Good morning from Guatemala,

We just finished up the first week of The Vencedor Boys Academy 2014!  It was so awesome!  Wide eyes and huge smiles!

Last year, I had up to SIXTY boys on any given day.  There were days I felt like I was herding cats.  So, this year I wanted to cut it down to 15 boys but add another day to meet with them.  I felt like it would be a better learning environment with fewer kids.  But…I couldn’t do it.  I just couldn’t cut it down to 15.  Maybe I could cut it down to 30.  Maybe.

So, I cut it down to just under forty boys and split them up into 2 groups.  I meet with 17 boys on Mondays and Wednesdays and I meet with 18 boys on Fridays.  It’s perfect.  David meets with the older boys on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I can already tell the boys are going to learn so much more this year.  AND I HAVE HELP!  My good friend Diego Marroquin, who is from Guatemala, helps me teach bible on Mondays and we’ve also hired a college student from El Rosario who helps with tutoring!  Gods plan is so much better than my own.  I love it!

Jose Mario’s health continues to improve.  We are now working with 2 doctors and meet with them every Tuesday.  Our primary doctor worked for the military hospital, the very best hospital in Guatemala, for 30 years and now has his own practice.  I just checked up on Jose Mario this morning and I could feel every single cell of my body smiling.  He looks so much better.  I asked him how he felt and he said “bastante mejor” “so much better”.  I often wonder if God has my family right here in Guatemala at this exact time just to be with Jose Mario.  Please give thanks to God for this beautiful healing and miracle.

We have been going through the process of purchasing land, and meeting with contractors and builders for the past 3 months.  Guatemala is a developing country and as you can imagine the range of building services can vary drastically in cost and quality.  People generally do what they can afford, and so much of the construction here is just not sufficient or safe. It has been quite a process of weeding through many possibilities and options.

Our goal is to establish a space for 50 boys that would include 2 classrooms, a library, a computer center, a kitchen and a dining room.  We would also like to include 2 ministry guest rooms for visitors, and two apartment style homes above the academy so our family and our ministry partners can live in El Rosario and more effectively serve in the community.

We purchased land in January and received several preliminary bids for our project from different contractors.  After reviewing them it was quite obvious who was and was not qualified to do this job based on our needs.  We received a final bid and plans last week from the contractor/architect we chose for the entire facilities. The numbers were very high.

We have broken development into 3 phases.

Phase 1: TOTAL = $62,000
-Movement of the land = $10,000
-Construction of the exterior wall and one interior retaining wall = $45,000
-Road prep = $4,000
-Construction / engineering plans = $3,000

Phase 2: TOTAL= $90,000.00
-Construction of 1 classroom, kitchen and dining room = $71,700.00
-Water and drainage system = $6,300.00
-Concrete work including driveway, parking and walkways = $12,000.00
At this point we will be able to teach and feed the boys in a place of their own!

Phase 3: TOTAL= $ 181,500
-Second classroom with library and 2 guest rooms = $60,500.00
-2 apartment style homes for our families = $121,000

We spent the end of last year and our time in Colorado in November fundraising for this project.  Our crowd funding campaign was successful, and many people stepped up to be a part of the Boys Academy.  We raised $46,700 in two months!  One of our supporters paid for the land and right now we are short just $16,000 to complete Phase 1.

 

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If you haven’t watched our ministry video please take 3 minutes and watch it.

I have no doubts that God will provide and His plan is perfect…so all our timetable and “phases” are just that…”ours”.  We will trust that He also desires this for us and will provide in His time!

He put the vision in our hearts to break the cycle of single motherhood through raising up men of God.  We are trusting that He will provide for us as we take the next step in obedience and build the Vencedor Boys Academy.  Please pray with us.  Pray that we would have patience and trust in God’s timing, that we would not “box” God in to our human logic and logistics and that we would trust in His provision and not in our own abilities.

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” -James 1:6  

If you would like to support the work God is doing through Vencedor Ministries CLICK HERE. 100% of your support goes directly to The Vencedor Boys Academy.

Would you pray about supporting what God is doing through us in Guatemala? If you feel called to be a part of our support team, CLICK HERE.  We could not do this without a few people praying and listening to God.

When disciples followed a rabbi, they followed him closely so that they would never be out of his sight, never be some place where they couldn’t hear him speak.  They followed him so closely that his sandals often kicked up dust.

May you be covered in His dust,

George and Vonda