God is faithful!

For those of you who were praying for Joseph and Duane's safe return home, thank-you! They got home just before nightfall last night. I am overwhelmed this morning with gratitude to the Lord for His amazing faithfulness to us. He asks us to do difficult things at times and always asks that we walk in integrity, but as we do all in our power to follow His ways, He always provides a "way out". This trip was no exception.



It was an 11 hour flight in the 182. They left in the morning Thursday, arrived in Brownsville late in the midst of rain and fog, spent one day there and left to return to Guatemala yesterday morning. As you may have been reading in the news, the situation in Mexico is volatile right now between the drug enforcement agencies and the drug rings, so all of the airports are on "red alert". And when you fly internationally, you must pass through immigration in whatever country you pass through. Yesterday when they landed in Tampico Mexico, they were immediately surrounded by 3 heavily armed guards and the supervisor of the "aduana" (the agency which assesses taxes). They demanded that Duane and Joseph unload the plane and open all the boxes so that they could determine the value of each item for taxation purposes. This of course, was totally illegal because they were only passing through Mexico - they were just looking for a pay-off. But they were angry and threatening so of course, Duane and Jo did exactly as they ordered. Our policy since our arrival to this country is to never pay bribes as it feeds into a system of corruption that runs deep within this country - and Mexico - and unfortunately our own country as well. One of Duane's best gifts is his ability to talk fast without a trace of intimidation, and because we know that the Lord honors integrity, He always provides us a way to get out of bribery. Oh, the stories I could tell.... Anyway, these "officials" demanded receipts for all the items in the plane. Duane said that they were all "regalas" (gifts) and thus he had no receipts. Some friends had had boxes sent to Brownsville for us to take back which Duane had not even opened. And the props, which were very expensive, were lain flat, on the floor of the plane. Duane was a little fearful as the guards began cutting the boxes open. But when they opened the first box, it popped open with plastic toys, the second box was filled with books, the third with candy and after that, they didn't open anything more, realizing that they really were gifts and of no real failure to them. They never opened anything that would have been "taxable" nor did they even see the props! The supervisor grudgingly stamped all of his paperwork and they loaded the plane back up and flew off. On arrival in Guatemala, he again had to pass through immigration where they could have legally searched the plane and assessed the contents for taxation, but they never even looked in the plane. They just stamped his paperwork and he was off. The men in the control tower here in Guatemala know Duane now and knew he was eager to get home before dark, so they offered to file his flight plan for him and they arrived in Guatemala about 5 minutes before dark - safe and sound and exceedingly grateful for God's protection and provision!



For us here at home, it was an interesting day as well. As we finished clinic yesterday, a young man came to the door asking for milk for his baby. His wife had given birth 6 weeks earlier in their home in the mountains. She bled heavily afterward and the local midwife had treated her by having her lie between two very heavy rocks to stop the bleeding. After several days of treatment, this young woman became gravely ill and was taken into the hospital were she stayed for 3 days. When she left the hospital, the doctors gave Juan (her husband) prescriptions for antibiotics that cost over Q500 (about $70). Juan didn't have the money so they just returned home and 3 weeks later she still is unable to get out of bed. So after lunch we hiked up to see her. It is the dry season here and each day the smoke gets denser as fires rage through the forests. So when we met Juan in his village, he pointed to his house - which was right next to a huge cloud of smoke. When we arrived at the house, we could hear the crackles of the flames as they moved closer, but we were assured that there was no danger. Fortunately Juan's wife was better than we anticipated finding and little baby Kati was fat and healthy. So we left her with antibiotics, lots of vitamins and hydration drink, and prayer, and will check on them in a week. When we came out of the house though the flames were within 50 feet of the house and there was lots of scurrying around as they were concerned - not about Juan's house but for his in-laws house which was directly above them. People here usually do not attempt to put out the fires but accept them as they accept everything else that this life has for them. And fortunately, adobe does not burn well. So we left amid the smoke. Don and Lori took lots of pictures so check out their blog.