December 2023 HOPE Update
Hello Friends,
What does God’s Word mean to you? Pastor Marcos gets a ride on a truck at 2:30 a.m. to attend classes to study God’s Word in our Bible Leadership Program. He joins Pastor Pablo two hours later and they make the remaining trip together to begin a full day of classes at 8:00 a.m. Our teaching team in the Bible Leadership Program also makes a 16 hour round trip journey by truck to reach these pastors and other students in the host church in Somococh, Coban. That’s why we like to call the Bible Leadership Program a “traveling seminary”. Roads are bumpy and dusty in dry season and wet and precarious in rainy season, but the students and teaching team remain faithful and even joyful! We are so thankful for their humble example of passion for God’s Word! Keep reading to learn more how our H.O.P.E./A.G.A.P.E. team, students, and you, our faithful partners, have kept paths open this year to God's Word.
Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105
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Run:Hope End of Year Celebrations
Our teachers and students have persevered and completed another school year of studies. November was a month of celebration of God’s faithfulness to all three Run:Hope partner schools. It was a year touched by the sadness of losing one of our long-time school directors, Miguel, in a tragic truck accident in April. Yet, God’s faithfulness has been evident in providing leadership through another long-time Run:Hope teacher, Santos, and the primary school director, Wildo, in La Perla/Xemac.
Here are our youngest Run:Hope graduates at Light and Life School, in Salquil Grande, completing their pre-primary education.
Through our faithful partners of Run:Hope, 300 students and 25 teachers were able to pursue their education in 2023. Our Run:Hope events this fall in Maryland, Guatemala and New York City brought in our budget goal for the entire 2024 new school year! Seminary graduate and Run:Hope teacher Xhun, is now teaching a Firm Foundations class in Salquil Grande to his fellow teachers at Light and Life School covering Creation to Christ. We are so thankful for the way your investment in Run:Hope is multiplying our impact! Pictured below is one of the middle school classes at our Run:Hope partner school in Ilom, where it seems like it would be easy to reach up and touch the clouds from anywhere in this mountain village!
Speaking of clouds, our partner ministry, A.G.A.P.E. aviation, is thankful for another year of safety in flying and for a new hydraulic hangar door. Director and lead pilot, Eri, has been training three new pilots this year. Gregorio has completed his MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) flight training and moved on to a sister aviation ministry in Oaxaca, Mexico just this November. We are thankful for his excellent preparation and heart to serve! If you are interested in becoming a partner with Gregorio (Goyo) and following his mission journey as a pilot in Mexico, sign up for his newsletter here: https://goyorodriguez.epistle.org
We are so very thankful for a faithful national team who sacrifice and invest in others, multiplying and opening paths for God’s Word!
We are even more grateful as we celebrate the birth of Christ this month,
“The Word that became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
We thank you, our amazing partners, who make it possible for us to continue to open paths to God’s grace and truth in the mountains of Guatemala!
Learn more about our work at
http://hopebiblemission.org
Rick and Deb Carey (for our entire H.O.P.E. and A.G.A.P.E. teams)