Fear keeps more than 4,000 people on the streets in tent cities as aftershocks continue. Executive Director Greg Yoder says Keys for Kids Ministries is sending hope and encouragement to Puerto Rican families.

Here’s how you can help – Keys for Kids needs to produce more Spanish Storytellers. By giving online, you can underwrite the cost of this production. Plus, a generous matching gift doubles every donation until the $12,000 goal is met.

Shaken souls

As explained here, the Caribbean is prone to seismic activity. Thanks to a wide variety of aid groups, Puerto Rican quake survivors are receiving help. “The survival needs are already being met. Other people have been responding with that… and that is a good thing,” Yoder says.

View of a collapsed house in barrio Barinas, Yauco, Puerto Rico, one week after January 7th, 2020 earthquake.
(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Believers at “The Rock” Christian radio station in Puerto Rico help meet the physical needs of earthquake survivors. “But, the one thing they lacked was [tools to] reach out spiritually to kids that are struggling,” Yoder explains.

“Anytime you rock a child’s world, they just want something to comfort them.”

God’s Word is the ultimate comfort, Yoder says, and that’s why Keys for Kids Ministries wants to send $12,000-worth of audio and print resources in English and Spanish to Gospel workers in Puerto Rico.

“We’re excited to be able to provide [for] this need,” Yoder says. “We’re just asking people to come alongside us and help.”

One generous donor offered to cover half of the $12,000 need if believers like you would rally around the cause and raise the other half. “[Each] dollar will be matched, up to $6,000,” Yoder says. “If it’s matched, obviously, we’ll have that $12,000 raised in no time.”

Click here to give online. You can also send your donation by mail to Keys for Kids Ministries at PO Box 1001, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.

Gospel opportunities

Boys share a Storyteller.
(Photo courtesy Keys for Kids Ministries)

This outreach could unlock more doors of opportunity. “There are so many people that need Jesus… there are so many other needs that Puerto Rico has,” Yoder says.

“This is just the beginning of possibly being able to reach thousands of kids for Christ.”

Storytellers, kids’ devotions, and teen devotions are among the resources Keys for Kids hopes to send to Gospel workers in Puerto Rico. These materials could become a timely “safe haven” for kids and young adults.

“Sometimes it’s good to get wrapped up in stories. I remember as a kid my mom reading chapter books to our family while we were getting ready for bed and, you know, you can get lost in your imagination,” Yoder recalls.

“Well, we don’t want people to get lost in their imagination as they listen to Keys for Kids stories. What we really want them to do is to see their need of a Savior – that there is a God who cares for them and loves them…and that God uses their circumstances, sometimes, to bring them to Himself.”

Header image depicts tents set up in southern Puerto Rico following major earthquakes. (Wikimedia Commons)

Amy Fields works with SIL International and Wycliffe Bible Translators USA on Bible-based trauma healing. She explains, “Trauma is anything that causes people fear, a sense of helplessness, or horror. This can come about as a result of things as serious as going through your civil war or rape. But it can also come about as a result of something as common as losing your health, losing your job, or perhaps a natural disaster, things like that.

“When a person is traumatized…there is actually a block that comes about between their head and their heart. It makes it to where they are literally not able to get anything out of Scripture at that point.”

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

Around 20 years ago, SIL developed this Bible-based trauma healing program in Central Africa amidst the throes of civil war.

“The pastors came to SIL at that time and said, ‘We don’t know what’s wrong with our people. They are hearing God’s Word, but it’s like they can’t apply it to their lives.’”

The pastors asked for a program that would help people see how the Bible addresses big questions and can help deal with trauma specifically.

“The trauma healing program is a Scripture engagement tool,” Fields explains. “It’s basically a way that churches can help people to see that Scripture is practical, not just for the big crises,…and helps them to be using the Bible more effectively.”

Part of the trauma healing program uses stories — one modern-day and one biblical — to facilitate the lessons, which are followed by questions. Fields describes it as “very hands-on.”

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

Since its inception, SIL’s Bible-based trauma healing program has spread to West Africa, parts of Asia, and even North America and South America.

“We have trained quite a few people in Puerto Rico where they had Hurricane Maria a couple of years ago. People are really taking off with that there and all the places in Central America where they’re just struggling with emotional upheaval as a result of the economic crisis and all the different problems that they have with gangs and so forth.”

Running the trauma healing program alongside Bible translation efforts is also proving effective as they reach into communities with healing.

“As the Bible is being translated, we’re always looking for ways to make it practical for people so that they can understand how to use it and so that it’s not just a book that sitting on the shelf somewhere, but it’s being used in discipleship and in churches.”

For example, they are completing a Bible translation for a language group in West Africa. The area they work in sees hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing terrorism and violence.

Fields says, “Their villages have been attacked and girls have been kidnapped. So these people really have experienced a lot of trauma and need a lot of help in dealing with that.”

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

As they complete Bible translations and teach speakers God’s truth, the trauma healing program helps survivors find applicable hope and peace in Scripture.

Please pray for the people going through the Bible-based trauma healing program. Ask God to fill their hearts and minds with scriptural peace.

Header photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA.

Citizen-Soldiers of the Puerto Rico National Guard patrol one of the main highway of the metropolitan area, affected by the flood after the Hurricane Maria. (Photo by Sgt. Jose Ahiram Diaz-Ramos/PRNG-PAO via Flickr)

In addition, nearly half of the nation’s grocery stores are out of drinkable water. All of Puerto Rico is under a boil advisory, meaning you have to boil any water before ingesting it. But with the power down, a boil advisory does no good when you have no power to boil your water.

Omar Haedo, President and CEO of Elan Insurance Group, explains, “All of that infrastructure was torn to pieces. I mean, the big power lines looked like dental floss…. That takes down the power grid, that takes down the water supply, that takes down communications. So the government in San Juan couldn’t even speak to the policemen and rescue…. You have a situation where you have 3.5-3.6 million American citizens with no power, no water, no communications, no cell phone, no internet, and everything is dark.”

Christian Aid Mission has a solid relationship with several local churches in Puerto Rico. When the hurricane ripped through the island, Christian Aid’s Latin America Director Luis Janeiro immediately reached out to their contacts.

Janeiro says, “We have a long story with Puerto Rico and we can witness the generosity of a lot of the Puerto Rican people. There are a lot of Christian churches there and our experience in the past is they’ve been very generous to missions — in our case, indigenous missions. So when we found out the situation, we really wanted to be able to help. I was calling all the pastors I know on the island and couldn’t get through to any of them.”

Meanwhile, a representative in Florida got in touch with Haedo and found out he had an 80-foot boat that could deliver aid to Puerto Rico from Miami. The representative connected Haedo with Christian Aid Mission and a partnership was formed to spur the hurricane relief efforts.

The coast along San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Together, both by boat and by plane, Haedo and Christian Aid Mission have made it possible for generators, water filtration systems, solar-powered chargers, and over $50,000 worth of critical medicine to be delivered to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico.

Haedo says, “I called my local church in Puerto Rico and they have all banded together and the first thing locally was can we develop a census of highest-need people in the family of Christ? So the elderly, the single mom, the sick. They have all banded together developing a list of highest-need people.”

The generators were the most immediately needed, and they’re being distributed in sort of a domino effect system. One person or family gets a generator to use on loan until they get power back. Then that generator is passed to the next person who still doesn’t have power, and the next, and so on.

“When the emergency abates,” explains Haedo, “we will store them so we have a ready inventory of materials for the next hit.”

The water filtration systems are another strategic resource, he says. “Sending water bottles is exceedingly expensive, very heavy, and it doesn’t really take you very far because you create garbage and there’s no garbage being picked up with all the plastic bottles. So we think the osmosis water filtration systems are good.”

They’re working with local churches as relief centers for aid distribution. Haedo explains, “That’s the only way we want to do it because we can be more effective by getting to the highest need people in the community. They don’t have to be part of the local church, but local churches are a wonderful distribution network because they’re part of the community.”

Relief in Puerto Rico is going to be an ongoing effort spanning several months — maybe even years. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said it may take until the end of this month for even 25 percent of the power grid to be back online. And the American citizens there need our help.

You can give to this outreach ministry through Christian Aid Mission at their website here. You can also call them at 1-800-577-5650 to donate.

In addition, Haedo says, “I really don’t want people to forget St Thomas with about 50,000 people, St Croix with about 40,000 people, and St John with about 10,000 people also got hammered…. Our plan is to load [the boat] up and go to the outer islands and deliver again through local churches and getting to the highest need.”

Please pray for safety as these hurricane relief efforts continue. And pray that the people affected by this disaster would find comfort in our Heavenly Father.

(Photo credit CBI)

Puerto Rico (CBI/MNN) — Puerto Rico has an incarceration rate of about 332 per 100,000 people, and cocaine trafficking has nearly quadrupled in the last seven years.

New York Times reports that the increase in drug trade is due to traffickers in Columbia and Venezuela who are looking for new ways to import cocaine into the United States.

But like a shining light in the dark, Crossroad Bible Institute (CBI) is thrilled to announce the launch of a new satellite campus in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (USA).

The fast-growing campus has already enrolled 92 students and trained over 40 instructors under the direction of long-time prison chaplain Madeline Garcia.

“When Madeline approached us about starting this campus, we were excited to see how this move could help grow the ministry,” said Sandra Chang Raak, CBI international coordinator. “We believe training local Instructors is the best way to empower Puerto Rican church leaders in the area of prison ministry.”

CBI has served Puerto Rican students for many years, due largely to Garcia’s efforts to personally distribute and collect lessons throughout the island’s prisons. However, without indigenous support, these lessons had to be processed through CBI headquarters in the United States, which nearly doubled lesson turnaround rates.

Garcia realized that establishing a self-sufficient satellite campus would be the best solution to streamline lesson processing.

Garcia has worked passionately for many years to address these problems and bring rehabilitative programs to Puerto Rico’s prison population. CBI Puerto Rico will serve as a key piece in this mission, specifically at the two rehabilitation centers Garcia founded for newly-released prisoners. Garcia is already incorporating CBI’s discipleship program into each person’s treatment plan and facilitating weekly sessions in which students can complete lessons together in a classroom setting.

“CBI Puerto Rico truly embodies the vision for holistic healing that lies at Crossroad’s core,” said CBI president Dr. David Schuringa. “Our growing international program–with 20 established and 7 emerging campuses–reminds us that the need for long-term discipleship and reentry support in America is also present in prisons all around the world.”

Pray that the Puerto Rico satellite campus will continue growing and helping the lives of the prisoners. Click here to learn how you can help.

Don Ten Hoeve with
Grace Ministries International says, "Tropical
Storm Maria just kind of sat over the Ponce area and didn't ever reach
hurricane strength, but it did cause more damage than hurricane Irene did. It tore
off roofing over one of our walkways by our dining hall, and then that roof flew
across and damaged a children's play area."

GMI has an active ministry presence in the south of the island. "The property we're talking about
is a year-round youth camp and retreat ministry. We run camps and retreats during
the summer and then retreats all year
long, during the school year and on weekends. We also rent it out to other church
groups."

GMI was spared damage from Irene, but heavy rainfall is complicating a
few things. "Most
of our property is under water," Ten Hoeve explains, adding, "That's kind of typical for this time
of year, but it hasn't caused damage in our buildings yet."

Although power outages are scattered over the region, "It
won't interrupt ministry. It'll just cause extra work for people who work in
maintenance; it's probably a $5,000 project to repair."

September is usually the heaviest hurricane month in Puerto
Rico. Ten Hoeve says, "The hurricane season has a long way to
go. We're right in that hurricane
alley that is a constant threat. Pray for protection. Pray for the staff that
will have a heavier work load preparing for each upcoming storm."

Please pray that no more damage will be done to the
camp property by tropical storms or hurricanes this season. Pray also that God will provide the funds
to make the repairs.

Sam Vinton, executive director at Grace Ministries, said their facilities in Puerto Rico are used for events and groups year round, but at the end of June, they will be hosting four summer camps. Three of the camps will be in Spanish and the other in English.

In Bolivia, Grace Ministries also holds camps and other events throughout the year. However, their facilities are in much need of repair, and this summer, teams will be traveling to the country to work on renovations for one week and conduct camp another week.

Half-way across the globe, Grace Ministries will be starting up camps in three locations across Tanzania with the aid of five U.S. students. Mainly, these camps will be reaching out to the youth of Tanzanian.

Vinton said all of the camps have Christ at the center of their programs: "That's a very strong focus: evangelism, outreach of the Gospel, as well as helping the young people grow."

With the new camps in Tanzania, they hope not only to challenge these youth in their faith, but then empower then to become leaders for the Next Generation. "This is a great outreach we have with young people [and] training of leaders at the same time. And naturally, we trust that the Lord will use these ministries to bring many to Christ," Vinton said.

As leaders, they can take what they have learned back to their communities, positively impacting the individuals and ministry there: "The focus is training people who can carry this message back to their youth groups and run programs in their local churches," Vinton said.

By impacting these youth, they can set the course for the entire nation's church and its future.

Pray for the youth and workers attending each of these camps. Pray for wisdom and guidance in this new ministry in Tanzania.

Also, you can click here if you or someone you know would be interested in helping with camps in any of these three countries.

The work teams’ ministry has
already encouraged two new families to attend a church plant in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, after the teams worked on their homes. A total of three unsaved adults are now
faithfully attending the church, which meets in the home of missionaries John
and Kerry Cox. The Coxes pray that the
church will eventually grow large enough to take over their home!

The work teams have been able to
accomplish a lot at the camp in a very short time. The ministry of the camp reaches people from
many parts of the country of Puerto Rico. The eight missionaries in Puerto
Rico with Grace Ministries International also run a radio station,
home Bible studies, AWANA, and a local church.

Praise God for the ministry of the
teams. Pray for the growth of the church plant, and pray for the missionaries
as they host and work with the work teams.