Greetings from Guatemala:

I will try not to make this too long, but some wonderful opportunities have presented themselves to the ministry here, and we are going to need your help. The first quarter of this year really did not produce any news, more or less business (ministry) as usual. We did receive an international team of missionaries in April and will receive more groups later this month. However in June, after seeking direction for the ministry, we have been presented with an opportunity to start a local Christian TV station here in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. The exciting part is that we would be the first and only Christian TV station here! We have already obtained the permissions and are partnering with CTNi for the content and programming.

So what’s the next step? A fundraiser! We have begun a campaign to raise the money needed to begin the transmission. We had a week long marathon and rose just over $1,000 USD locally, and that’s when we realized we would need outside help to start this ministry, the technology here is more expensive than it is in the USA or Europe. A local company has a microwave system (studio to transmitter link) in their warehouse that we may be able to use, that would be a huge savings for us.

Bottom Line –

SO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TV MINISTRY -

In short, we were blocked politcally by another local TV channel and the cable company, which owns the local channel. After being given permissions and at the last moment when we were to go on the air, we were blocked and told directly that they did not want a Christian Station here.  ( any one want to buy a satellite dish, one receiver and one transmitter ? )

 

I will keep you updated on my kids from time to time, one for prayer is Elio Muñoz . He is 18 very bright, but only has a 8th grade education. I was set to pay for him to start double time in school to get caught up because he wants to be an architect. But 2 weeks ago his father was on the motorcycle and was hit by a car; breaking the leg in 3 places, he has a titanium plate, 8 screws and can not leave the bed for 6 months. Elio has 7 brother and sisters, he is the oldest and the mom is pregnant about two weeks away, Elio now has the responsibility to work to support the family; school is out of the picture. Elio wants to help me in ministry but timing is bad with the accident. Elio says he has many problems now including his friends all want to drink and smoke. It is hard not to have any good Christian friends at 18. He is now working about 60 hours by week to feed and support the family. In the other mail I sent you was a photo and on my blog, in the photo of the kids at McDonalds eating – Elio is in the bottom left with the straw in his mouth.

This is long over due and I apologize for the lack of communication.  I have some important bad and good news to communicate and it won't be easy to put in words, so please take a few minutes and read this update:

A HARD LESSON LEARNED:

In March of this year I moved to Guatemala to buy a property and start a youth camp and retreat center. In May of this year after one successful month, the center closed. I discovered that the friend (ex-friend) Felix Gomez, who had helped me with the transactions to buy this property had not been honest with me and that he had been telling people that the property was his. He took his lawyers and made a claim on my money and the property, and because of the way he helped me make the transactions, the bank believed he was buying the property and not me. While my name was on the deed, it had not been filed properly, partly because he was making a claim on the money I used to purchase the property. For some reason the bank did not protect my transaction and they went along with him. This is a person who I had known for years. I had asked him to help me start the youth camp and I found out that he was sleeping with his girlfriend in my house and drinking alcohol during camps in the property. The problem started when I asked him to leave my house, that I would not stand for these things in ministry. I first met this guy when I was in Guatemala with Mercy Ships many years ago. The hard part is to believe a friend would make these actions against me and steal the property and the money all for ministry. Well, that is not all; the bank told me I had to pay him extortion (a very large amount of money) to receive a signed paper from him and the bank would then release my money or property. Unfortunately I paid him, very sadly a large amount of money, but the bank found some other reason to not give me back my money or the property.  In total I have lost a lot on this deal, the hard part is that $282,000 was a loan from my bank in the States. It has been a hard lesson learned..

SO WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING?

In July of this year I moved from the Pacific coast of Guatemala to the Atlantic Coast. I have been partners in a radio ministry in Puerto Barrios for 6 years. In July my partner bought a new radio station in a city in the northern part of Guatemala, about 4 hours away. So what does this mean, well I have taken over the radio station and the ministry of Shofar Stereo . I am now the General Manager and Director of the radio and the ministry. Lots of big changes here, more or less God has honored my time here in Guatemala and now I have brought this radio to the next level of professionalism, so much so that the directors of the other radios here in the city came to see what was happening!

SO WHAT NEXT?

Well, I have a great youth ministry here in Guatemala; I have about 25 kids that all call me papa Paul. I have seen the lives of them all change in amazing ways, and are now all serving God in ministry.

Here is a photo of some of my kids
Here is a photo of me, my kids and some friends visiting me from Mercy Ships as we all have breakfast in McDonalds here in Guatemala. Yes, you heard me right, not one, or two, but a group of friends from all over came to make an outreach here in Guatemala and ended up visiting and helping me with an event in the park for the street kids. These guys are from different cities and countries and I know them from three different ships, what a great time we had!

SUPPORTING MY KIDS:

The reality is that things are not free in this world; I do not know a ministry in the world that does not need help with personnel or with finances. It is true when you hear that $1 per day can change a life, from time to time I pay for a month of school for some of my kids and it is about $30 by month, $70 if you include food for a teenager. All of my kids are in School, but sometimes they are told they can not take exams because the parent's don't have money to pay the school. Three of my kids want to take a YWAM DTS (Discipleship Training School) which runs about $1500 depending on location.

Would you please pray about helping me support my kids, it is easy to help http://tonetti.us/donate and follow instructions for checks or credit cards. If you send a check, please let me know so I can have someone look for it in the mail

Thanks for you time, and As I am looking through my address book to send this out, I am praying for each and every one of you for the new year… God Bless

Well, it is April 1st and we have been going crazy just trying to find all that we needed to open the doors. I spent all day yesterday in the market just trying to find tables and chairs for 40 people. Not a bad deal, It worked out at $13 per table!!! The picture shows us getting ready to open, we have two groups today, 40 people just for the pool, and another group of 5 families as overnight guests. The carpenters were here until 4 am putting the bunk beads together, and the little snack bar is stocked with drinks and candies, well, gotta run the first group just showed up!

 

I am really enjoying it here, although getting the ministry up and running is quite a bit more than I expected. We are getting a good response from the community and our TV ads. On a personal note it is hard to realize that the nearest real grocery store is 35 minutes by car, however it is owned by wal-mart, so I can find products I like. I have adjusted well to the low carb diet and it is doing well with me. I have discovered I can have 1 flour tortilla or 2 corn tortillas and a ½ cup of black beans. I have trained our cook  to cook with olive oil so it is more healthy. She loves to cook with garlic and I love to eat garlic, must have picked that one up from grandpa Tonetti. I have gone to the last hole in my belt and will have to make another one, not sure how much weight I have lost, but this is the second hole I have made in my black belt and the first hole in my brown one, so something is working. By the way, the pool finally went from brown to green to clear!!!