Update from Guatemalan Missionary Returning "Home"

Tuesday, 08 April 2008 18:01

As I write this, my last update from Guatemala my heart is overwhelmed with emotion.

Hi friends and family... I bring you greetings from the land of the eternal spring!!! As I write this, my last update from Guatemala my heart is overwhelmed with emotion. After serving nearly 14 years on the mission field in Central America Wendy and I have made the decision to move to the States. This past Sunday was our send off service although we will remain in Guatemala for another six to eight weeks while we work out Wendy and Steven's residency papers.

Over the past 28 months God repeatedly moved us along a path that consistently stretched and tested our faith, many times to apparently unbearable ends as we watched most of our personal belongings and our book distribution destroyed when our home was flooded twice by raw sewage, four of the five members of our family were forced to visit the hospital with stomach and our respiratory problems. Wendy and Angie were both admitted into the hospital, Angie twice. Steven and Angie have both had to have MRI's and Catscans, we where in a car crash, had the car's head gasket blow (twice). I was robbed at gun point and at knife point and Wendy has been pick pocketed on two occasions.

All of these difficult situations served to mold our faith and test our true motives towards God and his people. We have seen scores of broken lives and broken families come to God in that time in the past 15 months the church in Guatemala has seen over 100 people added to its membership, already 20 in the first three months of 2008. During this time we knocked on every door that we could find in order to continue serving in Central America and we are very grateful for each person who extended us a helping hand. Through all of this God has taught us to be grateful for the things that we so often take for granted.

In January Wendy and I were named Evangelist and Women's Ministry Leaders along with Alex and Andrea Paiz and Jose Luis and Elizabeth Estrada. It was truly an incredible moment, being the first such appointments in Central America. To date the church here in Guatemala has had 20 baptisms and our region has had 8. We are very grateful for how God has moved in the lives of so many people over the years.

As I write these lines and Wendy is packing, it is truly a time of mixed emotions. We are saddened as we prepare to leave our beloved congregation and friends of more than a decade, but at the same time we are excited with the project of raising Spanish speaking ministries in the Chicago Church of Christ. We feel that in the few months that we've known them that the Metro Ministry Center has really extended themselves to us. We look forward to the next adventure in our lives.

I want to thank those of you who have followed our ministry over the past couple of years, we have felt encouraged by your emails and prayers... as we close out our ministry to the Central American Churches I would like to ask for your prayers.

MINISTRY

  1. For the changes in the Church in Guatemala (The Estradas will be moving into our ministry and house, the Escobedos will begin to lead the North Region and the Paizes will continue in the East).
  2. For the changes in the discipleship of the churches in Central America. Wendy and I were overseeing mission work in Costa Rica and Belize... the discipleship of those churches will change.
  3. That our transition into the Chicago staff will be smooth.

FAMILY

  1. That we can get Steven's Birth Certificate (the Records Department of Guatemala City lost it) and begin the process for US residency.
  2. For the kids to remain focused on school in spite of all of the distractions (we don't have a table or a refrigerator or microwave or a car as were trying to get things ready to move...)
  3. For the law suit on our house to resolve in our favor... SOON.
  4. That we can get Wendy and Steven's residency papers ASAP, our last day of employment en Guatemala is April 30... so we will need to move as soon as we are able.

MATERIAL NEEDS
With the sale of our personal belongings we've been able to pay off most of our debt. Our only outstanding debt is $3800 to Christian Academy of Guatemala for back tuition. If anyone would like to help us with the burden of this debt we would be deeply moved and eternally grateful.

COMMUNICATION
As we close the chapter of Central America (for now) I will close, but not delete my blog www.centralamerica4him.wordpress.com and will begin a new blog at www.missionminded.wordpress.com.

Thanks again for yor prayers and support. May God bless your lives and ministries.

In Him,

Bill

Posted by Jerry Maday

Read 3155 times Last modified on Tuesday, 08 April 2008 06:49
Published in Central America & Mexico
More in this category: « 2008 Central American Missions Conference: | Mexico: Recently Planted San Luis Potosi has First Baptism! (Spanish and English) »
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