July Recap!

July was a whirlwind of events! After lots of preparation, we blinked and July was over. By my admission, I have failed at keeping people updated through blog entries. However, Soy has a million photos on his facebook.

July had 75 people from 3 groups use the mission house to serve the people of Guatemala. There were multiple states represented among the groups. Many of the people were first timers to Guatemala which is always exciting for our ministry.

During the month of July, there were a total of 46 houses built. There 750 bags of food given to 750 families through the food distributions. There were an additional 110 bags of vegetables and food given to the families of Colegio JET. There were 900 meals served in only a 2 week time period! The meals included feeding the youth group, the people at church, the El Tejar firemen, the El Tejar police, the municipalities, the precious people at the dump, and some of the families from our community. The first Colegio J.E.T. basketball camp had 40 youth participants. There were 13 baptisms from Iglesia J.E.T. There were 3 pastors who preached in 5 different churches. Pastor Daryl and Pastor Clint preached at Iglesia J.E.T. Pastor Spencer Bell preached at Iglesia J.E.T. and 4 other churches. There were 6 teachers who spent multiple days in the Colegio JET classrooms in order to help the teachers.

Are we focused only on numbers? Nope. However, each number represents a soul. Each number represent a life that was told about salvation only found through a relationship with Christ. Each number represents hope and love shown to a family in need.

The groups have been so gracious to allow us the opportunity to tell the stories about how Colegio JET and Grace Ministries is changing the lives of the students and families. They have listened to the children sing about the “Goodness of God” and “Jesus Loves Me”. They have rejoiced with us about all of the good things happening on Grace Mountain. We are so appreciative to the team leaders for allowing us the opportunity to share the stories and songs with the groups. Almost without fail, someone will approach me and express how the highlight of the week was listening to the students.

While the groups have been busy, the school has continued to operate without any hiccups. After more than 2 years, we are grateful to have 160 students on campus at the same time. The teachers are grateful for a more “normal” school day. The health inspectors did a surprise inspection for our school this week, and they were very impressed with everything about our school!

Our greatest highlight for the summer was having Granny visit us in Guatemala! Granny was able to see all of the lives touched by Teddy and Eddie. She was able to hug the people whom serve alongside us. She was able to see the different types of ministries. We were honored and privileged to have her in Guatemala!