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Once again, we are in awe of what God has done! It was a very busy month for our staff, but every minute of it was God-filled. Some awesome teams come to minister with us and bless the people of Guatemala. Much was done for the glory of God: There were three houses built, library construction, Happy Tummies wall construction, basketball camps, medical clinics, building of cabinets for Happy Tummies School, home visits, spending time with the children and Abuelitos, Bible Conference, and most important we saw many souls come to Christ. We praise our God for giving us the opportunity to serve Him and to see the way He is moving here. Great things are happening here in Guatemala and we are so thankful to God for each of you who pray, give financially, and come to minister with us.
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Bible Conference 2016
Praise the Lord, Riverview Baptist Church (VA) came back this year to lead and encourage through the 2nd Annual Bible Conference. We had over 151 pastors, pastor's wives (church leaders), and church leaders participate! These servants look forward to our Bible Conference as much as they do to our Pastor's Congress and have now formed friendships with each other. They are from different parts of the country and different denominations; however, when they are all gathered here, they come together as servants and children of God. The small offering they are asked to give barely covers the cost of these events. We were blessed by having the support of Riverview to cover the costs for the Bible Conference. However, for the Congress in September we are on our own. These Pastors, their wives, and church leaders pour their hearts into the ministry and we believe they deserve events such as these to have their cups filled. We ask that you prayerfully consider donating towards this ministry effort. Just as with our other ministries, you can do it via PayPal through our website or send checks to our office with 'Congress 2016' written on the memo line. You can find a link to our website and our mailing address at the bottom of this email.
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| On the last day the team surrounded the Pastors and their wives, and church leaders and prayed over them. It was a beautiful, intense God moment. |
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Delfino, Maria, Lester, & Domingo
One awesome thing about Happy Tummies is that not only is the child attending benefited but so is the entire family. Not too long ago, Lester started at Happy Tummies. He was borderline malnourish-ed when we first met him and his family was living in small room made of adobe. The first month was very hard with Lester; he would not obey the requests of any of our staff, he was ripping pages from his notebooks so we wouldn't know he had homework, and every other word out of his mouth was a curse word. It took a lot of patience, wisdom, and love from our staff to break his habits. Today, Lester is a different kid. His mom shared with us that now when he gets home in the afternoon, instead of teaching Domingo (his little brother) curse words, he teaches him the Bible verse he learned at Happy Tummies! What joy it is to hear and see the change in this child! We know things happen in God's time, but we feel certain that one day soon Lester will be ready to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. We expect the same for his parents. This past month First Wesleyan Church from Bartlesville (OK) was able to give this family a new home! The family is beyond happy and every time we see Maria in town she cannot stop smiling and telling us how grateful she is for her new home. To God be the glory! We know that Lester and his family are a work in progress and we ask that you keep them lifted in prayer so that they all may come to know the mighty God we serve.
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Pastor Luis' Corner
As a pastor and leader I hope that you have a "life" verse. At the time God laid on our hearts to start Impacto we chose a life/theme verse as a team. That verse is, Matthew 9:63 " When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." The beginning of the verse says, "when Jesus saw" ... what did He see? The Bible says He saw a lot of tribulations in the people. I will dare to say that He didn't see their physical state because that is temporary; but I'm sure He focused on their spiritual state and the danger this represented of where they would spend eternity. He saw a lot of ignorance towards their knowledge of God. So much so that they didn't even recognize Him as the Messiah. I can affirm that His compassion was more for their souls than their bodies. He told His disciples "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Matthew 9:38). During the years He planted the seed He knew people were needed for the harvest. The Bible says, we have the eyes of God. My hope is that you and I are able to see people the way Jesus saw them: To the point that we are moved to compassion and that we open our mouths to tell them that there is hope in God.
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