Little Pedro (not his real name) is over a year old and has been in our nutrition program for most of his short life. He came for the first time when he was just a couple of weeks old with a severe pneumonia. He was so sick that I feared he would not live through the afternoon. We quickly got him into the ambulance and he spent several days in the national hospital. Since that time, he has been a "failure to thrive" baby - a term that just means he never seems to grow no matter how much food we give him. At one point, his mom told me that her husband was sick as well, and asked that we see him. He too, had a pneumonia, but otherwise seemed healthy and strong. We recommended that he have blood work done to check for HIV - which amazingly, he did. Unfortunately, he tested positive, as did his wife and little Pedro.

The government here offers limited help for those who are HIV positive. In this case, the family needs to go to a city about 5 hours from here, where no one speaks their native Quiche. Dad is very sick now and has begun to drink heavily. Mom has a very limited understanding of her diagnosis, and at the moment is asymptomatic, which makes her less likely to fight for her family. I felt her desperation as she explained that they had no money, no food and no way of paying for a stay in another city. And who would take care of her other children? And even though the medical care is free, how will she buy diapers and food while they are in treatment? And what if her husband dies there....how will she get his body home for burial?  As she spoke, I asked the Lord for wisdom. What words could I give her that would turn her eyes to her only hope at this point....Jesus? Weak words seemed so small in the face of her pain and desperation. We prayed for her, and let her know that we would continue to daily pray, and offered to help in any other way that we could. I ask for your prayers for this family as well. For we know that HE alone is the only hope that she has...

We wait  in hope for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. Psalm 33:20

I met Ignacia several years ago. She is a young woman terribly crippled by rheumatoid arthritis. She never knew her father and her mother left her when she was a child. (In this culture, typically,  when a woman "re-marries", the children from her first marriage are not welcomed into the new family.) So Iganacia was left alone. When we met her she was living in a hut that was about the size of a dog house, made of corn stalks. She is in tremendous pain all of the time and she had no way of supporting herself. So she lived off of the kindness of her very poor neighbors.We gathered the support of the local church and built her a little house and twice a month we help her with food and medication for her pain. She was depressed and discouraged at that time - thinking that her life was of no value. I remember talking with her, trying to encourage her with words about the kindness and love of God; telling her that the Lord had a purpose for her life - and even if she could do nothing else, she could pray for those around her. And I remember going away from that conversation thinking that those were the weakest, most ineffective words...but somehow, God used them. She has made it her life work to pray for those around her. 


I do not see her often as it is so difficult for her to walk, so it is always a treat when she is able to come. She is well known now in the area and is often called to pray for the sick. She told me of how she had just spent a month with a family, praying day and night for a man who was making the long and dangerous trip to the US. She is a gentle, humble woman of God and I am honored to know her. I know that she will have a very special place in heaven... She daily walks out Jesus' instructions to "Go...as you go, preach this message The kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freeely give." Matt. 10:6,7