New Life Network Guatemala Update

 

New Life Network in Guatemala continues to advance and grow. There are many opportunities for growth and we have been praying and discernign which doors to walk through. Two opportunties that we are pursuing is planting churches in two communties close to where we planted the first church. Pray for Eswin and Evelyn and there team there in Santa Lucia. They have been praying and evangelizing and forming a team there and hope to launch some Sunday gatherings mid year this year.

We also are preparing a planter for another community close and hope to begin a work there by the end of the year. We also have a young man, Ivan, whom we believe the Lord is raising up to be sent to Honduras to partner with another ministry BVSA who already has a ministry there to help them plant a church. We are super excited to send our first missionary!

The first plant in Magdalena just celebrated 5 years of ministry. Check out some pictures below of this work. Pray for Carlos, Yosimar and the elders of this church. Thanks for praying and supporting these works in Guatemala!

Birthdays and Family Fun in February...

 We have been trying to enjoy lots of family time, celebrating Joels birthday this month and Ben's Stepfather, Harry at the end of January. We also visited the children's musuem and the park a few times when the weather has cooperated. We are grateful for this time here! Check out some pictures of the fun...

Harry's birthday celebration

Daddy date time with the girls

Time with grandma

This is an Indy car at the kids musuem

Even Luke got in there...he remembers this from when he was young.

The boys and Ben have been setting aside friday afternoon for hang time and discipleship

Park time

Valentines' date with girls

Joel's 15th birthday celebrated 2x's. Once with just our family and then again with cousins

Pacers game for Joel's birthday

I can't believe Joel is 15!

We have a new US Citizen in the Family

 Ben and Sofia got to travel to Phoenix, Arizona in mid January to complete Sofia's citizenship process. We are happy to say that she was approved and sworn in as citizen (Through Ben). We are praising the Lord for allowing us to finish this process. We are also super grateful for the over the top generous hospitality of Christen and Andrew Garver who hosted us in Phoenix. It is a beautiful place that we had never been able to see. Check out some pictures below.

Hike with Andrew

The big day!

Some of the beautiful scenery in Arizona!

A cool place we went after our citizenship appointment called "hole in the rock" which overlooks Phoenix.

Thanks for your prayers for this process!

Family Pics 2023

 Hey everyone....we had some new family pics done that we wanted to share here.

It is no easy task to get family pics done with 10 of us!

Home Assignment 2023 Update

 

We have been stateside for about a month now and we are adjusting to being here. It has been more challenging for some than others. We are grateful for the time here and to be able to celebrate with family over the holidays. Those are always the hardest times to be away. 

Now that we have a clearer picture of what this year will look like we wanted to keep everyone in the loop. So here are the priorities for this year of home assignment.

• Soul Care: We are taking extra time to tend to the needs of our soul with things like extra time in prayer and the word, counseling, connecting with a local body of believers, sabbath, a 90 days sabbatical, day retreats etc. (Sabbatical is from mid June to mid September so if you don't hear much from us in these months you will know why)
• Family Focus: We are also taking extra time to be with each other and with our extended family.
• Fundraising: We are at about 65% of our monthly needed support so we will be focusing on that especially the first several months of this year. (If you want to hear more about our work in Guatemala send us an email: benjamin@rednuevavida.org)
• Ministry Connections: We are connecting with some of the senior leadership at New Life Network which is based out of Indianapolis. We are also staying connected with and supporting Carlos, Katy and teams in Guatemala. Ben will be making a few trips there this year too.
• Extra Reading and Study: We hope to get some extra reading and studying done on different topics too. (We love having a Library right next door to us)

This statement I heard on a podcast yesterday helped me see this season in a new light. It said: "Missions is not just what God does through you, but also in you by conforming you to the image of Christ, than even when you are back home, God is doing something significant in his mission that is eternally significant."

Thanks for praying for us in this season! 

Christmas, birthdays and family fun...

 We have enjoyed our first holiday season in the United States in several years. It has been great to be with family and friends although we have missed our Guatemalan family. Check out some of the pics and details about our holidays celebrations and birthday celebrations.

Grace's Birthday

Grace turned 4 on Dec 18th. She is a fireball with lots of energy and personality. 

Christmas Celebrations

Christmas with Jennifer's side of the family. All the cousins together at last.

Time with Ben's parents.

Our own Christmas family celebration.

More family gatherings...

Levi's Birthday

Levi turned 20 on Dec 31st.