"Once again we say sincere thanks for the continued..."

Once again we say sincere thanks for continued very faithful help to the suffering of Guatemala. As the sufferers receive food and some building materials they are so grateful. The Christians usually are too moved to say much without wiping their eyes, then they say let's pray. I say that is good, Let us thank the Lord for any of these things for none of it is mine. I have nothing to give, and it comes from the Lord and His servants who love Him and give with sacrifice for "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these ye have done it unto me."

Mostly the activities are back to normal as to work and eating, so that we give out less food than before, while the worry over housing mounts. Individuals all over are busy buying materials and borrowing to pay for them, and starting in, but there is no help so far from the government or any of the principal agencies in spite of the millions talked about from other countries as given and promised.

Besides the individual , evangelical church groups are helping their people, at least with their church buildings, and in some cases the houses of their members. Our mission is becoming famous as helping people, especially believers, even though they are not members of our church or mission. Of course we don;t even have a membership. All believers are our brethren.

The catastrophe has helped Christian brotherhood and cooperation very noticeably, for instance, a few of the churches in Zone 5 had lost their buildings organized special revival meetings in the park, and one of the speakers looked around as he was speaking, and in praise and amazement said, "It took a great earthquake, but it looks like every church of Zone 5 is represented here." We had tried to get this in times past, and worked and invited, but only a limited number of churches would work together. Where we failed God has accomplished the impossible, all are represented. Where we always had some souls saved in each campaign, but in limited numbers, now God is working mightily with multitudes of unbelievers attending and crying, "What must I do to be saved!"

In the villages also there are meetings in the open air by necessity with a tidal wave of precious souls coming to the Lord, may of whom had been witnessed to before but seemed hard and impervious to the Gospel, but now are shook up, thinking about the uncertainty of this life and the importance of things eternal. The believers too are fired seeing that the material is bound to pass away and only the spiritual has lasting value.

The mounds of fallen broken adobe blocks that were once houses have gradually become more and more just fine dust. The streets where cars pass and people walk are about a foot deep in fine dust, with clouds of dust rising and blowing everywhere. The people are bothered with nose and bronchial troubles, the dust being full of germs. This is the dry season, the problem is dry dust. In another month or two will begin the rainy season and some of those mounds of dust will become rivers of mud. Everyone in worrying about how to make a temporary shelter somewhat waterproof before the rains come. Our help usually in taking the form of corrugated roofing which they will raise on a few uprights, have a roof over at least one room, and put up the walls later as they have time and money or materials.

A woman came in for milk with two children, said she had six but four had died in the earthquake. Some of the brethren know her and are taking help besides the daily milk and buns. Another woman has now an extra child, a niece, now an orphan whose parents died in the cataclysm-- along with her own, I don't know exactly how many, but obviously more than 2 or 3. I offered to take the child, either temporarily or for adoption, but the little girl got the drift of the talk and began to cry and try to hide behind the other children, so the woman said she'd better keep her, they all seemed happy together even though very poor. The government at first flooded with orphans asked for prospective adopting parents, but then decided to take care of them in emergency quarters until adoption plans could be worked out more carefully and prospective parents screened.

Most of the relief work has been in one direction, the mountain Indian villages. The earth-fault had another arm reaching down eastward to the Atlantic. The main highway to that area was blocked in many places and a large bridge was down so that the machinery , trucks and tractors could not get into the area. They were fully occupied anyway in the other area. We have friends and churches on the Atlantic side but assumed that the force of the quake and damage was much less than in the mountain villages. We have since learned that while it may have been somewhat less, it was still awesome and houses and towns have been levelled. A brother taking some supplies to the brethren there went by bus, we putting hundred pound bags of essentials on the bus roof carrier. The bus went way round, at times going over the borders into El Salvador and Honduras, before circling back to reach the stricken area. We saw that U.S. Army Engineers almost have the road open with temporary bridges in place, so we'll be able to visit and get help there more directly.

The believers are generally praising the Lord for the revival tide, rather than complaining about the material losses.

So, we do the same. Tracts are going out in a great flood, too again. The Lord bless and reward you all, say these brethren to you.

Sincerely,

Brother Orland