Apr. 15, 2025

March April 2025 Concnshell Chronicles

The Hinge of Christianity

The Edicule inside the Church of the Holy Seplecher, Jerusalem

Recent discoveries indicate this structure covers a tomb cut out in the bedrock.

The Most Important Three Days in Human History.

Easter is the celebration of the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross on Friday and his Resurrection on Sunday. Because of this event we know two things:

1) Jesus’s claims of divinity are true! Only God could Resurrect.

2) Our sins have been forgiven because of the blood offering that Jesus gave for our sins.

Did the Resurrection actually happen? Harvard Professor Simon Greenleaf, who authored the book on evidence admissible in court, said “There is more historical-legal evidence for the Resurrection than any other event in history.”

How do you convince a group of Jews who worship the One True God that you are that God in the flesh?

By allowing yourself to be crucified on Passover and resurrecting a few days later and spending the next 50 days having meals with your friends.

The Resurrection is the hinge on which Christianity turns.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then he is just another philosopher with a lunatic or deceiving twist. Ignore anything he said about life!

But if He did resurrect, then pay close attention to what He said, and continues to say.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁷ and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 1 Corinthians 15:16-19

Lamb Bleatings

Full Moonrise over our dock on Utila

It was a usual early morning when I awoke at about 4:30 am looking forward to see how the sun would rise. To my surprise as soon as I walk out of the room into the kitchen, I saw the bright full moon over the water through our glass window. It was a scene I had never witnessed before because there was also a sailboat to the left of our dock and the moon shining and creating the perfect water reflection. Breathtaking! This was a completion of a vision that we would one day have a sail boat next to the dock . As the moon got closer to the horizon, it began to turn orange like it wanted to be the sun. Each moment provoked an automatic celebration of my Creator who seems to always come up with endless “designs, colors and enjoyable scenes of grandeur and notability. I ran to get my phone to capture the moment from the top floor of the dock but by the time I got out there it had disappeared over the horizon…Everything changes so fast.

I am trying to practice inhaling each moment before my Creator and acknowledging His presence and beauty. I realize day to day that each moment is a gift from God to be used for God, with God, by God, unto God and make it all about God. We CELEBRATE our God, the Creator of the sunrise and the sunset. Yes and also the moonrise and moonset and all the little hummingbirds, birds , butterflies we get to enjoy frolicking around and the little puppies and cats I get to feed as they come around. We get to jump into our giant aquarium pool (which we don’t have to clean) every day…usually twice …before work and after work for sunset. We get to talk to people all day long about our favorite topic…a relationship with our Creator…the One who loves us. We are praying for the many we have met and spoken to …old friends and new…we pray that they would begin talking to God and that God would show up big for them. His Love is so great for each one of us. We long to share it so each can know such compassionate love, hope and peace.

The Words I keep getting over and again….

"Celebrate and ENJOY wholeheartedly who I am and all that I have made for your enjoyment. Celebrate My marvelous Creation and be ever Grateful. Talk to Me, Seek Me and you will find Me.”

Arielle and Moselle helped us open the Utila Cafe

God Happenings

Rio Coco Nicaragua

Nutie & Myga with Danilo, Rodolio & Onofre in the back cruising the Rio Coco.

Tom and Nutie are meeting with our teachers downriver in Sawa this week in a celebration of the accomplishments of our 38 years of educating Miskito children in the most remote corner of Central America. This is a time to reflect on what God has done with our Seek The Lamb schools, and a look forward to the next phase of His outreach to the Miskito people.

Last month we sent seven of our young adults from the Waspam Bible Club to the Young Life camp convention in the mountains above Matagalpa. There they spent a week with over 200 other young adults from the other Bible Clubs in Nicaragua in a time of worship, Bible study, athletic activities and general Christian community. Young Life of Nicaragua does such a good job in reaching these future leaders of the country with solid Biblical teaching and connection to God. We are so fortunate to be partnering with them in this next phase of our ministry there.

Tom sharing some of the highlights of our 38 years teaching children on the Rio Coco.

Vero Beach Florida

The Tuesday night Alpha Group at the Rio Coco Cafe

Lukas, Mikaela, Arielle and Moselle hosted a 11 week Alpha class at the Rio Coco Café which pulled in many of our friends for a time of good food and teaching on the essence of Biblical Christianity. The video series is very effective in focusing on the important aspects of our personal relationship with Christ, and the discussions took the group deeper into their personal experiences walking with God. Mikaela, Lukas and Ryan did a great job in preparing the food and Lukas led the discussion with poignant questions.

For Laura and I, this Alpha class was very encouraging to see what God is doing in this next generation. Bible sales were up 22% in 2024, with many in the 20- to 30-year-old age bracket purchasing their first Bible! Having our children leading this discipleship effort while we are out of the country was so pleasing to our spirits.

Utila Bay Island Honduras

The entrance to the Utila Rio Coco Cafe

After a five year covid hiatus, we reopened the Rio Coco Café on Utila on February 17^th. Arielle and Moselle organized the service area and kitchen of the café, and trained our four missionaries/baristas in the flow of the café here on this western Caribbean island that attracts scuba and free divers from all over the world. Ani is a former employee who recruited three of her friends, Daisy, Gracie and Olivia, to become part of our reopening team. These young ladies immediately showed great enthusiasm for the mission of reaching out to these travelers by serving them delicious baked good and coffee drinks and engaging them in conversations.

How has it been?

The first week a new friend from Boston saw a Scripture reference on the service bar and announced “I am going to read the entire Bible this year.” When we asked him why he said “I have been going to church all my life but never read the Bible. Its time I understand this book.” Over the next 10 days he was in the café once or twice every day as he did his Open Water course next door. We had opportunity to share with our Red Sox fan our experiences in understanding God better through reading His Word, and sensing His presence greater on a regular basis. It was a very sweet time, and we will see him again either here or in Vero Beach.

I overheard a young man from Holland ask our girls: “Are you religious? Do you have sex with your boyfriends?”

It was an honest question, and I was very proud to hear them talk about intimacy with God and their understanding of sexual intimacy inside a committed relationship called marriage. They brought up God’s design for the family as the foundation of human society, and His desire for greater intimacy between the husband and wife through the gift of sex as described in the Song of Songs in the Bible. It was very interesting to me to hear the Dutch boy say afterward “That makes sense.” I’m sure that he had never heard that explanation of sexual relations in his life.

This was a conversation that happened more than once with European men who were very curious about the morality of the Rio Coco girls.

Some of our dive instructor friends

There are many dive instructors on the island who have been awaiting our reopening for these past years and they are coming back along with many new ones. Some are even attending our Sunday morning time of worship and Bible study!

The backyard and dock of the Rio Coco Cafe

When we arrived on Utila on February 13^th, I was reminded of Paul’s experience as he arrived in Corinth to plant a Christian community in the sex capital of the ancient world. He had been beaten and jailed in Philippi and forced to flee Thessaloniki and Berea. He knew that there might be opposition in Corinth and he feared more harsh treatment. But the Lord addressed his fear in a distinct vision and told him something that we must remember as we engage those around us:

And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; ¹⁰ for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” Acts 18:9-10

“I have many people in this city.”

At this moment, the message of the Gospel had been received by ‘many’ from the synagogue, but history shows that this was only the beginning of the establishment of a thriving church in Corinth. God was letting Paul know that many of the Corinthians would become followers of Jesus in the next years. Paul had to only do his part. God would do the rest.

Guillermo is one of my oldest and dearest friends

We sensed the same. Utila is a lot like Corinth. God knows that many here on Utila will receive Him as their Lord and Savior, and we only have to do our part, knowing that He will draw many of those coming into the Rio Coco Café into relationship with Him. We just have to do our part and care for those He brings us.

Laura's Kick Boxing crew: Sam, Heather, Gil and Fabiola

God already knows who will be with Him in Eternity. He will bring them to us as part of His process to save mankind. We may not recognize them. Often, He brings us those we think are the least likely to become followers of Jesus. But Laura and I often look in the mirror and realize we were once those “most unlikely” to become Christians, much less pastors and missionaries.

Be encouraged! Let’s all do our part in this Eternal Adventure that He has called us to.

Laura, Michael, Ani, Daisy, Jake, Gracie, & Olivia

Utila Construction Project

We need more staff housing! Jake Ekstrom, a former staff member of Hope Chapel Maui, is joining our team and our apartment is full of young ladies. Starting next week we will build a two bedroom apartment in the back corner of our cafe/home, above the outdoor shower.

Here is Laura and Robert doing the preliminary design.

I took their sketch and came up with these designs:

Robert had already prepared the pvc posts and rebar fountation.

This is a very exciting opportunity for us to have housing for new team members. Robert has done and excellent job building our cafe and remodelng our home since we began working together in 2011.

We appreciate all your prayers and support!

If you would like to help out, here is a link to our giving page:

Utila Staff Housing construction

2025 Biblical Study Tours

Join us for one of our study tours with Dr Randall Smith this year!

Here are the two trips that we have scheduled with Christian Travel Study Programs for 2025.

To Register please go to christiantravelstudyprograms.net or call (800) 371-4485. Please tell Dottie or Larissa that you are part of the Seek The Lamb group.

Turkey “The Seven Churches of Revelation”

June 18-28, 2025

$3799 per person

We joined Randy and Dottie Smith in 2021 for their first onsite study of the Seven Churches of Revelation in Turley. It was one of the most relevant and significant studies we have done with Randy since we began working with him in 1997. Randy’s extensive book on the Seven Churches really helped us as we visited each site. Turkey has the most Christian Archeological sites. It is a beautiful country with welcoming people with delicious food and incredible scenery. Our study of the culture and history behind those letters Jesus gave to the congregations in Smyrna, Pergamum, Sardis, Philadelphia, Thyatira, Laodicea and Ephesus are so relevant to the issues we are facing in our culture today. We encourage you to consider going on this trip in June.

For the daily itinerary and to register please go to:

Turkey- The Seven Churches of Revelation

Italy “Paul’s Response to the Roman World’

Oct 27 – Nov 7 2025

$5699 per person

We were with Randy and Dottie in 2007 when Randy decided to use Christian and Roman sites in Italy to show the culture of the First Century, the challenges to the Christian Faith, and how Paul devised a strategy to overtake that culture with God's culture. We spent a week traveling through the central part of Italy visiting First Century Roman sites. We returned the following year to revisit many of those sites with our study tour group.

Our 21st Century world shares many of the same values of the Roman world and the same challenges. This study will equip you in your response to the cultural challenges of these times!

For the daily Itinerary and to register, please go to

Italy- Paul's Response to the Roman World