Our Journey Begins

             In about 6 hours we are leaving Amberlea Church and going to Guatemala. It just seems like yesterday we began to consider how Amberlea Church could share hope globally.  It wasn't enough, to just impact our neighbours in Pickering and the surrounding area, but Jesus calls us to "the uttermost parts of the earth."   In early 2010 we set our sights on a mission trip to Haiti in 2012.
            Rather than reinventing the wheel, Amberlea Church believes that the most effective use of time and resources is to partner with and encourage organizations already engaged in this kind of ministry and mission. After researching a number of alternatives, we were encouraged to work with "The Arms of Jesus Children’s Mission" who are active in both Haiti and Guatemala.   While planning the trip with Arms of Jesus, we learned the practical challenges and security risks of taking a team that included women and young youth to Haiti. We were advised and we accepted the wisdom that we should go to a very needy part of Guatemala instead.
            The more we learned, the more excited we became. There were many ways that we could bless the Guatemalans and share hope with them. As our team began to firm up, we supplied the Mission with an inventory of our teams’ abilities and interests. As a result, we were invited to build houses, teach cooking and photography, mentor social workers, and introduce new games and crafts to the school children and the community there.
           Because of the generosity of friends, family and Amberlea Church folk, we will be building 4 homes, assisting in building a new classroom, and distributing 150 bags of much needed food staples to indigenous Guatemalans in a village marked by overwhelming poverty. We will deliver hundreds of pounds of school supplies, Bibles, craft supplies, sports equipment and a variety of other needed miscellaneous goods.
While our trip begins tomorrow morning, our journey started 2 years ago in the hearts of a team being lead by the Lord to show love and bring hope many miles from home.        Please pray for us as we go on this adventure. May we bless the people we come in contact with and may they bless us. We are dedicated to making a difference globally and it starts in Guatemala. May the Lord grant us travelling mercies and may we spend our time without sickness, injury or overexertion. But foremost may we honour our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in everything we do and say.

Amen

Pastor Fred