 |
(Alicia, Teresa, Linda, and me at the food court)
|
After returning from a visit in the states on July 31st of this year, I moved to a different apartment on the boys' side of the property here at Casa de Aleluya. My friend, Teresa, was visiting with me that week and helped me get everything cleaned up, put away, etc. in my new place. We even began repainting the walls. We decided to take a break from our busy activities and go fabric shopping at my favorite store in Chilmaltenango. Since we had not eaten lunch, we stopped, at the food court in the mall to grab a bite. While standing in line at Pollo Campero, the famous chicken place here, a lady by the name of Linda Coghlin, came up and introduced herself to me. She had spotted the sewing machine on the back of my tee shirt and wanted to know if I taught sewing. I invited she and her friends, a Guatemalan couple (Alicia and Sergio), to eat with us so that we could talk. I later discovered, from our conversation, that Alicia and Sergio were Linda's directors for the ministry in Guatemala because Linda travels back and forth from Canada with mission teams. What Linda didn't know was that the Lord had shown me that I would began an outreach sewing ministry when I returned from the states. I was looking for the Lord to open an door for this opportunity but wasn't sure exactly when it would happen. Linda told me as we sat down to talk that their ministry (Loving Arms) had just purchased a restaurant building to become their new training center. At the center, named 'Center of Hope', women and men in the villages near Parramos could learn a trade or skill in order to make a living for their families. They had a room almost ready for sewing classes but were in need of a sewing instructor. I started crying because I was seeing the handiwork of the Father in this meeting and the door for outreach ministry was being opened by Him. Alicia was crying as she realized what was taking place and Linda said, 'I think I will cry too'. Teresa was just hysterically laughing for joy because it was an incredible moment of God. Linda and Alicia had been looking for an instructor but the people they had talked too wanted between $250 and $300 a month for teaching. With the purchase of their new building, this wasn't feasible for their ministry. She then asked me what I charged. Since I did not know anything about them, I said, 'Let me first tell you what I do'. 'I do not charge anything to teach sewing but I have to share the Gospel of Christ when I teach. This is what the Lord has shown me to do'. Linda and Alicia were overjoyed as they are Christians! I can not describe the excitement of that moment as words fail me. The presence of the Holy Spirit was so strong in that meeting and we decided to have dinner that night and continue talking about how this was going to take place. They met Teresa and I for dinner in San Lucas which is about 5 minutes from Casa. We decided that I would teach on my off day, Thursday and that we would start with two classes. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. There would be 5 women in each class and the classes would be for two hours and then we would have coffee and sweet bread while I shared the Gospel with the ladies for the remaining hour. The Gospel presentation I use is on Power Point and it is called, 'Christianity Explained'. The Gospel is explained in 6 one hour lessons. At the final lesson, we would give the women an opportunity to receive Christ. Our first class was on Thursday, August 14th. I met the first 5 women in the morning class and after a two hour lunch break, I met the other 5 women. They are all from the same village - Chitaburuy (Chee-tah-ba-roo-ee). Two of our university girls from Casa went with me to help with the teaching and translation and sometimes Vilma went with us as well. We had a wonderful time. At the end of our 6th class, when we finished our presentation, I shared my personal testimony with them. I wanted the ladies to know, not necessarily what I had been through, but that having the Lord in my life, is what has sustained me and brought me through the hard times. I told them that they only had to pray the prayer one time and if they wanted the Lord in their life, they could pray to receive Him. 7 out of the 10 women prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior that day. What rejoicing there was in Heaven as those women bowed their heads and prayed to become my sisters in Christ.
 |
Our morning class
|
 |
| Our afternoon class |
The girls and I decided to use our bible time to get the ladies into the Word and we began discipleship classes. It has been a blessing to see the ladies grow in their personal time reading the Bible and having prayer. It is also a joy to see how the Lord has used our girls from Casa to minister to these women. Sometimes, on our long lunch break, the girls and I go to different villages nearby and distribute clothes.
In October, a team of 10 women from my home church, The Church at Brook Hills, came to Guatemala. They helped to distribute clothes and toys to women and children in a nearby village. The ladies also helped with the sewing classes at the Center of Hope, and a few of them taught a group of women from another village how to crochet a bag that they will be able to sell in the market.
Since the beginning of the sewing classes, the women have made a pin cushion, two lined bags, and they are currently working on a chef style apron for the ladies in the cooking class at the training center. We will have a small graduation ceremony in a couple of weeks as we finish the first phase of the classes. We plan to partner with Loving Arms over the next year as the ladies learn more about sewing and how to make things that they can sell in the market. At graduation, each lady in the class will be presented with their own personal bible. These are beautiful pink bibles in Spanish and they will be engraved with their names.
What incredible opportunities the Lord has opened up from this meeting that He orchestrated. It is not a meeting that we could have brought together as it is ONLY a meeting of divine intervention. From the shirt I wore that day, to the place where we ate, to the place where Linda, Alicia, and Sergio were at the EXACT same time... What an AWESOME God we serve! From the beginning of time, He knew that on a beautiful day in September in the year 2013, at a training center in Parramos, 7 women would pray to receive Him as their personal Savior. I look forward to what He has for us as we continue this partnership with Loving Arms to help the people of Guatemala have a better life through trainable skills in order to come out of poverty.
Blessings, Sharron
