KARIN
I get quite a few people coming to my door for help, and I do what I can for them with the means that I have at the time. One family from my town came to ask me if I could help with medicine for their 8-year-old child Karin who has leukemia. I sat Karin on my lap and asked her what she wanted most, and her answer was to be without pain. It was hard to keep my tears back! They have to travel 50 miles four times a week to a hospital in the central city where she receives chemotherapy treatment. They leave at 4 am and return at around 6 to 7 pm which they have been doing now for four years and it has taken its toll on all of them. They have also had to sell most of their furniture and cooker to help pay the costs of the transport by hire car. I asked if I could take a photo of the family without their masks and I saw the sad face of Karin staring up at me as well as her parents Eddy and Anna who are both Christian. However, I did manage to get a smile from Karin as you can see in the photo. I have purchased medicines from my Helps Fund, plus paid for a private specialist to look at her as many times the doctors in the national hospitals make grave errors in their diagnosis and treatments. But sadly, there is not much that can be done for Karin but to make what is left of her life less painful. This does not mean I do not believe in miracles, my goodness no, right the opposite, as I pray every morning and night for her. I ask for your prayers for a miracle and funds to help ease Karin’s pain, and also help to set up a small tortilla business for Anna and Eddy. If you want to help, please forward your donation marked “Project Karin ” to one of the addresses below this March newsletter. I will keep you informed of her health in future newsletters. God bless you.
MY HEALTH
I am fully recovered from my double hernia operation, but my legs have weakened because of my many back operations and are very painful which makes it very difficult to get around the house without my cane, and outside for long distances, and for the time being I have to use a wheelchair. I am recommencing physiotherapy at home, and hopefully, with this treatment, I can walk normally once more. Meanwhile, this has not affected my ministry with the church, and I continue to preach and teach. This also has not affected my belief in healing and miracles, and this is really nothing compared to what Paul and the disciples suffered for the Gospel. 2 Corinthians 12:10 says, “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.” I am grateful for your prayers.
LENT PROCESSIONS
For the next few weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, the Roman Catholic church holds many religious processions in our town of Antigua and many other towns and cities throughout Guatemala. It is a nightmare to even try to drive through the town due to the thousands of tourists worldwide that come to see the processions. But it is also a wonderful time to share the Good News with these people bound by religion. In this country, Mary is often worshipped more than Jesus, and one can see car bumper stickers stating, “To Jesus through Mary!” The majority of members in our church are ex-Catholics. That’s good news!
DROGENMAFIA
This is something I have never really given a report on in the thirty years that I have been in Guatemala as it has not really affected the ministry in any way, except for one year when they gunned down and killed one of our church members for no reason at all, and I was there when it happened! I was later to find out that the initiation ceremony for a new member of a drug gang is to go out and kill someone. The drug situation is out of control and much of the drugs from Columbia are flown into Guatemala in illegal aircraft which once landed the aircraft is abandoned. From Guatemala it is transported into Mexico and then into the USA and Canada. It is a known fact that some people in the Government and the police force are involved in this drug smuggling and so it has become difficult to control the gangs. For many years these gangs were just in the main city, but in the past year they have come into Antigua (a tourist town close to us) and also the town I live in. Now the daily murders are much closer to home and local business owners have to pay protection money or else they are threatened with being killed. The Special Police Force (the DEA) is capturing some of the gang members and the drugs, but the majority escape evasion. My concern is for the youth who cannot get work and are coerced into becoming members of these drug gangs. I see just how important it is to get to them first with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and therefore I am preparing yet another seminar on evangelism for our church members, until they fully understand that evangelism is a normal daily walk for all of us to reach the lost souls with the message of hope. Please pray for my safety and the safety of our church members.
PRAYERS
- For a mission couple to hear the call, come and join me here.
- My health
- For safety. Guatemala has a great problem with the Narcotic Mafia.
- Funds needed for “Helps Fund” and “Project Karin.”
God bless you all
Jeff Mills
Globe Mission Missionary
ADDRESSES:
UK Donations
Globe UK, Bank of Scotland, Sort Code: 80-06-55, Account Number: 00382152, Payable to: Globe UK (With a note for Mills)
Offices: Globe UK, 13 Whinhill, Dunfermline, Fife KY11 4YZ, Scotland. Tel: 01383-739537 (+44-1383-739537) Mail: office@globe-uk.org www.globe-uk.org
USA Donations
Make check out to: “Globe Mission International” And earmark it: “For GE-J Mills, and mail to: Globe Missions International, PO Box 3040, Pensacola, FL 32516-3040