Greetings from Guatemala, and we pray you all had a wonderful Easter. So thankful We serve a RISEN SAVIOR.
In our morning devotional the other day it talked about something that I had been thinking about anyway, this is what it said. From The Word For You Today.. Monday April 2nd. “When God calls someone He always calls others to stand with them.” It has always been evident to us that we are not in this mission field alone. We have had all of you standing here along with us. You may not know how valuable that is to us, I wish I could express how valuable that is. We literally could not be doing any of this without you. Thank you for standing with us and being used of God.
We want to tell you about probably one of the most rewarding things that we have had the privilege to be a part of since we have been here. We were introduced to a family through our church here, They needed a new pump in their water well, so with the help of some friends from Austin Texas, we pulled their pump and replaced it. During that time spent with the Abraham Cordero family, we learned that he had been without work for over 2 years. Then I learned that Casa Shalom orphanage had a team coming and was going to take on a really large project of mixing concrete to pour a large parking area. So I set it up that Abraham could help with that project for 2 days. Servants Hearts payed him for those 2 days of work. When I went to pick him up to go do the work, it was a fairly long drive to the job, so I just started visiting with him about his work skills and what did he think he could do for a job or business. He explained that he was a pretty good welder, and that he could build doors, gates, windows, and all sorts of things like that. Well that is a big business here, as everything like that is built out of metal. So with prayer and careful consideration, we felt God leading us to help him start his own business. That is exactly what happened. We went and bought a new welder, grinder, welding rods, welding hood, drill bits, and lots of metal to start building things. All these things were not just a gift to him, it is a start up loan, or some call it a micro business loan. The complete cost of it was just a little over $1,000. And he has agreed to repay our ministry. I told him he could take as much time as needed to repay, that I wanted him to first give to God the tithe from his new business, and to take care of his family. Then he could repay us. He agreed, Abraham and all his family are very happy to be able to make their own way. He has 7 children, only 5 live at home with him and his wife. The 2 oldest girls live with some of our church friends who have a home for older girls and teach them morals, ethics, and life skills. In this photo one of the oldest girls is not there. Abrahams brother Carlos is going to help in the new business. I took all these things to them on Thursday, then went back to visit on Saturday and they had already started building this display cabinet. Praise God for the ability to help this family.
Many may say, why didn’t you just give them the things needed to start the business? While that may be a good idea that is not the way the Lord was leading us. This way it will help the family to have ownership of the business. Also if you just give it to them it says that we as North Americans in this country are just here to give and give, where it is more valuable to build instead of just give. We pray for God to give us more opportunities to help in this way.
We pray that you would join us in going before the Lord with these request, For Abraham’s business and lots of opportunities to help others. For teams that will be coming in the summer months, That we would serve those in need the most, and bring the Gospel to them. For continued safety as rainy season seems to have started early this year.
Because of the blessing of being able to build cattle guards last summer, Georgette and I are going to be able to go on a Caribbean cruise for our 21st year anniversary around the middle of this month.
