It's the fourth day of the month, the day I've designated for a monthly Four Friends International update in 2017. Here's the latest...

January Construction Team

On January 14, eleven volunteers (nine men and two women) left Arab First Baptist Church for Jalapa, Guatemala to begin construction of a medical clinic in the nearby community of Los Pinos, the second clinic Four Friends International will sponsor. Their mission was to build the clinic walls, and in just five work days over 50% of the outside and inside walls were raised. The Guatemalan construction crew said that our mission team accomplished in one week what would have taken them two months to do. What a wonderful jump-start to the building project! During the construction, the ladies gave away free eyeglasses and free parasite medicine in Los Pinos and also treated the children to Bible stories and activities. Four members of the team - a physician, two nurses, and a pharmacist - ministered three half-days at the Los Laureles clinic. The whole team visited the city dump at Los Laureles on Wednesday and offered free refreshments to those who make their living scavenging through the trash. The team returned on January 20, leaving the remainder of the construction to the Guatemalan workers. The clinic should be completed early next year, and the team plans to return in April, 2018 to furnish and dedicate the building. Click on "Pictures from Guatemala" to catch a glimpse of the January construction trip.

Los Laureles clinic

Located fifty yards from the Life in Jesus mission church and a quarter-mile from the city dump, the clinic at Los Laureles is treating 500-600 patients each month for a variety of acute and chronic conditions. Since it opened in August 2015, the clinic has offered free medical care for over 10,000 patient visits. Every month, Nurse Lilian - who lives in the apartment at the rear of the clinic - and her staff provide medicines to over 250 patients with hypertension, diabetes, and seizure disorders. The clinic pharmacy has more than sixty medications and is restocked every three months by Four Friends International.

Los Pinos Clinic

On the opposite side of Jalapa, a 20-minute drive from Los Laureles, is the poor rural community of Los Pinos, where a second clinic is being built. As in Los Laureles, the Life in Jesus Baptist Church in downtown Jalapa is the sponsoring church, and Four Friends International has purchased land adjacent to the Los Pinos clinic for a future church building. Until then, the church meets in a rental home in the community. The estimated cost to construct and furnish the 1800 square foot clinic/apartment is $100,000. As of today, $42,000 has been donated. Thanks to everyone for their generous gifts.

Pray for...

1) the Los Laureles clinic staff: Nurse Lilian, Nurse Rosaura, Paula, Eunice, Korina, and Patricia.

2) the ongoing construction at Los Pinos.

3) the Life in Jesus Baptist Church in Jalapa and its three mission churches: Los Laureles, Los Pinos, and El Terero.

4) Pastor Filiberto, Gustavo Arana, Nurse Lilian, and all the workers at the church there.

5) the Four Friends International Advisory Board as it provides oversight to this ministry.

6) a church or Christian group to take on the mission of building a church in Los Pinos on the land adjacent to the new clinic. 

7) the Matthew 9:36 Project, which helps over fifty children each year get out of the dump and into the schools.

8) continued donations that will make it possible to complete the Los Pinos clinic on schedule.

Thanks for your interest and participation in the ministry of Four Friends International. I'll give you another update on March 4.

In His grace,

Randy Stewart