Guatemala

Pastor Jorge has been distributing the literature.  One Pastor from Villa Nueva, who pastors a very poor church, came by invitation from a young boy who helps clean the warehouse. The boy invited this pastor to come to the meeting and receive material but the pastor said he could not come because he had no money for any material. The boy told him that the material was all free. When the pastor heard that, he said that it must be very old, and poor material because no one gives away nice material. He came anyway and afterwards approached Pastor Jorge and asked for forgiveness for his poor faith and attitude about the material. He was totally amazed by what he received for free and literally left praising the Lord.

Another pastor from the Linda Vista area approached Pastor Jorge after the meeting and asked for forgiveness because he was not in support of Pastor Jorge’s ministry and church due to the style of music and outreach they use. This pastor even stated that Pastor Jorge and his members were nuts or “loco”.  After receiving the material at this meeting this Pastor gave Pastor Jorge one hundred quetzals or the equivalent of $12.00 and said “This is not even one tenth of what you have given  to us with this material.”  He continued by asking Pastor Jorge to take this and buy himself a Coca Cola with it. He then asked Pastor Jorge to forgive him and his attitude towards his ministry in the community and said he was changing his thoughts about Pastor Jorge and the church.

Please understand that illiteracy in Guatemala is around 40% and up to 50% in some areas of the country. The churches and schools do not have books and resources to properly educate children, adults and pastors. The impact this container of material is going to have in Guatemala will be enormous. I had the privilege of providing over 500 copies of the book, “Lo Unico Que No Podras Hacer En El Cielo” (One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven), to a local Guatemalan Seminary which will be used as a regular text book for students.

My son has a good friend who lives in a small neighborhood in San Cristobal. Each time I drive to his home I pass a small poor Assembly of God church. I felt prompted by the Lord to bring material to this church. As I unloaded several packs of Sunday School material on the curb in front of the church the Pastor began raising his hands praising the Lord and telling me that they have been praying a long time for God to provide Sunday School material. I plan to return next week with more material for this pastor who has a network of other churches in the rural areas of Guatemala in which they have also been praying for material.

Hundreds of other pastors and missionaries have received this material and it is now being used in all areas of Guatemala. With that said I know we have yet to touch the surface of the need here.

Thank you for letting me be a part of what God is doing through Love Packages. It has been an incredible joy to watch Pastors, missionaries and teachers receive the material you sent us. I have realized, even more so than before, that there is very little material here. Nearly every church I talked with said they have no Sunday School material or books. This material has brought so much joy to people. I have already distributed about 90% of the material and have a list of more people wanting some. I have seen people break out in praise and worship as well as tears of joy. Yesterday I brought material to a meeting of about 40 people who work with gangs, prostitutes and in the prisons. These are Guatemalans who receive no support or pay for what they do. Some came and shared testimonies of receiving death threats - which in Guatemala City is extremely serious, because of their ministry. I was able to give everyone as much material as they could carry. One lady came to me and said they have never had material before and called it, "Gold on paper." One young man who was a former member of the 18th Street Gang, was like a kid on Christmas morning as he was looking at the material.   I am saving much of the remaining material for churches in the mountains that I plan to visit in December. These are extremely poor people who struggle with malnutrition and illiteracy - which is around 40%. Please continue to pray for us.

I received the container of material from Love Packages on September 17^th, 2010. There were dozens of adults, students from our school, church, and children’s home who helped unload and help process the material.

The material is being stored in a small warehouse in an area of Guatemala City called Linda Vista. Linda Vista is part of the largest squatter’s village in Central America. The material is kept in the downstairs of a two story building.  A blind mother and her three sons live upstairs. The boys often help me sort and distribute the material. I rent this building in cooperation with a local church and pastor who is extremely devoted to the area and has a passion for evangelism and caring for the poor. His name is Pastor Jorge Cerritos. It has been my privilege to work alongside him and his church. Pastor Jorge organized a meeting and invited pastors and representatives from over twenty-five churches in the Linda Vista area to come and receive some of the material. This meeting brought incredible joy to the pastors as many of them have never had Sunday School material before. Those who have had Sunday School material only had a teacher’s book and use the same few books every year. The pastors came in beat up old pick-ups and cars. Some walked and a few even brought wheel barrels to carry the material. None of them were expecting to receive the amount or quality of materials that we were able to provide. Not only were we able to give them Sunday School teacher’s books, but also student books- which is unheard of here. We also provided all the pastors with personal resources and books, gospel tracts, videos and Bibles. Every one of the pastors was so surprised because it wasn’t just a little bundle of stuff, which they had expected, rather each left with a large supply of material.