Joel Aguilar is a teenager who started coming to our church faithfully in January after he got beat up and robbed by some other teenagers on a public bus. He had been twice before, but this time he started taking spiritual matters more seriously. I was able to lead him to the Lord at my house one Sunday afternoon, and he was baptized shortly afterwards.
Julio’s dad left him and his mom when he was two, so he doesn’t know his dad. His mom left him when he was four to go to the States to “provide a better life” for him. He has hung around the wrong crowd all his teenage life and has been involved in drinking and parties. He worries a lot for his grandparents with whom he lives, and he feels like nobody really cares about him.
When I met him, he told me that his mom came back every year for his birthday. However, when he got sick and started hyperventilating because of some psychological problems, he told me that he hadn’t seen her since she left and that she doesn’t communicate much with him. There are so many children here in Guatemala like Joel who suffer so much because their father, mother, or both leave the home because they selfishly go to the States using the excuse of “providing a better life” for their children. It never works out that way. It pains me to see how much children like Joel suffer psychologically and physically because of an absence of a parent or parents in the home.
On a personal family note, we have been excited to find a piano teacher for Lydia and Charity, our two oldest daughters. They are practicing simple hymns to play in church. Emily is learning the basics with Misty. We have been encouraging anyone with musical interest in our church to pursue it and use it for the Lord.
During the months of May and June, we had 48 professions of faith. One of them was our third daughter Emily. After being witnessed to many times and thinking she had to be baptized in order to be saved, one of our Junior Church workers was able to lead her to the Lord.
Please continue to pray that the Holy Spirit would open the eyes of those who are spiritually blinded by religion. Pray that as we present the truth of the Gospel to them, they would be free indeed.
His for souls,
Daniel & Misty Wilder, Lydia, Charity, Emily, Hannah, and Serenity