Changing Hearts And Lives In Guatemala...

This scene was what we commonly saw as we traveled from one place to another last year as we visited with supporting congregations and potential supporters. We are very grateful to God to have loving brothers and sisters who treat us so kindly when we visit them. May God show you the same kindness you displayed to both of us as we lived out of a suitcase for several weeks!

As we do every year, we took some time out of our visits to participate in the Annual Churches of Christ Family Retreat, which took place again in Rothenburg, Germany. Our theme this year was “Discipleship: Change Our Hearts.” Jeremy and Rebecca Korodaj again joined us to form a great team in charge of the teen program. We had a great group of young people. This year, we had more military teens than in the past, which was great to see. Please keep this event in your prayers. Next year, we will celebrate the 50th retreat! If you could join us, we would love to see you there. The dates are November 23-27, 2013. We hope to see you then!

The Church at Linda Vista
This year, we sadly began with a sad story. One of our long-time members, Carlos Ordoñez, was killed in an accident on New Year’s Day. He had been looking for a job for many months and had agonized over not being able to work. He finally secured a job driving a truck. While in El Salvador on his way back to Guatemala, his truck lost its brakes and he crashed into bedrock on the side of road. Please keep his widow, Patricia Ordoñez, and their three daughters, Karla, Julissa, and Paola, in your prayers.

On a positive note, we would like to mention the spiritual growth we have seen in two of our members who are attending our Saturday program at ITL, our Bible school. The first is Enrique Tovar. This past February, he preached his first sermon and did a great job! He has since preached one other time at Linda Vista. We believe that his heart is pulling him toward the ministry, but his biggest challenge is the fact that he married a non-Christian a couple years ago. Please keep him and his wife, Evelyn, in your prayers, especially for her conversion. She attends fairly regularly and has received Bible studies from several people, but has not yet obeyed the Gospel.

The other member who is a student at ITL is Dinora Lopez. Dinora is always willing to serve in whatever way she is needed and has been faithfully assembling with the body, along with her children, Rodrigo, David Jr. and Andrea. Our prayer is that one day this godly example may win her husband, David, to Christ. He, too, has received several studies from several of us, but has yet to commit his life to our Lord Jesus.

Please keep both of these Christians in your prayers, as well as the whole church.

Ramirez - Palacios Wedding
Another bit of good news we have to report is the wedding of our coworker, Anibal Ramirez. Many of you were aware that several years ago, Fanny, Anibal’s first wife, left him for another man. Although the church made numerous efforts to encourage Fanny to repent and to consider her family and her relationship with God, she did not make the right choices. As a result, Anibal and Fanny were divorced. About a year later, Anibal began to date Damaris Palacios, a Christian woman worshiping at the time at the Zone 11 church of Christ. After about a year of dating, Anibal and Damaris decided to get married.

The wedding took place this past February. Hawatthia was asked to perform the wedding. We believe that Damaris will bring a needed woman’s touch to Anibal’s home. He has been doing a good job with raising three girls, one of whom is now 15. A Christian woman’s presence will be a great blessing, we are sure, and the girls really like Damaris ☺.

Coming Events
There are several events that will soon be upon us, so please keep them in your prayers. The first missionary team is scheduled to visit us July 11-20. This team has Christians from various parts of the country and we are excited to have them visit us to serve the people here. Also, we are hoping to continue to host World English Institute teams this summer. If the Lord wills, we will have two teams to come for two weeks each. This would be the fifth year for these teams to work with us. Our prayer is that all the plans will come to fruition, if they are in God’s will.

Prayer Requests
As we close, we also make the following prayer requests:

• For us so that God will continue to use us in this part of the world. We are thankful to Him because He has granted us good health and many blessings on a daily blessing.

• For the churches in San Cristobal and Coban in the department of Alta Verapaz. A separate report will be sent out soon, Lord willing.

• For the spiritual and numerical growth of the Linda Vista church.

• For Patricia Ordoñez and her daughters.

• For the Ramirez family as they adjust to a new circumstance.

May God grant you the peace that passes all understanding!

Serving Jesus,

Byron E. Benitez
Hawatthia Jones

To view their report with pictures, please click here.

A Special Note Of Thanks...

Greetings from the Land of Eternal Spring (aka Guatemala)!

I pray that this message finds you all doing well. We are doing fine here.

First, please accept my apology for being so late in sending this message. So much has been happening and so much continues to happen that I decided to stop and to write on our behalf before more time passes by. Lord willing, we will be sending out a few updates within the next few days. After you receive them, you will better understand what I mean when I say a lot has been happening. So, be on the lookout for some Guatemala updates coming very soon.

However, this is just a short note to say THANKS to so many of you that responded in various ways upon the passing of our sister Linda Kay. The numerous amounts of emails received were a great encouragement during this time. Also, all the cards that came from around the world gave us and our family assurance that many were praying for us. The flowers, both from individuals and from congregations, were very beautiful and represented the beauty we share as friends and as brothers and sisters in Christ. Your presence at the church was also a comfort and inspiration to us. In addition, there were funds sent our overseeing congregation in memory of Linda. These funds are being used to purchase books for the ITL library. A note will be placed inside of each purchase letting the readers know of the generous donations. 

It's difficult to express in words how all that you did helped us through such a difficult time. 

Thank you so much for every gesture of kindness during our time of loss. May our God in heaven repay each of you for the way you have and continue to support us.

We love you and thank God each day for you. Take care and be blessed in Him!

Con amor en Cristo,
Hawatthia

"Teaching the CENTRAL MESSAGE in CENTRAL AMERICA!"

The Goal Has Been Reached...

Greetings Family, Friends and Supporters of Mission Guatemala!

We hope and pray that you and those you love are doing well and enjoying the wonderful blessings from above. We are doing fine here and continue to find ourselves with plenty to do in our service here in Guatemala.

Our reason for writing is to give you another update on the progress of the fund raising efforts. We are very thankful that many of you allowed God to use you to help us achieve this major milestone for ITL and for the Guatemala work. We are VERY excited that we passed from writing “A Great Opportunity for Guatemala Mission” to being able to write “A Great Blessing for Guatemala Mission.” WE REACHED OUR GOAL!!!! In fact, we surpassed it! We were able to say “yes” without having to seek a loan! We now own (or very soon will own) both properties! We do not have to rent anymore! You can probably tell from all the preceding “!'s” that we are very happy about this. :-)

From the last message that we sent to everyone in our database we made known of a special opportunity that we have to purchase both the house we are renting and the house where ITL, our preaching training school, is located. The owner of the house where we live is the son of the lady who owns the property where ITL meets. Due to circumstances beyond their control they need to sell both properties and have given us first option to buy both of them before they place them on the market. The owner of our house planned to ask for $95,000 for his house but was willing to sell it to us for $70,000. It is a four-bedroom, 4 1/2 bath house, with two additional rooms that can be converted into bedrooms. The second property, which joins our house, is what we presently use for ITL. It includes a three-bedroom, 3-½ bathroom house, a two-bedroom, one bathroom apartment, and a studio apartment. Presently, our students live there and all of our classes for the school take place there. Remember that we have both a full-time program and a Saturday program. This property belongs to our landlord’s mother. She was willing to sell us her property for $80,000. We believed that this presented us with a great opportunity for our work and wanted to take advantage of it.

The total for both properties is $150,000. We already had $80,000 that we previously raised to purchase property for ITL. This means that we needed $70,000 when our first request went out on December 29, 2012. Thankfully, we have raised $83,650. That’s right $83,650! While we do not feel comfortable putting a list of our contributors in a general e-mail, we will be glad to send a complete detailed list of supporters to anyone wishing to receive one. We are thankful to God that we were able to go over the amount. The excess will serve us with funds we need to pay our part of the paperwork for the purchase of the houses. And, with what is left we can make some minor repairs, painting, etc., to the facilities. Thankfully, we have the benefit of a student body (and instructors, of course) that is willing to work hard, which will save us many dollars on labor expenses.

Just one more time, please allow us to remind you of some of the advantages for this purchase:

1. The price for both properties is good for the area where they are located.

2. We will no longer be paying rent and that money can be used in other areas of the ministry.

3. Since the properties are next to one another, this provides an opportunity for the expansion of ITL as it grows.

4. We are already in the facilities. We have lived in our house since 2000 and have rented the other property for ITL since 2009.

5. The properties are centrally located for both the full-time students and for those who study on Saturday. Our full-time students are close to shopping centers and the other things they need for daily living. It is a fairly easy commute for our Saturday students to come where we are presently located.

6. The properties are located in a safe area. Since we also have teachers who come from the U.S. to teach, this is very important.

7. By purchasing the property, we will avoid the additional costs entailed in having to move our residence and the location of the school, and having to rent another house and another facility for ITL, which would likely be much more expensive than what we are currently paying for both.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you very much! Many of you helped us turn this opportunity into a reality. We can never say thank you enough. Some of you even took an extra step and made others aware and for this we are also thankful. May God bless you for your love and concern for the mission efforts that are taking place in Guatemala.

We will close for now. However, please allow us to remind you that the door is always open for you to donate to help teach the CENTRAL MESSAGE in Central America. :-) You have more than one option to get your donation to us. You can always plan a visit to see us and bring your contribution in person. In fact, if you choose to visit, we’ll consider your visit a contribution itself. :-) You can also go to our secured website and donate online by clicking here. You may also send your tax-deductible donation to our overseeing congregation at the following address:

Kingsley Terrace Church of Christ
c/o Dwaine Himes/Guatemala Mission
2031 E. 30^th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46218

Byron and Hawatthia

Nearing The Goal For ITL...Special Request

Greetings Family, Friends and Supporter of Mission Guatemala! 

It is our prayer that your new year has started off well. We are doing fine. At this writing Byron has returned back to Guatemala where he is teaching the book of Revelation in our full-time program for ITL. Hi remained in the U.S. for another week to visit a few congregations in the Texas area. Once he returns, he will begin teaching Letters of Paul 3 (1 Thessalonians - Philemon) in our ITL Saturday program and Byron will teach Old Testament 3 (Job - Ecclesiastes). We solicit your prayers for our effort in 2013 to serve the Lord's church in Guatemala. 

The reason we are writing is to update you on the progress of the fund raising efforts. We are very thankful to God for such an great response that we have had thus far to our request and believe that if the funds continue to be committed at the pace in which they are coming in, then we will have most if not all of the needed funds. Before give you the numbers, allow us to remind you briefly of the details of this opportunity.  

From the last message that we sent to everyone in our database we made known of a special opportunity that we have to purchase both the house we are renting and the house where ITL, our preaching training school, is located. The owner of the house where we live is the son of the lady who owns the property where ITL meets. Due to circumstances beyond their control they need to sell both properties and have given us first option to buy both of them before they place them on the market. The owner of our house plans to ask for $95,000 for his house but is willing to sell it to us for $70,000. It is a four-bedroom, 4 1/2 bath house, with two additional rooms that can be converted into bedrooms. The second property, which joins our house, is what we presently use for ITL. It includes a three-bedroom, 3-½ bath house, a two-bedroom, one bath apartment, and a studio apartment. Presently, our students live there and all of our classes for the school take place there. Remember that we have both a full-time program and a Saturday program. This property belongs to our landlord’s mother. She is willing to sell us her property for $80,000. We believe that this presents us with a great opportunity for our work and want to take advantage of it. 

As you can see, the total for both properties will be $150,000. We already had $80,000 that we previously raised to purchase property for ITL. This means that we were needing $70,000 when our first request went out on December 29, 2012. Thankfully, since that first e-mail God has blessed us with $45,400 of the needed funds thus far. Of these funds $23,500 have been donated by 6 congregations and the remainder has been donated by individuals. While we do not feel comfortable putting a list of our contributors in a general e-mail, we will be glad to send a complete detailed list of supporters for anyone wishing to receive one. We are thankful to God that we now only need to raise $24,600 to purchase both properties, which we hope to do. However, if we do not get to the desired total amount, we plan to apply for a loan for the difference so that we can still take advantage of this tremendous offer for our work. 

Please allow us to remind you of some of the advantages for this purchase:

1. The price for both properties is good for the area where they are located.
2. We will no longer be paying rent and that money can be used in other areas of the ministry.
3. Since the properties are next to one another, this provides an opportunity for the expansion of ITL as it grows.
4. We are already in the facilities. We have lived in our house since 2000 and have rented the other property for ITL since 2009.
5. The properties are centrally located for both the full-time students and for those who study on Saturday. Our full-time students are close to shopping and the other things they need for daily living. It is a fairly easy commute for our Saturday students to come where we are presently located.
6. The properties are located in a safe area. Since we also have teachers who come from the U.S. to teach, this is very important.
7. By purchasing the property, we will avoid the additional costs entailed in having to move our residence and the location of the school, and having to rent another house and another facility for ITL, which would likely be much more expensive than what we are currently paying for both. 

If you have already sent funds to help us, thank you very much. If you have not we are calling on you to prayerfully consider helping us purchase these properties. If you can help us, we assure you that your donation will be put to its greatest use. We are also asking if you could inform as many people as you know about the great opportunity with which we have been blessed. We would like to say “yes” to the sellers by the 1st of February. So, we need to hear from you as soon as you can to let us know if you can help. You have more than one option to get your donation to us. You can go to our secured website and donate online by clicking here. You can also send your tax-deductible donation to our overseeing congregation at the following address:  

Kingsley Terrace Church of Christ
c/o Dwaine Himes/Guatemala Mission
2031 E. 30^th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46218 

Please note on your form of payment “Guatemala Property Fund.” If you would like to make a contribution to this effort but need to send it over time (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc), that would be fine also. What is important at this time is that we know the funds that are being committed for the purchase, even if they do not come in until later. 

We are attaching pictures of the properties. We are also attaching an electronic “Property Donation Intent Form” to this message. This form differs slightly from the first form in that there is a section for those wishing to donate over time. Whether you donate online or through regular mail, please, send us this form through e-mail so that we can know more precisely the funds that have been raised for this purchase. We will continue to keep everyone posted as we raise funds. 

We close this message with a sincere THANK YOU for the love and concern that you have for the Lord’s work in Guatemala. We also thank you for being a part of this most important effort. Please help us get the word out to as many as possible about the opportunity we have with the purchase of these two properties. Please remember to keep the work in Guatemala and us in your daily prayers. 

May God bless each of you with a wonderful 2013 of service to Him. We hope to hear from you soon.

We love you!

Hawatthia
Byron

“Teaching the CENTRAL MESSAGE in CENTRAL AMERICA!”

A Personal Invitation...

Greetings from Byron and Hi,

We pray that this message finds you and your loved ones doing well. We are doing fine here. The Lord is blessing the work here in many ways with a very positive start for 2013.

As we traveled during the end of the year giving our 2012 report, many of you saw what took place last year when we had our 3rd Annual Lectureship for Instituto Teológico Latinoamericano (ITL). In our report you also received an invitation to join on March 21 – 25, 2013 for three great events. As a result there was a great interest shown by many to come to Guatemala in March. We told you we would send you more information to help you properly plan to visit us.

On March 21 – 25, Lord willing, we will be celebrating the 5th Anniversary for ITL. God has been good to us and we give Him the glory for five years of existence. We will also be having our 4th Annual ITL Lectureship. And, to crown off the weekend, we will have our 2nd Graduation from ITL and graduate our BETA class as well as four students from the ITL Saturday program. This year’s theme for our lectureship will be Unidad Entre Hermanos: Una Respuesta a la Oración de Jesús (Unity Among Brothers: An Answer to the Prayer of Jesus). Again, we have a great line-up of speakers. Pedro Batres from Nicaragua, Alexander Castellanos from El Salvador, Francisco Rada and Silas Prado from Texas, and Bob Turner from Colorado are our principle speakers. Other speakers will be Abner Ramos from San Cristobal, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, and Misael Ajuchán from Guatemala City. In addition, Silvia Castellanos from El Salvador and Araceli Rada from Texas will speak to our ladies. As you can see, the lectureship is going be a great inspiration to everyone who attends. Please remember that all activities will take place in both English and Spanish.

The schedule of events and other details, along with costs, can be found by clicking here.

As you can see, we are trying to keep the cost reasonable. We believe it is a good price for 4 days in Guatemala and for all that will be taking place. You will not only be a blessing to us and to our students, you will also receive a blessing yourself by being here.

PLEASE come and be with us. Please share this message about our 4th Annual Lectureship, our 2nd ITL Graduation and our 5th Anniversary celebration for ITL with others in your congregation who may not receive our correspondences; please make sure it is posted on your bulletin board at your congregation. This would be greatly appreciated.

May God bless each of you! Please RSVP by Sunday, February 17th so that we can make the proper arrangements for your arrival to Guatemala.

Con amor en Cristo,

Hawatthia Byron

“Teaching the CENTRAL MESSAGE in CENTRAL AMERICA”