2015 is gone let’s make a quick review:

2015 is gone let’s make a quick review:

The good, Miss Betty was able to teach again grades 1st to 6^th at the orphanage, English lessons, full of love and second intentions! (talk about God!), she also finished her 8^th semester of psychology , 3 more to go and will be licensed to be a much better tool for the kids and community, Miguel was able to finish well his kindergarden!

Precious Moments school finished the year with all of the teachers paid!

The church in Sumpango grew 50%, pastor Marvin and his family worked their first year by faith and God supplied for them, also God showed his love and care for the children of Sumpango that can’t afford to go to school, can you imagine been 10 years old and not knowing how to read or write? Breaking Cycles Sumpango believe that education is the only way out of the cycle! That is why we are supporting a program that takes place at the church, paying the salary of one teacher and buying some food for the kids to come and learn at least to read and write. This was the first year and 21 students came and learned!

The birth of a much more intentional ministry, named Breaking Cycles Sumpango, that with your help, prayers, involvement and the power of Jesus Crist, will help Guatemalans to break cycles of poverty, of sexual abuse, of ignorance, of loneliness, by bringing hope, support , training and much love.

Partnering with Next Step Ministries has been a great blessing to us by hosting 7 teams this summer.

The bad, violence makes the news everyday in Guatemala, please help us pray for protection, this is the main reason why we decided not to go or take more teams to Precious Moments.

The crazy, during the year we hosted 11 teams;  9 in 3 months (including one of 90 people!) building with them 7 homes, the front wall of the church, one room for the principal of the school at the orphanage, leading VBS for 8 weeks in Sumpango, at the same time that I was taking my finals at University.

The family, we thank God that He has taking care of our needs and protected  us during this whole year. Miguel turned 6 years old with a Ninja Turtles party!  My mother is still waiting for her citizenship to come to live to Guatemala, and she also had an accident, she broke her ankle and has to wait now to see what the doctor says about her wanting to come to Guatemala.

The needs, please pray for safety, energy, guidance, wisdom, for me as I am leading this ministry of yours, please continue praying for my mom situation, our safety and financial support.

Please this is an S.O.S. for the program at the Church, we need to pay the teacher and give a snack to the kids, please help us to pray for $4,000 for 12 months of teacher salary, snack for the kids, the legal paperwork and school supplies. This has to be a miracle because so far we got $100 for this matter.

We need your prayers, but we also want to hear from you and know how to pray for you, please send us a note, we are family!

Blessings,

Betty and Miguel Angel

school is over!!! (until Jan)

School year is over, (in Guatemala it runs from January to October), at precious moments from the 200 kids that started the year 180 finished it!

The school ended with full support that means that all the teachers got paid on time and they will have some deserved vacation time now!

At the orphanage we are going to say good bye to Noe who finished 6^th grade and will go to live with an older brother in Guatemala city, please pray for health, safety and that he will continue going to school.

Also an all favorite… Alfredito will go, his Godmother will have him for good, she got and agreement with Alfredito’s family to have him and provide all of what he needs. Bitter sweet, we all love Alfredito and he will be missed but we are so happy that he will have a family!

The children of Sumpango had been blessed to have a teacher that came also during the school year, they are learning to read and write, and teaching of school subjects, moral orientation, teachings on hygiene and good habits, care for their teeth like brushing and application of Fluor, Medical checkups, treated stomach worms and head lice, give them some needed recreation, a daily healthy snack to eat, and other benefits like donation of used clothes, shoes, toys, etc.

Nowadays we have 25 kids, in ages between 3 and 14, their economic situation is very bad, and that is the main reason why they don’t go to a normal school.  Thanks to the 2 families that made this possible during this year!

Miguel and I are doing well, we are enjoying also our time off the school, he likes animals, loves mami and praises God. I had gotten more comfortable also with the family dynamic and he also is lot more comfortable here, he knows that he is going to be taking care and loved.

I am finishing my 8^th semester at University, 2 more to go, internship and then the Thesis and I will be done! 3 more semesters I hope! And I will be able to help in a more tangible way to the children of the orphanage and Sumpango.

Thank you for making this possible, we serve with all of my heart, we share God’s love with love and passion, we teach in those classes cause I do it thanks to you!

God bless you

tragic night in Guatemala

Dear Friends:

With heavy hearts we would like to share with you the reasons why Guatemala should be in your prayers again.  We are at the middle of the rainy season and the heaviest of the rain is yet to come in November. Nevertheless it has already rained a lot and the ground has already absorbed a lot of water. 

Last October the 1^st, at 9:30 pm we faced the first disaster related with the rain in this year, a huge mudslide, in an area pretty close to the city.  El Cambray 2 is a small village located at the base of a mountain near Guatemala City.  This community was completely vanished in a matter of seconds as the big mountain collapsed over them. This was a small community of about 125 houses, families of about 5 to 7 members in each household.  At the moment of the landslide they lived terrible moments because many of them were trapped in their houses under the rubble sending text messages on their phones, asking for help.

This is just one of many sad stories that we have been hearing: Maria is a taxi driver. At 9:00 pm, after a long day of work, her grownup son asked her to go get some pizza in a nearby place to celebrate her grandson’s birthday; her daughter-in-law and granddaughter accompanied her.  While she was on her way back home after getting the pizza she received a phone call from a client asking her to pick him up. She then had to decide between making some extra money and making her family wait for the pizza. She decided to make the trip.  Her decision saved her life but by the time she got back, her neighborhood was gone and she had no idea whether she would be able to see the rest of her family ever again.

At this moment, October 5, 2015 at 7:00 pm, 140 people have been reported dead including a number of children and an approximated 450 are still missing.  A group of rescuers specialized in these kind of disasters came from Mexico to support the work that the firefighters, army and Police Department are doing.  Rescue workers said that after 72 hours the possibilities of finding somebody alive are very low but they still are working very hard to find someone or to recover all loved ones from the mud.

Please, we are asking you to keep us in your prayers especially because CONRED [National Commission for Disaster Reduction] announced that there are at least another 300 communities facing the same kind of risk in our country and as It was said before, the hardest of the rainy season is still yet to come.

what´s up with Betty?

Dear friends and family , we pray that you are blessed and rejoicing in the hope and promises we have from our father and savior!

We want to thank God for you, for your prayers, your support and your love for Miguel Angel and myself, and want to share with you some important events that had happened so you can rejoice with us, or cry with us, we need your prayers, support but mostly your love and care for us.

1.     Precious Moments, this year we have more than 200 students, the area has become even more dangerous, many deaths, lots of drugs and gangs problems, please continue praying for us, Pastor Jaime continues going there to share the word of God with me to the kids every Friday, 4 classrooms are sponsored, and the van that many of you help me to buy is still paying itself, with God´s help it will take about two more years to pay itself and than we would be able to pay one more teacher just from the rental of the van!

As you think of us, please help us pray for:

·         SAFETY for the kids, for the teachers, and for the salvation of the children of precious moments.

·         That the van gets rented and it will pay itself soon so it could provide more income to the school.

2.    The orphanage, I continue my English classes there, I teach to all of the kids, and I really enjoy doing it, I thank God for teams that are coming and had been coming to spend time with the kids, I love to see them get hugged and loved by others, we just started the baseball season with them as well! So we will have base ball every Wednesday in the afternoon.

·         It is hard to be able to share God love with these kids when they have been abandoned, please take a moment to pray for a girl, she is 8 years old now, came to the orphanage at the age of 6, her father disappeared and her mom died of AIDS, while living with her uncle went to the store and was rapped by 4 man, the uncle came to the orphanage to say that he could not longer take care of her, she has been here and NO ONE has ever come to visit her since. I won’t post a picture, please picture her in your heart and pray that God will show her that she is not alone!

SUMPANGO CHURCH, It is growing and now thanks to an offering, we have a learning program, learning to read and write, it has been great opportunity for the young and older kids that never got to go to school to learn. We have a teacher and give them a snack every day. They even got to have “summer day” where they played with water got wet and got to laugh as you have no idea! Please help us pray for financial support, the offering we got will cover until July and if we do not get the support we will have to close the school by then. (it takes $350.00 per month)

I got the privilege of teaching also at church.

Miguel Angel and I are doing good, he is in kinder garden and he loves his school, he is growing and I thank each of your prayers for us, he has this special prayer: “Dear God, help me to be as strong as Samson, as brave as David, as smart as Solomon and give me the heart of Jesus to love as you”

Me, still grieving my dad, finances got a huge down this year but GOD IS FAITHFUL!,  in my 4^th year of school to become a Children Psychology, and even though some days I want to give up, so far 24 classes passed! When you think of me, please pray for wisdom, energy and spiritual support.

Thank you for been such a huge part of these ministries of yours!