A dear friend of mine is spending a year working for the people of Guatemala for the Presbyterian Church, USA. She has been in country for a little over a month as was gearing up for the move out to the country to work with a village. Unfortunately, a large hurricane hit Guatemala last week and has literally destroyed many of the villages where she was going to work. She writes:

With whole villages covered in mud from landslides without warning, the death toll is into the thousands. People´s homes have been filled with mud and water, destroying all of their belongings. Entire villages can´t be found under several feet of mud. The economic means of this country have been washed away with the fields of crops and business.

... the current problem now, besides the fact that people are digging their homes out of the earth, is that most of the highways leading to the affected communities are impassible making the passage of food and pure water near impossible. The crops of the rural communities have been destroyed and the water sources are gone. The people are starving. And drinking contaminated water.

... We visted a few communities yesterday and what we saw was horrible. These people haven´t eaten for several days and their houses are piles of mud. The families that are worst off are staying in community buildings but those who were deemed ¨bad enough¨ are still in their houses, receiving no help.

Our mission is clear: get food and water to these people. However, there are a few problems. Food is running out. Not running out here in Santo Domingo...running out everywhere in the country. We need help. We need money now for supplies and food (when we find some) and later because most Guatemalans don´t have insurance and aren´t going to get back anything that they lost. Most Guatemalans live day to day and without work for the last week, they can´t feed their families. I am putting some information at the bottom of this email about where to send funds through the Presbyterian Church. The money will come here, we will buy food and then give it to the communities so that they can divide up the rations as they see fit. We trust the churches in the communities to know more than we do about who needs what. These are churches that we have been in partnership with for years. So, if you are able, the people of this country need help. However, I do believe that the power of prayer supercedes all, so, please keep Guatemala in your prayers and pray that this country sees a quick recovery to what has been called the worse natural disaster Guatemala has ever seen.

If you are able to help in any way, please do. To send monetary donations it is extremely important that you send an email to Lindsey at herbybug317@yahoo.com and Marcia Towers at presgov@cabledx.tv to let them know how much you've sent, so that they can spend funds that they already have in PRESGOV even before your money is available. You can send a check in the name of PRESGOV to:

Lindsey De Pew
1050 S. Verdugo
Tucson, AZ 85745

Wire transfers are also available. Contact Lindsey or Marcia for more information.

Please pray for the people of Guatemala.