“We thank God for allowing us to be part of His Kingdom this way” -Charles Uptain, Executive Pastor Sharing the gospel We are so excited to have had two teams from Calvary Baptist Church coming to Guatemala over the last two months. We want to share with you some highlights of the awesome work they got to do alongside Elim Church in the City and in Patzun. Sharing the gospel can take several forms. We experienced this during the days we were serving in the local church. Our days were filled with different activities in which we had the opportunity to share the Good News of salvation found in Jesus Christ. Take a quick look of the ways we share God's message: Local Leadership growth We firmly believe that the leadership of a community is the local church. That is why we dearly appreciate the training sessions that Calvary's team provided to Elim's church leadership. These leaders are learning to empower their entire congregation to impact their own community. Trainings vary depending on the current need of the local leadership. This time, Calvary’s team gave trainings about elders in the church, structure in the church, characteristics of a church leader, and the importance of doing small home Bible groups. This is an essential and special aspect of a church partnership between a US church and a local church, that both churches grow together as they share their understanding of the gospel. Serving 800 children This was the second year that Calvary worked with a public school in the city. This elementary school serves 800 children. Pastor Jaime has cultivated a good relationship with the school principals for a couple of years now. The teachers at this school teach different values to the children every month, so the local church leadership saw the opportunity to teach on values and use them as means to share the importance of Scripture and the gospel. We have been blessed that the Calvary’s team has teachers with the necessary experience to come and serve this school. Just imagine the dedication and logistics that required to serve 800 children in one day. We had 7 stations with different activities to where the children rotated to continue learning the value of responsibility. We share with them the parable of the talents, emphasizing the ways we glorify God by being responsible with the abilities and skills He has given to us. Teachers are role models Our conference for the teachers was a success. We loved seeing these group of teachers for the second time. They are dedicated teachers open to learn and share from their experiences. Among the teaching techniques during the conference some of Calvary’s team members shared their testimony of how they came to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We pray that these teachers will play a special role in the life of each student and that they will have serve as a positive influence towards the future generations of Zone 21. Men’s outreach event In Patzun women make up the majority in the church. There are different reasons why this happens. One is that men arrive late and tired from working on the fields, while others have alcoholic problems, so after work, they go out and drink, and many other simply do not want to attend church. This is a sad situation that affects the families at Patzun. This is also a reality that has challenge the local church to go out and reach those men and share the gospel with them. This year Calvary’s team and leaders from Elim had the opportunity to share a special dinner with men from Patzun, hoping to incorporate them into the body of Christ. We had a wonderful time of fellowship and heard the testimony of a life that has been changed through Christ. While there is still a lot of work to do in zone 21 and Patzun, we trust in the Lord of the harvest and ask Him to send out workers into his harvest field (Matthew 9:38). Please join us in this prayer and the work that God has allow us to take part in here in Guatemala.