Dear Friends:

Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that we are already in the middle of the first month of this new year on one hand, but on the other, we praise God that we are able to experience God’s blessings every morning. Thank God for life and especially for the Eternal Life that He has imparted us thru our Lord Jesus. 

This is going to be busy year for us. I have been invited to participate in a quite a few conferences here in Guatemala as well as in the USA. One of these occasions is to co-host a workshop for missionaries who work here in Guatemala. The workshop has the goal of discussing the fact that Guatemala not only has had the Gospel preached for 125 years, but also that 25% of Guatemala’s entire population is Evangelical and yet it is the 10th most violent country in the world. It seems like the presence of so many evangelicals should somehow make Guatemala a different country. 

In preparation for the presidential election this year, the most read newspaper published their findings as to how Guatemalans see their country. The results showed that Guatemalans are discouraged about their government because they do not trust any political party anymore. The research also shows that Guatemalans are trusting the Catholic church as the means of hope and truth, (56.5% said that), but 53.4% see the evangelical church as the institution of hope and truth. This shows me that over a half of the interviewed people are looking to religious institutions for hope and truth. This is a great opportunity for the church to shine.  

As I have been thinking about the reason why the evangelical church has not made a difference here, I have some ideas that I want to share with you. If you have an observation, a correction or a contribution, please feel free to respond. My part in this workshop is really to discuss why the Gospel has not really transformed the Mayan culture. Below you will find my suggestions….

A. I believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has not made an impact on the Mayan people because the Evangelists/messengers did not really seriously acknowledge the fact that Oral Traditional societies are probably the hardest groups to change. Their core beliefs have been developed thru many generations and any significant change will take time, patience and hard work.

B. Oral societies are at a disadvantage. Everything that we need to know about God is WRITTEN IN A BOOK, however oral societies pass on important teaching orally thru their elders.

C. Oral traditional societies use the right hemisphere of the brain, while westerners use the left hemisphere. The first missionaries here were Spanish priests followed by American Christian missionaries. Nowadays most Christian workers are westerners or Mayans like myself trained to use the left hemispheres of our brains.

D. Most Christian work has an underlining attitude of “conquest”. We go in to change savages for Christ, without taking into account their worldview because we believe that we have the right view that they need. We have condemned many of their traditions as satanic without selecting some and encouraging them as good because God has created them. We are interested in converting many, but we often leave before discipling them.

E. We emphasize EVANGELISM but NOT RELATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP AS CHRIST DID. (Discipleship is like rearing a child which takes time, effort and resources).

F. Most evangelistic work was done among the Mayan people either in Spanish or currently even in English thru a translator.

G. Most evangelistic work emphasizes the doctrinal distinctives of the Denomination that is doing the evangelism rather than teaching the Bible as a whole to a wholistic society.

H. In light of these factors, maybe we need to seriously and maturely re-evaluate our methods on how to reach the Mayan population for Christ.

These are some of my ideas, please pray for me that God will guide me to encourage my missionary coworkers rather than create more division or even offend God’s workers. This workshop will take place the last weekend of February.

A. MINISTRY GOALS FOR JANUARY 15 THRU FEBRUARY15:

1. January 17 for Isaias to meet with Rick Macarthur to discuss ideas for the workshop that they will co-host at the Intermissions conference at the end of February.

2. January 18, for Jorge to meet will all our itinerary teachers and officially inaugurate the school year for all our teaching centers.

3. January 22, for Ginny and David and their staff to hold the first youth ministry at headquarters.

4. January 23, for Isaias to be the translator for a working group that will lead a service in a Quiche Methodist church in Totonicapan.

5. January 26, for Isaias to meet with a Wycliffe Missionary, the Scripture in Use coordinator for Latin America, to plan a workshop on Rituals and the Bible among the Mayan groups of Guatemala and Mexico.

6. February 7, for the Ministry Consultant Board to hold their first yearly meeting at headquarters.

7. February 14, for Isaias to meet again with the Wycliffe Missionaries to finalize activities for the workshop.

B. PROGRESS TOWARDS MEETING LAST MONTHS GOALS:

1. December 16, for Isaias, Ginny and David to host our Christmas celebration for our staff at headquarters before they go on their required yearly vacation.

ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY.

2. December 17, for Jorge and Olga, our secretary, to do the necessary clean up of our ministry building on their last day of work at headquarters before vacation.

ACCOMPLISHED

3. December 20, for Isaias and Jorge to meet with the ministry consulting Board to evaluate the 2010 ministry accomplishments.

  POSTPONED FOR FEBRUARY.

4. December 21, for Jorge to deliver Panorama of the Bible certificates to the students of Chuisibel, up in the mountains of Santa Catarina.

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL CEREMONY.

5. December 23 thru January 3, headquarter offices are closed.

DONE

6. January 4 and 5 for Isaias to interview people applying for 2 positions as librarians and cleaning ladies.

WE HIRED OUR LIBRARIAN WHO AGREED TO DO CLEANIING AS WELL.

7. January 7, for Isaias to preach at the installation of a pastor service in Antigua.

A BLESSED CEREMONY, THE DENOMINATIONAL LEADERS WERE VERY THANKFUL FOR THE TRAINING WE PROVIDE FOR THIS NEW PASTOR.

8. January 13 and 14 for Isaias to lead a 2 days retreat for the staff.

NOT ACCOMPLISHED

9. January 10-12 for the staff to begin working at headquarters.

WE BEGAN WORKING AS SCHEDULED

10. January 13-15 for Isaias, Ginny and Jorge to begin distributing yearly responsibilities.

WE DID IT AND EVERYBODY IS EAGER TO BEGIN MINISTERING.

1. We praise God for the many more ministry opportunities that are coming to us from other organizations.

2. We praise God for Juan Guarcas, a graduate of our ministry, and for the new thriving church that he planted in Antigua.

3. We praise God for the youth ministry new officers that met today.

4. We praise God for His constant financial provision and the protection of our funds last week when Ginny’s purse was stolen in Antigua and her debit card was in it.

5. We praise God for Annie’s visit and for the way God used her mightily in her counseling opportunities last semester.

6. We praise God for David’s constant counseling ministries to the many young men that seek him even during the end of the year vacation. 

7. We praise God for the opportunity to minister among the Quiche church leaders. Many have shown big leaps of maturity.
 

1. Please pray for spiritual wisdom for Jorge, Isaias, Ginny, David and Annie as they begin their individual ministries this year.

2. Please pray for Isaias mother, who on February 2nd will be 90 years old, who is suffering a severe anemia. She says that she is ready to go to be with the Lord if that is His plan for her. Pray for the family to be united in their decisions regarding their mother’s future.

3. Please pray for Isaias as he gets involved in the different new opportunities with other organizations and as he selects the opportunities for involvement. He needs wisdom to know how to help.

4. Please pray for Annie as she makes major decisions regarding her future after graduation in May. And please pray for her safe return to CA on Wed., Jan. 19.

5. Please pray that the person who stole Ginny’s purse will not steal her identity as well as her purse contained her Guatemalan ID and driver’s license as well as other important information.

6. Please pray for Ginny’s sister, Joan, who just found out that she has breast cancer for the second time. It is not a recurrence of the cancer she had 16 years ago because it is another type of breast cancer. Pray for Joan, her family and doctors as they make decisions regarding her treatment. She is scheduled to have radical surgery soon.

Dear Supporting Friends:

We thank God for all of you and for your faithful prayers for us and our ministry. This month we are excited to report that our “state of the art” recording studio has been completed here on our ministry property. This studio will make it much more convenient for Isaias and Jorge to record programs for the radio because it is such a few steps away from our front door! We thank you for your generous gifts which were used to remodel and soundproof the room. We also thank God for the recording equipment provided by Vina ministries as well as other faithful supporters. Three weeks ago, Brian, an audio specialist from Texas, spent three days with us setting up and testing all of the equipment and training David and Jorge to use it. Of course, in three days, they weren’t able to learn all that they need to know to do professional recordings, but Brian assures us that they will continue to learn on the job. Please pray for Isaias, Jorge, David and Ginny as they plan, prepare and record new Bible studies for the radio which will be distributed to radio stations throughout the Quiche territory. Most Quiche families have radios and listen to them faithfully so we are very excited about this opportunity to reach more Quiches through this media! Our dream is to prepare radio programming for men, women, families and youth, so, as you can see, we have our work cut out for us!

A. MINISTRY GOAL FOR November 15 THRU December 15:

1. Dec. 1 and 2 for our ministry to host a retreat for all of our itinerant teachers so that they can share their struggles and needs, pray for one another and receive additional teacher training.

2. For our youth group to plan and host an outreach to widows and orphans in our area in which Jorge will share the gospel with them and they will receive a gift and a special snack.

3. For our youth group to perform the drama, The Acts of the Holy Spirit, on December 11 at our headquarters for the widows and orphans and on Dec. 12 at a church in Almolonga.

4. For our children’s staff and children to plan and hold their closing program for this year’s program on Dec. 15. The children’s parents will be invited to view what their children have learned during this year and a gospel presentation will be given.

5. For Isaias, Jorge, Ginny and David to continue making ministry plans for 2011.

B. PROGRESS TOWARDS MEETING LAST MONTHS GOALS:

1. Oct. 16 to hold the youth group picnic
ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY, A GREAT TIME AND TURNOUT.

2. Oct. 18, for the ministry board to meet.
ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY WITH MUCH GOOD IMPUT FROM BOARD MEMBERS.

3. Oct. 23, to continue drama preparation.
ACCOMPLISHED AND CONTINUING WEEKLY.

4. Oct. 28, for the audio specialist to come to install recording equipment and to train David and Jorge.
ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY.

5. Nov. 7-14, for Isaias to attend a workshop on cultural spiritual practices at SIL in Dallas, TX.
ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY. THE WORKSHOP WAS ENLIGHTENING AND HELPFUL.

1. We praise God for the successful completion of our recording studio and for all the people who made it possible.

2. We praise God that we have been able to share the gospel with many children in the last couple of weeks and several have prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior.

3. We praise God that David is continuing to minister to several young men weekly.

4. We praise God for our staff members and teachers who serve faithfully week by week.

5. We praise God for our board members who are making suggestions to improve our ministry.

6. Thank you for praying for Ginny, she is feeling somewhat better.

1. Please pray for safe travel for Isaias as he returns to Guatemala tomorrow night from Dallas, Texas.

2. Please pray for safe travel for Ginny and David as they travel to Guatemala City to pick up Isaias tomorrow.

3. Please pray that our itinerant teachers will be encouraged and edified by the retreat that we are preparing for them.

4. Please pray for the outreach to widows and orphans that the youth may be blessed as they serve others and that the people they invite will receive Christ.

5. Please pray that our drama will come together for God’s glory.

6. Please continue to pray for Ginny and David’s health and strength.

7. Please pray for David as he prepares to take the SAT on Dec. 4. Pray that he will do well on it.

Dear Supporting Friends:  

Last month, Guatemala was in the news a lot due to the destruction of Hurricane Agatha and the big sink hole that suddenly appear in Guatemala City. Also, the American Embassy has issued a travel warning for Guatemala because there are a lot of city bus drivers that are killed daily. The ones killed are the ones that cannot or do not want to pay the daily fee charged by extortionists. Life seems of no value here. The street fights that gangs carry out daily is getting more and more gruesome and demonic.  

Some of our students and teachers have been targets of extortionists. Let me share with you one of the cases. This is the story of Pastor Manuel. He studies every Thursday with us and teaches for us every Friday at our remotest teaching center. I say that this place is at the end of the world because the main road stops there. Anyways, Manuel has been threatened by many daily phone calls asking him to pay the ransom of Q. 60,000.00 or his sister and dad would be killed. He went to the local police station and denounced the threats. The police advised him to continue the negotiations and pretend to pay the ransom at a specified location so that the police could catch the extortionists. He contacted our ministry to ask for prayers. As a result, Isaias thought that it would be better to stop traveling to the isolated teaching place because he felt that the terrain would be appropriate for kidnapping him or killing him. When we communicated this to him, he refused to comply. He told us that he has been teaching his students that God is a God that takes good care of His children in all the matters of life. He felt that if he quit going to teach the students, then this would a sign of not trusting God. So we told him to present our proposition to his wife to see what she said. Her advice: to continue the teaching ministry. So Manuel continues teaching in this remote area. And, two weeks after he made his decision, the threats stopped!  

Three weeks ago, Jorge, Pastor Manuel and his wife, David and I were at his teaching place to deliver certificates to his 14 students who finished our course: Bible Panorama. It was a great celebration because100% of the students who began the course finished it! Never in the past, have we had a class like their’s. The top student in the class was crying for joy because his efforts paid off. This man, Antonio, has always been an eager student. To attend the class, he had to walk for two hours over the mountains crossing one river. During the rainy season, the river would overflow so much that he could not cross it. Because of this, he asked us if we could come to teach in his village so we told him that we would if he could gather 18 students from 3 different churches. So he went and promoted the class in the three churches in his community and 14 students enrolled. All of them are continuing their Bible training with the Synthesis of the Bible, our second course. 

Manuel’s wife told me that the joy that Manuel experiences by being part of our teaching staff is what keeps him going. Manuel and his wife also feel that they are not alone in the ministry. She also said that every time Manuel goes to teach or study that she goes to church to pray for him. They are both truly committed to the Word of God. We are the only Bible Institute that has come to them and for that they are truly thankful.  

That day as I was driving our 96 four wheel Rodeo, I was very nervous because parts of the road were flooded or covered by mud slides. However, gladly, the one bus that services this road had cleared the way before we came. In one section, a mud slide had made the road very narrow, just wide enough for the bus to go thru, but if our car slid in that section, it would have ended up in the ravine that I could not see the bottom of! Praise God for our faithful old four wheel drive Rodeo! And praise God because it did not rain that day. David could not believe the beauty of this remote place–the color of the jungle, the vegetation and everything else was magnificent but very dangerous for a nervous driver like me. Manuel’s wife noticed that I was nervous, so she started laughing and teasing me and reminded me that if God took care of them when they were threatened, surely the Lord could keep us safe on that dangerous road.
  

A. MINISTRY GOAL FOR JULY 15 THRU AUGUST 15:

1. July 16, for Ginny and Isaias to visit the new church that Pastor Juan , a graduate of our ministry, started in Antigua last year.

2. July 17, for Isaias to begin discipling Pastor Diego every week in Xela.

3. July 19, for the Ministry Board to meet in Solola.

4. July 19, for David, our son, to preach at home fellowship in our community.

5. July 25, for Annie, our daughter to arrive in Guatemala to spend the rest of her summer with the family after her missionary service in the Dominican Republic.

6. August 7, for David to be inaugurated as the youth pastor for the Saturday youth ministry.

7. By August 15, Isaias should scheduled discipling time with David, Manuel and Juan. 

 
B. PROGRESS TOWARDS MEETING LAST MONTHS GOALS:

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.

THE CEREMONY WAS POSTPONED, BECAUSE THE LADIES WERE EAGER TO START THE NEW CRAFT OF MAKING SHASHES.

2. June 24, for Jorge to continue teaching the Epistles to the 8 pastors in Nahuala.

THE CLASS IS GOING REALLY WELL, JORGE AND ISAIAS
DECIED TO INTRODUCE BIBLE TRANSLATION TO THE
STUDENTS AS PART OF THEIR HOMEWORK FOR THE CLASS.

3. July 2, for Isaias and Jorge to attend the closing ceremony for the 9 church leaders in Chuisibel, Nahuala.

THIS IS THE COMMUNITY AT THE END OF THE WORLD THAT I WROTE ABOVE, THERE WERE 14 STUDENTS INSTEAD OF 9. A 100% SUCCESS.

4. July 8 for Isaias to continue teaching his Biblical Leadership class in Nahuala.

ONLY THREE OF THE 9 STUDENTS SHOWED UP, THAT WAS BECAUSE I INTERRUPTED THE CLASS TO GO TO THE USA.

5. July 14 for Isaias to celebrate his 58 years of life with a thanksgiving service with the family and staff.

GREAT SUCCESS.

C. PRAISES AND THANKSGIVING:

1.   We praise God for giving Annie a great experience in Dominican Republic as she ministered to different groups. Her main responsibilities were to teach English and present the Gospel to her students.

2.   We praise God for David’s desire to take over the directorship for the weekend youth ministries. He expressed his desire as he noticed that no one from the young people wants the responsibility.  For Ginny and me, this is a great blessing.

3.   For students like Pastor Manuel, who are committed to the work of God, inspite of threats that he received.

4.   We praise God for our ministry Board. They really want to get involved in the guidance of the organization.

5.   I praise God for Ginny, who saw the need for the women, children and youth ministries. Her involvement to these has made a tremendous impact on many lives.

6.   We praise God for His continued care for us in the middle of many social, economical and spiritual problems in the country.

 PRAYER REQUESTS:

 1.   Please pray that God will give us wisdom to minister to people who are experiencing threats and extortions.

2.   Please pray for David as he takes this major responsibility of youth ministries.

 3.   Please pray for Isaias as he approaches candidates to be discipled that may find the time that it takes to accomplish it. 

 4.   Pray for Ginny as she begins discipling teenaged girls from youth grouping the next two weeks. So far, five girls have signed up! 

 5.   Pray for Annie’s time here in Guatemala. She could use a good rest.  We have to make a decision about more orthodontic work for her . 

 6.   Pray for safety as Jorge and Isaias travel to the different teaching centers. 

7.   Pray for the completion of our Recording studio.  The Recording equipment is on the way from the USA.  Please pray that Customs would not hold it up.

Dear Supporting Team: 

We are really enjoying Annie’s time with us.  We are blessed by her report on how God helped her to serve the Lord in the Dominican Republic by teaching English as a second language and being a witness for the love of Christ.   To all of you who prayed and financially supported her in this service, we want to thank you for your commitment  to the work of God.  We are very thankful to the Lord because in the Fall, Annie will begin her senior year at the Master´s College.  It is hard to believe that she will soon enter her final year there and yet the faithfulness of God has been obvious in providing the finances for her studies.  

In ministry, we are at a fork in the road and we need to ask you to pray for us in regard to the children’s ministry.  Since 2004, we have been engaged in this ministry;  we know we have touched young lives for Christ thru the years but our problem has been the lack of ministers for the children. We always have had good workers but not ministers.  What we desire are people who come along side the needy children and minister to them outside of the classroom activities.  We would like to invite you to pray with us in this regard, our request is to find those ministers or discontinue this ministry.  The need is great but the workers are few, (Matt. 9:37).  

Youth ministry is going great especially because David, our son, has really taken the pastoral activities seriously. He has befriended the boys by visiting them or calling them during the week.  Many have opened themselves up to him.  He told us one day, “these kids are good kids; it is the parents who are messed up”.  His observation is correct in many cases. One of the phenomena that we have discovered is the fact that many Quiche fathers are oblivious to the needs of their children, because they are physically absent from the home.  Either the father is illegally in the USA  or he is with another woman in the same town.  We also have discovered that many fathers feel inadequate to guide their “sophisticated” children who use internet and their cell phones daily.  This is a lie that the enemy has used in this culture.   On the other hand, God is using David to make a difference. Last week a mother of a young man that attends the Saturday meeting went to Jorge’s house to thank him for what we are doing here is changing her son.  She is very grateful especially because she says that her husband is “useless” in rearing their son.  Besides this problem,  Ginny has discovered the young people have a hard time reading.  They are semi-literate people.  They read syllable by syllable so they cannot understand the Word of God when they read it.  

The training of the pastors is going really well. Right now we have nine centers in progress. The two advanced groups in Nahuala are really catching up in their understanding of the Word. In Jorge’s group, the pastors are translating into Quiche the chapter of Scripture to be studied in class. This homework has really excited them. This excercise has taken them into a new level of understanding the Scriptures. The other course, “How to become a Biblical Leader”, that Isaias is teaching, has brought out their shortcomings as leaders of the church. There are only 6 people left in the class, but Isaias is encouraged by their response.  

A. MINISTRY GOAL FOR AUGUST 15 THRU SEPTEMBER 15 

1. August 16 to 19, for Jorge to attend another Translation workshop, this time he will be trained to use a special computer program for translation. 

2. August 26 and 27, for Isaias and Jorge to attend a meeting with Vina Recordings, the sister organization that is helping us with our recording studio. 

3. August 26, for Annie to go back to the Master’s college to begin her Senior year.

4. September 2, for Isaias to hold a half a day of prayer with his class in Nahuala. 

5. September 9, for Jorge to hold a half a day of prayer with his class in Nahuala. 

6. September 14, for the library staff to hold a special celebration for Guatemala Independence day at the library. 

B. PROGRESS TOWARDS MEETING LAST MONTHS GOALS: 

I want to apologize for not reporting the progress of last month’s goals, the computer that I used has crashed and I did not make a copy of that report. I hope I learned my lesson and make copies of the reports in the future.

C. PRAISES AND THANKSGIVING: 

1. We praise God for Annie’s ministry accomplishments in the Dominican Republic. 

2. We praise God for David’s involvement in the young Quiche boys who are responding to him and to God. 

3. We praise God for his care for us as we travel to the different dangerous areas. This year the rainy season has really damaged the roads even the paved ones. All the main highways have damaged parts so only one side of a two lane road is used. The problem is that the signs are not that clear and many crashes have been registered. 

4. We praise God for the way that the pastors are gaining a new understanding of the Word of God. 

5. We praise God for Ginny’s discipleship class every Friday morning and afternoon; the girls are opening up and she hopes for them to come to know God in a closer relationship. 

PRAYER REQUESTS:  

1. Please pray for David’s health. He is experiencing lack of energy. The doctors have pointed out that this is not normal for a young man like him. 

2. Please pray for Annie as she goes back to the USA. She has to report for Jury duty immediately, pray that she won’t be selected as she has to attend classes and does not know her way in downtown LA.

3. Please pray that we will follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to continue or discontinue the children’s ministry at the end of the year. 

4. Please pray for Ginny as she continues to develop the special discipleship program for Girls.

5. Please pray for Jorge as he continues to translate the book of Genesis. He is in the 6th chapter. 

6. Please pray for Isaias as he continues to lead the six pastors in Nahuala to become more biblical in their private lives. 

7. Please continue to pray for traveling safety as we go to the different places to minister. 

8. Please pray for Ginny’s healing from a thyroid nodule that has been growing.

A special greetings from Isaias and Ginny Colop-Xec
run time 3:31

To listen click on the play button below.

Click to download this mp3 audio file.

 June 2010

August 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.