We’ve had a tropical storm that’s stopped over Guatemala all this week that has been just pounding us with rain. I’ve heard that around 20 people have been killed by mudslides and over 10,000 have had to evacuate their homes. We’re fortunate to be ok, but Guatemala needs your prayers as this storm is supposed to stick around for a few more days.

Yuliza’s birthday was yesterday, and we had a great time relaxing with her family. I tried to make a cheesecake for the first time, and it actually turned out pretty good!

This past Sunday was the monthly visitor Sunday when the kids of Casa Shalom who have family can be visited from their family. There are kids, of course, who don’t have any family or whose family doesn’t come to visit them, which can make it a sad day for many of them. So Yuli and I try to always come to be with them. It also provides a great time to relax and chat with the children because during the week we’re busier and more focused on working with them on homework and preparing for tests.

On Sunday morning, one worker at Casa Shalom was preparing the room for the church service we have together with the families, and she saw little Victor all nicely dressed and happily playing outside. She said, “Wow, you look nice today, Victor. Why are you dressed up?”, and he said, “Because I have visitors coming to see me today!” She was surprised because although Victor has parents and brothers, they haven’t come to see him in a long time. So she asked him who was coming to see him to which Victor responded “Yuliza and Brent are!”

The worker told us this story today and it touched our hearts so deeply. We love these kids and we want to share God’s love with them. So Yuli prepares a bunch of sandwiches and snacks, and we spend the day with the kids. But it’s sometimes to see the effect or the appreciation. We’re so glad that Victor enjoys our visit, and we’ll be there at the end of this month again to visit with him!

Thanks so much for supporting us and enabling us to be here in Guatemala to serve these children.

We got these bunk beds from a missionary working at another orphanage here in Guatemala this weekend, and Benjamin and Elias helped me put them together.  We’re excited that our house it getting ready for them to move in!

Praise the Lord, we found land!

After searching for these past 9 months, we’ve so excited and grateful to now own this piece of land. Currently covered in corn, this plot of land will be the future home to our half-way house. On Thursday we were able to sign the papers, and now we’re just waiting for the land title to come back from the municipality which is registering the land in our name. We are working on a newsletter with all the details and vision for the house which we will be sending out shortly. You can see where it’s located on Google Maps.

Now the planning and constructing can begin!

Today is Guatemala’s independence day, and this year they’re celebrating 190 years of independence from Spain.
A tradition every year is for kids from every school to run with a torch from the town center back to their school. Everyone else lines the streets, cheers them on and throws water on them as they pass. It’s a ton of fun, and I’ve been able to run with the kids from Shalom a few times in the past. This year we’ve been pretty busy with preparations to buy land, so we weren’t able to go, but we did get to watch the kids run past where we live.

Tomorrow is a day for remembering the terrorist attacks ten years ago. Here in Guatemala, it’s also elections day. There are candidates signs everywhere. There are lots of political parties, and ten different people running for president. A candidate has to get over 50% of the votes in order to win, so typically there is a second round of elections for the top two candidates. The polls have the first place guy at 46%, so there’s a good chance that he’ll win it this first round.

The president’s wife made lots of news because she wanted to run this year, but there’s a law that no family member of the current president can run. She divorced him in order to try to run, but after months of deliberation in the supreme court she was denied being put on the ballot.

A pastor was also initially denied being put on the ballot due to a law that prohibits a religious minister from running for president. He had stepped down from working as a pastor 5 years ago, so he was eventually allowed to run. The issue was a surprise to everyone because Guatemala has already had a former paster as president in the past, and the current president is also a Mayan priest!

Guatemala needs your prayers tomorrow! The biggest issue for this election is crime. Drug cartels have been moving down from Mexico these past few years, and the current president hasn’t done much to stop them. CNN posted a story yesterday about the situation in Guatemala that is very interesting. I really hope that we get a president who is tough on crime.

Please pray for Guatemala!

Update:
The frontrunner didn’t get as many votes as the polls predicted, so he has to run against the second place candidate in the next round of elections on November 6th.

One of the teens at Casa Shalom, Elias, is currently in 11th grade. He has been attending a high school created by the Assemblies of God from Canada called William Cornelius Vocational Training Centre. Like other Guatemalan high schools every student chooses a field to study. Elias chose computer programming, and so we’ve had a great time together this year working on his projects together.

Today we went to his school for their independence day activity. I was amazed at the classrooms because they were the nicest that I’ve seen in Guatemala. The school is pretty expensive, but fortunately they find sponsors for all of the students to help offset the costs. The school is very challenging, and I’m proud of Elias and all the work that he’s putting into it. It was fun to meet his friends and teachers today!

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday. Besides a few grey hairs that have started to appear, I don’t feel any older! But this birthday has been a good time for me to think and reflect over how God’s blessed my life in so many ways.

• He blessed me with incredible parents and family, and through them He introduced His son Jesus to me.
• Ten years ago He changed the course of my life when He brought me for the first time to Guatemala. The kids and the country captured my heart, and I was never the same again. He opened my eyes and gave me a vision and a purpose. I was forever changed.
• Five years ago a quick trip to Guatemala to visit the kids turned into a many month stay at Casa Shalom. During that time I met my future wife Yuliza who had started to work there as a teacher.
• Almost two years ago Yuliza and I were married. God provided me an incredible wife and helpmate, and now we’re working side-by-side in Guatemala with the children.

I really feel like my life is far more wonderful than I could ever have hoped for!

One of my favorite verses for a long time has been Jeremiah 29:11:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

This verse gives me so much hope and allows me to rest assured that God cares for me. But the next two verses have become even more important to me:

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

God’s love and care for us is fundamental for every Christian, but these two verses give us purpose and a plan: seek the Lord with all your heart, and you will find Him. These past ten years I have prayed and sought the Lord, and He has listened to me. He has shown me a life that I never imagined that I would have, and He has helped and blessed me much more than I deserve.

And now I think ahead to the next ten years: what does God have in store for us next? My birthday wish is that you pray for Yuliza and me: that we would continue to seek the Lord and that we would always be led by Him.