May, 2021
Dear Co-laborers in the Lord’s work of Guatemala,
Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Ps.18:49
This wonderful Psalm exhorts us to thank the Lord for all His blessings and praise His marvelous Name for our salvation and His work in our lives. We want to give God the glory as He gave us grace over these last six months through some trials. Evelyn’s physical suffering ended and God called her home to her reward in heaven. We miss her presence, but God has given us His grace to carry on our missionary work in Guatemala. She would have wanted us to carry on in Christ’s vineyard even without her. If anyone still wants Evelyn’s memorial, please request it via e-mail. We also thank the Lord for all our wonderful and faithful supporters. May our Lord richly bless you all for your labor of love to HIM!
TRINITARIAN BIBLE SOCIETY OF GUATEMALA
Pray for the 12,000 Gospels of John and Romans to be freely given out by the people of our churches and other CIEF/Guatemala brethren. Pray also that the people who received the New Testaments and scripture calendars will read the Word of God and that the Holy Spirit will guide them, by faith, to know Jesus and His sacrifice on Calvary’s cross and believe, and be saved. Some of you that have contact with the Trinitarian Bible Society of Guatemala know that our e-mail was hacked. Praise the Lord the hackers were not successful with their schemes to obtain money. Since the pandemic, our Trinitarian Bible Society has not been able to meet expenses, so we make a plea to churches and brethren for help. Please pray for this. You can help by pledging a monthly amount and sending in your gift to the Mission Board marked ‘TBS GUATEMALA”.
REV. JACK SIN’S BOOK PUBLISHED IN SPANISH
On May 8th we received the books at our Trinitarian Bible Society. The title in English is “A Christian Perspective of the Corona virus Pandemic and Biblically Related Themes Examined”. We had twelve translators divide up the work for the English to Spanish translation. For the final proofreading of the Spanish translation, we had two university graduates, one pastor, a printer’s helper, the printer, my secretary and I. So now it has been published and offered to Christians, as well as the secular public. We sent out information about the book to many Christian bookstores in Guatemala, and also through social media. Free copies were given to pastors and people of influence in radio and television; hopefully they will help with publicity. Both the saved and unsaved need this book to help them with fears and false ideas they have about the coronavirus. Any Christian who reads this 180-page book will be blessed and have a better understanding of the pandemic as it is examined biblically. Pray that the sales will generate enough funds to be able to ship the book to Chile, Peru, Mexico and the U.S.A. Guatemala still does not have regular postal service, so some books will be sent to the USA by my sons, who periodically visit us. The books will be sent by two’s and four’s to Latin America via the U.S. postal service. I have three copies in English for $5.00 each. The price in Spanish is $5.00, plus postage sent from the U.S. In Guatemala the price is less than $4.50. The price is kept low so that more people can afford it. Please pray that this book will be a blessing.
CIEF /GUATEMALA CHIMALTENANGO CHURCH PROPERTY
Last year retired pastor, Juan Pichilla, (who still works, but limited because of bad health) transferred title of his church and property to four CIEF officers, personally. This was done in an emergency due to the pastor’s health. So we now have the urgency to incorporate and transfer the property from those four brethren into the CIEF/Guatemala. The Mission Board has given me permission to raise funds for incorporation. CIEF is in need of funds to pay the lawyer, sales contract, tax stamps, and government registration. The estimated cost is around US$1,100. Would you be willing to contribute some? We praise the Lord as the brethren at this church are responding well to sound doctrinal teaching from the CIEF pastors.
THE DEACON OF THE CIEF CHURCH IN CHIMALTENANGO
Brother Hector was out of work last year due to the pandemic. He received word to come back to work and immediately went to a barbershop for a haircut. While waiting, criminals entered and shot and killed the customer in the barber’s chair, with a stray bullet hitting brother Hector in the spine as he ran for cover. He was paralyzed from the waist down and hospitalized for over three months. He had two operations and we praise the Lord that he can walk again, but with a heavy limp. The place on his back where he was operated on would not heal and continued to drain. A third operation was performed with skin grafting. Recently, it started to drain again in another area close to his spine. We are waiting to see what the doctors will do next.
We praise the Lord for a Christian brother, who was deeply touched by brother Hector’s case and gave a lovely gift to help him and his family of five. He is still not able to work and we don’t know how long it will be before he can work again. If you would like to help brother Hector and his family, send your gift to the Mission Board marked “GUATEMALA BROTHER HECTOR”
MONTSERRAT AND LOS ANGELES CHURCHES
Praise the Lord for the May 9th Mother’s Day program and messages in which the mothers received a special gift to show appreciation for all their work and sacrifice for their children. The children and young people were encouraged to honor and obey their mothers.
There were two funerals in Monserrat. Yet we rejoice that two more believers have gone to be with our Lord and are thankful that testimony was given honoring their lives in Christ. At the Los Angeles Church, on May 1st, we had a wonderful Sweet-15 birthday celebration service for Alejandra Arriaza (pictured on front). We thank the Lord that many unsaved family members and friends heard the Gospel and pray that they will come to repentance.
CONDITION OF SOME CHURCHES IN GUATEMALA
Pray for the churches in Guatemala as some have still not opened up for regular services even though they are able to; they just rely on virtual services and have grown accustomed to them. Many are ignoring the Word of God and still have the fear of getting the coronavirus. We pray that Jack Sin’s book will be used of the Lord to give them peace and security and take away their fears and false ideas, with the promises of the Lord in the Bible. Many need revival, individually and as a church. One sign of backsliding Christians is that they are not reading the Bible, not daily praying, being ungrateful for all God’s blessings, and being indifferent to sin.
OLD PATHS FAITH BIBLE INSTITUTE
It is with sad hearts that we inform you that the school year 2021 has been canceled due to the coronavirus restrictions. We were hopeful to start the second semester in June, but that was not possible. The students went different ways for the year since we were not able to open back in February. Lord willing, we look forward to January 2022 to start school again.
HAL’S HEALTH AND PROPOSED TRIP TO THE U.S.A.
In April 2021 I had a medical appointment for a checkup and full blood work at the VA Hospital in Bradenton, Florida. The results showed that I am in very good health for my age, and we praise the Lord for that. We have scheduled appointments with my doctor and other specialist at the VA Hospitals in Bradenton and Saint Petersburg, for the end of August and the beginning of October. Lord willing, we plan to visit some supporting churches in the north during the last week in August and the month of September, finishing in Charlotte, N.C. the last week in September with the Faith Presbytery meeting. We also hope to visit some of our supporting churches and personal supporters in the month of April, 2022 after the spring meeting of Faith Presbytery, if it is the Lord’s will.
Continue to pray for us.
Love in Christ our Lord,
Hal, Stephen, Juanita, Samuel and Joshua