..to look after orphans and widows in their distress. James 1:27 Prince of Peace Home for Girls Guatemala Director Mike Brewton November, 2016 Table of Contents PoP-ulation Camp Sonshine Ben & Kimberly Vision Trip Peronia Ministry By Karla Coronado (Teacher Coordinator) Quinceañera - Gaby Thanksgiving at PoP Avon On Campus: 52 girls PoP-ulation New girls: Bella, Lorena, Ruth Departures: 0 Camp Sonshine November I can't believe that it is already November. The girls had a couple weeks off from school before what in essence is summer school. Most of the girls this year made great leaps and bounds catching up from where they were academically. The teachers are using this time to catch them up further. We have 4 that will be seniors next year. Our school year runs from January to October. For the most part the rain has ceased and the grass will start to turn brown in the coming weeks. The flock of brilliant green parrots will continue to make their incredible racket as they travel further up the mountain each morning and down again in the evening. The temperatures did drop and much cooler nights and days prevailed. It kind of reminds me of what fall typically is in the US. Carroll and I went to language school in Antigua. We stayed there all week and absorbed a tremendous
This year marked the 16th annual trip for Camp Sonshine! The best way to describe it is similar to VBS (Vacation Bible School) but on steroids! David Black, Founder, and his remarkable team once again entertained the girls for the entire week with a Christian message. They did skits that demonstrated real life choices. For example, one skit showed how a person's outcome of a situation was significantly influenced by others around. In this case, not such a good influence. In addition to being great actors, dancers, these young people showed the love of Christ. Many bonds were made with the girls. Many of the girls that have been here a long time look forward each year to their return. amount. By the end of the class we were literally spent. I was reminded of the old adage; "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". We were also visited by a long time friend, Victoria. She has been coming for many years now and I've heard stories of when she was Tia for a period of time when we were short a Tia. She also worked in the medical clinic alongside Dr. Rivera. She made Carroll and I envious of her Spanish. The girls love her and she was a big help. She worked on translating the Christmas letters and cards to sponsors. We are looking for more help from her in the future. We were blessed to add a new member to our Guatemalan Authority (the governing board of PoP). Eddie Gomez, is a successful Guatemalan businessman that is 100% "sold out for the Lord". He has dedicated almost all his time to serving the Lord! He is an Associate Pastor at Fresca Presencia. His group serves 6 public schools, 2 Homes each week. Our first experience with the church was a bi-monthly activity they did for the girls. This year they are providing 1,500 backpacks filled with school supplies. Many of the girls are attending the school activities, and outreach they are doing. I am seeing many of them flourish in their faith. More of the church in December's newsletter. Quinceañera - Gaby Ben & Kimberly Vision Trip Early in the year we were contacted by a couple that wanted to come and visit PoP. They are a young couple with a young son that felt the call to do missions work. Kimberly spoke Spanish so they did a search putting all the elements they felt God was directing them. They came to Prince of Peace and researched our ministry here. They began sponsoring a girl that subsequently was able to go back to her family. They switched their sponsorship to another girl and sponsored for quite some time. Finally, they decided to come and see the Home. They had a friend that was a missionary in Guatemala. They came and spent several days with us, went to church then left to stay with their friend. We had another remarkable 15th birthday celebration. Actually, Gabby turned 15 yrs. old earlier in the year, but the person she wanted to "walk her" was on Camp Sonshine's team so she postponed her Quinceañera until November. "Walk her" is what they refer to the person that walks her in as a girl and after she leaves the room at a point in the celebration, she comes back in as a young lady and typically dances with him. Some of the girls have this person as a symbolic father type figure as in a wedding. Once again the fireworks display at the end was remarkable! Their desire is to bring a team in the future and find ways to tell the PoP story at their church and others. They had a young blond haired blue eyed son that the girls literally smothered. It was such a blessing to see a young couple sold out for missions work. They both were teachers and are praying about where and what the Lord has in store for them. I'm sure more to be continued...
Peronia Ministry By Karla Coronado (Teacher Coordinator) Peronia is a settlement near San Cristobal. Before 2009 it was a red zone (very dangerous area). There weren t any businesses and the neighbors were living in fear because of two gangs that were fighting for territory and supremacy. The two gangs were Los caballos y Los metales it was dangerous even to move from street to street since killing and extorsions were prevelent. God was ready to do a great miracle in 2009. A Pastor named Mardoqueo had an unexpected visit in his church Tierra deseable. The members of the gangs wanted to make peace and asked for his help. Even though it was the purpose, some of the visitors still wanted to finish a job killing the leader of one of the gangs. The pastor preached in his small church and 120 gang members gathered there. The Holy Spirit made his amazing job and they knew Jesus as their Savior. They made peace and the gang member that wanted to kill the leader of the other gang gave his testimony that same night. Next the gang leader went to a church retreat and wanted to change his way of living. Donovan, was part of the youth group at Tierra deseable. He was a witness of this revival that God did in this neighborhood. Things have radically changed in Peronia, you can go there any time, there are a lot of businesses some of them of the former gang members. You can go up in the hill and get to a quiet place where now Pastor Donovan and his family have a Ministry, Casa de los Sueños. They work with kids and youth sharing the Good News of salvation and eternal life. Thanksgiving at PoP Camp Sonshine was here as they have been for the last 16 years during Thanksgiving. Obviously, Thanksgiving is a North American Holiday and tradition. Karla had the girls do a paper, research, video and presentation on how Thanksgiving began in the US. The meaning of being thankful obviously transcends all cultures and time. They did a cute performance prior to our Thanksgiving Dinner (it was chicken instead of turkey). After dinner Camp Sonshine did their closing ceremony. About 20 of the girls that go to cell group in San Lucas also wanted to go to a special Thanksgiving Dinner at Pastor Eddie's. Carroll and I left with them to the special activity. They had an outdoor praise and worship time, then a feast along with turkey and a lot of the traditional fixins common in the US. Pastor Eddie and his wife lived in Texas for a while and became fond of the tradition. It was cold, but we had a wonderful celebration! It is good to sit back and realize what all we have to be thankful for.
Pastor Donovan understands that knowing Jesus will prevent that Peronia becomes a red área again. Peronia is a real example of the great things that our mighty God can do. We want to be part of that by supporting what Pastor Donovan in the name of Jesus is Making. PoP is partnering with this ministry to facilitate answers to prayers of the congregation. We do not want to pour US dollars toward projects that we like or want to do but prefer to ask the families for their prayer requests and see where God leads the partnership. We prayed with a family who is very poor and God led one friend to donate and install a stove. And another team is hoping to support them by adding a sterile room so the 16 year old daughter can have renal dialysis at home. Avon In September we had a contact with Avon. They have 4 projects they do throughout the year where it is an opportunity for their workers to volunteer and do community service. The projects include a run for Breast Cancer and they put us on the list for an advance team to come check out our needs and hear our story. Two ladies came and Karla (Teacher Coordinator) and I took them on a detailed tour of our Home. They were so impressed with Prince of Peace that they indicated our "story" and need blew the doors off the other 3 places they visited. This family of 6 has no running water, no stove, no toilet, one block wall, three scrap walls, a dirt floor and one light bulb. Please join us in prayer to see how God wants to work with them to improve their life. They will be asked to contribute part of the work or money. We hope several churches will partner with us on this special prayer request. Plans were put into place and this month we were blessed to have 150 volunteers come from Avon to the Home. About 50 or so grabbed paint brushes and rollers and painted the outside of the salon and the side wall from the salon to Casa Biege. They had the whole thing done in a matter of a little over an hour! While one group was painting, the others had activities, games and fun with the girls. They even brought their own security detail and posted guards all around to prevent any wandering around. They looked like fire ants moving around. It was extremely organized and they saw other needs and indicated
they would like to help us in the future. We are exploring some financial assistance they may be able to offer as well. Once they were finished, they left all the brand new poles, extension poles, rollers, pans, paint with us. What a blessing. Please visit our website at www.princeofpeacegt.com. Donate to our Home through the "Give Now" Link. If you need to update your contact information, please email: popboardemail@gmail.com