IMPACTO: Pastor Luis
IMPACTO: Update on Pastor Luis
IMPACTO: Prayer Request
Please keep Luis lifted in your prayers -- he was admitted to
the hospital today (in Guatemala City). The doctor has ordered a lot of tests
to be run over the next 24-48 hours. Also, please keep Dinora lifted in prayer
for safety as she goes to and from the hospital and for God’s peace and
assurance to be with her. I will do my best to keep you posted.
IMPACTO: Ministry Changes
In the past, Impacto has given away shoes, provided free medicines and visits with doctors, and constructed houses once a family purchased their own piece of land. We believe that we may have done a disservice by giving away everything. As you know, when a person takes ownership in something, it becomes more valuable to them. If things are always handed over freely, people become dependent. They do not develop self-esteem, pride in accomplishing something, or the realization that they are not helpless. Yes, the people of Guatemala are poor; some extremely poor. However, that poorness in no way negates their need for self-esteem or their need for a sense of pride in accomplish-ments. We need to help them find hope instead of feeling hopeless simply because they are poor.
The new direction we feel God leading us towards is one that
will help build these characteristics in the ones we serve. Instead of giving a fish, we will be teaching how to fish so that people
become more enabled to do what they once thought they could not do. We want to
help move the mindset from “I/we can’t” to “I/We can” and then celebrate with
“Look what I/We did!” (Romans 12:2 -- Renew your minds in Jesus Christ)
For example, in the poorer villages, perhaps 50 cents per pair of shoes will be charged. In another village where the people are better off, perhaps 75 cents or 1 dollar per pair will be charged. If someone wants to purchase 10 pairs of shoes and then chooses to sell them for double the amount they paid, that is fine. It will help them to have an income to purchase food and supplies for their families. This will help accomplish our goal of families becoming self-supporting through microenterprises.
For a house to
be built, the family will have to work alongside teams in the building, and
they will have to pay something for their house. It may be as little as $1.50
to $3 per month until they can pay off their “mortgage.” Some will be able to
pay more but we do not want to make
it a big burden on any family. The money collected for any project will go
back into providing funds for other ministry efforts or possibly even helping
other families get started with something like raising chickens.
A new project, Happy Tummies, will begin in February after school has been in session for a few weeks. We will visit the public schools to talk with teachers to find which children are having trouble with their studies. Some children go to school hungry and cannot concentrate and learn because they are so hungry. They come from families that are extremely poor. This summer, at least 7 little children died in the San Juan area due to hunger. We will start with 15-20 children in the Happy Tummies project. They will come to a location in San Juan after school where they will get a nutritious lunch, hear a Bible story, play a game or two and then spend an hour or two with a tutor. We hope to find locals to pay to be tutors, providing another small income for some in the community. Records will be kept on each child to check their progress in weight gain, nourishment, and improvements on their report cards. Requirements for the children selected will be that they must attend school. Their report cards will have to be brought to us with a note from the teacher giving an update on the child’s progress.
If we find an especially needy family with children below school age, we hope to be able to allow them to participate in the program. These children will be fed a nutritious meal and we’ll tell them a Bible story, play a game or have some sort of activity, sing, and be taught some basics that children in the U.S. and Canada learn in pre-school. [Team Leaders: Start thinking of ways your teams can participate and help with this project when you come to minister.]
Parents of children in the Happy Tummies project will be required to take turns cooking
meals, feeding chickens and gathering eggs, planting and tending a garden, and
cleaning the area where Happy Tummies will
be held. The eggs, chickens and garden harvest will be used for the meals. We
hope to have vitamins to provide for each child on a daily basis. We’d also
like to provide adult vitamins for the parents. Because we always want to
present the Good News, we will hold at least a monthly or twice-monthly meeting
that the parents will be required to attend. These meetings will be a time for
a short update on their children and then we plan to have a time of worship and
either preaching or Bible study.
Stewardship is a discipline we are trying to teach. The churches have always said they can’t pay/support a pastor. This summer’s Pastors Congress had a session on Stewardship. Pastors were challenged to go back to their congregations and begin teaching and preaching on stewardship. The widow’s mite is a prime example: She gave willingly and sacrificially what she had, regardless of how small the gift. Changes are being seen in the lives of people who have been taught about and are now tithing. One young man made a commitment that he would begin to tithe even though he thought his family could not afford to tithe. God has blessed him with a raise in his salary. Christians miss one of God’s greatest blessings when they do not tithe.
An area of change not project-related is that teams will depart for the lake, Zacapa or Coban on the day of their arrival. Of course, if the arrival time is too late, they will wait until the next day. The last night of the ministry week, teams will stay in Antigua and depart from there for the airport the next day.
We hope this gives you an idea of the direction Impacto is heading; that you will be excited and join us in these efforts to equip and empower the people and while sharing the love and light of Christ. We want to uplift people and encourage them to think of how they can do things they previously thought they could not accomplish. Please pray with us as we strive to begin implementing new ministry ideas and projects.
If you have questions or want more information, please feel free to contact us at spoythress@newlifelaplata.org.
Serving Christ with you,
IMPACTO: December 2011 Newsletter
2011 has been a year with constantly overlapping highs and lows. Here are a few highlightss.
May was a joyous time of celebration as Ana (our youngest daughter) graduated from IWU and I was honored to be the baccalaureate speaker for her graduation. Then, in October, Ana accepted a proposal of marriage from Jeremy Armiger. They are planning a June 2012 wedding -- busy times ahead!
In August we said goodbye to one of
our own, Antonio Mendez. Throughout his illness, he showed that gentle spirit,
warm smile, and deep faith that made up the man everyone both liked and loved.
He is greatly missed, yet we rejoice that he has crossed over to where he no
longer suffers. Many of you may not have known that Antonio had a beautiful
bass singing voice. We can imagine him sing praises and smiling as he worships
in heaven. Thanks to everyone who prayed and contributed to help pay his
medical and funeral expenses.
On October 31st, we got
to say hello to David Antonio Mendez! Another boy for Tony & Andrea,
weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz, and we all rejoiced over his birth. Antonio knew
this little one would carry his name. Dinora and I, and Lucy Mendez, are
overjoyed that we now have two little grandsons to bring such joy into our
lives. Big brother Luis Daniel is happy to have a brother…most of the time!
The summer months were harder than
usual due to the illnesses of several team members who came to serve in
Guatemala and Antonio’s steady decline in health. I spent many nights in the
hospital with family and pastors of team members as one faced surgery and one
had a major battle with malaria that he contracted in Africa two weeks prior to
arriving in Guatemala. Tony and Andrea spent many nights in the hospital or at
Antonio’s bedside. Dinora carried a heavy load in leading the teams during my,
Tony and Andrea’s absence. Ana, Fredy, Sarah and the interpreters also took on
extra responsibilities. Had it not been for the prayers of all of you, it would
have been even more difficult. We felt your prayers lifting us up and the
Father’s arms holding us through these difficult days.
Teams this year were simply
wonderful! God ruled supreme and provided the grace, patience and flexibility
needed. God blessed us with several teams coming to serve and minister in
Guatemala and with allowing me to visit, preach and share in 13 different
churches and conferences in the States during 2011.
The three weeks of VBS in November were wonderful. God blessed us with great teams who served with much joy and gusto. During the three weeks, around 3,000 children and 180 ladies were ministered to by the teams and Impacto staff. We give all the praise and glory to God for the many souls won for the Kingdom.
In August, the first Pastors
Congress was held with over 130 participants. Five men (pastors, a professor, a
missionary and a church administrator) came from the States to lead sessions on
stewardship, sermon preparation, church administration, leadership, and
spiritual discipline. Impacto provided each participant with handouts from the
leaders, a new study Bible, spiral notebook, pen, calculator and canvas
conference bag, daily transportation, snacks, meals and lodging. Evening worship
services were open to the public. Praise God for this opportunity to provide
training. Many of the participants have never had any formal training. The
surveys taken at the end of the Congress gave testimony to how blessed the
participants felt to have been able to attend and receive such good training
and resources. We are planning another Congress in April 2012.
IMPACTO
Luis Martinez Spanish Ministries
La Plata, MD 20646
In
the love of Christ,
Pastor Luis
IMPACTO: Birth Announcement!
David Antonio Mendez
Born Oct. 31, 2011 around 9:05 a.m. (Guatemala Time)
7 lbs 12 oz
Andrea and David Antonio are both doing great!
So are Tony, big brother Luis Daniel and all the grandparents!
IMPACTO: Guatemala Flooding Update
IMPACTO: Photos of Flooding in Guatemala
