We were blessed with many miracles during our trip, the first being blessings of the Lords protection, directly after we left Guatemala the country was hit by a tropical storm/hurricane that washed out bridges on the highway to Mexico effectively cutting off the country. Had we not left when we did we would not have been able to make the trip or possibly even injured in one of the many mudslides that covered the roads.

  There were a few complications at the border including having to wait an extra day as apparently Hyundai vehicles have non standard VIN and they had to call the office in Mexico City for permission.

  One of our daughters passports was due to expire in a week, normally most countries will not give you any sort of visa if you have so little time left on your passport, but the Lord did another miracle, the immigrations officer was very friendly and interested in our mission work, he saw the expiration date on the passport but agreed to give us a visa anyways, he told us he was very thankful for the work we were doing and wished us a safe trip.

  For those of you following the news in Mexico, the border areas have gotten quite dangerous with many murders, assaults and  kidnappings, once again God got us safely through this part of the country without any problems.

  This month I worked with Russ McDowell from Richmond VA. (who has been coming on mission trips to Guatemala and Honduras for 15 years) to provide reading glasses to almost 100 children, students and parents at two orphanages and a school for poor children.

  Since many people here are too poor to afford an eye exam and glasses, this makes their studies difficult and hinders their ability to learn.

  My daughters Julia and Audrey assisted me with some of the programs.

  In addition to giving reading glasses we also passed out Gospel tracts and prayed with each person.

  I have also been working with some of the boys from Fundaninos in our carpentry workshop. We are building shelves for the new clinic being setup at the orphanage, as well as some cabinets for the office.

  During my time working with the boys in the workshop we talk about the Lord and discuss carpenters in the Bible. I try to help them understand that God loves them, so they can build a personal relationship with Him.

  Centro Educativo Precious Momentos, is a school in Colonia Santa Fe, Zone 13 of Guatemala City. It was opened for poor children, street kids and orphans by a Christian woman named Martha. Many of the poor people who live there couldn’t afford to register their children when they were born so they are unable to unable to attend public school.

  15 children who are orphaned or whose parents are unable to care for them live there permanently. The building is quite small, only about 800 sq. ft. but 150 children receive classes in the 6 small classrooms. Last year we setup a small computer lab in the school to help the students in their studies.

  In June we received a donation of 5 good computers from Tim’s father in Seattle WA. We are now able to  teach 7 students at a time and they are quickly learning basic computer skills touch typing. Tim goes to the school every week to teach English, computer and Bible classes to the children. It is amazing to see how quickly they are learning to speak English both through the Rosetta Stone language program and scripture memorization.

 

  The Bible says in Luke 6:38 “Give, and it shall be given unto you”. While I know this verse from a theological standpoint, this month I got to live it. We have a lady who comes by once or twice a week to help around the house as there is a lot of work with 6 kids.

  One day she arrived in tears asking my wife to pray for her, she has three small children and her neighbor, who she buys water and electricity from, had gotten upset at her and turned off her utilities. She is a good Christian woman who works hard to supply family.

   Our situation this past year has been very tough, living by faith as missionaries with 6 children is difficult under the best of situations, but our expenses have consistently outweighed our income and we’ve been operating in the red the past few months, we tithe %10 our income and give an extra %2 to other missions. I was tempted to say “Lord, we already give more than we can afford, when you supply more for me than I’ll start giving more to others”. But God spoke to my heart and reminded me of James 2:15-16 which says “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food. And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?”

   The truth is that the money I have is not really mine, I’m only a steward of it, if it wasn’t by the generosity of others supporting us we couldn’t do our job here on the mission field.   So we gave her the money, not grudgingly or of necessity, but joyfully, and by a miracle over the next two weeks we received enough donations to bring us current on most of our bills. People who had pledged to support us came through with donations, individuals I had never met helped out and we had a few deposits that I have no idea where they came from.

   It truly is a testimony to the glory of God. I know in my heart that if we hadn’t given to someone in need, the Lord would not have poured out His blessings upon us.   It strengthened my faith in Christ immensely and was a wonderful opportunity to teach my children the wonderful spiritual truth that you never lose by giving!

 

  This is our second month teaching woodworking to students at the orphanage Fundaninos. Our simple workshop consists of a table saw, miter saw, scroll saw, drills, sanders, router and hand tools.

  The students have been learning to use the scroll saw, this is an amazing machine and fairly easily to get the hang of. Once they are more experienced they will be able to make beautiful intarsias and puzzles. 

  Our projects so far have included using the scroll saw to make crosses and cutouts of the students names, and using the table saw, miter saw and router to make gift boxes.

  Some of the older boys, Donald and Jerimias, are learning fast and becoming proficient with the bigger tools. Our hope is to help them develop basic woodworking skills that will benefit them in the future.

  We would like to get a lathe, drill press and a pen making kit so that the students can sell hand turned wooden pens to raise money for their future education.

  In June I was able to assist George Burton and a mission team from N.C. with the “Champions for Christ” soccer camp. Over 100 children from the orphanage Fundaninos, Hogar Miguel Magone and Casa Bernabe attended a week of soccer training, instruction, motivational classes and activities.

  The students responded well to the attention and encouragement of the staff and developed not just better playing skills but also learned to demonstrate sportsmanship, consideration for one another and learn good team working skills.

This month I traveled to La Ceiba, Honduras for 2 weeks to assist with the completion of a community center for children who live in poverty.

The building was mostly finished but still unusable for its intended purpose. Along with a team of volunteers from New Orleans, LA., we finished the walls, floor and drop ceiling, ran electrical wire and installed lights, sockets and fans, hung a drop ceiling and built desks.

The volunteers who have been running the program for 9 years feed approximately 150 poor children twice a week and teach English them English.

Besides completing the building, our goal was to improve the educational programs available to the children.

A teacher on our team spent a week training the volunteers in Montessori and early learning techniques to use with the younger children.

We brought down 5 donated computers, monitors, networking equipment and educational software to setup a computer lab where the children can learn to use technology. The instructors we trained will assist the children as they learn touch typing, math, spelling, play educational games and conduct research.

Through the use of a donated projector and the Rosetta stone language program, the English classes the children receive will now be much more effective and enable the children to learn much faster.

During the course of our trip we also passed out many salvation tracts and prayed with people to receive the Lord into their lives.

  We have been teaching woodworking classes at Fundaninos for almost a month. The students really enjoy the classes and are always excited to learn to use the machines.

  So far our classes have focused mostly on hand tools; sawing, hammering and drilling while a few of the older students are learning to use the miter-saw, table-saw and planer.

  Our weekly English classes have progressed with Rosetta Stone and we are also encouraging the children to memorize Bible verses in English.

  On the 22nd of May Regina, one of the girls at the orphanage, turned 15 so we had her class over to our house for the afternoon to celebrate her birthday with a barbecue, cake, swimming and games.

  At Hogar Rafael Ayau we are working on making 36 small bookshelves as well as producing coasters which were ordered by the University Francisco Marroquin.

  We received some donated equipment through Don Livingston of Computers for Hope and are also using Tim's old carpentry equipment.

  We are now teaching carpentry and woodworking classes to 14 children on a weekly basis. Our first classes this month included plaining and cutting wood, sanding, and learning to use the miter saw.

  We taught our regular English and computer classes and also held a special activity for Easter, watched a movie about the resurrection and memorized some Bible verses.

  My daughter Julia was accompanied me on several occasions and help teach the English classes.

 Our woodworking program this month included several 3D design classes in Aspire, the students are continuing to learn vector graphics and are beginning to understand the cutting basics on the CNC router.

 We have completed several projects on the CNC "Shopbot" including signs, a cocktail plate and custom coasters for University Fransisco Marroquin. The proceeds of these projects go to the students personal bank accounts which many of them will use for college.

 At Fundaninos we continued with our English language classes using the Rosetta stone software. Many of the students are now proficient at many of the computer programs and they have made great progress in their typing abilities.

 My daughter Julia has also been volunteering at the orphanage, both teaching English and helping with computer instruction. Some of the more advanced students are now assisting me with the English classes as well.

 This month during our woodworking classes we worked on a variety of projects including music boxes and picture frames.

 The students are learning to design signs with the program Aspire, and are learning design techniques. We also taught proper joining, planing and gluing procedures.

 At Fundaninos we taught our regular English and computer classes and most of the students made good progress in their touch typing.