'Guatemala' Tagged Posts
November News
First Church Family: What a year it’s been! The way we have reached out to serve our community and world in 2022 has been astonishing! We raised more than $20,000 dollars last December and January that enabled us to provide fresh water for people who had none, digging and building two wells in Guatemala. This spring we raised more than $25,000 that is enabling us to build a Habitat for Humanity house for a family without a roof…
August News
First Church Family, There are several things that happen that make me realize summer is moving to its end. One is that I notice a yellow jacket’s nest on my property. That happened Thursday, and thank goodness, this year I saw the nest and took care of it before I ran over it with a weed eater (which is usually what happens.) Another reminder that summer’s end approaches is the fact that anyone who grows tomatoes, okra, or…
May News
First Church Family, Several weeks ago, in a conversation with our Pete Kidder, Caldwell Habitat for Humanity executive director, I came to understand that: * there are houses within a mile of our church where families with children live on dirt floors.* more than 7,000 houses in our county are heated by portable kerosene heaters and by opening the oven.* 7,764 families in our county spend almost one-third of their total income on housing.* and many mobile homes in our county are so poorly…
Helping Those in Need
First Church Family, Last Thursday, in a conversation with our Pete Kidder, Caldwell Habitat for Humanity executive director, I came to understand that: there are houses within a mile of our church where families with children live on dirt floors. more than 7,000 houses in our county are heated by portable kerosene heaters and by opening the oven. 7,764 families in our county spend almost one-third of their total income on housing. and many mobile homes in our county are so poorly insulated that…
Youth and Ministry
First Church Family, I pray you are in good health and spirits. Important things are happening in our church family. Over the past weeks, we have sought to recharge our youth ministry. During the past two years of COVID restraints, our Tara Hatton led us well. In the couple of months since she left the program to take better care of her family, we have prayed about moving forward and asked our congregation to assist us in recommitting ourselves to supporting a strong youth program. …
Being a Blessing
Dear First Church Family, As I write this on Groundhog’s Day morning, the sun is out… oh goodness, another six weeks of winter! This past Sunday was our Tara Hatton’s last official Sunday as our Director of Youth and Family Ministry. Tara has done a wonderful job with us and hasbecome an integral part of our church family and our leadership team. Tara has shared that she will continue to worship and serve with us on a volunteer basis. What a…
Christmas Is Not Your Birthday
First Church Family, I pray you are remembering whose birthday Christmas is, and making decisions accordingly. Our present worship series: “Christmas Is Not Your Birthday,” has called me to a new understanding of what things honor Christ during the Christmas season. I believe that one of the things Jesus would desire is clean drinking water for His children. Over the past two weeks, we made the decision to provide crystal clean drinking water to a village in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. The project has…
Christmas Letter
First Church Family, Do you anticipate a wonderful Christmas this year? I do, because I am not basing my expectations on things I might receive, but things I might partner with Jesus on. You see, everything changes when you begin to anticipate and eagerly await something that actually has the ability to fulfill and satisfy your expectations. The season we are in, Advent, is about preparing for something of great magnitude by having high anticipation of appropriate expectations,…