Elias’s class gave a presentation for a community renovation project that they were involved in.
The students with the highest grades get the privilege of carrying a flag into the room. Elias got to carry Guatemala’s flag.
Their project involved fixing storm drains around the school’s community and making hurricane preparation plans for the neighbors.
This presentation is one of the final requirement in Guatemala to graduate from high school, and it was fun to watch Elias and his classmates!
Sorry that it’s been so long since my last update! It’s been a busy past few weeks, and here’s what’s been going on:
Elias is currently finishing up his senior year of high school right now. This is his last month of classes, and so he’s really busy finishing up lots of final projects and preparing for final exams in the coming weeks. He’s excited to be so close to graduating!
Benjamin continues to work at his new job of inventory management at a label making factory. The company makes everything from soda bottle labels, to hotdog packaging, to different types of sales stickers. He’s really enjoying the new job experience and being able to use his accounting degree.
Proverbs 20:5: The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.
The guys have been with us for about eight months now, and we feel like we’re only now starting to really get to know them. They’re brothers, but their personalities are very different. They both struggle with not knowing their fathers and the abandonment of their mother. These experiences have affected them deeply and have created walls in their hearts that keep others out. It takes lots of time and patience and love and prayer to break through. I’m so grateful for the conversations we’ve been having lately with them and the glimpses into their hearts. Would you please pray Proverbs 20:5 for us? We want to be used by God to minister to their hearts. Please pray for them as they live and grow with us. Please pray that God would give us love and wisdom in ministering to them. And please pray for the guys that come in the future to live with us, that even now they would be getting to know God as their Heavenly Father.
Last month was crazy as we found out that there was a problem with Yuli’s residency in the US, and so we had to quickly fly back to the States before July 1st. I returned to Guatemala shortly afterwards, and Yuli stayed with my parents until things got sorted out. (thanks Mom and Dad!) It ended up taking four weeks for everything to get sorted out, and we’re happy to have it resolved and be back in Guatemala together. Yuli’s pregnancy is going well, and we’re expecting a girl to be born in mid November. It exciting to be getting ready for our first baby! It was hilarious a few nights ago to watch the guys get freaked out when they saw Yuli’s stomach move as our baby moved around.
My mom took advantage of Yuli’s return to Guatemala to fly down with her in order to visit us. It was lots of fun to introduce her to our guys and to the kids of Casa Shalom as well has spending time with her and Yuli’s family together. My mom has always been a great source of spiritual guidance and encouragement, so it was so wonderful to have her here with us!
The construction continues to progress well, and now the walls of the house are just about finished. Next week we’re going to start on the preparations for the cement roof. We have to first build a huge wooden mold that the cement can then be poured into. It’s so exciting to see it all getting finished, and we’re still hopeful that we’ll be able to move into the house by the end of the year.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support for us in Guatemala! God has given us an incredible responsibility to be His witnesses to his children in Guatemala, and we feel honored to carry His name.
Brent & Yuliza
The door and window frames have been formed, which is one of the final steps before we can put the roof on!
The counter between the kitchen and dinning room:
A top-down view of the house:
The back bedrooms are now all finished, and all that’s left is the front door and windows.
Before today Guatemala had never won single a medal ever in the Olympics, but today Erick Barrondo won a silver in 20K speed walking.
Now go for the gold Guatemala!
The walls of the house are going up quickly! Here’s a few pictures from the front of the house.
We were very excited to have my mom visit us this past week! It’s been lots of fun introducing her to our guys and to the kids at Casa Shalom as well as spending time with her and Yuli’s family together.
We had some issues with Yuli’s residency in the US which made it necessary for her to spend a few weeks with my parents until it all got sorted out. When it was all finished, my mom decided to take advantage of the time to return with her to Guatemala. She has always been a great source of encouragement to us, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have her here with us!
The house’s foundation is finally finished!
It’s exciting to now be working on the foundation of the actual house!
Yuli taught the kids Sunday School at Casa Shalom during Visitor Sunday a few days ago. We then enjoyed snacks, ice-cream and time together with the kids afterwards. Visitor Sunday is always the highlight of the month!
This past month we were able to get in contact with another guy who grew up in Casa Shalom, named Carlos, who now has returned to live with his family. We have his story in our blog here, and it was great to see him again. There are many other kids who have also left over the years, and we hope to continue to make contact with them.
The construction on the house continues to progress well, although it’s now a little more complicated because we’ve entered the rainy season. There are new pictures of the progress here. The most exciting progress was finally getting permission from the new mayor to connect water to our land. After three months of asking neighbors to use their water in order to be able to mix cement, we are very excited to now have all the water that we need.
Prayer requests for June:
Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support for us in Guatemala! God has given us an incredible responsibility to be His witnesses, and we feel honored to carry His name.
Brent & Yuliza