Last Day of Ministry

Good Morning.

We spent the morning back at the Precious Moments School in Zona 13. We saw primarily 3rd and 4th grade students today. There was a total of 50 seen today and we were able to donate the rest of the dental kits to the dentists, Priscila and Andrea.  The dentists volunteered their time to work at this clinic and they worked with approximately 170 patients over the 2 day period.  Many of the students had to have tooth extractions and in one case, a student needed up to 10 teeth extracted.  They were only able to extract 5, as the dentists fingers were getting sore from the patient biting them during the extraction process.

The needs were many with these students, as many of their parents don't participate much in the childs life. The students are children from parents that are involved with drugs or alcoholism, unemployed, unskilled and may not be able to read or write themselves.  Many of the students would have ended up on the street in gangs, if they did not have a place to go and a chance to get an education. The school has helped in the community by providing these children a "free" education through donations made to the school, so it can pay its administrators, teachers, supplies and rent for teaching their 180 students.  Some of the students never had birth records, as they were born at home and the parents didn't seek out the paperwork and paying the government to register the birth of their child. As the child grows up, they have a disadvantage, as they can't get accepted into a higher level of learning nor can they get a real good paying job, as they have no identity with the country.  The Precious Moments School has part of their program that when a student gets through their school. (Appx. 6th grade) they have not only earned some education, but are given citizenship to their country.  The school takes care of formalizing their students citizenship paperwork, so they can have a chance at advancing their education and bettering their families position.  The school is Christian based and the students are taught Christianity along with their normal reading, writing and arithmetic. The team has supported this school through a medical clinic last year and hopes to remain an encourager and can have a sustained ministry to help this school.  When we send a team to them, we share the love of Christ with them and get a chance to interact with the children and they can see Christians from the US in a different light, than they may be perceived on television. "It is more blessed to give than to receive". (Acts 20:35)

After leaving the school, we had a little break in the afternoon to visit a National Park in Guatemala City. The park had a topographical map of the country that detailed Guatemala's landscape and showed the elevations of every landmark of the country. It also included the boarders of neighboring countries to give a perspective of where everything was located in this part of Central America.

In the evening, we were invited back to Zona 6 to a 15 year old girls celebration and for me to share a testimonial with the street people that come to church each Thursday night to receive a free meal. The requirement for the street people is that they must be sober.  There were 2 different groupings in which the street people came for dinner and I was able to share the testimony.  The mans life in which I shared was well received, as they intently listened, as the story of this man fit their life style. He was arrested and given the choice of jail or drug treatment center for his drug and physical abusive behavior. Through this Christian based treatment center, he replaced his drug/alcohol addiction with a love for Christ and serving people. The man not only start getting his life back together through having a relationship with his daughter again, but he had the Word of Christ in his life and forgiveness for his past transgressions.

The 15 year old girl had a celebration that marked her special time in her life when she makes the transition from childhood to womanhood. Emiliso was the girl's name and the church made this event special for her, as she no longer had a home of her own and was brought into the church family to stay. The team was able to find a Bible for her as a gift and we underlined some of our favorite verses to help her with her spiritual maturity as well.

In a picture below the founder of the school has made a special gift for Paul Schmidt from Wooddale Church who has been gracious in supporting them. It was totally unexpected, but they wanted to give something to Paul.

It was a long day and a great ministry this year in Guatemala City.

Dios Bendiga
Terry