December 2023 update

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).
Hello Friends and Family


Hard to believe Christmas is almost here.  Our time since returning to Guatemala has gone quickly. 

Pastor training began the month of November and we just completed the second module in early December.  It is going well and they are so enthusiastic about what they are learning.  Such an encouragement to see their open hearts for God.

We have had a couple of visits with Yeimy and her Mom.  She seems to be doing well.  She will be going to the children’s hospital in January for 5 days to have a number of tests.  There was a concern with an accumulation of fluid in her abdomen, but her Mom tells me that it has resolved.  So we continue to pray for a complete healing for her and we ask you to continue the prayers for her also.

For her birthday we had a little memory book made with many pictures we have taken of our last two year journey with her.  She absolutely loved it as you can see in the photo below.

We have had a great visit from friends from Lumby, BC, Tim and Wendy Andres.  Wendy is the coordinator of the North Okanagan Gleaners medical section, so it was especially meaningful for them to be here for the unloading of the container, which we received a month late due to backlog in the shipping industry.  It cleared customs quickly and easily, praise God.


They were with us last January on a team when Wendy approached us asking  if they could raise funds for and coordinate a load of medical equipment to come.  This came after a visit to a family with 3 disabled boys.  We told her that if God has laid it on her heart to do so, we would happily receive it.  We love it when we see God at work like this and to be able to see it come full circle is especially meaningful.

​We are currently coordinating the shipping of a container of food which should arrive around the end of January.  Our food supplies are low and we have had several requests that we can’t fulfill at this time.  
We had an invitation to visit a very rural community , about 2.5 hours away on a pretty rough road.   They gratefully received the protein and apple we brought and fed us a delicious chicken soup and tortillas with the whole Church in their small kitchen.  The ladies wanted us to try making tortillas and we shared lots of laughs at our efforts.  

We had a wonderful visit with the village of Santa Marta .  They are an agricultural community and the last several weeks they have been harvesting cardamom, so our visits have had to be delayed until now.   Santa Marta is where a Church plant grew out of the maternity clinic project that was initiated in their village

 Their Church building is presently under construction.  It has been raining a lot, so there is lots of mud and things are on hold for a bit until it dries up.  We had a lovely Christmas event with them.  Tamales, cake and a gift for each family.  The Q’eqchi’ are a storytelling culture, and  to encourage them, we shared a missionary story with them about David and Svea Flood.  If you haven’t read it, google the story and read it.  It is an amazing story.  

Within that story, we adapted it a little to bring in the message of the gospel in its simplicity.   In some ways this story reminds us of the struggles the community of Santa Marta faced as a Christian community over the years.

 We met this community 6 to 7 years ago and love how God has connected us with them. They are a very special community to us.  We told them of many in Canada who ask about them and pray for them.  They are grateful and say thank you.

​We also had an opportunity to visit the Coban hospital with gifts for the women in maternity, and a small gift for the children in the pediatric ward.  In a place where so many hearts are heavy it was a blessing to bring a little joy into their lives. 
For those of you who would like to follow the journey of Cody and Bronwyn Watson and family, they have settled into their community and although we have done a few things together, and we are always open to guidance, they have launched out into their own initiatives.  If you wish to follow their journey, please email them at [email protected] 

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Denis and Eileen Nogue