Mission Blog

Last week brought an opportunity that was made possible by what Give Me Shelter Ministries has done over the last 12+ years in Mexico and Haiti. We have invested time and resources into pastors who truly want to serve their people. By building a continued trust and relationship with these pastors it has opened up so many opportunities through out each country. Conscience International and GMSM sent funds via Pastor Felipe Hernandez from Nuevo Laredo down to FBC Oaxaca. From there their group traveled south to Ixtepec where the first wave of migrants from the Guatemala border were headed. They along with a small church in Ixtepec were able to bring aid to about 2000 people. Food, water and hygiene products were distributed. This small village is next to Ixtaltepec where we continue to build latrines due to the damage of the earthquake well over a year ago. As this was taking place we also sent Pastor Harry and a helper up to the north of Haiti to check out the damage from the resent earthquake and to see if we needed to consider aid of some sort. He went to Port des Paix and visited several small communities. When he came back, he felt that the damage was minimal and things were already being done response wise. The consensus was to stay focused on the roof project in Cayette. How blessed we are to be able to send out our brothers and sisters to do mission in their countries with out having to be micro managed every step of the way. That’s true investment.
Kenny

We headed out at 5:00 this morning to make sure we were at the red zone by 7:00 am. On the way we stopped by a local bakery to pick up some pastries to hand out to the officials at the road block. Sometimes to reach someone’s heart you gotta go through their stomach. I’m not saying that this really helped but they were stoked to get sweet bread and they put our name on the list to enter with the rescue workers.

We were able to walk in to Los Lotes a small town that has been on the news as one of the hardest hit areas. Most of the town is covered with ash, lava and mud. Many lives were lost and there is a large number of people missing. At least 300 is a number I keep hearing. The relief workers are working from dawn to dusk digging out the homes looking for bodies. At this point I do not believe they are expecting to find survivors. The flow looks to me like it was about a quarter of a mile wide.

Once we came back down I met with CONRED to discuss our plan of shelter once the relocation process starts. We are working with a local architect to draw up a simple, indigenous permanent structure. CONRED will submit the plan for approval. We will certainly need financial gifts for this project. Our goal is 10 homes to start the project. The homes will cost between 3500.00- 5500.00 per house. These homes will have concrete footer, floor, block walls and metal roofs.  We will use local labor but teams are welcome to join our efforts. Our readers can make this possible. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny

After a great night of sleep, Russ and his brother in law picked us up and we headed back towards Escuintla. Today’s agenda was to hopefully get close to ground zero. We stopped by Clinicas Vida and Doctor Kenny came along to help us try and get permission to enter the red zone. Once we got our merry band of gypsies together we headed to COMRED.

COMRED is the government agency in Guatemala that oversees all relief efforts in time of crisis. We did have a fruitful talk with them and they gave us their blessings. But, it’s really up to the police. Soooo, here we go down the trail of red tape. We arrived at the road that goes up towards the volcano Fuego and sure enough the road was blocked. The military and police are present and after telling them our desire to go up the mountain they just smiled and said no. Mostly because it was raining and the rain compounds the problem. What they did say was, be here at 7:00 in the morning and they would let us in with the rescue workers. It was getting late in the afternoon so we decided to go find ice cream. Which we did. Tomorrow is another day. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny

I met Jim Jennings with Conscience International  in Atlanta and headed to Guatemala City to begin an assessment on the Fuego eruption. This is the first time Jim and I have worked in the field together. I am very excited about this opportunity. I’m usually solo. We met Russ and Vickie who are missionaries here at a hospital about 10 hours from the city. They will be working with us while here. Once we left the airport we headed to Escuintla a small town where there are staging areas for shelter, food, clothing and medical assistance. Russ introduced us to a doctor named Kenny who runs a social clinic for the desperate called Clinicas Vida. He took us to the distribution areas, a field clinic and a shelter of 1200 displaced people. Tomorrow we will try to approach ground zero. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny

We arrived early to the drop off point to deliver metal for one extra roof. From there we took the long hike up the mountain to start our assessment on each roof installed. Wow! The goat trails never end and the deeper we go the more need we see. We are getting close to completing the roofs in Cayette and our attention will remain in Furon which is the adjoining community. After many hours of climbing and looking it was time for the walk down. Going down is easier physically but can be a little dangerous due to the steep inclines. We completed all 20 roofs on our list and we were able to do three more not on the list. Twenty three roofs in 4 days. What a blessing. Tomorrow is the day we will give out the shorts,dresses and shirts to the children of both villages. I can’t wait!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny

Today was much the same. This is good to me because that means we are making daily progress. If things continue to move in this way we will exceed our goal of twenty roofs.We were planning on handing out the dresses, shirts and shorts that the sewing team from FBCFWB made but we decided to wait till Saturday when more children will be there to hear THE GOOD NEWS and receive their new clothes. Tomorrow we will go back up the mountain and make an assessment of all the roofs that have been installed this trip. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny