Amatitlan
When Hurricane Mitch hit central America in 1997, every country suffered in its own way. Although the number of deaths in Guatemala did not compare with those in Honduras and El Salvador, the shanty towns on the hillsides were all washed away in the torrential rains. Thousands of the poor were left even poorer still.
The Servant’s Heart received a small donation of $700 designated to help these victims. Our leadership team at the time was a group of three young people living in the dump and working full-time in the ministry. They were given the task of finding the most damaged area in Guatemala so the money could be used to help those victims. They went to the police, the fire stations and searched around the immediate city to find victims, but no one could be found. They had already relocated, and no one knew where.
So the firemen directed them to an area in Amatitlan, an urban setting just outside the city where three rivers come together.
When the team arrived in Amatitlan, they found people in 11 feet of toxic water searching for whatever they could salvage from the floods that had washed away their shanty town. Many large organizations were there taking pictures of the damage.
Our team arrived on a bus with no cameras, just hearts ready to serve, as they had been served by the ministry for several years.
It was close to Christmas, so it was the team’s idea to buy food for the families, and toys for the children. At the beginning of December, just a couple of weeks after their first visit, our team arrived on a rented flatbed truck. They celebrated Christmas, 1998 with our new Amatitlan family… distributing 150 large plastic bath tubs full of food staples and a toy for each child.
It was a complete surprise for the people of Amatitlan. No one else had returned. But the people said, "We really didn’t expect you… but you kept your promise… you came back.”
Until 2005, we had no buildings. But we visited once a week for eight years, doing weekly Bible studies along the shores of the still toxic river, carrying medical supplies in the back of Rodrigo, our pick-up truck, and sharing Christmas with them each year.
We are duplicating everything we do at the dump in Amatitlan as well. We now have about 250-300 women who attend our Bible studies. About 300 children are involved in a variety of children’s programs. From the devastation of hurricane Mitch, God has created a beautiful and flourishing ministry.
Please pray for more laborers to meet the needs of this tremendous harvest.