Ever since I was a child, I learned in our church, Emmanuel Presbyterian Church of Champerico, that believers want to serve others. When someone recognizes the kingship of Jesus Christ, that person inevitably desires to serve others, to help others in their needs, and to restore what has been partially or totally broken. In this way, the renewed person becomes the salt of the earth. The privilege of calling myself a Christian is what has made me become involved in serving those who suffer needs, even if such needs were minimal. Nevertheless, I never really considered the idea of working with people trapped in drug addiction and alcoholism. Yet, in response to an invitation given by the board of Restoration House “Capernaum”, I accepted the challenge. Today, together with my wife Wendy, I work in this project. We work as volunteers, knowing that what we seek is not only the physical restoration of these men, but above all a spiritual reconciliation with God.

Restoration House

The board of directors supervises the activities of the Restoration House and is made up of members of local churches. Each board member has unique gifts and/or professional training that allows him or her to play a specific role on the board. As a business administrator, I look after the finances. My wife is a dentist and provides free dental care to the men. Along with four other board members, we work with the director, Wilfredy Cruz Santay, a man whom God raised up from the streets of Champerico. He was totally lost in drugs and alcohol, but thanks to the mercy of God, today he is a new man. God is good and He has permitted us to form a team that works well together to rescue men that Satan erroneously thought belonged to him.

The House works according to a yearly plan of monthly meetings organized by the board. At the same time, we must acknowledge that despite the efforts and good intentions of each board member, we work with a degree of concern that some of the men will return to their addictions upon leaving the House. Working with local churches has been a key element in avoiding this and we see that the active involvement of the men in activities of the churches is a fundamental part of what we do. After one year of working in this ministry, we have seen some of the men complete the program and, thankfully, begin honest work in the community. They have been transformed into new people as children of God.

A typical bedroom in Restoration house.

In order to provide a roof to the men in the program, we have been renting a house so that they no longer live on the dirty streets from which we rescued them. However, we are conscious of the fact that this building doesn’t meet the conditions necessary to provide a well-rounded restoration. As a result, part of our future plans includes the construction of a house that will include areas for workshops. The workshops will encourage the men to learn a skill that will enable them to become reintegrated into society as contributors to society and as models of renewed people.

German Benítez Gómez, is the business administrator and a teacher at a local Christian school. He volunteers at the Casa de Restauración “Capernaúm” in Champerico, Guatemala. German and his wife Wendy are members of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, where he serves as secretary of the consistory.