The Cordero family seems to be under great attack by our spiritual enemy as of late.  Fabiola and Hamilton have not been attending school and Emilia recently lost her job cleaning the house of a woman in the community.

Dipolita has been feeling helpless lately as she constantly has trouble with finding work and providing for her family.  She does not have a good enough educational foundation to be able to sustain work, so the task of supporting the family generally falls upon Fabiola and Hamilton, her two children.  She is very grateful for the assistance that Servants is providing to try to help her children go to school but it is a difficult balance with their financial needs.

This past month, unbeknownst to Servants until we asked how school was going, Fabiola stopped attending school because she found a better paying job working in a Korean textile factory.  Previously, she was working in the local market helping a farmer sell fruits and vegetables.  The biggest issue with this new job is that she works 3rd shift which overshadows her school day which is on Saturday (in Guatemala, some schools have classes only 1 day a week and is sometimes on the weekends).  In a meeting between Fabiola, Jon our Guatemalan missionary, and Fabiola’s teachers and school administration, we learned that the teachers can see the potential for Fabiola to excel in school if she continues attending.  She has decent grades and works very hard.  The school is willing to work with her to help her get back on track and find a balance between her new employment and desire to continue schooling.  August 5th she will be required to take her exams for the current term.  If she passes, they will allow her to continue attending at her current level even though she has missed a month’s worth of classes.

Fabiola with her school uniform at the beginning of the year.

Hamilton has also quit going to school.  Since he is repeating 3rd grade for the 3rd time, he has been really struggling psychologically because he is embarrassed and ashamed to be so far behind and not attending school with those in his own age group.  Unfortunately, this is a common trend in Guatemala.  Because he is so far behind in grades and has missed a lot of school (he was attending 5 days a week), it is not possible for him to re-enter school during this school year.  He says he would like to try again next year.  Currently, he is working in a carpenter’s shop making wooden legs for beds.  Our goal is to become more involved in his school and Jon will be working alongside him to keep him motivated and tutor him as needed.

Emilia is very thankful for the Ibuprofen provided to her through Servants as it has helped in the healing of her injured shoulder.  Her employer had to let her go because she can no longer afford to pay Emilia to work cleaning her house and caring for the kids.  She is very happy and thankful for the support Servants is providing to help her youngest son, Gerson, complete his final year of school.  She also asked for prayer for her other son who lives far away.  He is sick and seems to be losing his eyesight.  His name is Julio.

Gerson is working hard to finish his schooling this year.  On July 6th he took his computation and programming exams.  He is now taking his graduation classes (that prepare him for the next stage of his life once he finishes high school) and will be soon starting his 200 hours of required work experience.  In Guatemala, one of the final requirements to graduate high school is to work for 200 hours (without pay) for a company to gain work experience and references for employment once they graduate.  The idea is if the company like shim as an employee, they can hire him.  He is very excited to be almost finished with school and is extremely grateful for the help he is receiving to earn his high school diploma.  Gerson also asked for prayers because he thinks he might have a throat infection and is planning on seeing a doctor.

Gerson’s grades are improving and he is working hard to finish!