We have been so happy to restart Monday night Bible studies and dinner this past fall. And we greatly enjoyed this special night of worship, teaching, prayer, games, gifts and a big dinner together. It has been a delight to be together again, and we’re excited to continue these in 2024.
As an outreach in our town of Chimaltenango, we prepared 200 traditional Christmas breakfasts of tamales and ponche (a hot fruit drink) which we passed out in our town’s center square. We were able to preach, pray and share the love of God to many people.
Casa Shalom has really special place in our hearts. It’s a Christian orphanage where most of our girls grew up, and Yuliza and I met there! We had the blessing to be able to give the hard working staff a break, and we watched the children for a morning full of games and soccer. Then we had a Bible lesson, tamales and all the ice cream they could eat!
Los Gozosos is a special needs orphanage near us that is truly amazing! With your gifts, we were able to help them with their Christmas party. Our friend Diamond came to stay with us and she and our girls helped the children there ring in the New Year together. Los Gozosos is struggling to pay all of their essential staff including nurses, therapists and nannies. Here is a link if you want to help.
Thank you so much for your help, prayers and support throughout 2023, and we’re amazed every year with the support for all of these Christmas programs. Our house filled with current and previous young adults that we’ve worked with over the years, and it’s a great time to be together. Our mission is “we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8) Thank you for making it possible!
We hope that you enjoyed these photos of our activities. Please reach out through email with any questions or comments! Also, please see our previous newsletter for pictures of our five girls who graduated in November.
Hello from Guatemala! We’ve been very busy celebrating with our girls as 5 graduated from high school last month. Karla (19) graduated with a degree in computer programming, Lesly (19) graduated with a science degree, Mary (22) graduated with a preschool education degree, and both Liseth (21) and Ana (21) graduated with degrees in business administration. It’s been wonderful to celebrate this accomplishment with them, and it’s also been a great opportunity to meet many of their families who we invited over to our house for a party afterwards.
The most common question we get asked is, “What will they do now?” And the answer is different for each of them. Their high school degrees include a major, and they hope to get jobs related to what they studied. Many universities offer evening and weekend classes, and they all have hopes to start studying in college next year. We encourage them to continue to stay with us, in fact, that’s why we built the apartment beside our house in order to give them space to live as well as some more freedom. Some of them do have family that they’ve decided to live with. In the end we try to help them in any way possible as they move into this new stage of life.
Liseth now has a job doing office work at our pastor’s rose farm. She’s very excited to be learning what it’s like to run a real business. And Karla has gotten a job at a print shop near our house where she will be helping them to modernize their website. Our other two girls, Anelcy (20) and Sharon (19) have both finished 10th grade, and they’re working temporary jobs in a guacamole factory until school starts again in January. Mary hopes to find a teaching job for next year, but is working at the guacamole factory with Anelcy and Sharon in the mean-time.
Monday Night Bible Study
In October we were excited to restart the Bible studies on Monday nights. A mix of street vendors, street kids, shoe shiners, homeless, and alcoholics of our town attend, and our heart is to have a place where everyone feels welcomed and loved while we pursue the Lord and His will for our lives. Many people can find it intimidating to walk into a church for the first time, especially if they’re poor, less educated, or struggling with an addiction. We love bringing everyone together, learning about the Lord together, praying for each other, having dinner together, and loving each other. And the children that come love getting some time to just be a kid after a long day of work.
Please pray for this special group. For kids like Wilson, Maria and Joselin who are selling food and candy on the street everyday. For the adults like Mario, Rebeca and Jesus who are selling fruit and collecting cardboard to provide for their families. And for guys like Carlos, Moises and Wingly who are fighting against addictions. What touches my heart the most is to see Margaret’s heart for the other kids as she is everyone’s friend, and she was the most excited to restart our meetings!
Elections
This year was an election year in Guatemala, and things got crazy. A new candidate came out of obscurity and won the election in August by a pretty big landslide solely based on promises to reduce government corruption. His inauguration isn’t until January, and the current government has been working hard at disqualifying him, his party, and the elections. As a result the general public has been protesting throughout the country. October was particularly crazy as there were blockades everywhere, including 6 different points in our town, which stopped everyone from being able to drive anywhere. It lasted many weeks, and food started to become scarce and expensive. Fortunately it was mostly peaceful but there were confrontations between the protestors, the police, and frustrated drivers.
We were starting our Monday night Bible studies in the middle of the protests, and in order to invite people we would walk around our central park to talk, pass out coffee and pray for people. The police station is beside the park, and one night after a tense day of protests, the police chief asked our group to come and pray for all of them!
Prayer Requests
We are in the middle of many different Christmas parties at some orphanages and communities of Chimaltenango. Our desire is to love on as many as possible and to introduce them to our loving heavenly Father.
The new school year begins in January, and we’re getting to know some potential new girls to see if they are a good fit for our family. After so many have graduated this past year, we hope to find some new girls to help this coming year.
We ask that you would pray for Guatemala over the next 4 weeks because everyone here is watching and waiting to see what the government does and see if there are going to be more protests.
Thank You!
Thank you so much for your continued support for our family! Margaret just turned 11 and wants to be an artist. She loves to draw and is always making new clothes for her dolls. Isabella is 4 and loves gymnastics. She has been in multiple competitions this year and has even won 1st place! Both love their pet rabbits and are excited by our ever growing bunny population.
Thank you so much and God bless, Brent, Yuliza, Margaret & Isabella
We’re excited to have Sharon join our family this year! She’s 18 years old and currently in 10th grade. Our other girls are Karla (18), Lesly (19), Anelcy (20), Ana (21), Liseth (21), and Mary (21).
It’s a fun and very busy year for us to have 7 high-schoolers, and 5 of them will be graduating in October. This is the first year where everything has returned to normal after the pandemic, and it feels like the schools are trying to make up for all the lost time these past 3 years where they’ve had to study from home. So everyone has typically over 6 hours of homework a night!
We’ve enjoyed having regular visits from many kids who have lived with us in the past or have grown up in the orphanage like Carlos, Edwin, Cesar, Maria and Flora. Edwin, who’s been one of our best friends since I started to take care of him 19 years ago, got married in February.
We’ve also had a few visitors from the United States this spring. Lilia has been visiting us for 3 months and has been involved in Bible studies with our girls, cooking and helping with Margaret’s homeschooling. And our friend Diamond came to visit and added a welcome zany energy to our family.
Margaret is now 10 and is a dedicated artist who is always drawing, painting and molding something new. And Isabella is now 4 and she’s typically worn 3 different dresses by lunchtime. They both love gymnastics and are very excited by our growing family of bunnies.
We continue to partner with our local church to translate for mission teams with Filter of Hope in the communities around our town. They donate water filters to needy families and use the opportunity for evangelism. This year we’ve translated for 7 groups, and it’s fun to have the whole family involved. Yuli is an expert translator, Margaret enjoys helping, and the girls get to improve their English. It’s been humbling to visit the families and really have no idea what they’re going through. We visited homes struggling with poverty, addiction, death of husbands and children, kidnappings and rape. Many people who look fine on the outside, but on the inside are without hope and without the knowledge of God. It has touched our hearts to listen to our girls give testimonies about how God has helped them find peace and forgiveness.
Our newly finished apartmentMoving the leftover dirt after the road construction
The other good news is that we finally finished paving our road and building the new apartment which provides some much needed space as the girls have been living 3 to a room. We also dug a new water line which has been a huge help in providing enough water for all of us! Here’s a video of the finished apartment: https://youtu.be/SAGRRT4mUjU.
Thank you so much for your continued support for us! Towards the end of last year our finances had been getting tight as we continued to grow as a family, and we were so honored and humbled as many of you stepped up to support and help us during that time. It was a huge blessing to us, and we’re so grateful. Thank you so much!
God bless, Brent, Yuliza, Margaret & Isabella
Prayer Requests:
Pray for our girls as 5 graduate and school has been very intense for all of them.
Pray that we can help them to grow in their personal walks with the Lord.
Pray as we plan and prepare to restart the street ministries that have been paused this year.
In November we were happy to celebrate with Nathaly as she graduated from high school. Her mom was able to come to her graduation, and Nathaly has gone to live with her mother full-time and is working near their apartment.
We concluded our various ministries with Christmas parties, and the first was for the Monday night Bible study. A clown came and played games with the kids, we had a devotion and time of prayer, and enjoyed a special meal around a fire.
The breakfast ministry finished with 150 tamales for all the street vendors, shoe shiners, homeless and alcoholics in the central park of our town. I shared about difference in the reactions the wise men and King Herod had when they learned about the birth of Jesus. The wise men sought Jesus, worshipped Him and protected Him, while King Herod acted outwardly happy while secretly desiring to kill Jesus because he had no room in his heart for any other king. There was a good response and a great time of prayer afterwards.
Then we had a Christmas party with the children of the Casa Shalom orphanage last week. We had a lunch of tamales and flan, had a great game of soccer, fellowship, prayer and ice cream. Most of our girls grew up there, and we had a great group of alumni visit the orphanage with us. In fact, they paid for all the food! It was wonderful to spend time with and love on the kids.
On Christmas Eve we made tamales and then stayed up all night eating, goofing off, and shooting fireworks. On Christmas Day we went hiking in the mountains nearby to watch the sunset. (I’m sorry for all of you who have really cold weather… it’s wonderful here!) New Year’s Eve will be very similar with lots of kids arriving to stay with us, and we’ll stay up super late all over again!
When I was growing up we knew a lady who would foster care for many children. My family would go over to her house to help with lawn work and house repair projects. So we knew them well. When I was about a senior in high school, my parents had all of them over to our house for Thanksgiving. I distinctly remember not being happy about it because I wanted family time as my brother was back from college, and I wanted a relaxing time of eating and watching football. But I was a good Christian boy, so I didn’t complain or share my discontent, and I remember the chaos of the meal with her trying to keep all the kids seated and not fighting. Now I am so grateful for experiences like this which taught me to love even when I don’t want to, and taught me that Christ followers are called to serve in all times.
Ministry Highlights for 2022
Receiving Nathaly, Anelcy & Lesly into our family this year.
Receiving visitors for the first time since the pandemic started.
Working as a family to translate for six different evangelism groups and meeting many new like-hearted friends.
Starting construction on the new apartment. Here’s a video of the progress: youtu.be/XsMkIdem7q8
Visiting our home church after not being able to for so long and spending quality time with Pastor Rick and his family. A special highlight was spending an amazing time in worship led by a couple who had just lost a child to cancer, and then I had to preach and I was so humbled as I prayed, “Lord, what can I say after that?”
Reading through the gospel of John during our Monday Night Bible study and helping the group which does not have much schooling to learn to study the Bible for themselves. It’s also been great seeing Margaret’s heart grow for her street-vender friends and watching her joy to be with them each week.
A few months ago our finances had gotten really low, and I started to really fret about how we were going to make it to the end of the year. I would love to say that I was calmly trusting the Lord, but I was mostly just stressing out. We were so blessed to have some regular donors step up and help us through that time, and this month we received some new donors who have surprised us by their generosity. We’re so grateful and humbled!
Ministry Vision for 2023
We’re going to probably be receiving at least two more girls into our family shortly. And this is an especially important year for 5 of our girls who are starting their senior year of high school in January — from Karla, who’s been with us for over 7 years, to Lesly, who’s been with us 3 months.
My greatest desire for this year is to help them grow in their relationship with their Heavenly Father. It’s too easy as a Christian to go through the motions or learn facts about God, but to never having a relationship with Him as a father and as a friend. Just like we can be with a famous person, we can learn facts about them or maybe meet them, but that’s not a relationship! I want each of them to be secure in their position as a child of a loving God, and then to learn to walk with Him everyday for the rest of their lives.
Thank you so much for your continued support for us! God bless, Brent, Yuliza, Margaret & Isabella
Back: Anelcy, Liseth & Lesly Front: Ana Lidia, Mary & Karla
As the school year ends here in Guatemala, we are happy to announce that Lesly has joined our family this month, and we’re so glad to have her with us! Nathaly has just finished her senior year and will be graduating high school next week.
Many of the girls have gotten a job in a clothing factory to work during their vacation. In fact, you can visit Walmart and look for colorful T-shirts of the brand “Wonder Nation” to see what they are producing!
As the school year ends, we look towards January and the next year, and we need financial help. Most schools are private schools, and especially during high school where the girls have to pick a major, it’s important to have a good education in order to be able to get a good job afterwards.
This year the costs for school have averaged $100 a month for each girl, with more expenses at the beginning of the year when we pay for enrollment, uniforms and books. And during the school year, the monthly tuition is roughly about $60 depending on the career. In our home, we budget for $2 a day for food for each of us which is $60 a month per girl. In 2022 we’ve been running short about $550 each month, and it would be wonderful to be able to cover these expenses this coming year.
I know that I’m writing to so many that are so generous with us, but maybe you know someone else who would be interested in partnering with us in raising these wonderful girls. We have a great privilege to be able to serve in Guatemala, and we love bringing girls from difficult living situations into our home and make them part of our family. It’s a unique calling that God has placed on our lives, and our hope is to help each girl to know how much their Heavenly Father loves them, to desire to seek His will for their lives, and to be mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually ready for their futures.
Many have also asked how the new apartment construction is progressing, and unfortunately we’re still waiting for the road construction to finish in order to be able to bring in the materials we need. The road construction started about 2 and a half months ago, and it looks like they need another few weeks more. The house is almost finished, but it still needs doors, windows and electricity. Hopefully we will be able to finish it by the end of the year.
Thank you for your prayers and continued support for us! Brent, Yuliza, Margaret & Isabella
We’re still here, and we’re alive! Sorry that it’s been almost a year since our last ministry update.
Our Girls
Our girls have just about a month of school left as the school year goes from January to October. At the start of the year, we had a big surprise when the school that most of our kids, including Margaret, announced that they were shutting down. All classes have been required to be online since the start of the pandemic, and the school couldn’t handle it. So we had to scramble to get them all registered in new schools. All of our girls are in 10th grade this year, although they study in different schools because they’re required to pick a major in high school. But in the end, they’ve barely even seen their schools as all classes have been remote all year long. We’re hoping they’ll be able to go next year!
Our newest girl, Liseth, came to live with us last October. We love having her here with us and she’s a great addition to our family. She received a huge surprise a few months ago when her father reached out to her. Liseth had no memory of him and very distant memories of her mother, as she was brought to an orphanage due to abandonment a long time ago. But in May we were able to meet her father, and she got two big surprises: She has a different last name, and she has a different birthday! In fact, we had just celebrated her 19th birthday, and now we learned that we get to celebrate her birthday a second time! We continue to get to know her father better, and it’s very exciting for her to finally know a parent.
Karla is 17 now, and she’s studying to be a computer programmer. Ana is 19 and is studying business administration, and Mary is 20 and is studying to be a preschool teacher. We’re very proud of our girls and we have a great time together. Being stuck inside together now for almost two years has had the effect of really unifying us and building a feeling of family that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise!
Breakfasts, Dinners & Bible Studies
It’s been great to be able to have meetings this year, as they were prohibited almost all of last year. Our president and congress can’t figure out what’s best in order to contain the virus, and they’re always fighting amongst themselves. (It doesn’t just happen in the United States!) So sometimes there are mandatory curfews at certain hours, and sometimes meetings and gatherings are not allowed.
In the middle of all the craziness the ministry has grown a lot this year. Our breakfasts on Sunday mornings now have about 125 people attending, and there’s a lot more needs as the pandemic continues and jobs are scarce. We also have a lot more volunteers to do the work of cooking and serving, so I’m now free to sit, talk and pray with people. It’s been awesome to be able to focus on building relationships!
On Monday nights we have dinner and a Bible Study. We use to call it shoe shiner ministry, but only 1 comes anymore! Most are not from our town, and with all the shutdowns, there was no work for them in our town, and so they went home. But we have a lot of kids and adults that sell food, candy and masks around the central park, and we also have a group of alcoholics that regularly attend. We typically have about 30-40 come, and split into three groups according to age. Our girls along with our niece Heidy teach the young kids and teens, and I have a Bible study with the adults.
We partner with DBO Ministries for all of these ministries. They’re much better than I am at regular newsletters and pictures on Facebook, which can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/dboministeriosgt.
Los Gozosos
I also have the privilege of serving on the board of directors for a special needs orphanage in our town called Los Gozosos (The Joyful Ones). They have been really struggling to meet their budget during the pandemic to pay for all the medicine, therapists, teachers and nurses necessary to care for these precious kids. I encourage you to take a look at their website and see if there is a way that you can help out. This ongoing pandemic has been a trying time for all of us, but it has severely affected ministries like Los Gozosos that rely on continuous help from teams visiting from the United States.
Margaret is finishing second grade. With the school closing we decided to homeschool her, and so it’s been busy teaching her ourselves. And Isabella is a very energetic and happy two and a half year old!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support for us! We’re grateful for God’s goodness and for all of your help. We’re so blessed to be able to serve the poor, lost, and needy here in Guatemala. It’s a rare privilege to be able to do what we do. Thank you so much for making it possible!
Hello from Guatemala! You might have heard about hurricanes, Eta and Iota, that have recently hit Central America. We’re doing fine here! We’re very blessed to be located where we are, and only received a lot of rain. Other parts of the country were much more affected by the two storms. About 150 people died mostly due to landslides, and hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans have had their homes damaged by the flooding.
As for COVID, it’s better news. Last month the government released us from the curfews that we’ve been under for over 6 months. It still feels weird to be outside after 6pm after being restricted for so long. Businesses have also been opening back up, and life has slowly been returning to normal. The number of new cases has remained fairly steady since then, and it’s a huge relief that things appear to be getting better.
I do think that we’ll look back on this year with fondness because we were able to spend time together in a way that the normal busyness of life prevents. I mean, for such a long time we weren’t allowed to go outside during the weekend! But we had a great time together with the girls – cooking, talking, playing games, reading the Bible, studying and hanging out together. Our Sundays can typically be very busy, but this year we’ve been able to spend hours watching sermons online, singing, sharing, reading, and praying for each other. We would realize that it was already evening, and we hadn’t even had lunch yet! My prayer is that we would all grow more grateful for God’s provision, His care, and His love for us. We take so many blessings and conveniences for granted, and He’s so patient with us.
Welcome Liseth!
We are delighted to have a new girl named Liseth join our family! She’s grown up at the orphanage Casa Shalom and is a shy but hard-working young lady. She turned 18 this year and wanted to come live with us. She’ll be in 10th grade, just like Karla & Maria, and it’s nice to have a bunch of girls who are the same age as each other. And Margaret says, “now I have a new big sister!”
Our Girls
The end of October brought the end of the school year, and Sandra has graduated from high school! We’re so proud of her and have loved having her here with us the past three years. Karla and Maria start 10th grade next year which is the start of high school here, and Ana will be in 11th grade.
They’re all looking for a job during this break from school. Liseth already had a job at a restaurant, the rest of the girls are working there on weekends. We’d appreciate your prayers for Sandra as she look for a full-time job. It’s a tough job market!
Breakfast Ministry Restarted
Our city’s park has reopened, and the shoe shiners have returned, and it’s great to be able to start back up weekly breakfasts to them and the poor of Chimaltenango in order to share God’s love. We’re also making plans to have a few Christmas parties with the different groups of people that we minister to, like we’ve done previous years.
We are sad to report two deaths of people from our ministry. The first, Don Victor, was an elderly shoe shiner who was always looking out for all the younger boys. I had the privilege of leading him to the Lord a few years ago, and he asked my friend Ronald and I to baptize him last year. Since then he’s been struggling with kidney problems, and even with medical attention he passed away in April. The second is a teen named Emerson who always came to our Monday night Bible studies. He he passed away in October due to complications from meningitis. Praise God for the hope of eternal life!
Construction
We’re hoping to begin construction on a new house this next year. There is space beside our house that we would like to build two smaller houses in order to have room for guys who need a place to stay. The plans and blueprints are in progress at this point, but I wanted to let you know of our hopes this coming year.
Ten Years!
It’s crazy to think that next month we celebrate 10 years since we packed up our little white car in Austin, TX and drove through Mexico in order to start full-time ministry here in Guatemala. Time has flown by, and we’re so grateful for all the support that you’ve given over these years which made it possible. We’re grateful to Pastor Rick and North Austin Christian Church for their support and help with the finances. We’re grateful to God for calling us into this life that is harder yet fuller than we could imagine. And we’re grateful to have been able to invest in the lives of so many.
Thank You!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support for us! We’re grateful for God’s goodness and for all of your help. We’re so blessed to be able to serve the poor, lost, and needy here in Guatemala. It’s a rare privilege to be able to do what we do. Thank you so much for making it possible!
Here are a few prayer requests:
Huge praise: Yuliza’s immigration paperwork has been accepted! It took over a year, but now she is recognized as a missionary which gives us more flexibility on our trips to the United States and more peace that she won’t have problems during re-entry. Praise the Lord that He’s always so good to us. (Even when I get scared and doubt!)
Please pray for Martin and Alfonso who both left the alcohol rehabilitation center and aren’t doing well.
Please pray for our girls: Sandra, Maria, Ana, Karla and Liseth as they look for jobs during their break from school. Also pray as we decide on where they should go to high school next year.
Thank you so much and God bless, Brent, Yuliza, Margaret & Isabella
Hello from Guatemala! It’s been over 4 months of quarantine here, and we thought that you’d enjoy an update about what’s going on here. First of all, our family is doing well, and although the number of cases of COVID is increasing in the country, we’re doing ok.
Our government has been even more strict than in the United States, so there is a curfew every night at 6 PM, and no one is allowed to be outside after that. And most weekends we’re not supposed to go outside at all, although right now we’re allowed to go outside on Saturday mornings. Masks are (of course) mandatory. Travel is very restricted with police checkpoints between the different departments (or counties) of the country. We had a trip to the United States planned back in May, but the airport has been closed since March, and they don’t have plans to reopen it anytime soon.
As for number of cases, there are over 40,000 in the country. This might sound low when compared to the United States, but this is a small and poor country, and the hospitals are overwhelmed with people. Many patients who need respirators have to sleep on the floor in the hallways of the hospitals because there’s just not any room left. And unfortunately, even though there are lots of restrictions in place, the number of cases has been steadily climbing. I made this chart comparing the daily cases in the United States and Guatemala.
All these closings and travel limitations have greatly affected many people, and many are out of work. There’s no social security, so it’s been very hard on many families. Many people now stand outside along the road waving white flags as a way to show that they need food. It’s hard to be surrounded by so much need, and to be honest it can feel overwhelming to want to help but feel like we’re not even making a dent in the situation.
For us, it’s been very humbling to see the faithfulness of all of you. Thank you for your continued support for us and our girls here in Guatemala. We know that there is a lot of uncertainty about the future, and many have already lost jobs or have received pay cuts. So we’re so incredibly grateful for the support. And we’re so grateful for the new people who have reached out to us during this challenging time to help us. Thank you!
Please keep Guatemala in your prayers as this has been such a hard time for so many families and ministries around us.
Our Girls
So what have we been up to these last few months stuck at home??? The schools soon realized that this pandemic was going to stick around for a while, and in May our girls started receiving classes remotely. We typically have 4 Zoom calls going on simultaneously every morning. Even Margaret connects daily with her teacher and classmates to get new instructions and homework to be working on.
Other than classes, we’re spending lots more time here together than we normally get. We’re learning to cook lots of new foods together, working on home projects, and playing games together. We even completely destroyed our Uno cards from overuse! Oh, and our garden has never been so beautiful. It’s so different from the normal busy routine, and it’s allowed us to build relationships with each of the girls. Yuliza is amazingly good at working with them, and we feel more like a big family than ever before.
We’re also spending time together in Bible studies, and right now we’re reading the book, “The Pursuit of God” by A. W. Tozer. It’s really been great at working on our personal relationships with the Lord. Our good friend Erika’s father, Pastor Basilio, has been helping us with weekly Bible studies for about 5 years, and he still connects with us every week remotely. It’s been a huge help!
Oh, and birthdays! Isabella had her first birthday in April, Carlos turned 30, Ana turned 18, Karla turned 16, and Maria had her 19th birthday. So we’ve been eating lots of cake! Ana becoming an adult was exciting as we met her when she was just 6. It’s so much fun to see our kids growing up!
Carlos lived with us for a number of years, and he is still working as the guard at the school where most of our kids (use to) attend, and we’re so happy to see him grown up and established in a job. Although he says that it’s pretty quiet and lonely guarding an empty school.
Julio, Alfonso & Martin
Last newsletter I mentioned that Julio had entered an alcohol rehab center, and we’re so happy that he has been out for about two months and is doing great! It’s so wonderful to see him not only sober, but seeking the Lord. He’s a completely different guy!
Also, as I mentioned in our last update, we had been able to start a relationship with Alfonso again over Christmas. It was such a hard time almost three years ago when we had to ask him and Julio to leave our house, and so to start the relationship with him again was wonderful.
As we saw that Julio was doing so much better, we prayed that Alfonso would desire to get help, too. During the lockdown he kept getting into more and more trouble, and drinking more and more, which pushed us to pray more and more for him. Then about a month ago he said that he had had enough and asked us to help him. And not only Alfonso, but his brother Martin also has been struggling with alcohol and asked to get help too!
The problem was that, to get him here, we had to get past two police checkpoints. So our friend Edwin left at 4 am when the curfew ended knowing that the police can be a little slow in the morning. He picked them up and quickly dropped them off with us before racing back home past the checkpoints again before the police arrived at their stations.
They’ve been at the rehab center for about three weeks now, and it’s been a struggle for them both. They need your prayer as they fight this addiction.
We’re also looking for a place near our house where they can live when they leave the center in October. We’d like to keep them here close to us, and far away from the family and friends from their own town which are a bad influence on them. Please pray that we can find a good place so that we can continue to invest in their lives and be a support for them.
Margaret & Isabella
Isabella is now walking around and wants to be in the middle of everything all the time. She’s such a social and goofy little girl! And Margaret loves reading in both English and Spanish. She has the most beautiful handwriting and loves Math. Both are very tired of being stuck inside.
Margaret is excited about losing her baby teeth, while Isabella is excited that her baby teeth are finally coming in.
Thank You!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support for us! We’re grateful for God’s goodness and for all of your help. We’re so blessed to be able to serve the poor, lost, and less fortunate here in Guatemala. It’s a rare privilege to be able to do what we do. Thank you so much for making it possible!
We have not been able to continue the Sunday morning breakfasts and Monday night Bible studies as all meetings are still prohibited. Most shoeshiners have gone home as there isn’t work here, so we try to meet individually with the families and kids that are still here to help them during this difficult time.
Here are a few prayer requests for us:
Please pray for Martin and Alfonso at rehabilitation; pray that they would heal spiritually and physically.
Please pray for the country as it struggles containing the virus and treating the sick. Please pray for all the people struggling to have enough to eat during this time.
Please pray for our girls: Sandra, Maria, Ana and Karla as we’ve all been stuck together for such a long time. Pray that even in the middle of everything and when we feel like our lives have been put on hold, that we would grow in the Lord and as a family.
Pray for Margaret as she misses her friends and playgrounds a lot, and for our family. We’d love a break! Pray that we will always be faithful to the call that the Lord has placed on our lives.
Pray for our situation with immigration. We started a process almost a year ago with Yuliza’s paperwork, and still haven’t gotten things resolved. The trip in May that was canceled was necessary, and we can’t do much but wait and pray.
Hello from Guatemala! We hope everyone is doing well, and we’re praying for all of you during this trying time that we’re in. There are currently 20 people in Guatemala who are infected with the virus, and in order to contain it the president has closed schools, most businesses, all public transportation, all flights, and there is a mandatory curfew every afternoon at 4. The market and grocery stores are still open a few hours everyday, so we have enough food. Our girls have been off from school this past week and here at the house. The teachers were nice enough to give them lots of homework to keep them busy! And they’re enjoying spending the time learning to cook new foods with Yuliza. The curfew is a new thing that just started this weekend, and it’s very bizarre to be stuck at home so early and have the normally very busy streets so empty and quiet.
Most people that come to our feeding programs live day-by-day, and these new restrictions have affected them hard. We’ve had to cancel our feeding program and Bible study, but our group, DBO Ministries, has been buying food and supplies for the families. But there are many poor, homeless, and shoe shiners who we haven’t located. Please keep them in your prayers.
Los Gozosos is an incredible orphanage in our town that ministers to children with special needs, and they invited me to join their board of directors about a year ago. They’re going through a trying time as they care for their children. Groups regularly visit and they’re the biggest source of income, but with the flight cancellations, the home is in great need in order to pay their workers.
Our Girls
Back: Mary & Sandra; Front: Ana, Margaret & Karla
This year we welcomed a new girl, Mary, into our family. She is 18 and in 9th grade. We got to know her when she had to live in Casa Shalom about 5 years ago. She returned with her mother, but they were having trouble making ends meet. And we’re so thrilled and blessed to be a help to her and her family. Sandra is a senior this year, and she’s studying to be a preschool teacher. She has an internship at a local school near us every afternoon and stays super busy as she prepares for graduation at the end of the year. Ana entered high school this year at a new school where she is learning to be a secretary. She is very excited about this new stage of life and is always working on her shorthand and improving her English. And Karla is in 9th grade. She loves cooking and is Yuliza’s constant shadow. And of course, Margaret is in the middle of everything and loves having a bunch of older sisters! We’re blessed to be able to invest in the lives and futures of these girls. It never ceases to amaze me how unique and special our girls are and how wonderful it is to feel like a big family.
Alfonso & Julio
If you recall, we had two guys, Alfonso and Julio, who used to live with us several years ago. Because of a situation that arose, we had to ask them to leave our home, and it was a really difficult time. We were particularly sad about Alfonso because he had been with us for three years, and we love him a lot. We hadn’t had any contact with Alfonso for a few years besides a message every once in a while. So we were so excited when he decided to come spend Christmas with us! (You can see him kind of hiding in the back of this picture) We’re happy to have his friendship again and we would really appreciate your prayers for him as he is still very unstable in life and is always changing where he lives. We also have been talking to Julio, and he also needs your prayers as he’s in-and-out of rehabilitation centers due to alcohol. He’s back in a center now, and we’d love to see him get better.
Margaret & Isabella
Isabella has her first birthday in just a few weeks! She is an incredibly happy and energetic baby who loves to be the center of attention at all times and play peek-a-boo nonstop. We love her laughs and the joy she brings to our family. And Margaret is a wonderful big sister who takes such joy in having a sister. Margaret is in first grade and loves learning how to read and write. It’s been interesting as her school is in Spanish, but her primary language in the house is English. And her favorite class is one that teaches Kaqchikel, which is the local Mayan language of our part of the country. (There are 23 native languages other than Spanish in Guatemala) Her teacher is a native speaker of Kaqchikel, and Margaret loves learning new words. She wants to be trilingual and loves asking her teacher how to say new things.
Thank You
Thank you for your continued prayers and support for us! We’re grateful for God’s goodness and for all of your help. We’re so blessed to be able to serve the poor, lost, and less fortunate here in Guatemala. It’s a rare privilege to be able to do what we do. Thank you so much for making it possible! During hard times like these, when so many conveniences that are often taken for granted suddenly disappear, we are presented a unique opportunity to have conversations and share with people that otherwise just wouldn’t happen. I pray that we all take advantage of this time to point everyone around us to the hope and peace that can be found in our loving Heavenly Father. Here are a few prayer requests:
Pray for our girls: Sandra, Mary, Ana and Karla. Pray that they would grow and mature emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, and that they would continue to seek the Lord and His will for their lives. Pray for Celia as she continues to look for a job. Pray that she would trust in the Lord for her future.
Pray for all the people who are affected by the coronavirus: The sick, the unemployed, the hungry, and the fearful. Pray that we can be a light in this world!
Please continue to pray for us with immigration. We are supposed to travel to the US in May, but we can’t with the current travel restrictions. It’s an interesting time to live in another country.
Thank you so much and God bless, Brent, Yuliza, Margaret & Isabella
Hello and Merry Christmas from Guatemala! This Christmas season Yuliza and I are so excited to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary! The time has both flown by and also feels like it was long ago that I watched her walk down the aisle. We’re so blessed to be together, and it’s always amazing to think back through the years about how faithful and good God has been with us.
Celia Graduated from High School
Our girl Celia graduated from high school in October. We’re so proud of her for her accomplishment. She’s been with us longer than any other kids, and we know how many obstacles she’s had to overcome in order to make it to this point in her life. We first met her as a child at Casa Shalom where she lived for two years. After her family received custody of her again, we maintained communication with her and her family. After elementary school, there were no opportunities for further education in her home village, and we received her parents’ permission to have her come live with us for these past six years. She’s the first one in her family to finish high school, and she graduated with a degree as a preschool teacher. Please pray for Celia as she searches for her first job, and pray that she seeks the Lord’s will for her life.
Christmas Parties!
We have a tradition of throwing Christmas parties every year with the various groups that we work with, and this year was no different with three parties in all. The first was with our Monday night Bible study group where we enjoyed a bonfire, marshmallows, pizza, songs & a movie together. The next one was with all the shoe shiners, poor and needy which we held in our town’s central park. We served 150 traditional Guatemalan tamales, shared the great news of what Jesus has done for us, let the kids jump in some bounce houses, and gave away some clothes. Finally, we went to Casa Shalom where we had a big pizza party and games.
The most amazing thing to me was that we always ask for help in order to do these parties because the cost can be high to feed this many people. Well, 100% of the money came from Guatemalans, and of that, 70% came from kids who have lived with us! We were so blessed by the outpouring of help and love. We were able to give 120 pizzas, 150 tamales, ice cream, drinks, chips & marshmallows. And the best part is that it gave us the opportunity to share God’s love and good news to so many people!
There are lots more pictures & videos on the Facebook page of our group of friends who serve together with us: www.facebook.com/dboministeriosgt
Margaret & Isabella
Isabella is a very active and curious 8 month old baby. She always wants to try new foods and is constantly watching and wants to do whatever her older sister is doing. Margaret is an amazing big sister, and is such a sweet girl. She just turned 7 in November.
One of my concerns as we planned starting a family was knowing that there could be some disapproval from our children about the lifestyle and ministry that Yuliza and I have chosen. Our lives can be busy, and they have to share their parents with other kids. And there could be a lot of confusion as they travel back and forth between Guatemala and the United States and experience such different cultures.
Margaret is now getting to the age where she’s really analyzing everything and has lots of questions. Last month we were visiting my parents and one afternoon she said, “Daddy, why did you decide to go to Guatemala?” And we talked about the heart that God has given me to help children in need and how that led me here. It’s fascinating to see her analyzing everything. I see her enjoying all the playgrounds, restaurants and toys in the United States, and she loves them all. And I also see her happy and content that we’re able to help other kids here in Guatemala to have a family. It’s very exciting to see her grow up, and see her loving heart. I would appreciate your prayers for her and Isabella, that they would have our heart to help others and share God’s love with other kids!
Thank You!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support for us! We’re so grateful for God’s goodness and for all of your help. We’re so blessed to be able to serve the poor, lost, and less fortunate here in Guatemala. As we reflect over all the years that we’ve been here, we’re so grateful for the continued support. It’s a rare privilege to be able to do what we do. Thank you so much!
Here are a few prayer requests for us:
Pray for Yuliza’s immigration status in the United States. We’ve run into some difficulties, and we’re still waiting for an answer from the immigration office.
Pray for Margaret & Isabella as they grow up in two very different cultures
Pray for our girls: Sandra, Ana and Karla, as the new school year starts in January. Pray for Celia as she looks for a job after graduation.
Pray for the kids that will come to live with us this next year. We are talking to some about coming to live with us, and we want to find the right kids who will take advantage of the opportunity that we’re offering.
Pray for our Monday night meetings, that we would be able to reach new shoe shiners, alcoholics & poor who need to know the Lord. Pray that our meetings would be a great time of reconciliation, growth, and following after our Heavenly Father!
Thank you so much and God bless, Brent, Yuliza, Margaret & Isabella