Because so many people are out of work here in Guatemala and there is no welfare system, many are finding it hard to purchase daily food items. To help meet this need, our people donated 20 bags of food; however, we were only able to help a small portion of those asking for help. One Saturday, I posted a few pictures on Facebook of the houses on the street where our church is located that have white flags hanging in front of them. The white flags, I explained, are to let people know that they are out of food and need help. Within one hour, I had already started receiving donations. Over 30 of our Facebook friends gave to help buy 270 food bags for these needy people. Every family that received a food bag heard the Gospel preached in their home. I do not know exactly how many received Christ as Saviour, but most of them prayed the sinner’s prayer, putting their faith in Christ for salvation. Thank you to all of you who have given to this new ministry. Many lives have been touched because of your generosity.
Because the government here does not want groups of more than 10 people to meet, we have not been allowed to hold services on our church property for the last 2 months. However, where one door closes, another one opens. Since no one can attend church services, we have found an open door to hold services in houses. Trying to keep the groups as small as possible, we hold around 12 services each week. Many of these services are held in the homes of our people, but 3 of them are held in the homes of families we led to the Lord while passing out food bags. Although change is not something I accept easily, I have learned that I must be flexible if I am going to continue to be effective for Christ.
I am very excited to announce that all of the footings for our new educational building have been poured. We are now ready to purchase the beams we need to build the steel frame. Because of the generous help of several of our supporting churches, we have already been able to purchase several beams, which are now being prepared. We still need to purchase 15 beams to finish the steel structure on the first floor. Each beam averages out to $500.00. They are 40 feet long and cut into several pieces, as needed. Please pray about this need.
His for souls,
Daniel and Misty Wilder, Lydia, Charity, Emily, Hannah, Serenity, and Benjamin