New Life and Peace Ministries

www.newlifeandpeaceministries.blogspot.com

November  2017

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is a blessing to share with you the news from our ministry here in Guatemala.

Luis

The children are doing well – they are now on their vacation time until the first week of January.  We are thankful that each one has passed on to the next grade and they have all improved in so many different areas.  And, everyone is excited because we have a few activities planned for the break.  We hope to go on an excursion, a few hikes, and of course, celebrate our Savior’s birth at Christmas time!

We also have two new children.  A twelve year old girl, Paula, and a boy, Abraham, also twelve, have joined us.  Both are very kind and smart. It is wonderful to have them with us in time for Christmas.  They will be surrounded by God’s love and blessings.

Christmas Dinner 2016

Other exciting news is that Luis, one of our teenagers is going to finish ninth grade.  He is very happy because this is an important achievement in his life.  He has already decided to continue studying a trade career in tourism which will require two years of study.  He has also been studying English on the weekends and we can see a lot of improvement.  It is a blessing to be part of his life and to see God’s faithfulness as he grows into a young man. 

As Christmas is approaching, we want to invite you to help us to make the holidays very special for the children and also for the men at the rehab center.  Christmas is a happy time for the children because they receive gifts they have waited for all year long.  They also enjoy the time at the church for our Christmas Eve service and our big Christmas dinner.

We are hoping that the Lord will touch some hearts to help us with the cost for gifts and Christmas dinner for the children.  With the 20 children that God has brought to us, we will need approximately $1500 – $2000.

Christmas 2016

We want to thank all of you for the support you have given us throughout this year because it has made a difference in the lives of the children.  We are able to do things for them that we otherwise would not be able to do.  We pray that the Lord will bless your faithfulness!

The rehab center is also doing well.  We have several teachers from different churches that are faithful to come every week and share the Word of God. 

On Christmas Eve, the men at the rehab center will have a big surprise. They do not expect a present.  So it will be fun to see the surprised and happy look they have as they receive a gift that God has provided.  The staff at the rehab center does not receive a salary for their work.  They live by faith.  And that is why we want to give them a special offering gift for Christmas.  Pray to ask the Lord if He would have you help in this area.  We are hoping to be able to have $500 to bless the rehab center with a gift and a Christmas dinner.

Merry Christmas and best wishes to you and your loved ones at this Christmas time and all year long.  God bless you for all the love and support that you provide to our ministry.

God bless you,

                       Victor & Chici Barbella  and Sandra Morales

NLPM

If you are interested in supporting us financially, please make your checks to:

“Christ Chapel”.

Include:   “NLPM” in the MEMO line so the funds will be directed to us.

Please send all donations to:

New Life and Peace Ministries

c/o Christ Chapel

3051 Cloverdale Rd.

Florence, AL  35633

Prayer

· Praise for new children and Luis’ education.

· Prayer for provision for Christmas.

· God’s continued healing over Chici.

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.’”

      Philippians 4:19

We have been telling you about the difficult situation that the children were living in Guatemala due to the government neglect besides the government didn´t want to allow the children to stay permanent in the children´s homes. However this week three siblings had a court hearing, the siblings asked the judge to stay permanent due to they were happy at our home and at school and that they like to have people that really care for them, so the judge accepted their request. We know that it was God taking care of the children and that He wants us to take care, protect and love these children. It is good to let you know that Don Victor and Seño Chici are back in Guatemala and that the children were excited to see them at home because for most of the children it was their first time meeting Don Victor and Seño Chici and they are like parents to most of our children.

 We continue working in the new house, last week we put four principal doors inside the house and the window frames, they look nice! However we are still missing five more doors.

The rehab center is doing fine, usually when Men come to the Rehab Center they are really desperate and they have lost the direction and control of their lives and so they can not go back to the right way, they need to have an experience with God and they also have to be exposed to a lot of pressure a little at a time.  In order to be capable of being part of the staff they have to trust God, because the only way that they can feel love for people is by loving Jesus First. 

We as church were praying that Don Victor and Seño Chici could be with us soon and now we are happy to have them back in church. the first Sunday they where back they attended church for the first time after a long time .We had a large crowd and celebrated their return, The sisters at church prepared a delicious lunch and after the service we could welcome Don Victor and Seño Chici with this delicious lunch. We Praised God for all He has done for them!

We are about to finish building the new house, this month we are going to put some principal doors inside of the house but still we will need some others in each room and in the laundry as well. The children are doing fine, the teenagers are excited to move to the new house because they have seen all the furniture that is going to be in the new house and they are enjoying the idea of not being with the little ones all day long. We are grateful with God because he put in the hearts of some people the desire to help us buying the furniture for the new house; God also provided the money for a mower. 

It is good to see how the church has remained faithful; it is a blessing to have a church with good doctrine where we can learn how to be disciples of Jesus. The church has been always a good support for the rehab and also for the children home. We as church are praying for the pastor Victor and (his wife) to give them strengths to overcome this difficult time. We are also praying for our ministries that God is going to allow them to continue growing and that he is going to provide everything needed as well.

The men at the Rehab Center are doing well, some of them are willing to have a real relation with God others however are just trying to stop taking drugs or drinking. Nonetheless our responsibility is to show them that only through Jesus they can be saved. The majority of the men just want to be sober  but we want them to be new creatures in Jesus but to be a new creature takes time and that is why we are always encouraging them to seek the Lord as the answer for their lives.

We were sharing with you our thoughts about the new house that we are building. We were praying the Lord to show us what to do with the new building and since then we´ve been receiving children and now we have a full house. We believe that this is the answer from God to keep the house for the teenagers. We are going to move seven of them to the new house in a couple months. There are going to be just nine little children in this house and we are praying to see if we can receive more little children because we will have enough space. We also rescued a puppy from the streets, she was starving when we found her but now the children are giving her lot of love.

It is our desire to work with women but we have to continue praying to know when is going to be the right time and we know that God is going to provide everything to start this ministry.

Everything is going good with the church. The church continues growing, sometimes it gathers people from different places in the world. This is the time to look for the Lord Jesus because there will come times in which people won´t be able to do so. This month we had two different activities we celebrated mother´s day in the church in order to encourage them to continue teaching their children about God. The ladies from the church continue having lunch for the men from the Rehab Center every month. The men of the Rehab Center always enjoy having this activity with the people from the church.

The Rehab Center is doing fine. The house has kept full for the past months, this means that there is a big necessity of people to rehabilitate but most important they have the necessity of God in their hearts. The Rehab is always full because of the evangelizing work that the staff does twice a month in different towns from Guatemala.

The construction of the new house is coming along well, the electricity work is already done and the lights are installed, this week we are installing the toilets and sinks. Also the iron gates are installed and the entrance is made out of concrete. We also worked to make the front wall higher. We are thankful with all of you that have helped us building this house. Our desire for this house was to move teens into it, but during this time we have been praying the Lord to show us what his will for this amazing building is. Lately God has showed us that there is a need to re-open a Rehab Center for women, because the problem of drug and alcoholism in Guatemala is the same for women and men. Most of the problems related to abandoned children are caused because both parents are having problems with alcohol and drugs. The sad reality is that there are many Rehab Centers for men but not for women. We have been ministering the Lord Jesus to children and men for several years, but now we believe that it is the time to start working with women that are desperate and without any hope.  

The Rehab Center is doing fine; we have 42 men from different places from Guatemala that are looking for Hope for their lives. The problems of alcoholism and drug addiction in Guatemala are getting worst day after day and we are happy to be part of the work that God is doing in this situation. Some of them are answering to the call of God to help others as they were helped. They are willing to be training to be part of the staff and help to run the Ministry. Adrian and Isaac are teachers for Sunday school; also Isaac is playing the keyboard during the devotions to worship God. It is a blessing to see them with a heart for Jesus.

The church is doing fine, but we know that the church has to continue growing therefore Sonia and some staff from the Rehab are evangelizing children from the neighborhood to attend Sunday School to meet the Lord Jesus with the hope that one day their families are going to join us in church.

This week all the children are in exams and they are working hard to get good grades. Justin is acting like if he were in college!

  
They are making a good effort because they are happy that summer vacation is comming!

The children are back to school!! And they are excited because they could see their friends of last year, they also have new friends and some of them have a new teacher. All the children are happy to be at school, however Michael and Fredy are excited and at the same time they are nervous because they are going to a new school!  
   

We want to say Happy Birthday to Marleny, Edgar and Alex. This was the first birthday of Alex here at the boy´s home, he has very happy when he saw his lemon cake! Happy Birthday boys! we hope that God will give you more years of life and we pray that you continue growing in your spiritual life.

   

We are very thankful with God because he is always faithful. It is good to see that Guatemalan families are getting involved in the life of the boys bringing a smile to our children through coming and sharing a wonderful time with them. We thank Karen and Pedro´s family because they always come to visit the children, this time a delicious lunch hamburger and they also gave the children a shirt of their favorite soccer team. We also appreciate that Don Arturo´s gas station donated some tamales which the boys really enjoyed. Likewise we want to say thank to a small restaurant in Parramos called Peto´s, every year they have given us a special lunch, this time they gave us cordon bleu it was very enjoyable. At the same time we want to thank Ana Lucia Midence because she gave us money to take the children to Mc Donald´s. The children had a vacation time full of joy thank to the desire of these people of collaborating.