It has been a tough few months for the Mercado family.  First, in November, Olga and her husband were both let go from their jobs because neither place had the money to continue paying them for work.  Thankfully, Olga’s husband, Elias, was received a severance pay that has helped them these last few months and he is working odd jobs in construction as he continues to search for a job.  Olga has had the blessing of find some jobs cleaning houses but they still are not making anywhere near what they were making.

Then, in December, Olga needed to make an emergency trip to Honduras because her father was getting very sick.  Thankfully, there was a missionary passing through Guatemala who was heading to Honduras and he offered to give her a ride and help pay for her needs if she would help him with translation at the border.  Olga spent a few days with her parents around Christmas but had to return to her husband, children, and work.

A few weeks after returning from Honduras Olga and the kids received the final grades from school and found out that all 3 of the children did not pass their school year last year.  This was very tough for Olga as she truly wants the best for her children.  It was found out that one of her sons, Byron, may have a learning disability and the other 2 children were struggling with the school which they were attending.  So they are all in a new school this year and we are having some testing done to see if there is indeed a learning disability.

Finally, last week Olga received a call from her family in Honduras telling her that her brother was killed.  There was no explanation.  The family thinks it has to do with her brother’s ex-wife’s involvement in gang activity.  She apparently has been dating someone in a gang and they say that a masked man entered the house while her brother and his two daughters were eating breakfast, told his two daughters to leave the room, and the man shot her brother where he sat and left. This was very hard and devastating for Olga as she could not go to be with her family during this difficult time.  This also caused health issues in Olga’s mother and caused her father to get even worse in his already failing health.

Through this all Olga and Elias continue to trust the Lord and they know that the Lord has a plan in all of this even if they don’t understand right now why everything is happening.  Olga asks that you please pray not only for the family’s peace and comfort during this difficult time but that the Lord uses it to draw her remaining family members towards Him.  Olga said she has been trying to get her mom to go to church and start reading the bible, even though she cannot read, or even get someone to read it to her.  Olga’s biggest concern for her family is their salvation. We ask that you please pray for all of these issues and that you pray that Olga and Elias would remain strong in their faith despite the trials they are facing.

On a happier note Olga and Elias celebrated their 1 year anniversary on January 24, 2016 and despite some trials and challenges (as in most first years of marriage) they are thankful for the Lord bringing them this far and continue to work to have a healthy, God-honoring marriage.

Thank you all for your continued prayers, love, and support for this family!