Journal April 25-30

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Saturday, April 25, 2009

A few of my neighborhood kids and I went to the orphanage and picked up Moises. The kids love having him over and he loves getting away form the orphanage for a while. I was suppose to have him back there by 4 PM so that he would not miss supper. Time just sort of slipped by on us and I got him back there about an hour late. The nurses didn’t seem to mind though because we had stopped off and gotten him a hamburger.



When I got home I opened up my house to the kids in the neighborhood and before long it resembled the place that I had just returned Moises to.


Sunday, April 26, 2009




I am in a hotel room in Huehuetenango. This is a rather unscheduled trip but my friend Roland e-mailed me Saturday night telling me about some families that he visited a few days ago. After hearing about them I decided to come up and see how we can help at least some of them. There are many other families in this area that need help for food, schooling or medical needs.







Here is part of the letter that I received last night.

Hi Dick,

Thank you for your journal! Wonderful to hear that you finally getting over that bad cough, I have not been coughing the last week. I am including very small archives with photos of the boy Fredy and his mother and Maria Garcia.

Visit to Fredy Emilton 8 years old who can’t walk: On the 20th April I left at 5 o’clock in the morning to take a bus to the department of Huehuetenango to visit a handicapped little boy who lives in the remote high located village Xoconilaj, in the municipality of Santa Barbara, department of Huehuetenango. The village is very high located. We walked over 3 hours by foot in the mountain to arrive to their home, later we found out that there is a road that is much closer to Freddy’s home! The population in this municipality is over 4000 persons, the majority; 99% is Mayan, and speaks the Mayan language Mam. 75 % of the population of the municipality Santa Barbara is illiterate. One of the great problems in this area is water. The poverty in this municipality is enormous, and the reason for the poverty goes back several hundred years when the indigenous people of this area were much oppressed. After that the hurricane Stan had passed this municipality received very little help, one can see in my photos a road still in very bad shape, with next rain season that road we walked will probably be completely destroyed, but very good is that we find out that there is another better road to arrive to the village. During the last journey I recently did meet Roland’s new teacher Eloida, I came to know Justo a poor farmer from Santa Barbara during journey we talked a lot and he told me about a very poor mother who have a handicapped son, and he asked me to visit their home, a week later I already know the family, I went with Maria Garcia and her niece Malvin and we met Justo at the market and we started the long walk to the home of Fredy. Freddy is 8 years old. Freddy can’t walk or stand up without support. He has convulsions every day, sometimes the convulsions, last long periods. He can’t talk, but he can hear and he understands, Freddy smiles a lot. He has been sick a lot, he was having fever and he was coughing during my visit. Freddy drools lots of saliva all the time and he is wearing a bib all the time. When I was talking with his mother his noose started suddenly to bleed, the noose bleed lasted for some minutes. His mother said she can’t afford to buy the medicine for his convulsions. It is a very poor family.




Freddy’s mother Rosaria Lopez Sales has been sick over ten years she is suffering of daily pain in her stomach and of headache, she said that sometimes she can’t sleep and she said that many times she has been crying of the pain in the night and because of the handicap that her youngest son has. She said she feels a big ball inside the centre of her stomach and sometimes it feels like fire burning inside, and that she sometimes has pain also in her arms and legs and her back, she said - I feel like I am having chili in my body, a smarting pain. She said sometimes it come out matter from her ears. She said she many times is having great difficulties to sleep, and sometimes she faints while having the pain. I hope I also can find a doctor for exams for her in a near future. She has given birth to 4 sons, and 2 of them have died. Rosaria is illiterate. She said her husband drinks liquor a lot, he is working but with a very low income. Fredy’s mother asked me if there is a possibility of receiving monthly help to buy medicine for the convulsions, diapers and milk, and incaparina for her son (Incaparina is a powder used to prepare a very nutritious drink). Rosaria’s father has died and her mother has almost no eye sight, and Rosaria asked me if I can come back next week to meet also her mother.



Little Fredy also has a cousin, Mary Marleny Godinez Carrilloa, little girl who has problems with her eye sight, she is 6 years old, The other friend I have sent you emails about the last time is, Giovanni the little boy you came to know last year and who need operation of his both feet; clubfoot. Both children need wheelchairs and medical attention. There are also 2 others that I would like you to see who are from a community in Solola,








Catarina Guarchaj y Guarchaj, 24 years old she has never been able to walk and she need a wheelchair. She would also very much like to attend school.










The other one is a boy named Dario, he is a 3 years old who need operation of his foot God bless Roland







During the next few days Rolland and I plan on visiting these families and several others. The needs are endless but if we can help even one of these families it would be a real blessing to them.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Monday, April 27, 2009

Roland and I had told Maria Garcia that we would pick her up at 7:00 AM. We did not leave Huehuetenango until after seven and got to the place where we were to meet her at around 8:00. It worked out OK though because Maria also runs on Guatemalan time so I do not think that she had been waiting for us for very long. Maria Garcia is a Mayan lady that lives in a small village about an hours drive from Huehuetenango. Even though Maria herself is very poor and has children and grand children some of whom are orphaned, living with her, she spends a great deal of time caring on the work of her 25 year old son who died last year from a sickness that a good doctor could likely have cured. Much like her son Maria has great compassion for her people and spends countless hours doing what ever she can to help them.



We had a long drive ahead of us because today we were going to go and visit Giovanni and his family. They live up in the northern part of Guatemala very close to the Mexican border. The area that we visited today is not exactly one where you see to many tourists. This has been a hot spot for drug trafficking and there have been a lot of kidnapping and murders in this area lately. Had we not been reminded of Luke 15:4, “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” we would perhaps have thought of a better place to spend our day. We try not to be foolish in our travels but we had done a lot of praying and all 3 of us had peace about going in and seeing this family.

I had met this family a few months ago when they had brought their son to see us in the village where Maria Garcia lives. Today we went to their home to set up a time when Giovanni and his father could come in to Hermano Pedro to see a doctor. A teem of orthopedic surgeons are scheduled to be there in June and if we can get the pediatrician that works at Hermano Pedro to give Giovanni a referral they will likely be able to operate on his 2 club feet so that he would be able to walk. Giovanni’s father also needs to see a doctor because he has been ill for quite some time now. Even though Giovanni’s family is very poor they insisted on making lunch for us and although an ancient looking egg floating in watery black beans is not Roland’s or my favorite meal we graciously accepted it and even drank the unrecognizable liquid that we were given.




After lunch we I went to my car and found shoes and vitamins for all of the children in the family. Even though not all of the shoes were a perfect fit the children were delighted with them. I was even able to find a pair of cloth shoes that somewhat fit Giovanni’s deformed feet. He was thrilled with them.











We really wanted to get out of this area before dark but were establishing a friendship with this family that made it hard to leave, so when Giovanni’s father asked us if we wanted to take a walk with him and his family to see where their water came form we said yes. Part of or reason for saying yes was because we knew that the more exposure that we got in this village the better it would be for us the next time that we returned. Since this was a place that is not visited by many outsiders we could see that several of the people were a bit frightened of us and I am sure that they were suspicious of why we were there. Knowing that Giovanni’s father would introduce us to the people that we saw along the way and that once a hand full of villagers knew who we were and why we were in their village the word would spread like wild fire and everyone would know that we meant them no harm. Another reason for wanting to walk to where the family got their water from was because I was curious to see what it was that we had just drank with my meal. We figured that if we got sick and had to see a doctor when we got back to Huehuetenango we could at leas give the doctor a clue as to what it was that we had drunk. As it turned out the stream that we hiked to looked quite clean and Father also told us that they boil all of their drinking water. By the time we returned from our hike we had met several of the villagers. Some of them that had previously jumped behind trees every time that we looked their direction were now asking us if we would take their pictures. Not all of them were that brave but that well come with time. As I compare of the places where we are now welcomed with open arms with the way that the people reacted to us the first few times that we visited I can not believe the difference.

One of the best things that happened to us today had to do with about 6 feet of old rusty chicken wire that managed to wrap itself around my rear tire and axle as I drove in to where Giovanni lived. We did not discover it until we were ready to leave but it was evident that we were going nowhere until it was removed. I had no sooner gotten out my wire cutters and started cutting at it than several of the men from the village offered to help me. Soon my car was surrounded by some of the same people that had run and hid from us earlier in the day. Giovanni had a great time supervising the wire removing party from the hood of my car. While the men worked the women and children watched. My only regret was that my tire was back on my car and we were ready to go in less than a half hour. What I had looked at as an inconvenience had clearly become a Godsend. As we claimed into my car and began to leave one of the men that had been working the hardest to get the wire unwrapped from my car told us that he had a grandson who was sick. Yes we know that it was getting dark and that we should be on our way but it was already evident that most of our trip home was going to be in the dark anyway, so we got back out of the car and walked over to where this family lived. We were then introduced to the daughter of this man and one year old Oliver. The mother told us that her child had suffered high fevers shortly after his birth and that he now has many seizures every day. Other than a one time visit to a national hospital where it seems more harm was done than good, this child had never been to a doctor and no medicine had ever been given for the seizures. Well praise God; it looks like we will soon be getting this child out to see a good doctor.

Praise God, we also made it home safely. When we got back to our motel I received a phone call from Mark Richard. A few days ago I told Mark that I was going to be up in this area for a few days. Mark called to tell me that some Guatemalan missionaries had just been kidnapped. He went on to say that they had been working in the same are where we had been. I do not have their names but know that they work with farmers in showing them how to better raise and care for their livestock. Their car has been found but so far they have not been found. Please pray for these people. Pray also that God will change the harts of those that kidnapped them.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Tuesday, April 28, 2009

This morning Roland and I drove in to where Freddy and his family live. This is the home that Roland and Maria Garcia had spent 3 hours hiking into last week. Thankfully (for me) while they were there they discovered that there is road that comes in from a different direction that allows you to drive right up to Freddy's house. It is in no way a super highway and you will be hard pressed to find it on any map but it sure beets walking.

Much like Roland had described this family and most of the others in this area live in extreme poverty. This aldea actually has running water but there is such a water shortage here that it is only turned on for a few hours once every 3 or 4 days. Today happened to be water day so most of the family was busy filling up any available containers that they had and trying to do the family laundry.

We found Freddy and his brother sitting on a bed in the smaller of the 2 adobe structures that they and several relatives call home. Freddy has suffered some brain damage due to high fevers that he had when he was only a few week old. Mother, who had already lost 2 of her 4 children, told us that she frantically tried to find a doctor for Freddy but it took 4 days to locate one. By the time the doctor got the fever under control a lot of brain damage had already been done. Even th0ough Freddy cannot walk or talk he is a delightful little kid. For the most part he is very happy and is usually laughing and smiling. Mother who herself is in poor health told us that Freddy gets sick a lot though and has seizures several times a day. She did get Freddy to a doctor several years ago and he prescribed Phenobarbital. This is a medicine that is seldom used in the States any more because of its side effects. Mom told us that it helped to control the seizures some but it virtually knocked Freddy out so that he was like a zombie all of the time. When I told her that he certainly did not look like a zombie today she said that it had been months since she had been able to afford any medicine for her son. She sad that he was much happier when he was not on the medicine but some times he would get seizures that would last for hours. He had also been running a lot of fevers lately and just 2 weeks ago she thought that he was going to die. She pleaded with us for help for her son. I try not to make these journals a plea for sponsors but Freddy will likely die if he does not get one. I gave Roland some money from our rapidly depleting medical fund, so that he can take Freddy and his mother along with Giovanni and his father in to Hermano Pedro to see a good doctor next Tuesday. I am quite sure that the doctor will prescribe one of the newer seizure medicines for Freddy. I know that Freddy's mother does not have the money to buy this medicine for her son. She told us that often times she is not even able to feed her children.

We made more visits to more hurting people today. Thanks to caring people like yourselves some of these people will be getting new wheelchairs. Lionel's family even received the promise of a new house. Praise God that we can help some of these families but I still have to search my soul every now and then and ask myself are we doing enough. Or is there some way that we can reach out a little further and help just one more Lionel or Freddy?



Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Today Roland and I drove from Huehuetenango to Mazatenango We had one more child Dario, who has clubfoot that we wanted to visit. We figured that while we were in the neighborhood we would also visit a few people that were in need of wheelchairs.

Catarina Guarchaj is one of the mast delightful 20 year old young ladies that I have met in a long time. Even though Catharine can not walk, has no wheelchair, and has to drag herself along the ground with her hands this young lady has a radiance about her that lights up the sky. I am not 100% sure why Catarina cannot walk. It apears to be some type of CP but I am not sure. her family does not know either. Catarina has never been to a doctor. One thing that we do know is that Catarina is now on our waiting list for people that are in need of wheelchairs and Lord willing she will soon have one. Catarina also told me that her second biggest wish is that she can some day get an education. We made her no promises but said that we would look into it.





Not far from Catarina lives a little girl named Ingrid. Ingrid is also in need of a wheelchair. We took down her measurements and did the necessary paper work so she is now on our waiting list as well.








From there we drove about 45 minutes to our final stop of the day. Yesterday I had thought that I had not seen so much poverty before but I think that if it were possible this family is even poorer than Freddy's. Dario his mother Margarita, and his 4 siblings live in one small room of a rusty tin structure that is called home for them and at least 5 other people. Father left for the states because he could not find any work in his village. Problem is work in the States is no longer all that prevalent. From what I am being told even the minimum wage jobs are getting hard to find. At any rate father is now in the States with no job and no way to get back to Guatemala and mom is being threatened with eviction form her home that most people would not keep a pig in, by the man that her husband borrowed money form so that he could get to the States. Here we could offer little in the way of financial help but we did tell mom that her son looks like a perfect candidate for the surgical teem that is coming in to Hermano Pedro in June so we are going to see to it that he sees the doctor and gets a referral with in the next few weeks. While we were visiting we got one of the seasons first rainstorms. This was not just any rainstorm but a torrential downpour. My car was parked about a half mile away so Roland suggested that we wait this one out. I reminded him that rainy season here in Guatemala lasts 6 months and that although the storms usually last only a few hours I was not going to stick around and find out. By the time we reached my car we were walking in ankle deep water and soaked to the bone. The only way that I could keep my windows form completely fogging up was to run the air conditioner at full bore. I will know in a few days what that is going to do for my ever lingering head cold. What should have been an hour drive to our hotel took us well over 2 and a half hours. This was partly due to tree limbs and things floating and blowing across the road but we also found that once we reached the Pan-American highway that traffic was at a stand still for miles. We finally made it to the hotel though and discovered to our surprise that a 6 foot long tree limb that was as fat as my leg had not done any damage when it fell onto my car. Actually the end of it had struck my windshield but it the only damage that it had done was wipe out my drives side windshield wiper blade. Guess we've kept those guardian angles a bit busy the past few days.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Thursday, April 30, 2009, 12:01 PM


Roland has caught a buss and headed back to his home in Xela. I should have headed out hours ago but I am still in my motel room in Mazatenango putting the finishing touches on my journal. I have been gone form home since Sunday and I really miss my kids so I am going to make this entry short. As I read thorough this weeks journal I realized how good God is. Yes there are hurting people out there and I do not always know why this has to be, but I do know that God loves them. Most of them seem to know it as well. As much as these people suffer I still find my self envying some of them at times. It seems that so many of them that should be angry at God are thankful to Him for what they have no mater how small that blessing seems to us. These people have taught me so much about true Christianity. It is my prayer that they have seen a little bit of Christ through me.

Thank you for your prayers.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal April 17-24

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Friday, April 17, 2009, 9:12 PM

Bethel Ministries had a wheelchair distribution this morning but I actually took the advice of my doctor and at least a dozen people that advised me to get some rest. Some times I think that trying to rest is harder than working though. I did manged to get caught up on my journaling and even got it published so that was a good feeling. I have not heard how the wheelchair distribution went but Chris told me that it was going to be only about 20 chairs and there were going to be no specialty fittings. Nice thing is that more and more of our people here are getting good at fitting even the difficult cases so I do feel like I have to be there. I still miss it when I am not there though.

I kept the gate locked until later this after noon but that did not keep the kids from knocking. My doorbell finally gave up the ghost. I think that at an average of at least 25 rings a day it must have set some type of record before it finally gave out.

There were 15 of us for supper tonight but I honestly did not have to lift a hand. I did have to lift my feet to keep them out of the coke that Calin spilled on the floor though. He did a fairly good job of cleaning it up but it still feels like you have suction cups on the bottom of your shoes when you walk through my house.


There would have been 16 of us for supper but Jason left early. Not his choice but mine. I finally got the printer the kids use for home work going again. I think I am going to have to find a place where I can buy printer ink by the gallon. Jason asked if he could print one small picture and I told him yes but made him promise that he would only print the one picture. Most of my kids are now trustworthy enough that I do not have to watch them like a hawk. Jason has not yet proven himself to be one of them. He will be allowed back into my house tomorrow night. But will not be allowed to use the computer for a week. Seven of my kids are delighted with the seven full page color pictures that I confiscated from Jason before sending him out of the gate.



I told three of the kids that since it was Friday I would let them spend the night. Come to think of it I am not sure that Friday had much to do with it because that is the exact number that stayed over last night.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Defying gravity

I was still coughing a bit this morning so I decided to give my self a day off, head for the beach, and just relax in the sun. The nine kids that came along with me thought that it was a great idea as well. Actually it was a relaxing day and seeing how much the kids enjoyed themselves made it a lot more enjoyable than it would have been had I gone alone. One thing that really helped was that Lesley, Fernando’s 19 year old aunt, came along and helped keep an eye on the younger kids. I may have to do a repeat of this trip in a few weeks because there were just too many kids with good report cards for me to take the entire group today.



We stopped off at Burger King for supper because I did not want to cook for 12 of us when we got home. It didn’t do much good though because there were 8 or 9 others at the gate when I got home and there was no way that I could say no to them after taking the others out all day.


Sunday, April 19, 2009

An even dozen kids came along to church this morning and then Burger King for lunch. I really had planned on healthier food for lunch but everything else was closed because the electricity has been off all day.

After lunch I broke away from the group. I had not been to the orphanage in quite some time and I wanted to see how the kids were doing. My kids from home were not al that happy about me going there without them but last time that I took a few of hem along they got a little lively and Fryer …… was not to pleased. Actually in the nine years that I have know him I have never seen the man smile but then again perhaps the poor man has a permanent case of indigestion. I only stayed at the orphanage for a few hours but it was good to see the kids.


Lionel seems to be doing well but he still misses his family. I spent a lot of time visiting with him, which he truly liked but he was not to pleased when I had to put him back to bed. It looks like we are going to be able to fix up and add on to his house sometime in June. I am not sure weather or not his family will be able to care for him even after this is done but at lest his Father, mother, and five siblings will be more comfortable. I know that Lionel’s parents really love him but I can also see their concern that he might not make it if he returns home. Who is to say what the right thing to do is in some of these situations. Not all that many weeks ago Lisvi’s parents, who live little more than an hour from Lionel, acted out of love when they made the decision to take her home instead of leaving her at Hermano Pedro and she died a few weeks later.


Many of you have been asking about Jose, the Two and a half year old boy that weighed in at 8 pounds. I personally think that Jose is proving that if you are feisty enough you will survive. Jose still has a feeding tube and is in no ways fat but he is doing much better. Fact is he seems happier most of the time and was happy as a clam while I held him today. Putting him back into his crib was another story though. I think that he could give ErvIn a run for his money if they were to have a screaming match.




Karen the little girl that Mike and Karen Rea brought in a few weeks ago seems to be doing well. Other than finding out the hard way that her diapers were not leek proof, I enjoyed holding her for a while.









Another little angle is Lesley, a little girl that arrived at the orphanage about same time as Karen. Lesley was not as malnourished as Karen when she arrived so she was not put into the malnutrition ward but was put in to the regular ward. Lesley is blind and has some other complications but she has an extremely sweet personality. I am going to try and find a wheelchair for her as well as Karen and several others with in the next few days.










At 4:30 I headed for home. Why? I guess you might say I sort of bribed the kids when I went to the orphanage on my own. Before leaving for the orphanage I stopped off and reserved a soccer field for 5:00 PM. I guess I sort of spoiled them this weekend but I figured the $3 that I paid for the soccer field was a good investment. From the looks of the number of kids that showed up I think that they agreed. The hour’s fun ended up costing me 20 cent per kid.Jason has been allowed back into my house but lately he is requiring me to spend as much time on my knees praying for patients with him as I do praying that I have patients with Etiline. Not many of the kids that come to my house are from 2 parent families. Jason is. I am beginning to wonder if his parents send him over here so that they can get a rest or if they perhaps have something against me. Jason can be a very nice kid and I think that he is quite intelligent. I guess his problem is he just doesn’t think. It is hard to explain. I know that he hears me when I ask him not to put a loaf of bread or a dozen cellophane wrapped hot dogs into the microwave for 45 minutes but as soon as I turn my back he goes and does it anyway. I have also tried several times to tell him that a drinking glass will not hold 3 liters of coke but he just doesn’t seem to get it.

Well all of the kids that are leaving for the night have left. I am tying to decide weather or not to mop my floor before going to bed. Since Jason is one of the kids that is staying I think that I will wait until after breakfast in the morning.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Monday, April 20, 2009

Cesar and Abner had no school so they accompanied me to Hermano Pedro this morning. After meeting with Jessica and going over a long list of kids that have outgrown their wheelchairs the 2 boys and I took 3 of the orphanage kids out to lunch. Guess what we actually had a lunch that was good for us and it was not at Camperos. The coffee house that my church runs has turned into a restaurant that has great food and a wonderful atmosphere. There is a large grassey courtyard that the kids love to play in. After lunch we went back to the orphanage and spend some time with the kids.



Today I met some ladies that are from the town where Lesley lives. To my surprise Lesly is from Santa Rosa. This is the same town that I brought Daniel and Byron in form to see the doctor last week. This is also the town where we had a wheelchair distribution and built a house in the week before that. I guess we missed a few people though because today the ladies that were at the orphanage showed me pictures of Lesley’s family. Lesley’s mom cannot walk and has to get around on all fours. I also discovered that the house where and here other 4 children live in is not fit for a pig. Tomorrow I plan on copying down all of the information and turning it in at our office. I wish that I could have promised the ladies that saw me today that something would be done, but our list of people that need houses and wheelchairs is an ever growing one so it makes it impossible to help everyone. Praise God for those that we can reach though.


. . . Lock out night tonight.

The kids hate it when I do that and actually so do I but some times that is the only way that I can get caught up on things. I had to go out and get in Alex’s face a few minutes ago. He got the idea that if he continued to knock on the gate long enough and hard enough he would get results. He tried to get my attention by doing that and making at least 20 phone calls where he would dial my number and then quickly hang up before I answered my phone. It worked, Alex got my attention. When I finally went to the gate I got his attention and I think that he now understands that he is not to do that again. I finally opened the gate at around 9 but all but a few of the kids scattered. I guess that they had heard my conversation with Alex and did not want to stick around for a repeat performance. Nancy’s boy friend and Abner came in for a while but all of the other kids are staying clear of me until they know that I have calmed down a bit. I hate it when I get mad at these kids but they know that I love them and they will all be back tomorrow night and perhaps instead of demanding to come into the house they will politely ask.



Well I am tired and bed looks pretty inviting so I guess that I will call it a night.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick (the neighborhood grouch)

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Either my kids are forgetful or perhaps they are just quick to forgive; then again they may have been hungry enough that they were willing to take their chances.
Earlier today I went to the orphanage and refit a few kids in their wheelchairs. Lesley, the little girl that came in a few weeks ago finally has a wheelchair. Now I have to come up with one for Marvin, the little boy whose wheelchair I gave to Lesley. I usually do not rob Peter to pay Paul but Marvin had clearly outgrown this wheelchair.

All of my neighborhood kids had school today and I could not find any adults to help me take any of the kids to lunch so I could only take Byron along today. Ervin clearly vocalized his disapproval. If he has stopped his screaming by tomorrow I may take him then.

Well my house is still full of kids and several of them are in need of some first aid.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick



Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Another day at the orphanage today. There were lots of groups of volunteers there today. Some of the visitors looked a bit shell shocked and just stood motionless staring at the kids. I think that they wanted to help but were just too overwhelmed to know where to start, so they did nothing. Others were dressed up like clowns and animals. They did their best to entertain the kids. This is a good way to do something for the kids without getting too emotionally involved. It doesn’t hurt quite as much that way. There were others that made them selves a bit more vulnerable. They actually took hold of the wheelchairs that some of the kids were in and pushed them around the courtyard. I even saw a few of them reach down and touch whoever it was that they were playing with on the head. Some of them even did this with out reaching for their bottles of hand sanitizers immediately after touching a child. There was another group there that really caught my eye though. I could see it in their eyes that they were there to love on these kids whatever the cost. Oh yes they were a bit nervous being in the orphanage for the first time. It can be a scary place. They had no idea weather or not they were even allowed to hold the children, and I am sure that they were afraid that they would possibly hurt a child if they did pick one up and hold him or her wrong. There was something about this group though that told me that once they were told that it was OK to hold the kids and once they were shown how to hold some of the more severe ones, they would swoop them up into their ungloved hands and love on them in a way that the children really needed to be loved. All I had to do is pick up one little girl and ask who wanted to hold her and soon the entire group asked if they could hold someone. I am sure that these people know that it was going to be hard to say goodbye to these kids when it was time to go. They probably even know in advance that they would likely get emotional and shed some tears. I am not sure if they know that it would have been wise to take a change of clothing with them but I don’t think that mattered much to them. You see, they came to love, unconditionally and with no strings attached. They came to show these kids that they cared because Jesus cared. They came to love on them and pray over them in a "Jesus way." In the same way that Jesus put our needs before His, these people put the needs of the children ahead of their own. What if Jesus had said, “I am uncomfortable with this I just can’t do it.” Once again today, I had the privilege of seeing Jesus shine through in some of his children that were indeed images of a Father that loved them. Thanks Gang. I don’t think that I caught any of your names of even the name of your group, but you made it evident that you are my brothers and sisters. You made that evident to the kids as well.




All of the groups had other commitments for lunch so I was only able to one of the kids along with me. Ervin has not had an easy time watching me take other kids the past few days so today I decided that I would take him. This choice was a good one . This kid who is generally locked in his crib from 1 or 2 PM had the time of his life. I must admit though he certainly has a mind of his own. I have watched the therapists at Hermano Pedro try to get him to walk. If he is in the mood he will take a few steps for them but if he decides that he is going to sit down and not move you couldn’t get him to move with dynamite. This afternoon after we ate I took him over to Camperos play ground equipment and once I got him out o his wheelchair there was no stopping him.




I spent the rest of my afternoon with a Christian Brother, 90 year old Father Bernardo. Cesar, the man whose leg we have been treating for quite some time, and his family are Roman Catholic. Since it is still difficult for Cesar to get out of his house Father Bernardo had offered to go to his home and do sacraments with him. Father Bernardo knows that I am not Roman Catholic but he asked me if I would take him there so that he could perform the Sacraments with Cesar and his brother who also has difficulty walking. While Father Bernardo and Cesar were doing sacraments I had a great time visiting with the rest of Cesar’s family. This family has been so grateful that some one has been willing to take the time to help Cesar that they can’t stop thanking God for what they consider a miracle. Do they differ with me on Christian doctrine? Undoubtedly. Are we able to pry together and thank the one true God for what he has done? Unquestionably! I see the love of God shine through in this family in a way that is unbelievable. It is my prayer that they see that same love in me.




On our way back to the orphanage Father Bernardo and I had a lengthy discussion about true Christianity. I would love to share that discussion with you but unfortunately this was one of these days when Father Bernardo could not remember witch of the four languages that he speaks, I can understand. So I did not get much of what he said. I think that it had something to do with loving orphans and widows. I am not sure though but we still had a great time of fellowship.





I guess the word got out that I had sent 2 of the boys to town for some roasted chicken because tonight there were 17 of us around the dinner table. What was going to be a chicken dinner for 10 to 12 had to be stretched out into chicken sandwiches for 17 but everyone left the table satisfied. Well almost everyone. Calin complained that he was still hungry. Then again I could have given Calin both chickens and all three loves of bread and he would have likely asked for more.

At 9 PM I told the kids that it was time to leave. Three of them told me that they were spending the night and two more asked if they could. I had no problem deciding what to say to the three that told me that they were staying, but I still needed to get some work done and did not want to get up at 6 AM to get the kids off to school so I told the two kids that had asked, no as well.

Well it is getting late so I think that I will close for now. I am not going to head straight off to bed though. Instead I think that I will just sit here and listen to the silence.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Thursday, April 23, 2009

Before leaving for the orphanage this morning I received a phone call from the clinic that I had just visited last week. Doctor Jose speaks about as much English as I do Spanish so our conversation was brief. I understood enough of it to know that it was about Melvin though and I knew that things were not good. I told him that I would call Donna and have her call him. Fifteen minutes later Donna called me saying that the doctor said that Milton was at the clinic and the doctor had told her that things did not look good. The doctor said that Milton appeared to have pneumonia and was wondering if we know of a hospital that he could come to. As hard as it was I had to tell Donna that because of their fear that they may be contagious, Hermano Pedro will not accept anyone into the malnutrition ward if they are running any type of fever, and about the only choice was the national hospital. Neither Donna nor Chris knew of any other alternative either so Donna had to call the doctor back with the bad news. I have not heard anything back from the Clinic yet but may try to call them this evening or tomorrow.



When I got to the orphanage I got a few more wheelchairs fixed and took another kid to lunch. Today Roberto (Bobby) got to come along to Camperos. What ever money this restaurant made on the kids that I brought in this week I doubt that they broke even because of all of the napkins that I used trying to keep up with everything that Bobby spilled. I tried to only mop up when absolutely necessary because the messier Bobby gets the happier he becomes. The combination of colors in his hair from the ranch dressing, ketchup, and sweet and sour sauce would have put any punk rocker to shame. He was a bit disgusted with me for trying to clean him up before pushing his wheelchair back to the orphanage but I was afraid that I would get fined for polluting the streets if any of that stuff fell off from him.


After returning to the orphanage I worked on a few more wheelchairs. This was not a fast process because the only 3 kids that had not already been put to bed for the day decided that they would help me. There were about 40 other wheelchairs sitting around in the courtyard but they were all empty. While Bobby and I were eating lunch all of their occupants had been put to bed, and that is where they will stay until tomorrow morning.









I left Hermano Pedro at around 3 PM because I had a few things that I needed to do. Calin had talked to the brother of the little blind girl who lives with her mother and 3 siblings in a vacant building here in Chimaltenango. He discovered that the family has been with out food for several days now. I had called Chris and he had Carlos go to the market and pick up some food for them. This afternoon Alex and I brought it to them. The reason that I took Alex along was because his school shoes had warn out and I had none on hand that fitted him. He had gone to school today wearing some brown shoes that he had but his teacher told him that he would not be allowed back in school until he had black leather ones. Requiring public school students, here in Guatemala to wear uniforms or certain color shoes is against the law. Convincing the school principals of this is another story though. After visiting the family that needed the groceries we went and bought 2 pare of shoes. It just so happened that the little boy who had told Calin that his family was out of food no longer had school shoes either. I will try to bring him his new pare tomorrow so that he to can once again go back to school.



I felt a bit mean tonight but instead of going home and cooking supper for the kids Alex and I stopped off in town and got something to eat. When I got home I explained to the 15 that were at the gate that this was the cooks night off. We did find enough junk food to satisfy most of them and later I fed the two kids that had decided that this was going to be their home tonight.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Friday, April 24, 2009, 12:40 PM

I had breakfast with Chris this morning. Some times things get so busy for bouth of us that we don’t get as much opportunity to just visit as we would like. We discussed the upcoming wheelchair distribution that we will be having with Johnnie and Friends next week. You would think that between this distribution of over 200 wheelchairs and a distribution of about the same size that Hope Haven is having we would be some what caught up but that is not the case. Chris told me that he still had to turn away40 kids because number of kids that need chairs has exceeded the number of available kids chars that are on hand. Praise God for these Christian organizations that are shipping or manufacturing wheelchairs, Hopefully as God continues to bless them they will be able to continue to supply more and more wheelchairs to those in need. It is our prayer that the 40 kids that had to be scratched from next weeks distribution will be able to be given wheelchairs soon.

I planned on returning home and doing some bookwork there after breakfast but knew that at 12:30 the kids would be home from school. I love hose kids but trying to write a journal while several of them are talking to me tends to make it hard to concentrate on what I am doing.



I am actually hiding out up stares in front of the malnutrition ward at Hermano Pedro. I must admit though that I do not know how long I can hold out. No, I am not afraid that the kids will discover that I am here. I am afraid that I will come to my senses and realize that spending time with them is more important than writing in this journal. Fact is I think that is exactly what is hap……………….

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal April 11-16

(Click on ny picture to enlarge)

Saturday, April 11, 2009

The teem from the USA has gone home so I got to spend a much needed weekend just hanging out with my kids. Actually the teem from Washington State has gone home but two other teems have arrived. Don’t take me wrong I love seeing teems from the USA come to Guatemala, especially teams like the last one that came with the purpose of loving on the people in such a way that the love of Jesus oozes out of them. I must admit though that during this time of year when everyone is coming down during his or her spring vacations it occasionally gets a little overwhelming.

Please pray that God gives all of us down here the wisdom to know how to spend our days exactly the way that God wants us to.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Sunday, April 12, 2009



Since it is the weekend I will also keep this one short.


Twelve of the kids and I went to church this morning then to Martha’s for lunch, after that we just sort of hung out until 5 PM then we went out and played soccer.

Jason and Franklin. . . . . . . .

Two brothers that come along to church.

Monday, April 13, 2009

This morning Steve Otto and his son Nathan joined me and we went down to the Esquentla area to see some of the families that we are helping out with housing, food, medicine, and schooling. Steve and his family came here a year ago to work with Iglesia Del Camino, this is the church that I go to in Antigua. Steve’s primary responsibility at the church is working with short term mission teams that come in from the States. His schedule is often a rather busy one but he had today free so today he and his son Nathan were more than eager to get into a few of the villages and meet some of the Guatemalan village people.




Our first stop was in La Gomera. I have been working with the people that run a clinic in La Gomera for several years now. The doctor there is from Cuba and even though the funding for the government program that he came there on ran out several years ago he continues to work with the people that he has fallen in love with for a very small wage. This takes a lot of dedication especially considering that his family had to remain behind in Cuba. After purchasing some groceries Walter the Guatemalan nurse that works at the clinic joined us as we went and visited several families.

Our next stop was at the home of Milton and his family. You perhaps recall our first encounter with this family about a year ago. Even though Milton was starving to death his father was anything but friendly to us and we doubted that he would even allow us to get Milton the help that he needed. It is amazing how much God has changed this family because after talking with Milton father and mother and explaining to them that contrary to their neighbors accusations that Milton was a curse that was given to them because of some great sin they had done, there son simply suffered from cerebral palsy. Today we were unable to see Milton. Not because the family had him hid away in their house but because the other children had taken him along with them to play. Wow! What a difference. Milton’s health is still not all that great but at least he is now being loved.

, , ,. . . . . . . . . . . , , ^ Julio today . . . . . Julio at Hermano Pedro . V

Next we went to see Julio. About a year and a half ago I had taken 7 year old Julio in to the malnutrition ward of Hermano Pedro wondering if he would survive the car ride there. At that time he weighed in at 17 pounds. Julio is no longer 40 pounds like he was when he left Hermano Pedro to go back home 6 months later, but he seems fairly healthy and it looks like his family is giving most of the food that we are bringing in once a month to their son. A few months ago we had to tell them that if Julio kept loosing weight we were going to have to consider not bringing food in to them anymore. That may sound harsh but since there is a shortage of food for the entire family we had fears that Julio was getting little or none of it. It is now harvest time for the sugar cane so thankfully Julio’s father has a small income for the next few months. We will still continue to bring food in to Julio though because father scarcely makes enough to feed his family and work is only available for about 6 months of the year.

This photo was taken the day we first found Julio

Our next stop was at Ronny’s house. This is always one of my favorite places to visit. I have known Ronny’s family for several years now and they have become great friends. Several weeks ago I made a promise to all of the kids in Ronny’s family that I would take the entire family some where special if they all did well in School. Needless to say ever since report cards came out two weeks ago my phone has been ringing off from the hook. We had originally talked about going out to the ocean but my throat has been bothering me a lot lately and I did not feel that going swimming would be the best idea. Today I came up with a place that seemed to satisfy everyone though. Camperos! I still don’t quite understand how the fact that the five kids that go to school had good grades entitled mom, dad, and the two younger ones to a free meal but they all really enjoyed themselves. Steve, his son Nathan, and I totally enjoyed ourselves as well.


When I got back home tonight the house quickly filled up with kids. Supper was junk food even by my standers but the kids did not seem to mind.

Well it is getting late so I guess I will head off to bed.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

I woke up feeling lousy this morning. Yesterday I had the doctor at the clinic in La Gomera. Look at my throat. He told me what everyone else has been telling me, that it is just allergies. He gave me some allergy pills and told me that I should feel a lot better in a few hours. Wrong! I really don’t feel sick but I can’t stop coughing and my throat feels like it is on fire. OK enough about my health. I always hate it when some ones favorite thing to talk about is their health. Those of you who knew my mom when she was alive will understand that it is a family thing though.

I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to feel sorry for myself though because some one was at the gate. I must admit though that I did a bit of muttering to my self on the way to see who was there. Why couldn’t they realize that I was not feeling well and that I really didn’t want any company this early in the morning? When I opened the gate I was greeted by the same little old man and his grand son that had been here begging a few months ago. Fernando had taught me that day that giving some thing that you really don’t need is not really giving. That day I had given them an old pare of shoes that I didn’t need and a toothbrush. Fernando gave them his best Christmas present. Today I carefully went through the supply of shoes that I had and gave them my best pare.




I then headed to the wheelchair shop and picked up a small sport wheelchair for Oliver, a little boy in Santa Rosa. This is the aria where we did one of the wheelchair distributions last week. I had promised some people there that I would be back on Wednesday so that I could take 2 kids into Hermano Pedro to see a doctor. The wheelchair that I picked up was for Oliver, a little boy that had come to the distribution for a wheelchair. He was the only one out of over 100 people that did not receive a wheelchair because we simply did not have anything that was right for him. Good Lord willing, by Tomorrow we will be able to say that everyone that came to both distributions received wheelchairs.



I had intended on heading out to Culipa early on Wednesday and only spending the day there but at around 3 PM this after noon I decided to make the trip down today and return tomorrow. Calin who’s turn it was to come along with me was delighted. Actually it was Abner’s turn to come along with me this time but he was having one of those Abner days. Yes he still gets them every now and then but thankfully they can now be called Abner days instead of Abner weeks or months.

I have learned to take it in my stride when the widow maker showers heads in the motels that I stay at do not produce hot water but tonight I really wanted a hot shower. That is about the only thing that clears my plugged head. Woops there I go again talking about my health. Anyway tonight I wanted a hot shower bad enough that I went to the motel office and complained. The lady at the desk was very nice about it and told me that I could change rooms. I am not superstitious or anything but I should have gone by my gut feeling and asked her if there was another room available when she handed me a key with the big number 13 on it. I can even make myself believe that the widow maker showerhead in room 13 would have worked had it not been for the fact that there was no running water in room 13. I was too tired to fight it so I decided to count my blessing. Since I was not going to get a shower my nose was going to stay plugged the entire night so what did it matter if I was sweaty? Anther great blessing was that Calin had come along with me and not Fernando. Fernando’s feet can smell so bad if he does not wash them that they can keep you awake all night even if you do have plugged sinuses.

Any way I am heading off to bed.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick (Better known as stinky)

Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 9:39 PM

When I woke up this morning the first thing that I did was to check and see if somehow magically during the night the water had come back on. Nothing magic but I did manage to get a trickle of cold water to come out of the shower head. Problem is widow maker shower heads have a set of points in them that only make contact and cause the heating element that is in the shower head to work when there is sufficient water pressure. A trickle is not what one would call sufficient water pressure. I have run into this problem before and found that if you take the plastic cover off from the top of the shower head you can bend the points closer together thus causing even a dripping shower head to produce hot drips. Up until now all of the shower head that I have done this to had a breaker switch located some where in the bathroom, this one did not. At any rate I got a hot shower. I am still not sure though if the water heated up when it passed over the heating element or if it got hot after touching my electrified body. Had I been a married man I would have been more concerned but I knew that being a bachelor there was no way that a widow maker could electrocute me.

Oh, Oh! I just looked up widow maker showere head on the internet and discovered it is also listed under Suicide Shower Head. Now they have me worried.




Our first stop of the day was at the home of Oliver, the little boy that needed the wheelchair that we had taken along with us. Let me tell you something if this kid is handicapped he surly doesn’t let it stop him. Even though up until now the only way that he could get around was by using a warn out pare of crutches is did not stop him from mixing it up with the other kids in his neighborhood. Fact is I think that he could beat most of them in a foot race. When I first saw him I questioned that he would even use a wheelchair but due to severally deformed knees I think that he welcomed being able to sit down at least some of the time. Besides this was no ordinary wheelchair. It was a snazzy looking little red sports chair. These are the type that the men in our shop use when they play wheelchair basketball. Oliver had never been in a wheelchair before but took to it like a duck out of water. I promised that we would get him a new pare of crutches though because I would hate to see him using the wheelchair all of the time. Not to worry though because much of the terrain near his home cannot be navigated by wheelchair.








Next we headed to the town of Santa Rosa where we picked up Eric Gonzales. Eric runs a small bicycle repair shop in Santa Rosa. He and his daughter also do a lot of cross-country bicycle racing. In there training they often ride up into the nearby mountains. On one of their rides into the mountains they met Wilmer a 9 year old boy who has most of the symptoms of muscular dystrophy. Eric is responsible for getting Wilmer and his family to come to the wheelchair distribution that we had in Barberana last week. It was while I was seating Eric in his new wheelchair that I discovered that he did not attend school. His mother said that he tried it for a year but he was teased a lot by the other kids plus he simply did not have the endurance or strength to attend classes every day. When I talked with Wilmer it was evident that he was very bright and he told me that he really wanted to get an education. Mother said that Wilmer’s older sister would often times sit down and do some school work with him but that he had no schoolbooks of his own to work from. We promised then that since I had to come up there in a week or so to pick up two other children for doctors appointments at Hermano Pedro that I would bring Wilmer some school books. We also told Wilmer that if he did a good job of studying, that next year we would see what could be done about finding him a sponsor and some one who would teach him at his home. Guess what. Wilmer now has schoolbooks and a teacher. Usually we try to do the sponsor thing first but then again you were not there to see his face light up when he got the schoolbooks. (Did you catch that? Wilmer still need a $15 per month sponsor.) The school that he is unable to attend is only a stones throw from his home. I have hopes that with in a year or two we can get him back into school but for now one of the teachers from the school has agreed to come to his house once or twice a week and work with him. This will only add up to 12 hours a month but Wilmer’s sister is also going to work with the teacher and they will see to it that he gets a good education. It was hard to believe that we got this all arranged in less than an hour’s time.It was only when we were leaving the school that the principal and the teacher that we hired confided in us that we had given them a bit of a scare when we drove into their Aldea and later waked into the two room school house. They told us that a car that looked similar to mine had pulled up to their church a few weeks ago and several men got out and walked into the church and grabbed one of the members of the congregation then drove away with him. A few hours later his body was found with 27 bullet holes in it.

I asked if I was in any danger from the villagers since my car so closely resembled that of the murders. The principal grinned and said that I may have been on my way into the village but now that I was there everyone knew who I was and there would be no problems. It is days like these that I sure am happy for your prayers though.

After dropping Eric off in Santa Rosa Calin and I found a restaurant and got some lunch. Our next stop was in Barberana at the home of Daniel and his family. Daniel is a boy for whom I set up an appointment with the eye doctor at Hermano Pedro. Several years ago his mother took him to a doctor who told her that Daniel needed eye surgery if he was ever going to be able to see properly. Since she did not have the money needed for the surgery she was quite certain that her son would have blurred vision for life. Last week when I told her about Hermano Pedro she asked me how soon we could go.

Our next stop was at the home of Byron and his grandmother. This home was a little harder to locate because since grandmother had no home of her own. Her and her 2 orphaned grandchildren tend to move around a lot. Today we found them at a relative’s home not too far from where we met them last week. That was one of those Godincidence meetings where we were bringing food and clothing into another family. Byron and his little brother just sort of showed up at our van out of curiosity.


Last week I wrote the following.

Byron an eight year old boy really stands out in my mind. His main concern seemed to be the kids around him that were in need. As we were visiting with the families that were already on our list Byron came over and took me by the hand and lead me to a little boy who was in need of shoes. I guess the reason that this really got to me was because Byron put this child’s needs before his own. Not only did Byron himself need shoes but also Byron who is an orphan is deaf. Byron’s grandmother does what she can to look after him and his little brother but it is hard because she is too poor to own a home of her own so she and the children have to stay where ever they can. Byron has never seen a doctor to see if anything can be done about his deafness so I got on the phone and set up an appointment for him and another little boy that we found who has a problem whit his eyes.

Today Byron and his grandmother climbed into my car hoping and praying that perhaps something can be done about his deafness.

We got our four guests settled in at Cassa Defay by about 5:30 and then headed for home. I promised that I would try not to talk about my health any more but I feel rotten. I know I probably asked for it by going on another road trip before getting over this crud but knowing that the 4 kids that we saw today possibly have a brighter future made it all worth while. To all of you old mother and father hens that have been writing me lately I do promise that I will rest up soon though. It is going to have to wait a few days though because I have pick up the two kids and get them in to Hermano Pedro in the morning.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Thursday, April 16, 2009, 9:47 PM

I woke up feeling a bit better this morning. Then again I don’t think that it would have been possible to wake up feeling any worse than I did last night. Both Daniel and his mother and Byron were eagerly waiting at the door when I pulled up to Cassa Defay at 7:30. The Staff at Hermano Pedro had been kind enough to hold appointmet number 1 and 2 for me. Had that not been the case I would have had to show up at Hermano Pedro before 6 AM to assure that we had even gotten to see a doctor today.



Guess what. Jessica even had an appointment set up for me to see a doctor. I guess the fact that all I could produce when I talked with her over the phone yesterday was a whisper and a few squeaks was a dead give away that I needed a doctor to. I don’t know what was in the injection that the doctor gave me but I am already feeling 90 % better. That is about an 89% improvement from last night. The doctor told me that if I stay on the antibiotic that he gave me, and continue to take it easy, the bronchitis that I have should clear up in a few days.





Daniel and his mother got some great news from the doctor. The doctor who original saw him was right. The problem that he has with his eyes can be corrected with surgery. I guess it is a rather delicate surgery and only one teem of eye specialists per year comes in to Hermano Pedro that does this type of surgery. Since they were just here a few weeks ago it means that Daniel is going to have to wait nearly a year but since he is one of the firs on the list it sounds like it will be a sure thing.






I don’t know what it is about Byron but he and I hit it off from the minute we met. This little guy is so skinny that I fear he will be blown away by the first wind that comes along. Perhaps is the fact that Byron speaks even less Spanish than I do. Fact is Byron cannot speak at all. One thing that I really like about him is the fact that he is not at all critical of my lack of Spanish. I guess his being totally deaf may have something to do with that. Byron speaks though, not with his mouth but much like Mercedes, one of my favorites at Hermano Pedro, Byron speaks with his eyes. It is hard to explain but God has gifted these two and some others that I know to do that. Anyone who has ever taken the time to really get to know Mercedes knows exactly what I mean. It takes a little bit to catch what they are saying at first because you have to train yourself to listen with your eyes. Once you learn it you will love it though because the conversations that you can have with these gifted people can be some of the best that you have ever had. I guess that is because when they speak to you the words are not coming from their lips they are coming from their harts so you never have to question their sincerity. Some of you may be thinking that the medicine that the doctor gave me today has a few side effects but there are others who have met some of these precious people that know exactly what I mean.Now where was I? Did I mention that Byron and I became best friends today? If I were a bit younger I would take him home in a hart beet. His grandmother dearly loves him but she is getting on in years as well.

The highlight of our day was taking Daniel and his mom, and Byron and his grandmother out to Camperos for lunch. I doubt that Daniel or his mother had ever been to Camperos before and I doubt that Byron and his grandmother had ever been out of their Aldea. Daniel at time could not contain himself and would shout out for joy. Byron had a lot to say to and even the untrained eyes of many of the people in Camperos knew exactly what he was saying. I guess if there was one thing that he did not understand it took place when we got into my car after lunch. Perhaps it was because my eyes were filled with tears that he could not hear me, but it was not until I pulled up to the buss stop that he realized that he and Grandmother were being let out of my car to take the buss back to their home. As much as it hurt his grandmother to do it she finally had to drag him from my car.

She was herself crying and Byron covered his face so I could not look into his eyes to talk to him. I quickly reached for my phone to dial Calin’s phone number. He and Byron had hit it off Marvelously on our drive to Antigua yesterday. If only I could have Calin interpret for me and tell Byron that he was scheduled for 3 more visits to Hermano Pedro with in the next three months and I would see him then. Suddenly I remembered Calin’s Spanish was not going to help this time. I looked back up at grandmother who still had a firm grip on Byron’s arm. She was still crying. How she must have been hurting for her grandson who wanted so badly to have a father or mother in his life. I motioned for her to let Byron come back into my car so that I could say good-bye to him. She nodded and released the grip that she had on his arm. When she did Byron looked up at me and climbed back into my car. I explained to him that his home was with his grandmother, but I would see him again, and that I loved him. He understood. He believed me to because he knew that you can’t lye when you talk with your eyes. I held him for a while and then we said goodbye. As he climbed out of my car and took hold of his grandmother’s hand she smiled at me with tears in her eyes and said in Spanish “God bless you.” I replied in English, “He certainly has.”

Goodnight:
Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal April 7-11

(Click on any picture to enlarge)

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Since the teem from Washington State is still here and members of that teem are taking turns journaling each days events, And since (so far) they have not said anything bad about me, I am going to continue to post there journals. Unfortunately they are leaving on Saturday, so after that you are going to have to put up with my writing for a while.

Dick

Tuesday, April 7, 2009 – 1st wheelchair distribution-


I want to start out by thanking God for cameras. Such a simple luxury, but there are so many things I will remember about this trip because of it. Today was a great learning experience. I went into it kind of worried that I wouldn’t know what to do and might hurt the kids. However the whole morning was blessed. One family really stood out to me it was an old man. He was little and skinny and couldn’t lie down. At first we thought this meant he needed a regular char that wouldn’t recline, but we found out that in fact he needed some thing to recline because he couldn’t sleep flat. This was really cool for me because I was able to use my little it of Spanish and figure it out. The man was so grateful and what must have been his daughter was almost crying. You could literally read in her eyes that this was a prayer come true. They were so generous on the smiles, hugs and blessings The woman specifically made a point to tell me tat God was her protector and very important in her life.

They were so easy to love.

"Thank you God
for that kind
of acceptance
and love!"

Alexandra

Wednesday, April 8, 2009- 2nd wheelchair distribution

Today was amazing! Thank God! We started off by eating breakfast at 6:30 it was a brunch at the hotel. Then we left for the school where we would do the wheelchair distribution. Most of the group started on that while my dad, Troy, Gary and I went back to the families’ house that we built a couple days ago. We were going to help this lady and her two children move in and take down her old house so that she could use it as a fence. When we got there we discovered that she had already moved in and even gotten her wiring done. I played with the kids and used the little Spanish I knew while the boys took down the house. When that was completed we headed back to the school. There were so many people with needs and thank God that we helped all of them. Alex and I played with the kids that were there and took many photos. Even though we only knew a little Spanish it was still amazing. I can see now that you don’t even need Spanish to love them. After it was all done we went to a house across the road and the ladies there made us an amazing lunch. It was the best food I’ve had here so far! After lunch we went back to the family that we had built the new house for and did a dedication thing. It kinda reminded me of the show “Extreme Home Make Over”. Chris interoperated the thanks they were giving us. It was a very emotional and amazing time. After it was all done we drove about two hours back to the first hotel we stayed in. Now we’re sitting around the empty pool. Ha Ha. :=] It’s a great peaceful way to end this great day!

Manda Tucker

Thursday, April 9, 2009

We started the day with John doing devotions and a group prayer. We then went to the wheelchair shop and everyone moved stuff out of the way for the demolition. There’s not much to say about the demolition except that it was dusty, hot and a lot harder than I figured it to be. Tonight we are going to Dick’s for pizza.I would like to share a few thoughts about the wheelchair distributions. I went in not knowing how or what to expect. The first day we fitted was pretty easy. A few adjustments and he was ready to go. We showed his father how the chair worked. Then for some reason that I don’t know, I put his hands on the wheels and pushed him forward and that was all it took. He was moving himself. Turning and he had a huge smile on his face. I think putting his hands on the wheels was something that God did. The gratitude and emotion shown by the people how received the chairs was an awesome experience. I earlier are still ringing in my ears, “Don’t forget the ministry is you interacting with the people and loving them, its not just giving them a chair.”

Gary DB

The trip to the dump on Thursday was truly an eye opener. The buzzards were circling overhead, while people were searching the pit for anything of value.

ORPHANAGE
Today while half of the group was working in the wheelchair shop the other half went to the orphanage. It was a real eye opener. I couldn’t believe some of the things I saw. It made me want to take every single kid in there back home with me. Two things that were really special to me was Fidel, a young man, who did everything with his foot. It was absolutely amazing! And secondly this little girl named Leslie. She was 6 years old but only looked 2. I felt so sorry for her but seeing her smile was a real gift from God. That is something that will always stay with me.

Manda

Going to the orphanage today was an experience I won’t quickly forget. We were only with the kids for about an hour, but in that time you basically saw their lives; sitting in chairs, eating, and sleeping. One thing that was really incredible to me was how the nurses put the kids to bed right after lunch. To me, even sitting in a wheelchair all day is better. Also the nurses we saw weren’t very loving in how they fed and clothed the kids. It was purely a job for most. Even in these negative things though, there was so much good. Dick told us how the relationship between the orphanage and his ministry is improving, he has such an impact in the kids and it was very cool to be apart of that for a little while.

Author unknown

I have known Howie Atherton and his wife Nan for several years now. Through a series of Godincidences that would take a novel that would be even larger than the ones that Howie writes, several months ago Howie and Nan got hooked up with us and are now vital part of a lot of things that Bethel ministries is involved in. Howie is more than a little bit involved in our house building projects and Nan plays a vital part in keeping the paper work up to date. Along with their ever growing responsibilities with Bethel ministries they are also involved with other construction and bookkeeping project not only with the church that I attend in Antigua but they some how manage to find the time to help out other Christian organizations and individuals that are in need of their services. After reading Howie's last two news letters I think that I am going to see if he can squeeze in the time to write all of my journals for me. as well. (Just kidding Howie, but if you could do six or seven of them for me each week it would sure be nice.)

Dick

Here then is "Guatemala According to Howie"

Update, Thursday, April 9, 2009


The phone just keeps ringing. Offers from publishers all over the world willing to pay big bucks for my new book “

. . . .. ."What it is like to be 60"

Since it’s only been one day it will be a very short book. It reads. Juanito called on Tuesday the 7th and said we needed to install a block foundation for a small house to be built next week. Birthday morning I’m up and gone by 7:30 to meet him, buy materials and get to work. What better way to celebrate a birthday than to start a home for Carmen and her two sons? Supper out with Nan and a quiet evening at home.

The End.



Looking back to my last update, it’s hard to believe that there are 15 new homes for 15 happy families in Guatemala. Thanks to significant help from work crews from the States and Canada and materials from Florida we’ve been able to do this. There are 4 more on the books in the next two weeks. Last Sunday, Nan and I followed a team from Washington State to a place called Nueva Santa Rosa. The plan was to construct a home the next day a few miles outside of town. The hotel was new to us but very attractive. The room pleasant with a fan and a TV with at least one English Channel. I was blessed to watch the first half of The Last of the Mohicans having seen the second half several months before. I must report that the hotel may lose its 5 star rating. Some of the group was a bit put out to find that there were not enough towels for everyone, that the water pressure did not reach their rooms on the second floor, the sheets had not been changed (evidenced by the beer bottle caps found in someone’s) and the pool was 4” of green scum. I’m thinking their rating is 4.5 stars at best.

(I think that Howie is being hard on this motel. I found it to be a 7 star hotel in fact if I held my head just right on the pillow I could see up to 8 stars through the hole in the ceiling. Dick)

Monday saw us up and moving early and off to the job site. Please close your eyes to picture this. You walk down this alley about 4’ wide to the lady’s house. Take a right thru her kitchen (two pieces of metal roofing over her cook fire) and you are there. The site is 18’ wide by 24’ long. Her existing house on one side, barbed wire on two sides separating them from a coffee farm that clearly served as the bathroom, and a block wall on the other. Our new structure will be 18’ by 14’ leaving an area of …you do the math. Add to this several and various pieces of her stuff including a 4’ square chunk of concrete and a 55 gal. oil drum, mix in all the wood and metal sheets to build the new house, sprinkle with a few chickens and lots of kids, season with a 12’ deep hole in the corner(future bathroom) and stir in 10 willing gringos tripping over each other to help. Bring to a boil with a 3PM deadline to complete the house and concrete floor. And you know what? By 2:30, supper was served and I’m pretty sure that poor family thought it looked delicious. I was totally frazzled, whipped. And just like the old days running marathons, next day, I couldn’t wait to get the next one started. Amongst all this, we had a group in from Florida that worked on the children’s’ Malnutrition Center about a hour away in San Juan Sacatepecas. People were inside painting and a few of us were working outside replacing soffits and gutters. One area in particular had become home to a group of honeybees and it was decided to try to remove them as opposed to killing them. In comes the expert scheduled for Thursday promptly on the next Tuesday. Thursday was a none work day for us, Tuesday was the day we set up staging 20’ from the bees nest so naturally it was the perfect day for our bee man to arrive. Did you know that smoking bees in the middle of the day doesn’t necessarily calm them down? I think the ones that stung me on the nose and arm were actually quite upset.


We found another area where there were no bees, just hornets. Imagine my reaction when I torn down a piece of soffit and stared at a nest of hornets, at a distance of 2’ from my sore nose. After a slow retreat I sent Juan Luis for the hornet spray that was clearly on the materials list. He returned with this large, pump-up spray apparatus filled with a milky liquid. No, no I want those cans that allow you to stand about 150’ away and kill on contact. Sorry, Howie, this is it. Now back to a distance 4’ I blast those suckers with enough white liquid to drown them. And I wait for them to start dropping, and wait, and wait. I am pretty sure I saw them pull out towels to dry off from the shower; soon they shook off the stuff and flew away. Maybe that was the plan. At least I didn’t get stung again. These rascals were the size of humming birds; well from 2’ they looked pretty big.




So, we’re alive and well and very busy.


Nan is really busy maintaining the finances at church where there are 7 people spending and only her tracking, where the concept of providing receipts for expenditures within the same month is met with a blank stare, and where “available cash” equals the balance in the checking account. Actually, it’s not really that bad. There are a lot of things going on and ministry gets the nod over accounting. She enjoys the challenge.

Thanks again for making our work here possible.

Howie

Friday, April 10, 2009





Last day here, had the opportunity to distribute food today. We went to three families, only one was home because of Holy Week and Easter Celebrations.




How grateful people can be for things we take for granted. (food & clothing).

Also went to the orphanage. (Hermando Pedro). This was something I wasn’t sure I wanted to do. We started with the older kids and worked our way through. These kids love just having some attention and love. Had the opportunity to play ball with an autistic crippled boy. When I walked into the ward where the younger kids were housed, I walked up to a crib with a girl who was probably 3 years old. She could not talk or walk, and was fed with a tube. When I put my hand on her arm she turned her eyes to look at me, and I for the first time in my life seen Joy & Love in someone’s eyes. She had no voice, no movement, it was just her eyes and smile. All that Love and Joy was from nothing more than a touch. Love and attention truly is our most important gift.

Troy Dykes

More of Friday April 10, 2009


Today is the last day here. We ate breakfast at Camperos and walked to the wheelchair shop. Some went out on a food & clothing distribution, others stayed and continued with the demolition and hauling of the adobe walls in the shop. We saw this dump again with all the children and adults scavenging for recyclables, etc. It is a shocking sight to see them through the smoke of the continually smoldering garbage surrounded by scores of buzzards and dogs.






So much poverty and need, yet such a happy and sharing people. We cleaned up at noon and headed to Antigua. We parked at Howie & Nan’s place and walked through Antigua to Hermano Pedro, the Catholic orphanage where Dick spends a great deal of time.





I was able to hold and feed Jo Jo.


Always a tough place to go and also to leave!





It’s Good Friday, so Antigua is alive with people of all kinds, parades, floats and costumes of black and purple for Lent. The sawdust paintings and street carpets of flowers, plants and colored sand were amazing! We met everyone for dinner and had a good closing time together, some tears and a lot of laughs.

Back to Chimaltenango to sleep, Then Troy and I were up at 3:30 am in the morning to the airport in Guatemala City, with the others to follow 2 hours later. It will be a break to get back to work!
As a recap of the week – a few short lines. The travel is never boring. The driving in Guatemala was exciting as usual! The building project in Santa Rosa was a real transformation of this widow lady’s property from a shack we wouldn’t put animals in, to a tin house that is middle class in that area. There were two wheelchair distributions, one in Santa Rosa and one in Jalapa. We were blessed with cool weather and a good place to work. The number of “Godincidences” that Dick talks about, would take your breath away. As time after time we had the chairs and supplies we needed, even for people who were not scheduled to show up! The smiles, hugs and thanks from these people are very humbling. 100+ chairs were given and fitted. Working with the whole team for a common goal without the usual interruptions of work and life, allows a focus that is hard to duplicate in everyday life. Special appreciation for their tireless work in this ministry goes to Chris & Donna, Hannah & Saul, Carlos, Jorge, Dick, Howie & Nan, Benny, John & Arlis and all the others I am forgetting.

Dan Kuiper

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Going Home

John once again was our wake-up-call. Early this morning around 4am, he knocked on all the room doors to head out to the airport. Troy and Dan were already gone and probably at the airport. So, 5am we’re on the road again, but this is the road home. No more work, wheelchair distributions, kids, food and clothing distributions or “uno photo”(haha). No, we’re leaving, but I hope that we can leave a little “salt” behind for these people. This week we were the gift of the earth. We worked for the Name of Jesus, and I think that was awesome! Less materialized and more Light shone in Guatemala. Yet, I hope there was not only this small affect on Guatemala, but a small affect on our own lives. I know the orphanage and the wheelchair distribution touched me. I went to the orphanage the first day (Thursday) and WOW! It was sad to see these kids basically in a jail all their lives. (and not all of them were even there)




Dick kept saying, “just love on them.” And that we did. Whether just holding them, playing catch, or racing their chairs around (haha), we were loving on them. I played with a boy named Saul. A small, skinny, little boy who would just smile and laugh. If I would make some silly noise, he would just copy me and then start laughing. It was like this kid was so joyful and full of life in a place so gloom.



You see these kids are purposeful and it’s like you want to do something for them and “just loving on them” is what we did.

Jill Kleinhesselink

Journal April 1-6

April 1-6 (With a bit of March thrown in for good measure.)

I am sorry but my commitment to daily journal writing has taken a nosedive the past few weeks. I am not sure if it is because there have been so many teems in and some of the teem members have graciously written some of my journal entries for me or if it because I have been finding it harder and harder to squeeze 30 hours of activities into a 24 hour day. Either way once again you will be hard pressed to find a neat little Saturday, April 4, 2009, 11:58 Am at the top of each day’s entry. Although that is exactly what day and what time it is right now. Unfortunately I have done no writing since March 31 so I am about 4 days behind. Anyway here is my feeble attempt at getting caught up. Fact is the following entry was written about a week ago by one of the members of the teem that was here then.

March ??

His Grace is Enough
By Kim Crouch

We are in another country, but somehow it feels much more dramatic than that, almost like another planet. It doesn’t make me feel ashamed to be an American, but ashamed of the way we live. I have never seen such poverty in my life. You often see these images on TV, but how easy it becomes to separate yourself from it and not let it affect you. But when you’re in it, really in it, like we were today, it is impossible to separate yourself from it. I will never forget this experience; I will never get over it. My heart aches for the way these people live. I have so much to say, but am having such a hard time processing it all and getting it all out. It’s almost like I fear I won’t do justice by trying to explain it. It is so real, so raw, and so unexplainable. It is a hard life here in Guatemala, there is no denying that. They wear it on their faces…they are the faces of poverty.

As we went from house to house for food/clothing distribution today, the stories were all very different, all so tragic. The only similarity is that somehow in the midst of all this heartache, they have found God, they all praise Him, and they all say over and over how truly blessed they are! Wow! They praise Him in the midst of circumstances that we can’t possibly fathom!

The first home was in a very rural area. We had to use 4-wheel drive and had to stop so they could move an ox out of the way (and yes, I did just say there was an ox in the road!!) When we pulled up, the children came running out. It was the home of Maria and her children. Her husband was recently killed when he was struck by a truck. The children were so beautiful!! They were all smiling and just beaming with God’s love. They were so dirty from head to toe, without shoes, they had dirt caked under their nails, their clothes were filthy, and they had snot and dirt on their faces. Yet, through all of this, you couldn’t help but notice how beautiful they were and that they were smiling from ear to ear in the midst of all this poverty! Maria showed us their home…it was surrounded by garbage, clothing hanging on lines, you could smell the raw sewage, there were chickens running all around.

We dropped a large bag full of rice, black beans, sugar, coffee, noodles, vitamin drink, cooking oil, etc. for her and her children (this typically lasts about a week). We gave them clothing and shoes. The smallest boy, who was about 2, was so excited about his shoes that he kept looking down at them and wiggling his toes…he couldn’t walk a straight line because he stared down at those shoes the entire time, so excited to have on shoes!!! I pat the 7 year old on the head and gave him a smile. He quickly made a noise like he was in pain and leaned over to show me a large wound on his scalp. It was about an inch and a half long, a huge, black scab. I asked him what happened and he went on to explain that the 2 year old had been playing with a machete and hit him over the head with it. I still sit here in disbelief every time I tell this story or read it over again…I can’t come to grips with it…it haunts me…he was playing with a machete. No toys anywhere to be seen, nothing except the clothes on their backs and the dirt at their feet. But this is where God comes in….all their hope lies in him! All their strength lies in Him! They completely depend on Him! In the midst of this poverty, they have absolutely nothing, but they have Him! And it is enough…his grace is sufficient! How powerfully that speaks to me!

Kim

Wednesday, April 1
(Looks official but I am actually writing this on Saturday)

On Wednesday morning I took the other half of Caleb and Alicia’s group of 36 high school students through Hermano Pedro. I had taken the first half of this group through the orphanage on Wednesday. Once again I saw a few scared faces on several members of the teem when we walked inside of the orphanage but in a short time most of them warmed up to the kids and soon they were having the time of their lives with the kids. At around noon we took 8 of the teen age girls out to eat at Camperos. I think that a few of the members of the group were hoping that we were taking younger kids out to eat but they hit it off well with the teens an d once they saw how excited they were I do not thing that they were one bit sad that we had taken the older girls out to eat. After lunch we played around in the park a bit and we then headed back for the orphanage. I then quickly said my good byes, partially because just like Monday’s teem this one was scheduled to go and look at old building and then go souvenir shopping but mainly because I still wanted to make it to Xela today.




Christopher who had seen a neurologists in Hermano Pedro a few weeks ago is scheduled to have some tests done in Guatemala City on Friday and since his seizures increasing and also getting m ore severe I did not want him to have to travel from Xela to Guatemala City by buss. My friend Carlos who is from El Salvador came along with me today and due to a lot of construction we did not get into Xela until after 6 PM.









Thursday, April 2, 2009 (It is still actually Saturday though)

Roland met us at our motel here in Xela this morning, and then we drove up to San Francisco, Guatemala where Christopher lives.

Rule # 170 (or thereabouts) Never try driving through San Francisco on Market day.

After our third time circling of the same one-way streets we seriously thought about parking my car and leaving it in the town square as a monument to the memory of dumb Americans. Other than going the wrong way on one way streets that had venders scurrying to move there merchandise out of the way of may car there was no way out of town. These few one way roads were the only ones that were at all open but you would be hard pressed to get a bicycle down them yet alone a land cruiser. Not just once but 3 times. I did make one attempt to go a block or 2 the wrong way down a one way road but after going only 50 feet I met another person who was foolish enough to try to drive through this mess. No big deal because we were both going at a snails pace due to the crowds of people that were on the road so I motioned to the driver of the other car that I would back up and turn around at the intersection that I had just come out of. Evidently I did not back up quite fast enough to suit him though because just as I was making the turn into the side road he got impatient and tried to go around the front of my car. I guess he must have thought that he was on a motorcycle or something narrower than his car because it was about an inch to wide and he scraped my front bumper as he tried to sneak by. Had he given me about 2 more seconds my car would have been out of his way. That was a $100 mistake. His mistake, my $100. He admitted that he had gotten impatient but insisted that since I was facing the wrong direction but backing the right direction down a one way road he had the right to get impatient and run into me. Who was I to argue, especially considering that there was now a large crowd of people from his town gathering around my car and the color of Roland’s skin and the color of mine did not seem to match any of theirs. Every one remained calm though. (In Guatemalan terms that means no Machetes were drawn) and after finances were settled a few people even offered to show us how to get out of town fast. At least I think that is what they were saying. But then again perhaps they were simply saying that we would be wise to get out of town fast. We finally made it to the trail that led to Erica’s house, and yes we did have to once again go the wrong way up another one way road to get there but this was a more typical Guatemalan one way road in that half of the traffic on it was already going the wrong way.

Before picking up Christopher we dropped off his repaired power wheelchair at the home where he keeps it. The trail to and his home is too rough for a power chair so his mother packs 14 year old Christopher about a quarter mile to this home and then he drives the power chair the rest of the way to school.

After dropping off the power chair we walked in to where Erica lives. I had just been there less than 2 weeks ago but wanted to stop by to see how the new medication that we were trying on one of her legs was working out. As it turned out we are going to stick with the Ammonium Lactate that we have been using. The Urea that we experimented with is drying out the skin to rapidly and Erica said that it itched like crazy. Erica is quite a trouper though she told me that if I wanted her to keep trying it that she would but when I told her that we were going to stop using it she gave me a big smile and said thank you.


Next we hiked into where Christopher’s house is. It is not a long hike but Carlos chose to stay in the car. I think that he is starting to realize that thong type sandals do not make good hiking shoes. I offered to carry Christopher to the car so that his mother who is smaller than him could have a break. How this lady hikes him up and down the trail to their home is beyond me. Up until a few months ago she did this several times a week but now that Christopher is having more seizures he generally goes to school only a few days a week. In fact while we were waiting for his mother to get ready he had one and then several more throughout the day. Christopher’s brother Kevin came along with us as well and knowing that Christopher’s mom needed one good night’s sleep I told her that I would take the boys along to my house while she stayed at Cassia Defay. Abner, Calin, and Fernando stayed over as well and the five boys had a great time together. Christopher did have another rather violent seizure during the night but all of the other boys slept right through it.


Friday, April 3, 2009 (you guessed it, it’s really Saturday but we are getting closer.)

At 11 AM Christopher, his brother Kevin, Fernando, (who has become best friends with Kevin) and myself headed Burger king. No we did not go there for a hearty breakfast. The boys had already made pancakes and eggs at home. We went there to pick up Helen and her family. Helen is the little girl from Comolapa that has brittle bone disease. She was scheduled to go to the same place as Christopher today so her and her family were going with us. Then the 7 of us headed for Antigua where we picked up Christopher’s mom, who had stayed at Cassia Defay and Rolland who found a $6 motel in Antigua, and then we all headed for Guatemala City.




Both Christopher and Helen underwent some extensive test in a facility that would match many of the best in the states. They put Christopher in one of those magnetic Photo machines that takes pictures of the brain as though it were cut into thin sliced sections. I believe the cost of that test alone in the USA is several thousand dollars. Today I had to fork over a whopping $100 for his tests and around $75 for Helen’s tests. No this was not insurance co pay it was the entire cost of the tests. I hope that they got all of the pictures that they needed of Christopher’s brain because right near the end of the test he had another seizure so they had to end the test a bit early.

Since Easter celebration starts 4 weeks before Easter Friday night traffic out of Guatemala was unbelievable. What should have been an hour drive back to Chimaltenango ended up taking more than 2 hours. Since Roland had to be back in Xela he caught a buss in Guatemala City at around 5 PM. Christopher, his brother, and his mom decided that it was to late to gat back to San Francisco so I made arraingments for them to stay in Chimaltenango for the night. Hellen’s family had intended on taking a buss from Chimaltenango to there home in Comolapa but by the time we reached Chimaltenango the next buss scheduled to go that way would not be leaving until morning. I offered to put Helen and her parents up in the same motel that Christopher’s mother was going to be staying at but they told me that they had left their oldest daughter in charge of their other children and they did not want her to stay alone with them. After a quick supper at Burger king I found myself taking an unscheduled drive to Comolapa. Christopher, his brother Kevin, And Fernando came along with us as well. I had told Christopher’s mom that I would keep him at my place tonight so that she could get one more much needed nights rest. Of course this was before I know that I would be on the road until nearly 11PM but as excited, as the boys were to come over there was no way that I could back out on my promise.


Saturday, April 4, 2009 (There I finally got caught up to Saturday. The only problem is that it is now Sunday)

Christopher slept soundly until he had a bad seizure at around 4 AM. At around 9 AM we went and picked up his mother at the hotel. She looked like she had gotten a good rest. I am sure that it is hard for her to get much sleep knowing that Christopher has these seizures. I know that I slept with one eye open most of the night. Please pray that the doctors can do something about these seizures because they seem to be getting more severe and more frequent each day. He had another bad one while we were having breakfast at Camperos just before putting him and his family on the buss. I gave some serious consideration to driving them back to San Francisco but knowing that I had not had much sleep I did not think that would be a good idea. I got a bit of rest when I got back home though.

I promised the kids that if they did not bother me for a few hours I would rent a soccer field for them this evening and then take them out for hamburgers. Deciding that I needed some exercise I even joined in on the game. I think that I must be getting better at soccer because I was not the last one picked for a teem this evening. Elder the 7 year old that was picked after me was not too happy about that though. After the game the 12 of us headed over to burger king and filled up on health food.

I got home at around 7 PM and had time for a quick shower before heading to Guatemala City to pick up the teem of 17 people that was coming in for a week. They managed to get out of the airport in record time and by 10:30 pm we had them at their motel in Chimaltenango and shortly after that I was home and in bed.

Sunday, April 5, 2009, 5:36 PM (It really is!)

I did it I actually got caught up. I think that I may stay caught up this week as well. Not because I will have more free time to write but because several members of this teem have agreed to take turns doing daily journal entries.

Here then is the first of those entries.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

“Always speak the truth, but leave immediately following.”

We left our hotel “Santa Amillia” in Chimaltenango at 7:00 a.m. John knocked on our doors at 6:00 am for a wake up call. We had breakfast at Polo Campero’s. We actually loaded wheelchairs before we ate breakfast. We had extra time before church started so we looked in many shops. Don & I bought two pair of sunglasses for $5.00(US). We went to Chris & Donna’s church at 10:00 am. They welcomed us with hugs! Chris interpreted the message for us in English. There was lots of singing – like Christ The King Church in Lynden. It was an eye opening experience for some members of the team realizing, to worship God you don’t have to speak English! We witnessed a 4 ft. 6 in gal sing with a 6ft 10 in voice! The service lasted 2 hours. After church we had lunch at Burger King. We arrived in Barberena’s at about 3:00pm and unpacked at our hotel. We sorted all the gifts for the distribution for tomorrow. Praise God, we again had a safe journey!

Don & Tres

Monday, April 6, 2009

This morning Hanna, Ammi, and I took the ladies around to a number of poorer families to distribute food, clothing and shoes, and to pray for these families. Most of these families consisted of only a mother and her children. Some had been deserted by the father. In some cases the father had died, and one of the families had a father that had been in jail for the past 8 years. All of them were hurting and all of them welcomed the food, and clothing that we brought them. All were happy that we came. Happy just knowing that someone cared. There were tears as we shared with them that we loved them and that God loved them. It was a privilege for us to be able to pray with them.

Even though we had been given a list of only 6 families to visit other people with needs showed up everywhere that we stopped. We did not have enough food and clothing for all of them but we tried to help those that appeared to have the most need. It is always difficult trying to figure out which people you have to say no to but fortunately 2 ladies from the area had accompanied us to see them, and they knew most of these people.

Byron an eight year old boy really stands out in my mind. His main concern seemed to be the kids around him that were in need. As we were visiting with the families that were already on our list Byron came over and take me by the hand and lead me to a little boy who was in need of shoes. I guess the reason that this really got to me was because Byron put this child’s needs before his own. Not only did Byron himself need shoes but Byron who is an orphan is also deaf. Byron’s grandmother does what she can to look after him and his little brother but it is hard because she is too poor to own a home of her own so she and the children have to stay where ever they can. Byron has never seen a doctor to see if anything can be done about his deafness so I got on the phone and set up an appointment for him and another little boy that we found who has a problem whit his eyes.



This afternoon we also discovered a little girl who has a large tumor on the side of her head. While talking with her grandmother I discovered that not all that many weeks ago she had seen a doctor at Hermano Pedro. I wish so that I could be taking her in to Hermano Pedro with me next week when I pick up Byron and the other boy but a phone call to the hospital confirmed my suspicions. She is dying and there is nothing more that the doctors can do for her.








Here is the journal entry that Shelli DeJager made today.

Monday, April 6, 2009

I knew today would be a full day however; I really had know idea what to expect. We are separating into two groups today. One group will be distributing food, clothing and shoes and the other will be building an 18’X16’ metal house.

I was in the group that distributed the food and supplies. We distributed the items to 6 different families. All were in great need. It was such a special experience to be welcomed into their homes and to pray for these families. There were many hugs and kisses and smiles and tears. The children really touched my heart with their beautiful brown eyes and wide grins. They certainly enjoyed the candy we had taken along. I am glad we had plenty for all!




During the distribution we met a little deaf, orphan boy name Byron who lives with his grandma. Byron’s tender and compassionate nature really touched us as he was looking to the needs of others despite his own. Dick was able to make an appointment for Byron with some doctors next week.

My son Gary (16) worked on the housed building project. This was a new experience for him. He enjoyed it very much. He thought it was a lot of fun and would love to do it again. He was surprised that the living space for families here is so small. He is very thankful for the experience and said it felt good to be tired from the hard work of helping others.






As I reflect back on this day I am so thankful to have had this experience and pray that God will work through our team and use us to bring the love of Jesus to all those we meet.

Shelli