Home in San Pablo destroyed by fire

Fire destroys home On Tuesday night the home of Gaspar and Anna with 9 other family members living in San Pablo La Laguna was completely destroyed by fire. The cause of the fire has not been determined but the family is now homeless and has lost everything that was inside the home. All clothing, school books and notebooks, beds, blankets etc. was consumed in the blaze. The home was made of wood and was built for the family after Hurricane Stan struck Guatemala in 2005. No one was in the home when the fire started and we are very thankful for that. The family attends Canaan Assemblies of God church in San Pablo and the church is housing them in their Sunday school classrooms until other housing can be arranged. It has been a very tragic event for the family and the community and we are praying that many people within the community as well as people like you will be able to help them recover their losses. Please keep the family in prayer and if you would like to make a donation to help them rebuild their home I know they would greatly appreciate it. The home that was burned down was similar to the one in the photo on the left. The family like most families in this community is poor and does not have the resources to build a new home. We have been bringing teams to San Pablo for several years and have built a dozen or more homes for families who would never have been able to build a home with the income they receive which on average is $4-5 per day. A typical home we are able to build using cement blocks and a metal roof costs about $1800-$2000. We also build bunk beds for the children so they can have their own bed and not sleep on the floor or have to share a bed with several others. We always provide windows and doors for the home as well. It is a very simple home but provides adequate shelter for the familes and is much healthier to live in than the adobe homes that are made of clay bricks and have dirt floors. If you have a team coming to Guatemala that would like to build a home for them please let me know. Donation information is noted below. If you want to donate please make your check payable to YWAM Antigua and send it to the following address with a note attached stating it is for the Home Construction Project. All monies sent will go directly for the project and are tax deductible. Thank you for your help! YWAM Chico 15850 Richardson Springs Rd Chico, CA 95973

March Update

Last month we hosted a team from Faith Harvest Helpers based in Washington. They came to Guatemala to help distribute a shipment of canned salmon, soup mix, dried peaches, medicine and books to areas of need in Guatemala. The shipment came into port in December but it was not released for distribution until the team left on February 16. It was disappointing for them to not be able to do what they had hoped yet they used their time in Guatemala to minister to many people. The food has been distributed since they left and many people have been blessed by the hard work these people put into the shipment. Our YWAM base has in storage some of the food that we will use on various outreaches we conduct as well as with the feeding program we have in Antigua.
Currently we are hosting a youth group from Connexus church near Toronto. They are doing ministry with local children and working in several other ministries that we are involved in. This is the third year the group has come and we are grateful for the opportunity to work with them.
We are receiving applications for our DTS which will begin on July 24, 2011. We are anticipating a group of 10 students and are looking forward to the 5 months of training with them.

January news

January has been a busy month of hosting teams from Montana, Iowa and Colorado. We have enjoyed working with them and have appreciated the ministries they have been doing. The Montana team is part of the YWAM Montana base. They have been with us since December 8 and have conducted many types of ministries including, children's VBS, conducting our weekly worship service in Antigua, feeding the homeless, building a home and ministering to church groups. They spend 10 days in San Pedro La Laguna working with Pastor Antonio and helped build a home for a family with money that was donated by a family in Superior, Wisconsin.
We also hosted a team from Spirit Lake, Iowa, who came to build a home for a family living near our base. The former home had a couple layers of cement block as the foundation and then had cornstalks for the walls. The original home was build in 1994 so the family has lived with this type of structure for 16 years. The team put in cement block walls, a new metal roof and extended the size of the house by 5 feet to give the family more room. They also build bunk beds for 2 of the girls so they no longer have to sleep in the same bed as their parents. The new home improvement was a tremendous blessing to the family.
Our final group of the month was a team from Colorado Springs "Springs Church." They ministered in San Pablo La Laguna in 2 churches as well as in a Catholic school. The Pope had declared that the week of January 16-23 as a week of working together with the Evangelical churches in Guatemala so our visit to the school was made possible. The team conducted ministry with several different groups within the church and had great ministry during the week they were here.
We are grateful to the Lord for the teams that have come and the impact they have made on the people of Guatemala. We look forward to hosting another team in February that will be distributing a 40 foot container shipped from the USA filled with food, medicine and Christian books.

Base Update

We hope you had a great Christmas celebration. Guatemala celebrates Christmas by igniting firecrackers and fireworks at midnight on Christmas Eve. We watched the display from our roof top and it was amazing. A haze of smoke lay all over the city after the fireworks ended. Traditionally families eat tamales and drink ponche which is a fruit drink on Christmas. We are currently hosting the DTS from Montana and it is their first time celebrating Christmas in Guatemala and for many the first time being away from home for Christmas. They arrived on December 8 and have been doing a lot of ministry to children as well as evangelism. They will be at the base until January 5 and will then travel to San Pablo La Laguna to help build a home for a poor family and work with a local church conducting ministry among all age groups. We will also be hosting a team from Spirit Lake, Iowa who will be coming on January 5 to build a home for a family of ten near the base. On their heels will be a team from Colorado Springs, Colorado who will also be going to San Pablo to conduct ministry among children, youth and adults in the church as well as in the public schools. It will be a busy month for us but we appreciate the teams who come and the ministry they offer to the people of Guatemala.

We are praying for more staff to join us as soon as possible. One of our staff members moved back to the USA this past week to pursue other ministry options so we are in need of more staff to continue conducting the ministries that we are currently doing. We trust God to help us and provide for us and ask that you join us in prayer for this need to be met.

Haiti Outreach

We returned from the outreach to Haiti on December 6.  It was an awesome time of ministry for our team and we saw hundreds of people come to Christ.  One of the highlights for our group was helping to start a church near the missionary house we were staying.  It began with meeting a family when we went house to house sharing the gospel.  The family had been rejected by a church because they did not have the right clothes and some had tatoos.  The pastor we worked with wanted to start a church that would be open to all.  We did a lot of evangelism in open air places and used the children's version of the Jesus film to attract people.  We had crowds of over 300 people coming out to watch the film.  Every time we showed the film we had people giving their lives to Christ.  We also spent time at an orphanage run by ReachHaiti ministries.  Many of the children have been rescued from very harsh condition and abuse.  They are now receiving food, education and most importantly a Christian environment where they are loved and cared for by many.  We thank God for our time in Haiti and for keeping us safe amidst intense heat, cholera outbreaks and a hurricane.  Haiti is a very needy country and the real solution is bring Christ to the culture to transform it through people living out their faith in every area of life.  We will continue to pray for the people who are suffering as they wait for help to begin to rebuild a fallen nation.

Haiti Outreach

Our DTS has just completed our 5th week of outreach to Haiti. We are partnering with ReachHaiti Ministries located in Croix de Bouquet and have been focusing mainly on evangelism through door to door visitations and open air evangelism using the "Jesus" film. We have seen over a 100 people come to Christ and have helped start a new church from the converts that have been made. We are doing a Bible study in the afternoon and have about 15-20 people attending. They are hungry for God's Word and the students are able to share from their DTS experiences to help them grow in Christ.

Last Thursday we showed the film to a crowd of 300 people. We have shown the film twice before in this area but both times had to quit before the film ended due to rain. Thursday we got through the entire film but did not give an invitation at the end because the generator that powered the audio system ran out of fuel. The people immediately scattered as it was very dark. We trust the Lord to have spoken to many hearts through the film and leave the result up to Him.

We have 2 more weeks of outreach in Haiti before returning to Guatemala to finish the outreach and end the 5 month DTS. It has been a great outreach thus far and we look forward to the final 2 weeks of great ministry with many more people coming to Christ and seeing believers encouraged and strengthened in their faith.

Haiti Outreach

Our current DTS is conducting ministry in Haiti. We spent our first 2 weeks working with a church in Port a Prince and in Barbancourt. We conducted ministry in schools and churches using dramas, testimonies and teachings. It has been challenging to be here mainly because of the hot weather, lack of electricity and shortage of water.
We are now at our second ministry site in Fonds Parisiens which is located close to the border. We have visited and ministered in a special project area that is very poor. Many of the children have little clothing and food is scarce for them. Today we gave out some food but not nearly enough to meet the needs of the people here.
Haiti is battling an outbreak of Cholera. We had a couple of people living near our last ministry site die from it. Tropical Storm Tomas is predicted to hit Haiti this weekend and the government is trying to evacuate some of the tent cities in Port a Prince as they anticipate strong winds and heavy rain in the city which will destroy some of the tents and cause further damage.
Please keep our team and Haiti in your prayers.