Christmas Blessings:

The pre-Christmas season went by in a blur this year, partly due to my trip to Omaha to spend time with family in late November. Returning to Guatemala December 11, I jumped right into a series of holiday activities sponsored by our ministry, as well as "family" celebrations in our two homes. It has been a busy couple of weeks, but a time of great blessing, too.

(Want to see pictures of our Christmas Season? Click one of these links.)

Unlike in the US where many take down their trees on Dec. 26, the Christmas season here in Guatemala continues until January 6, the feast of the Three Kings, so I can still wish you a Merry Christmas and I pray that the newborn King will continue to reside in your hearts throughout 2020.

Did I really just write that? 2020. I can remember in my 20's wondering if I would be "old" in the year 2000. Now, 20 years after entering the new millenium, I find myself in a country I never thought of at that stage in my life, serving God in a way I only dreamed of as a teen, living with people who are very different from me, and speaking a language I barely knew before. While my body reminds me of my age, my heart continues to be young and I love the life God has gifted to me.

The past year has been filled with many blessings as well as challenges.

Thanks to your prayers and financial donations, our men's house, Casa de Esperanza, is thriving, and the guys living there continue to grow daily as a family. It brings me great joy seeing them moving closer and closer to Jesus both in their words and in the ways in which they live. Their skills and abilities are improving, and they are focusing more on job training and employment than ever before.

The opening of our women's home, Hijas del Rey (Daughters of the King) as well as our therapy center in Santo Tomas have proven to be a great successes. God has moved mightily and lives have been changed. These two ministries have impacted not only our residents and clients, but their families and those in the communities in which we are working. This year, move than ever before, we have had Guatemalan volunteers working beside us in our projects, as well as our wonderful paid staff. Thank you for enabling us to serve those who are forgotten and neglected here in Guatemala, but are important to us and to God.

Speaking of our staff, I invite you to celebrate with us their accomplishments during the past year.

The addition of the women's home and therapy center has stretched our resources, but God has been faithful and we are finishing the year in the black. While we have lost a few regular donors due to retirement and medical issues, God had timed this with me beginning to receive Social Security and we have been able to make up any short falls through my retirement funds. (Before anyone tells me I shouldn't do this--which I have heard--I need to share with you that I am more than happy to contribute to our mission and encourage you to do the same.)

Our focus for 2020 is much the same as it has been this past year: improving the quality of the programs in our two homes and our therapy centers. In addition, I have been invited to regularly train teachers in one of the local pubic schools, and will offer this same training to local teachers through our Santo Tomas Center.

I invite you to regularly pray for us during this coming year; for protection, provision and that we may faithfully fulfill the purpose God has entrusted to us: to improve the lives of those with additional needs, now and for eternity.