October 2005

“Give Thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever.”

It is with heavy heart that I write this update.

We are sure you know about the Hurricane Stan disaster in Central
America. Guatemala was especially hard hit. Just 20 min. away from where we are, massive flooding have destroyed hundreds of homes and houses. In the Lake Atitlan area, many Mayan villages were buried under 40 feet / 12 meters of mud and have been declared mass graves. The government of Guatemala has declared a State of Calamity.

Please pray for and with us here in Guatemala. While we, and those living in the city are not seriously touched by the hurricane, we are grieving with those who are.

Please pray for us to find ways and venues for bringing relief and showing compassion to those around us.

We already contacted Carol Sybenga from CRWRC as to how we could be of assistance at this time. As you might know, CRWRC usually sends funds first to agencies already on the field -to aid in whatever capacity is necessary. Later they come in for longer term assistance. Carol mentioned to us, that she had passed our inquiry on to the CRWRC relief staff. Now we are awaiting word from them.

Once clean up and rebuilding of homes starts, there might be an opportunity for your congregation to actively participate by sending a work team. Would you be interested in this opportunity? Pray about it, see where the Lord leads and how He would like you to be involved. Then share that decision with us.

As for now, we wait for CRWRC to contact us and tell of their further plans.
Meanwhile, we give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever!

Dios le bendiga,

Charles & Petra
Willing and able to serve the Lord by nurturing Missionary Kids as well
as serving the underserved in Guatemala.

P.S. To those of our friends who at this time are not financially supporting this work, would you please become part of our "Enabling Team". To those who currently are enabling us to serve here, a big "Thank You". Will you continue to do so beyond the initial two years commitment?