We love what we do! We love being able to watch God move in the lives of people. We love simply being the vessels delivering the blessings!
We try to keep people updated about things happening in our ministry through social media or a blog. However, we probably do a poor job about letting people know what the needs are. We often receive emails asking “How can we help? Does your ministry have any needs?” Sometimes the needs are urgent and we act quickly to meet the need. If you give to Grace Ministries or SLAM Ministries, you are the reason the needs are met.
Over the next several days, we are going to post a few stories about some of the needs over the past several weeks. Hopefully, this will allow you to see a glimpse into our daily/weekly lives.
(I am changing the names of our families and students in the stories.)
Two Weeks Ago:
My dad told me about his surprise visit to Guatemala during our Evangelistic week. He mentioned about building a house for someone in need. We already had a family with a need so we made arrangements to build the house. Let me remind you that it was the week before Easter and businesses are limited with their work hours. Making plans on a Monday morning to build a house on Thursday was going to be difficult. However, we worked quickly to make it possible.
On Monday afternoon, my dad changed his plans to building the house on Wednesday afternoon. (If you have ever been on a trip then you probably received one of those “flexible” bracelets. Let’s just say that I leave mine at the house.) We were very busy this week and I had made arrangements to build the house with the teachers on Thursday afternoon. We changed our plans to build on Wednesday afternoon, but without the teachers.
It’s late Monday night and I received a text from one of the teachers. It simply said “Daisy’s dad called and told me they have to be out of their house by Saturday. A family member is allowing him to live on a small piece of land. The only problem is there is no house. He wants to know if we can help.”
This father has such a difficult time. He struggles to find consistent work. He has health problems. He has about 6 or 7 children. He is a single father. His children are so malnourished. They are trying to simply have food for the family each day and now they have to find another place to live. We often see land owners allow families to live in small houses as security for the land, but make them move with very little advance notice.
On Tuesday morning, we worked to order more materials to build a house for Daisy’s family. My plans to build with the teachers on Thursday morning were still going to happen!
They delivered all of the materials for Daisy’s house on Tuesday afternoon. The father slept on the ground beside the materials on Tuesday night in order not to have them stolen. The teachers graciously chose to allow the men to build the house for the family on Wednesday in order not to have the father sleep on the cold ground for another night.
How much does it cost to build a house? It cost approximately $400 to build a laminate house with a concrete floor. What is the salary for work? The average salary for work is $1.50 per hour or $12 per day. Obviously, $400 for a house is not a reality for most families.
We had to make a very quick decision on how to help this family. We did not write a blog asking for someone to designate money for this family. We did not reach out to the sponsor of the little girls. We knew of the need and we met the need.
Ironically, on March 24th someone gave $400 to our ministry to be used as we see a need. On March 29th, the family had an urgent need. On March 31st, we met the need.
“If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD— and he will repay you.” Proverbs 19:17
Shining Light Abroad Ministries 