December, 2024
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.” Ephesians 6:23-24
Praise the Lord, as I am writing to you again, to let you know of our work in Guatemala. The Lord has helped and guided us to many works of ministry over the past months.
BUS EVANGELISTIC MINISTRY
We have had a few setbacks this year with our bus because of repairs. We had to wait for parts from the USA as they were not available in Guatemala, and when they came, some were the wrong parts, and we had to again wait. We have gospels of John and Romans, Bible tracts and Bibles ready for distribution. Pray that many people will hear and believe the Gospel and receive good sound literature that explains it.
MONTSERRAT CHURCH
Brother Juan Carin needs continued prayer due to kidney and prostate problems. His doctors found that he had a blood hemorrhage at the mouth of his stomach, and it was attended to. His health has improved some but for the longest time he was laid up in bed and couldn’t walk. Now, with light exercise and with the Lord’s help, he can get out of bed and walk around some again. Praise the Lord and thank you for your prayers for him.
VETERANS HOSPITAL VISITS IN FLORIDA
I traveled with Stephen on September 16th to the USA for three medical appointments. These three different appointments prevented us from going to Presbytery in Collingswood, N.J. Most of the exams came out real well. The doctor said there were some things that he has to watch, but observed I was in good health. Pray for my eyes and knees. I am taking collagen for my knees and drops for my eyes.
POLITICS IN GUATEMALA
The Bible says that we should pray for those in authority, and we do pray for the president of Guatemala who wants many billions for his 2025 budget. The representatives of Congress don’t want that much debt and probably billions in government bonds. We pray for the new Constitutional Court that will be in place from 2025-2029, that they will interpret and apply the laws correctly.
CIEF (Confederation of Fundamentalist Evangelical Churches)
Praise the Lord for the Annual meeting of CIEF on August 15th when each year we have our yearly Bible Conference. The theme was “The Signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ”. We had a good question-and-answer time, with some which were quite complex.
REFORMATION SUNDAY
The Reformation Sunday service was held back on October 27th in our Montserrat Church. The theme was “Revival and Reformation Today”, and I gave a summary of the work and persecution of the leaders of the 16th Century Reformation including Luther, Calvin and Zwingli, Elder Cesar gave more information on the Reformation and Pastor Stephen gave the exhortation of the Reformation we need in the 21st Century. Flyers were distributed and posters were put in the stores, and letters were sent to churches and pastors to assist this meeting.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOLS
November was preparation for our two churches. This year, the public schools closed the last days of November. Montserrat’s was held December 2-6 with the closing exercises on the 6th after the classes; and at Los Angeles, it was held December 9-13 with the closing exercises on the 13th after the classes. The theme this year was “Repentance of Sin”.
Thank the Lord that four young people from the Durand family came from Chile to teach four of the classes in both churches. Isaiah, Josiah, Anna and Sarah were a great help and a blessing. Pray for the salvation of the children that attended, that they not only will be saved, but will go on to serve the Lord as well.
I taught the catechism each day and was the counselor of the older boys and girls. Praise the Lord for all who helped make the VBS a success. A record 25 mothers, fathers, and grandmothers came out for the closing exercises at the Los Angeles church. Gospels of John and Romans, plus colored calendars were given to each student to take home to read along with their hand work. This year, in Los Angeles we had a total of 71, including teachers, which is lower attendance compared to other years.
GOSPELS OF JOHN AND ROMANS AND STORY BOOKLET TRACTS
We received about 8,000 booklets of Romans and 6,000 story booklet tracts for free. That is a huge amount of literature for our two churches to distribute. Part of this was given to seven CIEF-Guatemala pastors and their churches to distribute. Pray that our people will have the spirit of evangelism to give these out and also have a heart for evangelism.
GOOD FREE LITERATURE FOR THE CHRISTIANS
A new shipment arrived, of free literature with new topics and themes written by classic writers such as J.C. Ryle, Thomas Vincent, Jonathan Edwards and Charles H. Spurgeon. For the last 400 years, men like these have written on great subjects like grace, faith, prayer, a holy life and walking with Jesus. These booklets will be a help for Christians to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and everything He has done, and is doing in our lives today.
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM
We are planning to have our classic Christmas program December 24th, where everyone is exhorted to prepare a special number, whether instrumental or singing (solos, duos, trios, quartets); even recite poems or read scriptures. At times, we have had 17-20 people participating.
I want to thank you all for your faithful prayer and financial support and wish God’s blessing upon you. Also, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.
Yours missionaries for Christ,
Hal, Stephen, Juanita, Samuel and Joshua