UPDATE: Progress on Church Shelter for Volcano Victims in Guatemala

Luis Pinto, GLS field director for Central America and the Caribbean, reports in on the progress on the church shelter in Esquintla, Guatemala. Luis led a team of 35 GLS volunteers to provide food, medicine, equipment, prayer and comfort to families displaced by the volcano’s eruptions, which showered ash over nearby towns and spewed pyroclastic flows throughout the area. (If you missed the first report on how local Summit volunteers got connected with Vida Real Church, click here.)

Your prayers and support for our people and our nation have been heard.

I want to thank all of you for being a part of our spiritual family. Your prayers for our people and our nation have been heard. God has been good to us, providing the resources our people need during this difficult time after the natural disaster in Escuintla, Guatemala. The volcano continues erupting from time to time, but with less intensity.

On June 23, 2018, a total of 35 volunteers joined us in a great adventure in which we visited the affected families in the church-shelter. They were waiting for us, and knew we were coming with help and to provide a word of hope and faith.

We had an opportunity to share with 105 people.

We had an opportunity to share with 105 people, most of them women and children, since some men were outside the shelter still looking for their missing relatives. Sadly, it is difficult to believe that they will find them alive.

Families who lost everything find encouragement and learn survival skills.

Some of the other men were out working. This was surprising to me, as it was a Saturday and I thought they would be at the shelter. I figured they didn’t have anything to do but to wait until their lands were recovered, or they were relocated. Most of them are farmers who’ve lost everything!

It was inspiring to me that the pastor and his congregation are teaching survival skills to the families so they can continue with their lives and fight for their families. Marlon Tzorin, chairman of the GLS in Escuintla, has also sponsored eight young men in his school. They are learning different trades in order to get a job soon and help their families.

A dignified kitchen saves food from rotting.

While we were there, we proceeded to install the kitchen, stoves and refrigerators. The pastor said, now we have a dignified kitchen and the food, especially the meat, will no longer rot.

We also installed shelves in two areas while some of the volunteers played with the children. Then we delivered hygienic kits to all the adults.

Being the hands and feet of Jesus to those who lost everything.

Some of our volunteers were professionals in specific fields, such as psychology. And when we saw how many of the women were depressed, having lost everything, including some of their relatives, they were able to serve them and offer them hope. It also created a great opportunity to share the word of God and to present Jesus as our savior and redeemer, comforter and life giver.

The work ended with a prayer for the families and Rolando Diaz and his wife, and the local pastors. Blessings to all! Thank you again for your prayers and support!