Dear Pastor and Praying Friends,
I pray this letter finds you well. We have a new president in Honduras, and even though he has only been in office a little more than a month, he has been accepted with great optimism by the citizens of our country. The crimes rates have already gone down significantly. (The last time I checked, Honduras had the highest murder rate in the world—86 murders a year per 100,000 citizens). He seems to want to fight corruption. Just yesterday I heard in the news that he had fired some of his relatives in the diplomatic service. It is probably too early to tell, but we are surely praying that he will take Honduras in the right direction.
Last Sunday we had 6 baptisms (photos attached). I baptized a twelve-year-old girl named Keren. She told me, “I have attended this church all my life; this in the only church I have ever attended.” I said, “That is because you were born into a good church!” In the past I had baptized her two older sisters, who also attend our church. Last year Keren’s mom finished college. She told my wife, “I decided to go back and finish because of a message pastor preached encouraging us to finish what we start.” Sometimes I wonder what this family’s life would have been like had it not been for our church’s influence. Thank you for helping make it possible for this family to have a good church to attend.
Our family is doing fine. My oldest Juan turned twelve, and my youngest turned eight last month. Thank you for the “Happy Birthday” wishes. Gerson, our middle one, is ten. They are doing well in school. They seem to enjoy just about everything they do. Juan loves to read. The other day I walked into his room, and he was reading a condensed version of Pilgrim’s Progress. I asked him, “Haven’t you read that book before?” He responded, “Yes, I have, but I am reading it again; it is my favorite book.” I asked, “How many time have you read it?” He answered, “Over twenty times!” Gerson and Juan are learning to play the guitar and getting better at it every day. As for my wife, she is just busy!
We haven’t been able to build much on the property. Paying for the property takes much of our resources. We have paid over $22,500 on it, with $31,500 left to pay; however, we are going forward, trusting that in God’s time we’ll have a building, even if we have to build it a brick at a time.
Thank you for your prayer and financial support. May God bless you and greatly use you.
Truly,
Osmin Gutierrez