Children are a Gift, June 2010

Dear Supporting friends:

Greetings from rainy Guatemala! As we drove back to Quetzaltenango, we saw the hurricane destruction. There were many mud slides that converted the four lane highway into two. This situation makes driving very dangerous because there were areas with no signs. Praise God we arrived home safely! We want to thank you for praying for us as we traveled in the U.S.. We also want to thank you for your concerns regarding our safety here in Guatemala. We know that Guatemala was in the news in the USA, due to the volcanic eruptions, the hurricanes and the big sink hole in Guatemala City. We want you to know that we are fine. However, there was some damage in our general area due to flooding and mud slides. Some homes were damaged but only two people died as a result of the rain. In the village where we live no damage was reported. We are thankful for that.

“Behold, children are a gift from God…” (Psalm 127:3a).

We want to share some great news with you about our children.

Annie:

As of today, Annie has been in the Dominican Republic for 14 days. She arrived safely and she is settled in the house where she will be until July 23. Four girls, one couple and one young man live together in the same spacious house. The house has no screen on the windows so there are many mosquitoes and other crawling creatures living with them. Annie will be teaching English as a second language during the week and helping in a local church on the weekends. She wrote and said that being on the mission field is helping her to think a lot about missions and where she would like to serve the Lord in the future. In fact, she said, “ I am thinking that maybe I should come to serve the Lord in Guatemala”. That made Ginny and I rejoice thinking that she might be back to serve the Quiche people. We will see.

What a blessing seeing our daughter serving God with gladness, in spite of the challenges on the field, (Annie has a phobia of spiders, and according to her, there are plenty of them where she is). Another challenge that she is encountering is the fact that two of the people on the team that she leads, have never been outside of the USA so they are experiencing culture shock which is creating some difficulties for the team. But as for Annie, she is seeing the value of being a missionary kid, because it has helped her to understand the people of the Dominican Republic. All these facts have brought blessing to our hearts because she has gained a better appreciation of her childhood experiences. We are very proud of our daughter!

David:

He graduated in May from high school homeschooling and because we don’t have many opportunities to be with Ginny’s side of the family, we decided to hold a graduation service for him in California. At this ceremony we asked David to give a speech, which he titled: “The Faithfulness of God in My Life”. Some of the people that attended the service were so impressed with his speech, not only for the spiritual content, but also for his delivery. He is such a good communicator! This thrills our hearts because he wants to be a youth pastor among the Quiches.

Ginny and David went to the States because they needed to help the family with the sale of Ginny’s mother’s mobile home which meant emptying, repairing and cleaning it. We saw how David took charge of the work not only in the house but also in the yard. We know that without his help it would have taken much longer or would have cost more money because we would have had to hire outside help.
On this trip we saw how David has developed not only in a godly young man but also into a hardworking person. He truly put his whole body, soul and spirit into serving God and people. He also has a gift of relating to others. He made many friends on this trip. We are very proud of our son!

To see our kids love God by serving Him and to see them love and serve people, brings great encouragement to Ginny and me because we know that it is a result of the grace of God and the many prayers of people like you who have prayed for us along this journey. Ginny and I are aware that we made mistakes in rearing them and yet, in spite of our imperfections, God has blessed us with truly beautiful children.  Indeed our children are GIFTS FROM THE LORD!

A. MINISTRY GOAL FOR JULY 15 THRU AUGUST 15:

1. June 23, for Isaias, Virginia and Jorge to attend a closing ceremony for the 28 ladies who learned how to make sweaters at the ladies group in Santa Lucia Utatlan.
2. June 24, for Jorge to continue teaching the Epistles to the 8 pastors in Nahuala.
3. July 2, for Isaias and Jorge to attend the closing ceremony for the 9 church leaders in Chuisibel, Nahuala.
4. July 8, for Isaias to continue teaching his Biblical Leadership class in Nahuala.
5. July 14, for Isaias to celebrate his 58 years of life with a thanksgiving service with the family and staff.

B. PROGRESS TOWARDS MEETING LAST MONTHS GOALS:

1. May 15, for Jorge to begin discipling three young men: Gerson, Gonzalo and Hector at headquarters.
   NOT ACCOMPLISHED AT THIS TIME, INSTEAD HE BEGAN A WEEKLY MEETING WITH THE YOUTH MINISTRY OFFICERS.
2. May 16, for Isaias to teach and report about our Guatemalan ministry at Good Samaritan Church in Gahanna, Ohio.  ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY.
3. May 16, for Annie to be commissioned for her summer mission ministry in the Dominican Republic by Carlsbad Community Church in Carlsbad.  ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY.
4. May 19, for Jorge to be the main speaker at the women’s society of the Methodist church in Chichicastenango. ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY.
5.  May 22, for Isaias to teach and give report of Guatemalan ministry at Emmanuel church in Paramount California.  ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY INSPITE THE FACT HE WAS NOT FEELING GOOD DUE TO STRESS.
6. May 28, for Annie to travel to the Dominican Republic for summer Mission ministry.
   ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY ON JUNE 1. ON MAY 28 SHE TRAVELED TO AUSTIN TX FOR TRAINING.
7. May 29, for Ginny to hold an Estate sale for her mother’s house.  ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY.
8. May 30, for Isaias to preach at Iglesia Cristiana de Carlsbad/A Hispanic church in Carlsbad, CA. ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY.
9.  June 3, for Ginny and Isaias to go back to Guatemala.  ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY ON JUNE 8 DUE TO THE CLOSING OF THE GUATEMALAN AIRPORT.
10. June 10, for Isaias to teach his Bible course to the 9 pastors in Nahuala.
    NOT ACCOMPLISHED. THE CLASS WILL BEGIN ON JULY 8.
11. June 14, for Jorge to travel to Chimaltenango to pick up a donation of books
    for the library at Headquarters.   ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY.

C. PRAISES AND THANKSGIVING:

• We want to thank all of you who prayed for us while we were in the U.S. Isaias preached every weekend and then worked hard along with Ginny and David during the week to prepare for the sale of Ginny’s mother’s mobile home. We know that God gave all of us the strength to accomplish it. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

• We praise God that we arrived well in Guatemala, and, because of the delay, we were able to rest a little bit in the USA, without paying the penalty of changing the date of departure. God is faithful to provide for His people.

• We praise God for our Guatemalan staff. They not only accomplished a lot in our absence, but we also see their spiritual understanding of the ministry as they worked as a team.

• We praise God for His protection for our staff and their families during the hard days in Guatemala due to the volcanic eruptions and the hurricane.

• We praise God for the way God is working in Annie’s and David’s lives and for their desires to serve Him.

• We praise God not only for meeting our financial needs while in the USA, but also for His protection as we traveled.

• We praise God for protecting Manuel, one of our graduates and itinerant teachers who was threatened to be kidnapped if he didn’t pay a ransom for his family. Inspite of the threats, he decided to continue in the teaching ministry and God protected him. No more threats!

D. PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. Please continue to uphold Annie in your prayers as she continues to serve in the Dominican Republic. Pray for safety, good health and ministry accomplishments.
2. Please pray for David as he takes over his youth ministry activities.
3. Please pray for Isaias as he resumes his teaching ministries.
4. Please pray for Ginny as she works with her children and youth staff. She is planning to give them more ministry responsibilities.
5. Please pray for Jorge to begin formal discipleship activities with one of his faithful disciples who lives very far away. Pray that both find a way to carry this out.