A 14-member team from Saginaw Valley Community Church in Michigan came to encourage, pray and build in Guatemala.

Led by Pastor Ginny Defoe, this team included doctors who spent two and a half days treating patients in the clinic, other team members worked with the ASELSI clinic staff to process patients, and help with medicines in the pharmacy.

Five of the team members teamed up with ASELSI’s project crew and built a cement house for a needy family.

Others prayed with ASELSI staff members, and Pastor Ginny taught a well-attended seminar on unity called “The Power to be One.” They also ministered in local churches and at the ASELSI staff devotions.

The team visited local families to pray for them in their homes and also visited the national hospital where they prayed over patients to encourage them. They also worked with the Little Lambs of Jesus Center for children with special needs to make cupcakes that the students and mothers enjoyed.

The Saginaw Valley team also brought a special treat for the children at the clinic. A little girl from the church in Michigan wants to be a missionary. She decided that every little girl in the world needs a doll...so she gathered dolls and sent them with the Saginaw Valley Team to be delivered to kids in Guatemala. They did and the mothers and children were excited about receiving their dolls and stuffed animals. You can see additional images here.

ASELSI is blessed by the long-term relationship we have with Saginaw Valley Community Church and several of the team members who have come back for a number of years.

Seven men left the heat of the Kansas countryside and put their hands to hard work in the mountains of Chichicastenango for a week in July.

This group of guys from Faith Church in Garland, Kansas, kicked off their time ministering to a group of missionaries who meet together weekly and then toured the famous Chichicastenango market. They visited the homes of five families to encourage them, pray with them, and learn first-hand what it was like to live in rural Guatemala.

On Monday the team headed out to their main work site where they built a cement block house for a widow and her three children.

Angelica, the widow, who lost her husband 10 years ago, jumped in to help with the project and her three teenage children helped too. 

As the walls grew with each layer of block, the excitement for Angelica grew. On the final day of construction, she arrived to give the team a snack and some bottles of pop. When she got out of the mototaxi that brought her to the house site, she burst into tears of excitement at seeing her new home.

Just a few days after finishing the project, Angelica had already planted flowers in front of the house that is now her home.

The team also spent a day renovating a garage where children now meet for a local weekly Bible study held at a missionary home.

The team took time with the ASELSI staff and shared at the staff devotional before heading back down the mountain for some sightseeing and their flight back to the USA.

Here at ASELSI we are grateful for the care and effort this team put into their time here. This is the sixth house that the Faith Church team has built for needy families during their annual mission trip to Guatemala.

TEAM: World Outreach Youth Team

Twenty team members from World Outreach Church connected with a youth group and served alongside the ASELSI team.

The team of mainly youth from Tennessee, spent time getting to know the youth from a church in Chicua, a village outside of Chichicastenango. Led by local youth leaders, the team played ice breaker games and took time to hear about the lives of youth in Guatemala.

They also visited local families in their homes to learn about local culture, living and challenges these families face.

After participating in a church service in Chicua they divided in to groups of five for additional home visits and then attended workshops to get to know ASELSI and how this ministry is impacting the community here with Christ.

The team also worked hard at building a new drainage system and instilled pipes to help preserve the road that provides the only vehicle access to the ASELSI campus.

Students from Chicua joined the team for a midweek activity at ASELSI’s campus where they participated in an interactive time of games and then shared stories around bonfires.

Here at ASELSI, we are grateful for the youth of World Outreach Church who came and built relationships with the youth of Chichicastenango and put their hearts and hands into action to help us care for the people here and on the construction project they helped with.