I have decided that building a hospital is kind of like raising toddlers. They are so much work! And you can't really see anything except how much your life has changed, and how messy they are and unqualified you feel, and how exhausted you are at the end of the day. But then you step back a little and you realize how they have grown and they are really beautiful and how great they will be....someday. I cannot tell you how much our lives have changed since January. But I can tell you that God continues to move in amazing ways....bringing in the right people at the right time who can do exactly what we need. He continues to bring in just the right amount of provision....just when we need it. His faithfulness is unfailing - even when we feel weak and tired and faithless - which is most of the time!

This is the view from the front - the roof is almost ready to go on. Each beam has to be individually welded and painted, then insulation goes on followed by the metal roof.

 

We are hopeful that by the beginning of 2016 we should be able to move existing clinics here. The x-ray equipment is in Guatemala City ready to be installed. Equipment is being loaded from a warehouse in Texas. We are in awe of all that is being gathered - from operating room equipment to the dental room.

 

 

For those of you who follow Guatemala in the news, you know that these have been unusual days. First the vice-president was arrested and convicted of illegal activity. Weeks of peaceful protests followed, which immobilized the City mainly but later most of the main roads all over Guatemala. Finally congress voted to lift presidential immunity which was quickly followed by the arrest of the president. For many years we have prayed - along with most of the body of believers here - that the spirit of corruption would be lifted off of this country. To have both the president and vice-president arrested seems to be an answer to that prayer. On Sunday the people voted for the next president. The final vote will take place next month but the leader turned out to be a little known man who did virtually no campaigning because he didn't have the money to do so. It appears that people are ready for a change! Please pray that change - for the good - will continue! 



 

 

Canilla, our little town here in Guatemala has the terrible honor of having the highest suicide rate among young people under the age of 21 in all of the country. It hit really close to home a couple of weeks ago when a 12 year old boy, right down the road from us, hung himself. There is a desperation here that is almost palpable. Many grow up in poor homes without fathers (95% of the fathers either are in the US or have been, working almost always illegally). There are not many choices for young people; no jobs, few career opportunities, etc.  Add all of that to the spiritual darkness which hovers here, and you get desperate kids willing to do anything to bring change....even death. 

Today, a group of young people will arrive from a church in Iowa whose entire goal is to pray. Tomorrow we will begin 72 hours of uninterrupted prayer for this valley, and for the church here but mainly for the young people. Our own prayer room (while the physical prayer room does not yet have a roof) has begun 3 times a week plus the nights of worship and prayer on Tuesday - in English, and on Thursdays - in Spanish. We know that prayer, while some count it as the smallest and weakest part of ministry, is actually the most important part. Unless our all powerful, all wise and perfect God intervenes, all that we do is futility....small acts of kindness which have no eternal benefit. Please join with us as we pray for these young people who need Jesus so desperately. Only He can fill the emptiness in their hearts. 

Psalm 62:5 "For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is in Him."

One of the most wonderful changes that has come lately (and there are a multitude of changes!) are the increased times of prayer. There are over 30 of us now who are permanently here in Canilla and we all go in different directions each day whether to clinic or school or construction. We start most of our days with prayer together and then breakfast in an effort to stay connected with each other and all of our needs. It has been really good. In the last couple of weeks though, several of the young people have started to come early (5:30) to worship and intercede. It is such a privilege for me to be able to be in the kitchen cooking breakfast and still be a part of these amazing times. We believe so strongly that all of our efforts - wherever we are working - are really worth nothing if we are not connecting with the Lord in prayer. In addition to our regular Tuesday night services of prayer and worship, we have started a spanish service on Thursday nights. Dr. Luis and his wife, Noemy are heading this up and it is so amazing to see our living room filled with young people worshipping our Savior! As you have probably read in some of the other blogs coming from Canilla, the prayer room will be up and functioning soon. I have to admit that I will be pretty sad to see all of this move out of our home and onto the hospital property. 

The hospital construction is moving along well. Block walls are up for not only the prayer room but the emergency room, the observation room (an extention of the ER) and the kitchen as well. The "rough in" plumbing and electrical work is underway. Every day when I go it is a little scarier as this dream of ours is quickly becoming a reality. 

We went out last week to another rural clinic site for the first time. Cruz Chich is an area that I have prayed for for many years. It is a very large village, completely indigenous and has been "closed" for as long as we have been here. The community leaders came last year asking us to help there but I had to ask them to wait until we had more help. They came again a few weeks ago and we agreed to go on the condition that they gather their leaders and the leaders from the surrounding villages and write up an "acta" (a legal document asking us to come). Within less than a week, they returned with their "acta". Last Thursday we went and saw around 100 folks. Almost all of them are without a relationship with the Lord. Again, we find ourselves driven to our knees as we pray to the Lord of the harvest to soften hard hearts and open blind eyes. We would so appreciate your prayers for them as well!

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work with us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus thoughout all generations, for ever  and ever! Amen."         Ephesians 3:20

It has been so long since I have written. Everything has and continues to change each day. It is all good....just not so easy. We find ourselves daily asking for wisdom - Godly wisdom - to help us with what He has placed under our management - not ownership. We constantly remember the definition of "bondservant" as one who is the owner of nothing, but manager of all that He places before us. We are so not qualified....

The hospital construction continues to go well. The foundation is almost complete and the team of plumbers arrive in a couple of weeks to do the "rough in" plumbing. Then the walls will go up. It is pretty exciting and at almost every clinic we have a couple of people who would qualify as "admissions". It will be so great to have a place to send them. 

We have had a pretty continuous stream of guests and it seems that it will accelerate as the summer months begin. I am grateful to have Katie Ann and Lori here to help care for this area which tends to overwhelm me. The sweetest part of our day is always morning prayer right before breakfast when all who are here gather together. We find our Tuesday nights of worship have grown from just our family to 40 or 50 each week. And last night we started the same thing...only in Spanish. Dr. Luis is heading that up and from all reports, it was a time of sweet fellowship and worship. (I stayed home with the girls who have been sick.)

The nursing school started up in January and I am so proud of Katie and Aaron as I watch them step into their role as directors. They started with 40 students - which is bigger than they anticipated. Please pray for them as it is an enormous task to get all up and running well. Pray for them as they attempt to integrate a North American perspective on education into the Guatemalan system...it is quite a challenge.

We know that The Lord is "enlarging the place of our tent" (Isaiah 54:2). Please pray that we are in step with Him; that our priorities remain in right order...The Lord, our family and then ministry; and that we have ears to hear what He is saying - each moment of each day. Thank you!

January 2015...the time that the Lord has spoken to us about so much. This is when the Docs of Hope have said that they want to begin. This is when Dr. Luis has said he and his family will be ready. And this is when Don and Lori and their family feel that the Lord is saying for them to be here as well. The final approval for the hospital came on the last working day of the year from the Ministry of Health so we are officially ready to begin....although much of the preparation work has been done. It feels a little like we are finally at the starting gate - ready to begin this course that the Lord has set for us all. It will be a year of  great change and we covet your prayers. We have seen His hand move so mightily, so abundantly that we know that this is His plan....we just want to be found doing it in His way.

Duane and I were in Quiche earlier this week, picking up some medication for the clinic. The pharmacy where we buy was unusually quiet and when I asked Fransisco why, he said that the hospital was on strike. All of the health care workers are protesting because they have not been paid for the last 6 months. So, if you have a broken bone or any other condition that is deemed "not life threatening" you will have to wait. Katie and I interviewed a woman this week who worked for the government doing rural clinics. They have had to shut down that program due to lack of funding so if you are in one of the remote villages, and your child is ill, you will need to travel at least 2 hours to get to the hospital....which is not open.  All of these things just confirm to us the need, the urgency to get things up and running.

When (and if) you pray, would you ask God to help us....
 - that we can keep the perspective right; that we remember that this is all His; we are His bondservants doing only what He asks; that we remember we are owners of nothing.
 - that we change well; that we keep priorities of God, family and ministry in right order.
 - that this not become a humanitarian effort but that we remember that without Jesus, the best healthcare in the world is worth nothing but is only a temporary fix.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. May this New year bring to you and your family health, strength, peace and above all else, a closer walk with our Lord Jesus!

Can it really be December 1st again so soon?! It seems like I just packed away all the Christmas paraphernalia! This year has flown by and I wish somehow that I could slow things down just a bit. There is so much to do in the short time that we have left of this year.

Dr. Luis' apartment should be finished within the month. Ruben, one of the young men who we have known and loved since we came to Guatemala has become quite the skilled woodworker. We still need to build
cabinets and put in the bathroom sink. But we should be able to finish by the end of January when they arrive. It is hard to believe that a few months ago, this was the garage/Duane's very messy workshop!

The hospital property apartment is underway as well. Ryan and Katie will move there until they can locate a more permanent living situation. The house was there on the property but was very rundown and had been the home to various cows and other wild creatures. The men gutted it, tore out walls, put in windows (most homes here don't have many windows), put down tile and added a bathroom. It is a pretty amazing transformation!
It too needs cabinets, bathroom fixtures, plumbing, a ceiling, and some electrical work.

Then there is the small problem of where to put the teams who will start to come to help with the construction beginning in January. We have decided to build a very simple concrete block building on the hospital property. In its two rooms (and bathroom) we hope to house up to 12 men.

And, the school needs an additional classroom to house the rapidly growing population of students. That too will be a very simple structure which, thankfully, will not need a bathroom. They make everything so much more complicated!

I haven't even begun to talk about the hospital. The fence is complete, the concrete plant is up and ready, and they have hauled literally hundreds of loads of dirt to bring the actual site up to grade...not really sure what that means,
 but I know it is important.
 

The hardest part is that the work that we did before all of this project began, continues. Duane still does emergency flights on a pretty regular basis, the tractor work for local farmers continues, and I am still gone a good portion of the time with clinic work. So, when you think of it, could you send up some extra prayers for Duane and the boys as the brunt of the construction responsibility lies on their shoulders? They are pretty stressed right now. And yet His grace is sufficient everyday!

Forgive me if it sounds like I am whining...I am not. We count it the greatest honor to serve the Lord in this way. We know that all of things are from Him and to Him...to serve His people well.The knowledge of that makes us want to do the very best that we can for Him.
"If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 4:11

It's been a while since I've written. We've had so many visitors in the last couple of weeks. It's been really good but busy!

The Lord keeps confirming to us the need for this hospital - which is good and necessary for those days when it gets hard and the work seems overwhelming. We got a call about two weeks ago from an indigenous family who had a 3 week old baby. He wouldn't stop crying and although it was late and pouring down rain, they brought him. Dr. Sherwood and I saw him and knew that he probably had meningitis. There was nothing that we could do - he needed tests and treatment that we do not have. So we prayed and sent him off to Quiche (21/2 hours away, on really bad and muddy roads). They went the next morning and was immediately whisked away from his parents and placed in their "ICU." Pedro (the baby's dad) called us the next day, crying and saying that they could not find their son. We could hear screaming and sirens in the background and he said that there was a gas leak and that they were evacuating the hospital. It actually turned out to be chlorine gas that had been stored for many years and had begun to leak...they did evacuate the entire hospital! Pedro's son was taken to another facility there in the same town but still his parents were unable to see him and had no idea what was happening to him. Finally they told Pedro that his son had an infection but that there was nothing that they could do. So they sent him home and within a few hours he died. Now we know that even with the best, most up-to-date care children still die with meningitis. But we could have started his treatment earlier and hopefully cared for them in a more compassionate manner. Please help us Lord....

Psalm 145:9

The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.