Ups and Downs

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves: we are afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed"

II Corinthians 4:7-9

If we were all honest, we would admit that this life is often one of "ups and downs". As Christians, we have so many resources to deal with these "ups and downs", but still life can often feel like a roller coaster ride - smooth and steady uphill one moment, diving down and twisting in the next! Wouldn't you agree?

The ups: Here at AMG Guatemala we are gearing up for our annual Bundles of Love distribution. This is always a special time of year when we give each of the sponsored children in all 27 of our childcare centers a Christmas gift - a new uniform for next year, a backback, new shoes and school supplies....oh, and usually a little candy as well! All of the children come with their parents during the second week of December to receive their "Bundles". It's a great opportunity to meet with the parents, share the good news of Jesus, and just enjoy seeing the children receive their gifts. Please pray that many around the world would hear about the true meaning of Christmas through AMG's Bundles of Love distribution program.

You can read about how AMG International is involved in this program around the world in this month's online newsletter at:

http://www.amginternational.org/downloads/AMGnews1108.pdf

(there's also an article about two little boys here in Guatemala that we had previously blogged about if you scroll down once you open the link)

Another "up" - As a family, we recently had the opportunity to travel to New Hampshire to attend our home church's annual missions conference. The theme was "Mighty to Save" and the theme verse was

"… He saved them for the sake of His name, that He might make His power known." Psalm 106:8

It was a wonderful time to visit with family and friends, experience love and care from our home church, and to be spiritually refreshed and encouraged. Thank you Fellowship Bible Church!! Definitely an "UP" for us all!!

Here's a few pictures of our kids and their cousins during an impromptu photo shoot during one of our family get togethers. Even though the foliage was at its end, we still enjoyed the beauty that this time of year in the northeast brings:
Bob's sister Holly and our neice Sarah
Bethany and her cousins Jenny & Rachel
Sisters.....
Adam & his cousin Nancy (the photographer!)
Melody & her cousin Carolyn
Adam, Mel & Bethany

Today also brought a "down". This morning when I came to the office I learned that our Las Vistas School had been broken into last night. For the past year or so, we have raised funds and saved to be able to open a computer lab in this school. Finally, we purchased and installed the computers in October. The staff and children of the school were so excited to have the new computer lab. Eleven of the computers were stolen. We won't share all the details but today has been filled with meeting with the authorities from our contracted security company, writing and filing police reports, etc. It's hard to understand who would do this but it certainly is a sign of the times. Guatemala continues to experience a high rate of crime and it always increases around the holidays. We would appreciate your prayer that this would get resolved and that we would be able to replace the computers before the start of the new school year in January.

So, we "rejoice" and at the same time are "perplexed" (as the verse above states). Please pray with us that as Christians we would always be able to keep the proper perspective in dealing with all of life's "ups and downs". After all, it's all about God, His love and aswesome power...and His glory. He alone is "mighty to save", we just have the privilege of being part of it all.

To God be the glory!

The Hastings Family

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