Yesterday we made our monthly trip up to Cruz Chich. We were greeted by over 140 people...more than we have seen there and way more than Katie and I can usually care for by ourselves. But they were all there waiting so we dug in. We are getting to know many of the faces as people return each month. One gentleman who came 3 months ago for the first time, comes each month now. He initially came with what I thought was pneumonia or possibly lung cancer or both. He had been sick for some time and was wasted and febrile. I encouraged him to go to the hospital but he said that he would not and I was concerned that he would die within a few days. Armondo and I talked with him about Jesus and salvation but he was not too interested. He is a brujo (witchdoctor). So we gave him his medication and asked if we could pray for him. He agreed...poor thing, he felt so bad...any other time I am pretty sure that he would have refused. But we prayed that God would heal him, that he would understand the power of our God to heal and to love. I honestly was surprised to see him the next month but he was there smiling and healthy. He waited until the very end, watching all that was going on that day. I asked him if he realized that God had supernaturally intervened to heal him. He just smiled. Yesterday he was back...and again, waited until everyone left before he came in. Again, we talked about the Lord and His power to save. He just smiles but I know that he is thinking... I know that the Spirit of God is stirring him. So we pray, trusting that as we have planted and watered, that God will bring forth the harvest.

There is a lot of need in Cruz Chich - lots of folks with hypertension and diabetes. We continue to see mostly adults. I know that they do not trust us yet with their children. They are still testing us, waiting to see what we will do....waiting to see if we will snatch away their children to eat them or make soap out of them. I know that sounds so ludicrous but it is a common thought among the indigenous. It began during the war and has continued in these remote areas. Interestingly, it is the same rumor that the Nazis spread about the Jews before and during World War II. The enemy has no new tricks...just the same old lies. So we wait and continue to love and serve these people whom I have grown to love so much...trusting that God will open their eyes and their hearts to Himself.

Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord! Psalm 27:14

Jeremiah is the nine month old son of our good friend Tomas. He has 8 older sisters and one brother who all adore him. He is not Tomas's natural son - he was "gifted" to them as they say here. Now, Tomas often does not have enough food in his house, but he has lots of love to give. And when this little baby was offered to him, he and his wife really prayed about it before they took him. He has thrived...and is spoiled rotten!


Tomas called last week and asked if he could bring Jeremiah in because he was sick. He arrived in record time (it is normally a three hour walk) and he was pretty sick with pneumonia. It was late in the evening so we put him on oxygen and decided to keep him here for the night...which means that I did not get much sleep. He was still sick in the morning and I told Tomas that we really needed to send him on to the hospital in Quiche. I am not qualified to care for children that sick without a physician's input. But Tomas has been around enough in the clinics to see God miraculously heal children on many occasions. So when I told him that he just looked at me and said, "No mi Hermana (my sister) I don't want to take him to the hospital. I feel peace with him here. I know he will get better care here than in the hospital." Now, I know that he did not say that because we can actually give better care - but that we will pray and love him. So, he stayed for three days. It is more than a little unnerving in the middle of the night watching him struggle to breath with his oxygen levels dropping. But Saturday afternoon, after 2 sleepless nights and countless prayers, we turned off the oxygen, watched him for a few hours and then sent him home. His parents cried tears of gratitude to our God who cares for and heals His little ones.
He is faithful!


The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:25-26

power in prayer

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
Psalm 145:18-19

Every Sunday in San Andres, we have women who come at the end of our day - when we are tired and ready to go home. We call them "the stragglers". I have learned that many times they are the ones who come for prayer. Yesterday, two women came who I remembered from some months ago. They had come asking for food. They told me similar stories of their lives married to men who drink too much and cannot care for their families. They told me about how there was no food in the house, about men who were angry and violent toward them and their children. We of course, gave them a small bag of food. But more importantly, we talked with them about a God who sees and hears the cry of His children, who had seen the injustice in their lives. As we prayed for them they both cried tears of anguish and pain. We promised to continue to pray for their husbands - that the Lord would open their eyes and soften their hearts to Jesus. I always write down the names of husbands or other family members and take them home to add to my prayer list. So yesterday when they came, they told us about how, since we prayed, their husbands had stopped drinking and how their homes had changed. They - along with another friend that they brought with them - expressed a desire to accept the Lord as their Savior. Their husbands however, had said that they could not until the men had (women are not allowed to lead...in anything here). But they asked that we write down all the names of their family members that we could continue to pray for them.


It is not uncommon for women to come and say that they want to have a relationship with Jesus but that their husbands will not let them. Indignation always rises within me when I hear that. But I have learned that this is how this culture is and to ask a woman to defy her husband only creates confusion. So we pray for a heart change in her husband and we encourage women to begin to pray themselves, for their husbands. Often, we have to clarify that to pray for her husband doesn't mean that she can pray that the Lord will stike her husband dead! So many times we have seen the Lord begin to move in the hearts of these men and as a result, entire families come to Jesus. He truly is "near to those who call upon Him..."

The rains have come and we are so grateful...but they do create some challenges. We have been without power off and on for almost a week. The roads are so muddy now that the buses have to use chains, and although they help for the moment, they pretty much destroy the road, which is precarious at best. But we are so thankful to see the green and to watch the corn beginning to grow. No matter how wet and cold one is, they always say the same..."it is a blessing from God!"

We have worked now for years to establish trust up in Chiminisijuan. So no matter how wet or muddy the roads are, we work as hard as we can to get there. Usually those times when we have to work the hardest, when it would be the easiest to just say, "lets not go today", those are the times when we really need to be there. No exception Tuesday. Both of our translators called to say that they would not be coming, our back-up translator was not available either. Finally Armando called back and said he would come...fever and all. We can drive to a point now, and then we walk, as the road down to the clinic is impassable when there is more than a little rain. Duane usually drives the 4 wheeler down with supplies, but he was unavailable so David agreed, but he planned to come later. We arrived late, with mud squishing between our toes, to find one of our ladies in active labor and about 2 months early. After some discussion, we realized that they would not take her into the hospital...so we started her on some IV fluids, gave her some antibiotics for a possible urinary tract infection and PRAYED...hard. When we finished getting her situated we turned to another woman whom we know well. She had her 3 year old strapped to her back and began to tell us about how she had been burned. Little Berta had fallen into a pot of boiling water. As she uncovered her, Berta began to scream. Her momma had packed her wounds (which turned out to be severe burns over one fourth of her body - from the waist down) with some kind of grass and a little bit of burn cream that she had been given in the government clinic. The smell was overwhelming and it took me over half an hour to remove all of the grass. We dressed it as well as we could, started her on antibiotics and ibuprofen for pain....such a pathetic little bit for so much suffering. It seems however, that God takes the little bit that we have and multiplies it to make it more than enough...much like the loaves and fish. The woman in labor didn't have another pain after we prayed and snored her way through the rest of clinic as her IV fluids ran. And Joseph took me up the next day to see little Berta. The smell was better and although she will be in pain for some time to come, she was smiling a little when I left.

As always, I am so grateful for His graciousness to us!

"My grace is suffficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9

These have been a couple of very busy weeks...beginning with the youth team from the Woodlands church in Houston. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to go out to several of the local schools with them. They taught a lesson on world cultures and how different we are but that ultimately we all have the same need for love...for a Savior. We have an open door with the local schools and still have the freedom to openly talk about Jesus which is a tremendous blessing. The youth left each school with a map of the world painted on the wall and various activities for the children to finish. Most people here have a very limited, very small view of the world...I guess because most do not have television nor computers. Even the teachers all said that this was new material for them - that they focus mainly on Guatemala. It was fun! And it is always fun to work with young people who have so much energy!

This week we did an additional clinic in Cruz Chich. This was our third trip out to this very large, very needy village. We had to limit our numbers to 100 and turned many away...which I do not like to do. In our past visits, we have mainly seen men - which I have learned is their way of "checking us out". When we talked with the community leaders a couple of weeks ago, I told them that we would really like to see their wives and children as well - that we would not steal away their children - which is a common belief here. I guess they believed me because we saw lots of children this time, and more women. Little Diego broke my heart. I knew his mom from previous visits to the clinic in Canilla. Diego had a high fever when he was a few months old and was left with brain damage. He could not sit or hold his head up at that time - which was several years ago. We helped her with milk and some very basic physical therapy. She had seven other children at that time and in the four years that have passed since then, she has had two other babies. Diego is five now and weighed 13 pounds on Friday. Mom gives him just two bottles of corn "atol" (corn meal, sugar and water) each day. He is starving - literally - to death. This is so often what happens to children like Diego who are unable to help themselves. There is no help for these families so these imperfect children are left on the floor, being fed when they cry and nothing more. Diego's dad drinks alot and is angry and abusive. When we prayed for Diego, his mom cried huge sobs of grief. I cannot imagine how difficult her life must be. Please remember this family in your prayers for only "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:3

Maria

This is Maria. Her parents brought her into our San Andres clinic two weeks ago. She was 4 days old at that time and was very sick. She had fever, was dehydrated, limp, not able to nurse and was spitting up blood. I strongly encouraged her parents to take her into the hospital but they wouldn't. I know there were several reasons for this - the first being economic. It cost about $5 now to travel to Quiche. That is nearly a day's wages for most men here. The second reason was that she is a girl...not highly valued in this culture. And the third reason being that if she were to die in the hospital, it is expensive (relatively) and complicated (if you don't speak Spanish) to get a body released for burial. So after realizing that they would not go, we began to tell them that they really needed a miracle....a miracle that only Jesus Christ could do. They agreed to prayer somewhat hesitantly. And we sent them away, thinking that she only had hours to live. But there she was again on Sunday...not only alive but healthy and nursing well! Her parents are "thinking about" accepting Jesus as their Savior. They do not understand what a miracle God has done in their lives but I do....and I am - once again- amazed at His power and His love! Please pray that their eyes will be opened to that love.

Thank you for your prayers for the men as they traveled through Mexico. Everyone is home safely and we are grateful for God's protection and provision.

We will host a team of high school students from Houston in the next week. Please pray for their safety and health...and more than anything that they encounter God and grow in their relationships with Him in the time away from their culture. Thanks for standing with us!

Please Pray

Hello friends!

We would like to ask you this morning and for the next couple days to join us in prayer for the two men, Byron and Edwin, who are driving our trucks down through Mexico, and our good friend Martin, who is driving one of his own trucks down through Mexico. Martin crossed the border into Mexico a couple of days ago, and our two trucks crossed this morning.

Please pray for favor, that God's protection will be over them, that the trucks will remain in working order, and that they will not confront situations where their integrity is at stake (bribes and such).

Thank you for your prayers, and God bless you all today!