Greetings from Guatemala, We have been very busy here this month. There was a team who came from Florida to Casa Shalom. They got a lot of work done there in just one week. They removed the concrete stage and poured a new concrete floor all one level so the kids can play inside when it is raining. We built and put up basketball goals. They had some guys on the team who knew about electrical work so they went throughout Casa Shalom and made corrections and improvements. Installing better lights and replaced faulty wiring. They also repainted the dinning hall, and the outside of the Church/Gym. They also threw a pizza party for the kids, went to Rio Bravo and helped serve breakfast, and handed out gifts to the kids there. Thank you Pastor Hanks and all the team who came and made a difference at Shalom and Rio Bravo.
This team was a very hard working team, and they have a great love for the kids at Shalom and love helping the people of Guatemala. The team went back to Florida after the week but Pastor Hanks stayed for about two more weeks and went to Spanish school in Antigua. He came and stayed with us on the weekends. While he was here, the most active volcano here,(Pacaya) erupted spewing ash all over the city, causing the airport to close, Then tropical storm Agatha hit the country, causing major damage to many different areas due to mudslides and flooding. We learned of one region that lost many homes and had no food or water. So we loaded up the truck with food, and drove 4 hours one way to deliver it. This area is only about 20 miles and normally can get there in about 40-45 minuets but due to mud in the roads and bad traffic delays it took all day. So then we came home and loaded up a tank of purified water and took it back the next day, only Pastor Hanks and I left very
early before traffic got bad.
After learning that this part of Guatemala has about 800 people who do not have water to drink I gave and instructed a young man there how to use a purifier machine and gave him one for that community. His name is Peter Goodman and he is shown here in the last photo with his mom.
We had already been taking water to an area above Amatitlan called Lolita, to a small school. They also had a mudslide that destroyed their well, so I took them pure water and have been trying to set it up where a larger truck could keep them supplied with water, at the school they have an ultra-violet light purification unit, they just don’t have any water right now.
These people had not had any water for about three days, when I got there with the truck load of water, I didn’t even get it unloaded before they started showing up with their water jugs and waiting in line. In the first photo is some of the volcanic rock and ash that fell on this area.
The Prayer request for this month are for the people suffering from so much loss from Tropical storm Agatha,Please pray for the teams that are coming down to help with clean up and relief efforts, Pray for me as I try to learn how to drill wells. Also pray for us as we prepare to go to Canada and then on to Wyoming for church builders. Thank you for keeping these before the Lord.
