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In the month of October we saw God move within the ministry and we saw His love and goodness shine through many moments. We started this month by hosting a medical team from St. James UMC, Arkansas
, Eastlake Church, Virginia, and New Life Church, Maryland. Medical and dental clinics were held, a widow's house was built and construction was done at Happy Tummies. Over 800 people were seen and helped that week and more importantly, over 800 people were able to witness the love of Christ shine through those involved!  
During the month we also held a few VBS trainings in which a total of 13 youth were trained so they could join Impacto staff in Coban to lead VBS. Impacto believes in the youth of Guatemala and we believe in missions. Such joy it is to see the young men and women who were ministered to as children through teams and VBS, as teens through Zona Cero and they are now the ones doing the ministering! Many of them have never left the lake area. For them to travel to the other side of the country, see new sights, meet new people and share the Good News in Christ Jesus is such an amazing milestone! To God be all the honor and glory!
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|  Stitches of Blessings
In October we celebrated the graduation of the second sewing class! What a joy to hear the testimonies of these women and know what a difference this ministry has made in their lives! Many of them expressed how for the first time in their lives they experienced pride. They said this was one of their major accomplishments in life and they now felt like they almost had a title. Watching them all work hard to learn and seeing some of them develop a relationship with Christ and watch others grow in their faith was a huge blessing to us. Thank you to each of you who helped in any way with the Stitches of Blessings ministry -- you have touched and changed lives with us! |
IV Pastors Congress
October 26-29 was our 4th annual Pastors Congress! Pastors from all over Guatemala and from many denominations gathered in San Pedro La Laguna for 4 days of fellowship, worship, learning and much more!
One of Impacto's goals is to equip the saints not just through good speakers but by putting good and useful tools into pastors' hands. Every year God provides the resources to give a special tool to the pastors. For this congress, God provided the means to give the best Bible concordance (Strong's Concordance) and also a compact Bible for the women. Six wonderful speakers came to teach different sessions. The men and women were divided into separate sessions with three ladies leading the women each day, two men leading sessions each day and one man leading the evening sessions attended by both the men and women. Our last morning was time of questions and answers and testimonies. Everyone came to the same conclusion: All were edified through what they heard and learned during this event. The reason we try to give such resources is because 95% of those attending cannot afford to purchase these materials. As the pastors and leaders have a deeper foundation in Bible teachings, they are better disciples and better disciple-makers. Our goal for the next congress is to give the best Bible dictionary to participants. If you would like to help us raise funds for the Bible dictionary, please send your donations to Impacto.
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Happy Tummies
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Tis the season for flying kites! This past month our Happy Tummies kids spent time meticulously creating their own kites. Halfway through October classes were dismissed and the kids are now on vacation so they had plenty of time to work on their kites. Last Friday they had an outing to fly them! Before going out they prayed for safety and fun times.
Blessings, Impacto Staff |
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Luis & Dinora Martinez
GP Missionaries |
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A few days ago many countries celebrated Halloween. I was very curious about the origin of this day so I did a little research. What I found is that 300 years before Christ, there was a religious sect that worshipped Samhain, the god of death. This sect believed that their god protected them from the evil influence of demons. They started teaching people to wear costumes in order to confuse the demons that were allowed by the god of death to roam everywhere on that day to disturb people.
However, in the Christian family, God tells us to wear a special costume against evil. God describes this costume that helps us to defend ourselves from demons and evil influences in Ephesians 6:13-18 (NIV)
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breast-plate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
More than 2,000 years ago they celebrated death. Today, God invites us to celebrate life. By wearing the costume He gave us in Ephesians, we are prepared to fight the evil influences that were once celebrated. How?
John 17:3 (NIV) tells us
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Having a personal relationship with God does not automatically come in your DNA. If you want to celebrate life, you need to make a personal decision asking The Life (who is Jesus) to come into your heart. John 14:6 (NIV) says Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you don't already have that Life, with a very simple prayer, ask Him to come into your heart and be your personal Savior.
Let's wear God's costume from Ephesians 6 and let's celebrate Life!
God bless you!
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Please keep our ministry efforts lifted in your prayers. November has 3 weeks of VBS and December will see Zona Cero and the week of Christmas Celebrations. Please pray with us that God will be glorified!
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