The Puppets and the Puppet Masters
Myra with Augusts' birthday children
Raquel (far right) and her literacy class
Esperanza with her new son
Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings from hot, wet, windy Guatemala. This truly is the land of perpetual sunshine but it also rains and when it does it rains hard.
Angel is doing well. We are anxiously awaiting his exam results for the 3rd semester. We really like his school because the teacher recognizes his strengths and is open to help work with his weakness, which is fear. He is doing better and we are looking forward to the end of the school year in mid-October. We will be coming home at the end of October and he is so excited because we will be there for Christmas and hopefully he'll see some snow. I'd rather not.
Many of the children did very well in the 2nd semester. The 2nd semester report cards were sent home late while they are now just finishing their 3rd semester exams. We sent 31 children-from pre-school to 8th grade - to school this year. The school year ends in late October. From the report card shown for this semester, 29 of the 31 will pass. Of the 31 children 9 of them had excellent grades of 80 and above in all of their classes!! One child, a student in the 1st grade, had grades of 90 and above in all of her classes and another child, who is in the 6th grade, also had grades of 90 and above in all of her classes!! Of the two students, who will not pass, one is in the 1st grade and is 9 years old but could not fully understand the work. That is not unusual for children who have never held a pencil before. That's a big step in itself for some. The other student is in preschool. Both will try again next year and we believe, with this years exposure to this new world of learning, next year they will succeed.
Because of the landslides near to our area and the hundreds of people living in shelters, the ministry that usually gives us beans, rice, corn and soya directed those items to those needy people. Thanks to your donations we were able to buy 300 lbs of beans and 200 lbs of corn. We gave small portions (2-3 lbs.) of beans and corn to 60 families that have 206 children. We are hoping to be able to do more of same or better next month,
School was closed for a week and we took the opportunity to have some special fun time with the kids. Suzy was given a theme of salvation for a child who was a bully and developed it into a puppet show. A few of the older children came by daily to rehearse. The puppet show was shown on the last day before they returned to school. It was a great success. Everyone, including the mothers, enjoyed the puppet show.We are thankful to the Park Valley group who were here in July for leaving us the theatre made of PVC pipe and covered with cloth.
We celebrated the women birthdays on Sunday and the children's birthdays on the last Friday of the month with small gifts and a cake.
We are continuing weekly with the literacy classes with Raquel as teacher. We have adults and children. The adults are all women. We have one man who does his work in his notebook at home. His grown daughter and two smaller children attend but he is timid to be in a class with all women. The children are ages 7 to 14 and will be attending school next year for the first time. We also have three high school students who are being tutored during this time. Yes, those little girls towards the front of the photo are seven and eight!
Another stove was purchased this month that was donated by Daisy Hudson of Zion #3 church. The stove was given to Esperanza's family just a few days before she gave birth to her sixth child. These small blessings are huge benefits for the families. These stoves are compact, uses less wood and each has a chimney that takes the smoke away from the houses and especially away from children who are the most vulnerable. We are committed to place a stove in one families home each month at a cost of $120, that's a bargain.
The Women on Sunday have just finished studying the first 5 books of the Bible. We applaud their interest and dedication to come every Sunday to hear the word and we know it will perform that which it is sent to do. We started in May 2007 in the book of Genesis.
Towards the end of the month things got very sad personally, but God used that time to strengthen Myra to war against the attack of the enemy. There came such a peace and a spirit of intercession that was and still is warming to her soul. As she finished the service on the last Sunday in August she felt led at the close of the teaching to go and pray a small prayer over every woman present. Only God knew why and how those individual prayers affected those women. Myra felt humbled and blessed that God would use her after being in such a sad state just a few days ago but He did and we rejoice in seeing His hand move so beautifully over this ministry. Being open to do the next thing is always the key.
These are some of the small steps that were made this month but each step touches one persons life and that can change a whole family. The faithfulness of God is being demonstrated by these little acts of kindness and deeds of mercy. Thank you all for holding us up in prayer during these very dry time financially but also its a very rich time in the spirit.
Love, Myra
