The Family at El Guadalupe

The Family at El Guadalupe

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Preaching at Los Achiotes/Ministering to Children in La Primavera

Pastor Adrian and some of the members at
the Asamblea de Dios-Bethel
Preaching at Los Achiotes
I hope all of you are doing very well! It's been an adventurous past month for us. April started with a trip to a small community called Los Achiotes, about three-and-a-half hours from Guatemala City, to visit a pastor I'd met last fall. The reason I decided to go was to get to know Pastor Adrian, his church and community a little better, because I feel that the Lord may be leading us to do ministry there. It was my first trip out to a village/rural community by myself, and it was a great experience. After visiting with the Pastor, his wife Nohemi, and their youngest son for about an hour, he asked me if I'd be interested in preaching that day in their evening worship service. I didn't hesitate. "Con mucho gusto!" ("It would be my pleasure!") was my reply. But with only about three hours before time for the service to begin, I politely asked if I could have some time to prepare (at my level of Spanish, it's a little more difficult to preach on such short notice :-) That night I stumbled through a 20 minute message, but I sensed that God's Hand was upon me, and I was overflowing with joy that God had given me this opportunity to share His Word in Guatemala's primary language. We're looking forward to developing this relationship with Pastor Adrian, and excited about getting "our foot in the door" at Los Achiotes, in hopes that soon, we'll be able to take the Gospel to the unsaved of the community.

Ethan enjoying craft time with the children
at La Primavera
Ministering to Children in La Primavera
We also had the opportunity to visit and minister at an extremely poor area in the town of Villa Nueva, just outside of Guatemala City. We worked with our friend, David Rosser, of Hearts for Heaven Ministries in the community called La Primavera. There I had the chance to teach the children about Christ, and Alison, Ethan and Bethany also spent some quality time with the children as we played soccer and did crafts. Please pray for this community. As is all too common in Guatemala,  La Primavera is riddled with poverty, gang violence and drug abuse - all a result of spiritual darkness. Our desire is to invade the darkness with the message and love of Jesus Christ.

Coming Home Soon!
We are so excited about coming home for the summer (or at least part of it)! It's going to be a great time of visiting with family and friends, and also a busy time of fundraising as we share our vision with churches and prospective partners. Please let us know if you'd like for us to come share at your church, class or small-group meeting. We hope to see then!

Thank you!
We thank God for those of you who partner with us in presenting Christ to the people of Guatemala. The word of God says that your giving is a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God (Philippians 4:18). If you would like to partner with us, please get in touch with us at syntax_gravy@hotmail.com. You can give online at www.gotonations.org/atwood . Love to all!