Category Archives: Newsletter

Guatemala, Newsletter

Summer Newsletter Update

Newsletter.2015.June
Newsletter – June 2015

June 2015 Update

We’ve been really excited this year to have a full house! We have four kids with us now. Celia is still with us and is in 8th grade this year. We love her sweet and quiet spirit.

Flora came to us in December of last year, and she’s finishing her senior year of high school. She’s one of the hardest working kids that we’ve had in our home, and she’s full of hopes and dreams for next year after graduating. Flora also delights us with her great desire to grow in her relationship with the Lord. Celia and Flora live next door to us in a house that we’re renting for the girls, and our friend Erika is helping us again to take care of the girls.

Alejandro also came to live with us in December. He turned 18 and graduated from high school last year, and so he had to leave his orphanage. In January he was accepted for a job as a bank teller in a town near us. It’s been a big change for him as he adjusts to the working world.

And our newest member is a fifteen-year-old named Alfonso. He had left the orphanage to return to live with his mother, but money was tight and he wasn’t continuing to go to school. So we received permission from his mother to take care of him and send him to school. He’s currently studying in eighth grade along with Celia.

One of the primary goals of our home is to create a family. With kids coming from so many different backgrounds, it’s difficult for them to know how a mom or a dad should act. They don’t know what a good marriage looks like and they don’t know how a family should interact. This is a huge job that is oftentimes very difficult because it means that all eyes are on Yuli and me all the time, examining how we act and how we react. But our hope is that all of them would one day have a family of their own and be ready to be a mother or father to their own children. We would greatly appreciate your continuous prayers for us, that we would model God’s love and be faithful to Him in all that we say and do.

We received big blessings on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as the older guys surprised both of us with a visit. Nothing brings joy to our lives like spending time with Edwin, Benjamin and Elias, and continuing to encourage them in their lives. Please continue to pray for them that they would continue to seek the Lord in their lives.

Teaching

For the third year, I’m helping at Celia & Alfonso’s Christian school as an English teacher. This year I have two classes: middle and high school, and it’s a great experience to interact with a lot of kids. Along with teaching grammar, vocabulary, reading and speaking, I also try to involve the Bible in the teaching experience as much as possible. The students regularly have to memorize Bible verses, and this past month they had to read the book of Esther. I love the book of Esther because it portrays a young lady in a very difficult and unfair position who instead of being consumed in self-pity decides to trust God and believe that He is in-control of the situation.

Shoe-Shiners

We continue to serve and minister to the shoe-shiners in our town on a weekly basis. As we got to know them better, we saw the rooms that they were living in. Many were sleeping on the ground, while others slept of boards on cinderblocks. We found an organization in

Guatemala dedicated to providing beds for the poor, and they donated bunkbeds for over 50 shoe-shiners. It’s been a great opportunity to minister to their physical needs, and as our

relationships developed, also minister to their spiritual needs. One man, Don Victor, has accepted Christ as his savior, and a group now come to our church. We’d appreciate your prayers as we seek God’s will for how the ministry should continue to grow in the future.

Construction

We have a full house, and it’s time to expand! Next month we’re starting construction on the second story of our house. We currently have 3 bedrooms in our house which serve as our room, the guys’ room and a guest room. The second story would allow us to give Margaret her own room, have more space for more guys, and move my office out of the living room. We’re currently fundraising for the project, and we would greatly appreciate any help that you could provide in order to finish it.

Support

We feel very blessed to be serving God’s kingdom through loving these kids. We hope and pray that God will continue to work through us, allowing us to continue to be a blessing for these wonderful children. If you wish to partner with our ministry, please see our support info page.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers!

Brent, Yuliza & Margaret

Newsletter

December Newsletter

Our December newsletter is now available and can be downloaded here. We hope that you enjoy reading a recap of our ministry this past year as well as our hopes and plans for the future!

If you would like to be added to our email list, please send me an email at Brent@CasaShalom.net.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

Guatemala, Newsletter

Newsletter – Ministering to the Brito Brothers

Benjamin & Elias 7 years ago

We’re very excited about this coming year because we have the opportunity to have two guys come and live with us: Benjamin & Elias Brito! Benjamin is 22 and he’s graduating from high school this year. He’s planning on finding a job next year and starting college classes on the weekend. Elias is 20, and next year will be his senior year of high school. We came to Guatemala to work with guys like Benjamin & Elias, and so the possibility of having them live with us is so exciting!
We will have to cover the costs of Elias’s final year of high school, and so I’ve written a newsletter to raise money to support him.

 

Newsletter

Our First Newsletter

We hope that you have had a good Christmas and New Years break!

As we start this new year, we are starting a new phase of life as we start serving together in Guatemala. We have a blog athttp://www.casashalom.net/potters/ which we will be updating regularly with news updates.

The drive down from Texas to Guatemala was an experience that we’ll never forget! We are so grateful to God for His protection all the way down. The journey was about 2,000 miles, and it took us 5 days. We were blessed to not have any problems, and the car drove great. Mexico was fascinating, and we’ve posted a bunch of pictures of the journey on our blog.

After arriving on December 20th, we’ve spent a fun and relaxing time with Yuliza’s family over Christmas and the New Year holiday. Now as we’re busy getting geared up for this year. Personally, we have a bunch of items to arrange for our life in Guatemala. We’re going to apply for permanent residency for Brent, just like we had to do for Yuli in the United States. Without it, we have to leave the country every 3 months, which is obviously inconvenient. Similarly, our car needs to be imported as it also currently only has a tourist permit. We also now have to buy a bunch of necessary items that wouldn’t fit in the car to bring with us. We are blessed to be staying at Yuli’s sister and brother-in-law’s house, so the number of things we need is greatly reduced.

The children at Casa Shalom return this weekend from their Christmas vacation. Each year they are sent to stay with extended family members or with families that take them in for about a month. This allows them to enjoy a time away from the home, and also gives the workers a break to spend with their own families. The school year starts in January, so they’re soon going to be returning and preparing for the upcoming year. We’re excited to see them soon!

We are currently working to get in contact with a few children that used to live at Casa Shalom, but now have either returned to live with family members or are now adults and have moved out on their own. We had lunch today with two brothers named Santos and José. They’ve returned to live with their grandparents very close to where we are living. Schooling isn’t free here in Guatemala, and continuing their education can be hard because of the economic hardship. So we’re going to get them enrolled in a good middle school nearby. We would greatly appreciate your prayers for them and for others that we are going to be connecting with. We want to see all of them succeed in the real world, and we want to help them in any way necessary. We are also looking at houses and land for sale that we could use to start a half-way house ministry for kids coming out of orphanages.

Prayer points:

– Praise that God has brought us here to Guatemala safely.

– Prayer for Casa Shalom and all of the kids under their care.

– Prayer for the kids who have left the home, that God would provide for all their needs.

– Prayer that God would continue to direct us and guide our ministry.

We have a phone number in the United States that gets routed down to us here in Guatemala. So we can be reached at 512-551-4334, and you don’t have to worry about making an international call!

Thanks for your support and prayers!

Brent & Yuliza Potter