WOW! September has been another busy month for us! A lot of us have traveled, we’ve hosted teams and we’ve held a Sunday School and VBS Training. September coming to an end means we are one step closer to starting the Holiday Season! It also means we will be busy planning our end-of-the-year events. We have so much happening the next few months -- the Pastor’s Congress, VBS in Zacapa, and Zona Cero -- with teams, smaller events, and trainings in between. We appreciate all your prayers and ask you to continue praying for us as we head into this season. 

Chickens, Chickens, and More Chickens!

As many of you know we’ve been raising chickens to help feed the kids and Abuelitos. We usually have no more than 50 chickens at a time (2 different batches). Right now the kids and Abuelitos are eating the last few chickens. So, we are preparing to buy new chickens!

We decided to consult a vet to help us to make the right choices when it comes to buying new chickens. The vet suggested we buy 75 chickens all at once. If each chicken lays one egg daily, we will have enough for all the kids at both Happy Tummies, Abuelitos, and the Public School! Our hope is that we will even have some eggs left over to sell and from that buy additional feed for the chickens! 

We are, obviously, not chicken experts, so, we’ve decided to have the vet come every 6 weeks for their check-ups, vitamins, etc. We want to make sure to get as much out of the chickens as we can; and in order to do that we need to invest in them more than we have been. 

The chickens will be moved to the new Abuelitos site. We’ve made this decision because the children use the area where they are now to play and we have plans to make that area better in the future. Therefore, we are planning the chickens “forever coop” and hope to make a home where many chickens will live and, in turn, help to feed many people. 

If your team is coming next year and you’d like to work on said coop please email us and let us know. We’re working on building plans and a budget, and we’d love for a team to come work on this new project with us. Also, if you’re not planning on coming with a team we welcome your financial gift towards this project.

Stitches of Blessings Graduation!

The Stitches of Blessings graduation was in September. It is always such a special time to just sit back and watch the joy expressed on these women’s faces. They feel so accomplished, they feel so worthy! These machines aren’t “free” to them. Though they did not give a financial payment for a machine, they did invest their time – and, time is money! A lot of the women made many sacrifices for this to happen; they had to figure out lunch for their families, childcare, and transportation amongst other things. 

The day of the graduation the families of the women looked on with such pride as they witnessed their wives, moms, sisters, daughters, and/or daughters-in-law receive something that would benefit the entire family! At the end of the program one husband stood up and asked to say a few words. His eyes filled with tears as he thanked God for what He had provided through Impacto. He also thanked all the teams that had come and so patiently and lovingly showed his wife new projects. He said that this machine was going to be a blessing to his family; his wife would be able to make things for them to use and also to sell; he knew it had been a long 8 months but he assured everyone it was worth every minute to be able to go home that evening with his wife take along her new sewing machine!

We pray for each of these women, and that they will glorify God in every project they do. To God be the glory!

Impacto Interns

If you’re interested in being an intern in 2020 we encourage you to start working on getting your application and requirements completed. Anyone 18 and up is welcome to apply! We’ve recently made a change in this area and the contact person is now Becca Gruwell. You may email her at [email protected] and she send you all the information and work with you through the application process.