Greetings in the name of the Lord, It’s been a long time since communicating with all of you who make things happen in Panamaquin, Guatemala.

So much is happening in our world today. With the natural disasters and human disasters, we can lose sight of what the Lord’s focus is for us. Tropical Storm Stan left Guatemala with over 2,000 dead, thousands homeless, and hundreds of churches destroyed, but because of all that has happened in other parts of the world, there has been little said about the tragedies in Guatemala.

Our people in Panamaquin did experience their share of hardships in the aftermath of Stan. It destroyed most of our corn crop, killed some of our horses. Mud slides closed the roads totally for two weeks. They are still being repaired today. The enemy’s desire for us is to feel hopeless.

His favorite saying is, "What’s the use!" This year, we started the first high school in Panamaquin. 20 of the 21 students passed their class, one still must take a make up test in January. Nearly all their parents have only a third grade or lower education. We hope to see this group continue on to the university.

We are excited about moving into our new factory building. The old one has been turned into a large new classroom for the upcoming school year in mid January. The 2005 school year included four students from neighboring Xeparquiy (there has been a feud between the two villages for years). This was a major accomplishment! Our goal is to break this curse of hatred that has existed through generations.

This year there has been great spiritual growth. God has used our daily devotions to open and heal many wounded hearts. Sharing this very personal time with visiting short term mission groups has touched not only our workers, but those who came to minister as well. Our 27 families have matured in the Lord as God sent willing vessels to share not only the WORD, but God’s love through classes in music, drama, dance, sewing, and the sacrifice of North Americans who shared vacation time and money to just love on our folks.

We’re back in Panamaquin and off and running. We will welcome our first team, December 2nd from CCM Church of God Ft. Myers, Fl. They will be help with their second Christmas Fiesta week. We are glad to be back with our family here in Guatemala.

Love in Christ,

Bernard, Trish and Sarah