Journal, September 26 - October 2, 2009

(Click any photo to enlarge)... . ., , . . .

Saturday & Sunday, September 26 & 27, 2009

It's the weekend.

So I am spending
time with the kids.

I did manage to

get my hair done,

& play a little foot ball.

I even found the time
to do some fun things like
work on Caesar's foot,

But most of the time
I just hung out
with the kids.

Monday, September 28, 2009, 9:12 PM

Tonight Benjamen, Cesar and I are in Huehuetenango. We plan on spending the next 4 to 5 days on the road recruiting for camp. Benjamen is home schooled so he has taken his school work along so that he can work on it in the evenings. Cesar is out of school for the year. We tried our best to get Cesar back into his school after they kicked him out but finally had to throw in the towel. It does not seem fare that they can kick a kid out of school simply because he gets sick during exam week but that is exactly what they did. Cesar's father missed nearly a weeks work trying to meet with the principal of the school but would some times sit out side of the principals office the entire day only to be told at the end of the day that the principal was sorry but she did not have time to see him. On the rare occasion that Cesar's father or one of us were able to meet with her we were told that the letter that we got from the doctor saying that Cesar had indeed been sick, or any other paper work that we had been told to bring was inadequate. It slowly became apparent that there was no way that we were going to get Cesar back into school this year. Cesar's father finally told the principal that he would go along with their wishes and keep his son out of school until the new school year which starts in January. The principal looked at him and said that she was sorry but they would not allow Cesar back into their school because they had a policy that anyone that had to repeat a year of school was not welcome there. Even though it is not fare and it will likely be difficult to find a new school for Cesar I think that we are fortunate that he will not be going back to this one.



Since most of our day was spent in getting here we were only able to see 2 campers today. Our first stop was at the home of Erica. Actually our stop was quite a ways from her home because the trail leading into where she lives is not accessible by car. We had a large suitcase full of medicine for her so the boys and I took turns dragging it down the trail. I don't think that Samsonite had this kind of terrain in mind when they put those little plastic wheels on their suitcases. Never the less we made it and a suitcase is still a suitcase even without wheels.





Erica and her family were excited to see us. I felt bad that she had run out of medicine over a week ago but told her mom that they had to let us know a few weeks in advance when she was getting low on medicine instead of waiting until the day that they ran out. Not only were they happy to receive the much needed medicine but mother told us that Erica had been getting worried that she was not going to be invited to camp this year.






Our next visit also required a bit of a hike but was much easier because this time we did not have 50 pounds of medicine with us. Christopher and his family were happy to see us and mother said that since we were a few weeks later than usual they were also worried that Christopher was not going to be invited to camp this year.











I wish that all of you could spend just one day on the road with us. I think that you would be amazed at not only how essential these visits are but also how important camp is to these people.

Well we are now settled into the San Fransisco hotel. This will be our home away from home for the next 4 nights. The price is right (about $13 each per night) and the rooms are very nice.


Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Thursday, September 29, 2009

Today we did more camp recruiting. Some of the places that we drove to today brought us to altitudes that were over 11,000 feet above sea level. Driving some of these steep mountain roads can prove to be a challenge but that is nothing compared to having to get out of you car and hike for nearly an hour at this altitude. Today's hike into where Marven and his family live has to be one of the most breath taking of any of the places that we visit. not only is your breath taking away by the view of the valley that lies thousands of feet below but descending over 700 feet knowing that you will have to climb back up to your car after your visit can also take your breath away.

I am not complaining though because the view alone makes it well worth the effort. I could not help but think about how exhausting it had to be for Marven's father who up until a few years ago would carry Marvin on his back every morning to the school where we left our car and then back home every afternoon. This was no easy task especially considering he had to carry Marven's wheelchair to and from school as well.

A few years ago when Marven finally got to big to be carried in and out from his home on a daily bases Father and mother told him that he could no longer continue his education. This was hart breaking to both Marven and his parents but father had to work the fields to make enough money to feed his family and the 2 trips a day up and down the mountain were simply taking up to much of father's time and energy. Thankfully we had known Marven and his family for several years so when we became aware of the situation we found a teacher that was willing to hike in to where Marven lives and teach him at his home. In spite of numerous health issues Marven's is doing great in his schooling and is thinking about studding to become a lawyer. His father told me that Marven has dreams of some day owning a computer but since the family has no money they only look at it as a dream. I have not made any promises but knowing how much that could help him in hid studies, I am going to keep my eye out for a used one.

One other place that we visited today was at the home of Jamie and his family. Jamie is an old man (perhaps my age) that has been coming to camp for years. A few months ago he told us about a family that had 2 children that were in need of wheelchairs. Even though we did not have wheelchairs with us that we could give them today we decided to go and visit this family so that I could examine the 2 children and see what size and type of wheelchairs they needed. When we reached there home their grandfather told us that his daughter and his 9 year old granddaughter who was one of the children that needed a wheelchair, were at a house that was a short distance from there. He quickly sent some one to get them. Grandfather then informed us that his 12 year old grandson who had also been in need of a wheelchair no longer needed it because he had died a little over a month ago.



It has been a long day and both of the boys have already gone to bed so I think that I will do the same.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Wednesday, September 30, 2009



Another day of recruiting for camp today. Once again we spent most of our day in the mountains outside of Huehuetenango. Moast of the people that we visited today are old friends that have come to camp before. Several were families that we have helped out over the years. Some we have given tools to so that they could do carpentry work. Some are receiving education. Some who are to old or to week to work are receiving some groceries each month.





One of the families that we hiked in to visit with today was Ernesto's family. Ernesto is a shy little boy who lives with his father and his sister. Ernesto is in a wheelchair and his father is in poor health. Ernesto's older sister is even shyer than he is and will scarcely come out of the house when we are on the yard. Since her mother died several years ago and father's health is so poor a lot has been left on her shoulders. When father's health permits he tries to work the fields so that he can bring in a little money to feed his family. It is not enough though and often times the family goes to bed hungry. Father told us that his daughter is talking about moving away and that he does not know how he will be able to care for Ernesto by him self. We have been helping this family out some in the past but I feel that they are going to need even more help or they will starve to death.



Nearly all of the families that we visited today are struggling to put enough food on the table, but most of the people that we invited to camp said that they would do their best to make it. It was hard for me to tell them that we could not let the entire family come to camp but had to limit it to the family member that had a disability and one care giver. This has always been the policy but up until this year we allowed it to be bent or broken. This year due to lack of sleeping space we are going to have to enforce the rule.


Thursday, October 1, 2009

Today Benjamin, Cesar and I headed into the high back country to a remote place that lies near the Border of Guatemala and Mexico. This is the area where Lisvi, the little girl that died shortly after we brought her home from Hermano Pedro, had lived. The first time that Roland and I went back into this area we found several people that were in need of wheelchairs. I have visited there a few times after that and on each visit I brought in a few wheelchairs but we still had three people that had requested wheelchairs on that first visit that we had not gotten to. We sent them invitations to come to a wheelchair distribution that we had in Huehuetinango about a month ago but received word that even though they desperately needed wheelchairs there was no way that they could get to the distribution. If you could see the so called trail that leads from the nearest settlement over 4000 feet below to where these people live you would understand why. on a dry day it can be navigated by 4 wheel drive but it is indeed a challenge. Today's the trail was in worse shape than I have ever seen it but my good old Land Cruiser made it. I must admit I got a bit nervous when some clouds rolled in while we were there but we only got a drizzle and the trail stayed fairly dry. Had it rained hard we would have had to spend the night and prayed that the sun dried things out enough that we could make our descent tomorrow.

Most of the people in this area never see strangers yet alone Americans so on our first few visits they were quite afraid of us. Even though we had already picked up a local man named Luis when we pulled into the school yard to meet with Araldo our contact person most of the children who were just getting out of school kept their distance. Curiosity finally got the best of a few of them though and after a while the came close enough that was able to show them my camera. Several of them scattered like flies when I asked if I could take their picture but a few of them stood their ground and came up to me to see their picture after I had taken it.

Araldo was not at the school but Luis and another man that worked there offered to take us to where the people that we were looking for lived. What we were told would be a 10 minute ride to where they lived turned out to be more like 20. I think that as rough as the trail was we could perhaps have made it faster by walking it. In fact I am sure of it because by the time we got to the place where they asked us to park my car several of the children that we had seen at the school were already there waiting for us. We did not see any one there that needed a wheelchair though. After waiting for quite a while a woman came walking down off from the mountain with a child in her arms.





I recognized the child as being Samuel a boy that I measured for a wheelchair on our first visit. What ever fear the children and adults had of us when we showed up quickly disappeared when we got the wheelchair that we were going to give Samuel out of my car. Judging by the interest that the villagers showed you would have thought that we were assembling a space ship instead of a wheelchair. I am not sure if it was a fascination in the wheelchair or the fact that we were doing some thing to help one of their people but any fear that the people had of us or our cameras seemed to vanish. They showed even more interest when we gave Samuel a walker and soon had him taking a few steps.



When we had finished we asked where the girl and the lady that we had wheelchairs were at. We were told that the lady was back at the school where we had come from and that the girl lived up on the hill that Samuel had been carried from. Her father had come down to see us but said that since his daughter Eufemia was much heavier than Samuel there was simply no way that they could carry her to us. I told him that I did not want to give him a wheelchair with out seeing his daughter because we wanted to make sure that the wheelchair fit her properly. Father said that the hike up to his house was a steep one but that it could be done in around 5 minutes. I reminded him that I was an American and an old one at that. He then said that it would be a 10 minute hike. Remembering how long our 10 minute drive had ended up taking I figured that if we made it in a half hour we would be doing good.

. . . . . . .
. . . .. .^ Video
. . . .Delivering A Wheelchair To Eufemia's House

Soon we were on our way up the mountain. At first several of the kids tried their hand at carrying the 2 wheelchairs and Samuele's walker up the steep trail but soon it proved to be too much for them. Eufemia's father grabbed her wheelchair and put it on his back. Samuele's mom handed Samuel to her daughter who was not all that much bigger than Samuel and a few of the older kids grabbed the walker and off we went. I was tired and my legs were aching but there was no way that I was gong to let this girl carry her brother up the mountain. I must admit though that I was happy when mom told me that they did not live as far up the mountain as Eufemia and her family did. As it turned out they were only 25 minutes from the car compared to the 30 minute hike that we made to Eufemia's home. The hike was well worth is though because Eufemia and her family were thrilled with the wheelchair. Even though she lives on the side of the mountain her yard is level and smooth so she will now be able to move around on her own.


The down hill walk back to my car went much faster and soon we were on our way back to the school. Soon Manolia a lady that has great difficulty walking was also enjoying a new wheelchair.

Before leaving Luis and the man from the school asked me if I had any more wheelchair forums. I told them that I had about a half dozen. They said that would be a start but informed me that they know of at least 20 more people that needed wheelchairs and were quite sure that if they did a little looking they could find a lot more. I had assumed that at most there were a few hundred people in this area but they told me that there were over 2500. They also informed me that because of their remoteness most of their people have never seen a doctor. They said that if I could ever bring a doctor up there for even a few days it would be a big blessing to them. They said that he could set up shop in the school. I told them that I would get the word out. . . . . . Now I have.



On our way down the mountain Louis asked me if we could stop off at the nearest town and see a friend of his that had been injured in an accident a few months ago. This friend had been building a house and some how touched a steel rod to some power lines. His friend lost his left leg as a result of this accident. Today we were able to give him a walker and a pare of crutches and we promised that we would get a wheelchair to him as soon as possible.






.. . ^ Video
.Our 4500 Foot Decent Down The Mountain
.

Tomorrow the boys and I will head for home. It has been an action packed week and I have enjoined every bit of it but I am missing the kids from my neighborhood and it seems like it had been forever since I have been able to spend any time at the orphanage.

Goodnight,
yours in Christ, Dick


Friday, October 2,, 2009

We are back in Chimaltenango and even though we had a great time, after spending five days on the road it sure feels good to be back at home. I really missed the kids and I have a filling that they missed me as well. Within 10 minutes 10 of them had once again made themselves feel right at home. After helping me unpack my car, one of the first things that they did was remind me that we had not played soccer all week. 5 minutes later 16 of us were heading for the soccer field to have some fun. I was a bit worried though, 15 kids in 15 minutes what would things be like an hour from now. At around 7:30 PM things thinned out a bit because some of my older kids scraped up enough money to rent the soccer field for another hour. I must be getting old, or 4 of the younger kids are getting to be pretty convincing liars because they convinced me that before leaving home on Monday I had promised them that they could spend the night. I didn't feel much like cooking for them though so about an hour ago we all headed down to Burger King. The past hour has actually been rather relaxing because while I have been on the computer the 4 of them have been in the shower. I am once again glad that my bathroom is not anything all that fancy aid since it is not connected to my house any excess water simply flows outside. A few minutes ago 3 of the kids came running through the house in search of the soccer ball. My only worry is that if they are planning on having a soccer game in the shower they will have a hard time remembering who is on who's teem because when they came running through the house none of them were wearing uniforms. I think I will go and tell them to limit their game to a half hour though because when I was a kid my mom always warned me that if anyone stayed in the shower too long their skin would shrivel up. Well that's about it for another week so I will see if my spell checker can make sense of at least a few of these words, and then I will try to get this published.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal, September 19-25

(Click on any picture to enlarge.)

Edger

July 1996 - September 2009

Things have been rather busy around here lately so I have once again fallen several days behind on my journal entry. The following pictures and captions will be my feeble attempt at catching up on at least some of the highlights. (At least those that I can remember)

Hedy comforts Lionel who is having a bad day.

Saturday, September 19, 2009





On Saturday morning I arrived at Hermano Pedro to fined that Ervin was not locked in his crib like he usually is. Instead they had him tied in his wheelchair and the wheel chair was tied to a post.











My friends Daryl, his wife Wanda, and I remedied this by taking Ervin and 2 of the other kids out to Camperos.



Click here to see Daryl's journal.






These are a few of my new friends that are up in the malnutrition ward. Allen on the right came in malnourished but is now doing great. The little boy on the left has a hart condition that may require surgery.


Sunday, September 20, 2009




On Sunday I loaded up my car with kids and we followed a buss load of people that go to Abner and Daniel's church, to a water park down in Esquentla. Even though we had a picnic and did a lot of swimming our primary purpose in going was to see Abner and Daniel get baptized.











Monday, September 21, 2009

Most of my day was once again spent at Hermano Pedro.

Three year old Jose has put on a little more weight. He is now 12 pounds. What he lacks in size he makes up for in personality.


















Florinda is gaining weight and her back is straightening out a lot. It is still not known weather or not she will fully recover though.



















I took this picture of Florinda a few months ago.










Another little girl was recently admitted into the malnutrition ward who appears to be in as bad if not in worse shape then Florinda was in when we brought her in from her village.
I don't even know the name of this little girl but I know that she needs your prayers.


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

On Tuesday Mario and I picked up Cesar and his Father and took them to Cesar's school for a scheduled meeting with Cesar's principal. As it turned out the principal had no time to meet with us today. Tomorrow Cesar and his father plan on going to the school again hoping that the principal will meet with them. Cesar wants badly to be back in school but the longer that he stays out the harder it will be for him to catch up. Hard to believe that they can expel a kid simply because he was sick for 2 weeks.








Mario and I then headed off for a 5 day road trip. We plan on visiting a lot of people on this trip.

Some of the people that we visited
we have never met before.

Others we have known for years

All of them were excited about being invited to camp.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

On Wednesday we visited with more families.

Sergio was busy doing his school work when we stopped in to see him. Thanks to a generous sponsor Sergio is now going to a private school. The public school that is located in the town where he lives will not accept him simply because he can not walk.










Jason's mom said that she will do her best to get her son to camp but that having to catch 3 different buses to get them there is difficult because many of the buss drivers do not like stopping and picking up people that are in wheelchairs. last year Jason's wheelchair suffered a lot of damage when the workers on the buss carelessly threw it down from the top of the buss.











Six years ago Jason's dad left home to find work in the USA. That was the last time that Jason's family heard from him.













After dad left mom had no other choice but to put Jason into the orphanage at Hermano Pedro.















Now that her other children are no longer babies mom has more time to care for Jason, so he is once again living back at home with his family.

Jason is much happier now that
he is back with his family.. . .

Thursday, September 24, 2009


Nearly every year I have at least a few people ask me, "Why don't you just call or write a letter to the people that you want to invite to camp, that would not only save a lot of time and money but it would also free up so much of your time you would not have to be on the road for a month and a half straight handing out those invitations?" I must admit that this year before heading out I asked my self the same question. As much as Chris loves going out and doing this the responsibility of being director of Bethel ministries only allows him and Donna to go out recruiting a few days a year, so this year even more of it has fallen on my shoulders.



The thought of simply making a phone call or sending out the invitations by mail crossed my mind but I knew that if we did it that way the majority of the people would never get their invitations. Mail service here in Guatemala is lousy at best. In the 10 years that I have been here in Guatemala the track record for receiving letters or packages that have been sent to me stands at 100%, not 100% success but 100% failure. In 10 years I have never received a single item that has been sent to me by mail. As far as calling the people is concerned many do not have telephones and many of those that do have phones, often loose them, break them, have them stolen, or trade them in for new ones. Since phone numbers are assigned to each phone and not the owner a new phone means a new number. Chances are when you call any number that is more than a few months old you will either find that the number no longer exists or that you are talking to the person that stole the phone.

These are a few reasons why we put on thousands of miles each year recruiting for camp, but after just a day or 2 on the road I am always reminded of far more important reasons. To most of the families that we see this visit is an event that they look forward to all year. They cherish the fact that we take the time and effort to come and visit them where they live. Over and over again some one will take my hand and weep while they are thanking me for coming so far just to see them. Many people with Disabilities here in Guatemala and other third world countries are continually being told that they are nobody's. To have some one come and visit them means the world to them. Some of them simply want to talk. Others may have a broken chair that we can sometimes do a quick repair on. Some want to show us what they have learned now that we have provided a teacher for them. Some need medical advice. Just this week alone I made appointments for several of them so that we can get them in somewhere to see a doctor. Others simply want a listening ear or to have some one pray for them. All of them seem grateful that we were willing to take the time to come and see them. We always leave feeling grateful that we had the privilege of visiting with these beautiful people. This has to truly be one of the most rewarding times of the year and I would not trade it for the world.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Friday, September 25, 2009

Our first stop today was at the home of Juan Gerando. Juan who is in his early thirties lives in one of the rougher sections of Mazatinango. I mentioned to Mario that we would make today's visit with Juan a brief one. I guess those were my plans and not God's plans though, because we ended up spending several hours in this neighborhood. Not only did we end up visiting with Juan much longer than planned but on our way out of his yard we were approached by several of his neighbors. One of them was a mother that was holding her son who had cerebral palsy. As she handed me the child she looked into my eyes and asked where she could get help for her child. As it turned out he had received a wheelchair from us several years ago but he had now nearly outgrown it and due to lack of any therapy his condition now required that he should have a wheelchair that gave him a lot more support than this one. A short time later I had him sitting much better in his wheelchair but it still required a better head rest and a few other things that I did not have with me. By now a large crowd of people had gathered out on the street where we were working. In this crowd was another mother who was holding her 9 year old child. She told us that she has gone to several doctors with her son who was also unable to walk but none of them would give her as much as the time of day once they discovered that she had no money. I examined the boy and found that he could stand up and even take a few steps on his own if I supported him. Fact is he even stood up on his own by holding on to the front bumper of my car. I didn't want to give him my car but promised that I would do what I could to get him a walker and a wheelchair. The mother asked me when that would be. I started to tell them that at best it would be a few months but suddenly remembered that we happened to have a wheelchair distribution in a town that is 10 minutes down the road in less than two weeks. What a coincidence or then again was it a Godincidence? A quick phone call to the wheelchair shop confirmed that we still had room for both boys and that they could come in to that distribution. I am not certain if this mother understood English or if she read the look on my face but before I could hang up the phone to tell her that she could bring her sons in to the distribution to receive a walker and a wheelchair she started to cry.

Mario and I stuck around for a while and just loved on these people. We explained to the mothers of the 2 little boys and the other villagers that even though these boys were unable to walk they were a gift from God and that they were a blessing and not a curse. I think that the fact that one of the people telling them this was himself in a wheelchair helped them to understand more deeply what we were saying. Mario has been such a blessing on this trip. Funny how God seemed to open my eyes as well. Only a short time earlier I had been telling Mario that I wanted to make this visit a brief one, partly because we had a lot to do today but also because this area was considered dangerous. Now I was wishing that I could stay with these people forever.

"Thank you God for allowing me to have a small part in this ministry."

11:05 PM

I am now back at home here in Chimaltenango. It has been a long week and I am tired. I was going to head off to bed as soon as I Got home but several of the Neighborhood kids quickly discovered that I was home and there was no way that I could not let them in. All but the 2 that are spending the night have now left so I thought that I would quickly check my e-mail and then call it a day. One of the first e-mails that I opened was from my friend Rolland who has contacts with with several of the kids that we sponsor up near Huehuetenango. Here is part of the letter that I just received.


Hello Dick, Very sad news:

Today I talked on phone with Maria Sanchez Perez mother of Edgar grandson of medicine woman Josefa, Huehuetenango, Maria Sanchez was crying on the phone, her son Edgar died yesterday,

I said to Maria I want to continue to help your family, she has 5 sisters, and medicine woman. I asked Maria if she has studied and she said - I have never studied, so I asked her if I can find a way so that she can study, does she want to? - Yes - she said if that can be possible she would like to study. Let’s see what I can do. She thanked me so much for phoning her; she was talking and crying during all the conversation. She has suffered so much.

Now Edgar is with God.


God bless
Roland


All 4 of the children pictured here live within a few miles of each other. I guess that I should use the word lived. All 4 have died this year. As I look at Lionel and others that we have helped from this area that are making it, I am happy that we can help at least a few but at the same time I am deeply saddened. There are so many that are dying and we simply can not reach them all. Or can we? Just recently I read the following.




According to several different resources, there are an average of 147 million orphaned children in the world today (this statistic includes children who have lost only one parent as well), 11 million children starve to death each year or die from preventable, treatable illness. 8.5 million children work as child slaves, prostitutes, or in other horrific conditions (making things like that cute baby Gap dress your child may have worn today...) 2.3 million children world wide are living with HIV.



That is 168.8 million needy children like Edgar and Lionel. Seems like a big number, huh? It shouldn't, because there are 2.1 BILLION people on this earth who profess to be Christians. Jesus followers. Servants. Gospel live-ers. And if only 8 percent of those Christians would care for just ONE of these needy children, they would all be taken care of.










Good night,
(Then again perhaps a sleepless night would not hurt a few of us.)

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal, September 12-18, 2009

(Click on any picture to enlarge)

Saturday, September 12, 2009




















A few years ago Chris and I met with some Guatemalan business men who had a concern for their fellow Guatemalans. These men had a vision of helping their fellow Guatemalans that lived in and around Huehuetenango, but did not know exactly how to go about it. After hearing about Bethel Ministries and the work that they do they asked us if they could help coordinate wheelchair distributions in Huehuetenango.

We told them that we would be happy to work with them but let them know up front that we were a Christian organization and that we were going to tell the people about the love of Jesus Christ at any wheelchair distributions that we did with them. Even though none of these men seemed to excited about our enthusiasm about sharing Christ with the families that received wheelchairs they more or less indicated that it would not bother them as long as the people got their wheelchairs. This morning those same 7 men were up on stage with Chris and 6 of them could not stop talking about the love of Christ to the people that had come to receive wheelchairs. God has certainly been working in the lives of these men.

Today 56 People here in Huehuetenango received wheelchairs and over a half dozen of them received Christ as their Lord and Savior.













It was a long day because after seating these 56 people into wheelchairs we drove all the way back to Chimaltenango. At 3:30 tomorrow morning the group that was here for the distribution will be heading for the airport. Chris offered to take them there. I did not argue. I get tired just thinking about it so I am heading off to bed.

Goodnight,

Yours in Christ: Dick


Sunday, September 13, 2009

Sorry no journal today!

I'm spending time
with the kids

Monday, September 14, 2009

(12 year old Fernando in white shirt). . (19 year old Tim in red shirt)

Well I'm on the road again. Once again it is getting near camp time so today was the first of many days of camp recruiting. During this time of year we go out and personally invite people who are in wheelchairs to one of the three camps that we have in Chimaltenango each year. If my memory serves me right this will be our tenth year of hosting camp for around 180 people with disabilities. Since each person that comes to camp has some type of disability they are asked to take a friend or family member along with them to help serve as a care giver. Add to that 15 to 20 volunteers from the States,and nearly that many Guatemalan volunteers and you have a sell out crowd. This year we will have less accommodations than usual for the campers so when I visit them I have to make it perfectly clear that each camper takes only one companion along with them to camp.

Although recruiting for camp takes a lot of time and is very tiring it is also an extremely rewarding time. Many of the people that attend camp receive little or no visitors throughout the year so our visits are always welcome. It is not only a time to rekindle old friendships but it also gives us the opportunity to see first hand what some of the needs are with those that we are inviting to camp and others that we come in contact with while we are on the road. Today while trying to locate a family that has moved I stumbled across (Or was it perhaps a Godicident?) a man that lost is arm in an accident a little over a year ago. It just so happened that Mike Sitzman who along with Fernando and Marcos (no school) is accompanying me on this week's trip, has a ministry that collects and then distributes used medical supplies to those in need. We made no promises but Mike thinks that he can locate some used artificial limbs so that I can try to get a friend of mine here in Guatemala to use some of the parts and make an arm for this man.

Another one of our vistis today was at the home of Timothias, better know to us as Tiny Tim. Tim who is 19 years old has been coming to camp for several years now. He drives a power wheelchair that I set up for him him several years ago. Back when I built it I installed a seating system that had originally belong to a 2 year old. Tim's wheelchair still has that seating system in it because Tim who has no mental disabilities has a body of a 2 year old. Only Tim and a few brothers and sisters were at home today but we had a great visit and did run into his parents on the dirt road a bout a mile from his home.

We managed to visit a few other families today as well but since they are scattered all over Guatemala it will take at least a month to visit them all. Chris was hoping that he could join me on most of these visits but with all of the other responsibilities that he has that now looks doubtful. Please pry for my safety and the safety of anyone else that goes out on there own or travels with me during this tiring but rewarding time of the year.

Goodnight,

Yours in Christ: Dick

Tuesday, September 15, 20o9



It is independence day here in Guatemala so this morning we did not get out on the road until about 10 AM. Not because we spent the night celebrating but because of a parade that that kept us from getting our car out of the motel parking lot. I have learned to go with the flow here in Guatemala so for the next hour and a half we enjoyed the parade.






When we finally got on the road we managed to visit some campers but also discovered that most people don't stay at home on independence day. Over all we did not do to bad though because in the few cases where we could not track down the person that we wanted to invite to camp we managed to find friends or family members that promised to give the invitations to them. We were also able to give some canes and walkers to a friend in Nabah who had requested them for some people that needed them.


We then took a different road back to the same motel that we had stayed at last night. This road was steep and not paved but the scenery was breathtaking. Tomorrow we plan on heading for home.

Not Camperos . . . . . .. . . .
but the food was good... . . .. .

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Wednesday, September 16, 2009

After 2 and a half days on the road I am back home. It was a good trip but it is good to be back. This evening the kids and I celebrated by having a soccer game. My friend Mike came along as well. Mike had a sore leg so he sat out the game. I played for a little while but then I told the kids that I also wanted to be a spectator tonight. After the game most of the crew came over for spaghetti.

10:15 PM

Miguel, one of my older boys just brought some thing to my Attention. There is a text message on my phone saying that 100 Q (around $12 of air time was transferred from my phone to the phone of Alex's brother Chino. I just got off from the phone with Chino and Alex and discovered that this is not the first time that Alex has used my phone to transfer money to his brother's phone while pretending to be calling his mother about something. It seems that some of these kids think that it is OK to seal from you if you have more than they do. I some how have to convey to them not only that they can not take things from someone simply because that person has more than they do but also that they are betraying a trust and a friendship by doing so. I told Alex and Chino that I would be over at their house tomorrow afternoon to talk to them and their mother to discuss what the consequences of this theft would be. I also told Alex that I wanted him to be at my door at 7:00 am so that he could return the 100 Q that I gave him for his schooling at about the same time that he was stealing the other 100 Q from me. A short time later Chino transferred the unused portion of the money back over to my phone. I am still going to require Alex to return the money that I gave him for his schooling though. I also told him that tomorrow we will discuss weather or not we will continue to sponsor him in his schooling.


Well I am going to head off to bed now. I have an idea that it will be a sleepless night though. Please pray that I make the right decisions in dealing with this situation. I know that discontinuing Alex's sponsorship would be harsh punishment but I am considering doing that, at least for a month or two. I love these kids but they have to learn that they can not take things that do not belong to them.

"When your children are little,

they step on your toes....

When they grow up,

they step on your heart."

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick



Thursday, September 17, 2009

Not nearly enough sleep last night worrying about Alex but if I stopped doing things every time one of these kids broke my hart I would be at a stand still. My friend Mike had planned on spending the entire day with me today. We were going to first visit Mark Richard and Hope Haven's Wheelchair factory and then visit the orphanage but Mike's planned activities ended right after the visit to the wheelchair factory. Seems that some thing he ate last night didn't agree with him. Since Mike had supper at my house I am afraid that doesn't say much for either my cooking or the kid's dish washing. At any rate I brought Mike back to his hotel shortly before noon. Mike is thankful that, unlike my house, this hotel has inside plumbing.

Miguel had ridden in to Hermano Pedro with us this morning because he had a doctors appointment. Yes he had school but he does not go until 6 PM. Since he had a second appointment at 3:30 he rode back to Hermano Pedro when I returned there after bringing Mike back to his hotel. Before heading back to Hermano Pedro we picked up Cesar. He had no school today. Fact is it looks like he is out of school until next year. He was sick for a few days and missed some exams during that time. Even though he has a note from hid doctor his teacher who had missed far more days than that, told him that he can not return to school until next year. Cesar's dad is going to talk to the teacher and the principal but doubts that he will get very far with either of them. I am afraid that even if he could get Cesar back into school against the teacher's will that the teacher would just make life miserable for Cesar.











Sometimes one lap is scarcely enough.

"If only I could decide.... which one to dance with."

Today they were celebrating the anniversary of Hermano Pedro and unlike many of their celebrations the kids were not put in their cribs but were included in the festivities. It was neat to see so many of the adults holding and playing with the kids. Since the kids in the part of the orphanage where I usually hang out at had so much going on today Miguel, Cesar and I decided to spend most of our afternoon up in the malnutrition ward. Actually kids are not allowed to visit the malnutrition ward but I talked the nurses into letting me take several of the healthier kids out into a fenced off area that is located just out side of the malnutrition ward. Later they allowed the boys and myself to take a few of them down to where all of the festivities were taking place. Cesar and Miguel are naturals with the kids and they had every bit as much fun as the orphanage kids did. At 3:30 Miguel went for his doctors appointment only to discover that the doctor had gone home for the day. Tomorrow he is planning on taking the buss in to Antigua and trying again.




Shortly after getting back home I went over to Lezett's house. Lezette, who is the daughter of Chris and Donna, and her husband Minor live right next to me. She is an excellent interpreter and tonight I needed one. Last night I had phone Alex and Chino's mom and told her what her son's had done but tonight I wanted to go to her place and talk to her so that an appropriate punishment could be agreed upon by both of us. She told me that last nights phone call had devastated her and her first reaction was to make her sons stay in the house for the rest of their lives. She know though that trying to keep them from getting into trouble by locking them in the house would not work but it was agreed upon that they would not be allowed to come over for a month and then only if mother knew exactly where they were. She shared with us that alex sowed true remorse for what he had done and that he got so upset over his actions that he actually threw up. He told me that he was sorry and that he would make it up to me in any way possible. I told him that I believed him and forgave him but that he would still have to be punished for his actions. Not only will he and Chino have to pay back the amount that they were unable to put back onto my phone but am trying to come up with some type of community service job for them.

It seems like when it rains it pours because when I got home tonight one of my older boys discovered a file on one of the computers that is used for school work that contained some pictures that we immediately destroyed. It looks like tomorrow night Jason and possibly his parents will be getting a visit from me. I haven't yet decided weather to do that visit before or after seeing Fernando's uncle who has owed me money for several years now. I would leave that one alone if it were just an unpaid loan but there is a lot more to it than that. Well I guess every day can not be a bed of roses but as I sit here looking at several of the kids who with out a helping hand would not be in school and watching Nancy, who had nearly dropped out of school a few years ago , Program a crashed computer, I realize how blessed I am. Just a few minutes ago Abner, who has given me a lot of grief over the years, came to the house to make sure that I was coming to see him get baptized this Sunday. No these kids are not all angels but God has placed them in my path and I love every one of them.

"Children don't make life easier....just better..."

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Friday, September 18, 2009

This morning Mike, Mario, Cesar and I Headed down towards the coast. Cesar is still out of school but since Cesar's dad can not get any time off from either of his 2 jobs, Mario told me that he will go along with me to talk with Cesar’s principal. It seemed odd that Cesar is being kicked out of school simply because he was sick during exam week but Mario told me that the same thing happened to a child of a friend of his a few years ago. Mario helped his friend’s child get back into school and is hoping that he can do the same for Cesar.

Our first stop today was at a home that we visited a few weeks ago. Actually it can hardly be described as a home because it can scarcely be considered a shack by most standards. Within the rotting walls of this so-called structure lives a family of ten. Father and three of the children have a bone disease that prevents the children from walking and has crippled father and one of the other children. In spite of his condition father still manages to go out and work but the pay for farm labor is so low that he is not even able to take home enough money to buy corn for making tortillas. Today mother and 5 of the children were at home. Mother told us that she usually goes out and tries to find odd jobs but said that she has been sick for the past 9 days so she has been unable to do any work. When I asked her weather her and the children had been eating she said that other than a few tortillas that 2 of the children had begged for from some neighbors they have had nothing.

Today we provided them with some groceries and also brought in a walker and a wheelchair but this family needs much more than that. They have nothing. Even the shack that they live in and the mosquito infested piece of land that it sits on belongs to some one else. They pay no rent but they know that they can be evicted at any time. All they are doing is existing and they see no hope for anything more than that.




Several of the children showed no emotion when we approached them. One little boy just sat and stared into space when we waled up to him. Mother told us that her 13 year old son was the only one in the family that had ever received an education but that was only for one year. My first thought was to find a sponsor and get at least a few of these children into school but I also realized that there were several things that took priority over that. Things like food. Neither mother nor any of these children had eaten anything other than a few corn tortillas in several days. It is likely that father who was trying his best to provide for his family had eaten at all. At least they had water, if you can call a shallow well that had a green scum on it water. Because the wells near the coast are so shallow all kinds of pollutants including raw sewage seeps into them. Most families do not even put in outhouses because the water table is only a few feet down, so any human waist is even less absorbed before it reaches the water that you drink if deposit it into a hole rather then onto the ground. This family needs medical attention as well. None of them have ever seen a doctor except for a 9 year old girl that is in a hospital in a town that is located about 2 hours from where this family lives. At least that is where mother hopes her daughter is at. Fearing that their daughter would die the family scraped up enough money to bring her there few months ago but since that time they have not had enough money to go and see her. Mother told us that her one hope is that they can some how relocate to a place that they use to live at that is closer to the ocean. She told us that at least they were able to catch fish to eat when they lived there. She didn’t seem to have much hope though because she knew that if they moved there they would have to pay some type of rent and that there was no way that they could come up with that kind of money.

Mario shared with the family that we were Christians and that was why we were there, but some how a few bags of food, a wheelchair, and a promise that we would be praying for them seemed as shallow as the polluted well that was located out side of their house. As we walked back to my car I kept asking myself W.W.J.D.? (What Would Jesus DO?) That is why we spent part of our afternoon looking at small plots of land in the town where this family used to live. Land is getting expensive here in Guatemala but it looks like we can buy a small piece of land that would accommodate one or our prefabricated houses for around $1000. The land that we looked at even has water piped in to it.



This afternoon the social workers from the Clinic in La Gomara also took us to a village where 480 families live. A man that works with the mayor there took us around and introduced us to several families. At first I wondered why we were in this village because even though it was obvious that most of the families were by no means well off, the houses appeared to be better than many that I have seen in other villages. Once we started talking with the people we realized that even though several of the homes were made from cement and not from corn stalks or rotting lumber, the people here were still suffering a lot. This village had a lot of sickness in it and I believe that a good deal of it could be attributed to the water that the people drink. Not unlike the family that we had brought the wheelchair to, the people here had shallow wells that were polluted from raw sewage and everything else flowing into them. We were told that none of the families had any rest room facilities.



We went a stuck our necks out a bit by promising that we would soon give the people 10 water filters so that they could test them out for us. The social workers that were with us are going to work with the village leaders in monitoring the families that get these filters. We not only want to know how well they work but want to see if the families not only use them themselves but since many of the houses are huddled so close to one another we are hoping that several families can share the drinking water from one filter. This should be no problem because just one of these new filters can purify around five gallons of water every 10 minutes and if my math is correct that is about 30 gallons in an hour. Not bad considering we can get them for under $40 per filter.

Well it is getting late. (Truth is it is Saturday afternoon. I have fallen behind on my journal writing.) So I am going to say “Goodnight” or at least “Good afternoon”

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal, September 5-11, 2009

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Today I took some of my neighborhood kids and a few of the kids from the orphanage to Guatemala City where we took in lunch and then a movie.

(Click on any picture to enlarge)

Sunday, September 6, 2009







Today was church, lunch, and then a soccer game.











I got to play for a while but when the teem that I was on got behind they replaced me with 7 year old Elder.

Once I stopped playing my teem pulled ahead and won.





Monday, September 7, 2009






This morning I called my friend Mario and asked him if he wanted to accompany me to the coast.



Mario who himself is confined to a wheelchair is fluent in both English and Spanish. He also has a genuine compassion for his fellow Guatemalans who are enduring hardships.












Our primary reason for going was because, Carlos, a little boy that we sponsor had run out of antiseizure medicine.









On our way to visit Carlo we stopped off at the clinic La Gomez to drop off some supplies. While we were there the Doctor and the mayor's wife told us about a family that lived about a half hour away that were in desperate need of help. Soon we were on our way to visit this family. Both parents were out working and only 4 of the 8 children were at home. We discovered that all 3 of the girls in the family had a hereditary bone disease and all 3 were in need of wheelchairs. This was not their only need though. The house that they live in could scarcely be considered even a shed. The floor was mud, the roof was rusted tin with lots of holes in it and the walls were made from rotted sticks and boards. The children told us that they had no food and the well that they had was shallow and the water appeared to be very contaminated. This was undoubtedly due in part to the fact that there were no rest room facilities. The children told us that the land that they live on which does not even belong to them often floods and raw sewage runs into their well. They told us that things were a bit better now that mother who had deserted them had moved back home but they still wish that they could move back to the coast where they would at least able to catch a few fish for food.

John 6:9

"There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?"

No food, no money, no water, no home, no land, no wheelchairs, no education (none of the children attend school), no hope for a better future. Where do you start? Some times it seem so overwhelming that you want to do like their mother did and just throw up your hand and run away from it all. I guess that is when we have to ask ourselves W.W.J.D. What Would Jesus Do? What if Jesus would have reacted like the the mother of these children did when things seemed overwhelming. Had I been one of the 12 disciples when they were confronted with 5000 hungry people, I can only pray that I would not have turned tale and run but would have done as they did and gone to Jesus asking what can we do? Jesus did not tell them to do the impossible. He simply asked them to give what they had. He took care of the rest.

"Faith can move mountains,
but don't be surprised if God hands you a shovel !"

That is what we are planning to do for this family. Today we gave them a few groceries. In a few weeks we plan on bringing in a few wheelchairs and possibly a water filter. Chris is looking into the availability of a small plot of land so that we can perhaps build this family a home. Hopefully in the not to distance future we will be able to get at least one or two of the kids into school. Small steps, one step at a time, nothing big on our part but just like the five loaves and two fish we know that God can do miracles with it. Pleas pray that God honers our feeble efforts to help, and multiplies them in ways that we could never imagine.


I mentioned a few weeks ago that Milton, a little boy that lived near the clinic had passed away. Today Mario and I stopped off at Milton's home to pay our respects. Milton's mom told us that the entire family really misses Milton but they are at peace with things. She went on to tell us that they are now attending church and have found peace with God.



We also went to see Julio's family today. Eleven year old Julio whom I brought into the malnutrition ward of Hermano Pedro 2 years ago weighing only 17 pounds is not as heavy as he was when he returned to his home a few months later but overall he is in fairly good health. Father shared with us that he has been out of work for several months and were it not for the food that we are able to bring in each month he does not know how he would feed his family. Please pray not only for this family but for the thousands if not millions of people here in Guatemala who are going to bed hungry every night. This next year looks like it may be an exceptionally hard one because even though we get an occasional cloud burst that floods everything we have not gotten nearly as much rain as usual. I have been told that a lot of the corn is dying due to lack of water.


After finally getting money to Carlos's mom for the medicine that her son needs we headed for home. It has been a long day but a good one. I feel that I am truly blessed.

"If you find something you love to do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life."

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

This morning I went over to Bethel Ministries wheelchair shop to help Alturo program a cantankerous power wheelchair. As I walked into the shop I was once again reminded of what this ministry is all about. There by a table sat all of the employees of Bethel ministries, having their daily bible study. What better way is there to start off your day then spending time in God's word? And what better way to be reminded of what god can do than to see Jovonti who was once the leader of one of the biggest gangs in Chimaltenango leading that bible study? What a sweet reminder of what the blood of Jesus can do for all of us.

After leaving the wheelchair shop I went over and picked up the group of five people that arrived from the States late last night. Let me rephrase that. I went in and picked up a group of five people that arrived from the States early this morning. There plane was supposed to have arrived late last night but engine problems delayed their flight several hours. Chris said that it was a good thing that the engine problems were discovered on the ground and not in the air. I told him that I didn't think that it made much difference because back in my flying days any of my engine problems that happened in the air ended up with me on the ground anyway.

I took the group to Hermano Pedro and gave them a tour, then we spent the rest of the day loving on the kids. Today we took 6 of the teen age girls out to lunch and they loved it. Just before we were about to walk them back to the orphanage it started to rain. Now this was not one of your little sprinkles but a full fledged thunder storm. After one unsuccessful attempt to run back to the orphanage and get some umbrellas we decided to wait it out. The teens that we had taken to lunch seemed delighted since they much rather sit at Camperos than go back to the orphanage and be put to bed, and the group from the USA who had been up most of the night seemed to enjoy just sitting and visiting with the teens. About an hour later the sun came out and dried up everything except the 6 inch deep streams of water that were running down every street.









When we got back to the orphanage we stuck around for a few hours spending time with some of the younger kids.



























Shortly before leaving I got a call from Xemora a compassionate lady that works at Hermano Pedro. She told me that a family had come in to see one of the doctors at Hermano Pedro. The mother of this family that is extremely poor has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. To my understanding her condition is severe and there is little that can be done for her at Hermano Pedro. She has been scheduled to see a doctor at the national hospital in Guatemala City but unfortunately most people die of old age before getting any needed surgery in the national hospitals. Xemora asked me if there was any way that I could get a wheelchair for this lady with out her having to wait until a wheelchair distribution in her area. One phone call to Mark Richard and a 10 minute drive later I was at the door of Hope Haven Guatemala loading up the perfect wheelchair for this lady. Another 10 minutes later I was seating her into her new wheelchair. As her husband walked over to shake my hand he started to cry. He told me that there was no way that he could pay me and he did not know how to thank me enough. I told him that the wheelchair was a gift, and let him know that it was not a gift from me. It had been given to him and his wife as a gift of love and that love was a representation of the love that Christ Jesus had for him and his family.


I thought about leaving this part out because up until this point this seemed like a fairly level headed teem, but I guess no one is perfect. Anyway I agreed to sit out side of the knickknack shop and get board for an hour while the rest of the group went inside and saw what kind of bargains they could get on worthless junk. Once they came back to their senses and came out of the junk, I mean souvenir shops. I thought about asking them to show me what they bought and how much they got ripped off for it but being the kind and sensitive person that I am I decided not to give them a hard time. Not only that but my sides were still hurting from laughing at the things that the last group that I took shopping brought home to their loved ones. I am glad though that they will all be back in the States by the time that his is published so they will have to come all the way back to Guatemala if they want to get even with me.

Before heading for home we stopped of at a nice restaurant in Antigua and had supper.

I got home fairly late so there were not as many kids as usual waiting at the gate. Fernando and Cesar convinced me into letting them stay the night though. Neither of them have school tomorrow so I am going to let them stay up later than usual. I am heading off to bed though.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Wednesday, September 9, 2009

This morning Chris and Saul took the group up into the hills to build a house for the family of the blind girl that lives in a vacant building here in Chimaltenango. I stayed home to get caught up on some much needed paper work and this journal. At around noon Fernando and Cesar (who have no school today????) went along with me to the building where the family who we are building a house for lives. All of the children except the oldest daughter were huddled in there one little room. They told us that mother had gone to the markets but when I told them that I stopped by to see if they wanted to come along and see there new house the little boy quickly got up and ran down the street to find his mother. Soon mother was back and the seven of us were on our way to see there new home. The crew had made good progress and it looked like the house would be completed by night fall. I took the family back to Chimaltenango though because all of their belongings were still back there. On our way back I asked them if they would like to join Fernando, Cesar and myself at Camperos for supper. Stupid question, it ranked right up there with asking them if they wanted to see their new house. I doubt that any of them had ever been to Camperos before but they didn't need any instructions on how to eat their chicken. After that we brought them back to the dark nearly vacant building that hopefully will not be called their home for much longer.

Well, it is getting late so I am going to say "Goodnight".

Yours in Christ: Dick



Thursday, September 10, 2009


Today Fernando (who had no school ???) accompanied me to Hermano Pedro orphanage. Once there we met up with 5 members of a Youth with a mission teem that has been in Guatemala for several weeks now. This meeting was a bit special because one of the members of the teem was the daughter of one of my best friends. The teem only had a few hours before they had to go back to the city so we did not take any of the kids out to lunch. Even though their visit was a short one it was very profitable because each and every member of the teem gave their all to show the orphanage kids that they were loved.





Fernando is a natural with the orphanage kids and he had a great time playing with them and feeding them as well. We headed back home a bit early because I am planning on being gone for a few days so tonight I wanted to spend some time with the neighborhood kids. Tonight's supper was a simple one even by my standards, but I promised the kids that next week I will try to do better than baloney sandwiches. I did splurge a bit on a video that I bought and on my way back from Antigua though but I figured that spending 10 Q ($1.25) for Ice Age 3 wouldn't spoil the kids to badly.



Well the movie is over and about 8 of the kids have headed for home. I guess I will go and find some blankets for those that are staying and then head off to bed.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Friday, September 11, 2009After getting the kids fed and off to school I got ready to meet up with Chris and Donna and the group that is here from the USA. Cesar had no school (????) but I told him that this time I could not take him along with me. Today we were heading for Huehuetinango where we are planning on having a large wheelchair distribution tomorrow.






On our way the Huehuetinango we stopped off at several homes and gave out food and shoes.

We also stopped off at the home that the teem built on Wednesday and had a dedication. Here in Guatemala Christian families always have a dedication before moving into a new home.





Here are a few more pictures that I took today.

. .


,. . (Click on any picture to enlarge)

Goodnight,
. . . . . . . . Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal, August 28- September 4, 2009

Friday, August 28, 2009

Today Fernando and Cesar accompanied me to Hermano Pedro. (SURPRISE!!) They had no school. After working on some wheelchairs we met up with Carlos and took 4 of the orphanage kids out to lunch. Today, instead of taking them to Camperos we went to the cafe that our church runs. The food there is a lot healthier and the atmosphere is far more relaxing. I thought that the 4 kids that we took with us would not have as much fun since there was no playground equipment but after lunch they had the time of their lives playing on the grass. All to soon it was time to bring them back to the orphanage.








When we got there we visited with several of the kids who had already been put to bed for the day.

Even though we had a large pizza feed at my house last night the kids insisted that they were hungry so tonight we had a spaghetti feed. The kids know that I am going to be gone for a few days so I think that they are really trying to fill up before I leave.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

Saturday, August 29, 2009

This morning Fernando, Cesar, Jason and I headed up to Robinel. I realize that Fernando and Cesar just spent the day with me yesterday but I needed Fernando along because he does such a good gob of interpreting and I need some one as well behaved as Cesar to make up for Jason. Actually Jason is doing quite well. A few months ago I would not have even considered letting him come along with me on an overnighter. We decided to take the shorter rout, which cuts off over 100 Kilometers it is narrow unpaved though and saves little time, but this rout is more scenic and there are a number of rivers that you can stop at for a swim.







Sometimes my boys can be a bit childish, like when they try to look cool simply because their picture is being taken.












I try to tell them that they are being immature when they do that but some kids never seem to grow up.














Our primary reason for going to Robinal was to try and make Contact with Luis and Julia. We have worked with them for several years now and they do a lot of the leg work and make a lot of initial contacts for us when ever we bring in water filters or have a wheelchairs distribution in their area. For several weeks now Chris and I have been trying to contact them so that we could arrange to bring some new water filter cartridges in to a village that brought water filters in to about a year and a half ago. We were not sure just why but try as we may we could not reach either of them by phone so I finally decided to take a 5 hour drive and see if I could locate them. I was not sure weather or not I would find Luis or Julia at home but knew a few of there relatives and was hoping that I could at least get the word out that we wanted to talk with them. There is never much traffic on this dirt road but you do have to keep your eyes open the entire way. It is extremely narrow in places so you always have to be on the lookout for some one that is coming from the opposite direction. This is especially interesting considering that the road is nothing but hills and curves. About a half hour before entering Rabinel I met a pickup truck that had a number of people in it. The road happened to be wide enough for us to get by each other but when the driver got about 50 feet from me he swung into the middle of the road and opened his door. A lady quickly jumped out of the passenger door and started waving her arms. Both people had large smiles on their faces. If this was a robbery they were sure looking Happy about it. Since there was a steep cliff on my side of the road I had no choice but to stop. When the dust cleared I realized that it was Luis and Julia. What were they doing way out here? Next time I see them again I will ask them but I was so surprised to see them that I didn’t even ask. I guess you could just chalk this one up to being another Godincidence. What ever it was I was sure glad to see them. Julia asked me if I HAPPENED to have any walkers with me because she know of 4 people that needed them. It just so happened that I had thrown 4 walkers in my car before leaving home. So I gave them and the water filter cartridges to her. If things work out I plan on going back to Robinel next week end so that we can hike the filters into the village that is in need of them.

Robinel is not much of a tourist town but there is a small hotel located behind a gas station that has fairly decent rooms. It even has a swimming pool and a soccer field. If you are into clean you may want to stay else ware but most of the critters that we found in the rooms or the pool were only about the size of a spider and none of them were any larger than a mouse or a frog. I came out of the shower feeling like I needed a bath but the price was right. The cost of one room was $15 for 4 people. I paid a bit more though after convincing the lady that ran the place that we wanted 4 single beds and not 2. She looked at me like I was a crazy American and told the boys that families of 10 or more often stayed in one of the 2 bed units.






Sunday, August 30, 2009

This morning we met with Julia. She said that she knew of a boy that could use the wheelchair that I HAPPENED to have taken along with me. When we arrived at his house we discovered that he was not at home. After his mother showed me pictures of him I was convinced that he needed a larger wheelchair than the one that we had taken along anyway.. I felt a bit bad that Godincidence # 3 hadn’t worked out exactly as I had prayed that it would. Little did I know that the wheelchair that I so badly wanted to give away would be needed if a little boy an hour further down the road was to continue to go to school. I often forget that God's answers are wiser than my prayers.

After bringing Julia back to her home the boys and I went back to our motel and had a teem meeting. Since there was no school on Monday (?) and Champey was only 4 ½ hours away why not spend an extra day on the road and make this a real adventure. The vote came in at 100% and soon all 3 of the kids had phoned home and convinced their families that it was a great Idea. Jason’s family seemed a bit uncertain at first but once he convinced them that I was not ready to strangle him yet they also agreed.
Ludwig is a little boy that has muscular dystrophy he lives about an hour out of Robinel. Since we were going through is town we decided to stop in and see how he was doing. Ludwig and his family are doing great but his wheelchair had a broken wheel on it and was virtually useless to him and with out it he could not get to and from school. Now let me share something with you about wheelchairs. There are about as many makes and models of wheelchairs as there are cars and much like cars most parts are not interchangeable. However when the one and only wheelchair that you have in your car HAPPENS to be exactly the same make and model as Ludwig’s wheelchair finding the right parts can be a breeze. As far as repairing it goes I had 3 eager mechanics that had it done in no time. It sort of made me wonder if perhaps God had not made a mistake when we were unable to give that wheelchair away earlier today.

If there is anyone reading this that believes that all of these things that HAPPENED the last few days were not Godincidences but simply coincidences that’s OK because I am convinced that,

“A coincidence is when God performs a miracle, but decides to remain anonymous.”

Tonight we are staying in the loft of a cabin that is located in Champey. No mice or spiders but plenty of Mosquitoes. I think that we are in the high rent district though because tonight I had to pay $20 for the 4 of us. There are 4 beds though. When the electricity shut down for the night Fernando who is afraid of the dark climbed into bed with Cesar. I didn’t mind because I wanted Fernando’s mattress. I discovered something interesting though. Piling 1 lumpy mattres on top of another does not smooth things out it simply increases the number of lumps. I guess it is sort of like adding more rocks when you already have one in the bottom of your shoe.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Monday, August 31, 2009


It rained all night. ( I know that for a fact because I was awake.) We woke up (or I guess I should say got up) to a sunshiny morning though and after a quick breakfast we hiked over to the river and lakes.




As often as I have been to Champey I still cannot get over it’s beauty. This was Fernando’s second time here and the first time for the other 2 boys. For the next several hours all we did was hike and swim.













Cesar entertained us but may have scared away a few strangers by proving that he could get his entire body into his stretch swimsuit.











We would have all liked to have been able to stay longer but we still had an 8 hour drive ahead of us so at 11:30 we hiked back to my car.











About a month ago I lost 1 of the 2 transmitters that I have for the burglar alarm of my car and have been a bet paranoid about what would happen if I lost the other one. Not only will the alarm not shut off but my car not start with out it. That is why being here in Champey which is in the middle of no where I was especially careful to hide it in a good place while swimming. No I didn’t put it in my pocket and swim with it I hid it under the cover of my spare tire and that is exactly where I found it when I got back to the car. Why then did it not work? Good question, but I do not have the answerer. Try as I am I could not get it to work. It let up so I knew that the battery was good but it certainly did not unlock the doors to my car. I managed to get my door open with a spare key that I had hidden under the car the day we headed out on our trip and I even managed to get the alarm shut off by removing my battery cable, but now what? Every time that I reconnected the battery cable the alarm would come back and there was no way to start the engine with out deactivating tit A few prayers later I decided to hold the remote right up next to the alarm and sure enough it worked.

Most of our trip home was quite uneventful but the traffic and the rain storm that I encountered while driving through Guatemala City made me wish that we had taken the dirt road that we had driven on Saturday.

It was a good trip but it is good to be back home where there are no mosquitoes or frogs, and the spiders are much smaller than the ones that were in the motel in Robinel. Now if only that darn mouse would quit making so much noise I would like to get to sleep.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Tuesday, October 31, 2009, 3:35 PM

Spent the morning putting my car back together and then went and got a new burglar alarm installed. This afternoon I have been hiding out working on my journal at restaurant 56. Now that I am caught up I am going to head for home and spend some time with the kids.


Wednesday, September 2, 2009

I spent most of my day at Hermano Pedro today. Alex has been in need of a new wheelchair for a long time and today I finally got him fitted into a new one that is much better for him. Nine year old Alex had been loosing weight for the past several years and had crept down to 18 pounds. Around a year ago they finally moved him up to the malnutrition ward. And slowly but surly he gained weight. He is no longer in the malnutrition ward of Hermano Pedro but continues to hold his weight. He still has to be on a feeding tube but appears to be much healthier than he has been in years. However his back is becoming more and more deformed. Because of this deformity and the fact that he is now much fatter Alex’s old wheelchair no longer fitted him properly. Today I had to make a lot of modifications to Alex’s new wheelchair but the end result paid off. Alex seems to be more comfortable than he has been in years and the new chair should help improve his breathing and his overall health.


Since there were no other volunteers available to help take any of the kids to lunch I was only able to take Fidel. He seemed to enjoy the one on one time that we had though and between his limited English and my limited Spanish we were actually able to carry on somewhat of a conversation.



When we got back to the orphanage I did some repairs on more of the wheelchairs but at around 2 PM I received a phone call from Mark Richard over at Hope Haven’s wheelchair factory, asking me if I could come over and fit a little boy with downs syndrome into a wheelchair. He was not all that hard to fit into a wheelchair but I was glad that I had gone over to help because I was able to convince his mother to let me set up an appointment for him with the doctors and therapists at Hermano Pedro. I have a feeling that with proper treatment this little boy can learn to walk.




Before heading home I stopped off at the place that had installed my new car alarm yesterday. The sensitivity had to be readjusted. What brought this to my attention was the fact that it went off every few minutes while it was parked at the orphanage. One time it went of fwas when a man who was walking on the other side of the street sneezed.


My kids wanted to play soccer tonight but I told them that I was not footing the bill so if they wanted to play they would have to come up with the money for it themselves. I once again have the cleanest yard, house, car, and dishes in town. We could not get the soccer field until 9PM but it was a fun way to finish out the day.



Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Thursday, September 3, 2009, 9:35 PM

Cesar once again had no school today because (???????), so he spent the day with me. After breakfast we stopped off at the wheelchair shop and picked out a power wheelchair that we planned on converting to a foot-controlled chair later this after noon. We then headed to Antigua and did some work at Hermano Pedro. Like I said we did some work but we also did a lot of playing with the kids. In fact we took Sonia and Henry out to lunch with us this at noon and didn’t get back to the orphanage until around 2 PM. We had planned on going back to the shop and to work on the power chair that needed to be converted to a foot control chair but there were so many things that needed to be done at Hermano Pedro that we decided to finish out our day there. The mane part of our afternoon was spent in trying to get Nelson fitted into a new wheelchair. I am not satisfied with the way that the chair turned out though so I may go back tomorrow and try a few different things.

I went up to the malnutrition ward this afternoon and looked in on Florinda. She is still in isolation, in fact they would not let me go in with out putting on surgical gloves and a gown but she was looking better than I have ever seen her. She has gained a lot of weight and seems much more alert, and she has not had a fever in several days. The doctor is still not sure weather or not she will fully recover but praise God she has made a lot of progress.



Little Jose is also doing well. His mom and brother were there today and they are great with him. Tomorrow this spirited 11 pound boy will celebrate his third birthday.






When I got back home tonight I was greeted by an alley full of kids. On our way home I had told Cesar that I had a lot of work to do and that I was not going to let the kids in tonight. How do you say no to nearly a dozen kids that greet you like they have not seen you in years? You don’t, or at least I didn’t. I made it clear to them though that I had lots of work to do so I was only going to let them stay for a half hour or so. That ridicules announcement was made at 6:00 PM. At 8:00 I told them that I really meant it. It is now 10:00 PM and there have been no kids in my house for at least a half hour. I am sure glad that I can be stern when I have to be. Now The silence is driving me crazy so I guess that I will head off to bed. Marcos has asked me if he can spend the day with me tomorrow. He has no school (?).

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Friday, September 4, 2009, 10:25 PM

I was scheduled to meet at Hermano Pedro with a man and his wife who came in from the USA yesterday but just before heading there this morning I received an e-mail saying that they would not be there. The e-mail did not go into much detail but Dave told me that his wife was admitted to the hospital shortly after they arrived here in Guatemala. I don’t know what the problem was but It sounds like she will be getting out some time today. I actually had plenty of work to do at the wheelchair shop but I had already promised 3 of the kids from the orphanage that I was taking them out today and I could not go back on my word. Nothing to worry about though, because neither Marcos nor Cesar had school today, (?!?) so they both willingly came along to help me out with the orphanage kids.



Today we took Bobby, Diago, and Ervin out to eat. If you don’t think that all of the rigmarole of getting the kids signed out, taking them down the not so wheelchair friendly cobble stone roads and then having to hand feed them is worth it take one look at these pictures.

Before heading for home I managed to get Nelson seated better in his new wheelchair. This was not an easy task either but the end result was well worth it.








Unlike last night, tonight I did not even attempt to get an hour or 2 to myself. After all it is Friday tomorrow and that means that 100% of the kids have no school . About 12 were here for supper, 7 wanted to spend the night. Report cards came out today and after looking them over 5 are spending the night. At least they shouldn’t be carrying in any bugs because they have been in the shower the entire time that I have been wring tonight journal.

Well that is about it for now so I am going to say “Goodnight”.

Yours in Christ: Dick