Global Missions of Mercy, Inc*

GMM NEWSLETTER

2010-11-29T08:41:00.000-08:00

Psalm 90: 1, 2 “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

Psalm 92: 1 “It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your Name, O Most High!”

Hello to Everyone, our esteemed friends! God bless you!
We are very thankful to God and to you because all of our days until today, God has been faithful to us. He has done good things and he has guarded us from bad, and He has taken us from victory to victory. We want with all of our heart that the love and the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ reign in your hearts and families.
We have had many blessings from the Lord, and although we have passed through a time of testing in our faith, God has always been our help. We are very thankful for your prayers and your support for this important work of the Lord.

August

On Wednesday, August 4th, after our Bible study with the women, we were able to give clothes and sandals to the women and for their children. They were very blessed to receive their gifts.

August 6th and 7th, we gave the glasses that Dr. Rooney sent for the people here in Chiquimula. Dr. Rooney is an eye doctor that comes every year in the Spring and obtains prescriptions for some of the people here that cannot afford eye glasses, then he returns to his home, prepares the glasses and sends them back to Guatemala. We were able to pass these glasses out in these days.

August 9th, God put a idea in Daniel and Jorge’s hearts to teach the men something other than the Word of God, and they wanted to teach the men to grow tomatoes. They invited two agriculturalists to study the ground, but sadly enough, they told them that the ground was only good for growing trees for wood, and if the families do this, the trees would make too much shade, and they would not be able to grow their corn for their families. Therefore, they are putting their attention in other things that they can teach the men, and they are looking for the direction of God in what kind of program would be best. Also, in this month, Daniel and Jorge finished teaching the book of John with the men. Each week they teach the men Bible verses, and they have to go to their homes and memorize them. They have learned so many verses and they are applying the meaning of the verses to their lives. When the men return each week with their memorized Bible verse, Daniel and Jorge reward all them with pieces of chocolate candy as a “reward”.

On August 21st, Brandi started a Bible study with the youth girls, aging from 12 years to 17 years, in the school, and she teaches them every Tuesday. They are learning more about the Bible and how to be more assertive. They participate in an activity in which they make art for their houses that has Bible verses and pictures to remember what they studied and they receive a light refreshment after they finish.

On August 28th and 29th, we had our first Bible retreat with the women in the village, and we had 26 women participate. It was a time where the love, mercy, and power of God manifested themselves. The women were taught the light of the Word and we were able to feel the presence of God throughout the entire retreat.

September

In September, Pili and Jorge were completely in charge of the ministry because I had to take a trip to the United States. And I give thanks to God that everything went very well.

On September 15th, Independence Day, we had the Independence celebration activity for this year, and we joined the public school in the village with the ministry school and we worked very well together to put on a great activity. Before the activity started, all of the students participated in a parade and afterward, the program went beautifully. The parents also came from the entire village to watch their children and to participate, and all of the families in the village brought food to share at the end of the program. The men served the women and children their food, and this is very rare in a village. It was a great day and we all had a lot of fun. Tor the first time in the history of this village, everyone functioned as one like a community and worked together in unity and harmony. Alcohol was not permitted at all in the entire village, so the entire day was completely different than in months passed.

Also in the month of September, on the 17th, the middle school classes from CEICA, the school formed by Casa del Alfarero, came and visited our school in the village. Like the group from CEICA that visited back in July, they brought food for the families and children in the village and they taught each class an English lesson. The children from the village received the students with open arms and much love and they gave each of them a card and a small gift. We all had a great time and a blessed experience.

October

In the month of October, I want to give thanks to each person and each church for showing your love and giving your time during my stay in the United States. I bless your lives in the name of Jesus, and I pray to God that you always have good health and that the joy of the Lord resides in your hearts and that God takes care of you always. Thank you so much for the support that you gave to GMM and for the interest you have showed for the work of the Lord.

On October 8th, I returned with a group of 11 people. This group was formed by two different churches, Highland Park Baptist church, and New Bethel Baptist church. This group came to evangelize to the children and adults in this area of Chiquimula. They also went to the hospital to visit and pray for the people and children there, and for two days they worked with our children in the village and they taught the Word of God and played with them. They also brought clothes - dresses, shoes, sandals, pants, shirts, caps - and almost all of the clothes were brand new. The clothes were extra beautiful, and everyone was so excited to receive this blessing. Also, they gave soap, shampoo, brushes, and other things in a cute little bag to more than 100 women in the ministry, and we were blessed to see a miracle occur, because they only had enough for exactly 100 women, but that God multiplied the things and bags, and we had “just enough”, praise the Lord. They also presented a Bible study to the women, and they visited many houses to pray and give presents as well. Brother Ted preached a lesson to the men in the men’s ministry and gave them caps and a sharpener to sharpen their machetes, and they showed Christian videos to the whole community as well. Also, in our church, Casa del Alfarero, Brother Ted preached in all three services, and his message touched our pastor and everyone else in the congregation so much.

Also, in the month of October, Brother Bryan McIntyre, Daniel’s father, came to visit with his wife Mary Cron. While they were here, Brother Bryan taught the men in the village for three nights in a row about studying the Bible and about prayer. The men learned a great deal during these three days, and we are very thankful for his teachings.

On October 20th, we had a going away party for Daniel, Brandi, and Mme Jo to tell them thanks for everything they have done this past year. All of the personal in the school and the students said thank you for all of their work, and they recognized that they are a great blessing for this ministry. The children made cards and prayed for them, and we all laughed and cried and had a great time. We wished them a great time in the States and that they relax and enjoy their time with their families and friends there.

October 22nd, the children that graduated this year from 6th grade and two of the students’ parents from the village went on vacation to Livingstone, which is a small town in front of the Atlantic beach, to celebrate. Beaches on the Atlantic are the only beaches that have white sand; the rest have black sand. To get to our hotel, we all had to go on a 40 minute boat ride, which was these children’s first boat ride of their lives, for this, we gave them all Dramamine because we did not want any accidents on the boat. Praise the Lord, the ride was accident free. Most of the children have never left the village in their lives, and none of them had been to a beach before. Everyone was so excited to see the beach, and when we got to the hotel, they were so happy to see their rooms too. For these youth, this was the first time to sleep in a bed, and these beds were extra comfortable with very soft sheets, and they were so amazed to see the bathrooms and showers. The woman that owns this specific hotel is a Christian and she gave our food and rooms for a special price because of the ministry, so the Lord was truly blessing us the entire trip. When they had rested a while, they went straight to the ocean to swim. After their first time in the ocean, they went to collect shells, and then we all ate lunch. They enjoyed this specific meal so much because they had two pieces FRIED chicken. One girl said her favorite part of the whole trip with the FRIED chicken. They played all afternoon, and then we had supper, enjoyed the food, and afterwards we had devotion and we talked about Joshua, the dreamer. We talked about how God gives us all dreams and how He has plans for our lives, and we also talked about how this trip and everything they have are gifts from the Lord and how they have to keep focused on the blessings of God. When we finished with the devotion, it was almost 10pm, and we all very tired, so we headed off to sleep. The next day, the students woke up at 4am because they were so excited to get their day started! Some were playing soccer and some went swimming. For breakfast, they had pancakes for the first time, and they loved them, and they went back to the beach, and some of them brought a little extra money of them own, and with this money, they were able to go on a canoe ride. At 9am, they went exploring the island to see the sites, like a beautiful waterfall, and at 11am they came back to swim a little bit more and at 12 pm we got ready to go back on the boat because a storm was coming. Because we had to leave a little early, we were not able to eat lunch at the hotel, so we took them to Pollo Campero to eat lunch, and again, this was the first time for them to eat in Pollo Campero. Afterward, they went able to visit a mall close by, another first time experience, and again they were amazed with the escalators and how big everything was. Finally we made our way back to Chiquimula, and we arrived at the village around 7:30 pm. Everyone enjoyed themselves so much, and we know that these kids will never forget their trip to the beach. We thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts who donated the money to allow the 6th grade graduates this unforgettable experience. God bless you for your kindness.

We are very very thankful for each one of you and for your help because with the blessings of the Lord and with your help, this ministry is transforming lives, giving hope, and putting smiles of the faces of the children and the people in this village! Thank you and God bless you.

Psalm 133: 1-3 “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head…It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.”

Sarita Carson

MAY, JUNE, AND JULY NEWSLETTER

2010-08-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

LETTER FROM SARITA

Esteemed Friends:

It is an honor for me and a joy to be able to greet you and greatly thank you for your faithfulness to GMM and the vision we have month to month and year to year.
During this time, God is enlarging His work and giving us more blessings and more opportunities to carry His Word to others through many diverse activities. We are taking the vision that God put in William and my heart, using different strategies and methods, to evangelize to the people and touch the people’s heart. And this is where I want to show great gratitude for your prayers, support, encouragement, faithfulness, and love. You are helping us take our vision as part of the dream that Jesus has given to all of us…"Go and make disciples of all the nations…” Matthew 28: 19 and 20
It is vitally important for us to receive your prayers, support, encouragement, and help in all times because we know that we are of the same body of Christ and that all of us complement each other. Just like Jesus sent out His message of forgiveness through His disciples, Jesus also needs workers in this age to carry this same message to all the people.
Now we can say that God’s plans are going out of our hearts, and the plans that my loving husband, William, had and that all of you have as well and we are running towards the VISION that God has for us and for those here in Guatemala. Now many of our goals have been reached, but we still have our daily challenges. We have new needs that are not easy to fill, but with and in our all-powerful Christ, we can make it. GMM has been formed for one objective, and this objective is in Matthew 25:31-40. These verses and objective are applied to our projects and programs as well. Our projects are as follows: The classrooms from Pre-school to Sixth grade are finished and we were able to give all of the school supplies for each child; we also have a feeding program and we feed every student that is in ministry five days a week; the medical clinic that is located in the ministry attends and consults many families in the village as well and we send the ones that are really sick to the hospital; we also have Bible studies for the men in the village, where Daniel and Jorge lead this study and there are about 30 men from the village that attend this meeting; we also have a Bible study for 30 women, and I have the privilege to lead these women every week; we visit houses and pray for the needs of the people; and now we have a new construction program for the men that teaches them basic construction applications and a program for the women that teaches them how to read and write and sew.
All of these things are part of our VISION where each of you is involved, whether in a direct or indirect way. Like when Jesus multiplied the five loaves and two fishes, and each person had a ration according to the needs. This is how it has been through the years. Every one of you have given and shared according to your possibilities and in how the Lord has led you to give. I want to give appreciation for your love and obedience to the voice of the Lord and for being sensitive in your spirits to the needs of others. You give more than economic support. You give prayers, smiles, and love too. I want to thank you in a special way for having in your hearts the same desire, the same vision that William and I have, and for having this commitment, not just with God, but for those that are in the village. We know that with God’s guidance we can work and transform this place for His glory. I don’t think this is an easy work to do, and that is another reason I just want to say thank you to all the groups that have come and given their time and have given a lot more for GMM and for showing love for your fellow man and for loving God’s children that you do not even know. But we all know that they deserve to know about the love of God like we do.
Our mission for this year is to finish the small projects that are lacking like buy and install the doors and roof for the new bathrooms, dig a well so we can have enough water at all times for the school and feeding center, and when these are finished, we can continue with the project of constructing the mission house, which we will talk about more in the future.
We are very thankful to God that we are expanding physically and spiritually and we believe in our hearts that it’s time to renew our vows with the Lord and start to have a new level of surrender to the Lord, where our trust and faith in Jesus is the base of our actions. We do not ask for anything that we do not pray will be given back to you. In the same way, I hope that your plans and families and your commitment to God is taken to another level and that you give your lives completely to God in love, action, faith, and commitment and that you will experience great freedom to remain in the Spirit of the Lord no matter the barriers of distance or language. My desires for each of your lives are that you can accomplish every project, every plan, and every decision as you are following the Lord each day.
I love you all and I desire that you are left with this final thought: Be blessed in your hearts, visions, and dreams in this last season of the year.
With love,
Sarita.

Mark 12:30-31 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all you strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

MAY (Announcements and News)
• I want to share with you a great thing that is going on in Chiquimula. In the first of May, there was a meeting held in Chiquimula for more than 100 pastors, and I had the privilege of being a part of this event. Dr. Harold CaBalleros was our special guest, who is a well known speaker and writer in Guatemala and other areas of the world, and he spoke on the work of the church and the Christian people for the change of our country. I led the opening prayer, and I asked Brandi to sing two songs before the conference began. It was an activity that was full of blessings and a powerful message that was accepted by many pastors in this area.
• On May 8th, a group of fifteen women from our church, Casa del Alfarero, met in the village to pray for the difficult time of violence that is occurring in the village. This is a problem that has been occurring for a while now, so we went to pray specifically in the place where the violence is occurring.
• On May 14th, we celebrated Family Day at the ministry. We had a wonderful celebration, and all of the student’s families participated. The teachers here prepared different activities, games, and competition for the mothers, fathers, and children, and they all participated. It took a little encouragement, but eventually everyone was having an amazing time! We gave a various prizes to all of the winners, like sunglasses, plates, water containers, and much more. And afterwards, we had lunch for all of the families, and we had all of the families sit together. It was a great blessing to see them all having a wonderful time, and that the children saw their parents playing and having a good time too. The object of celebrating Family Day is to teach the importance of togetherness as a family and to teach them to support each other and have fun together. Even though this is very natural for most, it is not for most of the families in the village.

• Men’s Ministry: In the month of May, we had our normal Bible Studies every Monday afternoon, but we stared a new construction class with the men on Tuesdays afternoons, and Chayo is teaching this class. The men love it and are learning so much from the knowledge that Chayo has! This month we also washed the men’s feet because we are studying the part of John where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, and it was a blessing to see the men’s responses. They are so humble, but they truly understood how Jesus expects us to be servants to others as He was. Also during this month, we gave the men sunglasses one night and also showed a movie on the same night. Because of this, some of the men were watching the movie with their sunglasses on because they liked them so much. It really blessed are hearts to see how much they liked their gift. Please continue to pray that this group of men will continue to learn of God’s love and direction for their lives.

• Women’s Ministry: The group of women that come on Wednesdays for the Bible study in the ministry are now searching their Bible and, those that know how, are reading their Bible during the teachings. We have many beautiful plans for this group of women. Next Saturday we have great plans to begin classes with them. Classes like cooking, sewing, and art classes. We will also take those aside that do not know how to read and write and teach them during these Saturdays. We feel this will help their future and also help their community. We ask for your prayers for these plans so we can put them into reality and that it will be a blessing for the women here in the village.
• Also in the month of May, many floods hit Chiquimula and the surrounding areas. Chiquimula was truly hit by one great flood that destroyed houses and took the lives of several. The community, including our church, Casa del Alfarero, pulled together and gave food, clothing, and helped with the aftereffects of the flood. Those in the village were not affected as much because of their location on the mountain, praise the Lord, but of course, the rainy season is always a tough time for everyone because of the sickness it can bring and the damage of the hard rains.

JUNE (Announcements and News)
• In the month of June, much of the violence in the village was stopped because a man that had been a leader of a gang in the village was killed. We believe that with the death of this man, the village has more peace now. But, sad to say, the violence still exists. Two weeks after his death, a 16 year old girl that studied in the public school in the village, was killed on her way home from school one day. After the death of this girl, the whole village was very commotional. The families were scared to send their children to school. We had a meeting with the parents and students in our school to encourage them to continue coming to the school and to pray for this horrible situation. Some mothers went ahead and took their children out of the school, nine in total, most of which are girls. Please pray for this situation and that the wave of violence stops and the fear subsides.
• An uplifting announcement for this month is that we had a missionary group of 17 young people come and stay from June 1st to June 9th. Youth and young adults came from Killen United Methodist church and Parkway Methodist church to construct the patio in front of the new classrooms at the ministry. This was truly a great blessing because we have needed a floor in this area so the ground will not absorb the constant rain from this rainy season. They also brought glue and whiteboard markers for the students and teachers, and they were such a blessing for us and for the students in the ministry.
• Also, another small project we are forming is a library of literature and encyclopedias that have been donated over the past year. These encyclopedias are a great help for the older students, from those, they can consult many different subjects for their classes like science and social studies. We know that encyclopedias are obsolete in this modern age, but if you don’t a lot about 3rd world countries, encyclopedias are a great benefit to any school, especially to one that is located in the mountains. Our school, along with many other schools in Chiquimula and the surrounding areas, do not have the benefit of a computer lab or internet, so forming this library is a tremendous blessing for our students. Any donations of Spanish books for our library would be greatly appreciated.
• Other information we want to share with you is that on the 12th of June, we started teaching a group of eight women from the village every day activities and crafts, and the group of women from our church, Casa del Alfarero, which I spoke of in the May information, are the teachers. This group is apart from the Bible study, and we meet two Saturdays a month, and we are teaching these women to read and write and to make crafts with their hands. The first project we did was a bag that they crocheted. In the near future, we will begin to teach them to cook with easy recipes that are healthy and low cost.

• The week of June 14th, for the middle of the school year, all of the students in the school were evaluated. Praise the Lord, everyone passed, so everyone is very excited. After their evaluations, the students and teachers had vacation for the week of June 21st. Because of this, the students were not able to come to eat at the feeding center, so we gave them food to take back to their houses. We bought food like oil and beans and other things to give to each child so they could eat in their house throughout the week. During this week, some of the students and I worked in the garden at the ministry, and now the school looks very clean and professional with a nice garden to top it off.

• On the 28th and 29th of June, a group came for one day from Guatemala city to paint a mural on one of the walls at the school, and it is so beautiful. They also played with the children and had a good time in these two days.
• WE give thanks to God because we had lots of work during this month, because with lots of work comes much blessing.

JULY (Announcements and News)
• In month of July, we also have great news. On July 6th, Mme Jo, the nurse for the ministry, came back to Guatemala to stay for five more months. She is attending to the small medical needs of the people in the village, like colds, stomach problems, and fevers. Her husband and daughter came the week of the 12th and stayed for two weeks to work on the floor in the medical clinic, which looks beautiful, and to visit and see Mme Jo’s new home.
• On July 16th, twelve students from CEICA city school came to visit our students here in the village to give them food, clothes, and a couple of English lessons. They also came to see the differences between their school in the city and a school like ours in the mountains. Our students welcomed them with a precious program that the teachers coordinated, and they gave the visitors beautiful cards written in English. The day was such a blessing to see, because for many of the students from CEICA, it was their first time to visit a village. The food that they brought was given to the 20 poorest families in the village and the clothes were given to the students. It was an amazing sight to see these students conversing and having a good time together.
• On July 22nd to the 28th, a group of adults and youth led by Pastor Pochop and Pastor Frank Whitaker from Sheffield, Alabama came to paint all of the school in the ministry and they did such an excellent and professional job. The youth also played and worked with the students at the school during their Bible study, and the group brought shoes and clothes for the students.

• On Thursday, 29th, Pastor Josue Morales brought a group of young people. The original plan was for this group to take our rock from the river, but because of the storms, the river has filled up, so they were unable to do this. So, with the leftover paint from the previous group, they were able to paint the inside of three classrooms at the school, so God works it all out for His glory.

We give thanks to God for the past three months! They have been for God's glory, and thank you for being a part of it all.

Sarita

Colossians 3: 15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Please pray that the Lord will give us his wisdom because we are praying about what project we can implement for the people in the village. This project will, Lord willing, provide ways to help the families eat better in their houses.

Please pray for our children in the ministry and that the support that we received from GMM continues and is multiplied, for those that give and for us that receive.

Pray also that the violence in the village ends and that the authorities in Guatemala are efficient to stop this violence.

And also, please pray that the strong rains do that destroy the houses and crops and that they do not bring anymore sickness.

March and April 2010 Newsletter

2010-05-10T16:47:00.000-07:00

Colossians 3:15 "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."

March
Hola friends,
I love you very much, and I have missed you tremendously. We are sorry that we could not make the March newsletter last month because it was a very busy but blessed month. We had a wonderful medical team for two weeks, from March 13th to March 26th, and because they were able to do so much for the people here in Chiquimula and the surrounding areas, we were with them for much of the month.
We had a lot of difficulties at the village in the month of March. Another man was killed in a feud between families, but, praise the Lord, the blessings are continuing in our village because both the men’s and women's ministry are growing each week. The women’s group I am leading only had about eight people in the beginning, and now we have more than 15 women each week. In the school, the children are very blessed, but they have had been experiencing some problems as well because of the lack of water in the community. This causes problems in their homes, and it also causes problems with the feeding center in the ministry sometimes, because it is almost impossible to prepare the children's food without water. And we had problems with the electricity this month too, so our refrigeration was down for a little while, but, this is Guatemala. In a third world country, we deal with these kinds of problems every day, and this is why it is a very difficult place to do good things in a timely manner and with excellence. But God is good, and He always takes care of us. We pray every day and we ask of Him, and He always extends His merciful hand of love, and every day, we will keep going, with joy, and in His direction.

Now my friends, we want to share with you, with more detail, of what God is doing in Lela Obraje.

Women’s Bible Study:

On March 3rd, I started a Bible study with the women in the village. We invited only women that were already in the church because in past years, we have had a Bible study for women, and in the beginning, would have 35 or more women. A Bible study I was leading a couple of years ago grew to 80 women! And for more than two years we had this study, and we were preaching and teaching, and we would share in the material blessings that God gave us, like milk, clothes, shampoo and soap, and other things, but then I realized that the women were not coming for the Word of God. They were coming for the things they would receive. For a short while, it hurt my heart. I prayed to God, and we suspended the Bible study all of last year. Sometimes, I had a Bible study with some of the women in the village, but not every week because when I wasn’t giving anything, just a few women came. Other women that work in the ministry were also telling me that the women were only coming for material gain. They only wanted to be blessed materially not spiritually. But, I kept preaching and teaching, and preaching some more until one day, we said no more. This year in January, I prayed for a long period of time about my desire to preach with the women in the village, and I started asking for advice from several Pastors, and with God’s leading, on March 3rd, we stared a new Bible study with the women. The idea is, with this small group of women that are already Christians, doing what the Word of the Lord says. Between three different teachers that come to the Bible study, we are discipling these women, and when this group of 15 women are ready, little by little, they are going to start sharing the Word of the Lord with other women in the village and also teaching these women and discipling other women like I’m doing with them. With this group, the priority is not with the material things. In all of the more than 85 women in the past group, I’m sure that many of them are saved, but a huge majority of these women do not go to the church and do not live in accordance to the Word. And God has put in my heart that they cannot just look for salvation and material gain. They have to be disciples of Jesus, because that is what the Word of God says. I ask for your prayers, specifically from all the women that are reading this newsletter right now. Women, please pray for this group of women in Lela Obraje, Guatemala. Pray that the real message of Christ changes their lives, in their thoughts and in their actions. Every week, on Wednesday, we have this Bible study and a small refreshment.
I would also like to tell you that in my house, on Wednesday night at 8pm, we have another Bible study with all of the women in my neighborhood. This group is very different than the one in the village. It is formed of single and married women, some professional ladies, some housewives, and it is a blessed group. My two daughters attend this Bible study and Brandi also attends every Wednesday each week, and it is a marvelous blessing. We study the Word of God, and a precious of friend of mine, Dinora, shares the Word with us, and we have a great time. We pray, we learn from God, sometimes we cry, and sometimes we share in each others joys, but it is always a true blessing to be able to hold this Bible study in my house. God is working in our lives so we can share His love and mercy with others.

We are also a part of a meeting of women Missionaries in Chiquimula that meet one time each month to share in the Word, our personal and professional experiences, and in prayer. I look forward to this meeting as well each month.

Medical group:
For three years now, Global Missions of Mercy has had the tremendous blessing of having a group of amazing eye doctors and surgeons visit Guatemala to operate with cataract, pterygium, and cornea transplants. This group came again this year on March 13th and stayed until March 26th. There were two separate groups, and the groups were led by Dr. George Rooney and Dr. Mark Henry with His Servants ministry, and they have been a blessing to Lela Obraje and Chiquimula for years now. The first week, students from the University of Indiana, led by Dr. Rooney, completed eye examinations and gave away many pairs of reading glass, prescription glasses, sunglasses, and prescription and regular eye drops. You may be asking why they give out sunglasses. They give sunglasses because the sun is very strong here, and the people are working out in the sun for long hours each day, and this is why many of the people have so many problems with their eyes. The sunglasses help prevent their eyes from this sun damage, so it is necessary to wear sunglasses at all time. The next week, the doctors came to complete the surgery on those that had already been examined. It was a very busy time, but a blessing for the whole community. I’m sure as you know, all types of surgeries are very expensive, so without this team of surgeons, these patients would never have received treatment otherwise. During their stay, 103 surgeries were completed and more than 2,000 patients were served. Seventy-three people received Jesus as their Lord, and boxes and boxes of Bibles were given away, over 335 Bibles, to people that did not have a Bible. Dr. Rooney led the men’s Bible study on Monday, and he did a wonderful job, and each day that this group was working, they were sharing the Gospel of Christ with someone. An amazing story to tell is about two children that had cataract surgeries. These children were born with cataracts, and they have to receive this type of surgery often because the cataracts keep coming back. Since this group comes and serves every year to this community, children like these can receive their much needed surgeries. Thank you so much His Servants Ministries for allowing God to use your talents for His kingdom. May He bless you in every way, and we can’t wait to see you next year.

Ephesians 6:7,8 "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free."

April
On April 13th, we set aside a day to go and clean all of the village, and we picked up bags and bags of trash. We do this each year to help keep our village clean, but also to teach the children and adults not to throw their trash on the ground, and if they see trash, to pick it up and put it in trash cans.

On April 21st, we had a parents meeting with the student’s parents.

And on April 24th, our church in Chiquimula put on a Retreat for the women in the community, and three of our teachers from the ministry were able to attend. They told me they had an amazing time with the Lord and learned a lot.

The school continues to run perfectly, and the children are learning more from their teachers and from the Lord each day. We have many people tell us that the school is one of the best they have seen. The medical clinic is also in tip-top shape and is in working order. Mme Jo Beaver came and worked as the nurse in the ministry for 3 months, and she left on April 26th. Thank you Mme Jo for your time, love, and hard work.

Here is Mme Jo's experience during her stay.

Last year, in April, when I went to Guatemala with some friends, I knew God wanted me to work there. I went back to Guatemala in October for a month and fell in love with the people there. In talking with Sarita, she expressed a need for medical help for the people that live on the mountain. Since I am a Registered Nurse, this caught my attention and plans were made for me to return to Chiquimula the first of February this year for 3 months. In the mean time, the old kindergarten building was to be converted into a clinic. While there these past 3 months, God worked wonders in my life, teaching me more about His love, and in turn teaching me to love others more. The people there have received me very graciously, and I have made many new friends, despite the fact that my Spanish is very, very limited. While in Chiquimula, I lived with Sarita and had a wonderful time. She taught me much about Guatemala and the Guatemalan culture. They are a wonderful people.

The clinic is now completely finished, and I started seeing patients in the middle of March. At first, things were slow, but as the people started to gain confidence in what I could do for them, they began to come. It was amazing. Most of the medicines we have were sent from the United States or money was donated to buy medicines here. A church in Guatemala City sent us some medicine as well, and all of this medicine is a true blessing from our generous God. Also, a local laboratory has offered to do lab work at a greatly reduced price for us as well, and we are only getting started with the big plans we have. God continues to teach and guide me in all that I do and I thank all the people, especially Sarita, for their hospitality and for what they are doing in Guatemala.

During my stay, I had many sick patients come through my door in need of medical attention, so many actually that I cannot share them all, though I would love to :). I would though like to share one story with you just to give you an example of what I do. A mother with four sick children, ages one to eight years, came to the clinic. The oldest child's temperature was 104.5 degrees and all of the other children had a fever as well. They all had what they call "gripe", which means upper respiratory infection and cough. I was able to give them each an antibiotic and other appropriate medicines. The worst thing about this situation was there was no water on the mountain that day, and there hadn't been for the two previous days. Can you imagine having four sick children, no car or money to take them to see a doctor, and no water to give them to drink or to wipe there hot little bodies? We searched around and were able to come up with a half gallon to give them, and Daniel took them home in his truck so they wouldn't have to walk all the way up the mountain to their home. I praise the Lord for giving me the opportunity to be able to help families like these during my stay in beautiful Guatemala.

I plan to spend two months in Alabama and then return to Guatemala the first week of July. I need and would appreciate your prayers, as well as anything else you would like to give for my precious patients on the Lela Obraje mountain.

God Bless You,

Mme Jo Beaver, RN

Thank you so much for your time and for continuing to pray for this ministry. You are all blessings to my life and for the lives that are here in Guatemala! May God bless you abundantly.

With love,

Sarita and staff

February 2010 Newsletter

2010-03-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the LORD, is the Rock eternal." Isaiah 26:3,4

Words of Encouragement from Some of the Teachers in Lela Obraje

“Several years ago, a torch came into the village of Lela Obraje bringing a light for everyone here that was in the shadows. This light started to bring a lot of smiles to faces that had lost their reason to smile, and God looked and found faithful followers that would have the responsibility of carrying that light for many years to come, and you are one of those faithful followers. Thank you! “ -Miss Milgian

“Thank you for your prayers because they help to fortify this ministry and allow us to keep working with new strengths every day in this great place of God. Thank you for your spiritual and material help as well. God will give back to you what you have given and prosper you marvelously.” -Professor Rudy

“I hope that at this time you are all doing very well and that God is filling your life with blessings. We give thanks to God daily for the blessings you give to this ministry.” -Professor Kenneth

“Brothers and sisters in Christ, with all of my heart, I pray that the Lord is blessing you with all the desires of yours. I give thanks to God each day for allowing me to work in this place that is filled with the Lord’s presence. I also give thanks for each and every one of you that helps each month economically and spiritually.” –Mrs. Zulma

Medical Mission 2010

A group of Jesus’ servants come every year to help the people of Lela Obraje and the surrounding areas medically and spiritually, and a group of 26 precious ministers visited us once more on February 11th through the 18th. They ministered to the people by using their talents and gifts like the good steward in Matthew 25, and the Lord blessed their work abundantly. Doctors, dentists, construction workers, pharmacists, eye specialists, translators, preachers, and leaders all used their talents this week for the glory of the Lord, and all of their work produced a harvest for His Kingdom. Working with this group touches the hearts of everyone here in Guatemala, and we thank you all for coming and serving Christ faithfully to bless the lives of so many.
A story was shared the last night this group was here about a little boy that was at the beach one day. This specific day, thousands of starfish had washed up on a beach and were lying there helplessly. This little boy decided to use his time that day to throw the starfish, one by one, back into the ocean. As he was doing this, a man walked up and said, “Boy, don’t you know there are thousands of starfish on this beach? What kind of difference do you expect to make?” And the little boy picked up a starfish, threw it into the ocean, turned to the man and said, “I just made a big difference in that one.” When medical teams come to Guatemala to help the people here, just them showing up makes a difference. It tells the people that they are worth their time, money, and efforts. When medical teams like this one take the time to make a difference in one person’s life here, they are opening their eyes to love of Christ and to the love of His people. And this is a GREAT work for the Kingdom of God. Thank you!

To view pictures and a video of this team, please visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jofipo3/ChiquimulaGuatemala2010 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I900JyvAKi0&feature=fvsr

If you would like information about making a difference in one person’s life here in Guatemala, visit our website at http://www.globalmissionsofmercy.com/.

Activities for February

February was a blessed month, for one, because we had the medical team that blessed so many poor people from Lela Obraje and the surrounding villages. This is a huge social work for the students here and for the adults as well. And I know that these people are thankful for this work from the bottom of their hearts.
February 17th in the school was very pretty and unforgettable day for the students because all of them received stuffed animals. Seeing their happy faces when they received them blessed my heart when tremendously, and afterwards, we all exchanged Valentine’s cards because we were not able to celebrate this holiday on February 14th. In our school, we take this day to celebrate friendship and God’s love, and we always have a wonderful time.
On February 19th, we had a day to attend to the personal hygiene needs of the students. We washed their hair and cleaned their nails and also cut the girls hair. This is a very important day because we take this day to also teach them about the importance of good personal hygiene.

Information about the School and the New Medical Clinic

The students are learning new things everyday about God and in their scholastics. We were able to buy books for the students in February because of a donation given by Town Creek UMC, and we were also able to buy the much needed 40 desks we were lacking because of a donation given by Riddles Chapel UMC. Thank you so much for your giving hearts and for caring about the education of these precious students in Lela Obraje.
Also, Steve Jackson, owner of Jackson Pace Pharmacy, donated the money for all of the wood to build the walls for the new medical clinic in the village back in January, and Mrs. George Clowes donated the money to buy the beautiful windows for the new clinic. The Medical Missions team also brought several construction workers that paid for and completed the work for the windows, paint, fans, and light fixtures for the medical clinic. This group of construction workers also made benches for the children to use in the feeding center. Thank you for your giving hearts and love for the people here. The medical clinic is open to the public and is being used to give free medical service to the people of Lela Obraje. Thank you!

Men’s Ministry

Everything is going really well with the men’s ministry, and we are blessed to be a part of it. The ministry’s main focus this year is to prepare the men to go out and tell others about what they have learned. We have started focusing on making them leaders for Christ. We have changed up the Bible Study a little bit as well. The Bible study is now at 5:00pm on Monday afternoons, and we have started celebrating birthdays each month with a cake and started having different activities each month, like a day to watch a movie or to hand out gifts like clothes and hats for families. Please pray for these men’s protection, that they will become more spiritually mature every day, and please pray for us to do as God pleases as we lead this ministry.

New Women’s Bible Study

Sarita has also started teaching a new women’s Bible study on Wednesdays at 10:00am, and we are all excited to see how God will work through this study. Although Sarita has been ministering to the women in the village for many y hbgbgyears, it is neat to see that the men, women, and children all have a specific time to study the Word of God together in the ministry. The Bible study was just started on February 24th, so there will be more information to come in the upcoming newsletters, but please start to pray now that the women will be open to hear what the Lord has to say to them and pray for Sarita as she leads these women each week.

English Letter Writing

The English classes are going nicely thus far. We have started a new project this year that we are very excited about, and so are the students. We have started writing letters to children in the United States. This is to help the students learn how to write correctly in English and so that can have fun making new friends in the U.S. We received our first set of BEAUTIFUL letters this year from the Riddles Chapel Children’s ministry in Athens, Alabama, and we will send a response to them on March 18th. We are thrilled! If you would like to be a part of this project by writing letters to our students in Guatemala, please send your questions to Brandi at danielandbrandi1@yahoo.com. Anyone is welcome to write, and I know the students will love to receive as many letters as they can get! (There are over 170 students.) You can send the letters through the mail or with a mission group that is coming to Guatemala or you can even send them through my email. They love receiving pictures as well, so be sure to take a picture of your own pretty face or of your class before getting them to us. Thanks for all you do and God bless you!

Prayer Requests:

• Pray about the violence in the village because there have been several murders in the past few months, and some of these murders or people that have been murdered are relatives of our students. Pray for peace and forgiveness between the people.

*Please pray for the men and women that are participating in the Bible studies.

• Pray for the older boys and girls in the school to be wise about the decisions they are making that will affect the rest of their lives. (For example: One girl made the decision to leave the school and begin living with a man to start a family. She is only 14 years old.)
• Please pray for a student named Cesar because he has been complaining about pain in his chest for the past few weeks.
• Pray for the students in the school because some of them live in fear because of the delinquency in the village.
• Please pray for a little girl in the second grade that is very sick, and the parents do not know what to do because she has had these problems for a while.
• Please pray about the lack of rain in Guatemala. Because of the drought, the prices of food and gas have gone up drastically. (For example, the price of sugar more than doubled over night.) Please pray for the ministry to have the food it needs to feed the children, but also pray for the thousands of families in Guatemala that are not a part of this ministry.

November and December 2009/January 2010 Newsletter

2010-03-01T19:08:00.001-08:00

Dear friends,

It is a great blessing to be in contact with you again. We have not had a newsletter since the month of November, so in this newsletter, we will share the information for the past three months.
As some of you know, I was in the United States during the month of November, so Pili, Jorge, Daniel, and Brandi were responsible for the ministry during my absence. They shared with me that it was a great experience and a blessing for their lives. During the month of November, they distributed the basic grains for all of the families of Lela Obraje village. Also, during this time, the teachers at the school had their vacation, but the feeding center continued as always, and the children only came to eat lunch each day and to hear the Word of God given by Pili and Brandi.
Jorge and Daniel continued the men’s ministry in this month, and this is a great ministry because this allows us to have more contact with the Chort´i Native families, and they in turn approach us with more confidence. It is a blessing to have the approval of the whole family because of this men’s ministry.
Also, in this month we had a blessing of money given by Alan Mitchell that allowed us to buy and install the new windows and doors for the new classrooms. We thank you deeply for this donation.

The month of December was a slower month at the ministry because the three cooks took their vacations since they have not had vacations for many years. But, we were able to buy the children their basic grains for the month and distribute them to their families so they would have food during the vacation time. Also in this month, we were able to use the blessing of money that was given by Barton Baptist church and Pastor Frank Whitaker to distribute food to all of the families another time right before Christmas. This was like a gift from God for Christmas because we were able to give food two times.
Also in December, we had a group of nine precious servants of God come from Hatton Baptist church. They were all a tremendous blessing. They stayed from December 27th to January 3rd, and during their stay they painted the two new classrooms, and they did a beautiful job. They also shared a variety of Bible stories with the children, youth, and women in the village and completed activities with them as well. They brought backpacks full of goodies for each of the children and shoes too, and they had a Happy Birthday Jesus party with a cake big enough to feed 300 people! We all had an amazing time. We were all able to visit two orphanages as well. One of the orphanages was in San Jacinto, which is a small town outside of Chiquimula, and the other one was in Zacapa, which is a city near Chiquimula. The orphanage in Zacapa has about 80 children, and it was astonishing how they enjoyed the affection they received from us. When we were there, they would call us “Mama” and “Daddy”, and they deeply touched all of our hearts. The last day this group was here, we went and visited the dump near Zacapa, and it was astounding to see all of the families living in or near the dump. They sweep the dump each day to try and find things to sell or to eat. We praise the Lord that this group was able to come and work with us here in Guatemala for His glory.
We thank the Lord for the lives of each of you that are reading this newsletter, but our deep gratefulness is for the prayers you lift up for this ministry and for the donations that you give each month to help us feed children here in Guatemala and for helping us provide an education for these children as well. There are so many families here that live from day to day hoping to find food, even if it is in a dump, and because of your obedience to the Lord, we are able to help families physically and to also share with them the love of God and teach them how to live their lives for the Lord and seek Him daily for their every need.

In the month of January, everyone returned to the ministry working in full force and thanking God for allowing us to work and serve in this ministry another year.
We have two new teachers at the school this year. One of the teachers’ names is Zulma Dinora Guerra de Ardón, and she will be teaching second grade this year. The other teacher is Deynor Arnaldo López Vásquez, and he will be teaching fourth grade. Praise the Lord that this year we have a complete elementary school, Kindergarten through sixth grade, with seven teachers. All of the teachers' names are as follows: Nely Consuelo Welches Leon, kindergarten; Eimy Eunice Morales, first grade; Zulma Dinora Guerra de Ardón, second grade; Milgian Yusely Gonsalez Monrroy, third grade; Deynor Arnaldo López Vásquez, fourth grade; Kenneth Geovani Díaz, fifth grade; and Rudy Alexander Morales Sánchez, sixth grade and principal of the school.
Also, we were blessed with a new cook this year, since Hermana Erma de Jesús Vásquez is no longer with us because of health problems and because she is now taking care of her grandchildren. So, in the place of head cook will be Sister Leonidas, and the new cook is Elsa Marina Perez, which will make over 400 tortillas daily. Glendy Yadira Osorio Pérez will continue working with us also as the third cook this year.
The month of January was a month of blessings because we were able to buy 60 new textbooks for the students, which were especially for those students in the new sixth grade class. Also, all of the students received their scholastic material this year and the teachers received all of their materials needed to give classes sufficiently. The new classrooms are in use and in working order, as well as the entire school. At the beginning of January we had a teaching seminary for every person that works in the ministry, and it was very interesting, and we all learned a lot about serving the Lord with joy and how to be better workers for His name.

God bless you all,

SARITA.

Prayers Request:
Please pray for the violence to cease in the village and for the laws to be obeyed. The people do not follow the laws, but also, the authorities do not enforce the laws in the village.

October 2009 Newsletter

2009-11-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks for Another Month of Service
By Pili Camposeco

Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.”

Since Sarita is in the United States at the time, I have the privilege to take part in this newsletter this month. I would first of all like to thank the Lord for everything that was accomplished this month. He shows His mercy and love every day, and we receive more from Him than we deserve. We have been through a few trials this month, but the Lord was and is so good and faithful to us. He has shown us how to trust Him with all of our hearts no matter what the circumstances. The Lord has also shown us that when we take care of the calling He has given us, He will take care of the rest. Working for Him is the biggest privilege that we could ever have on is earth. This is especially evident when I go to the Lela Obraje village and see the smiles on the faces of the children there. We want to thank you, because without your prayers and support, we could not take part in this great privilege. As you will read in this newsletter, we were blessed with two groups that came to Chiquimula, and we want to take this time to thank them for coming. You were a blessing to the lives of this community and to our lives as well.
Thank you for giving us your time as you read this newsletter, and we hope that these stories bless your life like they have blessed ours, and we hope that you see the enormous work that God does when we allow Him to work in our lives and when we all work together. God bless you!

Report of the Evaluations for 2009
By Professor Rudy Alexander Morales

I thank God for another year here because I have seen His powerful hand at work in the students and in all of the staff that work in this Ministry. The staff works with lots of love in their hearts as they carry the blessed Word of God and the bread of knowledge to these students every day. I am certain that they will make prosperous adults if they keep God at the center of all that they do. This year, like the years before, we give thanks to God, because in the final evaluations in the third week of October, there was a great academic performance from the students, but mainly, the hearts of the students are so precious and soft towards God. We know that we in Guatemala are not the only ones praying for these students. We know that you are praying to God with all of your hearts for these children as well. Your prayers are not in vain because we see the fruits of your labor and prayers in this community. Please continue praying for us. This year we had the opportunity to attend to 150 children at the school, and for the next year, 2010, we hope to have 175 students, because we then will have a complete elementary school, K through 6.
Also, we give thanks to Sister Sarita for the great love she has for the children. We pray that God will powerfully bless her and open more doors for her to help other children.
I also thank Sister Brandi for the patients she had to teach our students English. They were so excited to receive their final scores in English because they did very well. They have asked me if they can have English next year, and I just tell them that we all will pray for our English teacher for next year. Thank you Sister Brandi and God bless you.

Teaching at Highland Park Christian School
By Professor Kenneth Geovanny Diaz Gutierrex, 4th Grade teacher

Working with the boys and girls this year of 2009 has been a special privilege that God has given me. Everyone has been very caring and polite, and I have noticed that the student’s interest for learning has increased with every day. I also noticed that they have had more positives changes than the students in other schools because our students are growing in the way of the Lord. They are learning about His miracles and the great love that He has for all the world. Sadly though, I had one girl that did not pass the grade. Her name is Ruby Raymundo, but this was a special case because she has epilepsy. Every day her struggle with this disease hinders her studies, and after much consideration, we decided that it was in the best interest of the student to keep her back this year so she can have a better chance of learning what she needs to learn before she graduates. Everyone else did very well, and they all passed. I ask for your prayers for the ministry and for all of our students and their families.
God bless your loving hearts!

By Nely Wuelches, Kindergarten teacher

I am very blessed because the Lord has allowed me to work in this ministry and because I had the privilege to be able to take my students through their first year of elementary school. I feel like I have helped them accomplish their goal of reaching elementary school. I use everything I have to teach them as best as I can, and I always teach about the love of the Lord that He has for all of us. I know for sure that this Word will be kept on their hearts and in the future, they will become men and women of virtue. They will become the ones that develop this village, and as they do this, they will always follow the direction of the Lord. I have taught my students to work together because we are all the same in the eyes of the Lord. I have had to teach them that we are not to discriminate anyone because, at the beginning of the year, there was discrimination from the girls in my class. The boys did not want to be in the same class as the girls and they thought that the girls could not do anything. They did not play together, and the girls were always separate from the boys. I would always tell them that we need to work as a team no matter if we are girls or boys because in the Lord’s eyes, we are equal. I felt in my heart that I did a good job teaching for the glory of God. Thank you again for this opportunity and God bless you.

Fall Medical Missions 2009

The Medical Mission for Fall 2009 was a huge success for the glory of the Lord. People were not only cared for physically by this team, but they were also cared for spiritually. Over 1,350 patients from all over this area were attended, and there were many serious cases. Although people with all kinds of symptoms were seen, we had several children come with problems hearing this year. A man came with his 8 year old son, and he told us that his son was having trouble hearing. It turned out that he had a bean in each of his ears. The bean in his left ear was removed very quickly, but the bean in his right ear had started to grow, and it was very big, so after a little anesthesia spray because of the pain, the doctor removed the bean piece by piece. There was also little girl brought it for breathing concerns. After a routine check up, it was found that she had a light case of the flu, but this was not the worst thing that was wrong with her. The doctor found that she had a roach in her ear, and her mother did not know that she was having problems hearing. After this case, there was a little five year boy that had a live bee in his ear, and then a six year old girl came in with a dead roach in one ear and a live worm in the other ear that had caused a terrible ear infection. The Lord is so good to send these doctors to help children like these because without their help, they would not see a doctor otherwise. After seeing the doctor, patients were sent to the pharmacy where they were able to get medicine for sicknesses like high blood pressure and diabetes. They were given enough medicine to treat their symptoms until the next Medical Mission in February 2010. Others were treated and given medicine for rashes, various pains, colds, etc. Hundreds of pairs of reading glasses were given out, and many gifts were given to the people also like flip-flops, caps, candy, toothbrushes, soap, but above all, they were given the Gospel. This entire newsletter could be filled with amazing stories of how the people here were helped because of the generous hearts of those involved in this medical team. Thank you for giving your time, talents, and resources to serve these people for the glory of the Lord.

A Group of Loving Hands

A group that was led by Ted Vafeas from Highland Park Baptist Church came to visit in the middle of October. As you know, the most important thing a group can do is teach the Word of God, and that is what this group did. They not only worked in the Ministry, they spread the Word of God all over this community. They visited the ministry and helped with the children, and they visited houses in the village. The men in this group had a Bible study with the men in the village, and over 40 men attended. And the ladies in this group conducted a craft with the ladies in the village and they also spoke about the love of the Lord. At the end of this day, over 98 ladies were taking part in this craft and study of God’s love. This group also visited the children in the Chiquimula hospital, and they prayed for the children that were sick. They also visited the jail and prayed and gave testimonies, and they also witnessed to people in the park. This group was a blessing to the ministry, and they were a blessing to this entire community

Report of the Medical Clinic
By Mme Jo Beaver

My time in Guatemala has come to an end for now. I hope to return the last of January. There really are not enough words to express the wonderful, no magnificent, time I have had here. The clinic has gotten off to a great start, and it has been so rewarding to see the result of the medicine and care that the clinic has provided the people in the village of Lela Obraje. One example that comes to mind is a family of three children, eleven months, three years, and seven years, that came to the clinic last week. They all had sores all over them. With a bottle antibiotic medicine and a tube of antibiotic ointment, they all were nearly well within three days. God is so good! Your prayers and support of the clinic, as well as for me, will be greatly appreciated.

September Newsletter

2009-10-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

A Letter from Sarita
Hello my friends and God bless you. This newsletter is a little late because in the first days of October, we had two mission groups here, which we will tell you about in October’s newsletter. September is a very important month for Guatemala because September 15th is Independence Day for our country. This was a fun month for the kids in the school. We had a month of joy for the celebration of our Independence. The staff on the other hand had a lot of work and concern this month. We had a lot of preoccupation in our hearts because of the lack of rain, and we had difficulties in the economy for the families in the village. But God is always taking care of us and is faithful. After prayer, God gave a huge blessing of food for more than 1,000 people, and this is a miraculous blessing because each family that received the food will now have enough food for three or four weeks. This filled the children of each family with joy and brought a calm to each of the parents.
I want to take this time to give you thanks for being a part of all of this. Thank you for running with us in this Vision that God has given Global Missions of Mercy and for working in the Mission together for our Lord. We are a team, and the best gift God has given us is to be able to love each other, pray for one another, and support each other. The beauty of God’s love is that His love is known to others by the way we love one another.
Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love. And lastly, many thanks for your support, because your support is very important to our children and families. I pray that the love of God remains in your hearts. God bless you.
In love,
Sarita Carson

Jeremiah 31: 35 to 37 "This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar - the Lord Almighty is His Name: 'Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,' declares the Lord, 'will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.' This is what the Lord says: 'Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,' declares the Lord."

This is the Word of God and this Word is life. Although we see that God is talking about the people of Israel, we can see that we also receive the mercy of God as His children.

Activities at the School
· On Wednesday the 2nd, we had a Civic Moment (A moment to recognize our civic symbols.) in honor of our national bird, the Quetzal.
· On Monday the 7th, we gathered together for another Civic Moment in honor of our national flower, the White Monja.
· On Wednesday the 9th, we had our last Civic Moment in dedication to our national shield.
We celebrate all of these Civic Moments so we can remember to be patriotic for our Independence and to form in the students a civic valor, a love for their country, and a respect for the patriotic symbols.
· On Friday the 4th, we had a meeting for the students’ parents. We always do this with the purpose of informing the parents of the students’ performance in their classes in the school.
The main points we try to cover are:
· The importance of the students’ attendance in classes
· Talk with the mothers about how important good personal hygiene is for the students.
· Go over the students’ grades with their parents.
At the end of this meeting, we invited the parents to an activity on the 15th of September to celebrate Independence Day.
· On Monday, September 14th, we had an activity to celebrate the day of the Liberty Torch. We went to the customs in Florido, Franteral of Honduras and Guatemala with all of the students in the school to carry the torch of liberty. This activity ended at 4:00pm, and we left the Fronteral of Honduras and ended up at the school at 6:45pm with a scream of liberty. And then the students returned to their homes with patriotic smiles.

Celebration of Independence Day, September 15th
On Tuesday, September 15th, with lots of enthusiasm, we had an activity in the school to celebrate our independence,. At 6:00 am we raised our National flag, and afterwards, we had a parade with the students in the school. We marched and we were accompanied by a marching band, which was formed with some of the students in the school.
In all of our civic activities, the student with the highest average in the school led us carrying our national flag, which is Elmer Ardon Pesquera. The two students with the second highest averages, Oscar Ramirez and Maria Andrea Garcia, followed him also carrying a flag.
At 9:30 am, we had a presentation with the “Independence Girls” that represented our school also.
And at 10:00 am, we continued our celebration with cultural moments where the students conducted dramas, sang songs, and read poems. Also, we had a recreational activity with a piñata.
We ended this fun day with refreshments for all of the parents, teachers, and students.

English Classes
The English classes are going well, and they are held one day a week. Each of the six classes receive English lessons every week. The Kindergarten, First grade, and Second grade receive 20 minutes of English, and Third, Fourth, and Fifth grade receive 30 minutes of English.
The lessons I teach are little more informal than the students’ other classes, just because I only teach one day a week. For example, in the younger classes, I am teaching them the numbers from 1 to 15 in English. In every lesson that includes numbers, we make our “Number Train” and choo-choo all throughout the classroom shouting our numbers in English. The older classes are learning verbs and the personal pronouns. So, I have them write and pass notes to one another in English. Of course, this is the only time they can write notes in class and get away with it, so they seem to enjoy it.
I pray that they are learning, but above all, I pray they are having fun and know that they are capable of learning another language. I praise the Lord and thank Sarita Carson for the opportunity to teach at Highland Park Christian School in Guatemala.

A Blessing from Guatemala
On Saturday, September 26th and Sunday, September 27th, we had a visit from a ministry from Guatemala City called “Kabod Ministries”. The word “Kabod” means for the Glory of God. In the last newsletter, I shared with you about this visit, and this month, 40 people came and evangelized and brought clothes, food, and various medicines. The huge blessing of food and clothes that they brought were enough for 1,500 people, which accounts for more than 300 families. Also, they had a time of teaching the Word of God, and it was truly marvelous. This group brought a theatric group from their church, and their presentation was very professional. They presented a children’s production that the kids in the village had never had before. All of the actors were very colorful and beautiful. The children and their parents and the staff all had a wonderful time. Also, the GMM staff truly admired the enormous blessing that this ministry brought to the village. God is good, and He is always merciful. We give Him thanks and we also thank Kabod Ministries for their love and care for our village. God bless you!

Men’s Ministry
The men’s ministry has been very exciting and has not stopped growing from day one. We meet every Thursday afternoon at 4:30 pm after the men get off of work. They come straight from working all day long to come and sit and study God’s Word. We were given an offering to buy study Bibles for the men, and every man that has received a Bible has returned to the meetings and are ready to comment and share what they have read that week. Their hunger and thirst are evident through their expressions and excitement while studying the Bible during the meetings.
We have about 42 men coming to the studies and growing deeper in the Word of God. The group is already growing closer to each other and developing more accountability and better friendships every week. Please continue to pray for these men. Please pray that the Word that enters their hearts will not only change their lives but also the lives of their families, friends, and the entire village.

A Calling to Guatemala
My name is Mme Jo Beaver, and I a registered nurse from Town Creek, Alabama. Quite a few years ago, when both of my two children started school, I felt the need to further my education and do something productive, never having any idea it would lead me where I am today. After several short-term mission trips with various organizations, I came to Guatemala this past April with some friends for ten days. When I stepped off the airplane in Guatemala city, I had an amazing peace come over me, and I felt like God was telling me this is where I belong. I have always had a “soft spot” in my heart for people south of the USA. The whole time I was here in Guatemala back in April, it was like a dream. I asked a million questions and saw as much of Chiquimula, the village, and the school as I could with this deep excitement growing within me. Sarita and I talked about the need for medical care of some kind at the ministry while I was there also.
When I returned home, I just could not settle back into my usual routine. The truth is my heart was still in Chiquimula. After much prayer, seeking God’s will, and discussions with my family, I wrote to Sarita asking her if I could come and work at the ministry as a nurse and also help her in any way I could. This was what God wanted me to do. While waiting on her reply, I began preparing. I do not speak Spanish, so I purchased the beginning of the “Rosetta Stone” software for my computer and started working. I got a new laptop computer to help me and to communicate with my family back home and did several other things to prepare myself. There was much to be worked out, but God began fitting the pieces together. Today, I am here! My Spanish still is not very good at all, but I continue to work on that. At the ministry, I have “set up shop” in a temporary space, and things are progressing. Although I cannot be in Guatemala all the time, I will be here as much as possible. God is SO good

August Newsletter

2009-09-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hi to all to my family and friends! I give thanks to the Lord for the life of each and every one of you. I also give thanks for your love and mercy for the Chorti people in Lela Obraje and for this entire ministry.

In this time, all of the land of Guatemala is going through a difficult time. A famine is beginning, not only in this northwest area where we live, but in all areas of Guatemala. In June and at the beginning July, we were blessed with lots of rain, so the people were able to sow their grain and other vegetation. Sadly though, starting at the end of July and in all of August, we did not have one good rain for the land. So, there is a forecast that 80% of our basic grains will be lost. Because of the lack of rain during harvest time, I feel this is a poor time for Guatemala. This famine is also causing starvation to occur in many families. We need your prayers for the rain to bring a good harvest of food and clean water because we are starting to see several deaths of children in Zacapa because of the lack of food in the newspaper. Below are pictures that were in the newspaper just this past week.

We give thanks to God and to you because most of the families of the Lela Obraje village, where this ministry is located, are not experiencing this problem of starvation. They are still having a difficult time, and we know that we are not able to help every person in the entire village, but the Lord is doing a great work. I am still very sad and concerned for some of the poorest families in this village. Some of these families have children, but their children are not a part of this ministry for one reason or another. Many single mothers are raising their children alone, and many older women are living alone in the village during this difficult time. I feel that this concern I have for these types of families is from the Lord, but once again, God has shown His mercy and wisdom. About two weeks ago, I received a call from a church in Guatemala City. They shared with me their desire to come and help in this ministry in Lela Obraje. I gave them a list of 250 families that are without food and are struggling during this difficult time, and they want to visit us on September 26th and 27th to bring baskets of food for each family on the list. This is a miracle that could only come from the Lord, because I have never met these people from Guatemala City that want to come and help.

The Lord has put this ministry on their hearts, and they want fill this urgent need. Now that these angels from Guatemala city have called us and offered to bring baskets, my plan is to begin looking for a church that can come at the end of October and another church at the end of November and another in December so all of these families can have these much needed food baskets once a month. Please pray that this plan can become a reality.

I want you to know that I love you very much and you have all of my heart because of all that you continue to give. Your love, your prayers, and your support are blessings that cannot be repaid with earthly materials or words. All I can say is thank you for giving your best to the Lord. You have followed His command in Deuteronomy 17:1 that says "Never sacrifice sick or defective cattle, sheep, or goats to the Lord your God, for He detests such gifts.” Again, thank you for giving your best!

Sarita Carson

Construction for August

Right now, we are hard at work in our bathroom project at the village. This project includes the construction of four new bathrooms and 16 new sinks for the students to use. Last week, we were blessed with a visit from Jeff Edwards, which is from North Carolina. He came to see how the construction of the bottom bathrooms was coming. He was able to see that the bathrooms are practically finished. Since the bathrooms are only missing a roof, Jeff asked how much it would cost, and we gave him an estimate. We are hoping that the Lord will allow Jeff’s church to help us with the finances of this roof or that God will bless us with whoever else can help. We thank Jeff and his team for their love and support and for their help with the construction of this bathroom project in the village.

Distribution of Glasses

In March 2009, we were blessed with a group of eye doctors who came to serve in a hospital here in Chiquimula. (This entire story is included in the March Newsletter.) One doctor, Dr. George Rooney, came and helped in March with this group, and he was able to give out numerous pairs of prescription and reading glasses. However, some people needed prescription glasses that were not available in Chiquimula. So, when Dr. Rooney returned to the States, he made the remaining glasses and sent them to us in August. For much of August, we made phone calls to people to come and pick up their glasses, and they were very excited to receive them. Their glasses are beautiful, brand new, and each pair has the exact prescription for the people that will be using them. This donation of glasses is a huge blessing for the people here in Chiquimula. Thank you to His Servants Ministry in Kentucky, and thank you Dr. George Rooney and your team for your love and hard work for our people. Most have received their glasses, and we will continue to make phone calls until all have them and are able to use them.

At the School and Feeding Center

In the school and in the feeding center, everything is functioning very well for the glory of God. The children are very different now. They are full of life, and they have a passion to learn more and more. Please continue to pray for each child and their families. Pray that they will all have a passion for Jesus Christ also.

Special Prayer Request

In the second week of August, I had a very poor family visit my house. They confided in me that they have a daughter that is 32 years old, and her name is Angie Sandoval. She is a single mother, and she has a son that is 7 years old. Angie has the phase four type of Endometriosis. Her doctors have told her that she needs four injections that will prepare her body for the surgery she needs to have. After I talked with Angie, I contacted my precious brother in Christ, Bill Countiss, and his wife. They are working, with the help of Doctor Mark, on obtaining these four injections. Praise the Lord, Bill recently called to tell me that there is a great possibility that they can obtain these four injections. While you are reading this Newsletter, please pray for Angie and for Doctor Mark and Bill. Pray that they will be able to obtain this very important medicine for Angie.

A Letter from Heimyn Eunice Morales Sanelzez, Third Grade Teacher

On behalf of the Third grade, it is a pleasure to greet you and bless you in the name of Jesus Christ. We hope that God is always shedding His riches and blessings on you and in your job where you toil every day.
First of all, thank you for your help in our small school because every year we overcome more and because every day we learn more. Also, we are blessed daily with a healthy diet because of the wonderful feeding center, and we know that we have all of this by the grace of God and because of you. Thank you for helping us keep focus on our set goal we now have. Before, we did not have a reason to have goals, but now, because of your kind heart, we have a motive to work hard every day. One reason we are moving forward each day is that we are hoping to someway show you how much your help is making a difference in our lives and in the lives of the children here.
I am very impressed with the changes I have seen in my students. Before, they did not act their ages, but now, thank to the Lord, they are completely different. For example, I have a student that had trouble getting along with one of his classmates. I asked him what he thought he needed to do when he had confrontation with another student, and he told me that he should “just hit him”. These types of attitudes are the ones we are trying to change each day. The students have learned these attitudes from their parents, and we as teachers are trying to make an impression on these students through example and teaching. What we are doing is making a difference because, for one, the student that wanted to hit another student to solve his problem told me that he now wants to have more companions, and I can see that he has more love in his heart for people. If it was not for the support that you give to help students like this, he might have grown up having hatred in his heart for people the rest of his life. But, because God is so big and merciful, these children have joy and an opportunity to be someone different. Now, all of them have a purpose for their lives because of God.
In one of my classes, I asked who had goals and visions for their future. Some children told me that they wanted to be teachers like me, other told me that they wanted to be architects, soldiers, and still others told me that they want to be MISSIONARIES. They now have goals, where before they did not care.
I hope that all that I have said has motivated you and has helped you realize the blessing you truly are to us. Your gifts have yielded fruit, and you have obeyed the Word of God where He says in 1 Corinthians 3:8 “He one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work."

1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing…BUT HAVE NOT LOVE, IT PROFITS ME NOTHING.”

Thank you for the time you have taken to read this Newsletter. The staff and I hope that you have a wonderful and blessed day.

God Bless You all,

Sarita and Staff

July 2009 Newsletter

2009-08-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

“All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.”

1 Corinthians 12: 27, 31

We were blessed with the following testimony from Ashley Grissom, age 15. She is a young lady that came in the month of June to work in the ministry. We thank the Lord that He is touching the hearts of the people that visit Chiquimula, Guatemala like Ashley, and in turn, touching our hearts with their testimonies. May this bless you as it did us.

"While getting ready for this mission trip, I tried to imagine what would happen, what everything would look like, what work I would be doing, and even what God would show me. I've been reminded again that God is the one in control, not me. Hardly anything went as I expected (and sort of planned) it to happen. And I'm sure that in the long run, that’s a very good thing.One thing God showed me is that He can use anybody, even me, to do His work. Even though I'm not the strongest or most skilled worker, He still used me in another way when He gave me the opportunity to work with the children at the school. Although the crosses I made with them were simple, maybe the message of God's love that went along with them touched at least one person. It was incredible to see how even the youngest kids had already heard about Jesus and knew of His sacrifice. The fact that they are being taught the Truth is just wonderful! Another thing God challenged me with is finding at least some joy in everything. When you're hot, covered with bugs, dirty, and exhausted, sometimes it's hard to be bursting with joy! But when I saw how content the people were who barely had anything at all, it was a slap in the face. When we went into the village to see the people, their homes, and the way they live, I was shocked! I knew they were poor, but I really had no idea how poor. We prayed for the families before we left, and at one house, Sarita asked if the family had any special needs that we could pray for. The only thing they asked for was prayer for us! God showed me how loving and beautiful His people really are despite what the world can throw at us. I’ll never forget this experience, the people I met, and the work that God did. Praise the Lord!" Ashley Grissom

Hey dear friends,

God bless you. I hope that you and your families are doing well. At this time in my life, God is mostly showing me in my heart that the entire vision of Global Missions of Mercy came from Him and is covered with His anointing. So, we pray that God would do His patient and perfect will in GMM, and that we would wait for His timing in everything. Why am I saying all of this? I am saying this for the reason that July was horrible in many ways. We had so many troubles in the ministry. Most of these troubles were caused by the tremendous rain we received in the months of June and July. Another trouble is the protesting going on in the village, which caused so many headaches and complications, but the hand of the Lord protected the village and us, and He has taught us so much this month about the power of His hand.

Just a Few Problems
The troubles with the rain mostly had to do with the destruction of part of our construction projects. For example, we had to rebuild a wall behind the new bottom bathrooms three times because the rain was so strong that it destroyed the ground behind the wall. There was so much pressure from the dirt that the wall fell three times, but praise the Lord, third time is a charm. The wall is now strong and ready to go. Also, when it rains in the village, it rains so hard that it is impossible to work on any of the construction at the school. So, all of the June projects that I told you about in the June Newsletter needed to be pushed back more because there were many days where it was impossible to work. School and the feeding center continued, but construction had to stop. But, praise the Lord, towards the end of July, the rain stopped for close to two weeks, and we were able to finish the retaining wall and almost finish the bottom bathrooms and fix anything else the rain had destroyed.

As for the protesting, for close to one week, we were not able to go to the village because all of the surrounding villages, including the people that live in our village, blocked the road for a protest against the government. An experience we had with these protesters came first on July 29th with a group called Field of Harvest, who came to the village from Pennsylvania. On this day, I went to Coffee Corner to eat with the group at 8:00am, and Rocio went ahead of us to the village. When Rocio went into the village at 8:30am, the road was open and there were no protesters. But after the group and I finished breakfast and arrived at the village, the protesters had blocked the road, making it impossible to enter. There were men with machetes and rocks and branches, so of course, the group had to turn around and go back. They were able to work in another village that day closer to the city, so all went well with them, but for Rocio, it was a different story. Rocio was already in the village waiting for the group to arrive, like I said before, and she did not know that the road was now closed. So, when she left, she was right in the middle of these dangerous protesters. They did not allow her to pass, and she had to travel five hours out of the way to get back to Chiquimula. She traveled up into the mountains up a different road, and the fog was really think that day, so she was terrified, and so was I. Praise the Lord though, the protesting is over for now, and we are able to enter the village with no problems.

Groups for the Month
July was a little calmer month than June was, group-wise. On July 13th, the leader of the Father’s Heart ministry, Don Philemon and his wife, came and visited the ministry. They only visited for one day to view the ministry and talk to me about the needs of the people and ministry needs in general. We discussed about them bringing a group in November. Just a few days ago, I received an email, and they confirmed that they are coming on November 14th and staying until November 23rd. Therefore, we give glory to God that we now a new contact for Global Missions of Mercy, and we are very excited to see how the Lord will use them to further His ministry. I have already mentioned briefly about the group we had from Pennsylvania called Field of Harvest. Again, they came on July 29th for the first time, but before they came to me, they went to visit Pastor Josue Morales, pastor of Iglesia Cristiana Castillo Fuerte. They told him that they had heard of our ministry in Lela Obraje village, and they wanted to visit us. Since I know the family of Pastor Josue, when he told me about Field of Harvest, I felt very comfortable and excited to have them visit. And now, praise the Lord, because of this visit, we now have another new contact for the ministry.

Activities for July
On Friday, July 17th, we had a meeting for the parents of all of the students in the school. This meeting was to just keep the parents updated on the school and the progress of their children, but also, on this same day, we gave out clothes to the children that were left in June by the group from Highland Park Baptist church. On July 23rd, we gave out presents that we received from Samaritan’s Purse, and we want thank Mr. Homer for shipping these 400 boxes to us and blessing all of our children that are a part of this ministry. You put joy in their hearts, and since they were given out of your love for Christ, they also learned a lesson of generosity and love. On this same day, we gave the children the Frisbees that the Highland Park Baptist group brought.

Thank you friends for your love and your support. God bless you and prosper you in everything that you do.

In His love,

Sarita Carson and Staff

June 2009 Newsletter

2009-08-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

"O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."
Nehemiah 1:11

When we pray together, I believe that we put joy in the heart of the Lord and that it strengthens our character, and we are able to feel the support of each other because we are in unity together. This is the reason I appreciate your support so much. Your prayers, economical donations, and all of the other blessings you give, like clothes, shoes, school supplies, etc. are so meaningful to me and to this ministry.

Groups for this Month

In the month of June, we had a lot of groups, so I want to spend most of our time talking about them. They were all sent from the Lord and a big help to Global Missions of Mercy. Three groups came for construction and evangelism, and one group came to play sports with the children and evangelize. The first group came on June 2nd, and they were a construction group from Alabama. This group was composed of two youth groups from two different Methodist churches. One youth group was from Killen UMC, led by Luke McIntyre, and another from Parkway Methodist church, led by Chris Weldon. They had 17 people, and they all worked on the septic tank project. They worked continued to work so hard, despite the fact that they had some difficulties. For example, when they were digging the hole for the septic tank, they hit a gigantic rock, and although they tried and tried to remove this rock, it was impossible. We called a tractor to remove the rock, but even the machine could not get the rock out because it was too big. So, we had to move the hole for the septic tank, but, praise the Lord, the tractor was able to dig the hole in no time. They were not able to finish the work of the entire project because of the rain and because it was so much work to do in just one week, but praise the Lord, they finished the platform of this project, so we hope to get the community together in August to finish the rest. This group also worked with the children and led a craft project that included a Biblical message, and it was so inspiring to see such young people teaching the Word of the Lord with such boldness. Some of the group also went to river and got two truckloads full of rocks that would be used for building a retaining wall at the bottom of the school. Having them come and work at Lela Obraje village was a privilege and a blessing.

On June 20th, the second construction group from North Carolina arrived, and this was their first time to come visit the village with Jeff Edwards. Pastor Chris Rathbone led this group, and they chose to construct the four bottom bathrooms at the school. During their work though, they also had troubles because one of the walls that was closest to the bathrooms fell, and this caused us to lose two days of work because of all of the dirt that needed to be removed. So again, we needed to hire a tractor to move the wall that fell and take all of the dirt away so they could continue with their work. This group was composed with a lot of hard working men and women, and they all gave their best effort to construct the bathrooms before it was time for them to leave. They were able to make all of the reinforcement bars and footings for the bathrooms, and these had to be very big because of the layout of the land, and they started the walls to the bathrooms and purchased all of the material needed to finish the bathrooms. While the men were working construction, the women were busy with the children and women in the village. The ladies in the group led the women in the village in a Bible study and a craft project. They made and painted napkins for their tortialls, and the women loved it so much, and while they were working, other ladies painted pictures on all of the children's faces and hands. They also worked with the children other days and helped with construction every opportunity they got. This entire group was a blessing! After this group left, Chao and another five men from the village stayed and worked, and they building the fallen wall again, which by the way, fell again. Chao, Chao’s brother, Noe, and Jorge are still working with these bathrooms, and we hope to finish them soon.

From the 26th of June to July 4th, we had a group from Highland Park Baptist church. There were 19 people in this group, and they were led by Pastor Larry Lewey. They came to build the retaining wall. The construction of this wall required lots and lots of rocks, so for two days, they worked in the river getting enough rocks to use to build the wall. With this group, we also had some trouble, because the dump truck used to get the rocks got stuck in the river. And for almost an entire day, the group tried to get the truck out, but it was impossible. So, at 5:00 in the afternoon, we called the mayor of Comoton so he could help us with his tractor. Praise the Lord, in 25 minutes, we had the truck out of the river without any trouble. The next morning, the truck and the group were ready to finish taking the rocks from the river. This was such hard work for them. They were wet and tired and dirty from working in the river, then had to dig 25 meters to make the footings for the wall, mix the concrete, take the rocks from one place to another, then, finally, make the wall. It was hard work, but they were so willing to do whatever needed to be done. This group was not able to finish the entire retaining wall, but Chao and five other men finished the rest of the work when they left. Also, the Highland Park group worked with the youth in the village and conducted a VBS with them. It is such a blessing to have all of the groups work with the children in the village, but it was nice to have a group come and work with the older youth of the village. Also, this group went to a church in the city to lead a service with music and testimonies, which touched so many hearts, and it was very enjoyable to be a part of. At the end of the week, this group cut and washed all of the students hair because the children have such a big problem with lice, so they have to wash their hair for lice at least twice a year.

The last group that came was from Missionary Adventures, and it was made up of ten college students. This group was actually not planned to visit our ministry. They were planning to visit Huehuetenango, but they changed the place because this area is too close to Mexico, which, as many of you know, has many cases of swine flu right now. They then decided to visit Lela Obraje village, and we received them with joy. They came for two days, and they stayed two hours each day. They played sports with the children and taught them the Word of the Lord.

Out of all of the groups that visited in the month of June, only a few of the people got sick, and God took care of each one of them the entire time they were here. We were very sad to see them leave, and they were sad too because they did not want to say goodbye to the kids and us. They were also smiling because they were satisfied with what the Lord had accomplished through them. They were all tired and with injuries because all of the work that they did, but in the end, we all shared one spirit…a spirit of thankfulness and love for the Lord, because He allowed us to be a part of Global Missions of Mercy doing His work in Chiquimula, Guatemala.

In the Ministry

Everything in the ministry for the month of June went well. The teachers and kids loved having all of the groups visit, and they loved making new friends. All classes went on as planned, and the students had their semester exams in June, and most students passed with excellent grades. The feeding center is still open five days a week, and of course, the students love having a hot meal after classes and recess. God has provided for our every need and more. As I stated before, we had a little trouble in the ministry with the rain, but the Lord has been faithful to provide ways to work past the difficulties. The men's ministry is continuing every week on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and it is still led by Daniel and Jorge. Chris Weldon, a pastor from Alabama, led one of the Bible studies when he visited at the beginning of June, and we were blessed to have him lead.

There is nothing else I can say but thank you, thank you, thank you, and thank you. Thank you for your job, thank you for your support, thank you for loving us, and thank you for your prayers. We are one in Jesus Christ.

I love you all,
Sarita Carson

May Newsletter

2009-06-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

I pray that when you are reading this letter, you are enjoying the peace and love of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We are now five months into 2009, and the Lord has been so good to this ministry during this time. I have realized His great love, wonderful mercies, and gentle care for our children, our families, and all of the people that are working for Global Missions of Mercy in Guatemala. These months have been filled with great blessings, but it has also been a time of difficulties. The government of Guatemala has given our teachers in the school more opportunities this month, and each day we are able to teach our students and feed them physically and spiritually. Also, we have new stairs leading from the feeding center to the bottom classrooms, and we have two brand new classrooms, although they are not completely finished. New classes have begun for the students and for the men in the village, and we are expecting more great things in the months to come. Like I said before though, there have been difficulties. The families in the village continue to struggle because of lack of work and food, and the violence is still tremendous. Although so much has been accomplished in the village, construction is not moving along as fast as we had hoped it would, but the Lord continues to open our eyes to His timing in everything that goes on here in Chiquimula.

The month of May was a little calmer compared to other months because we did not have a work team visit the ministry. From January to April we had six teams. We had medical teams and construction teams and all six of them were filled with people that were ready and willing to evangelize for our Lord Jesus Christ. During the past five months, more than 150 people have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior in this part of Guatemala, and we praise the Lord, because with our wonderful work teams, sponsorship, and a lot of prayer, none of what happens in this ministry would be possible. In the remaining of this year, we have several groups coming to help in what the Lord is doing here, and we are expecting great things for the remainder of 2009.

Now I would like to share with you something amazing that is happening in the village right now. About three weeks ago, I asked Daniel and Jorge to visit families in the village and take gifts to them and pray for their needs. The main purpose of these visits though was to invite the men in the families to come to a Bible class. Daniel and Jorge were very excited about this ministry, and the first Bible meeting was held on Thursday, May 21st, and 40 men attended. Daniel shared a message with the men and Jorge helped translate, so basically the entire lesson was in Spanglish, but the Lord worked mightily through their obedience. Nine men accepted Jesus into their hearts, praise the Lord. The second meeting they had, Jorge was very sick, so, although scared to death, Daniel had to go and teach by himself. Twenty-one men attended, and praise the Lord, the message went very well. One of the men told me after the meetings that it was a blessing to have this kind of Bible study in the village, so we give all the glory and praise to God that the men are accepting these teachings. Sadly though, we do not have pictures of these meetings yet because Daniel and Jorge have been so nervous, but we will have them soon.

Thank you all so much for the time you have taken out of your day to read this newsletter and for the love, care, and prayers you always have for this ministry and for me. I miss all of you and love you so much!

God bless you,

Sarita Carson

Global Missions of Mercy National Director

News from Lela Obraje

This May 14th, we had a Family Day celebration in the village. We had different activities, and all of the families sat together so they could enjoy their lunch as a family. They were all very happy and excited because this was the first time they could take part in an activity like this one. Many of the families received a gift because they participated in games and activities. It was a very exciting morning for them and their families. Our objective was to teach the families how to live in harmony, in a relationship with love, and teach them how to respect each other as a family.

Written by: Mr. Kenneth Diez (4th Grade Teacher)

The Highland Park Christian school in Lela Obraje is a like a fortress and is like a green house for the future professionals that will work for the development of the village, town, and country. For this dream to be accomplished, we have to support each other in prayer and daily work together. My biggest dream is that the students here will grow up to be tremendous servants of our Christ and that God will use them in different ministries. And I know that this can be accomplished in the name of Jesus because I have seen God at work so much at the school and in our classrooms. All of our students are so special, and they are so different from the rest of the children in the village. They are happy and loving and they are very smart students. So many of them have come to me and told me that they want to be different. Some come and tell me they want to be doctors and teachers, and one of my students, Eliazar, told me he wanted to be a preacher. Another of my students, Cesar, told me that before he had bad feelings in his heart all of the time, but because he is hearing the Word of God at the school now, he has changed completely. He said that even if someone offends him or if someone hits him, he doesn’t get mad anymore and he forgives them. He says he does this so he can be like Jesus. These are just of few of the many changes that have happened in the lives of the students and the people here in Lela Obraje. So your prayers and financial support has not been in vain. There is still a lot of work to be completed for the children here, but, even if the enemy puts stumbling blocks in our way, they can be moved in the name of Jesus. We have seen God work so much in this ministry and in the village and in the town. God will bless you for supporting this ministry. God will give back to you what you have given.

Written by: Ms. Milgian Gonzales (2nd grade teacher)

When I had first started working at Highland Park Christian School in Lela Obraje, I realized that this school had a vision and a mission to talk about the love of God and to preach the salvation plan to all the people in this village. I feel very honored to be a part of what the Lord is doing here in this village, and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share His love with my students. They all draw smiles on my heart, and I admire their innocent love they have for God. There is a specific child in my class named Faustino, and he is so humble. I see so much thankfulness and love in him for the missionaries that come to visit and for Sarita, and every time he prays, he touches my heart. But I have another student in my class named Yondany, and I ask you to pray for him. He has so many difficulties at home, and those difficulties reflect in the classroom. Although so many of our students have a genuine love for God, so many of them are dealing with huge problems at home like violence and no food. I trust in the Lord and His promise, and I know that He can change Yondany and his family and other families in the village.
I am learning so much by just being a teacher at this school. Thank you sister Sarita for seeing the need of these children, and thank you Global Missions of Mercy. You are all such a tremendous blessing this ministry. Thank you for all you have given us. You give so much to the children here, but you also give to us, the teachers. Your objectives are being accomplished, and your efforts are not in vain. We have seen the fruits of your labor here, and we know in the future, there will greater things to come. My vocation is to work with my students and with the children of this village, and in love and obedience, I will follow the plans of the Lord. God bless you.

April Newsletter

2009-05-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

Hello from Chiquimula, Guatemala! It is my hope that as you read this newsletter you are in perfect health and that you have peace and joy in your hearts. I know that this is the April Newsletter, but since it is so close to Mother’s day, I wanted to dedicate a poem to all of the mothers that support Global Missions of Mercy with their prayers and offerings. And just like the students in this picture are saying (in English), thank you for coming, and God bless you!

Thank You Mama

With you I learned how to love God, love His Word, and love to pray.
With you I learned that is it better to give than to receive, and I learned not to hold a grudge, but to forgive.
With you I learned how to enjoy my life when I have a lot and to be satisfied when I have a little.
Thank you Mama for all you have done for me.
You have taught me to live my life without fear and to not fear when my life ends.
Thank you Mama for the love I have received from you.
You have made me into the person I am today and you have taught me how to laugh.
I learned through you that Heaven is a gift of God and that He sent He Son Jesus so I might be saved.
I learned through you that I can do all things through God and that all things work together for good for those who love Him.
Through you I have learned to love my enemies and be a good friend.
Thank you Mama, thank you Mama, thank you Mama, thank you Mama.
(Originally written in Spanish by Arody Espinales)

Everything in the ministry is going great. The school is well, the feeding center is well, and everyone that is a part of this ministry is doing great. The only concern I have this month is that the men of the village are becoming more and more violent. Because of this concern, we want to begin an evangelism and Bible teaching program with the men in the village, and we need your prayers for this. Jorge Camboseco and Daniel McIntyre are going to lead this program, and we are very excited about it. This next week, Jorge and Daniel will start teaching a Bible class on Wednesdays for the men in the village and start visiting their houses and telling them about the Gospel of Jesus. Please be in prayer for their safety and that the Lord will soften the hearts of the men that they will be speaking with.

This month, Daniel’s family and a friend of his family came to visit and work in the ministry for ten days. I praise the Lord because, not only were they a blessing for the ministry, Daniel and Brandi and the kids has such a good time with them. I know that the grandparents loved seeing their grandchildren as well! This group completed much work for the ministry too. One of the ladies led a Bible class for the women in the village on the first day they were here, and the only man that came with this group is a preacher, and he led a class for the men in the village. Another lady that is a nurse organized all of the medical supplies in the office, and she told the teachers how to care for sores when the children get hurt. One little girl had a very bad sore on her head, and she helped doctor her wound. Also, Kimberly, an elementary teacher, led a Bible class for the children, and they had a lot of fun and learned about the lost sheep and how God looks for us when we wonder. They also started digging the hole for our new septic tank and visited several families and prayed for them. The last day they were here, they gave all the children juice, chips, and cookies, and they had a small party for them. They were a tremendous blessing for the ministry, and we are very thankful they were able to visit.

(The three pictures above are of some of the students at the village. They did a short program for the missionary group when they arrived. It was about the Good Samaritan.)

This month we needed to hire a new teacher because our Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Claudia, left to work at another school. The new teacher is Nely Consuelo Wuelch Leon, and we are very glad to have her and hope she stays at the school for a long time. Before Ms. Claudia left, she wrote a short story about one of our students, and his name if Freddie. Her and another teacher, Ms. Wendy, wanted to share with you a little of what the Lord is doing in this school by telling you a couple of stories about this little boy.

Ms. Claudia writes, “God has given us the privilege to work in this community with these children, and we as teachers have such a big blessing because we can share the Word of the Lord with our students. We are able to plant the seed of God’s Word in our students’ lives which is like a fountain of living water. These students need this fountain so bad because they are an abandoned people, like a ship without a captain. But one day, God touched the hearts of special people and told them to go and share His Word with this community, and they obeyed. Now, as teachers, we also have the opportunity to minister to these kids. God has said that if we train children in the way of God’s Word, that they will not stray from it (Proverbs 22:6), and this is what we want to do each day we teach the students at Lela Obraje. Sometimes, this is not an easy job though. A lot of the children already have hate and bitterness in their hearts, and Freddie is a perfect example of a child like this. Last year when he was in my class, he was a child that only had anger in his heart, and he was only five years old. He did not want to sing or talk about God, and he never obeyed me when I asked him to do something. But after praying for him and encouraging him every day, his heart started to change little by little. Suddenly, when I asked who wanted to pray, he would volunteer and pray. And when I asked who wanted to lead the singing, he would be the first one to jump up and start singing. I praise the Lord for the work He is doing in Freddie’s life, and we ask that you would pray for students like Freddie and for their families. We want everyone in the village of Lela Obraje to come to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I know the Lord answers prayers, because we have already seen such a big change in this village and in the lives of the students and their families, so please continue to pray.”

Ms. Wendy writes, “A pastor from Guatemala city gave Sarita ten quilts to give away to the children at the village. She gave each class two quilts, and we decided to raffle the quilts off to the children. We passed out sheets of paper, and the children that got the winning tickets won the quilts. Well, when I told my students about this raffle and the prize, Freddie, one of the kids in my class, said that he wanted the quilt really bad and that he was going to pray so he could win the quilt. I had to step out of the room for a minute to go and get the papers, and when I was coming back, I heard Freddie praying. He prayed that he would get the quilt so he could give it to his brothers and sisters because they were always using his t-shirts to cover up at night. I also heard some of the children laughing at him, but Freddie just kept praying. I passed out the papers and asked the children who had the winning tickets, and Freddie jumped up and screamed, ‘I won Ms. Wendy! I prayed for this quilt and the Lord heard me!’ All of the students looked at each other and were amazed that Freddie had won the quilt, and he was so excited and I was too. Freddie is a special little boy, and I ask that you will help me pray for him and his family. Pray that the Lord will give them everything that they need and that stories like these will cause his family to turn to the Lord.”

We are so very thankful for your prayers for this ministry, and we know that we are in your hearts. Also, thank you so much for the offerings you are so faithful to give every month. We pray that the blessings you give will be returned to you tenfold. We pray that the Lord will provide for your every need and that He will show you a side of Himself you have never seen before. You are greatly loved! I also want to specifically thank you for praying for my health. My back is feeling much better. I just need to go on May 15th to Guatemala City to get an MRI so we can see exactly what is wrong. But, thank you so much for your prayers.

In the Name of Jesus,

Sarita Carson
National Director of Global Missions of Mercy

March Newsletter

2009-04-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! God bless you all. How have you been doing this past month? I pray everything is well with you, your families and friends, and with your ministries. All is well here in Chuiquimula in our families and with this ministry the Lord has blessed us with. Although there have been a few difficulties this month, the Lord has shown Himself faithful and almighty. Thank you for your prayers, and we always thank God for your place in this ministry.

Since it has been three months since the beginning of this year, I think it is a good time to analyze the work we have been completing for the Lord. Also, it is a good time for us to reflect on what the Lord has done for us this year. And as I was thinking about these past three months, I have come to a final conclusion. My ultimate goal for this ministry and with my life is that the Lord’s will always be done in every part of it. So, it is my prayer that the Lord’s good, pleasing, and perfect will be done for His glory in this ministry and in the lives of those working with this ministry, including you.

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

This month has been packed with a lot of work, two construction groups, and two medical groups, but it has truly been a tremendous blessing. First of all, I had a lot of trouble getting the medical supplies out of customs for our first group of the month. This first group was a group of eye doctors, so they had a lot of supplies send ahead of them by mail. Well, after spending days completing paperwork, translating “doctor’s terms”, and taking a trip to Guatemala city to pick up the supplies before the people at customs rid themselves of them, praise the Lord, we finally got all of the supplies ready and waiting for the group. And the work was well worth it! These eye doctors were such a blessing for the ministry at Lela Obraje and for the city of Chiquimula. The group arrived on March 14th and it included the president of His Servants Ministries, Dr. George Rooney, and a group of college students from Indiana University School of Optometry and from Medical College of Wisconsin. There were also one social worker and two ophthalmic techs that joined them from Kentucky. This group saw 1,700 patients and gave out 15 prescriptions for glasses, 1,000 pairs of glasses for reading, and 400 pairs of sunglasses. They were a blessing to be around, and they all were a blessing to this community.

This group stayed for one week, and then another group of doctors and helpers joined Dr. Rooney from Indiana and Kentucky on March 21st. This group contained three more doctors: Dr. Mark Henry from Somerset, KY, Dr. Dan Robinson from Indianapolis, Indiana, Dr. Randy Hughes from Evansville, Indiana. A doctor, Dr. Luis Molina, from here in Chiquimula also came to help them. All four of these doctors are ophthalmologists who performed surgeries all week long. If you can believe it, this group of doctors completed 93 cataract surgeries, 17 pterygiectomies, three corneal grafts, and one strabismus correction. Also, 400 more patients were seen for regular eye check-ups and they gave 30 prescriptions for glasses and 100 pairs of glasses for reading. Both weeks, these groups of blessed people worked very hard and were a tremendous help for all the people that they were able to see, and they have already made more appointments for next year! Praise the Lord!

Now, we also had two groups of construction teams come from Morning Star church of Missouri. This group completed the roof for the new classrooms and the much needed stairs beside the new school. The first group from this church came on March 15th and was a group of 13 men, and these men slept at the school all week. They would wake up early every morning and work all day long. It was such a blessing to see them work so hard for the Lord and for this ministry. This group also paid for all of the construction supplies for constructing the roof and for the stairs. I feel like the school looks like a different place because of how hard this group worked. On March 22nd, we had another group of 10 people join these men from the same church. This group helped with construction, and they also had a Bible school program for the students. The students learned so much about the characteristics of God and they also learned several new verses from the Bible.

This group also visited several families in the village while they were here. We were able to visit the family of Brother Francisco Amador Vasquez first. This man was just shot a few weeks ago by his neighbor over boundary lines, but praise the Lord, he is alive and well. It was a blessing to be able to take these missionaries to visit him, and he was blessed that they wanted to come and see him. We also visited Victoria Amador because she recently lost her husband, and she has five children. Three of her children are a part of the feeding program. They have a precious family, but the house they live in is almost destroyed. Global Missions of Mercy and World Vision are partnering together to construct Ms. Amador a new home. Also, another man we are ministering to is Mr. Simion Asmun. He also needs a new home because the walls of his are falling in, and he was actually a sorcerer of this village. Praise the Lord though, we visited this man and he accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior! This is so good for him, of course, and for the village. This presence of evil has been overtaken by the blood of Jesus! On Sunday, March 29th, Mr. Simion Asmun came to church for the first time, and this is because these missionaries took time to go and visit him. Praise the Lord! I want to take this time to ask you to come and be a part of what the Lord is doing here. It truly does make a difference for the Kingdom of God.

As you can see, we did have a very busy month, but the hand of the Lord was on every second of it! Thank you all who came to visit Global Missions of Mercy this month, and I thank all of you that support this ministry every month with your prayers and offerings. May the Lord bless you and keep you in His peace.

Pilemon 1:3 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

National Director of Global Missions of Mercy,

Sarita Carson

February Newsletter

2009-03-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends, and blessing to you all. Thank you for allowing us to be in your homes, your work, your churches, and your lives. We consider it a privilege to have you as a part of Global Missions of Mercy. Our newsletter is a little late this month because the Lord has blessed us tremendously lots of new school supplies, with two groups, and with many activities. We know that when you read this newsletter, you will be able to see how the Lord has blessed this ministry this month, and it is our prayer that you see the love of the Lord through this newsletter.

Psalms 51: 10, 11 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me." (William's favorite verse.)

This specific newsletter is very special to us because it is in the memory of William Carson. Eight years ago, in August 2000, God spoke to William "Bubba" Carson and I, and He put a calling on our lives to come to Chiquimula and minister to the children and families in the mountains of Lela Obreje. Every fifteen days, we would come and bring food to the starving people of these mountains, and we would share the gospel with them. But, on February 1st, 2001, in obedience and with joy, William and I moved to Chiquimula to serve the people full time after realizing the Lord had a greater vision for us here.

Also, the following is a beautiful poem written by Ted Vafeas. Ted gave William this poem a short time before he died. It was a gift for him, and it is very precious to me, and it was also precious to William. I hope you enjoy it.

Taking His Stand

Half way through that century he was born, there he was, “The February storm”;
Cherokee was home, that Indian place,
later the same in a Tuscumbia space.

He grew and grew to be a Deshler grad and then to Vietnam as a MP lad.
He came home to bell bottoms and wild disco,
but he still didn’t know what he was here for.

Without the Lord he did his best, but choices and life destroyed his rest.
But then one day he cried out to God,
saying “I’m helpless on this road I trod.”

And later on a dried creek bed,
the Holy Spirit gave him life instead.
Hispanic ministry was God’s plan, and a woman to help him make a stand.

A stand for the poor and helpless Chorti, giving them food, drink, and plenty.
What a plan is in the making from God’s own hand.
We’re fortunate to be with him and also stand.

So now, this red headed freckled boy, so skilled with his hands which God did employ
is now a Godly man with Sarita by his side,
and together in God’s hand they hide.
Brother Ted 2/13/04

William died suddenly on December 4th, 2004, but he left a deep mark in every child, youth, and adult that met him. I believe that God brought William to Chiquimula to open doors and to become a canal that connects the United States to this small village in Chiquimula. He had so much love for the people of Guatemala. He would even say that he was like coffee with cream. His skin was white like milk, but his heart was brown like coffee. William was a humble man that was willing to serve the Lord with everything he had. Because of this, he was able to give love to all the people here. He gave his life for others no matter how tired he was, and he was always willing to help those who needed it. He was not able to understand much Spanish at the beginning, but he always understood the language of love, and he gave as much of this love as he could until the day the Lord took him home.

These Days at the Ministry

On Monday, February 9th, we were blessed with an English teacher at the village from Alabama. Brandi McIntyre started teaching this month, and the students have already learned several words and letters A through F. She teachers all six classes on Mondays and Thursdays, and we are very blessed to have her. I was talking with my preacher’s wife, and she said that it was a tremendous blessing to have Brandi because no other school in Chiquimula has an English teacher from North America. We know it is only because of the Lord that she and her family are here, and we are very thankful. She told me a story about her first teaching experience at the village. She wanted to teach the students the letter A and use airplane as an example. Although the students learned the rest of the words she taught that day, none of the students learned airplane. She would ask them “How do you say avion”, which is airplane in Spanish, “in English?” They would just look at her with a blank stare. She also asked one of the classes to raise their hands when they wanted to ask a question, but all of the students just raised their hands and kept them there. Then, she didn’t know how to tell them to put their hands down, so they sat there with their hands in the air for a little while, but everything ended up ok. She has had some obsticles to overcome because of the language barrier, but the Lord is teaching her more and more every day. We are so thankful to have Brandi with us, and the students love her too.

We also celebrated Valentines Day with a party. We had candies, snacks, and juice. The students sang songs of God’s love, and I read them a story about why we celebrate the day of love. The entire party was focused on the love of God, and we had a fun day.

We also had a day for cleaning the students’ hair. Many of the students have lice, so twice a year we wash their hair with lice shampoo and cut the boys’ hair and trim the girls’. So many students had lice this year, but the teachers and volunteers were very willing to help get all of their hair clean.

Groups this Month

On February 19th, a group of three men from North Alabama came to help build the walls for the two new classrooms. They stayed with Daniel and Brandi, and the men worked very hard all week. Because they came, the next group that comes, which is this week, will be able to finish the roof for these much needed classrooms. So, we are very excited that they were able to come and help out. While the men were here, Daniel and Brandi came down with a virus. I believe this is because they worked so hard to make sure the men were comfortable, so their defenses were down, but praise the Lord, they are well now.

We also just had a medical team come on February 26th and leave on March 4th. Every time we have had the blessing of a medical team, the Lord uses all of the people that come in a Spirit-driven way, and the Spirit was truly evident in this particular group. Each person in the group gave everything they had to help as many people as they could for the week through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and I was amazed. Twenty-three people came from the States to help, and we had twenty-one people from Chiquimula and the surrounding areas helping as well. Bill Alexander, the president of Global Missions of Mercy board, joined the 23 people from the States, and also Jimmy Gardener and Frank Whitaker visited and helped. Every day, we saw more than 400 people, and we were able to meet all of their medical needs. We are also excited because 76 people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior during these few days of ministering. It was such a blessing because we were able to see people from so many different areas. We were able to help people from Hermita, Camoton, Jocotan, El Volcan, Lela Chancoj, La Lima, Xupa, Caparja, El Florido (which borders with Honduras), Santa Rosa de Copan (in Honduras), and other villages around us, and of course we served many from our home village, Lela Obreje. The Lord was so good to us during this time because so many times we thought we would not have enough medical supplies to serve all of these people, but the Lord provided for everyone! Praise His name! This group also brought shoes for the kids, so they not only got their medical needs met, they also got their physical needs met. So, I hope you can see what a tremendous blessing this team was. (There will be more pictures of this group on the website soon.)

To conclude this special newsletter, thank you all for your prayers, offerings, and support, because without you this could not be possible. We want to give a special thank you to all of you that donated school supplies this month. The teachers and students were so excited to receive them, and you have blessed us for being so willing and quick to give. We always have you in our hearts and prayers, and in the name of all the kids and people here, we love you and bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Sarita Carson

Galations 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

January Newsletter

2009-01-30T08:44:00.000-08:00

We give thanks to God for the new year, and we are very excited, because God has already done great things this year in His ministry. We also pray blessings over you all that are reading this newsletter, and we pray that the Lord will bless your plans in the United States, our plans in Chiquimula, and both of our plans when we meet together to work for the Lord here. May all of them be accomplished in Jesus’ name.

Galatians 6:9 (NKJV) “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Already in this new year, the Lord has sent us a young missionary couple, and they are a blessing to this ministry. Their names are Daniel and Brandi McIntyre, and they have two children, Levi and Mary Kathleen. As of right now, their plans are to stay here for one year and help with construction, communication, and evangelism. They are supported by several churches and individuals in the North Alabama area. Someone from that area has actually just donated funds to help them buy a 2002 Ford Ranger diesel for the ministry, and we are all excited and thankful for the truck the Lord has provided. Jorge, Pili, and I have been helping them get settled into their new home and have been showing them the ropes in this ministry. Daniel has had his first experience of sickness already, though. He and Jorge were working at the village, and they sat down to eat lunch. Jorge told Daniel he should wash his hands before he eats, but Daniel said it would be alright. Well, that night he started getting sick, and was in bed for two days. We are very thankful that he is better now, and I hope he has learned that he must always wash his hands before he eats anything in Guatemala. We pray and hope that the family continues adapting here to the culture and the customs of our beautiful country, and we know the Lord is going to do great things through this couple.

2Chronicles 15:2 (NIV) “The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.”

Classes started this year on January 12th, and we have 143 students enrolled. There is also a new fifth grade teacher, and we have opened the new classrooms for the students. We now have six teachers, preschool through fifth grade, and we are excited for all of the students involved. Praise the Lord that all of the students have all of the supplies they will need for this school year. “Outreach for Christ” donated 1500 notebooks, and the rest of the supplies were brought by the groups that came last year, so this is a tremendous blessing. We also give thanks to God because He has provided the means to feed all of the children a healthy meal five times a week. Praise His name.

1 Corinthians 15:57 (NIV) “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I would like to present a special prayer request for a girl that has been coming to this ministry since it began. Her name is Rubita Yadira Raymundo “Ruby”, and she is 14 years old. Bubba would call her “Ruby Tuesday”. She needs our specific prayer because she had a seizure in school this week, and there is a lot of concern in her family because her brother has epilepsy. Also, just four weeks ago, her sister, which was only 17 years old, died in an accident. So we ask that you will pray for strength and wisdom for this family and that we will know what we need to do to help them.

We also ask for your prayers that we will complete all of the projects we have planned for the upcoming year. We have several planned, but our hope is to assign a project to each construction group that comes to Chiquimula to help. A list of the projects is as follows:

1. Finish the bathrooms in the top school building. We need four toilets, four doors, and four faucets.
2. Construct the bathrooms in the bottom school building
3. Finish the containing walls
4. Construct the septic tank for both top and bottom bathrooms
5. Construct steps in four different places
6. Install gutters on the entire school and feeding center

If you are interested in either bringing a group to complete one of these projects or if you are interested in financing a project, please contact the Global Missions of Mercy board at globalmissionsofmercy@yahoo.com or 256-370-7684.

Our first group for this year came at the beginning of January, and it was a wonderful group of six ladies from Highland Park Baptist Church. They evangelized to the women in the area, and they brought gifts for the elderly ladies in the church of Casa de Alfarero. They also brought Christmas stockings for all of the kids at Lela Obraje. These stockings were collected and filled by the students at Covenant Christian School in Tuscumbia, Alabama, and the kids in the village were so excited to receive them. These ladies also gave a large offering that allowed us to buy the water pipelines we needed at the ministry. The men in the village, Jorge, and Daniel have been working on this project since the ladies left, and it has been such a blessing to be able to replace these pipelines because they were ruined during the winter last year. Praise the Lord for our first group this year; they were an incredible help to the ministry.

We also have several groups lined up for the next few months. The groups we have scheduled for this next year are as follows:

Febuary 25th - March 5th: Frank Whitaker is bringing a Medical Team from Alabama
March 14th - 28th: Doctor George Rooney is bringing a group of eye doctors are coming from Kentuky
March 14th - 28th: A construction group from Missionary Adventures in Indiana is coming
April 14th - 24th: Bryan McIntyre is bringing a construction group from North Alabama

If you would like to bring a construction or medical team, please contact GMM at 256-370-7684 or Sarita Carson at gmissionsofmercy@yahoo.es. Thank you.

Things are not so good in the community right now. Please join us in prayer that the spirit of violence leaves Chiquimula and leaves the hearts of the men here. Please pray that the Lord will put peace and joy into the hearts of everyone in this area and that they will recognize that the Lord is their only help and Savior. Also, our streets are so dangerous. We need caution signs put up at so many places, but the mayor refuses to do so. So please pray that our streets will become more safe. And a final request is that you pray for Chayo’s family, because his father and uncle were killed in December.

Staff for 2009….

In conclusion, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers, help, and support. We pray that the Lord will bless you in a tremendous way, because the only reasons for the ministry are to bring glory to the Lord and to bring the presence of God to Lela Obraje and all of the surrounding areas.

In the Name of Jesus,

Sarita Carson

Isaiah 57:14-15 (NIV) “And it will be said: ‘Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.’ For this is what the high and lofty One says he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”’