March, 2010

40 Days of Forgiveness
Free Up Your Heart from the Past

Our church in Villa Lobos is participating with the majority of the evangelical churches in a nationwide campaign called 40 Days of Forgiveness, February 21- March 31.  It is a nationwide outreach that began the first week of January by way of a mega-publicity campaign using billboards and TV and radio spots.  All over Guatemala people are being encouraged to "forgive and leave the past behind".  This is very important for Guatemala because of the hate and bitterness that is so rampant related to the forty year civil war that ended in 1996, as well as all the fear and resentment created by our huge social problems (poverty, drug and gang related violence, political corruption, etc.).

I have had the privilege of serving on the national steering committee for "Perdona" (Spanish for forgiveness), representing our VERBO churches, and seeing first hand how the Holy Spirit is impacting Guatemala by way of this campaign.  Everyday people are leaving testimonies on the websites (www.perdona.org and also Facebook) about how they have been able to forgive those that have offended them.  And, of course, this produces openness to receive the whole message of salvation.  And that is why in the churches we are in the midst of "40 Days of Forgiveness".  In all of our church activities we are using materials related to forgiveness to train our people how to share their faith with the incredible number of people all over Guatemala that are so spiritually open now.

The mayor of Guatemala City, Alvaro Arzu, has been so impacted by "Perdona" that he is asking our committee to make presentations to the more than 6000 municipal employees.  Last week we met with about 25 municipal area supervisors and the reception was incredibly positive.  Pray that we will understand exactly how the Lord wants us to handle this unbelievable opportunity.

And next weekend I will be working with the first of four dental teams that will be ministering in Guatemala during this year.  Three are dental student teams and the other is a Rotary Club from Tennessee.  I especially enjoy working with the dental students because of their enthusiasm and the opportunity to influence them to consider making missions an important part of their lives.

2009 University of Florida Christian Dental Society Outreach

   For the Kingdom,

   Mike