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The Lord is great and greatly to be praised! We praise Him for the absolute BEST partners in the world! You are always so faithful to pray for us and to give sacrificially to the work here in Guatemala. Thank you is just not enough to express our gratitude. We truly are making difference…..we are the change!!! We pray for you, over your health, over your jobs, over your families and over the things that concern you—we pray that God will prosper and keep you in all that you put your hand to.

The month of July brought heavy rains to Guatemala. These heavy rains coupled with the shifting plates below the earth’s surface caused landslides. These landslides have buried entire communities. Many villages have been evacuated and the villagers told that they are not going to be allowed to return to live in their homes. The fault lines have been opening and entire homes and fields of crops have fallen in. At least 3 village churches that we partner with are in danger due to the fault lines. Campanario, Joconales, Quebrada de Agua. Another church that we partner with and have a feeding center out of in the village of Pacren reports that 10 families have had to abandon their homes and crops because the fault lines have opened up just beside their mud huts. Thanks to you, our partners, we were able to send 1600 pounds of beans and corn and rice with a team of Guatemalans that were headed up into these villages to minister to the people suffering from this tragedy. We also sent 100 new testaments with them for the people who accepted the Lord.

Here is an excerpt from a newspaper article:

Landslides claim victims, thousands isolated

At least 26 people are dead and missing after landslides buried homes in two poor communities in eastern Guatemala. The landslides were caused by heavy rains since June over a large part of the national territory. In El Campanario, in the commune of La Unión Zacapa (department of Zacapa, on the border with Honduras), a landslide from a nearby hill buried a group of houses killing 12 people, including 9 children; another nine people were also killed in a landslide in the nearby village of Lancopoy. Reports indicate that La Unión Zacapa, among Guatemala’s poorest towns inhabited by 25,000 people, is entirely isolated after the collapse of some bridges and inaccessibility of the roads. Hugo Arvizú of the National Disaster Prevention Network (Conred) said that heavy rains over the past 24 hours have caused rivers to flood in the department of Alta Verapaz, isolating hundreds of people in at least 16 towns. The persisting bad weather caused by several storms churning off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts has left an estimated sixty people dead, a dozen missing and thousands homeless.

Another report said:

A "crater" has opened up in Jocotan and they can't even determine the depth because it seems to be a bottomless pit.  Water continues to fall in it and so is looking for tunnels and outlets, further weakening the ground. Camotan received 1300 refugees.  800 people from La Union are there, a town about an hour or a little more away.  Houses have been buried and some have fallen into holes where the earth has opened up.  They were blocked off from 2 out of the 3 routes to leave.  One route has 120 landslides in a 38 kilometer stretch.

Summers are always a busy time with activities and teams. We have had 2 teams in July on top of opening a feeding center! We opened our sixth feeding center in the village of Tizamarte. Opening day was filled with some really awesome puppets and bible stories. We took bios on all of the children. We started with 50 children even though the pastor wanted to take 87! Our home church, Grace Christian Fellowship has agreed to sponsor the first 6 months for this feeding center. They also did a VBS while they were here and hooked up much need electricity for the refrigerator. We are so happy to announce that they are now fully up and fully running. We know that the children will get hungry day after day and that need will never end, but we also know that as we fill their stomachs with food we are also filling their hearts with the word of God—and that never goes away! So, please lift up Pastor Furgensio as he and the ladies of the church take on this ministry outreach to the children of Tizamarte. We declare that they will all serve the Lord!

We have had an especially busy July ministering in villages all around us. About one and a half hours from us crossing the Honduran border into a small town called Santa Rita we ministered to about 4 of our 100 club churches. They all came together for a special service with youth group from Michigan who ministered through dramas, testimonies, music and the Word. Many youth came forward to get set free and recommitting their lives to serving God. Many were healed and received words of encouragement from the Lord.

In the village of El Pato, Potter’s House youth built a cement path from the road to the church, so that it would be easier to get into the church. With the rains it gets very muddy and can be very difficult to go down the mountain path to get to the church, it was a big blessing to the church. The group from Michigan has helped out the church for several years, first building the church building then continuing to build a relationship with them.