Fall Ministry Update

In the United States, the leaves are changing, the temperature is dropping, and you’re getting ready for Thanksgiving. Here in Guatemala, this season marks the end of the rainy season, and also the end of the school year! We’re very proud of the hard work that our girls have put into their education this year. Thank you for all your support to make it possible!

As we look toward the next school year, which starts in January, we’d like to do something different. We’d like to find people who will sponsor each of our girls and help us with the costs associated with raising, feeding and educating each of them. Currently, most of their expenses come out of our personal budget.

SchoolingFoodMonth Total
Karla$30$60$90
Ana$70$60$130
Sandra$85$60$145
Celia$75$60$135

Each girl has different monthly expenses associated with her schooling, which is specified in the table to the right. This page includes more detailed information about how the money will be utilized. It also costs $2 a day to feed them, which is $60 a month. If you, or someone else you know, is interested in sponsoring one of our girls with all or part of their expenses, please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated and a huge help to us.

Celia has just turned 20 and is going into her senior year of high school. She grew up in the orphanage Casa Shalom, and has been living with us for 5 years. We’re so happy and proud of her!

Karla is the scientist of the group and is always curious about something. She is also Yuliza’s shadow. She’s been with us for 3 years and will be going into 8th grade at the charter school she was accepted into.

Sandra came to live with us this year, and she’s been such a blessing to our house. She quickly became everyone’s best friend, and she has excelled at school. Next year she’ll be entering 11th grade.

Ana is Celia’s sister, and we’ve known her a since she was an infant at the orphanage. She came to live with us two years ago and is the goofiest of our family. She’ll be going into 9th grade next year.

Breakfast & Dinner with the Shoe Shiners

We continue to serve 100 breakfasts in our park every Sunday morning as a way to get to know the shoe shiners, homeless and other people who live and work there. And on Monday nights we have a Bible study and dinner together.

Our niece Heidy and our girl Celia are now taking the young kids to their own class, and it’s been a HUGE help to me! A new group of men who struggle with alcohol have started to attend regularly, and we spend time talking to and praying with them.

For the fifth year, we are planning to celebrate Christmas with everyone in the park and serve their traditional tamales to 150 people. If you would like to help us out financially with this Christmas party or with the expense for the weekly meals, please let me know!

Under Construction

Our neighborhood continues to grow and many new houses are being built in the area. So we’re getting sewer lines installed in the streets! The entire project will hopefully only take 2 months, and it’s all being dug by hand. So we currently can’t drive to our house and have to walk and carry food about a quarter mile to our house. But this will be a great improvement for us! (our house is on the right in the picture)

Thank You!

Margaret had a great year of preschool, and is excited to start kindergarten in January. She’s just turned 6, and she’s very excited that she’s soon going to be a big sister! That’s right, Yuliza is expecting another baby in April. We are very excited!

We’re blessed to be able to serve in Guatemala, and we’re so grateful for your continued generosity through the years. If you would like to sponsor one of our girls or our meals with the shoeshiners, or if you know someone who would, please let me know. Thank you so much!

Please pray that God would continue to fill us with His love and wisdom as we minister in Guatemala. Please pray that both our past and present children would continue to seek the Lord’s will for their lives. And please pray for all those that will come to live with us in the future, that our home would be a place of refuge, peace, hope, discipleship and love.

Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers!

Brent, Yuliza & Margaret