A New Year with lots of shoes

Happy 11th Birthday Angel


Two of a kind-Aimee and Raquel


Children with new shoes


Children with new shoes


Children with new shoes



Francisco praying with the men



Happy Birthday children





Happy Birthday Ladies


Children with great grades and their gifts


Old stove



New Stove



Ministry staff - Gilma, Sindy and Graciela


Youth Group Helping out at Feeding program


Out with my Girlfriends

Greetings from Guatemala. We are warm here compared to when we were in the states. I am glad to be home. Angel loved the cold and snow.

Angel celebrated his 11th birthday on the 12th of January. He gained 27 lbs while we were home and now weighs 97 lbs. He is a big boy. He started back to school and is getting into the flow of studying and doing homework again. His reading English is very good. He is growing into a fine young man.


We've been busy getting back to ministry work. Francisco and Raquel did a great job running things while we were gone. Gilma took great care of the house and paid the bills. Raquel gave birth to her second child (Debora) late January and my daughter Aimee is still a lady in waiting.

The biggest project in January is always school. We ordered 161 pairs of school shoes. One day from 10am to 6pm we were able to fit and give most of them out. What a blessing to see the faces of the children with their new school shoes. This year we have scholarships for 39 children and one adult. The adult, Santos, is attending a local university. Some of our kids are now attending junior and senior high school. God is good.

We celebrated the children's birthdays for the months of November through January with our usual chicken salad and black beans sandwiches, cake and a flavored ice drink in a bag and a gift. We also gave gifts to the children that had excellent grades at the end of the school year in October 2008.

The Sunday services continued with the ladies. We also celebrated their birthdays with small gifts of toothpaste, tooth brush, comb, soap and a piece of jewelry. We started with the book of Ruth as we continue studying through the Bible forever...

The men had their meeting one Sunday with Francisco sharing the word, praying with them, and giving out clothing and shoes.

Towards the end of the month with Raquel home with her new baby, a youth group from a local church volunteered to come help. Praise God. They are very well organized and such a blessing to the ministry. My art teacher Eddy arranged it through his church. Eddy is the head of the children's ministry of his church and has come and shared before with the children. Eddy is like a kid magnet for God. Each time he comes the kids run forward to receive Christ.

We gave out three stoves this month. Gary & Kathy Speraw purchased one stove and Ed & Joy Saltsman purchased another stove. They are from Zion 3 church in Ohio. The third stove was purchased by Mark & Robin Hemming from Church of Nazarene also in Ohio.

In all of this busyness I did find time to go out with my four friends, Carla, Lucky, Sarita and Anita to celebrate Carla's and Lucky's birthday. We had a fun day and I needed it.

We are outgrowing the garage where our meetings and the feeding program is held. We are believing God to finish the building this year so we can have more space for the feeding program, provide a medical clinic, a computer lab, English classes, a library, after school study program and much more.

Thanks to all of you for loving on us while we were home, giving us generously of your time, hospitality and money. We are so blessed. We in turn can bless the poor in Guatemala through your support of this ministry.

Dental Triumps and Woes

When I was in the states Don and Mary Scro recommended me to their dentist who saw me for free. I have periodontal disease and need a deep cleaning every 3-4 months. I have not been able to find that in Guatemala. The dental assistant took x-rays and with two visits and a few almost painless needles, I was good to go for awhile yet. The visit was a blessing for me. That was the triumph part.

Here is the woe part. The dentist told me I had two crowns that were loose and will fall off sooner or later. One crown was done about six years ago by one dentist. The other only within the last six months by another dentist. He gave me an estimate of over $2000.00 to correct the problem... or go back to my previous dentists and have them correct it. The two previous dentists were from Guatemala and my confidence level with them was very low. I did not have that kind of money even though I sure wanted him to do the work.

I came home and decided to try another local dentist. I showed her the x-rays which the American dentist had graciously given me. My first visit she was working on a filling and her phone rang. With her plastic gloved hand she answered it, said she was not too busy, talked for a bit while still working on my mouth, finished her conversation and then continued with the filling. I was not too happy. Her office was clean, well ordered and modern looking but her service was wanting.

I am now looking for another dentist that can do the work. In Guatemala it may cost me $300 compared to over $2000 in the states but there is not much peace of mind. Please pray with me that I will find a good dentist here in Guatemala and then I can share more triumphs than woes.