Greetings from Guatemala, The month of March has already been a busy month. Giving God all the glory.
First we had a group from Defuniak Springs Fl. they had been here before in just a small group and stayed with us here at the house, that was last summer. This time there were 7 people so we stayed with the Reynolds at His Appointed time retreat center. In a previous visit they had built a house with our church, so they wanted to do that again. So that is what we did for a needy family (the Solis family). We also visited the first family whom they built a house for last year (the Gonzales family) took some gifts and food to them, It is wonderful to see the ongoing relationship that this team has been building with them. We also visited the region of Panabajal with the Reynolds, they took baskets of food and had a great day of visiting. They went to another area that they had been to before (Santa Maria da Jesus) we had some bible story time and lunch with the children there, all the children got socks and a copy of the gospel of John in Spanish. We also went to Rio Bravo and served breakfast to the kids there, then they handed out socks and the gospel of John to every child who came about 200 that day.
Then in the last part of February and first week of March we had some church builder friends from Austin, Tx.David and Pat Schaerdal and their son James came for a visit. Wow they almost wore us out. First we went to the market and bought a truck load of food and took it to Rio Bravo, while there we installed an new 8 gpm. UV water purification system. Friday the guys worked at our church all day building panels for houses while Georgette and Pat went to ladies bible study. Saturday we went to a poor families house and installed a fuel efficient stove for them. Sunday we went to our church, Iglesia del Camino. On Monday we built a house for a family of 9 (the Vasquez family). We broke the record and put it up in 5 hours, also installing a bottle light in the top. Tuesday and Wednesday we removed and installed a new sub-pump and installed a 2 gpm. UV water purification system for a very poor family who we learned about through our church, (the Abraham Cordero family) Wow they were so appreciative for this gift, they had gone without use of their water well for over a year. They had to get water from a truck that filled barrels and other containers. The only thing that they could do for us is sing us a song and what a blessing that was. It was a song about how Gods Love goes to all the nations.
Then two days later we had a great team of 10 who came from Pioneer Drive and Beltway Baptist, Abilene, Tx. here to do medical clinics. They got here on a Saturday night so we went to church on Sunday at Iglesia del Camino, then we had to sort through and divide up what seemed like two million pills and vitamins for 3 days of clinic. First thing Monday morning we loaded up and went to Santa Maria de Jesus and saw 70 patients, these are people who could never afford to go to a doctor. On Tuesday we did much the same thing in an area called Panabajal, that day there were 110 patients. And again on Wednesday same thing in a different village know as Xetonox, pronounced (Shetonosh) these folks had never had any sort of outside help in the way of medical attention, so needless to say they were very thankful. The last 2 clinics were areas where Charlie Reynolds has been ministering to the Mayan people for a while building relations with the mayors of those communities. Then on their last day we went to Antigua for a wonderful breakfast at Santo Domingo hotel restaurant, one of the only breakfast buffet in the country. Then they went and toured a coffee plantation and 2 of them decided to ride the zip lines. After that it was time to do the shopping in the market. I can tell you these ladies know how to shop. Leaving Antigua we stopped by for a visit to Casa Shalom orphanage to play with the kids and take a tour of the facility. This team served a lot of needy people and at the same time got to experience the wonderful country of Guatemala. Thank Pioneer Drive and Beltway Baptist churches.
Now for our prayer request for this month, Please pray for teams that are still serving during the spring break season doing various forms of ministry, safety for us as we travel, Gods guidance in the water ministry, All the patients seen by the medical team for a complete healing. Thank you for lifting these petitions up to the Lord.
