On parenting in a foreign country, Michelle says, “everything has changed and nothing has changed.” Her concerns as a mom are the same – safety, spiritual growth, health and education. “Navigating the transitions and changes of the missionary life, however, is the tricky part. They no longer live in the country in which they were born however they function in a language and culture that they have assimilated to over the last 4 years.  Their home, beds, toys, friends, and lives are in Honduras.  It’s easy (easier) as an adult to contribute the emotions during transitions and trials as a taste of our longing for Heaven, our true home, where we won’t be foreigners.  We were made for Heaven.”

The biggest challenge they are facing right now is overcoming the false beliefs that permeate the culture and teaching the one True Gospel. 

The Gospel is quite simple.  God is holy, we are ALL sinners and we ruined our relationship with Him through that sin.  God gave us a great gift by sending his perfect Son to die in our place and mend the broken relationship.  It was a gift of grace and mercy.  False gospels come in many forms but so many of them consist of thinking we can earn our salvation or that our sin isn’t that serious or that once we follow Him our lives will be abundantly blessed with wealth. We hope that something we do or say or wear saves us; something in and of ourselves earns us favor. That we have the power to prove our worth to God without Jesus. We desire Christ to be known in Honduras.

You can pray for the Cains and their work in La Ceiba in the following ways:

• That the Lord would draw the people to the True Gospel
• That the Lord would bring men of upright character with teachable hearts into their ministries.
• Pray for the ability to properly process the violence and poverty that they see on a daily basis.
• Pray for their family to find a balance between ministry and family, that they would seek out rest weekly and have patience for fruit in ministry.

Enjoy this beautiful session we had with this family! To follow their story and learn more, check out Michelle’s blog: