NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2022

 Dear Brothers and Sisters,

God bless you all. It is really a joy to share with you what the Lord is

doing here in New Life & Peace Ministries. We really appreciate your patience and support during the whole year! All your support made a difference in the lives of a lot of men. So far, 150 men have entered in the rehab this year. While not all of them completed their program, all of them did receive the Word of God. And, as the Bible says in 1Corinthians 3:6, I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.

As you can read, it you and us who are working together in the lives ofthese men, but it is God who is making them to grow. When I read this verse I have hope for all the men that have entered this rehab over many years.

We are already in November and it means that we need to start getting ready for Christmas. For us, it is very important for the men at the rehab to understand the real meaning of Christmas, but it is also important to share with them special food and some gifts that are going to make them to feel loved and part of the Christian community. As some of you know here in Guatemala we celebrate Christmas Eve with a service and then, after the service, we eat tamales, bread and hot chocolate. This is the typical food for Christmas here! After that, we give the presents and a

bag of candies. It is something small, but it makes a big difference in the hearts of these men. It is one thing to give something to somebody on the streets, but far more meaningful is allowing them to be in this home, providing them everything and also sharing Christmas Eve with them.

We need to make plans to celebrate Christmas with 30 men and start thinking about the special lunch for the 25th of December.

It is our desire that this Christmas is going to be special for the men that God is going to allow to be here and it is also our desire for them to see that it is the Lord Jesus who is doing an enormous work in their lives through the body of Christ. If you want to help us to bless these men this Christmas, please feel free to send your offerings. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

You can send your dontations to: Calvary Chapel of Marlton. 55 Main St. Marlton, NJ 08053 or if you are in Guatemala you can make your deposit to: Banco G&T No. 030-0618243-4 name: Asociacion Nueva Vida y Paz.

Victor Barbella.

Updating

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy New Year to all of you! We want to encourage you to start this year with this verse:Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass.   Psalms 37:5
 Our lives are secure in God alone, but it is our duty to commit ourselves to Him.

Christmas Eve, the men at the rehab

The girls happy opening their presents

 Due to your support at Christmas time, everybody at the ministries had a great holiday! The children, the men at the rehab center, and all the staff received a nice present and enjoyed a very delicious dinner on December 25th . We had a great time on Christmas Eve at church. We sang beautiful Christmas songs to glorify God and it was also very good to hear a service about the precious life of our Lord Jesus. After church, the children were very excited about going back home to open their presents. It was so good to see their happy faces opening their gifts. For five of the children, it was their first Christmas here at the home. They couldn’t believe that the presents were for them! On the 25th, we all had a great time as a family sharing the dinner that God provided for everybody. It was also a great opportunity to thank God for all of His blessings during the year.

On New Year, we had the visit of two good friends, Joel Newkirk and Dr. Green from Give Joy 2 One ministries. It was good to have them here sharing with us and especially with the children. On New Year’s Eve the children were treated to a day of shopping, including a movie. They had never had such a special New Year’s Eve before so they were very excited! Unfortunately for the children, the vacation time is over and two weeks ago they started the new school year. Four of the teenagers started high school and they are very excited because they finally are going to study with other kids the same age. The children are attending four different schools in town because of their learning problems. We are working on the school enrollments and buying all of the school supplies and uniforms and we are realizing that the expenses have increased incredibly this year. If some of you are interested in supporting our children in their education, please feel free to help us with the expenses, knowing that this is the inheritance that we are going to leave the children for their future.

We have also seen a large influx of people coming to the rehab center for spiritual help in looking to God for answers to life’s problems with addiction. During the holidays and up to this present time, we have had an average of 40 staff and residents in the center. Many people are desperate and we know that the problem is a spiritual one. We need to return to God our Father through the cross and blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ Please pray with us so that we never miss God’s presence in our lives and we can continue to develop the lives of other people according to the call that God has given us. May God bless you with His presence in your life; thank you for all of your help and prayers. Please continue to keep Chici in prayer for her health. God’s blessings to all, Victor & Chici Barbella, and Sandra Morales

Updating

No more garden

A long time that we don't shared the last news at New Life and Peace Ministries. But many things have been happening.

Starting to build the wall

The first week of September we had a lot of raining and the river that runs behind our property overflowed its banks and crossed the property that is next to our house. Both our wall and also our main gate were demolished. Flooding like this has never happened before. Usually, the river runs high every year during the rainy season destroying the street, but never up to our wall. Although we are not sure what the reason was, likely the river’s retaining wall gave way allowing it to cross our property and destroy our wall and gate.

The new wall

It took almost three months to rebuild the new wall and fix the gate, this time we built a retaining wall that is not going to be destroy by the river. We appreciate all the help that we received from several supporters to do this work. This week the wall was  finished  and we praise God for this and his protection.

We are also very happy to have all the children

Pretty girl

  at home because the school year is over and the children are very exciting enjoying their free time. All of the finish school with excellent grades and good reports from the teachers. Last week four of our children had a little ceremony to celebrate that they complete sixth grade. Marleny is one of them and she received a reward because she was the best student in English class and she very proud and happy. We also are very proud of them because we know that is not easy for them to be still in primary school being teenagers.  After the ceremony we took them out for dinner to celebrate their achievement.

No more children now teenagers

Visiting the zoo

We have 19 children and they are very happy waiting for Christmas, they know that is the time for presents, every day they ask for their presents and every morning they want something different for a present. Christmas is a wonderful time to share with them the love of our Lord Jesus.

Sharing what is happening at New Life and Peace Ministries

Dear Brothers and Sisters
God is always faithful with all of us and He is always doing something in the hearts of the children and also in the men and women that are at the rehab center. It is always a blessing to see how He changes their hearts and gives them hope.

Rehab Center

We have two new children. They are brothers, ages 5 and 7 years old. We don’t know much about them, but they are going to have their first court hearing at the end of November. We do know that God has plans for them and we pray that God is going to heal their hearts. We also have Paula back with us. Paula is a girl that was here last year, but in January, the court decided to send her back with her family. However, last month she ran away from her house because she said that her relatives are not taking care of her and she asked the judge to be able to come back to our home. He granted her permission and she is back and very happy. We, too, are very happy to have her back with us!

We have been working on maintaining some areas of the children’s home. Two weeks ago we replaced the roof of the laundry area. We are so thankful for the help that was provided to do the work. We are now in the process of replacing two other roofs at the boys’ home and the rehab center. We want to thank all of our supporters for your faithfulness and special help that makes all of these things possible. We hope that these ministries will be serving the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ for years to come.

Roof needs to be replace

The group, Give Joy 2 One, came to spend time with the children. The children really enjoy this opportunity to go out to Antigua with them for lunch and shopping in the market for clothing and shoes. They all had a great time sharing with the group.

 This past May, Sam, a member of Christ Chapel in Alabama also came to visit. He helped us to make a new video for the ministry. It is such a blessing to see how the Lord Jesus touches the hearts of different people to help this ministry in so many different areas!

Give Joy 2 One group

 The rehab center is doing well. We have 36 men and one woman. It is always harder for women to accept that they have a problem and need rehabilitation. It is our hope that both men and women are going to allow Jesus to enter into their hearts and change their disposition as it says in Romans 12:2: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

We appreciate the love and support that all of you give to our ministry. Please keep everybody in your prayers. Love in Christ, Victor, Chici and Sandra

Updating the Children home

Buying fried chicken

Gladys & Marleny

The children are doing fine now, but two weeks ago ten of them were sick with chickenpox for almost four weeks. Probably the majority never had a vaccine before because their relatives never took care of them. We are grateful to God because he provided the right anti virus medicine to help them not to have the symptoms for a long time. Unfortunately they couldn’t go to the zoo this year on the Easter vacation time because they were sick but we hope that on June when they are going to have another vacation week we are going to be able to take them to the zoo.

One of our friends from Guatemala Ana Lucia, sent us money to take the children to town during Holy Week to buy them fried chicken and potatoes, they had a great time because it was their first day out of home since they got sick.

We are getting ready to celebrate Gladys and Marleny 15 years old birthday. We are very grateful with our friends that are helping us to make this possible.

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!