Good afternoon Church Family!

In just 12 days our Guatemala Team will be on their way to the mission field! We have a total of eleven people on our team. Six are from our local congregation, and another five are long time financial supporters of Red Hill.

Our team will be serving Tapestry of Love Ministries with their work at the school, at Mount Sinai Evangelical Church, and at a church plant in a community called Chirijcruz. Previously, our church has helped the school with a donation that enabled them to put in new flooring, and then last year our team was able to generously provide the funds needed to help the church plant in Chirijcruz install their new floor! The missionaries told us that we are "foundation layers" for them, and they have been so grateful.

Our other two projects will be a basic medical clinic and building a chicken coop. The Porter family (who are both physicians) will provide some rudimentary medical screenings for the children at the school, and our team will provide the funds for a chicken coop.

Why a chicken coop?

I'm glad you asked! Agriculture is the primary source of income for a Guatemalan family in the communities where we'll be working. These jobs are typically available to men, and many of them struggle with an addiction to alcohol. This situation causes a lot of stress on the women, many of whom are home-makers. Building a chicken coop, providing twenty baby chicks, and enough feed for a year allows a woman to start a small business and create a source of sustainable income for the future. The women who are blessed by this donation are women who are connected to the local church. Recipients have included unbelievers attached to a Bible study group for seekers, widows with a special needs child, and new followers of Jesus who are just beginning their new life in Christ.

A $250 chicken coop can change a family's life.

Our team will serve, laugh, and grow to love the country and people of Guatemala. We all know that not everyone can GO, but everyone can PARTICIPATE with us.

TWO ways you can partner with us:

First, you can support us by praying daily for us. Missionary work can be stressful and tiring. You're in a foreign country where you probably don't speak the language. The food is unfamiliar. The rhythms of life are unfamiliar. And the culture is different, so sometimes you aren't even sure how you're supposed to act or respond. We need prayer partners who will lift us up every single day. We will be sharing a prayer guide to our Facebook page, and you can also sign up for email updates on our website.

And second, you can support us by giving financially towards the cost of our trip. Each participant's cost is $1400, and we are hoping to offset those costs. It's true that God doesn't need our money, but it's equally true that His work requires it. Your contribution not only helps us go, but it is the simplest way for you to participate. When your donation goes to the work your heart will often follow it. If we are able to collect extra money, we will leave that with the missionaries who lead Tapestry of Love, so they can continue the work.

There are four ways you can give to support our trip:

You can bring your donation to a worship gathering and put it in the offering box. Please mark any checks with the word "Guatemala" in the memo line, and please put any cash in an envelope with the word "Guatemala" on the envelope.
You can use the Church Center App. Just make sure to search "Red Hill Church" in Edwardsville/Glen Carbon, IL. From there you will create a simple profile and have access to the giving platform. Choose "Guatemala" from the drop down menu (instead of "General").
A third way to give is through the Red Hill website. This page will link you to our giving platform. Be sure to choose "Guatemala" or your donation will filter into our general fund (which is also a worthy cause).
Finally, you can text-to-give. All you have to do here is just text AMOUNT to the number 84321. For instance, if you wanted to donate $10 to our Guatemala Team you would type "84321" in the recipient box, and then the text would just say "$10 Guatemala" (quotation marks not needed). From there you will get prompts on what your next steps are, and all of your text-to-give donations (like all others except loose cash donations) will be recorded for tax purposes.

Thank you for all the ways you already participate in the Red Hill mission of sharing the gospel and our lives. What a privilege we have to serve the Lord together and to be His ambassadors here locally and around the globe!

If you have any questions about our trip, about our church, or about how to financially support the work, please email: rayden@redhill.church.

Thank you again, and stay tuned for our trip Prayer Guide!