Happy Mother's Day!

Here, Mother's Day is celebrated May 10th, no matter what day of the week it falls on. This year, a women's group from a church in Chicago area donated beautifully scented lotions with a picture of the group and scripture attached to give out to the women who have children in our nutrition program. It was a joy to give these out to these women, who give and work so hard to provide for their families, usually completely unnoticed by anyone around them. We even got them to smile for some pictures - something that is very taboo in this culture!

Below are some pics and brief stories about just a few of the women we were able to hand these out to.


Here are the lotions, ready to go...

 Micaela, one of our translators, read the verse to each woman and explained that this was a gift just for them to enjoy!

 

These two mamas both have a set of twins each...

                                      ...and this mama has a set of triplets!

Thanks to the church who made it possible for us to bless these women this mother's day with such a special gift!

We were greeted this week in Chiminisijuan by a woman asking us to go to her house to see her brother-in-law who was too sick to walk to the clinic. It was a light day and we had extra help so we agreed to go. Duane drove us on the 4-wheeler as far as we could go and then we walked along the mountain side. It would have been a beautiful walk if I could have taken my eyes off of the narrow path in front of me. I always wonder how women with small children and a load of groceries make this kind of walk.... Anyway, we finally got to the house perched on the side of this same mountain. They had carved a small flat spot and built a 2 room adobe house. We walked into the dark room where Pedro was lying on a bed made of wooden slats. It was a small room - maybe 8x8 with 2 beds and all of their earthly belongings. There were chickens sitting on eggs in two of the four corners. Pedro was tucked in behind the door and was obviously very ill with a very serious illness - we guessed it to be cancer - with probable brain involvement. There was so little that we could do even if we could have some how gotten him to help. Truly his only hope is in Jesus. So we prayed and left him in the able hands of the Lord.

I am always struck by the harsh conditions that so many people here live in. I try to imagine what my life would be like if I had been born into circumstances like Pedro's. I can only imagine the amount of whining....  But then I begin to ponder on why...why was I blessed to be brought up with so much? Why have we been able to raise our children without worrying about where their next meal would come from? Why have we been given so much more than we deserve? And then I remember what Jesus said...that "from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." So I surrender once again, all that I am, all that I have been given to His service, so grateful for this privilege to give.

Would you pray for Pedro? And would you pray also for 6 year old Yari who has been diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) and is waiting today to see the oncologist in the City. There is only one hospital here in Guatemala for those who have cancer. It is so overcrowded, understaffed and under equipped that it is difficult to see how they might help this little one who has such an invasive illness. But we know that nothing is impossible with our God!

A month has gone by since I last wrote....where does to the time go? We made a brief trip to the US at the end March being home for Easter for the first time in 14 years. Before we left, the girls asked if they might be able to see snow. Well, not only did they see it but they had the biggest snow of the winter while we were there. It was so much fun to watch Grace and Abi experience life in the US. Abi, who never wears pants or a sweater even on the coldest days here, played in the snow for many hours, coming in just long enough to let her hands thaw. It was wonderful to see each of our children, spend time with our grandchildren and go to church during the Easter season.

We returned to Guatemala in time for the hottest, dustiest days of the year as we wait for signs of rain. The construction on the apartment is going well - they are just about ready to put the roof on. Clinics have been super busy since we have been home with lots of sick kids. Amazingly, we do not have any guests scheduled for this month and have been using the time to organize the clinic in preparation for government inspections of the "pharmacy". This is a requirement for both the nursing school which should be up an running by January and for us to be able to continue to purchase medication through the government.  All of this is preparation for what we believe God is asking of us....that we open a 24 hour care center. We are making small steps toward this vision that the Lord gave Duane many years ago but they are big steps of faith. We have no idea how it will all come together with some big pieces of the puzzle still missing (like finances, and medical staff) but we trust that in His timing all will come together. Please pray for us that we "might live a life worthy of the Lord and that we might please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God...that we might have great endurance and patience..."
Col. 1:11 (my paraphrase)

Chumisa is a small village at the top of the mountain where we have been working monthly, for about 3 years now. It is beautiful, cool, and always green. We worked for several months in an adobe hut with a dirt floor and beams so low that I (at 5'3") almost hit my head. It was quite a problem for those taller than I to work in! Later they moved us into a rented house that is dark and cold but at least we can work without hitting out heads. We carry all of our equipment and boxes of medications up each month and spend much of our day, scrambling through the boxes looking for just the right medication for each patient. So, when the community leaders approached us with a request to help them build a small clinic there, I was in whole-hearted agreement. We bought much of the block and cement needed for the project and they supplied the ground and all the man power. And they have worked very quickly - by this time next month we will be working in a new clinic - with light and power! I am pretty excited to be able to leave medications and some equipment there. And we are hoping to be able to work more frequently - at least every 2 weeks. We always see over 100 patients - which can be quite challenging when it is just Katie and I working!

There is alot of need in Chumisa. Each of our clinics is very different - and in this one we see so many diabetics. It is a challenge to teach people who eat 10 -15 tortillas at each meal to change their diets! Compliance is minimal because their understanding of the disease is limited. So much of our time goes into education. Almost all of the people are Mayan Catholic. Hearts are hardened toward the evangelical church and there are very few in the area. But we continue to pray and serve and love - trusting that God will do the work that only He can do in hearts.

God supplies seed to the planter. He supplies bread for food. God will also supply and increase the amount of your seed. He will increase the results of your good works. (2 Corinthians 9:10)
 

Our "season " has changed here, going from cool and dry to very hot and dry. We have not had any rain since October so the dust blows continually making it impossible to keep anything clean. I am not complaining though as I know many of you are anticipating yet another winter storm today. David's psalm has however, become my daily prayer...
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body long for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  Psalm 63:1

I see the weariness in the faces of the women. Last week as one of the women from Chiminisijuan brought her daughter in yet again, for the same infection, I saw it. She had not only her 9 year old daughter with her but the 3 year old who was burning with fever. He had walked the three hour walk with his mother who could not carry him except for short periods as she had the one year old baby strapped to her back. They were accompanied by her aunt who was sick with pneumonia and a large abdominal tumor.

I saw it again, as we asked the widows this week for prayer requests and the litany of problems too big for human strength flowed from these women. As we told the mama of 8 that she was now carrying twins...there it was again. It is a weariness that extends way past the physical fatigue to the deepest part of the soul. You know it, you have felt it...that weariness that only Jesus can lift.....Maranatha!

"The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.
You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing."  Psalm 145:14-16

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.