Restoration House is a home for recovering drug and alcohol addicts in Champerico, a fishing village on the Pacific coast of Guatemala. Association Saq B’e (Rev. Ken Herfst is a director) oversees this project. Addicts (referred to as interns once they are in the home) are literally picked up off the streets, cleaned up and given a very structured home in which God’s Word is used to share the Gospel and to teach a biblical view of daily living over a four month period. In the picture standing in front of the home are, from the left, Rick Postma (Word & Deed), Wilfredy Cruz (home director), Alfonso Bonilla (intern), Samuel Expaña (Association Saq B’e Coordinator), Isamel Pocasangre (intern) and Luis Robles (intern).

Agricultural Project ($90,000)

This three year project, started in 2007, is intended to teach people in the mountainous areas around Xe Abaj, Guatemala how to grow various vegetables (high altitude techniques), animal husbandry, and reforestation. Workshops provide the necessary agricultural instruction, but they are also a vehicle for sharing the Gospel with the participants. The need for this project became apparent during Hurricane Stan relief efforts when a team delivering water to this community discovered many were suffering from malnutrition due to the fact that most of the families were living off of rice and corn. The first complete year of the project exceeded all expectations and not only has the health of the community improved, but some families were able to make money by selling their vegetables. Many people are increasingly open to hearing the Gospel as they have now seen that our words have been matched by deeds.

This is an example of targeting self-sufficiency – providing people in the developing world with the knowledge and tools to better their lives while at the same time giving them hope for eternity. Association Saq B’e runs the project and Woord en Daad in Holland is also a major supporter of this project.

La Palabra School in Monjas ($9453)

The La Palabra School project was adopted by Word & Deed in April, 2008. The school, run by a conservative evangelical church in Monjas, has been operating with little or no support in the past (it was about to shut down due to lack of funding) and will be incorporated by our partner, AMG Guatemala, into their school and sponsorship program. A number of upgrades and changes to the school are needed over the next year as it undergoes a transition to fully meet all the sponsorship program requirements. Word & Deed is looking for 60 child sponsors who will support this project at the standard monthly rate ($35 per month in Canada, $32 per month in US) with the understanding that the full sponsorship service level will not be met until 2009 and that their funds will be used in the mean time to run the school and help fund the transition.

Hospital Radio Broadcast ($4600)