MAY, JUNE, AND JULY NEWSLETTER

LETTER FROM SARITA

Esteemed Friends:

It is an honor for me and a joy to be able to greet you and greatly thank you for your faithfulness to GMM and the vision we have month to month and year to year.
During this time, God is enlarging His work and giving us more blessings and more opportunities to carry His Word to others through many diverse activities. We are taking the vision that God put in William and my heart, using different strategies and methods, to evangelize to the people and touch the people’s heart. And this is where I want to show great gratitude for your prayers, support, encouragement, faithfulness, and love. You are helping us take our vision as part of the dream that Jesus has given to all of us…"Go and make disciples of all the nations…” Matthew 28: 19 and 20
It is vitally important for us to receive your prayers, support, encouragement, and help in all times because we know that we are of the same body of Christ and that all of us complement each other. Just like Jesus sent out His message of forgiveness through His disciples, Jesus also needs workers in this age to carry this same message to all the people.
Now we can say that God’s plans are going out of our hearts, and the plans that my loving husband, William, had and that all of you have as well and we are running towards the VISION that God has for us and for those here in Guatemala. Now many of our goals have been reached, but we still have our daily challenges. We have new needs that are not easy to fill, but with and in our all-powerful Christ, we can make it. GMM has been formed for one objective, and this objective is in Matthew 25:31-40. These verses and objective are applied to our projects and programs as well. Our projects are as follows: The classrooms from Pre-school to Sixth grade are finished and we were able to give all of the school supplies for each child; we also have a feeding program and we feed every student that is in ministry five days a week; the medical clinic that is located in the ministry attends and consults many families in the village as well and we send the ones that are really sick to the hospital; we also have Bible studies for the men in the village, where Daniel and Jorge lead this study and there are about 30 men from the village that attend this meeting; we also have a Bible study for 30 women, and I have the privilege to lead these women every week; we visit houses and pray for the needs of the people; and now we have a new construction program for the men that teaches them basic construction applications and a program for the women that teaches them how to read and write and sew.
All of these things are part of our VISION where each of you is involved, whether in a direct or indirect way. Like when Jesus multiplied the five loaves and two fishes, and each person had a ration according to the needs. This is how it has been through the years. Every one of you have given and shared according to your possibilities and in how the Lord has led you to give. I want to give appreciation for your love and obedience to the voice of the Lord and for being sensitive in your spirits to the needs of others. You give more than economic support. You give prayers, smiles, and love too. I want to thank you in a special way for having in your hearts the same desire, the same vision that William and I have, and for having this commitment, not just with God, but for those that are in the village. We know that with God’s guidance we can work and transform this place for His glory. I don’t think this is an easy work to do, and that is another reason I just want to say thank you to all the groups that have come and given their time and have given a lot more for GMM and for showing love for your fellow man and for loving God’s children that you do not even know. But we all know that they deserve to know about the love of God like we do.
Our mission for this year is to finish the small projects that are lacking like buy and install the doors and roof for the new bathrooms, dig a well so we can have enough water at all times for the school and feeding center, and when these are finished, we can continue with the project of constructing the mission house, which we will talk about more in the future.
We are very thankful to God that we are expanding physically and spiritually and we believe in our hearts that it’s time to renew our vows with the Lord and start to have a new level of surrender to the Lord, where our trust and faith in Jesus is the base of our actions. We do not ask for anything that we do not pray will be given back to you. In the same way, I hope that your plans and families and your commitment to God is taken to another level and that you give your lives completely to God in love, action, faith, and commitment and that you will experience great freedom to remain in the Spirit of the Lord no matter the barriers of distance or language. My desires for each of your lives are that you can accomplish every project, every plan, and every decision as you are following the Lord each day.
I love you all and I desire that you are left with this final thought: Be blessed in your hearts, visions, and dreams in this last season of the year.
With love,
Sarita.

Mark 12:30-31 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all you strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

MAY (Announcements and News)
• I want to share with you a great thing that is going on in Chiquimula. In the first of May, there was a meeting held in Chiquimula for more than 100 pastors, and I had the privilege of being a part of this event. Dr. Harold CaBalleros was our special guest, who is a well known speaker and writer in Guatemala and other areas of the world, and he spoke on the work of the church and the Christian people for the change of our country. I led the opening prayer, and I asked Brandi to sing two songs before the conference began. It was an activity that was full of blessings and a powerful message that was accepted by many pastors in this area.
• On May 8th, a group of fifteen women from our church, Casa del Alfarero, met in the village to pray for the difficult time of violence that is occurring in the village. This is a problem that has been occurring for a while now, so we went to pray specifically in the place where the violence is occurring.
• On May 14th, we celebrated Family Day at the ministry. We had a wonderful celebration, and all of the student’s families participated. The teachers here prepared different activities, games, and competition for the mothers, fathers, and children, and they all participated. It took a little encouragement, but eventually everyone was having an amazing time! We gave a various prizes to all of the winners, like sunglasses, plates, water containers, and much more. And afterwards, we had lunch for all of the families, and we had all of the families sit together. It was a great blessing to see them all having a wonderful time, and that the children saw their parents playing and having a good time too. The object of celebrating Family Day is to teach the importance of togetherness as a family and to teach them to support each other and have fun together. Even though this is very natural for most, it is not for most of the families in the village.

• Men’s Ministry: In the month of May, we had our normal Bible Studies every Monday afternoon, but we stared a new construction class with the men on Tuesdays afternoons, and Chayo is teaching this class. The men love it and are learning so much from the knowledge that Chayo has! This month we also washed the men’s feet because we are studying the part of John where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, and it was a blessing to see the men’s responses. They are so humble, but they truly understood how Jesus expects us to be servants to others as He was. Also during this month, we gave the men sunglasses one night and also showed a movie on the same night. Because of this, some of the men were watching the movie with their sunglasses on because they liked them so much. It really blessed are hearts to see how much they liked their gift. Please continue to pray that this group of men will continue to learn of God’s love and direction for their lives.

• Women’s Ministry: The group of women that come on Wednesdays for the Bible study in the ministry are now searching their Bible and, those that know how, are reading their Bible during the teachings. We have many beautiful plans for this group of women. Next Saturday we have great plans to begin classes with them. Classes like cooking, sewing, and art classes. We will also take those aside that do not know how to read and write and teach them during these Saturdays. We feel this will help their future and also help their community. We ask for your prayers for these plans so we can put them into reality and that it will be a blessing for the women here in the village.
• Also in the month of May, many floods hit Chiquimula and the surrounding areas. Chiquimula was truly hit by one great flood that destroyed houses and took the lives of several. The community, including our church, Casa del Alfarero, pulled together and gave food, clothing, and helped with the aftereffects of the flood. Those in the village were not affected as much because of their location on the mountain, praise the Lord, but of course, the rainy season is always a tough time for everyone because of the sickness it can bring and the damage of the hard rains.
 
JUNE (Announcements and News)
• In the month of June, much of the violence in the village was stopped because a man that had been a leader of a gang in the village was killed. We believe that with the death of this man, the village has more peace now. But, sad to say, the violence still exists. Two weeks after his death, a 16 year old girl that studied in the public school in the village, was killed on her way home from school one day. After the death of this girl, the whole village was very commotional. The families were scared to send their children to school. We had a meeting with the parents and students in our school to encourage them to continue coming to the school and to pray for this horrible situation. Some mothers went ahead and took their children out of the school, nine in total, most of which are girls. Please pray for this situation and that the wave of violence stops and the fear subsides.
• An uplifting announcement for this month is that we had a missionary group of 17 young people come and stay from June 1st to June 9th. Youth and young adults came from Killen United Methodist church and Parkway Methodist church to construct the patio in front of the new classrooms at the ministry. This was truly a great blessing because we have needed a floor in this area so the ground will not absorb the constant rain from this rainy season. They also brought glue and whiteboard markers for the students and teachers, and they were such a blessing for us and for the students in the ministry.
• Also, another small project we are forming is a library of literature and encyclopedias that have been donated over the past year. These encyclopedias are a great help for the older students, from those, they can consult many different subjects for their classes like science and social studies. We know that encyclopedias are obsolete in this modern age, but if you don’t a lot about 3rd world countries, encyclopedias are a great benefit to any school, especially to one that is located in the mountains. Our school, along with many other schools in Chiquimula and the surrounding areas, do not have the benefit of a computer lab or internet, so forming this library is a tremendous blessing for our students. Any donations of Spanish books for our library would be greatly appreciated.
• Other information we want to share with you is that on the 12th of June, we started teaching a group of eight women from the village every day activities and crafts, and the group of women from our church, Casa del Alfarero, which I spoke of in the May information, are the teachers. This group is apart from the Bible study, and we meet two Saturdays a month, and we are teaching these women to read and write and to make crafts with their hands. The first project we did was a bag that they crocheted. In the near future, we will begin to teach them to cook with easy recipes that are healthy and low cost.

• The week of June 14th, for the middle of the school year, all of the students in the school were evaluated. Praise the Lord, everyone passed, so everyone is very excited. After their evaluations, the students and teachers had vacation for the week of June 21st. Because of this, the students were not able to come to eat at the feeding center, so we gave them food to take back to their houses. We bought food like oil and beans and other things to give to each child so they could eat in their house throughout the week. During this week, some of the students and I worked in the garden at the ministry, and now the school looks very clean and professional with a nice garden to top it off.

• On the 28th and 29th of June, a group came for one day from Guatemala city to paint a mural on one of the walls at the school, and it is so beautiful. They also played with the children and had a good time in these two days.
• WE give thanks to God because we had lots of work during this month, because with lots of work comes much blessing.
 
JULY (Announcements and News)
• In month of July, we also have great news. On July 6th, Mme Jo, the nurse for the ministry, came back to Guatemala to stay for five more months. She is attending to the small medical needs of the people in the village, like colds, stomach problems, and fevers. Her husband and daughter came the week of the 12th and stayed for two weeks to work on the floor in the medical clinic, which looks beautiful, and to visit and see Mme Jo’s new home.
• On July 16th, twelve students from CEICA city school came to visit our students here in the village to give them food, clothes, and a couple of English lessons. They also came to see the differences between their school in the city and a school like ours in the mountains. Our students welcomed them with a precious program that the teachers coordinated, and they gave the visitors beautiful cards written in English. The day was such a blessing to see, because for many of the students from CEICA, it was their first time to visit a village. The food that they brought was given to the 20 poorest families in the village and the clothes were given to the students. It was an amazing sight to see these students conversing and having a good time together.
• On July 22nd to the 28th, a group of adults and youth led by Pastor Pochop and Pastor Frank Whitaker from Sheffield, Alabama came to paint all of the school in the ministry and they did such an excellent and professional job. The youth also played and worked with the students at the school during their Bible study, and the group brought shoes and clothes for the students.

• On Thursday, 29th, Pastor Josue Morales brought a group of young people. The original plan was for this group to take our rock from the river, but because of the storms, the river has filled up, so they were unable to do this. So, with the leftover paint from the previous group, they were able to paint the inside of three classrooms at the school, so God works it all out for His glory.

We give thanks to God for the past three months! They have been for God's glory, and thank you for being a part of it all.

Sarita

Colossians 3: 15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Please pray that the Lord will give us his wisdom because we are praying about what project we can implement for the people in the village. This project will, Lord willing, provide ways to help the families eat better in their houses.

Please pray for our children in the ministry and that the support that we received from GMM continues and is multiplied, for those that give and for us that receive.

Pray also that the violence in the village ends and that the authorities in Guatemala are efficient to stop this violence.

And also, please pray that the strong rains do that destroy the houses and crops and that they do not bring anymore sickness.