Guatemala Update - June, 2006

Pedro Perez is a 28 year old of Mayan decent from the small mountain community of La Pista, located near Nebaj, Guatemala (about a six hour drive by car northwest of Guatemala City). Pedro is married to Juana and they have three young children. They had a fourth child, a daughter, who died a few short months ago from meningitis. The Lord supernaturally brought Pedro and his family together with us, The LORD Will Provide Ministries, so we might provide for the financial and physical needs of he, his family and his ministry. This partnership has enabled Pedro to freely do full time what the Lord has called him to do... evangelize the lost. In the few short months since God miraculously brought us together, we have seen much "good" spiritual fruit come from his ministry as he has led dozens of people to the Lord and the birth of a home church in Cotzal (three hours walk from Nebaj).

An awesome God story

Pedro was a boy 20 years ago when a battle was being waged between the Guatemalan government's military and a vast group of rebels known as Guerillas. As the fighting raged between the two enemies, innocent mountain villagers were often assaulted, robbed and killed. Sometimes entire villages were slaughtered as mistrust permeated the Guatemalan mountains. It was a dangerous time in Guatemala's history and was the backdrop for this amazing God story.

Pedro's hometown of La Pista did not exist during this time in the mid 1980's when Pedro was just a boy. He and the other villagers lived some 12 miles away in another part of the mountains and life was dangerous there. One night God gave one of the leader's in the community a vision. His name was Tomas. In the vision God revealed a new and safe place where Tomas was to take his family and others to settle. God had also shown Tomas several very distinct landmarks that would guide him on his way there. Tomas was extremely familiar with the surrounding mountains, but had never before seen the landmarks that God had shown him in his vision or the place where he was to eventually settle. However, Tomas trusted God and soon after made plans to leave under cover of darkness. Tomas, for fear of death, had also discreetly told a few people about what God had shown him and of his plan to leave at a predetermined place and time. The night finally came. Tomas expected some 12 to 15 people to meet him. But to his surprise 225 villagers showed up and among them, 9-year old Pedro Perez and his entire family.

The group made their way through the darkness traversing the mountains by night and day. They were guided on their way by the landmarks God had shown Tomas in his vision. Each landmark was as God has shown him, one leading to the next. After several days and nights the group was nearing their destination. As they were making their final ascent up a mountainside they were discovered by the Guerillas who immediately organized and rushed up the mountain in deadly pursuit. Suddenly and without warning, as the Guerilla's were closing in, a large explosion ripped into the mountain between the villagers and their pursuers. Tomas and the villagers thought the Guerillas were firing at them and that the end was near. Then a second explosion tore into the mountain and the villagers watched in amazement as the Guerillas turned and retreated back down the mountain. Tomas and the villagers wondered what had just happened.

Here's the rest of the story...

The Guerillas had thought the military was fighting for and protecting the villagers so they ran. However, this was not the case. The military general in the town of Nebaj located near that mountainside had an old Howitzer cannon in need of repair. He had, a few days earlier, hired a local man who had a nack for fixing things to take a look and see if there was anything he could do to fix the broken cannon. The man made the repairs and brought the old Howitzer to the general. The general promptly instructed the repairman fire a test shot. The general pointed high up into the surrounding mountainside and said, "There's nobody up there. Fire there." The repairman obliged, firing two test shots. God is sovereign! Unknowingly, the general had saved 225 people who eventually settled a little further up the mountain in what is now known as La Pista. Shortly thereafter, the military agreed to provide protection for Tomas and the new settlement and today the Guerillas are only a distant memory.


A side note: I was in Guatemala May 18-25 when pastor Jorge and I, along with Albert Solis from Temple Bethel Christian Center in Abilene, Texas rented a small truck and traveled back up into the mountain towns of Nebaj and La Pista. We met with some folks from Wycliffe Bible Translators who have been quietly working... translating the Bible into Ixil - Nebaj. The process began in 1955 and has been unusually slow, taking some twenty years longer than they would have ordinarily expected to finish the work... but the enemy has put up a great fight and God's timing is always perfect. The Book of John is now complete and we bought all 36 copies they had putting them into Pedro's hands as well as some 500 Ixil - Nebaj evangelistic tracts. I wish you could have been there when we were privileged enough to witness Pedro read the front cover of the Gospel of John for the first time in his native language. His face told the story... it was historic! God had placed this new and treasured weapon into the hands of one of His most gifted and fervent soldiers! Even more good news... the Wycliffe folks are expecting to finish the entire New Testament by August 2007. We hope to be there for the big celebration. Praise the Lord!

Please pray for me as I travel back to Guatemala June 7-14 with a group of 16 people from Virginia plus my mother, son and youngest daughter. We are going down knowing only that we will be engaging in spiritual warfare as we continue to work with our Guatemalan brothers and sisters to take back the land and the people for Christ. We are expecting to see more of God's miracles, power and supernatural ways.

In Christ,

Steve