Guatemala Summer 2014

June 7, 2014

 Dear friends,

This year for the fourteenth summer (since 2001) I will be traveling to Guatemala to work with short term teams. For the first time since 2002, I will not be leading an official team from Peace or COR. Instead, this year I will assist the Guatemala ministry of Edwin and Evie Martinez with a team from Kalamazoo, MI, and a group of OC (One Challenge, the mission agency through which Edwin and Evie work) interns from various locations. In addition, I will be visiting a couple of ministries with the idea of working with them in the future.

Our teams will be serving in Huehuetenango, Arenal, and Agua Dulce. Last summer my team began to work with a group home for young men who are trying to leave a life of gangs and drugs. They have built their own home in the mountains outside the city of Huehue. The teams this year will continue to help them with projects around the house and barn/garden area.

Arenal is a small community on the top of the Cuchumatanes Mountains. The people there are very poor and struggle on a daily basis to provide for themselves and their families. Despite their poverty, they are committed to building a larger church to serve their community. For many years they have been meeting in a small wooden structure. This has not stopped them from reaching out to their neighbors and many groups have sponsored medical, dental and eye clinics through the years. I anticipate that this year we will help with construction on the church and conduct worship services.

For several years Edwin has sponsored a project to buy sheep for distribution to the women in the Arenal church. By starting a flock of sheep, these women have a source of income. They can breed the sheep and sell the offspring. They can sell the wool. Sheep manure is in demand for fertilization in the coffee fields -- you coffee drinkers might have preferred not knowing that. By giving these women a source of income, it makes them a little more independent of absentee and/or abusive husbands. In families where the husband is at home and nurtures his family, this income provides a cushion to what is usually a meager amount of money. 

Agua Dulce is coffee country. It is located off the Pan American Highway near the Mexican border. The Martinez family has owned a small coffee farm (finca) in this area for over 50 years. It is very mountainous and many of the homes precariously hug the side of the mountain. Unfortunately when the rains are very heavy this means that the houses are in danger of sliding down the mountain. Last week I received word that landslides had taken several homes about two hours away from the Martinez finca due to the heavy rains. At least five people lost their lives and several were injured. They have also lost their homes. At the moment the community is getting help from neighboring communities and government agencies. When that help is gone, they will still be left to recover from this devastating loss. It is truly remarkable that the loss of life was not greater and we praise the Lord for this. Please pray that God will open doors for our groups and future groups to minister to these people. We have built homes there in the past. Perhaps God will guide us to do this again. In the meantime, we will do what God guides us to do for the community around Agua Dulce.

Through the years and through your prayers and financial gifts, you have been very supportive of the mission work God has called me to do in Guatemala. This year is different because I have not been preparing a team for service. Perhaps this is a sabbatical year for me J however I know that God has prepared work for me to do in the country. I am coming to you now to ask that you continue to partner with me in this ministry.

While my most pressing need is always prayer support, the fact remains that I cannot be sent unless those God has called to my home team support me both prayerfully and financially. Because I will be staying an extended time this year (June 26th to July 22nd), my support needs are greater. I will need about $1,800. If I receive extra funds the money will go to the “Sheep for Arenal” project. The picture above was taken in Arenal two years ago when sheep were distributed to women in the community by a team from Kalamazoo, MI.

If God is leading you to contribute financial support, there are steps that must be followed for your contribution to be tax deductible.

Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law and you will receive a report of all charitable contributions in January 2014, as long as you follow these steps:

• Checks should be made to Christ Our Redeemer PCA.
• On the memo line write, “Mission Ministry." Please do not write my name on the memo line. Checks with specific names on the memo line cannot be accepted and will be returned.
• Mail donation directly to:

Mission Ministry – Angela Kennedy

Christ Our Redeemer PCA

131 Castlefern Drive

Cary, NC  27513

Thank you for being part of my ministry team!

En manos de la gracia!

In the Hands of grace!

Angela Hudson Kennedy   ~~~   1210 Lexington Farm Road   ~~~   Apex, NC 27502

Updates at AngelasLines.blogspot.com