10 Ways we have seen God's Faithfulness in the last 10 Years Serving in Guatemala...

 

It is hard to believe that we are completing 10 years of serving the Lord in Guatemala. It has been an amazing ride and we are grateful the Lord has allowed us to be a part. I have been reflecting on this the past few weeks and want to share some ways we have seen God being faithful to our family and the ministries we have served with here since June of 2012.

One Scripture that stuck out to me in a recent reading was from 2 Samuel 7:18b. It is a pray of David in which he says, "Who am I, Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?" This is the same thought I have had recently. Who am I and who is the Kunkel family that you would call us and use us here in Guatemala. But we are grateful for his calling and using us. We are also grateful to so many people that the Lord has surrounded us with during these 10 years to pray, support, work with side by side.

Here are 10 ways we have seen God working in our family over the last 10 years. 10 ways we have seen God's faithfulness evidenced in our lives. (There are many more but had to narrow it down)

1. Calling: You can read about this in our very first blog post here. This happened in 2010 and 2011 when God called our family to sell everything and move to Guatemala with our five boys. What a journey it has been! God is faithful!
2. Financial Provision: God has faithfully provided for our family and ministry for over 10 years. We began raising funds for our family and then for Love Guatemala and we have never missed a meal or ever had to lay off an employee or close a program at LG because of financial issues alone. God is faithful!
3. Safety: We live in a majority world country with a fair amount of crime and natural disasters etc. We knew our calling included risks for our family but God has kept us "safe". We have never had a major accident or health issue to deal with while living here in Guatemala. (Safety and security is not the goal nor should it be for all of us as believers, but we are grateful for God's protection) God is faithful!
4. Direction: We have also seen the Lord faithfully guiding us in these 10 years. He guided us as we moved here, He guided as we expanded the ministry, He guided us as we looked for land to expand, He guided us as we built the LG facility. He has been faithfully guiding. God is faithful!
5. Provided teams: God has brought just the right people into our lives and ministry over the past 10 years as well. Some have been brought into our lives in "ordinary" ways and others in "extraordinary" ways such as dreams and divine intervention. It is incredible to see how God has brought so many people around us and Lg and now New Life Network to do the work God is calling us to do. Teams both in the states and here in Guatemala. God is Faithful!
6. Provided the Facility for LG: You can see the entire story here, but God miraculously provided for the current LG facility that houses our schools and ministry and a church. 
7. Expansion of Love Guatemala: With the new facility we were able to grow our programs and reach. We started a feeding center, English school and eventually, primary, middle and high school. Later in 2019 we were able to expand and build on some land we had bought a few years before. We built a multi-purpose facility that we are currently enclosing and expanding a little more. Little did we know how much this space would help us during the pandemic since it is open air and larger. God is faithful!
8. New Life Church: Through one of those divine connections mentioned above, Carlos and I at the end of 2017 connected with a Pastor who was launching a Hispanic church planting network throughout Latin America which would become known as New Life Network. This led to us launching a church in early 2018 in Guatemala. This has now grown and is multiplying into various churches and works in the coming months and years. See one of the first posts about New Life Church here. God is faithful!
9. Growing Family: In 2018 we were blessed to have our first girl, Grace Christina. See this story here. In 2020 we adopted Jimena Sofia. Her story is here. In 2021 God surprised us with another little girl, Emma Jane. (I guess I was too tired to write a blog about her birth) And what is even more amazing is that God has given us the energy most days to keep up with these three little ones. God is faithful!
10. Changed Lives: The main reason God sent us to Guatemala was so "The whole earth would be filled with his glory." Ps. 72:19b And this happens as people encounter him through gospel proclamation. (Romans 10:17) We have had the great privilege to see the Lord transform many lives. Here are a few of the lives we have seen changed: Baptisms, Walter,  Other baptisms,  Julio and his transformed life, Eswin's Baptism.

Glory to God for all He has done in the last 10 years. He truly is faithful. Thanks to each of you who have been a part through encouragement, prayers and financial support!

Transition Dinner, Prayer and Celebration

We had a special weekend celebrating Katy and what God has done in her life. We had several guests down to celebrate with us including representatives from our board of directors. It was a special time. 

Amy (LG board president) giving words of encouragement and praying for Katy

Katy's parents giving words and praying for her. 

Ben giving words of encouragement. We all believe in her so much and can't wait to see how God uses her in this new season of Love Guatemala. Please pray with us for Katy!

Time of prayer over Katy officially installing her as the new general director.

Amy encouraging the LG team.

Katy had a special gift for Amy that was a painting of the first school in Magdalena.

Ben got to share some words with the staff and express how proud he was of them all. They had all shared how they arrived at LG and how God was working in their lives. Almost all of them shared how much they had grown in their faith in their time at LG. It was a special time.

They all then circled Ben to pray for him as he transitions out of LG.

Thanks for all your prayers during this time of transition!

Prayer, Missions, Miracles and a trip to Honduras

We had a team that went to Honduras this past week to serve with our friends at BVSA.  They were to serve there doing a bunch of things but mainly sharing the gospel. PTL that 10 people gave their lives to Jesus during their time there!! 

But their trip was not an easy one. Several got sick, two flat tires on the way down and while there Eswin had an accident and broke his femur. He spent 2 days in the hospital and praise the Lord he is on the road to recovery. But the Lord used this injury to see his name made known as well. While in the hospital one of the coaches of the Rhinos where they were serving (The ministry uses soccer to reach the community) visited him and brought his girlfriend who had resisted the gospel previously. But this day Eswin who just hours earlier was brought by ambulance to the hospital in much pain shared his story and this lady below gave her life to Christ! The miracle of new life!

 

Please pray for this young believer and the other 9 who gave their lives to Jesus.

This is Eswin who had a rought week, but the Lord is using this injury for his glory. He had surgery to put a rod in his leg because the break was so bad.

Love this! Some of Eswin's new honduran friends praying for him.

Pray for more in Honduras, Guatemala and all over the world to know and follow Jesus. 

Please pray for Eswin in his recovery. He does not have insurance and incurred more than $3,000 in hospital bills and also will need support for a few months in medical costs and also to support his family. Please consider supporting him in this time. 

You can give here and mark "support for Eswin": https://www.rednuevavida.org/global/guatemala

Trip to Indy May 2022

 Ben and Joel took a quick trip to Indianapolis for some meetings and time with family and friends. Ben is horrible about taking pictures but there are a few. They had a great time.

The girls wanted to see a picture of us in the "train" in the airport.

Ben got to spend an incredible 4 days with these servants of the Lord. This is the leadership team for New Life Network. We spent 3-4 days meeting and sharing vision and goals for the next year and also had a fun day where we went to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

We got to celebrate Mother's day with Mamaw Jane! (Missing a few more grandkids here)

Lunch with Ben's Mom and brothers.

Lots of time with Ben's Mom

Game time with family.

We even got time to do a little golfing.

Joel's first time golfing.

Love Guatemala Transition

 

We had a special time this week with all of our staff communicating more with them about the transition of leadership from Carlos and Ben to Katy and her new team. We shared the story of Love Guatemala and how God has been faithful for over 10 years. It is quite a God story!

We challenged Katy and the team in this new season of change and transition to draw closer to the Lord and glorify Him by giving our all to Him through serving at Love Guatemala.

We had a special time of prayer for Katy were we prayed the prayer of David from 1 Chronicles 29:10-19 over her.

Please continue to pray for Katy as she assumes this new role.

 

Please pray for all of our staff during this time of transition!

Kunkel Family Financial Transition to New Organization

Hi everyone! This is an email we sent to all our supporters about our financial support transition for our family. This explains a little more about everything in this phase of our transition. Thanks for your prayers and support for our family! We need to raise an additional 10% to cover extra expenses in this new phase. Would you consider supporting our family? You can give here: https://www.rednuevavida.org/ourteam/ben Thank you! Check out all the details below.

 

Thanks so much for your ongoing prayers and support for our family! We are super grateful for your support over the last several years! We can’t be here serving in Guatemala without you. As you know we are in transition from Love Guatemala to New Life Network. We are excited and grateful for all the ways God is providing for this transition. God is raising up and providing leadership for Love Guatemala. We will still be supporting and helping Katy Lopez (New Director) and the LG team in whatever ways possible. 

One of the parts of our transition is transitioning all of our financial supporters to the new organization we are working with called Red Nueva Vida or New Life Network in English. Check out their website here for more information: https://www.rednuevavida.org/english  As we have shared previously our role will be focused on church planting, training pastors and planters, and providing coaching for these Pastors. You can read more about our role at New Life Network at this link: https://www.rednuevavida.org/ourteam/ben

So we would like to ask you to transition your financial support from Love Guatemala to Red Nueva Vida in this month of March if possible. You can do this in different ways:

• Online: https://www.rednuevavida.org/ourteam/ben

• By Check: Mail Check to Red Nueva Vida Inc., 7010 East Thompson Road, Indianapolis, IN, 46239. **please mark as Ben Kunkel Support**

(Red Nueva Vida, Inc. is a non-profit organization with 501 (c) (3) registration number: 83-0944963 in the United States of America. All donations received are tax deductible, as applicable.)

(If you have regular recurring donations through Love Guatemala you can email Tanya Spanglar at tanyakspangler@gmail.com or call her at 260-444-7943 to cancel these donations)

We have experienced some increased costs in these days as many have (ie. milk and gas over $5 a gallon) so we are trying to raise an additional 10% of support in this transition to cover the support fee we have through New Life Network and also some of our increased cost of living. If you are able to increase your support by 10 or even 5% in this transition we would be very grateful!

Here is a quick 3 minute video with some more information that involves the newest beautiful baby addition and family update on our ever-growing family ;-)

Thanks again so much for your prayers and support! Please let us know if you have any questions.

The Kunkel Family

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” 

Philippians 1:3-5

Sofia Got Her Visa!

 

We are so glad that we were able to get Sofia's visa! Truly an answer to prayer for many months! Jennifer took Jake, Sofia, Grace, & Emma to the states for a few weeks. The main purpose was to support Levi in his surgery as he continues his treatment for cleft lip and palate. The girls are enjoying see and meeting some family for the first time. They hardly want to talk to those of us left here Guatemala when we call because they are having so much fun!

Papaw Tony with Emma. (He watched her as Jennifer was with Levi for surgery as they did not allow kids in that area of the hospital)

Silly girls!

Sisters enjoying horse at Meijer that boys used to enjoy years ago!

Meeting Cousins!

Lots of snuggles!

Meeting Aunties!

Mamaw love!

Emma has done great on this trip. Please pray that the rest of the trip goes well. Levi had a first successful procedure. Please pray for the next few procedures that they will go well and that these are the last ones he has to do!