Guatemala in Need!

6/1/2010 - Updated report from the UPCI/Foreign Missions Department
Greetings from Guatemala!! Late Saturday night we sent out an urgent prayer request for the country of Guatemala. We are very grateful for the prayers of so many of our friends and supporters.

On Thursday afternoon Guatemala was hit by a fairly strong earth quake centered just outside of Guatemala City. A few hours later the Pacaya Volcano had a catostrophic eruption, shooting lava, debris and ash over 4500 feet into the air.
 The effects of this was devastating to the surrounding area. Two of our churches, a pastor's home and the home of our Bible School cook were pelted by volcanic rock and the roofing and a good part of the buildings were destroyed. Several families were also affected by this event.

At the same time Tropical storm Agatha was forming off our Pacific coast. It later became a category one hurricane and just sat off our coast for over 24 hours. Thankfully the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical depression before making landfall, but the rains still had a devastating effect on this country. In 24 hours we had more rainfall than in any one single day since sometime in the 1940's! Most major rivers in the country flooded and there are literally thousands of mud slides. This has caused most road ways to be blocked and 13 bridges have been washed away.

Today (Monday) I have spent on the telephone with our leaders and pastors trying to get an assesment of the damages and immediate needs. It has been awesome to hear some wonderful testimonies of God's divine protection, but disheartening hearing of the destruction and of faithful families loosing all the had. Thankfully we have no reports of loss of life or serious injury.

But we are in great need of help.

We have two pastor families who have lost everything, their homes swept away by rivers. Four additional pastor's' homes have been damaged and they have lost most of thier belongings. We have had to evacuate some of these families and others have found refuge in the church or with neighbouring pastors. The problem is that most of their saints have also been affected by the devastation, so the pastors are without income and the saints are looking to them for help,when they themselves are in great need.

We have confirmation of over 25 faithful church families who lost thier homes and all they own. Many others have been evacuated and do not know what to expect when they return home. There are still some areas that we have been unable to communicate with, so reports are still pending. We are setting up temparary shelter for some of these families in churches and in homes of other church members.

Immediate needs are for clothing, blankets, basic food items, drinking water and medicines. In some cases homes could be temporarily repaired with sheet metal and wood. We can purchase what is needed here in Guatemala. Today I took a step in faith and used credit cards and our personal funds to meet the most urgent needs. Compassion services will be forwarding us some funding tomorrow to help cover some of these needs. But I fear that we have barely scratched the surface to meet the needs of our churches. We do have a disaster relief procedure in place and our local churches are responding. But the need is so much greater than what we can supply locally.

Late this afternoon the volcano erupted again. We went on to the roof of our house and watched it shoot hundreds of feet into the air. We are trusting it does not shower the city with more ash. The rains have stopped and flood waters are beginning to recede in some areas of the country. We are unable to travel out of the city due to mudslides and roads washed out, but we have leaders on site who are able to be our eyes, ears and hands.

Please help us meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in Guatemala. At times like this we desperately need the prayers and support of the church in North America. Thank you for helping us in any way that you can. You may send your checks to:

     CSI-Guatemala
     8855 Dunn Road
     Hazelwood, MO 63042

You may also donate via our website http://www.compassionservices.org/.

Thank you and God bless,

Brad and Regina Thompson and boys
Lynne Jewett

Missionaries to Guatemala