Alegria Accessories Prayer Partners

Waking up on October 19th after sharing the last two days with women from southern Illinois at a boutique market about how their shopping can change a life in Honduras, I'm grateful that this is the place God has put me for this season of my life.  But God and I had some serious conversations on the road each day in the 2 hour drive over and back.

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Matt 11:28 It's Sunday, the day of rest and worship in our American church rhythm. And as I'm sipping coffee and writing this blog post, I just finished my quiet time and this verse was my take-away. A reminder that yes, we carry heavy burdens and we get weary. That is the work we are doing. It is good and godly to work hard. But, we must remember God made the Sabbath for us to rest. It's not a law (that would be another heavy burden), it's a gift. OK, to be technical, it is a law. But Jesus fulfilled it and then He told us that the Sabbath was made for us. Like when we put our children to bed at a good time, or make that cranky 4 year old take a nap. Not only is the Sabbath something I was meditating on this morning, but also prayer. My prayer life became vital when I became a mother. I realized how incapable I was and how much I had to entrust my children to God. Now Alegria and the young women in Honduras who depend upon it for their very livelihood sends me hour by hour to my knees. And I'm so grateful for you who join me in praying on Sundays for Alegria. Today, the heavy burden is January and the need for 9 more subscribers to step up and claim a Joy Box.  I know this was the prayer last week, but it didn't move. Before we cross over into 2026, we have to have these boxes fully subscribed to. Will you please do 3 things this morning? 1. Pray for these 9 Joy-Creators to see a post, or read an email, or come across the Joy Box on our website and decide to subscribe. 2. When I post about the Joy Box, would you like it, comment on it and share it? 3. If you are being moved to subscribe, would you do that today. I can tell you the November, December and January boxes are designed and they are stunning! These are a special design that we work hard on each month. We are trying to give our subscribers such an amazing accessorizing toolbox that they adore. And an arsenal of gifts to give if a particular box isn't their taste. Thank you for your prayers Joy-Creators. The 9 people, the Lord already knows them by name. And I pray blessings on our Joy Box subscribers every single month for their faithfulness to Alegria.

Today I am praying specifically for the 9 people God is calling to subscribe to our Joy Boxes. I am praying that they will see the new October Joy Box and the beautiful, hardworking and talented artisans who designed it and hand crafted it, and they will be moved to step up to a greater commitment to these artisans and enjoy this exclusive piece or pieces each and every month (even if it is to gift some of it).

So many praises and prayers as September comes to a close.

Everything we do at Alegria is to keep our artisans safe, and keep their salaries paid. The mission given to me on December 2nd, 2020 was to ‘start a jewelry company and hire the young women from Faith Home.’ This picture is our artisans saying thank you to our Joy-Creators for shopping during the week we needed to replace our air conditioner in the Honduras office. Today I would ask that you would pray over the 4th Quarter of the year. That our Joy-Creators and Joy-Partner stores would be extravagant with their shopping and that we would have what we need to make it through the winter months with bills and salaries paid. If everyone on our mailing list bought 2 Christmas presents, we could have 3 months of savings retained! If all 180 of our Joy-Partner stores placed 1 average order, we would be able to hire another artisan. We have choices in how we shop, and those choices are powerful. Choosing something from Alegria has a direct impact on women and their families because they are paid a living wage for their work. Please pray that this fall and Christmas season inspires exceedingly, abundantly above all we can ask or imagine shopping! (Eph 3:20-21)

Tomorrow is Honduras Independence Day! Our artisans and their families will be enjoying a holiday and celebrating their beautiful country and their freedom.

We are praying for it to be a huge week of blessings for Alegria!

Like the sandals of the Israelites in the desert, our little air conditioner that we bought with our move to our office in Honduras has run and run and run without giving out. It is only about half the BTU strength we were told we needed for the office. And we are on a top floor with a flat roof 15º off the equator. For this little unit, we have been so grateful! But this last week, it started getting really hot in our office. Imagine working when it's nearly 100º outside and it's not a lot a lot cooler inside. And handling jewelry components and small tools with sweaty hands is just not easy. So we're in the middle of a Hot Deals for Cool Artisans Labor Day Weekend Sale in an effort to liquidate some inventory to have the funds for replacing our Honduras office air conditioner. Would you please pray that we can have an incredibly successful sale this weekend and be able to pay for the air conditioner and installation in its entirety? Thank you Joy-Creators for your constant prayers and support!

Thank you for praying with me over keeping the mission our focus and growing to be able to create more jobs.

The mission that started and motivates Alegria is jobs - so when we have an abundance of work, we are on mission and rejoicing!

As the Christian Products Expo begins today, and we've wrapped up the Faire market, Joy-Partners (retail stores that have purchased Alegria at wholesale to sell in their stores) will be putting out their new products from us and sharing our story with their customers.