Ministry Update
God has been very faithful to our ministry over the past year. Thanks to your generosity we were able to pay the salaries of all our staff members while also covering the tuition fees for many students whose families struggle financially.
Covid continues to affect Guatemala, and the country will feel the economic impact for many years to come. Some studies suggest that poverty relief efforts have been set back by as much as 50 years. Education efforts also suffered greatly this year. Most students in the public school system only had a daily television series to instruct them, with little to no accountability to keep them on track. Many private schools couldn’t pay their teachers, and a few even had to close their doors. While Agua Viva felt the effects of Covid, we are overjoyed to report that over 85% of our students successfully finished their studies this year. Thanks to the tablets you donated to make online instruction possible, we were able to ensure that every student in our school had the opportunity to continue their studies. It hasn’t been easy, but we’re proud of how the children worked hard to stay on track as well as the resourcefulness of our top-notch teachers.
This year we finalized our paperwork for government approval to open a new daycare center and have started remodeling a building for that purpose. Once schools open we should be able to launch this new ministry to serve our local community.
We were able to open our new Bible Training Center this year and host a few small pastoral training events. Lord willing we will continue to grow this new ministry and serve pastors, leaders and christians who want to grow in their faith.
We’re still uncertain what government mandates might be in place for next yet, but we’ll provide you with an update in January once we have more information. Our hope is that Guatemala’s health situation will be stable enough to allow us to return to in-person classes at Agua Viva. Soon we’ll begin the process of planning for teams to return to Agua Viva in 2022. We would love to have you or your church join us next year. Please contact misi@aguavivaschool.
