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Breysi’s update

director — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:45:50 +0000

For those of you that have been thinking and praying for Breysi over the past few years here is another little update.
Breysi is a 12 year old in Barrio La Cruz that we have been praying for and helping over the past 4 years. She has a strong spirit and despite her family and health issues love the Lord.
Breysi spent most of the summer in the hospital suffering from multiple things, from malnutrition, kidney infection (so bad she was in a wheel chair), high fevers and neglect. We visited her frequently to find out that she spent day upon day there alone and wasn’t bathed or cared for and was at high risk of other infections due to being alone.
Breysi’s mother and father are heavy drinkers sometimes going on days of binge drinking and not attending to Breysi or the other 3 younger siblings at home. We managed to speak with the social worker at the hospital develop a great relationship with her. We were able to make sure that Breysi was returned to her grandmothers home and the siblings moved there as well. Even though they do not have all they need they are at least in a safer environment and do not have to worry about being abused and left alone.

About a month ago Breysi ended up in the hospital again with stomach pain, a kidney infection and more. A few days later they operated taking out her appendix. With her low immune system recovery has been hard and she was only home about 3 days until she entered the hospital again with an infection from surgery. I spoke with her mother and she said she insisted bringing Breysi home to her house. Within days Breysi was left alone again. When the fire department went to get Breysi again because she was not doing well both parents were drunk.
Please pray for Breysi as she has returned home again and for healing. Breysi is one of our best students and she does not want to miss the start of the school year in the next couple of weeks. Pray for her parents that they would be responsible for their children and themselves. Pray for her siblings; due to lack of involvement in the home they are no longer attending school.

Vintage group from Kansas!

director — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:20:51 +0000

We have arrived back in Guatemala and have been working hard for the past couple of weeks. Rolando, Zaidy and I have been visiting with a lot of families and finalizing grades for the first trimester to see how the children performed in school. It has given us time to prepare for the groups this summer. We just had a wonderful group from Vintage come and serve with us this past week and it was such a blessing!

This past week we delivered school supplies to children that received above average grades as incentives to keep up their hard work. In communities like Barrio la Cruz and El Rejon going to school, working with your family and farming it is not easy to keep up in school. We also were able to distribute bags of toothbrushes and toothpaste to the families with some saftey cards explaining water and fire saftey while sharing some simple Bible verses.

We went to El Rejon a farming village and were overwhelmed by their love for us and their hard work in school and in their community. Each year we support more children in El Rejon and e continue to pray how God will have us expand our work there and we ask for you to pray with us and pray for our protection in the community.

The rest of our week was spent building two stoves and rebuilding two kitchen rooms for families in need. We purchased the stoves and while they were being built we tore down and rebuilt the new kitchen rooms out of sheet metal, wood and a lot of love and hard work.

We will have more detailed updates about the individual projects very soon! Thank you all for you continued support and please keep the prayers coming for our work and safety.

It becomes a home!

director — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:35:03 +0000

We always look for areas in Barrio la Cruz or the surrounding areas that we work in that need some construction repair or work done. Well this trip we asked, planned and as it turned out the few things we originally had planned to do didn’t seem to be panning out. So after a few conversations and “fijese que” moments we came to realize that our main support right in front of us in El Barrio needed help. Rolando’s mom and dad, Berta and Enrique have been living in an adobe room for decades and after many floods, earthquakes and much more it is hardly standing. They wouldn’t dare mention it to us because there are many more in need in their opinion but there was no doubt in our mind, we were going to build them a room.

So off we went and bought material and with the help of their family we began to build the block foundation, the wooden post, the lamina, steel walls and roof. It is now more of a home then they could have ever ask for. They are still in need of electricity to the home but that will take time. They are content, it is safe and their own.

We were able to have our own little house warming party with a big pot of American chili and it was great to share the moment with them! They are so grateful!

Please contact us if you are interested in donating for a home, construction, or coming to build yourself!!!

School Supplies 2011 Delievered!!

director — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 17:54:19 +0000

It has been a long delay since our last update, a combination of internet issues, family has been busy but God is gracious. But the good news is there has not been a delay on the work going on here in Guatemala. For those of you who keep a closer eye on our projects here you know we have been busy the past several months and there has been a lot going on. There will be a series of updates coming out over the next couple of weeks so please read up!

Most recently we have distributed the school supplies for 2011 to El Barrio la Cruz and El Rejon to a total of about 110 children. We were also blessed to be able to distribute 11 backpacks with donated school supplies from the states and purchase 12 pencil holder bags as rewards for children who excelled at their school work last year. Each child received a bag of school supplies containing notebooks, pencils, crayons and all the basics to start school. We held the event at the church in El Barrio and called each child up, took their picture and gave them their supplies. This also gave us the chance to explain the rules of Paso a Paso to the parents for the year of maintaining grades and attendance. We will hand out toothbrushes and basic food supplies in the next week to the families as well. The children are always so excited to go home with their supplies and the parents so grateful for the assistance as the children can not attend school without them. As far as the children who are in secondary school and higher this is when we gather all their information and go to their establishments and pay for their fees to attend school for 2011. This is where the sponsorship or donations become a huge help. We need at least $10,000 a year for the children to attend school under full scholorship.

We have great news that we were welcomed into the one of the institutions in Pastores were a lot of our students study and they allowed us to pay for multiple students and said we could come back as much as we want. They encouraged us to come and check in with the teachers and see how the students are doing and how their grades are, this is a huge step for us!! We are also open to do some tutoring in the schools, we hope that if we are here long term next year we can do tutoring in the afternoons in one of the schools and offer this to our students. We will also have our older students mentor some of the younger students in the program.

There are many opportunities that are up and coming for 2011 we are excited to share them with all of you but most of all are excited with all the new opportunities that the children and families may have here this year. Please keep everyone here in your prayers and please consider donating via our website or making a trip down, the need is great!!! Happy New Year to all!!

Rolando receives the rest of his Braille Bible.

director — Sun, 23 May 2010 05:01:39 +0000

It is kind of funny, as I sat in the little 10×10 room with Rolando he began to share more about his blindness. He had asked for several books of the Bible he was missing to have a complete Bible. This is something I have heard and tried to help with for now almost 4 years. This past January Rolando received a Braille typewritter. We thought this was a wonderful thing as did he but hearing his thoughts on this were different than I knew.

He shared that he had never requested a Braille typewritter. He knew that he was still waiting on the Braille Bible as well. He realized that the day he received the typewriter and that God would provide the Bible that he became at peace with being blind. He had thought prior, that maybe he hadn’t received them because God would restore his vision.

After several, several years of asking, writing calling and much prayer Rolando received the 20 some books he was missing to complete his Braille Bible! He had aquired several books, mostly the new testament over the years but was never able to get the other books. We had tried very hard to get them to him and even had groups that were responding saying “they are on the way” but for Guatemala we know that can be years! But just last week a fellow missionary who had also spoken of Rolando had received the books in Braille that he was missing! Rolando now says, it is easy and peaceful to accept his blindness, God has now provided everything he needs.

Praise God for his faithfulness and for meeting his needs!

Rolando’s Braille Typewritter

director — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:49:00 +0000

With this letter, I, Cesar Rolando Garcia Alvarez want to express my deep gratefulness, first to God our Father and to you for providing this machine that arrived at my hands. I can assure you it will certainly be well used and taken care of and will be of much blessing for the ministry that God to placed in my hands.

I want to tell you I have never had a machine, reason being it is taking a little time to use it but with the aid of God I hope to practice more and then be able to write quickly. During the last 13 years I was writing with a small braille strip that a sister me gave me. It has been 18 years since I lost my sight but I can say to you that throughout this time God has been faithful to me and an example of that is that He had put in your heart to gift this precious machine to me. Once again thank you very much and may God Bless you and all your family. Please also receive the gratefulness of my parents Enrique Garcia and Berta Alvarez who send sincere greetings to you in the name of our God.

With much gratitude your brother in Christ Cesar Rolando Garcia Alvarez.

Thanks to Ed and his family for providing this to him.

Meet Yolanda

director — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:30:17 +0000

We decided to go and visit Yolanda’s children one afternoon. To give the group the chance to meet one of the many families that Paso a Paso supports. Here is the encounter written by Karlene who traveled up the hill to visit Yolanda with the rest of us that day.

Jenny describes her family’s house as humble.

5 kids and 2 adults share 2 small rooms.

The kitchen is outside (which is actually a good thing, due to the smoke.)

Well, I guess you can’t really meet Yolanda, she is a little too busy working at the moment. But I can share with you a little bit about her life, through the eyes of her children. Yolanda lives high in the mountains outside of Antigua, above Barrio La Cruz. She shares 2 small rooms with her 5 children, as well as her husband (when he is home.) Today we hiked up a steep path to visit this family to which Paso a Paso has dedicated much time and resources.

Yolanda’s husband has been gone for a month now, and isn’t expected for perhaps another.
This is a typical scenario for many woman in Barrio La Cruz. Mayan worship is still very strong in the hills of Guatemala. The main god, Moshimo, is honored through rounds of tequila. When something good happens, the father will get drunk on tequila, praising Moshimo for his goodness. And when something goes wrong, the father will get drunk on tequila, asking Moshimo for forgiveness. There are many drunk, absent fathers in Barrio La Cruz.

Yolanda’s husband, however, is not a drunk. Rather, they are suffering the second generation effect. He comes from a family of abusive drunks. But in the past few years, since Paso a Paso has been a part of their lives, the couple has taken great strides in being less physically and verbally abusive. Stephanie and her friend Tito have been able to do some intervention counseling with the couple, and according to the children, it seems to be helping. When Stephanie first met their daughter Flor, she was not doing well. But today, Paso a Paso sponsors all 5 children to go to school, and they are all thriving.

Maria, Jenny, Daniel and Flor. They also have an older brother, Cesar, who was at his grandma’s house at the time.

There is still lots of work to be done. Yolanda works hard to keep the family clothed and fed. She works 6 days a week in Pastores. Perhaps a 30 minute commute, when you include the walk up and down her steep mountain path. While she works, she counts on her oldest daughter to take care of the other children. Jenny described her responsibilities to us as cooking, cleaning, and making sure the kids aren’t getting into trouble. While we were there, I asked Flor to show me how she cooks in her kitchen. She proceeded to start a fire from the still hot ashes. She flashed me a proud smile as she put a pot of beans on to cook. Flor is 10 years old.

The result of Flor’s work. That old coffee pot is probably their supper.

I don’t want you to think that Yolanda’s life is all bad, it isn’t. She has many blessings to be thankful for. She belongs to a tight-knit community that helps one another when in need. Her family (mother, father and 10 siblings) live just a stone’s throw across the valley. Her children are beautiful and thriving. Although she works hard, she has a job that supports her family. She has much to be proud of.

I share Yolanda’s story with you to give you a glimpse of life here in Barrio La Cruz. These are the types of families that Paso a Paso is dedicated to building up. The goal is not to modernize their homes, send their kids to school and turn them into the “perfect” western family. But rather to come along side them, giving them the resources, skills and education to grow as a family. The hope is that in a few years, they will not need our help, but rather, continue enjoying the friendship of Paso a Paso.

The view from Yolanda’s front door. Not bad. Of course, that means a bit of a hike up that steep path, often with a baby on the back and a basket of food on the head.

Una Muneca

director — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:19:33 +0000

We have just about finished our doll making class, today Karlene and I will go back to Barrio la Cruz were about 15 women will meet us there coming from two different barrios. We are amazed at how well they are making the dolls and anxious they are to learn! They will finish their big dolls today and we will be bringing some small and large waldorf dolls home to sell via Esty and at events. Please continue to pray for us as we minister to the women today and the rest of my time here with them as well. Here is the post also written by Karlene below, the wonderful friend teaching the sewing class.

One of the precious daughters holding her Munequa that her mother had just finished.

I have been on many Mission’s Trips before, and even some with children, but this is the first time I have taken my own children to a foreign country with the purpose of building others up in Christ. And I am loving it. To see the world through a 3-year-old’s eyes is just precious.

Annalia started learning a few Spanish words before we left, and has been having a good time spotting unas vacas, unas gallinas y los gatitos. But these past couple days she has really taken the initiative to ask what something is in Spanish. One of her new words, most appropriately, is “muneca” (doll.) As I have taken my dolls around to the women in the community, inviting them to attend the doll making class, Annalia is often with me. And the women are often more taken with my life-size muneca then the dolls they are excited to make. And of course Annalia eats the attention right up. She tried to convince me the other day that “muneca” means “girl”, since that is what people call her. I wish everyone here could accept a title like that as easily as my little girl.

One of Paso a Paso’s goals is to build up community women’s self-esteem and self-worth. As we prepared to teach the women the skill of doll-making, we find it equally important to tell the woman just how important they are. At the beginning of each class, I shared Proverbs 31 with the woman, highlighting the fact that God views us women as precious; vital to our families, communities, and our world.

I asked each woman to write down for me why she wanted to take the class, and I thought you would like to hear what they had to say.

“Yo vengo aprender porque deceo saber hacer munequitas para poder algun dia trabajar en ello para poder ayudar en el hogar y ensenarle a mis hijos.”

She wants to eventually make money while staying home with her children.

Delmi has a hard time seeing, and it was so neat to see the other women come along side her to thread her needle, and do other things she couldn’t. She said “Yo deceo aprender para algun dia poder salir adelante.” She wants to learn so that she can one day get ahead.

A few young girls came, here is what Saida had to say. “First, I want to give thanks to God for giving the leaders the desire to share their thoughts with us. And at the same time, everyone here is here because we hope to learn how to make dolls. Personally, I am here because I love handcrafts and because it is a great opportunity that they are giving to us without us having to pay. I thank them very much and I hope God blesses them and cares for them always.”

Pastor Rolando – Overcoming Blindness

director — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:52:53 +0000

My name is Justin Hibbard, and I’m here with my family working with Stephanie and Paso a Paso. The trip so far has been so amazing, and God has opened my eyes to the tremendous need here in Barrio la Cruz. One of my greatest experiences so far has been meeting Pastor Rolando. He is extremely friendly and I love his heart to serve the Lord, despite his blindness. His blindness occurred about 18 years ago or so when he was 21. It just happened one day as he was walking home, and by the time he got home, he couldn’t see. He says that God has used his blindness to lead him into serving Him, and he has never looked back. Nothing really gets past Rolando. He told me the other day how good preachers have a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. We talked about current events, sports… He told me that Lance Armstrong was 6 seconds behind the leader, heading into his stregnth – the mountains. He wore a Real Madrid shirt, and when I was talking to him about the team, he knew exactly what their payroll was. I asked him about the political system here, and he informed me, and then said, “America has 2 parties right – Democrats and Republicans?” I was impressed. Pastor Rolando preaches with such finesse, memorizing his sermon and teaching with authority and knowledge. Last week, I listened to him talk about eternal security; it was well organized with points and subpoints, and he didn’t have a single note in front of him. He knew the verses he wanted to read, when he wanted them read, and what he was going to say about each one. But what we didn’t see was the amazing hard work he put behind that one Bible Study. With the help of his family, he has them record verses and other text, to which he listens and later hand writes in Braille, along with his own thoughts – a process which takes 7 hours per 2 pages of Braille notes. I made this movie for him in hopes that someone would see this and provide modern equipment for this very gifted and godly man.

Sewing take One..

director — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:53:23 +0000

We are back in Guatemala and going strong and so happy to be here! As I got off the plane with the kids and got to take a deep breath of the Guatemalan air; somewhat stale and stinky that I am so used to, I know we are back! We are also so excited to share the next two weeks with the Hibbards and their two girls and Stacey and her son. Karlene is teaching a sewing class and Stacey’s husband will join us for construction, while all of us join in for translating, children’s ministry and much more.

It is so hard for me as a mother of two to think of how to prepare families to come and serve here in Guatemala when we are so acustome to living here and doing ministry. I was reminded yesterday and today how different things are as we went on the bus. Yesterday, the buses were rerouted so we were dropped off on the highway, yet still left to walk a good distance uphill on cobblestones and then back down the long hill to get back home. All to go to church and see the people. As I begin to think, ugh, I have to carry Austin, keep up with Bella; I then quickly realize the women that live here in our community do this daily and with several children and carrying food or firewood on their heads. Or today when a man and a young girl come on the bus to do a stand up clown routine just to make a few cents in tips to get by? Life is different..

Karlene who is teaching our sewing class wrote a wonderful post about her time here so far and I am adding it to this..

Friday we got to take our first trip into Barrio La Cruz, the community that Paso a Paso is dedicated to building up. And what an experience. First of all, let me share a little bit about how we get around here. I am extremely glad I didn’t bring my stroller! To describe the pavement as uneven is an understatement. With sidewalks just big enough for a couple school girls to walk side by side, and the random divots, bumps, pillars, and holes, we have taken our travel cues from the natives. So, Stephanie has Austin in a sling, I have Naomi in a sling, and Justin carries Annalia in the backpack, while Bella and Josiah walk. We make quite the entourage as we traipse through the city on our way to the bus station.

We only stick out a little

Our goal Friday was to meet with the pastor in Barrio La Cruz, insuring that everything is all set to go for the sewing classes on Monday. We also wanted to stop at the head seamstresses house and invite her to help. We walked the brisk 10 minute walk to the bus station and caught the chicken bus to the ‘burbs of Antigua. Now, when I say ‘burbs, I don’t mean rows of identical development houses where commuters live with their 2.5 kids and matching SUV’s. While Antigua has many of the amenities we enjoy in the United States, a 10 minute bus trip out of the city reminds us why we are here. Tiny cement houses cling to the side of the mountain, while the families that occupy them carve out a meager living for themselves and the multiple families that share a roof.
Our first stop was Clara’s house, where I met a very talented seamstress. She invited us up to her workroom where we showed one another our crafts. She “ooh”ed over my dolls, and I “ahh’ed over her beautiful hand embroidery. I am really glad she will be there this week to help with the classes.

Clara and Stephanie in Clara’s sewing room.

As we got off the bus, Bella ran into her friend Marciel, and immediately ditched us to head off to his house. Eventually, we went to pick her up, and were blessed to meet Marciel, the bootmaker. His business was the first to receive a microloan from Paso a Paso. He was such a delight as he showed us around his house. Then we headed to the backyard (his house only has 3 walls, so you really do walk right into his backyard.) to check out all the wonderful produce he grows for his family: coffee, avocados, limes, and other fruits I have never heard of.

Annalia was thrilled to take home an avocado and her very own coffee bean.

It has been great to meet the people. Saturday was Bella’s birthday, and the Children’s Pastor, Rolando, threw her a HUGE party, where all the kids in the program came. Boy, was she the Bell of the Ball as she danced and twirled around the center of the circle as her party-goers sang songs. The, we brought out the mother of all pinatas! Everyone had a blast.

And there was a Snow White one to match.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the sewing classes. Please pray for each woman coming to the class. Pray that she will have the courage to learn a new skill and that I will have the correct words and actions to teach. Also pray for the kids that will be joining Stacey while their mother’s take the class. Pray that she has plenty to do, and that God offers up opportunities to share with each kid the love of Christ.