tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31686554215506313232024-03-05T07:23:56.916-05:00The DennettsAMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.comBlogger179125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-18039703491737376792014-05-13T19:33:00.001-04:002014-05-14T23:57:50.648-04:00<div style="display: block; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To maximize the article for reading </span><a href="http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/223899334?access_key=key-dW5S8yh2ystq7IaqI0l3&allow_share=true&escape=false&show_recommendations=false&view_mode=scroll" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">click here.</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Correction to the article on Santa Rosa: Mateo was 6 years old, not 6 months!</span><br />
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<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.6470588235294118" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="733" id="doc_63572" scrolling="no" src="//www.scribd.com/embeds/223899334/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-dW5S8yh2ystq7IaqI0l3&show_recommendations=false" width="550"></iframe>Brian Dennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01164150304980812122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-12889359567714201282013-11-30T19:32:00.000-05:002014-05-13T20:03:56.867-04:00<p style=" margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block;"> <a title="View The Dennett's AMG Guatemala Fall 2013 Newsletter on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/178220859/The-Dennett-s-AMG-Guatemala-Fall-2013-Newsletter" style="text-decoration: underline;" >The Dennett's AMG Guatemala Fall 2013 Newsletter</a> by <a title="View Brian Dennett's profile on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/brian_dennett_1" style="text-decoration: underline;" >Brian Dennett</a></p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" src="//www.scribd.com/embeds/178220859/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-380r04vf9o9rk83zncx&show_recommendations=false" data-auto-height="false" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" scrolling="no" id="doc_90326" width="550" height="733" frameborder="0"></iframe>Brian Dennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01164150304980812122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-49810740095497708302013-02-09T08:49:00.001-05:002013-02-19T08:28:00.713-05:00Alton Bay Cottage Rental<div style="text-align: center;">
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Our family has a cottage (sleeps 10 - 12 and is very well equipped) at the<a href="http://www.altonbay.org/"> Alton Bay Christian Conference Center</a> on Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire. We rent it out by the week in order to help support our ministry. Current availability is shown in the calendar below. Rentals are generally Saturday to Saturday.<br />
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The cost is just $800 per week. If you are unfamiliar with ABCCC, we are a Evangelical Christian Community of summer cottages on the most beautiful and largest lake in New Hampshire! Our community (families, singles, retirees) has Sunday worship services, youth activities, senior activities, a dining hall, private swimming beach a wonderful property to explore and is close to all the lakes region of New Hampshire has to offer. We are just 20 minutes from Weir's Beach. There are Saturday night Christian concerts on-site and the Alton Bay bandstand also has a weekend concert series and many festivals, etc.. We are within a short walk to fine dining, take-out food, ice-cream, a brand-new mini-golf center and many other attractions. <br />
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The cottage has a large living room with gas fireplace, half bath, kitchen, dining area and sunroom on the main floor. Upstairs there are 3 bedrooms and a full bathroom. The first bedroom has a full-size bed for 2 adults, the second has a twin over full bunk bed and the third has two bunk beds, a full size bed and a daybed (twin) with another twin beneath it. The bathroom has a shower with hot-water. Outside their is a picnic table, seating and gas grill.<br />
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For more information on ABCCC you can visit their website at http://www.altonbay.org/ Please call 603-875-6161 to reserve a week. I would love to know if you are interested also. Feel free to pass this information along.<br />
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For a map, we are at <a href="http://www.altonbay.org/maps/abccc.pdf">15 New Bay Street</a><br />
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See calendar for availability:<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?height=300&wkst=1&bgcolor=%23FFFFFF&src=takgss6vt1pt1t69ev4c1mid38%40group.calendar.google.com&color=%232952A3&src=thedennetts.org%40gmail.com&color=%235229A3&ctz=America%2FGuatemala" style="border-width: 0;" width="500"></iframe>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-64699236376336010132012-08-30T11:44:00.004-04:002013-02-10T10:02:51.007-05:00Visit our New Blog and Website!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Greetings from Guatemala! We invite you to visit our new website at: <a href="http://www.amgguatemala.org/">www.amgg.org</a> </div>
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We also have a <a href="http://www.amgguate.blogspot.com/">new blog</a> for all our missionaries to post to.<br />
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<br />AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-40888083201329002512011-12-04T22:58:00.001-05:002011-12-04T23:00:22.565-05:00Holiday Greetings from the Dennetts<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" src="http://www.scribd.com/embeds/74169109/content?start_page=1&view_mode=slideshow&access_key=key-xwns9p9oxy6a3dyenzd" data-auto-height="true" data-aspect-ratio="0.772727272727273" scrolling="no" id="doc_41664" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();</script>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-76145827376333842112011-04-14T18:18:00.007-04:002011-08-06T23:30:34.598-04:00Happy Spring!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikU1z_SdbKAqeNMixM8V7pWrAaf4rBnAAqXcmPnRj8_gRaA8ShYjzyNRMPVeFji8ZLg8B1PN48C0ATTG6PH0iLk-vgxzFtGO88Cr6_jT6pAG5cGPePSJoQnHe8aC8DwqDSIl0HvN-A9-A/s1600/63500_1774872813234_1281744437_32033021_985839_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: right; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikU1z_SdbKAqeNMixM8V7pWrAaf4rBnAAqXcmPnRj8_gRaA8ShYjzyNRMPVeFji8ZLg8B1PN48C0ATTG6PH0iLk-vgxzFtGO88Cr6_jT6pAG5cGPePSJoQnHe8aC8DwqDSIl0HvN-A9-A/s320/63500_1774872813234_1281744437_32033021_985839_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Greetings from Guatemala! Since the holidays, we have been extremely busy and things in Guatemala have been challenging as usual! But blessed! <br />
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We began the year with a visit from my parents... what a joy to have them here! I never believed that they would finally come. My mother has never been on a jet and certainly has never travelled internationally, so what a blessing this was! They arrived with the Wilson Family, new missionaries, so it was a double blessing! We visited AMG projects so that they could better understand what we are doing here, they spent time with their own sponsored children here and even got to visit their homes and then we were able to get to several beautiful tourist locations like Monterico (the beach), Antigua (colonial city) and even up a volcano, Volcan Pacaya. What a time we had! <br />
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I travelled to Costa Rica with our missionary Chad Smith in order to learn more about how we could better help children in our projects who have been abused. Chad is working on an extensive program in order to provide new protective and restorative services to children who are suffering. With 8000 children here in Guatemala in our care, we feel a great responsibility to help the hundreds who are suffering at home. Please pray for our efforts and that God would give us wisdom in giving these children then love and support they need to advance spiritually and physically in their lives ahead. <br />
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God has richly blessed AMG Guatemala with people. When I look back at our staff a year ago, I cannot even believe where God has brought us! We now have a team of 9 directors, both nationals and missionaries, working together to lead us into the future. Each one is special, educated and an expert in their field! We had our very first Directors Meeting in January and each shared their plans in finance, administration, education, health, spiritual formation, human resources, results-monitoring, public relations and child protection. We all saw how we fit so nicely together and must work closely in order to acheive our mission... to lead many to Christ and help to alleviate suffering in Guatemala. <br />
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February was a month of teams! We had a wonderful group of adults and teenagers from Easton Baptist Church in Easton, Massachusetts, who painted our Las Vistas project. What a job they did. Our school looks like a brand new one! Please pray for future teams, as we have so much work to do and so little funds to do it! Teams are perfect for accomplishing the things that our budget just won´t allow. Later in the month our friends from Grand Rapids, Michigan came for their 15th or 16th time to build. We have outgrown our offices here in the city (Verbena) and they built a beautiful new building to connect to our existing office. We hope to move in mid-summer. This will also provide us with a conference room (something we´ve never had) in order to have meetings as a team.<br />
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In March, our good friends Dr. Kevin McVaney and his wonderful family came to visit for a week and we enjoyed visiting AMG projects, many beautiful Guatemalan spots and just hanging out together as families. They are such a special family and we enjoy them so much! We flew to our hospital in Cubulco, Guatemala and Kevin even consulted with a patient or two! The last day of our trip was the annual father-son campout at our kid´s school. The McVaney boys joined us for a night of sports, setting off paper hot-air balloons, movies and a campfire... such a nice male-bonding night! I am so blessed with my wonderful sons. The McVaneys flew out and so did I, for 11 days to Nicaragua in order to attend a conference with our largest donor, Word & Deed Holland. We met with our partner organizations from Haiti (AMG), Colombia, Peru and Nicaragua. This was a great blessing and we accomplished planning several joint efforts to support our ministries and shared many good ideas. I arrived back just last weekend and couldn´t have been happier to be home with my family!<br />
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The family has been very busy. Mary has an active bible study and enjoys her girlfriends so much... what a joy that she has such wonderful ladies to pass time with! Of course, life is busy with kids ages almost 2 to 15, so that also keeps her running! Abbie is emersed in her music, studying piano and voice and very active in school music programming and worship. Friday night she will perform with her class and has a leading role... even singing a solo from Les Mis, one of my favorites! Can´t wait! Jordan has been training all year for a very special opportunity to travel abroad with his baseball team. He plays first base and is pitcher, and I am very proud of his playing! Aaron loves school and his class and is excelling at piano and loves to play in the neighborhood with his friends. Brody is non-stop active until he hits the bed and has such a fun personality! Eve is all girl and quietly plays away with her dolls, babies and her best friend Jessie, a little blond like her! (what a cute pair!) Micah is growing right up and into everything... his personality is coming through and he´s quite a ham!<br />
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Here at the mission we are in the process of evaluating how we can better involve parents in their children´s education and are preparing to start even a school for parents. We have many who cannot read and will also work with literacy in several projects. We have been struggling financially, as the value of the dollar and the euro has dropped causing big reductions in our available funds here in Guatemala. Please pray for God to send resources our way to continue this vital ministry! We are also looking for ways to better deal with the violence here that is affecting everyone... to deal with the trauma that many of our urban children face everyday. <br />
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Well, I hope that catches us up a bit! Hopefully my next post will not be so far off! Blessings from our family to your´s! <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Brian, Mary and Kiddos<br />
<embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0xffffff&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fthedennetts.org%2Falbumid%2F5595562982190445521%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26authkey%3DGv1sRgCInY7-rP0JqbUQ%26hl%3Den_US" height="333" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500"></embed></div>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-49625648792123433362010-12-15T17:07:00.004-05:002010-12-15T17:17:49.741-05:00Bundles of Love Team and Annual Christmas Party<div style="text-align: left;">Merry Christmas to all!! We enjoyed a simply wonderful time with the Bundles of Love Team from Chattanooga and the surrounding area. We visited projects, they did puppet shows, distributed gifts to the children, met with their own sponsored children and then helped us to celebrate the year as an organization with our annual Christmas party. Here are some photos of the trip. You can click on the slideshow to see individual photos or to view them at your own pace:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0xffffff&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fthedennetts.org%2Falbumid%2F5551031079763542337%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26authkey%3DGv1sRgCMC86o265oK29AE%26hl%3Den_US" height="369" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" style="height: 369px; width: 500px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500"></div></embed>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-73013216340841347072010-08-25T13:33:00.001-04:002010-08-25T13:35:36.012-04:00A Blessed Time in the States - Continuing Challenges in Guatemala<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLMtHLY58VjApSdgmy7JPRYKrMNaExV-V_EiKYsTNoJcREAKlbjc8RuZ2oo3VRqoxT70_UiArq_pi1DJi2xx1O6s1JxdkGnsQo8DsN8gGHVdj3fzUI-I5oK-TvC2rkIrkd-c5T_vg4oks/s1600/family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLMtHLY58VjApSdgmy7JPRYKrMNaExV-V_EiKYsTNoJcREAKlbjc8RuZ2oo3VRqoxT70_UiArq_pi1DJi2xx1O6s1JxdkGnsQo8DsN8gGHVdj3fzUI-I5oK-TvC2rkIrkd-c5T_vg4oks/s200/family.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Well, we just returned to Guatemala late last week, following a wonderful trip in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire... spending quality time with both family and friends. I got to visit Spring Air (my former employer) and actually share with the workers in spanish! I also spent the day with Ed Bates, my former boss, and we had such a nice time visiting and catching up. We enjoyed time in our home-town, 2 family reunions (Dennett and Payne), time with our church family in Portland, some rest at Alton Bay and then a few nights at the beach (thanks to our insurance company) with both sides of our family.</div><br />
We had a couple of challenges during our visit, Jordan (our 12 year-old) had a ruptured appendix and was very sick... spending nearly a week in the hospital recuperating from infection that was spread through his body. God is faithful and Jordan is fully recovered and better than before. We suspect he had wrestled with this sickness for months as he had complained of abdominal pain in the past. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlFdSo-f4e6X9V6x6yxF1oY-fD9VNJCjiEQtPPO2-6R4E9CL_UmJZb8DvloG4y6PFUnxhiKY51wx1CU5SMGHCkh5yCn4NLns_Xde97Sw3ZMNcWpwFxVDgpBpmWVf-jWFLP30b2UXBjBhB/s1600/brian+speaking.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlFdSo-f4e6X9V6x6yxF1oY-fD9VNJCjiEQtPPO2-6R4E9CL_UmJZb8DvloG4y6PFUnxhiKY51wx1CU5SMGHCkh5yCn4NLns_Xde97Sw3ZMNcWpwFxVDgpBpmWVf-jWFLP30b2UXBjBhB/s200/brian+speaking.bmp" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Our last day in Alton Bay, Micah choked on part of a freezepop package (we believe) and went unconsious (incredibly frightening!) and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. A doctor was sent to meet the ambulance halfway and Micah was attended to very well in Huggins Hospital in Wolfboro. All ended well, with very joyous mom, dad and siblings glad to be loving on our little guy once again. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I enjoyed speaking in several churches, sharing our passion for the ministry God has called us to! Our church visits were so encouraging and we enjoyed seeing so many close friends in the process. We hosted a work team in April from Fellowship Bible Church in Chester, NH... these simply awesome people hosted a barbecue for us all and we got to spend an afternoon sharing. What a joyful afternoon... we really felt as though God used that time to prepare us for our return to Guatemala. I had begun feeling some aprehension and then left the barbecue excited to begin our work once again!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHrnaN4SrMSIY4u0vLfnqJ0vePWJv_0CpCP9hqhZzbM3gbwT9gkWsX4OqDY8Tgkmp6aCHWhxbqnVtyePJweNoBcJWZ7QcpZYnvEA0otUCiwuAoEyrz9eL4ArkYW6YzG0ejl2cdfeAc7E/s1600/bridge+out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHrnaN4SrMSIY4u0vLfnqJ0vePWJv_0CpCP9hqhZzbM3gbwT9gkWsX4OqDY8Tgkmp6aCHWhxbqnVtyePJweNoBcJWZ7QcpZYnvEA0otUCiwuAoEyrz9eL4ArkYW6YzG0ejl2cdfeAc7E/s320/bridge+out.jpg" /></a>We arrived back in Guatemala to a wet country reeling from the destructive rains that have continued through what is now being described as the worst season ever. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We mobilized our teams throughout this time and have been distributing food, water and helping to rebuild homes of those affected. We are also planning several community projects, like the rebuilding of a bridge used by our students to attend on of our schools. This will benefit the entire community as well! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Please pray for a rapid end to the season and that we would have time to dry out! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Today I am enjoying visiting with Nico Kattenburg, a missionary with FRMI (Reformed Church of Canada) who will be joining our team and working with us on the planning and monitoring of our results. We also have all of our staff from our 8 city projects here for a day of general training... such a blessing! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We are so grateful for all of your prayers, support and encouragement! Many blessings to you all from Guatemala!!!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-77382947527088298902010-05-29T11:59:00.003-04:002010-05-29T12:02:01.831-04:00Vocan Pacaya and Prayer Request<div align="center"><object height="364" width="445"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fFoF57KX2yU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fFoF57KX2yU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Greetings from a black sand covered, torrential rain-soaked Guatemala. The night before last, Volcan Pacaya (the we have climbed several times now) had its first major eruption in twelve years, shooting rocks, lava and volcanic sand 18 kilometers into the sky and literally blanketing most of the country in black sand. Many were evacuated from the area of the volcano and are now in shelters. Those living close had to live the night through large flying rocks and massive explosions. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">AMG Guatemala has a team that has been here all week from Chester, New Hampshire and they have certainly had quite the experience! Please pray for these dear people... they are tired and want to get home to their families... the airport has been closed now since the eruption and we are waiting for news of its opening. They were supposed to return early this morning but are now booked on a flight Monday morning. If the airport does not reopen we are considering taking them to El Salvador.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">To further complicate matters, we are experiencing the effects of the first tropical storm of the year, Agathata... strong winds and heavy rains. The team and I visited several sponsored children's home this week in the ravine and fear for so many of them. The poor live in homes that simply cannot withstand the wind or rain of storms like this. Please pray for the safety of each of our sponsored children, their families and the many people living in extreme discomfort at this very moment.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Praise the Lord that our family is safe. There's a lot of cleanup to be done but we have endured no serious damages.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">We will be travelling to the states in July and will look forward to seeing many of you during our visit. We are soooo ready to see our family and New England, following a very long and challenging year. And blessed of course!</div>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-33544684896820357302010-04-09T12:29:00.000-04:002010-04-09T12:29:17.857-04:00Medical Team to Cubulco<div style="text-align: left;">We have the pleasure of hosting a medical team each year that Dr. Michael Laberge coordinates. Here is a slideshow courtesy of Dr. David Mast a member of the team:</div><br />
<div align="center"><object height="405" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/if_goQhuI7g&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/if_goQhuI7g&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></object></div>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-77040822978209699192010-03-19T14:05:00.002-04:002010-03-19T17:59:24.151-04:00What a Month<div align="center"><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0xffffff&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fthedennetts.org%2Falbumid%2F5450387873361973761%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="333" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500"></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="left">What a month it´s been. Forgive me for being so tardy in writing... I simply have not had the time to keep up with my blogging. It has been one whopper of a month or so. We were incredibly blessed in February to have a group of my friends from my home church come and work with us for a week.</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">These guys poured themselves into this ministry, sharing their love with our students and our workers... it will be a week that I will never forget. They accomplished numerous maintenance tasks (painting, installing cabinets in our new medical clinic, installing a new fence with razor wire, teaching english, doing wellness checks on the kids (thank you Dr. Paulding!) and even building library units to hold new books we´ve purchased for each of the projects. Our maintenance crew was deeply effected by the love shown by these men and they have established friendships that will last an eternity. What a blessing to see them working hand and hand together... without the ability to communicate well in language, but excellently in love! I guess love is indeed the perfect language!</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">We took them to the ravine to visit the homes of 2 of our sponsored kids and we were all touched by the need there. Poverty is hard...and yet the way these 2 families were coping was beautiful. One mother ran after us, following the visit, to give us duck eggs which she had collected. A precious gift that brought us all to tears. </div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">We visited a rural project and the guys did alot of electrical odd jobs that we had not been able to do...they then played soccer and basketball with the kids and gave out some of the more than 100 balls they brought along to give away. What a blessing!</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">We ended our week with the most special communion I have experienced. Steve Morse led us through the Lord´s supper, coming to each of us one at a time and sharing thoughts and prayers for our lives. We continued as we felt led, sharing the cup one at a time with each of our brothers, offering our thoughts, encourgement and prayers for each one. A night I will never forget. Thank you Steve for this special time together.</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">Following the visit we experienced numerous challenges here at the ministry. We experienced a very dangerous threat when a gang called our El Limon project stating that we needed to begin paying extorsion or someone would be murdered. We immediately closed the school and changed our phone lines. This Tuesday we had a parent meeting and called on parents to help us with this situation. Many of the gang members may be siblings to our students and/or have relationships with AMG student families. So far we have not been bothered further. Please pray for protection for our workers in El Limon and specifically for our director there.</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">We have also had to deal with corruption and had to make hard choices in favor of doing things the way we best know God would be honored. </div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">Yesterday we learned that our camp director Orfa had a brain aneurism and needs immediate surgery. We are praying for her and working to find the best solution to her medical needs and resources to pay for her surgery.</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">What a blessing to be in the midst of trouble! It is a priveledge to stand up straight and confide in our Lord and share the Truth! I consider it a beautiful confirmation that we are doing what is right... and that our adversary is not pleased! We have been working for several months on our multi-annual plan (2011-2015) and will be sharing it with both donors and our AMG Guatemala Board of Directors at a meeting in Chattanooga in May. We have many ideas to work towards implementing and a very solid structure for bringing about transformation here in Guatemala. Please pray for us as we seek to offer programming that will really make a difference! </div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">On our family side, things are going well. The kids are very involved in school... music and sports and Mary is busy with the little ones and with serving at the school. (she substitute teaches among other things!) Abbie has her first high-school banquet this weekend and is very excited to attend this formal event with her friends. She found a lovely dress and looks just beautiful in it... I can´t stand that´s she´s growing up so fast!!! Our kids bring us such joy... we have a very full life! </div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">Blessings to you from the Dennett Family!</embed></div>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-81645778726339365902010-02-03T12:15:00.001-05:002010-02-04T18:09:34.788-05:00Sports Day!<div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">This morning our weekly sports program was kicked-off in our elementary school with "El Día de Deporte" or Sports Day. 3 of the kids came in new soccer uniforms to our offices and took Ruth (Director of Education), Elisa (Child Sponsorship Supr.) and I out to the events. I cut the ribbon to start the day off and then we were asked to play sports against the kids! We had a great time and it was great to leave the pressures of the office for awhile! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0xffffff&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fthedennetts.org%2Falbumid%2F5434065106463129409%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="333" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></embed></div>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-4623119955500412442010-01-13T11:30:00.003-05:002010-01-13T11:34:21.493-05:00One Year in Guatemala!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDy1oceAQSRFag7LjHUeLiqGRnLX9wSb6ZajVCyUzvi-YXGQOkGw-fIXv2qvK1f5B7GF9NJNh3P8owIbmyoqOrZhyphenhyphenl0H4dzqqAZ1pDdPXogz591GIOFpXv5UkRvtzTTKGvHKE9djkAXo/s1600-h/one_year_candle_bmwpreview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDy1oceAQSRFag7LjHUeLiqGRnLX9wSb6ZajVCyUzvi-YXGQOkGw-fIXv2qvK1f5B7GF9NJNh3P8owIbmyoqOrZhyphenhyphenl0H4dzqqAZ1pDdPXogz591GIOFpXv5UkRvtzTTKGvHKE9djkAXo/s200/one_year_candle_bmwpreview.jpg" /></a>We can´t believe we´re even saying it... but we´ve been here for an entire year already! What a year it´s been! Well, what are we up to and how are we feeling after a year here? Well, firstly we KNOW we are where God wants us and couldn´t be more impressed with the ministries of AMG here in Guatemala. The fruit we witness every day is such a blessing and keeps us going. 2009 was a very challenging year for us... so much to learn... so many new experiences. Living here is quite an adventure to say the least...not knowing what we will experience around every corner...literally. We have seen things that we wish we hadn´t seen and we´ve seen things that made us laugh our heads off. We´ve come to love a people whose warmth is difficult to compare...whose traditions are culturally rich and incredibly festive. There is so much need here and we are so pleased to be part of a vibrant ministry to provide for it!<br />
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Our children are back at school following their Christmas break. Abbie is working very hard rehearsing as part of the school´s february broadway show. She continues to study piano and voice and just loves music. The boys are never without anything to do and love playing with their friends, sports and just being outside. Eve is all girl, enjoying her new pretend kitchen...cooking up a storm! Micah is now creeping along furniture and will probably be walking in no time! He has such a fun personality and is a wonderful addition to our family. Mary is busy with a women´s bible study, many new friendships and caring for our family and home. <br />
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Things at AMG are extremely busy with our year-end finance, strategic planning (we are working on our 5 year plan) new ideas, new partnerships with other ministries and the new school-year kicking off yesterday! God has provided for many great changes here and we are looking forward to great fruit in this new year. We have made significant organizational changes that reinforce our <a href="http://amgguatemala.blogspot.com/2009/10/true-and-lasting-transformation.html">"Theory of Change"</a> which is our framework for working toward permanent transformation through Jesus Christ.<br />
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I am very much looking forward to the First Baptist Portland men´s missions team that is coming to help us on Feb. 20th. It will be such a joy to show our ministry to my good friends from our home church and to have them here working with us for a week. They will work on finishing our new medical clinic, painting our general assembly hall and other necessary projects. Buen Viaje guys!!<br />
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What have we learned this year? To trust in the Lord with all our heart, that there is such joy in having only HIM to rest in, that giving everything up for HIM is incredibly freeing, that working in the midst of poverty and pain brings you close to HIM, that working for HIM is so satisfying...AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-37274288493657291572009-12-15T15:19:00.001-05:002009-12-15T15:19:33.882-05:00Merry Christmas and Thank You So Much!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU8PJGHLM93FTDULbbqqv8fx5KjvsbmTFaTkIfpDLjmj7sq9wg6Hv5NReYnERZsGi-JPTAp5uOtaYr-LBGV_yiTJHtUy4FU-ZMYyiEjtYfrX2VpI0fMBWkgKcnihmBPhFM8lqCJNef2iU/s1600-h/wreath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU8PJGHLM93FTDULbbqqv8fx5KjvsbmTFaTkIfpDLjmj7sq9wg6Hv5NReYnERZsGi-JPTAp5uOtaYr-LBGV_yiTJHtUy4FU-ZMYyiEjtYfrX2VpI0fMBWkgKcnihmBPhFM8lqCJNef2iU/s320/wreath.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>From our family to your´s... Merry Christmas! We are so greatful for your prayers, your encouragement and your financial support. This has been one of the most challenging years of our lives...but one of the most blessed as well. We have adjusted to life in Guatemala, learned many new traditions and have fallen in love with the people and ministries of AMG Guatemala. I cannot for the moment think of anything more gratifying that we could be doing. God is Great! As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!<br />
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Merry Christmas Everyone! We miss you all so much!AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-57506279731174471182009-12-15T15:14:00.000-05:002009-12-15T15:14:23.538-05:00Bundles of Love Missions Team<div align="center"><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0xffffff&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fthedennetts.org%2Falbumid%2F5415279351557373425%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26authkey%3DGv1sRgCK_A65LR2-2EhAE%26hl%3Den_US" height="333" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">We had the great pleasure of hosting the Bundles of Love team from the U.S. and Canada...here to distribute new backpacks, shoes and supplies to several thousand of our sponsored children. The team consisted of Ken, Dee and Harrison Ivins from Chattanooga, Megan Reese from Delaware, Ruth Reed and Linda Ivins from Pennsylvania, Fedde (Fred) and Grieta (Grace) Wielinga from Canada (originally from Holland), and Phil, Jen and Megan Wilson from New Hampshire (and working hard to get here to join us in ministry!) <br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">The team had a wonderful experience interacting with the children and their parents and then helping us treat our teachers and employees to a wonderful Christmas Party on Friday. They brought along many gifts for our employees, did facials with all our female workers and joined us in celebrating a fruitful year of ministry.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">We also had the joy of visiting with our sponsored kids and giving them Christmas Gifts...always a blessed time.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">We headed out on Thursday morning for Cubulco, Baja Verapaz about 4 hours north of Guatemala City in the mountains. This is where AMG operates a hospital and we have friends that are missionaries with FRMI, Ken and Jen VanMinnen. We were excited to celebrate Thanksgiving in a very new and different way! We brought along a turkey and enjoyed the amazing views on the trip up. The road through the mountains was amazing...sometimes with sheer dropoffs and no guardrails...a bit hairy! <br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">We arrived and I introduced Mary to Julio and Veronica, the directors of our hospital. We stayed in the hospital guest house and our boys stayed at the VanMinnens. Friday morning the plan was to head deep into the mountains and hike across a suspended bridge over a river then visit a remote village where Ken ministers to the Mayan people. We arrived at the bridge only to find many Mayans there...Ken was very surprised telling us that normally noone was around! We soon learned that the President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom was going to soon make a historic visit to this small village in order to pledge his support of the people and a new bridge for them... we were about to witness something no President had ever done!!!<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">We crossed the bridge, at 300 meter long and 70' high (above the river) this was quite the frightening experience. Many other Mayans were attempting to cross along with us and at one point the bridge twisted to one side and gave us quite a shock! We made it across and then turned around to head back... about halfway across a helicopter came right down beside us and landed in a field. We basically ran across and arrived just in time to see the President. We listened to him a moment and then went down through the woods and visited with his security team. We warmed up to them and they allowed us to cross the security line and get right up close so that we could meet the President when he returned to his helicopter. The kids talked with the soldiers protecting him and one even gave Jordan a bullet from his automatic rifle. We got to greet the President on the way out and thought the whole experience was just incredibly cool. Afterwards we returned to Kens pickup truck only to find it full of Mayan people wanting a ride to town. We obliged and had a nice ride back through the mountains.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">We are incredibly thankful this year for our family, friends our ministry here in Guate and Gods goodness. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!<br />
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</div></embed>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-39601320565420776382009-11-20T17:56:00.005-05:002009-11-21T14:51:43.232-05:00New Playgrounds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBtlgX9nmkCfaTyQr6ZzCcpRbesPn_MJRVrq-9BJ5Hzi75HYdmfBA4WLj9RhgQnLqsk6c8Vgtg7cLq-MZGcOmFq0iHbCoE7L4wkLm3OyacA-_fcjs6FFJiRgrl4gWz1rzR-_P5nt5tJns/s1600/playground.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBtlgX9nmkCfaTyQr6ZzCcpRbesPn_MJRVrq-9BJ5Hzi75HYdmfBA4WLj9RhgQnLqsk6c8Vgtg7cLq-MZGcOmFq0iHbCoE7L4wkLm3OyacA-_fcjs6FFJiRgrl4gWz1rzR-_P5nt5tJns/s400/playground.jpg" yr="true" /></a><br />
</div>We were all so excited to see a beautiful new playground installed today at our Verbena school. We are trying to improve the quality of our playground equipment and have been soliciting donations to do so. If you would like to help us purchase another one like this for one of our other 28 schools please click on the DONATE tab above and indicate that you would like to have your gift go towards the purchase of a playground. There is also information, after clicking, on how to call or mail in a donation to AMG.<br />
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We are all so excited for Monday, when our daycare children arrive (our regular students are on vacation) they will be so excited with this!!!! They are not used to playing on something so nice (a fact many of us would take for granted!) and it will be a very exciting morning for them. Thank you to those who helped to purchase this!!AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-1292089277843971412009-11-09T12:14:00.002-05:002009-11-09T12:19:37.774-05:00Visit to Cubulco Projects<div style="text-align: center;"><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0xffffff&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fthedennetts.org%2Falbumid%2F5402148199033046625%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="333" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" /><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">We travelled last week to Cubulco, Guatemala (North of Guatemala City) a large rural city of mostly indigenous mayans where we have our hospital, dental clinic, radio program and agicultural center. Our visit was part of an ongoing objective we have had to expose each of our different ministries to each other in order to interchange ideas and understand how all the work AMG is doing in Guatemala relates. Our group consisted all of our area supervisors, our Director of Education, Coordinator of Child Sponsorship and our camp directors. It is simply amazing to me how much fruit we are enjoying from this vital group of ministries in Cubulco. <br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">We are the only hospital within hours of this area and we treat more than 15,000 patients each year. The hospital offers complete services with emergency room, labor & delivery, operating rooms, dental clinic, ultra-sound, xray and our own laboratory. Our radio program reaches much of the population and is used as a vehicle to evangelize and teach on a variety of important health topics. <br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Thank you so much Julio and Veronica (Cubulco Directors) for your excellent management, your creative ideas and your love for this community! What a blessing!<br />
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I had had the great pleasure of hosting the GHO Global Health Outreach missions team led by Mark and Joy Moores at AMG´s hospital in Cubulco Guatemala. They brought with them surgeons, doctors, nurses and a dentist. While here they perfomed many specialized operations and did medical outreach in the villages surrounding Cubulco. We are so grateful for their love of Guatemala, their many years of serving us in this way and their friendship as brothers and sisters in Christ!<br />
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It is always a wonderful opportunity for our staff to work alongside these professionals and minister to the spiritual and physical needs of the community. We loaned our entire english department to them for the week as translators and they made it possible to communicate well with our hospital staff there. Thank you so much team! We can´t wait for you all to come back!AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-86219943080328532352009-10-27T16:07:00.004-04:002009-10-28T16:09:56.830-04:00Lives Transformed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLynvteDfBaIilLn034RK1N7w8FbaqshqvRLDNwO86ec-NMH-eWAXsH1E8RUB3xjAM0Wsr53_DNj2WiH_L8AdT14YnVAd2fvFKPnMFFqytxlNrjMAejXf2OeJ9IsImmpEDUQ9saBJGsR8/s1600-h/Tailoring+Center+in+Nahuala" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLynvteDfBaIilLn034RK1N7w8FbaqshqvRLDNwO86ec-NMH-eWAXsH1E8RUB3xjAM0Wsr53_DNj2WiH_L8AdT14YnVAd2fvFKPnMFFqytxlNrjMAejXf2OeJ9IsImmpEDUQ9saBJGsR8/s400/Tailoring+Center+in+Nahuala" vr="true" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our purpose here at AMG Guatemala is to transform lives... not just here on earth but forever... the man I am speaking with in the photo above is the tailoring teacher in our Nahuala project in the department of Sololá in the west of Guatemala. We visited there recently and he shared with us how he was a former sponsored child in our program, became a Christ-follower while attending, graduated, attended our vocational tailoring program and went on to become the local tailor in his community. He earns a good wage working as the local tailor and also works with us teaching because he "wanted to give back that which he received from the Lord, through AMG". He had such a passion for leading these children to the Lord and to independence through their hard work and learning a useful trade. <br />
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This man filled me with joy! I was so excited after talking with him, seeing such wonderful fruit from our ministry here. This is what we are all about! Thank you so much to all you child sponsors out there... you are literally tranforming lives!AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-62848226030286565802009-09-28T14:47:00.001-04:002009-09-28T14:52:56.285-04:00AMG International´s New Website<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1H73u_u5UKJn66xtszYJR71mfqlkAPRI_mS3q-24kZ5X_8-FyrS-c0AzS7wRVGs972YPXa_KhKr5_XfKNvYRBzmNiHgJOrwxx3fLBamzMZSOSfFzaDOonlfE5yCarFLdPfFakAxvpxZ8/s1600-h/AMG+Website.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1H73u_u5UKJn66xtszYJR71mfqlkAPRI_mS3q-24kZ5X_8-FyrS-c0AzS7wRVGs972YPXa_KhKr5_XfKNvYRBzmNiHgJOrwxx3fLBamzMZSOSfFzaDOonlfE5yCarFLdPfFakAxvpxZ8/s200/AMG+Website.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>I invite you all to visit <a href="http://www.amginternational.org/">AMG International´s new website</a> They have done a nice job reorganizing, adding new features and sharing all pertinent information about our many very exciting and interesting ministries worldwide.<br />
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I was very excited to see that a girl from our Verbena School, attached here to our central office (where I work!) was on the front page of this global website! I just sent our Education Director out to the project to get her and show her this beautiful picture. She is now famous!AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-39814977635872308292009-09-21T16:55:00.002-04:002009-10-28T15:03:19.014-04:00Visit from the States<div style="text-align: left;">While living in Costa studying spanish we met the McVaney family. Dr. Kevin, Colleen and their four children. They were the first family we met and they handed us a ziplock bag of spagetti and sauce on our first night there! We quickly became friends and enjoyed several trips with them and of course being their neighbors! <br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Kevin surprised us last week with a visit to Guatemala to see our ministry and we enjoyed showing him around and having him in our home. We visited the home of a sponsored child in a very bad neighborhood near our central office and were deeply touched by the experience. Later that day we visited one of our schools, a stark contrast from the terrible and dangerous neighborhood that it operates in. Our director Elsa gave us a tour and we were all so impressed with her organizational skills, the condition of the project and visiting with the children. Thank you Elsa!<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Thank you Kevin for your visit! We miss you guys! Below are some photos of our time. Click on the slideshow for a larger presentation or to see the photos individually. <br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0xffffff&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fthedennetts.org%2Falbumid%2F5384016883309488753%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="333" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" /><br />
</div></embed>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-46164612389381472232009-09-03T16:42:00.006-04:002009-10-28T15:03:59.512-04:00La Niña Independencía<div style="text-align: left;">Here in Guatemala we are preparing to celebrate Independence Day. No, not the 4th of July, but the 15th of September! Each year prior to the holiday, the younger students compete for the title of La Niña Independencía or kinda-like the Independence Day Queen. I had the priveledge this year of being one of the judges. The kids were so cute! They were rated on presentation, expression, dance and dress. Each student was dressed in traditional Guatemalan dress and also had to give a small talk on various themes. The slide show below can be clicked on if you would like to view it larger or slower.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0xffffff&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fthedennetts.org%2Falbumid%2F5377310384097842545%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="333" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" /><br />
</div></embed>AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-16425727124846272332009-08-26T15:33:00.009-04:002009-10-26T14:30:59.298-04:00Guatemala Food Crisis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFuTXOSmcr0FvtFGxr9GmsUZLUQQL4qY6AeudXswcK7pUZaCwit30UM1R4m8uA-lhiDNkZ__FDF7nQhh4C48Xn5MsHLyT6dXtkizN4Lxpz7EWDpAeQdOlokVJwzRYCDyTGO8lAI3TbErY/s1600-h/food+crisis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFuTXOSmcr0FvtFGxr9GmsUZLUQQL4qY6AeudXswcK7pUZaCwit30UM1R4m8uA-lhiDNkZ__FDF7nQhh4C48Xn5MsHLyT6dXtkizN4Lxpz7EWDpAeQdOlokVJwzRYCDyTGO8lAI3TbErY/s200/food+crisis.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>With many parts of the country reporting no rain since May, Guatemala is facing a food crisis. Several of our projects are in communities that are hardest hit by this. Many important crops have been lost by the drought and people who were struggling to survive are now left without sufficient food to feed their families. I have asked our regional directors for an update on how communities surrounding our projects are being affected and what we might be able to do to help. More information to follow.AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3168655421550631323.post-25271186757798311192009-08-11T17:23:00.009-04:002009-10-26T14:34:27.308-04:00Testimonies from the Field<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSwOeqTQV2jb7E-8mOZQj5N1AU5w2yj6n9A1kuYnoS36DMx52gyIDPCDuyLR9xi5JDIUZii9ffI0n-MobMw2DEUKQhhrWrrpSX84dFDSz-IqD9QOMzfRHLnUWR7jWHyZS9NVwOfGXZwg/s1600-h/gilbert+photos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSwOeqTQV2jb7E-8mOZQj5N1AU5w2yj6n9A1kuYnoS36DMx52gyIDPCDuyLR9xi5JDIUZii9ffI0n-MobMw2DEUKQhhrWrrpSX84dFDSz-IqD9QOMzfRHLnUWR7jWHyZS9NVwOfGXZwg/s200/gilbert+photos.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>Many of our more than 500 workers here at AMG Guatemala are former students of our various projects around the country. We recently began asking some of our former students to share their stories with us. I would like to share one each month or so with you all. I have been so encouraged by these stories and hope that you are as well.<br />
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The following is the testimony of Gilberto Castillo Valenzuela the director of our Oratorio project. (Those of you from First Baptist in Portland...this is the project your children just bought desks for!) <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>My Life as a Sponsored Student:</strong><br />
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Since I was a little boy my family suffered from poverty. My father was unfaithful to our family. He had other women and homes and that always hurt us. He abandoned us when I was 10 years old. Thank God there was an AMG daycare center in our village and I had the opportunity to enter as a sponsored child since I was 4 years old. I remember that it was a great blessing and benefit for my family and for me to attend the project. I adapted to the program very well. I liked to play and have fun with the games. Maybe I was not always a calm boy in the classroom and I was a playful boy, but I always tried to behave well. I had many classmates and friends and I learned a lot about the bible and praised God with songs. I met many teachers at the childcare center, and many people and sponsors from AMG International, and if I would see them again I would recognize them and my heart would still be full of joy. As I was growing up I continued with my studies and thank God I finished high school and I graduated with a high school degree in marketing in the year 2000.<br />
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I want to thank AMG International and my sponsor Marilyn Calpist from Canadá, who I hope is still alive and reads this testimony. I am sure she will be proud to know about the sponsored child that she helped for 16 years and to see that I did not let her down but I valued this gift and tried to make the best use of the help that she sent me.<br />
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On January 12th 2002, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and I got baptized in July 14th of that same year. I then got married on November 3rd of that year with Patricia, my wife. Since I accepted Jesus I have been working a lot at my church. I have two daughters Mariana and Kimberly. Actually I am the treasurer of my church, I am the director of the music group and I love to play the keyboard. I am also a deacon of my church, Macedonia.<br />
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The most special thing in my life is that now I have been working at AMG’s Oratorio project for the past 5 years…the same place where I received the help when I was a student! I worked two years as a teacher and now three years as the Director. The truth is that I feel a great joy in my heart and so much gratitude because God allows me to work at AMG and accomplish the mission to preach the gospel and motivate and support the children and youth to serve God. Many of them take full advantage of the help that AMG International gives them and they value it very much.<br />
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Dear sponsors and those who make possible this wonder help for our children, I want to tell you that you have a kind heart are are full of love for many needy children, and you help people not only from Guatemala but also from many countries of the world. I pray that God blesses you, and that He protects you and prospers you for what you are doing in His work and for so many families. I say good-bye now with a bible verses of Proverbs 19:17 “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done”. God bless you today and always.AMG Guatemalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04538434607858523752noreply@blogger.com1