11.25.09

Reaching out comes in many forms at Otter Creek. This past week I was blessed to go to Guatemala with a group of 6 other Otter Creeker’s and one from another congregation. This was the second year of a “business missions” trip. The idea came about 3 years ago from a medical mission trip several of us took. After spending several days in the rural countryside helping people with various medical issues, we spent the last few days in Guatemala City. As we travelled around the city we noticed a couple of interesting observations. First, there seemed to be a sufficient level of medical options for people living in the city. In fact, many of the medical options are quite sophisticated. Secondly, we noticed as we visited the local church that Otter Creek helps support that there were very few middle aged men. As we began to ask around we found that many of them had come to the US to look for work. They were small business owners and entrepreneurs who were unable to find work in the city. In leaving their family we learned that many of them never returned. This left many of the local church families broken and hurting and susceptible to local gangs who were moving in and looking for vulnerable women.

As our team thought about all of this we began to dream about a form of a “medical mission” trip revised to a “business mission: trip where instead of doctors and other trained medical professionals helping people in need of physical assistance, we would invite business owners, managers and trainers to come to the assistance of people in need of marketing, financial and general business assistance. Our belief is that by helping local church members who may be struggling in their business and family finances we would be able to help build a foundation for the church.

So this past week we travelled with a Dale Carnegie trainer, a financial investment professional, a health insurance administrator, a Habitat for Humanity family financial counselor and a single mom who is both a school nurse and runs her family’s finances. We met with members to discuss issues such as how to develop an income and expense statement, how to evaluate fixed and variable expenses, how to calculate costs of products that must be assembled prior to selling. We also met with singles moms, single fathers and husband & wife couples to discuss family finances and how to get their debt under control. We learned that credit card debt is a huge problem with interest rates around 60% - there is no truth in lending laws in Guatemala!! We also invited a micro-loan Guatemalan organization that we’re working with on several water well projects to come and present the basic business requirements they expect their loan applicants to adhere to.

We were blessed to hear one man who attended out conference last year tell us that he was out of debt based on the lessons we covered last year. We were able to spend a Sunday morning worship with our brothers and sisters in a multi-language service that humbled and inspired us. We’ve been invited back next year and are looking forward to who will step up and offer their services. If you’re interested in learning more, drop me an email.