Category Archives: Guatemala

Newsletter – Ministering to the Brito Brothers

Benjamin & Elias 7 years ago

We’re very excited about this coming year because we have the opportunity to have two guys come and live with us: Benjamin & Elias Brito! Benjamin is 22 and he’s graduating from high school this year. He’s planning on finding a job next year and starting college classes on the weekend. Elias is 20, and next year will be his senior year of high school. We came to Guatemala to work with guys like Benjamin & Elias, and so the possibility of having them live with us is so exciting!
We will have to cover the costs of Elias’s final year of high school, and so I’ve written a newsletter to raise money to support him.

 

The storm continues – Updated

The tropical storm that had stopped over Guatemala was supposed to move on this past weekend, but it’s still here and might stay for a few more days. There have been over 30 deaths here, and also over 30 in our neighbor El Salvador. Yesterday a piece of road gave out taking two people with it. The news report can be seen here.

Please pray for Guatemala!

Updated Thursday 10/20:

The storm’s finally moved out and blue skies are back! Guatemala needs your continued prayers as the repair and reconstruction begins.

(Legally) married for 2 years now!

20111019-233956.jpgToday is our second anniversary since our civil marriage! There are two weddings in Guatemala: the civil (legal) wedding and the religious wedding. The civil wedding is normally the day before the big one, but because of our visa issues, we were legally married a little over two months before our big wedding. Our wedding website has more pictures and the full story.

That sure was a crazy time for us because we really didn’t know if or when we could be together after our wedding in December. But we did the best we could and just trusted God to do the rest. And He was so good to us! Today is a great day to remember God’s incredible love for us, and it fills us with gratitude for how He’s cared for us and brought us together.

Rain, rain go away…

We’ve had a tropical storm that’s stopped over Guatemala all this week that has been just pounding us with rain. I’ve heard that around 20 people have been killed by mudslides and over 10,000 have had to evacuate their homes. We’re fortunate to be ok, but Guatemala needs your prayers as this storm is supposed to stick around for a few more days.

House Design

We’re working hard in the architectural drawings and plans for the land construction. Here’s a drawing of the two houses that we’d like to build, and they’ll be setup like a duplex. One side will be for the guys to live in, and the other side will be for our family as well as any underage kids who might stay with us in the future. It’s pretty exciting to be able to plan every last detail of the contruction!

Visiting Victor

This past Sunday was the monthly visitor Sunday when the kids of Casa Shalom who have family can be visited from their family. There are kids, of course, who don’t have any family or whose family doesn’t come to visit them, which can make it a sad day for many of them. So Yuli and I try to always come to be with them. It also provides a great time to relax and chat with the children because during the week we’re busier and more focused on working with them on homework and preparing for tests.

On Sunday morning, one worker at Casa Shalom was preparing the room for the church service we have together with the families, and she saw little Victor all nicely dressed and happily playing outside. She said, “Wow, you look nice today, Victor. Why are you dressed up?”, and he said, “Because I have visitors coming to see me today!” She was surprised because although Victor has parents and brothers, they haven’t come to see him in a long time. So she asked him who was coming to see him to which Victor responded “Yuliza and Brent are!”

The worker told us this story today and it touched our hearts so deeply. We love these kids and we want to share God’s love with them. So Yuli prepares a bunch of sandwiches and snacks, and we spend the day with the kids. But it’s sometimes to see the effect or the appreciation. We’re so glad that Victor enjoys our visit, and we’ll be there at the end of this month again to visit with him!

Thanks so much for supporting us and enabling us to be here in Guatemala to serve these children.

Bunk beds

We got these bunk beds from a missionary working at another orphanage here in Guatemala this weekend, and Benjamin and Elias helped me put them together.  We’re excited that our house it getting ready for them to move in!

 

We’ve Got Land!

Praise the Lord, we found land!

After searching for these past 9 months, we’ve so excited and grateful to now own this piece of land. Currently covered in corn, this plot of land will be the future home to our half-way house. On Thursday we were able to sign the papers, and now we’re just waiting for the land title to come back from the municipality which is registering the land in our name. We are working on a newsletter with all the details and vision for the house which we will be sending out shortly. You can see where it’s located on Google Maps.

Now the planning and constructing can begin!

Independence Day

20110917-092628.jpg Today is Guatemala’s independence day, and this year they’re celebrating 190 years of independence from Spain.
A tradition every year is for kids from every school to run with a torch from the town center back to their school. Everyone else lines the streets, cheers them on and throws water on them as they pass. It’s a ton of fun, and I’ve been able to run with the kids from Shalom a few times in the past. This year we’ve been pretty busy with preparations to buy land, so we weren’t able to go, but we did get to watch the kids run past where we live.