We can’t do anything on the farm in all the rain and mud! So we are taking the time to Spotlight our friends and their ministry (with their permission, of course). This is definitely a sobering topic, but we urge you to consider how you can help. Please take the time to read, share and SUPPORT!
Who doesn’t love to receive a gift? Who are we kidding? Everyone loves to receive a gift! But do you know that giving the gift is the best part? Have you ever given a gift that you knew the receiver was just going to love and you waited and watched with excitement for them to open and see? Wasn’t that the best?
Now think about it…..It’s that gift, that in order to give it, it will cost you dearly. It didn’t cost you time or money, it cost you your life.
Beautiful, isn’t she? We have been blessed to have been traveling to Guatemala for a number of years as a part of a medical missions team. That little girl is one of the many faces that stole our hearts all of those years ago. She and others are the reason that we do what we do alongside In Jesus Name Medical Missions. We believe that we are called to serve and support the people of Guatemala and part of that mission includes the directive to feed the hungry.
We are so humbled to be a part of In Jesus Name Medical Missions and what they are doing in Guatemala. More than 10 years ago, this group started working in Guatemala by making a once a year medical mission trip. Doctors, nurses, dentists, and numerous others make this yearly trip to work and serve for 4 days and see more than a thousand patients in remote, poor villages. The team functions to show each and every person that comes to the pop-up clinics, Jesus.
As they are seen by the physicians and nurses, they are also ministered to spiritually. While they pick up their medications from the pharmacy, they are told that Jesus loves them. When they walk through the hospitality area, where clothing and personal hygiene items are given, they are hugged and blessed. The last stop of the clinic experience is to sit with the evangelical team, who through interpreters, offer to pray with each and every person for their illnesses and any other needs that they may have. At the end of each day, 200 families are given enough food to last for 30 days. That food will fit in a bag approximately the same size of the plastic grocery bags we use.
About 5 years ago, the dream and vision of In Jesus Name grew. They became a legal foundation in Guatemala and then began the search to purchase property. Collaborating with local pastors and churches, the plan was to build a feeding center that would service the 100+ orphans of the small village, El Tejar. That plan is about to become a reality! We are just a few short months away from the vision coming to life!
The Feeding Center, although incomplete, held its first service during the May 2019 trip. It was a wonderful time of celebration and beginning to see what had only been seen in minds and on paper. But now the real work begins. A team will leave at the beginning of December to assist in unloading a shipping container of furniture and appliances and moving those items into the building. A group from Mobile, Alabama plans to use the building as a mission house in early January while they are in Guatemala distributing shoe boxes with Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child.
Following the completion of the building, In Jesus Name will open the Feeding Center for service. The upstairs portion of the building will serve as a place for teams to stay when in the area either to work at the feeding center or in the surrounding villages. Downstairs will include a large indoor and outdoor eating area as well as a commercial kitchen and live-in staff housing. A meal will be served daily to the 100+ orphans of this small community along with the Word of God.
The mission of In Jesus Name is to keep and honor Matthew 25:37-40. ” ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “
One of the more recent accomplishments was the completion of the well. This well will supply fresh, pure water to the feeding center and beyond! We do not know yet the plan that God has for In Jesus Name here in El Tejar and in Guatemala. The future dreams include purchasing some of the surrounding property and developing those parcels to include an orphanage, a school and so much more!
The current need here is this, will you also choose to feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty? Many will never travel to a foreign country to serve. Does that mean that they cannot fulfill the Great Commission to go into the all the world and serve? No! The opportunity to sponsor a child and support the work of God in Guatemala is just that opportunity. Some can go and some cannot; but those who cannot go, can send. You can support a child for less than a dollar a day. That money will feed a child a nutritious meal, provide pure water and also give them the chance to hear the Word of God and know Him.
We hope to spotlight more ministries on a regular basis. We would love to hear from you and the ministries that you support. Please feel free to reach out to us! ***Other than nominal administrative costs, nearly 100% of all donations go directly to Guatemala and its people.
