Unexpected

SHELTER NEWS
Most Christians know the story of George Mueller and the faith he had in his prayers to provide daily sustenance for the children in his orphanage. We are often told of the orphanage housemother telling Mueller “The children are dressed and ready for school. But there is no food for them to eat.” Mueller then instructing her to bring the children to the dining room and wait; he then prayed and waited for the food he knew God would provide. As the story goes, not much later there was a knock at the door of a local baker who knew of the orphanage and at God’s prodding baked enough bread for the children followed by another knock at the door from a milkman whose delivery cart had broken down in front of the orphanage with milk that would spoil in the time it took to fix the cart. There are countless other stories of Mueller’s faith in prayer from the orphanage and during his time as a pastor in a small English church. 

Often times we read of these stories or others much like them and think of the faith of the person praying and wonder if we would have the same measure of faith. One of our ministries here in Guatemala is to the Women’s Shelter where we teach the ladies and children a Bible story, build relationships with them, do special events like Mothers Day, Kids Day, Christmas or the yearly shoe distribution.  But one of the ministries we have with the Shelter is providing necessary cleaning supplies. While we do pray the Shelter becomes fully self sufficient in its needs we are blessed to be able to help them in simple yet practical ways. 

About two weeks ago we returned from Guatemala City with cleaning supplies as well as personal hygiene items for the ladies. As you can see from the photo there is a random assortment of different types of soap and two boxes of bleach containing 6 gallons and a couple bag of dry milk.  When I (Gerald) showed up to deliver these supplies one of nannies could not thank me enough for the bleach. She made sure I knew that she had prayed specifically  that someone would bring them bleach! The flies that were becoming a problem were exacerbated by the lack of proper cleaning supplies. She was so thankful that God had heard her prayer and put it on someones heart to purchase bleach for them. She thanked me numerous times for the bleach and let the other workers know as well. 

We are thankful that God has called us not only to the spiritual health of these ladies but called to their physical health as well. I want to return to the story of George Mueller because we are often told of the faith in his prayers that God would provide but I also want to point out that we may never know the name of that baker or that milkman but they are just as important to the story because whether they heard God speaking directly to them to make bread for the orphanage or are dealing with a broken down cart loaded down with fresh milk they responded to a need. We share with you the encouragement to continue to hear God calling you to send people into the world to share the Blessed Hope that we have as we are sent into the world and listen for the voice of God in providing simple yet necessary needs to those God has put in our lives. 

We cannot do what we do in the lives of these ladies without your generous donations. We cannot thank you enough for being the senders to those of us who are goers. Thank you for your love for people you may never meet or see in person. Your kindness is a direct result of God working in your life so far reaching you may never know the eternal impact you have on a single mother leaving behind a life of abuse. We know you don't do what you do for the applause or the gratitude but it must be given.

​¡Paz de Cristo a Usted!
Peace of Christ to You!

PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray with us in the following areas of ministry and life:
-Having experienced a rather strong earthquake last night please pray for those whose homes were damaged and for the families who lost loved ones 
-With new arrivals at the Shelter there is going to be some adjustments and the Shelter has had their fair share in the past month 
-Maddy and Coleman are headed to Camp Guamiski (camp for English speaking missionary kids) this coming week
-Continued opportunities to share the Word of God in the prison