Every once in a while, we have a day when it seems like all of the children are very sick. Yesterday was one of those days. It seemed as if each child was struggling to breath with respiratory infections. Of course, our nutrition children are the ones most affected. Because their nutritional status is so compromised, they are susceptible to any infection that comes along. Respiratory infections remain the number 1 killer of children here, followed by the dehydration that comes with diarrhea. We quickly used up all of our "stronger" antibiotics as we saw child after child with this - probably viral - infection. Once this supply was gone, we were scrambling to try and figure out what to do. We had one bottle of zithromax left but it was an adult dose. To scale that down to give to a child weighing about 20 pounds was....more math than my brain could handle. We made an "emergency" call to Katie's mom - who is a pharmacist. She quickly did  the calculations for us and we were rolling again!  

One little girl - Fabiola - was especially sick. I appealed to her mother to take her to the hospital as she really needed oxygen. But she is alone caring for her children as her husband abandoned her when Fabiola was born. So we prayed first, entrusting her to the care of the Great Physician, and then we gave her all the oral medications that we could. As always, when we have days like this, I spend most of the night in prayer for these little ones. Only He has the power to heal and to save....

I am grateful to have Don - and all of the Allison's - here for a few weeks to help. With the announcement that Rachael Needham will not be returning (see her blog at mountainofmyrrh.blogspot.com), I have felt a little overwhelmed with the load of responsibility. But He is always faithful to supply all that we need...and I have learned to just take today and know that His grace is sufficient for the day.
" My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9,10

Pedro is a young man who began to work for us several years ago. He is probably 18 now, born to alcoholic parents. We got to know his family when someone from town came and told us about how they were living and asked if we could help them. I went out with Tomas to find a family of 7 huddled under a piece of plastic that served as a roof. They had no food and had been asked to leave their last "home" because of the irresponsibility that comes with alcoholism. We gave them food and Pedro - who was probably 14 - began to work for  us. He hungrily accepted Jesus as his Savior early on and has continued to persevere on that path. He cannot read - never having the opportunity to go to school. His father never registered him with the government (kind of the equivalent to our social security). So he is unable to receive any help that the government offers - which isn't much but he is like a "non-person" - should he have any trouble with anyone, he is not recognized as having any rights, and now that he has a son, he cannot register his son as his own.  To be registered now would cost him several thousand quetzales in legal fees - which he does not have.

A few months ago, leaders from his village came and told us that we needed to let him go, that he had stolen some chickens, and they were expelling him from the village - which seemed a little harsh. We asked a couple of our indigenous workers to go out into the community to check it out - to find out what had really happened. They came back saying that what the leaders had said was true...that everyone said the same thing. But we prayed and waited. This young man had worked for us for several years by this time and had never stolen anything from us...and had had ample opportunity to do so. We have a group of 5 young men now who work together - all of them Christians - who watch over him and encourage him. As Duane does weekly devotions with them, Pedro has come several times, thanking Duane for giving him a chance, for accepting him when no one else would, and grateful to work with other young men who treat him as a brother, as a family that he never had.

During the Christmas season, Pedro came and asked Duane for some time off so that he could help his father-in-law make some adobes. Shortly after that, Antonio (another worker) came asking if we had heard from Pedro. He was very concerned, saying that Pedro had come and spent a fearful night with him, saying that 3 men were pursuing him with the intention to kill him. We did not hear anything for a couple of weeks but yesterday he showed up. As I drove in from clinic, I heard him with Duane, crying his heart out, telling him the story of how these men from his village have chased after him, driven him out of his home with his wife and infant son. We really have no idea what the truth is...lying is such a deeply embedded part of this culture. So we pray that the Lord will reveal the truth and give us wisdom.  Please pray for this young man who has, from the beginning of his young life, never had anyone to stand with him, to help him. Please pray that we as leaders have wisdom and discernment to do the right thing, to do the Godly thing.