Mt.newsletter June2009

June 2009 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Isaiah 58:7 Dear Friends,

with and witness to people, through our deeds and We have had a great and actions, about the love busy month and the Lord that Christ has for them. has been our protector and guide. We have often found The Lord has led some ourselves called to do families, who are sick and things that are out of our in need, to our door. We experience and face new have been able to give challenges everyday but advice, help with medicaThe Lord has been faithful tion and pray for them. and we are reminded in Clara came to our door Psalm 37:5-6 with baby Gilbert, who

‘Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun’ Many times the lord has gone before us and led us into situations where we have been able to help and pray, for the sick and needy and we have been able to build relationships

was very sick and now that he is well again, she often comes to visit us. Clara’s husband was recently held up at gunpoint, whilst returning from working in the fields, and the family are now too afraid to go out but Clara came straight to us and asked us to pray for her and her family. Please pray that the Lord will protect them and open their hearts to his love for them.

Prayer Needs

We are thankful to all our supporters for enabling us to do this and want to encourage you that your contribution, no matter how big or small is making a difference to the people of Parramos and Guatemala!

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With Love, Simon&Sarah

Clara and baby Gilbert - one of her 8 children, in our house We recently visited the town of San Jorge with some friends and were able to take new shoes to a family. It was really exciting to see them with their new shoes! We were able to pray with their 2 year old daughter who has a hole in her heart. Please pray for healing. What a privilege to be involved in this trip!

Violence in Guatemala is increasing. The office of human rights has released statistics showing that 2009 is destined to become one of the most violent years in recent history. The report shows 1,996 violent deaths in the first 4 months of the year and the number of abductions has increased to.

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STABILITY IN THE NUMBER OF VIOLENT CRIMES AND BOTH INTEGRITY AND WISDOM WITHIN THE POLICE AND GOVERNMENT

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THAT THE LORD WILL CONTINUE TO BRING PEOPLE IN NEED TO OUR DOOR AND FOR THE RESOURCES AND WISDOM TO BE ABLE TO HELP

PROTECTION AND BLESSING ON OUR FAMILIES BACK IN THE

UK

Why Mission Threads? The name was given to us during our trip to Guatemala in July 2008. There were women weaving the most amazing cloths on long looms. The results are very beautiful, detailed and intricate fabrics. It was while watching this that God revealed the importance of those tiny threads in the outcome of the picture. It is easy to look at the world and think that our little threads won’t make any difference to the world around us, but we believe that those threads will and do make a difference if we give them to God for his use and Glory. Be encouraged that God will use everything we give him, no matter how small or insignificant we feel it is. He takes our threads and weaves them into the bigger picture!

Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Isaiah 58:7

Finally the rain has started here in Guatemala and we are told it keeps going until October! When it rains here, boy does it rain! We had been watching the building of a large drain at the bottom of the hill on which Parramos stands, in the next town of Pastores, but in the first day of heavy rain, the whole thing was submerged by the river of mud gushing down the hill. The roads are in poor condition already and it makes driving treacherous. We are grateful to God for keeping us safe one evening particularly, when we were driving back from the City and much of it was blocked, without any warning, by large mud and landslides. When there are no road lights and many bikes, buses and cars in very poor condition, with no rear (and sometimes front!) lights—you really do put your life into Gods hands. Also many people travel by horse and move animals by walking them on the roads. We have already witnessed accidents and pray for protection whenever we need to travel. We have also had some flooding here in Parramos during which several houses in our street were flooded with filthy water. One family, who are elderly and very poor, had the mud floor of their home washed away and everything in their home was soaked in about 2 foot of water, after only an hours worth of rain. One house had only a young girl, Kelly, and her small brother at home, as their parents were at work. Kelly was afraid and Simon went to help her bail some of the water out, in an effort to protect their few belongings. We were also able to go and assist other families clear up, and praise God our home was not badly affected. The country has recently been shaken by a number of increasingly strong earthquakes — the strongest being in our neighbouring country, Honduras. The quake caused much damage here in Guatemala too, particularly in the area of Izabal, where many homes were damaged although praise God nobody was killed. The last major earthquake in Guatemala was in 1976 where 23,000 people lost their lives and people still live with the memory and fear of it. Please pray for stability and aid to reach those who have been affected by either the rain or earthquakes. We had a busy and exciting week when we were visited by a team from Calvary Chapel, Florida. The week was packed full of activities designed to reach out to the people of Parramos and nearby towns. There were 4 medical clinics, children’s outreaches, a women’s meeting and the team showed a film called “The Hope” in Spanish, in the town park, which was very well attended. The medical clinics saw many people come through the doors and every person was prayed for, and received free medication, basic hygiene advice and vitamins. We saw many people give their lives to the Lord and there is evidence that the work had a strong impact on the people here, as the wife of the town’s mayor recently contacted Pastor Abner and requested that someone visit and pray for a woman called Rosa, who was sick and had been consulting witchcraft. Rosa and her husband both gave their lives to the Lord during our first visit, and we were able to help her receive medical care. We have been able to visit her and her family several times since then. Please continue to pray for her and her family.

Rosa with Sarah

The youth work at Church, Revolucion Juvenil ,is continuing strong, with up to 34 young people attending each week. We would like to take some of them to a Christian music festival in the city at the end of June, as none have ever been to anything like that before. We are building good relationships with them and feel honoured to be involved with the work!

Visit our website at wwwww.missionthreads.co.uk

Contact and Support If you would like to support us financially through a gift, or on a monthly basis please contact our home church, who are handling our finances. Mission Threads, New Life Baptist Church, 52-54 High Street, Northallerton, North Yorks, DL7 8EG, U.K. Or you can email us at [email protected] Your support is invaluable to us, no matter how small and we would like to thank you, God Bless,

Simon and Sarah