Monday in Guatemala

By Stephen Mainer | July 10, 2017

We were able to see God in so many ways as we went through our second full day in Guatemala City. We started off with a great breakfast at SETECA featuring pancakes, empanadas, watermelon, refried black beans and Jerry’s favorite, horchata juice. We are glad it was such a good breakfast because we needed it.

Today was our first day teaching children in the school. We are using a book from Lifeway that teaches the story of Jesus as well as bracelets and beads to convey the Gospel with children from kindergarten to 3rd grade. One of the highlights at the school today was a wonderful presentation the children and teachers put together for us to show us the history, music and culture of Guatemala. It was a hectic but wonderful morning at the school which allowed us to get to know the children and set the stage in our story to tell them about Jesus and what he did on the cross.

After the school we came back to SETECA for lunch and to get ready for our afternoon house visits. We returned to Restoration church in the dump and split into 3 groups made up of Ivy Creek folks, a translator and some other from Restoration Church. What an eye-opening experience as we walked through the streets and went into the houses of people that literally lived inside the city dump. In a place where people from the city send all their trash, these people live, work and have families. Inside this neighborhood is a lot of desperation, drug use and death but today we were able to take them some food and the hope of Jesus. As we went to different houses we were able to meet some of the people that live here, listen to their stories and pray for them. We were also able to share the Gospel with a few and continue to scatter seed for Pastor Carlos and Restoration Church. I would ask you to please pray for the people we were able to talk to today. Their prayer requests are below.

  • Karen’s father is very sick and likely to die. Please pray for his comfort and her family.
  • Olga has failing kidneys and needs dialysis every day. Please pray that she can continue treatment and she can afford her medication.
  • Maria needs us to pray that her daughter will work less so that she can attend school.
  • Shirley has cancer and will have surgery this week.
  • Miriam has a friend that does not know Christ. Please pray for her to have an opportunity to talk to her friend about Jesus this week.
  • Angela is a new believer with a fiancé and a one year old. Angela and her family have just started attending Restoration Church. Please pray that she is able to stay off drugs and get the discipleship she needs during this very important time in her faith.
  • Anna has 6 children ranging from 1 to 15 years of age and does not work because her job at the dump was too dangerous. Pray that she will find work and that her children will start going to school.

After a day like we had of ministering to children and adults, we had a some downtime by playing a little futbol (soccer) back at SETECA and having a wonderful spaghetti dinner prepared by Pat and Emma. We finished the day praying for our new friends at the dump as well as praying for the work God has for us tomorrow.

Till tomorrow, may God bless you.

Dave Wiley