by JoAnne Ruble

This summer I had the privilege of traveling to Guatemala with eight other members of Manna Fellowship Church in support of MANNA Worldwide, which is a Christian non-profit organization that focuses on rescuing children from the grip of poverty in 41 countries around the world.

There are over 350,000 orphans in Guatemala and many more impoverished children who don’t have enough to eat. Some come alone, while others come with siblings. Younger children are brought to the center by their mothers, some from long distances away, who wait patiently for them outside while they go in to eat.

MANNA Worldwide Guatemala Nutrition Center

Visiting with children as they eat at the Nutrition Center

A few of the highlights of our time there include visiting a service of a church plant and witnessing the baptism of five Mayan youth. We fed and played with children at two different nutrition centers. The Lord made a way for us to hold a three-day VBS at a Baptist church where the local schools brought their first through sixth grade students daily to hear the gospel. We made home visits and at one home a girl and her older sister made decisions to follow Christ. Fortunately, they live directly across from the nutrition center and the younger sibling was invited to receive meals and both will be encouraged spiritually.  We also had the opportunity to visit and play with children at MANNA Children’s Home and poured a concrete play area.  We distributed 114 Dolls on Mission made by the women of Manna Fellowship Church in Belton.

If you’d like to learn more about MANNA Worldwide, go to https:/mannaworldwide.com/.