Juan and his family live in a three sided one room house made of sticks and aluminum sheeting that someone gave them. They have 4 sons ranging in age from 3 - 15 all whom appeared malnourished. We went to see them last week when we were told that they had no food. It was true. We found mom sick in bed with a fever, along with her 3 year old son who was sicker than she was. There was a campfire going with a small pot of corn cooking for tortillas to be prepared later - but that was it. We have had lots of rain in the last few weeks (thankfully) but there was nothing to keep them dry. They had a long story about how they arrived at this point...no property, no money, no work. It is a familiar story. And the dilemma is the same...how do you help someone help themselves - how do you teach them to fish instead of just giving them fish. It is a conversation that we have had around our dinner table a thousand times. Of course, we help with the immediate need of food and medicine but how can we help all of the Juans in this area for more than just a few weeks? How can we help them to help themselves? We don't have any good answers but we pray for Divine wisdom. And we pray that somehow He would be glorified, not just in our words to Juan and his family, but in the acts of kindness and service...that the Lord would be lifted up and honored. Because we know that when His name is lifted up, that men are drawn to Him. And that is the greatest need - but difficult to see when your belly is empty.

We ask for your prayers today as we go to the US Embassy. We have one final step before we can make our trip to Houston for Hannah's wedding and our time in the US. Grace and Abi need visas before they can travel outside of Guatemala. So we are praying for favor...that the US Embassy will not view our little girls as a "national threat."

Rachel is in Kentucky this week at the national "Life 2010" conference for young people. She left last week and will spend two weeks with our friend Adrienne who very generously arranged this trip for her. It is not an easy transition for our children to go from life here to American culture. They don't seem to "fit" anywhere (nor do we!) - not in the culture here or in the US. So before Rachel goes off to college, we are hoping to expose her a little to a country that she knows very little of...she has been here since she was 3. Thankfully, she is having a great time and we are grateful for this opportunity for her.