A HARD LESSON LEARNED:

This is long over due and I apologize for the lack of communicationut 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) 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 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 ten 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 givin to me 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 the extortion, very sadly a large amount of money, but the bank found some other reason to not give me all my money or the property back. 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 95.1 FM. I am now the 50% owner and 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! I am sorry the web page is a bit out of date, but have a look or a listen at http://www.shofarstereo.com/. and as always my web site is http://tonetti.us/ and my e-mail has not changed I have two; mailto:paul@tonetti.usand paul.tonetti@gmail.com and my phone number is +1 850 932-8086 yes the same number since 1991. It is a US based number, you will pay for a normal ( local ) US call, but this number will follow me where ever I go! Gotta love technology!

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

-Paul

The Beginning

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, I walked 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, and Felix’s grandma is ready to cook, well, gotta run the first group just showed up!

Adjusting to the New Culture

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 pesonal 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 ( Felix’s Grandma ) 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, our pool finally went from brown to green to clear!!!

Contact Info & Update from Guatemala

After a five day drive through Mexico with my friend Hugo, we made it to the most southern Mexican / Guatemala boarder where we were blessed with an amazing rainbow, then as we continued to the boarder only to find that hurricane Stan had taken out the bridge and you could only walk across! So we had to back track about 40 minutes to another boarder crossing only to find out we needed to back track another 40 minutes to a Mexican Government office to cancel the driving permit for Mexico. Sounds like a lot of back and forth, but over all I was amazed at how smooth the boarder crossing went. My friend Felix came to meet me at the boarder expecting to stay overnight and we were only there about 2 hours. There is lots of small work here at the retreat center so that is keeping me busy. We have our first group of kids coming April 1st , I will put some pictures up so you can see when they come.

NEW CONTACT INFO

Phone: +1 850 932 8086 – by satellite,
E-Fax: +1 801 939 8086 - by E-Mail
Mobile: +502 5307-5262 –
Skype: paul_tonetti
E-Mail: paul@tonetti.us or paul.tonetti@gmail.com
WebPage: http://www.tonetti.us

Guatemala Physical Address: ( no post )

Shofar Ministries
Aldea Los Magueyes II
Calle Principal Lote 10 Zona 00
Puerto San Jose, Guatemala

US Mailing Address:

Paul Tonetti
204 Azalea Street
Gulf Breeze, Florida 32561

Days 3,4 & 5 +

Well, I made it to Guatemala in five days. I have not been able to access the internet, and our connection should be installed Monday. It was an un-eventful trip, and I rather enjoyed it except for the lack of road signs in Mexico and wondering for miles if I was on the right highway, or even the right direction! There are many tolls as you come and go from thr citites, I have begun some work around thr property, many things need to be fixed and to get ready for three teams in April. I will update more once we get internet up and running.

Day 1 & 2 - in Mexico

Sitting in a restaurant in Mexico that has WiFi and decided to write an update, 2 days into the trip and all is well, minus a few wrong turns. We stayed in Laredo Texas the first night and Tampico Mexico the second night and now we are heading southl, bless you all and thanks for your prayers!

New From Paul

Greetings,

I am moving to Guatemala full time……..but first I know it has been awhile and a lot has happened, so I will give you're the short version and if you have any questions you can e-mail me.

In April 2006 I began working for my church, In August my house was finished and I moved in, what a blessing. In December I made a decision to officially end my service with Mercy Ships, a very hard decision after nine years. Then in January I made a trip to Guatemala with a friend to see about mission opportunities.

In February 2007, I purchased a Christian Retreat Center and youth camp in Puerto San Jose, Guatemala with a friend named Felix.

Felix and I will run the retreat center and youth camp as a ministry reaching out to not only the churches, but to the youth and street kids as well. Felix has been working with street kids for the last two years and has seen more than 75 kids come off the streets. We will open this new ministry in April 2007. If you want to see some pictures, just go to my web site and click on the link on the right side that says Villa Abdeel. I might also add that I now have an improved blog and it is even up-to-date, so please visit regularly. http://www.tonetti.us/ then click on 'current news – my blog'

Now, as you all know ministry takes money to survive, and this is a big endeavor and we still need to raise money to get the facilities up and running. I hope you took a minute to look at the pictures and the detailed specs on the property so you could be as amazed at it as we are because this is the part where I challenge you to help us make the vision come true by making a donation online at http://www.tonetti.us/donate

I want those of you who were in my DTS outreach in Puerto San Jose to know that while we were there in 1997, God gave me the vision for this ministry, I never imagined that 10 years later it would become reality, oh and that DTS reunion we were talking about…….Why not at my place in San Jose!!!

So yes, I will be moving (driving) down March 2nd and yes my car is full. I will have to figure out the roads, but I have a good map and a Mexican friend (thanks Hugo) who will make the journey with me. I will keep you posted, so look for more updates soon and I will send you my new contact info as soon as I have it.

Blessings,

-Paul

- I want to dedicate this new ministry to a dear friend who passed away in a car wreck in England , His name was Greg Parsons. Greg had a heart to work with youth and we talked about this type of ministry many times and my visions for Guatemala. Greg was always a loving friend who encouraged me often, and he will be missed!!!!

Moving to Guatemala

Well, I have finally done it. Felix and I are the proud owners of a Christian Retreat Center and Youth camp in Guatemala. I will be moving down there the first week of March, yes I said moving to Guatemala. Those who know me are say things like “bout time!”, only because I have been talking about it for years! Oh, did I mention I am going to drive down, now you all know that I must be crazy, but not really, because I will be taking many things with me that will be needed to open the ministry. While being a new ministry, I am no stranger to the area and Felix is the director of a street kids ministry in the same city. Together we will combine forces to impact the community more! We are calling the new retreat center 'Villa Abdeel'. It is an amazing place, words, or for that matter pictures, can not do justice to this place. There are more details here -> http://www.missionsforlife.com/villa

Happy New Year - From Guatemala

After scouting around Guatemala for ministry opportunities, I took Stuart, Felix, Kristen, and Emerson up the river for a day of fun, fellowship and a time to relax. Not to many people from the US get to be in the tropics on a river for New Years Eve. Oh and to top it off we spent all day New Years Day at a local beach in Puerto Barrios.

Home for Christmas

Honestly, I can not remember the last time I was home for Christmas! What a blessing to be with my family and my sisters kids. Finally I get to spend time with Amy and Jay, I miss my family. In the next few days I will be off on a trip to Guatemala with Stuart from the church. We will be scouting out mission opportunities for him and his fiancé.

December in Europe

December in Europe, why would anyone in there right mind do this? Well it was time to officially say goodbye to Mercy Ships and the Africa Mercy and to bring a close to a season of nine years. It almost felt like being back home, but then after nine years, I guess it should. After saying my goodbye's I spent a few days visiting friends in Europe that I knew I would not see again for a long time. While visiting a friend in Germany, he took me to the world famous German Christmas markets; I could not even begin to explain how incredible that was. I did make it home in time for Christmas, even though I was stuck at Heathrow Airport in the freezing fog and again in Amsterdam waiting overnight on a flight.