Guatemala Newsletter

We hope that you have had a good Christmas and New Years break!
As we start this new year, we are starting a new phase of life as we start serving together in Guatemala. We have a blog at http://www.casashalom.net/potters/ which we will be updating regularly with news updates.
The drive down from Texas to Guatemala was an experience that we'll never forget! We are so grateful to God for His protection all the way down. The journey was about 2,000 miles, and it took us 5 days. We were blessed to not have any problems, and the car drove great. Mexico was fascinating, and we've posted a bunch of pictures of the journey on our blog.
After arriving on December 20th, we've spent a fun and relaxing time with Yuliza's family over Christmas and the New Year holiday. Now as we're busy getting geared up for this year. Personally, we have a bunch of items to arrange for our life in Guatemala. We're going to apply for permanent residency for Brent, just like we had to do for Yuli in the United States. Without it, we have to leave the country every 3 months, which is obviously inconvenient. Similarly, our car needs to be imported as it also currently only has a tourist permit. We also now have to buy a bunch of necessary items that wouldn't fit in the car to bring with us. We are blessed to be staying at Yuli's sister and brother-in-law's house, so the number of things we need is greatly reduced.
The children at Casa Shalom return this weekend from their Christmas vacation. Each year they are sent to stay with extended family members or with families that take them in for about a month. This allows them to enjoy a time away from the home, and also gives the workers a break to spend with their own families. The school year starts in January, so they're soon going to be returning and preparing for the upcoming year. We're excited to see them soon!
We are currently working to get in contact with a few children that used to live at Casa Shalom, but now have either returned to live with family members or are now adults and have moved out on their own. We had lunch today with two brothers named Santos and José. They've returned to live with their grandparents very close to where we are living. Schooling isn't free here in Guatemala, and continuing their education can be hard because of the economic hardship. So we're going to get them enrolled in a good middle school nearby. We would greatly appreciate your prayers for them and for others that we are going to be connecting with. We want to see all of them succeed in the real world, and we want to help them in any way necessary. We are also looking at houses and land for sale that we could use to start a half-way house ministry for kids coming out of orphanages.
Prayer points:
- Praise that God has brought us here to Guatemala safely.
- Prayer for Casa Shalom and all of the kids under their care.
- Prayer for the kids who have left the home, that God would provide for all their needs.
- Prayer that God would continue to direct us and guide our ministry.
We have a phone number in the United States that gets routed down to us here in Guatemala. So we can be reached at 512-551-4334, and you don't have to worry about making an international call!
Thanks for your support and prayers!
Brent & Yuliza Potter
512-551-4334
Brent@CasaShalom.net
http://www.casashalom.net/potters/
Our home church, North Austin Christian Church, is graciously helping us with support. If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to our work in Guatemala, checks can be made out to "NACC" with "Brent & Yuliza Potter" in the for field and mailed to:
North Austin Christian Church
1734 Rutland Drive
Austin, TX 78758