February Newsletter

Hello my friends, and blessing to you all. Thank you for allowing us to be in your homes, your work, your churches, and your lives. We consider it a privilege to have you as a part of Global Missions of Mercy. Our newsletter is a little late this month because the Lord has blessed us tremendously lots of new school supplies, with two groups, and with many activities. We know that when you read this newsletter, you will be able to see how the Lord has blessed this ministry this month, and it is our prayer that you see the love of the Lord through this newsletter.

Psalms 51: 10, 11 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me." (William's favorite verse.)

This specific newsletter is very special to us because it is in the memory of William Carson. Eight years ago, in August 2000, God spoke to William "Bubba" Carson and I, and He put a calling on our lives to come to Chiquimula and minister to the children and families in the mountains of Lela Obreje. Every fifteen days, we would come and bring food to the starving people of these mountains, and we would share the gospel with them. But, on February 1st, 2001, in obedience and with joy, William and I moved to Chiquimula to serve the people full time after realizing the Lord had a greater vision for us here.

Also, the following is a beautiful poem written by Ted Vafeas. Ted gave William this poem a short time before he died. It was a gift for him, and it is very precious to me, and it was also precious to William. I hope you enjoy it.

Taking His Stand

Half way through that century he was born, there he was, “The February storm”;
Cherokee was home, that Indian place,
later the same in a Tuscumbia space.

He grew and grew to be a Deshler grad and then to Vietnam as a MP lad.
He came home to bell bottoms and wild disco,
but he still didn’t know what he was here for.

Without the Lord he did his best, but choices and life destroyed his rest.
But then one day he cried out to God,
saying “I’m helpless on this road I trod.”

And later on a dried creek bed,
the Holy Spirit gave him life instead.
Hispanic ministry was God’s plan, and a woman to help him make a stand.

A stand for the poor and helpless Chorti, giving them food, drink, and plenty.
What a plan is in the making from God’s own hand.
We’re fortunate to be with him and also stand.

So now, this red headed freckled boy, so skilled with his hands which God did employ
is now a Godly man with Sarita by his side,
and together in God’s hand they hide.
Brother Ted 2/13/04

William died suddenly on December 4th, 2004, but he left a deep mark in every child, youth, and adult that met him. I believe that God brought William to Chiquimula to open doors and to become a canal that connects the United States to this small village in Chiquimula. He had so much love for the people of Guatemala. He would even say that he was like coffee with cream. His skin was white like milk, but his heart was brown like coffee. William was a humble man that was willing to serve the Lord with everything he had. Because of this, he was able to give love to all the people here. He gave his life for others no matter how tired he was, and he was always willing to help those who needed it. He was not able to understand much Spanish at the beginning, but he always understood the language of love, and he gave as much of this love as he could until the day the Lord took him home.

These Days at the Ministry

On Monday, February 9th, we were blessed with an English teacher at the village from Alabama. Brandi McIntyre started teaching this month, and the students have already learned several words and letters A through F. She teachers all six classes on Mondays and Thursdays, and we are very blessed to have her. I was talking with my preacher’s wife, and she said that it was a tremendous blessing to have Brandi because no other school in Chiquimula has an English teacher from North America. We know it is only because of the Lord that she and her family are here, and we are very thankful. She told me a story about her first teaching experience at the village. She wanted to teach the students the letter A and use airplane as an example. Although the students learned the rest of the words she taught that day, none of the students learned airplane. She would ask them “How do you say avion”, which is airplane in Spanish, “in English?” They would just look at her with a blank stare. She also asked one of the classes to raise their hands when they wanted to ask a question, but all of the students just raised their hands and kept them there. Then, she didn’t know how to tell them to put their hands down, so they sat there with their hands in the air for a little while, but everything ended up ok. She has had some obsticles to overcome because of the language barrier, but the Lord is teaching her more and more every day. We are so thankful to have Brandi with us, and the students love her too.

We also celebrated Valentines Day with a party. We had candies, snacks, and juice. The students sang songs of God’s love, and I read them a story about why we celebrate the day of love. The entire party was focused on the love of God, and we had a fun day.

We also had a day for cleaning the students’ hair. Many of the students have lice, so twice a year we wash their hair with lice shampoo and cut the boys’ hair and trim the girls’. So many students had lice this year, but the teachers and volunteers were very willing to help get all of their hair clean.

Groups this Month

On February 19th, a group of three men from North Alabama came to help build the walls for the two new classrooms. They stayed with Daniel and Brandi, and the men worked very hard all week. Because they came, the next group that comes, which is this week, will be able to finish the roof for these much needed classrooms. So, we are very excited that they were able to come and help out. While the men were here, Daniel and Brandi came down with a virus. I believe this is because they worked so hard to make sure the men were comfortable, so their defenses were down, but praise the Lord, they are well now.

We also just had a medical team come on February 26th and leave on March 4th. Every time we have had the blessing of a medical team, the Lord uses all of the people that come in a Spirit-driven way, and the Spirit was truly evident in this particular group. Each person in the group gave everything they had to help as many people as they could for the week through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and I was amazed. Twenty-three people came from the States to help, and we had twenty-one people from Chiquimula and the surrounding areas helping as well. Bill Alexander, the president of Global Missions of Mercy board, joined the 23 people from the States, and also Jimmy Gardener and Frank Whitaker visited and helped. Every day, we saw more than 400 people, and we were able to meet all of their medical needs. We are also excited because 76 people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior during these few days of ministering. It was such a blessing because we were able to see people from so many different areas. We were able to help people from Hermita, Camoton, Jocotan, El Volcan, Lela Chancoj, La Lima, Xupa, Caparja, El Florido (which borders with Honduras), Santa Rosa de Copan (in Honduras), and other villages around us, and of course we served many from our home village, Lela Obreje. The Lord was so good to us during this time because so many times we thought we would not have enough medical supplies to serve all of these people, but the Lord provided for everyone! Praise His name! This group also brought shoes for the kids, so they not only got their medical needs met, they also got their physical needs met. So, I hope you can see what a tremendous blessing this team was. (There will be more pictures of this group on the website soon.)







To conclude this special newsletter, thank you all for your prayers, offerings, and support, because without you this could not be possible. We want to give a special thank you to all of you that donated school supplies this month. The teachers and students were so excited to receive them, and you have blessed us for being so willing and quick to give. We always have you in our hearts and prayers, and in the name of all the kids and people here, we love you and bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Sarita Carson

Galations 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”