Dear Praying Family,

God woke me up at 5:30 this morning with the rain and gave me a desire to send out this update before most of you leave for church today.

We had a partly sunny day or two before the rain started again. It has rained all night. This last week the heavy rains from hurricane Stan and a small earthquake have caused a state of emergency in Guatemala. I have heard figures of 500-1,400 deaths. Several towns around Antigua were flooded. A mudslide took away the dirt path leading up the mountain to Eric’s house and left part of the house “in the air.” Eric came to the Lord recently with his wife and son. They were to be baptized today, but the road to the hot springs is closed. Instead, our church will use the Sunday school hour today to help dig the mud out of several brothers’ homes. One neighborhood has 6 inches to several feet of mud in many of the houses. We spent Thursday morning digging the mud out of our pastor’s house. No one we know has been physically injured so far. Praise the Lord!

If anyone would like to contribute to a relief effort, please designate funds: Jonathan Stone – hurricane relief.

We may try to provide Eric with better housing. Donations of food have been going out to the neediest areas. Many people have completely lost their crops. Please pray for the physical needs of Guatemala. Please also pray that God will use this disaster for His glory. Pray that Bible teaching churches will have an opportunity to be a witness by sharing God’s love in helping the needy.