Pamela and Deysi in Seattle

This past month Pamela and Deysi had the great privilege of visiting Seattle, WA in order to participate in a missions conference and also to visit and learn from a women´s shelter.

 In their first days they assisted Grace Lutheran Church and gave a presentation on the latest news from El Refugio. This is the church that has given scholarships to Ana and Elsa for their beauty classes and who have now committed to support Alba for 3 years of Nursing school beginning in January. We are so grateful for this wonderful blessing and all of their support and prayers.

Ladies from Grace Lutheran who support the shelter and visited us last February

Deysi and Pamela giving a presentation about El Refugio

 

Deb from Grace Lutheran shares about her experiences in Guatemala

 

selling jewelry for El Refugio

 

Later in the week the ladies were a part of a 5 day mission´s conference at Lifeway Church along with several other missionaries from around the world. They learned about the importance of creating and maintaining relationships with the people from their host country among other important topics.

missionaries attending conference

 

 sharing with the children during Sunday School

The last week of their trip Pamela and Deysi went to Hope Place shelter where they spent 5 days and nights learning about the management of their center and sharing testimonies with the women. They were extremely impressed by the facilities and the special programs and classes for each woman.

Deysi chatting during lunch with one of the women from Hope Place

Deysi and Pamela returned greatly impacted by their trip and tremendously grateful to all of the people that reached out and welcomed them, sharing food, stories, gifts, and most importantly their time. How wonderful to see How God is working in these ministries and that we could learn and be a part of His great mission!

Women's conference in Guatemala

Yesterday was the last day of a 5 day conference on the status of women in society. Our director, Pamela Leon, was involved in the planning of this conference that included guest speaker, Darrow Miller, author of the book, Nurturing the Nations. Two days were spent introducing the topic and breaking down common myths and cultural influences on the status and role of women in society. The following 3 days were more intensive, getting at core issues and comparing cultural views of the woman in relation to marriage and motherhood to the views that God reveals through His word.

Darrow Miller speaks to the group with the help of his translator (Day 5)

Understanding these teachings has the potential to greatly impact the way locals as well as global workers here in Guatemala tackle problems that women face here. I, for one, am very thankful that I was able to attend and participate for 2 days of this conference. While we would have liked to see attendance a little higher for this event, it was still inspiring to see people from various backgrounds and roles in society contributing to the discussion on women and contextualizing the topics to Guatemala. 

 Alba and I attend the conference and help sell jewelry

As their schedules permited, some of the ladies from the shelter were able to attend the conference, hopefully with a changed outlook on life, their future, and their relationship with God. We were also allowed to bring some of our jewelry from the shelter to sell during the conference.

Thank you to everyone who made this event possible!

Please continue to pray with us for change and healing for women in Guatemala. And thanking Him for the people that are so passionate to serve in His name!

Feliz día de la Independencia

Today is Independence Day in Guatemala! There are a lot of traditions to celebrate this holiday. In the night people run in the streets with torches while onlookers toss them bags of water. I also found out that they like to throw bags and buckets full of water at any cars or busses driving by. Schools also put on special events to celebrate. On Friday morning I went with Mishel to see her kids perform in one of these celebrations. They danced to traditional music, sang the national anthem and read patriotic poems. It was adorable. The kids were nervous but did a great job. Mishel took lots of pictures so hopefully you can see some more when our latest update comes out.

Mishel's youngest daughter holds a craft she made for her performance. It is the La Monja Blanca, Guatemala's national flower.

Face painted for a special dance.

First El Refugio Blog!

Women's Brunch Jewelry Sale

Hello readers and El Refugio supporters! 

Welcome to our blog, 

One highlight of this week was being invited to sell jewelry at a women's group that meets at Union Church in the city. The ladies invited Deysi to give a brief presentation about our ministry at El Refugio two weeks ago. One of our women from the shelter came along and gave her testimony which greatly impacted the group. After hearing more about our micro-enterprise selling jewelry, they invited us to return the following week with some samples of the products to sell. We brought lots of our new line of jewelry as well as aprons and bags made with typical material. It was a great success! The ladies were curious to learn more, and some expressed a desire to help us sell jewelry or volunteer at the shelter. What a blessing!

Deysi sharing more info about the shelter at 

the women's brunch at Union Church

Please keep us in your prayers as the search continues for an appropriate vehicle for ministry use at the shelter.

Rachel and the El Refugio Team

Check back weekly for more updates :)

Trust between Christians in Guatemala

I (Mike) wanted to post an interesting (well at least I think its interesting) and informative incident that happened this past week.

We who are part of the ministry for abused women here are trying to figure out how we can expand the ministry and one of the greatest needs is for some transitional housing for women who are moving out of the shelter who have gone through the entire program and who need a place to live as they reintegrate into the larger society. We looked at a house that is for sale by some friends we know from church. The house has not been lived in for quite some time and is located in an area that started out as a relatively nice development but which has become essentially a squatters village. Lot's of people who do not have title to the land have simply moved in and claimed the territory as their own.

So our friend felt it safer for their family to move to a different location. The house is very well made but has been looted over the years. A ton of work would be needed to make it livable once again. So we visited the home and after had some real questions about potential resale value in the future. So we decided to get an appraisal.

Here comes the main point. The person we contacted to make the assessment is a follower of Jesus and has worked with various ministries over the years. I have known this individual for some 7 years. She quoted us a price which was reasonable but wanted 100% payment up front. And she stated that was the norm. Well as it happens we, the Soderling family, had just contacted a professional assessment company in the city to provide us with an assessment of our own home. They requested 50% down! So what we had been led to believe by our friend wasn't actually the truth. I emailed this person back and explained all this and as I suspected she asks for full payment ahead of time because of her previous experience with other Christian ministries. In other words she didn't trust us, fellow believers, as much as a secular company trusted someone they didn't even know.

Another quick story also illustrates a huge part of the problem with the church here and with how it is perceived by those it seeks to reach with the gospel. A close friend of mine took his pastor to an electronics store to help him purchase a TV. It was to be paid for in installments. As this pastor was filling out the form it asked him what his profession was. He filled in Pastor at which time the salesperson took the form away and stated they didn't allow pastors to buy on credit!! One of the biggest hindrances to progress in poor countries is a low trust culture. It seems the church and that would include the missionaries I suppose, haven't been able to make of an impact on this challenging problem

Wheaton track team at United Nations Park with El Refugio women and children

On New Years Eve, the Wheaton track team spent a wonderful day with the women and children of El Refugio at the United Nations Park, just outside of Guatemala City.  Everyone loved the petting zoo, the horseback rides (even some of the moms got a turn!), the playground, games of basketball, baseball, and even jump roping. There were lots of laughs, hugs, games, and fun.  It was a great chance for the women and children to get outside the walls of the shelter and enjoy a fun day at the park; and the Wheaton team made it extra special with their piggy back rides, games, and quick friendships.