Martin – Updated

Martin just finished sixth grade (as mentioned in this post) and now will begin junior high. We live close to a very good public school which is like a magnet or charter school in the United States, and we have a niece and a nephew that go to it. Martin is an incredibly bright guy and a very hard worker, and he hopes to also attend there. So he stayed with us for a weekend two weeks ago in order to study and prepare for the entrance exam which he took the Monday before we traveled to the USA. The exam was very difficult, and very few pass it. But we hope that Martin gets the opportunity. In this picture he is studying hard with Yuli’s sister Veronica at our house.

Update:
We just got his results back, and Martin didn’t pass the exam. He’s very disappointed in not getting into the school, but he can still go to the regular school with the rest of the kids from Casa Shalom.

Cesar’s Graduation

Cesar in 2006

Three weeks ago we were able to celebrate with Cesar and his family as he graduated from high school. He arrived at Casa Shalom over six years ago with his brother and sister, and it’s been fun watching him grow up. He was studying the basics of a car mechanic, and he now hopes to continue his education as a mechanic and soon start college classes for mechanical engineering.

Update:
A month ago we were making the plans for which of the guys were going to come live with us this coming year, and Cesar wanted to stay at the orphanage in order to be near his brother and sister. We just found out that they’re now probably going to have to leave the orphanage at the end of the year and return to live with their father. Please pray for Cesar as he decides what to do because his father lives in a very mountainous and remote part of Guatemala where it’s difficult to continue his education.

Brayan, Maria & Cesar with their dad

On Vacation

We flew back to the USA in order to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Our hope is to relax a few days and enjoy the time with the family. It’s exciting to be here with my parents and family again! And this way we’re all rested and ready for the guys who will be coming to live with us in December.

I’m excited to spend some time with my architect sister and get her input into our house design. We’re planning to send out a new newsletter while we’re here, so please email me your address if you’d like to receive a copy by mail if I don’t have it already. And finally, I’m hoping to catch up on a few blog posts that I haven’t had time to write yet!

Heidy’s Visa

We’ve hoped to bring Yuliza’s niece Heidy with us the US when we go to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Her visa interview at the US embassy was  this morning and she was approved! It will be a lot of fun to have her go with us, and she is incredibly excited to have the opportunity.

Our New President: Otto Perez Molina

Here’s our new president: Otto Pérez Molina

The results of the election was exactly what we were expecting with the former general winning the elections with about 54% of the votes due to his promises to combat the rising violence due to gangs and drug trafficking. The breakdown of the results was interesting because he easily won in every city, while his opposition won in all the rural areas because of his promises of many more social programs to help the poor farmers of the country. Otto will be sworn in as president on January 15th next year.

Elections Tomorrow

The presidential election run-off is held tomorrow. The country has been covered in campaign ads for 8 or 9 months now, and it’s exciting that it’s finally arrived. Here are the two candidates:

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The big issue this election is security. Gang violence has been on the rise, and drug cartels have been moving down from Mexico. So please take some time to pray for Guatemala: that these elections would be held safely, and that our new president will do a good job leading the country.

October in Guatemala

October has just flown by!

We have been very busy this past month making plans with Benjamin & Elias Brito, the first two guys who will move in with us at the end of the year. We’re raising support for Elias as he will be finishing his last year of high school, and we have a newsletter which you can read here. We had guys stay at our house almost every weekend this month and I was able to stay with the boys at Casa Shalom this past weekend. God blessed our time together with many great conversations.

We still haven’t received the final land title from the municipality office where we live. It’s an election year, and so everything seems to move extra slow! But I think that it’s actually a blessing because we’ve been able to be much more focused on the boys and our ministry that will take place inside the house than on the actual house itself. So the delay has allowed us to be much more focused on building a different kind of foundation!

It’s been an incredibly wet month because a tropical storm dumped rain on us for almost two weeks, which caused many mudslides and displaced thousands of families. We’re grateful for God’s protection and relieved that the storm has passed.

Here are our blog posts for October:

Our prayer requests for November:

  • Continued prayer as we plan how the house will function, and as we talk to the guys who will live with us.
  • Prayer that we can get the land title and that God will provide the finances necessary to build the houses.
  • We will be traveling to the USA on the 17th to spend Thanksgiving with my family and return to Guatemala the first week of December.
  • We will be sending out a newsletter while in the States in order to secure funding for ourselves for this coming year.
  • Prayer that Yuliza and I have enough time together as a couple and that we always keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Thank you so much for your prayers for us this past month! We are very grateful for all of the prayers and support that we’ve received. It’s such an exciting time for us as we make plans to start the halfway house. And we need your prayers so that we can clearly hear God’s will.

Brent