Impacto Ministry News April 2015

IMPACTO MINISTRY UPDATE

April 2015

It's very hard to believe that we have reached the end of April! Impacto had a great month, celebrating Easter week with friends and family. It is very overwhelming to think each year on God's son dying on that cross for us, but oh what great joy to celebrate the day that He arose!

We had the privilege of working alongside Hamilton Mill team from Georgia. They did great work helping with part of the construction on the Happy Tummies wall, held VBS at a local church and blessed the Happy Tummies children and Abuelitos with crafts, hugs, kisses and love.

We also had the pleasure of meeting with our Global Partners Area Director, Jarvis Ferguson. It was a great time hearing words of encouragement and a few suggestions on how to better serve the churches and communities where we are ministering. It is so humbling to look and see how God is using Impacto. We thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

Serving Christ with you,

Luis Martinez

Impacto Ministry

Sicay Family

For the past few months we have very much felt Satan trying to attack both Impacto as a ministry and each of our staff on a personal level. Feeling his attacks has brought us closer together as a team and closer to God. The last few weeks we have been trying to focus on the positives, the blessings, and though we have many to share with you we would like to share the testimony of the Sicay family.

A lot of you may remember Walfred and his brother, Juan Carlos, from Happy Tummies. They are two of what we'd call the most rambunctious boys in the bunch! They are two of seven children in their family. For a long time we struggled with their behavior. They were always hitting someone, taking what wasn't theirs, playing mean jokes on other kids and occasionally, we would find them on the street throwing rocks at people. Many suggested that we remove them from Happy Tummies, but as a staff, we decided against it. These were two of the children that needed us the most. If it meant God had allowed this whole ministry to be started just for these two little boys to be saved, it was well worth it. We all started taking turns talking to them one-on-one and began a different approach. We focused on their positives instead of their negatives.

Last year during our first year of Stitches of Blessings their mother, Maria, was enrolled in that particular ministry. She started hearing more and more of God's love, of how as a wife and mother she should love her family not with her love but with God's love. As the year went on she started opening up to us more and more and sharing with us her struggles, the biggest of which was how her husband mistreated her and the children. We began praying with her every opportunity we got.

The oldest son, Diego, one day while chopping wood, had a splinter fly into his eye. He was taken to the doctor and was put on some eye drops. The doctor said he would need more treatment which the family would most likely not be able to afford. They came to us and with the okay from our board we sent out a massive email asking for donations for this young man; and our supporters made it happen! There were enough donations to take him in for laser eye surgery and buy his glasses! After this experience, Maria shared with us that Diego became more involved in church and was bringing his younger brothers along with him.

As time passed we began to see little changes in the boys and we started seeing them beam with happiness. We mentioned it to Maria and she said she could tell a difference at home as well. She said the whole family was starting to go to church together! And then one day not so long ago we got a very special invitation delivered to us: Maria and Apolonio were getting married! Turns out they had always lived together but had never been married before a Judge and most importantly before God. Since the wedding we have seen even bigger changes on the boys! They have successfully been in our 'green' circle, which is the well behaved children, for some time now. We see them forming friendships with the other children and respecting the elders around them.

Maria is much happier and says life at home is very different. She says sometimes the children still come to her in shock over the fact that their father treats them so differently. She says that every now and then Apolonio has weak moments when he seems to take a few steps back but she leans on God through those moments, takes her children to church and when they come back he seems to be all right again. We do ask that you keep this family in your prayers so that they may keep moving forward. They hold a very dear place in our hearts and there is no way that this is not God's hand working in their lives!

VBS

November will be here sooner than we know it! Please consider coming to minister alongside Impacto for one or more of our 3 weeks of VBS. October 31-November 7 we will be ministering in Coban; November 7-14 we will be ministering in the Lake Region; and November 14-21 we will be ministering in Zacapa. If you feel God calling you to minister alongside Impacto any of these weeks please contact Sarah Poythress and she will be more than happy to give you all kinds of information! September 10, 2014 is the target date to have information from all team leaders. We hope to see many of you serving with us in November VBS!

Sharing the Joy!

Pastor Luis' Corner

Principles that Help Beat Fear

The Gospel of Mark, Chapter 6 tells us the story of a day that was very busy and tiring for Jesus and his disciples. Jesus had preached to more than 10,000 people and had fed them with 5 pieces of bread and 2 fish. At the end of that day Jesus asked his disciples to go ahead and cross the lake while he dismissed the crowd. The story says that in the darkness of the night the disciples were out in the middle of the lake and Jesus was alone on dry land when a great storm began. The wind was hitting against the boat and they had been rowing for approximately 6 hours. Panicking, they thought it was their last day on earth. Tired, wet and hungry, it seemed like there could not be a worse moment for them.

I'd like to share four principles with you to help when you feel like the disciples did that evening. In verse 48 we find the first principle: JESUS SAW THEM, possibly a long way away in the midst of darkness and the storm. He saw them working hard to fix their problem instead of trusting Him. The second principle: JESUS CAME TO THEM walking on water. The third principle is in verse 50: HE COMFORTED THEM telling them "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." But still the storm did not cease. The fourth principle: EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN THEY ALLOWED HIM IN the boat, and it says that everything was calm after that.

It could be that you feel that the boat of your marriage, your family, your job, or just your life in general is sinking. I want to invite you to try these four principles:

1. God is watching you ALL the time.

2. He will come to you in your times of troubles (Luke 19:10 says, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost").

3. God comforts you by saying "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid" in Mark 6:50 (we are told in Psalm 46:10a, "Be still, and know that I am God").

4. He wants to come into your life and change you completely. Mark 6:51 says, "Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed." (Revelation 3:20 says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.")

Please, have no doubt in saying "yes" to Jesus.

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Impacto Ministry
9690 Shepherds Creek Place
La Plata, Maryland 20646