Starting off on the right foot.. literally

From Global Lutheran Outreach missionarie Ben Tino (Serving in Zacapa, Guatemala):

I wish everyone a joyous 2021 and hope the transition into the new year went smoothly. In this brief newsletter I will update you on the past two months for me, and inform you on what I look forward to this year!

From December 23rd-January 31st

My update begins a few weeks after I sent out my last newsletter (Dec 11th). Amongst all the Christmas preparations and activities in the church, I found time to participate in a Christmas basketball tournament here in Zacapa (2nd place!), and take a couple trips to Guatemala City for my expired VISA ordeal (still not resolved). On a 3-hr motorcycle ride home from the capital city on Dec. 23rd, I became very sick from a stomach infection, and somehow managed to make it back among several stops to vomit and what not. The infection led to me taking some bad medicine, which greatly affected me Christmas Eve, and most of December 25th. Due to my illness, I spent the 24th-25th by myself and attended no festivities other than church.

But the new year was received with a bang! I celebrated New Years with my girlfriends family in Puerto Barrios, and ate all the food I could since I had not eaten much from the infection of December 23rd. The following week after January 1st I went out to play basketball one night and ended up breaking my foot, the fifth metatarsal to be exact. So I am now confined to a boot and limited activity for 4-6 weeks! Although living by myself, I am managing to still get around to teach classes, grocery shop, and do other errands, but I pray I heal quickly. No long distance motorcycle rides for me.

What my work looks like for this year

My work in training musicians in the church is coming along nicely. Starting this Sunday (1/31), my students will be leading Sunday music without me at least once a month. This will serve as an opportunity for them to build confidence playing on their own, and will be a gentle transition from having me by their side the whole time. I of course will be present in the church. By the end of this year I hope to have them playing every Sunday without me.

A project I took on this past year during the pandemic was to put together a hymnal for the musicians to use. Here in Zacapa, there are 4 different hymnals/songbooks that I read from, each written differently, some with music some without, totaling over 500 songs. With my knowledge of what has been sung during my two years here, I went through the four hymnals and selected 351 songs that the church in Zacapa should know, and have put together a songbook with basic chords to serve as a tool for the musicians. It is now ready to print! Since this songbook is only for the musicians that read chords/music, I will need at least 7 copies to start, and hopefully more in the future. The cost of each one will be $32.00. As a missionary I live off financial donations from people like you, making this mission work possible. I hope to get at least 7 copies printed in the month of February and could use your support to do so! If you would like to donate $32 towards a new songbook, message me! and I will be sure to include your name in the foreword.

Click here to read the latest newsletter from Ben!