June, 2024
“We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints.” Colossians 1:3-4
Dear Brethren in Christ,
May the glory of the Person and the work of Christ, the Head of the Church, be seen in our lives, and may our desire be to work and honor Him, fervently, in all He has called us to do.
MONTSERRAT CHURCH
Brother Juan Carin, of the Montserrat church, has been suffering from kidney and prostate problems for some time. In the first week of May, during the night, he had severe pains that made him cry out. One of his family members decided to take him to a private doctor and bypass the social medicine program he is under. Several tests were performed, and one of the results was acute anemia. He was told he needed an emergency blood transfusion, but he refused to go to the hospital! He is very weak and cannot stand on his own. We are praying for him as he is on a diet of special foods, vitamins, and B-12 injections to boost his blood count. The church’s Deacon Fund covered some of these expenses. Please pray that his health improves.
SCRIPTURAL CALENDARS
We praise the Lord that all the funds were raised to pay for the 5,000 black and white scripture calendars. The offerings and donations came in from Guatemalans and from two brethren in the US. Please pray that the Lord will raise up what is needed for the 2025 calendars and for the plans that must be made up ahead at time for this provision.
POLITICS IN GUATEMALA
The new leftist president, Bernardo Arevalo, will not be able to achieve his new social-works programs, that would have been costly, because he was not be able to control the Congress. Here is what the leading newspaper said about him on May 8th, “The Congressmen ignored President Arevalo’s call to make known the proposal to reform the Justice Department. Only 50 legislators attended the congressional session, which prevented the proposal from being acted on.”
MY PHYSICAL HEALTH
Lord willing this coming September, Hal will have his regular checkup at the Veterans Hospital in Florida. We are planning to be at the Faith Presbytery meeting to be held in Collingswood, N.J. at the end of September. So, if you would like for us to speak at your church or Bible class before or after the 27th of September, we would be happy to oblige; just drop us an email.
GRACE AND FAITH PRESBYTERY OF GUATEMALA
Our last Presbytery meeting was held in Mazatenango, where a new slate of officers were elected, and Pastor Virgilio of the Mazatenango Church, was elected the new Moderator. We look forward to our next meeting in August at the Monserrat Church in Guatemala City, where the various commissions will give their reports and recommendations. Pastor Virgilio is still using his pickup to help people move their earthly possessions from one place to another. The funds he gets from this will help him financially. His wife has diabetes and the offerings from the church are very slim; pray that their needs will be met.
NEW PASTOR
At the church session in February, Hal made known his desire to retire as senior pastor from the Montserrat and Los Angeles churches; they accepted his petition. Praise the Lord for the very smooth transition. On Sunday March 10th, after preaching the service, the elders gave words of gratitude for Hal’s
long service to the church. They gave him the honorary title of Pastor Emeritus. This was followed by a time of questioning by the elders, to Stephen, before he was installed as the senior pastor. Stephen then knelt and the elders laid hands on him and Hal prayed for him and his future ministry.
BUS EVANGELISTIC MINISTRY
After some delays we thought the school bus would be ready in March; but we had to order certain brake parts from the US as they were not available in Guatemala. This ministry, when ready, will take Bibles to families up in the villages surrounding the Guatemala City area. The back portion of the bus has been modified into a preaching platform, complete with a steeple, to proclaim the Gospel in outdoor meetings, and will be painted black, red, white, green, and gold to represent “THE WORDLESS BOOK”, thus making it a large Bible tract. Pray for this ministry and for the Word of God to regenerate souls.
THE NEW SPANISH BIBLE OF THE TRINITARIAN BIBLE SOCIETY
As some of you remember, the presentation of the new Spanish Reina Valera-TBS 2023 Bible in Guatemala was held back on October 26, 2023. Everyone that attended received a free copy. Those who could not attend (about 60 church leaders) also received a free copy through our Bible Society bookstore. We now have this new Bible available for sale, and with a special price, people are coming to get their own copy.
UNDAY SCHOOL PICNIC
May 1st was our Labor Day holiday here in Guatemala. The Montserrat and Chimaltenango churches joined together for a Sunday School picnic in the city of San Lucas, which is about a half hour out of Guatemala City. At 8AM several vehicles from Montserrat departed to the picnic ground. That day was a blessing to all the brethren. The over 70 brethren who attended went home tired from all the activities. Two pictures of the day’s activities are below.
Brethren, thank you for your prayers and financial support. May our Lord richly bless you.
Yours missionaries for Christ,
Hal, Stephen, Juanita, Samuel and Joshua