HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Its has been over a year since our last blog post, so it is time for a little sharing…
Hopefully a few images will be eloquent before writing a bit about the amazing blessings we have received in these long months of 2023.
Our daughter, Clara Alegría was born December 30th 2022 here in Guatemala and she is 1 year old! Furthermore, we are so happy expecting our second baby girl!!! These little miracles of God’s love have blessed us in unimaginable ways and have anointed our union and mission in a whole new dimension. We are obviously not moving as fast as we used to with the reconstruction phases of CASA FELIZ, but we are giving more time to the “small things” that give meaning to our life here: BEING a mission family amongst the poor, SERVING our elderly in need and SHARING God’s love to all we meet not so much by our works but by our union.
In spite of what it means to have a baby girl and being 7 months pregnant with our second we have been able to move forward in many different areas of our ministry. We would love to share some of it with you all:
Tortillas de Amor food and health program
After a very long wait, our “Tortillas de Amor” dining room has been reopened and our (110) elderly have returned to “recline at table and break bread” together! We had to close the dining room back in 2020 when the pandemic hit Guatemala in March. The weekly meals became a food package delivered to the families every month, and subsequently a “take away” system to prevent the vulnerable elderly from being with others in enclosed spaces. It is beautiful to have the elderly sit together once again, to see them chat and share as a community and to actually serve them at the table while they receive God’s love in our very home.
Additionally, having the elderly come every week is a great way to monitor their health and offer assistance and care through the local mission hospital, where Juan Pablo is now working as a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant for The Foundation for Saving Sight.
In some providential way, we are the only health insurance our elderly have! Thanks to your continued support we will be able to continue this ministry, Katie’s first love, for the next year and hopefully invite new elderly-in-need to the program in the coming years.
The most beautiful façade in our town
Another exciting event of this year was the embellishment of the front wall of Casa Feliz!
Cindy Fisher and her crew from Big Bang Mosaics came to Guatemala to design, create and install 4 amazing mosaics! They chose 4 photographs of our elderly who have passed away and helped us honor them by recreating the images in tile fragments. It was so exciting to see the 2 teams (February and March) working together to make our big street side wall the most beautiful façade in the whole town!
We are so grateful for Cindy and her team for their generosity and for leaving this beautiful memorial as an invaluable part of our ministry and mission center.
Our dear friends from Ascension Parish in Kansas came on their yearly mission trip in May 2023 to help us to do a couple of projects. They repainted the entire front wall of Casa Feliz around the mosaics and made it even more beautiful! We enjoy seeing the children and adults, locals and travelers stop for a moment in front of our wall to appreciate the faces of our elderly.
Free Hair Cuts for our Abuelos…
Another beautiful blessing has been Jose Luis and his hair cutting crew!
Jose Luis is a young local family man who recently got baptized and felt a very strong calling to serve the Lord in some way through his gifts. He knocked on our door some months back offering his services for our elderly. We agreed to invite the elderly once a month for free haircuts and some coffee and bread and it has been a success! When we run into some of our abuelos in the street they often take off their hats and point to their head silently gesturing: “I’m letting it grow so I can come for a cut soon”. We thank God for sending us people like Jose Luis who simply want to give without asking anything in return.
2023 Christmas Party/ Dance Recital
One of our favorite events during the year is the Christmas party for the elderly. This year we were blessed to meet and connect with Transformation Ballet, a non-profit dance studio in Panajachel (across Lake Atitlán from us) founded and directed by Christine Tjahjadi-Lopez, a young and spirit-filled missionary from the United States. Christine and her collaborators teach ballet and do Bible studies with kids from foster homes around Lake Atitlán and with anyone who wants to learn, dance and meet Christ!
We joined forces with them and with the Town Mayor to offer the elderly a wonderful dance recital in the City Hall theater! It was a splendid morning filled with music, dance, smiles… and tamales!
May God continue to use Transformation Ballet to heal wounds and bring the Good News to many hearts!
The INTERIM PHASE continues…
After all the work completed in the second level of CASA FELIZ in 2022, we’ve decided to take a pause to dedicate our energies to our growing family. In order to maintain the beautiful work accomplished, we assembled a new cleaning crew with young local girls who have a heart for our mission.
Saida, Aby and Fryda have done beautiful work up keeping the beauty of the reconstructed areas. Additionally, we are painting the walls of the completed areas and preparing the way for the work in our future Chapel, dedicated to Andrew Merck. Early December, two young friends from Ascension Kansas group, Ava and Curtis, travelled to San Lucas Toliman with the plan to paint the entire second level of CASA FELIZ! Amazingly, they managed to paint all 17 rooms of the home in just 2 days with the help of Saida and Aby…and a painting spray machine. New bonds made, blessings of joy and lots of painting!
Our next PHASE will consist in the construction of the chapel and the purchasing and installation of the room doors and hallway windows, bathroom accessories. We hope to begin the restoration of the first level of CASA FELIZ after we can accomplish this. For now we are just grateful to continue what has been entrusted to us and to be present to our elderly every week.
Please write us if you feel called to help in the coming phases of reconstruction. All funds received for this purpose are set aside and are building interest until we are ready to put on the construction gloves again!
May our All Good and Merciful God continue to bless you and give you the joy of knowing you are always in His loving gaze!
With gratitude, love and prayers,
Juan Pablo, Katie, Clara Alegría and lil’ one in the womb!
God Bless! Please keep me on your info list and in your prayers. I will be 84. next month. I would like to donate. Should I send the donation to Chris and address please and info on check as who to make it out to. Will always consider you as my “little Angel “ Katie❤️