October 2009 Newsletter

Thanks for Another Month of Service
By Pili Camposeco

Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.”

Since Sarita is in the United States at the time, I have the privilege to take part in this newsletter this month. I would first of all like to thank the Lord for everything that was accomplished this month. He shows His mercy and love every day, and we receive more from Him than we deserve. We have been through a few trials this month, but the Lord was and is so good and faithful to us. He has shown us how to trust Him with all of our hearts no matter what the circumstances. The Lord has also shown us that when we take care of the calling He has given us, He will take care of the rest. Working for Him is the biggest privilege that we could ever have on is earth. This is especially evident when I go to the Lela Obraje village and see the smiles on the faces of the children there. We want to thank you, because without your prayers and support, we could not take part in this great privilege. As you will read in this newsletter, we were blessed with two groups that came to Chiquimula, and we want to take this time to thank them for coming. You were a blessing to the lives of this community and to our lives as well.
Thank you for giving us your time as you read this newsletter, and we hope that these stories bless your life like they have blessed ours, and we hope that you see the enormous work that God does when we allow Him to work in our lives and when we all work together. God bless you!

Report of the Evaluations for 2009
By Professor Rudy Alexander Morales

I thank God for another year here because I have seen His powerful hand at work in the students and in all of the staff that work in this Ministry. The staff works with lots of love in their hearts as they carry the blessed Word of God and the bread of knowledge to these students every day. I am certain that they will make prosperous adults if they keep God at the center of all that they do. This year, like the years before, we give thanks to God, because in the final evaluations in the third week of October, there was a great academic performance from the students, but mainly, the hearts of the students are so precious and soft towards God. We know that we in Guatemala are not the only ones praying for these students. We know that you are praying to God with all of your hearts for these children as well. Your prayers are not in vain because we see the fruits of your labor and prayers in this community. Please continue praying for us. This year we had the opportunity to attend to 150 children at the school, and for the next year, 2010, we hope to have 175 students, because we then will have a complete elementary school, K through 6.
Also, we give thanks to Sister Sarita for the great love she has for the children. We pray that God will powerfully bless her and open more doors for her to help other children.
I also thank Sister Brandi for the patients she had to teach our students English. They were so excited to receive their final scores in English because they did very well. They have asked me if they can have English next year, and I just tell them that we all will pray for our English teacher for next year. Thank you Sister Brandi and God bless you.

Teaching at Highland Park Christian School
By Professor Kenneth Geovanny Diaz Gutierrex, 4th Grade teacher

Working with the boys and girls this year of 2009 has been a special privilege that God has given me. Everyone has been very caring and polite, and I have noticed that the student’s interest for learning has increased with every day. I also noticed that they have had more positives changes than the students in other schools because our students are growing in the way of the Lord. They are learning about His miracles and the great love that He has for all the world. Sadly though, I had one girl that did not pass the grade. Her name is Ruby Raymundo, but this was a special case because she has epilepsy. Every day her struggle with this disease hinders her studies, and after much consideration, we decided that it was in the best interest of the student to keep her back this year so she can have a better chance of learning what she needs to learn before she graduates. Everyone else did very well, and they all passed. I ask for your prayers for the ministry and for all of our students and their families.
God bless your loving hearts!

By Nely Wuelches, Kindergarten teacher

I am very blessed because the Lord has allowed me to work in this ministry and because I had the privilege to be able to take my students through their first year of elementary school. I feel like I have helped them accomplish their goal of reaching elementary school. I use everything I have to teach them as best as I can, and I always teach about the love of the Lord that He has for all of us. I know for sure that this Word will be kept on their hearts and in the future, they will become men and women of virtue. They will become the ones that develop this village, and as they do this, they will always follow the direction of the Lord. I have taught my students to work together because we are all the same in the eyes of the Lord. I have had to teach them that we are not to discriminate anyone because, at the beginning of the year, there was discrimination from the girls in my class. The boys did not want to be in the same class as the girls and they thought that the girls could not do anything. They did not play together, and the girls were always separate from the boys. I would always tell them that we need to work as a team no matter if we are girls or boys because in the Lord’s eyes, we are equal. I felt in my heart that I did a good job teaching for the glory of God. Thank you again for this opportunity and God bless you.

Fall Medical Missions 2009

The Medical Mission for Fall 2009 was a huge success for the glory of the Lord. People were not only cared for physically by this team, but they were also cared for spiritually. Over 1,350 patients from all over this area were attended, and there were many serious cases. Although people with all kinds of symptoms were seen, we had several children come with problems hearing this year. A man came with his 8 year old son, and he told us that his son was having trouble hearing. It turned out that he had a bean in each of his ears. The bean in his left ear was removed very quickly, but the bean in his right ear had started to grow, and it was very big, so after a little anesthesia spray because of the pain, the doctor removed the bean piece by piece. There was also little girl brought it for breathing concerns. After a routine check up, it was found that she had a light case of the flu, but this was not the worst thing that was wrong with her. The doctor found that she had a roach in her ear, and her mother did not know that she was having problems hearing. After this case, there was a little five year boy that had a live bee in his ear, and then a six year old girl came in with a dead roach in one ear and a live worm in the other ear that had caused a terrible ear infection. The Lord is so good to send these doctors to help children like these because without their help, they would not see a doctor otherwise. After seeing the doctor, patients were sent to the pharmacy where they were able to get medicine for sicknesses like high blood pressure and diabetes. They were given enough medicine to treat their symptoms until the next Medical Mission in February 2010. Others were treated and given medicine for rashes, various pains, colds, etc. Hundreds of pairs of reading glasses were given out, and many gifts were given to the people also like flip-flops, caps, candy, toothbrushes, soap, but above all, they were given the Gospel. This entire newsletter could be filled with amazing stories of how the people here were helped because of the generous hearts of those involved in this medical team. Thank you for giving your time, talents, and resources to serve these people for the glory of the Lord.

A Group of Loving Hands

A group that was led by Ted Vafeas from Highland Park Baptist Church came to visit in the middle of October. As you know, the most important thing a group can do is teach the Word of God, and that is what this group did. They not only worked in the Ministry, they spread the Word of God all over this community. They visited the ministry and helped with the children, and they visited houses in the village. The men in this group had a Bible study with the men in the village, and over 40 men attended. And the ladies in this group conducted a craft with the ladies in the village and they also spoke about the love of the Lord. At the end of this day, over 98 ladies were taking part in this craft and study of God’s love. This group also visited the children in the Chiquimula hospital, and they prayed for the children that were sick. They also visited the jail and prayed and gave testimonies, and they also witnessed to people in the park. This group was a blessing to the ministry, and they were a blessing to this entire community

Report of the Medical Clinic
By Mme Jo Beaver

My time in Guatemala has come to an end for now. I hope to return the last of January. There really are not enough words to express the wonderful, no magnificent, time I have had here. The clinic has gotten off to a great start, and it has been so rewarding to see the result of the medicine and care that the clinic has provided the people in the village of Lela Obraje. One example that comes to mind is a family of three children, eleven months, three years, and seven years, that came to the clinic last week. They all had sores all over them. With a bottle antibiotic medicine and a tube of antibiotic ointment, they all were nearly well within three days. God is so good! Your prayers and support of the clinic, as well as for me, will be greatly appreciated.