Anticipation and Hope

It is an exciting time of year here in San Lucas. We have all been busy with our own things for the last month but today we begin the summer team season. It will be a long season this year filled with lots of teams. When we stand back and look, it can be almost overwhelming. There are going to be 9 teams between now and Aug 12^th.  We will work with 150 to 200 team members and complete several projects. With few days off it would be easy to feel tired before we even begin.

I cannot speak for everyone but I can say that I have a sense of anticipation right now. From the time that we pick up our first team at the airport tonight until we drop off the last team members in August I believe that we are going to see God move. In Zapote, Membrillal and in San Lucas, He wants to make His love known. He is bringing people in for that very purpose. Each person that comes is a different expression of His love and can impact lives in ways that nobody else can. The thought of so many people coming means that God is going to be seen in many new and different ways.

We will see several families receive new houses and/or stoves this year in Zapote. We will also be working on other projects there as needs arise.  Teams will be working to complete the Church and the second floor of the school in Membrillal over the next few months as well. Towards the end of summer, we will have a medical clinic in Membrillal. The work is great and we love to see all that will be accomplished, knowing that the Church and school are important in the transformation of both communities. The houses and stoves are important to help families get a sense of their value to God and to the people that have come to help. By changing a person’s view of self and the heart of God for them you can often motivate them to change and improve their lives. We are working to create a partnership that allows people to work their way out of the poverty they live in as well as proclaim the truth of the Gospel to them.

We would ask that you would be in prayer for our teams, our projects and the communities this summer. Without the leading of the Holy Spirit, all of our efforts will be wasted but as He guides and we obey, we will see the Kingdom of God make great inroads this year. We are the tools i His hands but we want to make sure that Jesus is the center of all that we do, that it is Him leading and directing our work and our words.

Pray for team unity. It is hard to spend  24 hours a day working, eating and playing with people especially ones that you may not know as more than a name and face that you pass each week in Church. Pray that they will have a sense of expectation but not be focused on self. Pray that they find their purpose within the scope of the group’s purpose and submit to the leaders of their teams with willing hearts. These things are not normal to most of us. Pray that God will speak to each of them and that everyone will go home with an outward focus and an eternal perspective. Pray that they will be ready to return to their own communities with a vision for transformation, ready to make a Kingdom impact on their cities.

Pray for our communities. We have problems with alcoholism, drugs, gangs, poverty, single parent families, child abuse, abandonment, occultism, and numerous other issues. It is our desire that the light of Jesus would bring transformation and that the work we do would make it a little easier for people to see Him. Our prayer is that we would see transformation and revival in San Lucas, Zapote and Membrillal leading to transformation in all of Guatemala. Please join us in praying that these communities would receive the gift of life in Jesus and a renewed mind.

Thank you all for your love, prayers and partnership in the work of Jesus at Iglesia Galilea. We appreciate you and hope that you too are anticipating a life changing and community transforming summer. We pray that you are blessed in all that God has for you this year.

Christmastime

Well, it is December and we have made it through the school year. There have been many challenges throughout this year but it has been a good year and we have seen God's hand on it. He has blessed us with many great students and staff and when the year ends it is always hard to say goodbye. While we will see many of them again in January, we know that some will not return and that is always a little sad. Some of the children will not come back and some of our staff will not return next year so it is bittersweet to end a school year.

You would think that we would slow down a little bit but it seems like that is not the case. Since we had the graduations at the end of October, regular classes have come to an end but there has still been much activity with the schools. There was Vacation Bible School at both of the schools in November and they were both well attended with kids from the school and also kids from the communities at large. There was a medical clinic at Zapote for a week that saw many patients. The 4 doctors, 3 dentists and 15 helpers from Kids Alive saw students and people from the school for 2 days and then spent 2 more days focusing on the needs of the community. There were about 150 to 175 people that came through the clinic each day. There was also a registration day at each school to enroll next years students.

After everything else settled down, it was time to begin the celebrations. November concluded with a time of celebrating for the two schools, the Church and all of the staff. There was a time of gift giving and celebrating the advent of Jesus and the blessing that each of them is to our community.

There is still work to be done. Even though school is out and the teachers are at home for their break, there are preparations to make for next year. Budgets need to be finalized and next years staff has to be hired. Books need to be purchased and the plans need to be finalized. There is a lot to do and there is a deadline. The two weeks at the end of the year are staff vacation so all of their work needs to be done before mid-December. While is is often the less noticed tasks that have to be done at this time of year, they are important so that they schools can function smoothly next year.

Please be in prayer for all of us as we end the year.

• Pray that the work that needs to be done will get done in a timely and smooth manner and that it would be stress free.
•  Pray for wisdom in the hiring and planning for the coming school year that we would have the teachers and staff God has called to each school .
• Pray that He would bring the students that we are to work with in the coming year.
•  Pray for peace and times of restoration for each of us. It has been a long and busy year. We need rest and we need time to deepen our relationships with family and friends. 
• Pray for renewed vision for the Church and for all of those involved in our work.
• Pray for the finances to meet the needs of the coming year and for faith not to stress as we wait for them.
• Pray for the teams that God would bring to us and for each member that is coming in 2016

We are grateful for your prayers and also for your financial support. This work only gets done because you partner with us to fulfill God's vision for making disciples in Zapote, Membrillal and San Lucas. If you would like to contribute financially, please visit our sponsors pages located at the top of the blog.


Thank you all and have a very blessed Christmas.

The First Graduating Class

I have shared with some of you that we had our first graduating class of 9th graders this year at Fuente de Esperanza, Zapote. It was incredible to be able see the culmination of years of work and planning in this ceremony. We had not only 9th grade graduates but also Kindergarten and 6th grade graduates as well. We had mothers of children in the school come in the afternoons to be taught and they completed 6th grade and they too participated and received their certificates. We are starting to see how the school will have an impact on the community in the future as an illiterate population begins to read and write. The Gospel, coupled with education will have far reaching impact.

Zapote is a farm community and it developed to support the finca that the town is named after, Finca el Zapote. For a long time the village was supported by the wages earned working the sugar cane fields in Zapote and  the surrounding areas. The people were mostly poor and uneducated but there was work and that meant food and shelter. Several years ago the finca switched from sugar cane to cattle. This change left a lot of people unemployed but for the land owner was a big savings.  It takes many less people to raise cattle. Without education the men of the village began to travel long distances looking for field work. The children were living in single parent homes much of the time with little means of support. This cycle only deepens the poverty in the region as generation after generation follows the same track as their parents. Breaking this cycle takes education and also the knowledge that they are created in the image of God, with purpose and destiny. Hope comes to confront them at a time of despair.

The planning of this school began 15 years ago with the goal of reaching the children and  ultimately the community with the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and changing how the people viewed themselves. This began as the vision of  Pastor Merari Rodriguez and he began to share with a few of the leaders of Iglesia Galilea and with Jenny Herrera, the director of the Oasis, Kid's Alive home for girls in San Lucas. They partnered together for the last 15 years to develop this school and to see it grow to what it has become. About 7 years ago, Corbey Dukes took over as director of the Oasis and that partnership has continued to grow for the advancement of the school and the kids we serve. They receive meals twice a day, education in all the core subjects as well as Art, Music and Physical Education. The most important class they receive is Bible. They hear the Gospel and the call to repentance. By coming to be in a relationship with Jesus they become different people. They now have hope and purpose beyond being trapped in the unending cycle of poverty, abandonment and broken dreams.

Out of  this partnership, the school opened 9 years ago to our first group of students. The first year we only had first and second grade and they attended at Iglesia Galilea in Zapote. It was obvious that this was not a great long term solution and shortly after, construction began on the building that is now Fuente de Esperanza. When the first floor was complete, children began to attend classes there instead of at the Church. Each year a new grade was added. To meet the needs of the growth a second story was added to house the now 10 grade levels, from kindergarten to 9th grade.

I have put together this short video to share with you a little bit of the ceremony and the day that we celebrated the graduations. You can click the below link to follow.  The video quality is not always great. There was lots of jockeying for space so please forgive me.

The songs represent our prayer for these graduates at all levels that they would know the Father singing over them and that this security would launch them into the dance of life. Zeph 3:17 tells us that they Father has a song that He sings over each of us.
The Lord your God is in your midst,

mighty one who will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness;

He will quiet you by his love;

He will exult over you with loud singing.

If you are interested in helping with Zapote or the school in Membrillal you can follow the links at the top of this page to learn how to get involved. You can find Zapote is on the Kids Alive page and Membrillal on the Sourceof Hope and His Hands pages.

Fuente de Esperanza Membrillal

Last week was a busy week for us. We had the year end program for the school in Membrillal and the graduation ceremony for our first graduating class in Zapote. Soon I will have more on about Zapote but I wanted to Share a video with you all about the work that has been going on at the school in Membrillal. God has been doing some amazing things there and I hope to give you a glimpse of the work that we have been doing there. Click the link below to see the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anFamLxAE34

I will be writing much more in the future and hope that you will subscribe and share this with your family and friends.