Greetings,

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas! While we very much missed friends and family this was still one of our all time favorite Christmases!

The week of thanksgiving my (Sara) heart felt very heavy during a time of prayer. I had such a strong sensation that I was not fulfilling the call of God for my life and that deeply saddened me. Since I was a child my heart has been for the orphan, the unwanted, and the outcast. God has placed in me a passion for these groups of children to know their value and identity as sons and daughters of a king. I asked the Lord when the time would come for this ministry to come to fruition.  At the end of this time of prayer I felt in my heart that I was supposed to pray and keep my ears and eyes open. God is so awesome! Just 3 days later I learned from a missionary friend of mine that there was a Children’s home in our town with these exact types of children!

The first week of December Jesse and I went to visit this children’s home named Remar. Remar is an international Christian organization that helps to bring restoration to broken lives. The children’s home here in our town is specifically for orphans who have been abandoned by their parents or children who have been abused by their families. There are about 10 boys at the house for boys and about 30 girls at the house for girls. On our first visit to Remar we met a precious 4 year old little girl. It was heartbreaking to listen to this little girl’s history. She was rescued from her father who had raped her and then cut her head open with a machete. When she walked up I opened my arms to her and Jesse and I were amazed as she walked into my arms and allowed me to embrace her. Many of the children at this home have similar horrific experiences. The most heartbreaking news is that a large number of these children return back to their abusers due to the lack of a strong justice system in Guatemala.  The directors of this home are beautiful people who are trying their best to care for these children and help them recover from their traumatic experiences. The directors expressed to us their desperate need for children’s ministers. “We are doing our best to provide shelter and food for the children. However, there are not any people on our staff to just spend time loving on the children. We need someone who can come and love the children. We need someone who will play with them and teach them the bible and about the love of Jesus.” Their words were like water to my soul and an answer to my hearts cry. In that moment I wanted to jump up and say “YES! ME! I WILL DO THAT!!!” This is my ministry heartbeat. These precious children need so desperately to know their value and worth as children of God. They need to know the pure love of their heavenly father. I believe that God has led me to these children and He has placed it in my heart to reach them. I believe so strongly that these children’s lives and circumstances can be changed by the power of Christ.

We were blessed to be able to spend Christmas Eve with the children from Remar. We set up a sheet and played the nativity story in Spanish from a projector. We were able to buy jump ropes, a few jumbo balls, and some group games for the kids. God helped me make 2 turkeys and bake 100 cookies for them as well. We know that these children are very close to God’s heart. He made that very clear to us over the past couple of days. We had called the gas company and ordered a cylinder of gas to be brought to our house to cook the turkeys with. An hour after delivering the first cylinder they returned with a second cylinder of gas saying that they had received a call saying that we needed a second cylinder. I told them that we hadn’t called them but that maybe God knew that we would need a second cylinder and went ahead and bought the second one. Sure enough we needed both cylinders to cook the two turkeys. God pulled the strings to make sure that the children would get their turkeys! We are so excited to be partnering with Remar in helping these children. We are looking forward to seeing what God has in store  as we begin working more with them next year.

Thank you SO much for partnering with us. You are truly making a difference in these children’s lives. We are so grateful for all of your prayers, encouragement and financial gifts that continue to make the ministry here possible. We pray that you have a blessed New Year!

Our next update will talk about a second partnership we have made here, one that we believe will eventually help us meet our goal of reaching every village here in the Petén with the Gospel.

Blessings,
Jesse, Sara & Makai Eggman