* GUATEMALA * * * * * * * * Dick Rutgers *

Journal, July 5-11, 2009

2009-07-11T16:14:00.006-06:00

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Thursday, July 9, 2009

I have not done any journaling for the last few days because Stephen had been visiting here from Washington State. Having Cerebral Palsy has not slowed Stephen up in taking part in all of the things that he and Pat and Garry Hawkens have joined me in doing during their 8 day visit. I have already journaled what took place from Tuesday June 30 through Saturday July 4, so now I will briefly share some of the things that took place from Sunday July 5 up until today.

Sunday morning the 4 of us plus several of my neighborhood kids went to church and then Garry and Pat treated the crew to Pizza at Piccadilly’s. Once we got back home some of my Boys tried to show their appreciation by styling Garry’s hair for him. Gary took it well but once the hair was styled he was a bit shocked when Calin wanted to apply car polish to the parts of his head that did not need combing. Pat convinced the kids that her hair did not need to be restyled. Later in the day we brought some food out to a needy family.

Monday the four of us went to Antigua and spent time with the orphanage kids. Pat works at Lynden School district, as a para educator with special needs children. She and Gary also care for special needs kids in their home and there love for children is obvious. The orphanage is also one of Stephen’s Favorite places to visit. Being in a wheelchair himself did not keep him from loving on the orphanage kids.

Most of our evenings were spent at my house, which was usually jammed full of kids. I managed to get away and visit with Stephen once or twice but it was hard to break away from the other kids. That was OK though because Stephen loved visiting with them and I was amazed how well they could understand each other.

Pat and Gary do not know any Spanish but those of my kids that spoke English were more than willing to interpret for them. Even when there was no one available to interpret, the kids at my house and those in the orphanage had no problem understanding that Gary, Pat and Stephen loved them.

Tuesday was also spent at the orphanage. I had promised to take a group of 8 students through the orphanage and since none of them had much experience working with special needs kids Gary and Pat’s expertise was a big help. We took 8 of the orphanage kids out to lunch.

Wednesday night I only got about 2 and a half hours of sleep. I had to get up at 3:45 to take Gary, Pat and Stephen back to the airport but for some reason I woke up at 12:30 and could not get back to sleep. There is not much traffic on the road at that time of the morning so I did manage to get them to the airport and them get back home in time to catch another half hour of sleep before heading out to meet up with another group that I had promised to take through the orphanage. We had planned on taking some of the teen age boys out to eat with us at noon but it started to rain while we were still at the orphanage so not wanting to have a repeat performance of Friday we canceled out outing and stayed at the orphanage and helped feed the kids. This was perhaps for the best anyway because as sleepy as I was I would have likely gotten the entire group lost on our walk to Camperos.

After lunch I took a few of the volunteers up to the malnutrition ward. Florinda’s mother and sister have been here visiting with her for a few days and they are thrilled to see that she is improving. I was afraid that she was not going to make it when Roland and I brought her in a few weeks ago but she is now gaining weight and is also a lot more responsive. She still has a long way to go so please keep her in your prayers.

When I got home tonight Fernando was the only one around. He told me that the other kids had gathered up enough money to rent a soccer field so I figured that I was safe in asking him if he wanted to go out for a quick hamburger. By the time I got to the end of my alley there were 5 of us in my car. Seems that some of my kids can smell food before it is even ordered. Even Alex who is now back home from the hospital managed to some how find out that I was going out to eat and put in his order to me by telephone.

When we got back home I brought Alex’s hamburger over to his house. He is still in bed but doing a lot better. The doctors say that his hart is OK but his nervous system is a bit messed up. It seems that the medicine that they have him on is working though because he is improving from day to day.

Today Thursday I am sort of taking a day off. I do have to get caught up on this journal, have a lot of errands to run, and the kids will be getting out of school at noon but I may try to find the time to relax for an hour or 2 if I can’t think of anything bet………… . Saved by the bell! I just got a call from an orphanage in Parommas. The therapist there says that she has 3 kids that are in need of wheelchairs. Since I have nothing better to do I may as well drive down there and take a look at them.

8:43 PM

WOW! This orphanage looks like Club Med compared to most that I have been in. Only a hand full of its 250 residents are special needs but they are really taken care of. I am not sure just how they are financed but the staff to patient ratio is one to one. The 3 kids that I looked at today all had wheelchairs but they had outgrown them. One of the 2 girls is severely deformed and will take a lot to fit. I am going to try to get a wheelchair for her as soon as possible because without one she will worsen fast. The boy that I looked at is paralyzed on his entire right side so I am thinking about putting him into a power wheelchair.

While I was at this orphanage I received a phone call from Calin telling me that Alex was having problems. By the time I reached his house he was doing somewhat better so we decided not to take him back to the hospital. I hope that the doctors are right when they say that there is nothing wrong with his hart but his condition still worries me.

Tonight my house is serving as a dormitory for around 4 kids so I think that I will go and see if they are hungry. (Let me rephrase that.) I will go and see what they are hungry for.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Friday, July 10, 2009

This morning 15 children received wheelchairs at a distribution that we had here in Chimaltenango. The teens that I took through Hermano Pedro orphanage at the beginning of the week took part in the distribution. Not only did they help in fitting the wheelchairs but they also got the opportunity to share there testimonies, pray with, and love on the families that came to receive the wheelchairs. Some of the kids were quite severe and took a fare amount of time but since we had a lot of willing helpers everything went quite smoothly and by noon all 15 of the kids were on there way home with new wheelchairs.
I took Cesar along to the distribution since he had no school today. His English is not as good as that of some of the other kids in my neighborhood but what he lacked in ability to interpret he made up for in willingness to work on wheelchairs.

After the distribution Cesar and I headed off to Antigua and had lunch with my friend Paul. After lunch we stopped off at the orphanage to visit the kids and do a quick repair job on Fidel’s power wheelchair. His front wheel was falling off and he was worried that he would not be able to make it to his computer class on Saturday. Fidel who uses his feet to operate his computer is doing quite well with the computer and loves going out to school on Saturdays.

After repairing Fidel’s wheelchair we spent some time visiting with the kids, most of whom were already in bed for the day. We couldn’t stay long though because I had promised the kids that we would rent a soccer field at 5 PM. Paul knows most of my kids from when he lived in Guatemala for a few years so he eagerly came along and joined us. After the game all 20 of us walked over to the little stand in front of Camperos and had Pizza.

After pizza Paul, a few of the kids and myself went over and visited Alex. Alex seemed to be doing a bit better today but that we short lived because shortly after bringing Paul back to Antigua I received a phone call asking me to come over to his house. Alex’s pulse was racing and his blood pressure was quite high when I tested it. It seems like he is having panic attacks but I wish that there was some way that we could have someone other than the doctors at the national hospital check him out. After a short time his blood pressure dropped back down to normal and he started feeling better. I got back home shortly before midnight and found that the 3 kids that were at my house when I rushed over to Alex’s had settled in for the night.

Well it is time for bed so I am gong to say, “Goodnight”.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Saturday, July 11, 2009

This morning my landlady came over and asked what I wanted to do about the tree in my yard that is threatening to take over the neighborhood. I am Actually quite fond of this tree but the route system is spreading out so far that it is thrusting to destroy the wall that runs along my property line. I guess the tree is going to have to go. My kid have mixed emotions about it because they love climbing it and enjoy the shade that it provides however more than once it has proved itself to be an unmovable obstacle when one of the kids made contact with it while playing soccer in my yard.

As I looked around my yard I realized that some of the smaller trees and bushes were no longer all that small either. With the incentive of a few Q and a promise that I would once again rent a soccer field if the job was well done, the kids went to work on trimming things down to size.

I went over to see Alex this morning and spoke some more with mother. She is convinced that there is nothing physically wrong with him and asked me if I would try to talk him into coming along to watch our soccer game today.

Shortly before arriving at his house his older sister Gladys scalded her arm when she accidentally spilled some boiling water on it. This family has been going through many health issues lately. Please keep them in your prayers.

Well it is almost time for our soccer game. Then at around 8:00 PM I plan on heading off to the airport to pick up the teem of 15 young people who are coming in from my home church in Lynden Washington to spend the next 10 days working with us.

I guess I better get this sent out while I can because we have a lot planned while this teem is here. Please pray for Chris and Donna's family and myself because as much as we enjoy the teams we do get tired.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal, June 26-July 4, 2009

2009-06-27T21:28:00.019-06:00

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Friday, June 26, 2009

This morning we went to the airport and picked up a teem of ladies that will be with us for about a week. They had been traveling all night but when we got to Chimaltenango they all eagerly helped us load up Jorge’s truck with wheelchairs and a house kit that we will be taking with us to the coast on Saturday. The teem plans on doing a wheelchair distribution there on Sunday, then building a house and distributing some food to needy families on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Please pray for Pat because this is what she ate for breakfast. So far so good but I get sick just looking at the picture.

Today was suppose to be a leisurely 4 hour drive for the teem that was heading to the coast but 3 out of the 4 vehicles that were heading there got caught up in traffic that was due to road construction and sat in line for over 5 hours. The three of us that were in my car had stopped at a store for some junk food and gotten behind the rest of the group. I knew of a way around the traffic but by the time I got there the others were already past the turn off and were unable to turn around. I guess the moral of the story is that stopping off to eat junk food really pays off. Actually I felt sorry for the others because they were very tired when they arrived at the motel this evening.

Sunday, June 28, 2009, 4:20 PM

We had a wheelchair distribution her in Champerica this morning. Even though this was a first time experience for every member of the team that was here from the USA everyone did well. There were not as many difficult cases as usual but we all stayed busy. Both Chris and I reminded the team that even though the wheelchairs are an important part of the ministry it is not the reason that we are here. We told them that the reason we are here is to show the love of Christ to these people whether it be by actions or with words. This team did exactly that.

I will likely be coming back here in a week or 2 because today we found another little girl who is very malnourished. I would have guessed her to be 3 years old at the most but her mother and father told me that she was 6. They said that even though she is very sickly they have never had the money to take her to a doctor. I told them about Hermano Pedro and asked them if they would like it if I could arrange for them to see a doctor and possibly even have her admitted into the malnutrition ward for a few months. They didn’t even need time to discuss this with each other but both responded with an immediate yes. This little girl needs help so please pray that they do not change their minds.

Shortly after we got back to the motel John, Pat, Donna, and myself headed over to the home of a little girl that lives only a few miles from here. Chris and I had given this little girl a wheelchair nearly 3 years ago and I was certain that she would have outgrown it by now so we wanted to give her a new wheelchair today. When we arrived at her home relatives told us that her mother had taken her to the hospital in Xela a few days ago. We were told that she was having convulsions, and also that her lungs were very congested. I would have loved to leave the new wheelchair with her relatives but this little girl Had CP and needed to be fit properly.
The rest of the team has already headed down to the beach so I am going to close for now and drive down there and join them for supper.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Today we drove for about 2 hours through sugarcane fields and an old rubber plantation to a remote little village where we were to build a house. We had met the family for whom we were going to build this house at a wheelchair distribution that we had in Ratio Laio a few months ago.

The family is very poor and the mother cannot walk. This village is rather remote and the weather gets down right hot. Knowing that Americans embarrass easily I have taken the liberty of adding fig leaves to a couple of my pictures.

We had a big crew so I was able to act my age and not work as hard as I did yesterday. Actually we all worked hard but I did break away from time to time to visit with some near by families and took a lot of pictures. On their last trip here John and Arles Bosman brought me a battery operated printer that can be attached directly to my camera. What a hit! It gave me the opportunity to go into several homes of people that I am sure that I would have never met had it not been for the fact that they wanted me to take a picture of their families. By some of their reactions you would have thought that I had given them a $1000 bill. Most of them would put on there best clothing before I photographed them others will have to learn to draw fig leaves.

Even though the weather was extremely hot, the bugs were bad and everyone got very tired, the crew finished the house in record time and by around 2:00 PM we were celebrating a home dedication with this family.

Howie and Nan have headed back to Antigua. The rest of the crew went back to Champerica , where we have been staying for the past few nights. Tomorrow they plan on giving out food to some needy families. I am at the Bamboo Hotel in Mazatenango. Tomorrow morning I plan on heading the rest of the way home. Stephen Snell is coming for a visit so I will be picking him up from the airport tomorrow night.

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

Yours in Christ: Dick

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Most of my day was spent either driving home from Mazatenango or driving to and from the airport. It was well worth it though because Stephen has come to visit. I first met Stephen who is now 24 back when he was 8 years old. I worked for a number of years with Stephen who has cerebral palsy. I can’t really call it work though because from the very start Stephen and I were best friends. Even though we have not seen each other much in the past several years we remain in contact and having him here for a week after not seeing him in well over 2 years is a real treat. I really want to think the members of Faith Community Church for making Stephen’s visit possible. I am especially thankful to Gary and Pat Hawkens who accompanied Stephen on this trip.

Even though I had to return home in order to pick Stephen, Gary, and Pat up from the airport the rest of the group is staying 2 more nights at the motel in Champerica Instead of me telling you what they did I am going to post a few of their journals.

Wednesday, June 30
Written by Rachel

After awaking to a squawking bird an hour before my alarm went off, I took a quick shower, had a Guatemalan breakfast complete with ice cold “jugo de naranja” (orange juice), and we headed off for our food distribution day. Today has been the most draining day, both emotionally and physically. Basically, we would drive to a neighborhood, walk to the home, spend a few minutes talking a praying with the family, and then leave the food and move onto the next house. Though I wish we could have stayed longer with each of the families, this was truly the only way we were able to distribute as much food as we did.
Today I saw a woman living in an abandoned train car, Guatemalan children with yellow skin because of malnutrition, a 24 year old boy who couldn’t speak but had a smile as bright as the sun, a child screaming and crying when we walked up because of myths about North Americans, a man who loses parts of his home and belongings to the nearby river if it rains for more than an hour, a woman crying and praising God because of what He had given her through us, a handicapped girl laughing because a young American boy held her on his lap, and many other glimpses of what is taking place in the nearby communities.Though I don’t understand all the political or social problems, I do know that suffering is part of life. I don’t know why these people go hungry while I whine because my mom didn’t buy the kind of cereal I like. I don’t know why a woman works all day and yet still does not have enough to provide basic necessities for her and her son. But I do know that I don’t need to have the answers; we serve a God who knows, and sometimes that has to be enough for me. I am grateful for the blessing He has poured out on the United States, and I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to get to know His children here in Guatemala. God is here in Guatemala and He is just as faithful and just and loving and wise as He is in America. This morning God led me to my favorite Bible story about the Samaritan woman at the well. Throughout the day, so many parts of the story ran through my mind. The food we brought those people will last a month, but the Bread of Life is eternal. Christ took time out of His journey to talk to one woman, and because of that, her entire village was saved. Though it seemed like we didn’t have enough time with these people, we told them why we were there. We brought them food and told them why we came; the Holy Spirit will do the rest. Christ’s disciples didn’t understand what He was doing at the well or why He was talking to such an outcast, but He knew it was the will of His Father, and that was enough for Him. I’ve been on missions trips before and sometimes people don’t understand why we come, why we pay money to sweat and cry and hurt, why we spend all this time and energy when we may not even see the results. I do it because I am called. I may not see any of these people come to salvation, I do not know what will happen to the house or the food, but I know that we are serving Christ and loving His people, and these people’s lives and hearts are blessing and teaching me.

Wednesday, June 30,
Written by Kristin

My favorite part of this day was experiencing the amazing way the Hispanic culture prays. Although my Spanish speaking skills are minimal, I truly understood the meaning of these prayers. Chris or Pat would begin the prayer, and would be followed up by many Spanish speaking voices in the background. Each voice thanking God and asking for prayer among the family we were visiting. All the voices in prayer would occur at one time, and were so powerful. I could feel it in my heart the words they were saying even though I could not understand them. Sometimes we pray by saying words but not feelings. Today, we all could really FEEL the prayer, but not from words. It was such an amazing experience that meant so much to many of us and really helped us feel that God was with us all and taking action. This by far is my favorite experience of the whole trip.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Stephen, Garry and Pat arrived last night. Stephen who is now 24 years old has always been like a son to me. I started working with him 16 years ago when back when I volunteered at our local public school. Having CP and not being able to walk did not stop Stephen from leading a fairly normal life. I can still remember the day when Stephen who was only 10, was at my house and his mother showed up unexpectedly. I had just cut down a large tree that was threatening to fall onto my house. When mom pulled up to my house she asked me where Stephen was. I sheepishly pointed to the pick up truck that was towing the tree to the other side of my field. “Who is he with?” his mother asked. “He is by himself," I said. Mom looked at me in disbelief. “My dad let me drive when I was that age.” I exclaimed. “Yes but you don’t have CP” “If you don’t want me to let him drive my truck or ride on my motor cycle anymore just let me know.” I said. “No, I realize how good it is for him to do these things but being a mom I do have the right to get a bit nervous.” Maria did well at letting her son be a normal kid when he did things with me and she even got used to most of the things that we did. Although I must admit she did turn a few shades whiter the day that Stephen came home and told her that I had taught him how to fly my airplane.

(Note to Maria)

Don’t worry Maria I am taking good care of your son. I do not have an airplane here in Guatemala. You will be happy to know that I did manage to talk him into getting a haircut. I told him that he would likely get his hair caught in the pulley if we went zip lineing.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Today we joined back up with the group that I was with earlier this week and we all spent the entire day at Hermano Pedro. Gary and Patty have worked a lot with special needs kids back at home so they took to the kids right away. The 7 people that are here with Pat Duff did equally as well. The highlight of our day was taking 9 of the kids out to Camperos for lunch even though it was a bit of a challenge getting them and Stephen back to the orphanage in a thunderstorm.

On our way back to Chimaltenango I got a call from Alex’s mom telling me that Alex was back in the hospital. He had been over to my house a few nights ago and other than feeling a bit week he told me that he was doing OK. Today he had another episode where his hands and legs went numb and he also experienced chest pains. When we got home Garry and Pat Stayed at my house with Stephen while I took Alex’s mother over to the hospital. Alex had been there since 1 this afternoon but due to the swine flue panic no visitors were allowed into the hospital. We were able to talk to Alex on the phone and he was crying because he was all alone. When we got to the hospital the night watchman told us that we were still not allowed in but after pleading with him mom was finally allowed to stay.

Friday, July 3, 2009

This morning Gary, Patty, Stephen, Mario and I headed down to the coast. There is a 16 year old boy there who has outgrown his wheelchair. I stopped at his place a few days ago and had decided that it would be easier to bring a new wheelchair to him than to have the family come all the way to our shop to receive one. On Thursday Gary and I spent some time at the wheelchair shop setting up this chair according to measurements and photos that I had taken earlier in the week. Today we did some final adjustments but the new chair fits Minor well. Mario did a marvelous job of interpreting for us and we had a wonderful visit with this caring Christian family.

After stopping off at Seritta’s for ice cream we headed out to Where Ronny lives. Ronny’s mom told us that he had gotten so sick last week that they thought that he was going to die but today he looked better than I had seen him in over a year. The family is doing well but it seems that there is still a lot of feuding going on between them and some of their relatives. Last week one of the uncles once again came on to there yard and threatened to kill them.

While we were there we gave out some shoes, clothing and vitamins. It was hard to say good bye because everyone that was with me had fallen in love with the children but I felt that it was best to be out of this neighborhood before dark. We did stop off at one of the not so friendly uncles and gave some shoes, and vitamins to his children. The family was a bit standoffish at first but by the time we left they had become a lot friendlier.

We made one more stop at Seritta’s on our way home. This time we stopped off for supper. When we got home Alex’s sister came over and told me that Alex and his mom were still at the hospital. She said that Alex was still having some problems and mom did not dare to even go out for food because she was afraid that they would not let her back into the hospital. I do not say no very often but when Gladys asked my if could take her to the hospital so that she could bring some food to her mom I told her that she would have to wait until morning. As tired as I am tonight I don’t think that I should be driving.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Saturday, July 4, 2009, 10:12 PM
This morning I picked up Garry and pat from their motel and brought them to my house for breakfast. Stephen, and the 3 neighborhood boys that had spent the night were just getting out of bed when we got back to my place. We were soon joined by a number of other kids and everyone pitched in with making breakfast. Even though Pat and Garry have never been to Guatemala before they seem to fit right in where ever they go. Today’s visit to my house was no exception. My kids loved them and they loved my kids.

After breakfast Calin, Cesar, Stephen, Pat, Gary and I headed over to the Maxi mall to do some grocery shopping. We wanted to visit Maria and her children today and knew that they could use some groceries. About a mile before Maria’s house we saw a large number of people standing in front of a home. I nearly drove by until Calin said that he thought that he had spotted Maria and her children. As soon as I stopped the car we were surrounded by most of the kids that had been standing in front of the house. I recognized 2 of them to be Mari’s kids. Evidently they had told the others who we were because everyone wanted to have a look at these faded people that are called Americans. Not long after that Maria came to the car. She told us that this was the home of one of her relatives. She said that the large gathering of people was their to morn the death of her 10 year old nephew who had been run over and killed by a car. Maria later told us that her nephew’s death had been exceptionally hard on her because it brought back memories of when her husband was run over and killed by a hit and run driver. She told me that the funeral was now over so she would meet us up at here house. Some of her children and other children quickly jumped into my car but the rest of them headed up a trail that was too narrow for my car. Even though Mari’s home was over a mile away we only beat them there by about 30 seconds. I must admit that we did not drive all that fast because the designated driver that was sitting on my lap had never driven a car before.

Maria still misses her husband and her children miss there father but overall the family seems to be doing OK. They are still as poor as church mice but over all they seem to be a happy family. After giving Maria some groceries we invited her family and several others out to my car. It was obvious by looking at their feet that most of the shoes that he children had been given when school started back in January were in need of replacement. The next half hour was spent sorting through the supply of shoes that we and taken with us and finding that perfect pair for everyone that needed them. Thank to the portable printer that I had been given we were also able to give several of the families pictures of themselves. This may not seem like a big deal but for many it was the first time that they had a ever owned a picture of them selves or of their children.

All to soon it was time to say good-bye. I had promised my neighborhood kids that we would rent a soccer field at 4 PM and we did not want to be late for the big game. All of the kids that had ridden with us from the home of the little boy that had been killed jumped back into my car and road back down the hill with us. Several of them scrambled for my lap because they all wanted to drive but I finally convinced them that I could only allow one of them to drive at a time.

We managed to get back into Chimaltenango just in time to wolf down a hamburger and then get to the soccer field. To my surprise when we got there none of the kids were there. A quick phone call confirmed that the kids had thought that they were supposed to meet at my place but within in a few minutes 14 of them were at the soccer field. Once they saw that soccer here is played on cement Patty and Gary quickly volunteered to be spectators along with Stephen. I played goalie but at times felt more like a target.

Since I had not gotten all that much chance to visit alone with my company I told the kids that I would help rent the soccer field for an additional hour so that they could play soccer while I took Gary, Patty and Stephen some where and just visited. We then went to Camperos and visited. I figured that I had burned of enough calories playing soccer so I ordered a piece of pie.

Tonight was suppose to be lock out night for the kids but that did not happen. As I was walking into the door of my house I received a phone call from Gladys asking if I could bring her and her sister over to the hospital to bring some things to there mother. Alex is still not doing well and I am not real confident it the doctoring that he is getting at the National hospital. On Monday we are going to check with a few places that are in the City.

When I got back home I told the kids that had been staying here with Stephen that they were going to have to sleep at their own homes. Not a way to win friends and influence people but tonight I needed to work on my journal. Fernando was so mad at me that he would not even say goodnight when he stomped out of my house but knowing Fernando he will be all smiles when he shows up at my gate in the morning.

Even though it will be several hours before I get to bed I am going to say “Good Night.”

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal, June 20-25, 2009

2009-06-26T20:42:00.006-06:00

Great news! The container of wheelchairs that was being held up at customs has been released. Thanks for your prayers!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Weekends are supposed to be relaxing but this one did not start out that way. Friday night at around 11 PM Alex’s sister Gladys came over and asked me if I had the phone number of the doctor that I had taken Alex to see earlier in the day. I told her that I didn’t and that there was no way that I would be able to get it until Monday because all of the offices at Hermano Pedro would be closed until then. Gladys told me that he was feeling worse and that he was vomiting. I quickly went over to his house to check on him. His pulse was racing and his color did not look good so we decided to take him in to the National hospital here in Chimaltenango. Most of you know what I think of the National Hospitals here in Guatemala but I knew that they had oxygen and was hoping that they could give him something to control the vomiting. Actually they did both for him but I am glad that it was not a life and death situation because it took them 3 hours to do this. I managed to get to bed at around 2:00 AM but woke up early because the kids that were at my house when I went over to see Alex the night before had decided to stay and unfortunately by 7:00 Am they were slept out.

After breakfast, (At least I think that we had breakfast) Calin and I headed over to the wheelchair shop. Before knowing that I was going to be at the hospital all night I had agreed to meet a family who was coming in all the way from Cobon to have their daughter’s wheelchair refitted.

At 4:00 PM the kids and I went over to the soccer field. I had sent one of the kids over to reserve it earlier in the day but when we got there at 4 we were told that they had accidentally rented it to someone else as well so we could not have it until 5 PM. Since I had to be at the airport at 7:00 Pm to pick up a group that was coming in I was not able to play soccer but the kids got to play.

I know that I usually keep my Saturday and Sunday journal entries short but since the group that came in has offered to do most of this weeks journaling for me I figured that I would at least do today’s journal.

Anyway I hope that you enjoy the following journal entries that are done by various members of the 12 member teem that is here for a week.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Ellis wrote,

Wow, I find It hard to believe that Just earlier today I was asleep, safe ; warm in my bed, with my cell phone and laptop available for me to use whenever I wanted, and now I am on a plane, headed to Guatemala, armed with only my IPod nano and books to entertain me for the next couple hours on the plane. Originally my father, Kelly, and I were supposed to share 3 seats right next to each other. Thankfully Emma volunteered to take my Dads place and Sandwich between Kelly & Me. Luckily our trip has had only 1 minor Setback , the plane was delayed 25 minutes. I can’t wait to get to Guatemala now! I know the feeling, it will be like boy scout camp, can’t wait to get there, can’t wait to get home once you get there. I Didn’t sleep well last night, so goodnight, I am going to sleep, Blog ya later!

Emma wrote,

Hello from Dallas Texas!! I miss you all already!! The plane ride is ok. Its kind of boring, but reading makes the time go by! Last night I was at my boy-friends party and slept the night away. I got up at 5:00 in the morning to catch a 10:15 flight. Crazy, huh? Anyway, the plane ride isn’t as bad as usual. We were supposed to arrive at 3:15 in Dallas but the pilot was having some technical difleculties so we are now, arriving at 3:55. Can believe only one more hour till Guatemala? I’m so excited!! I will write back tomorrow. You will be in my prayers!! See you all later!!!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Ellis Hughes wrote,

This morning Brad, Josh and I woke up to the horrible sound of josh’s foghorn alarm after not being able to fall asleep until about 1 or 2 in the morning, Guatemalan time. We arrived in Guatemala about 8. Customs was quick, and only Cathy was tested for swine flu. Dick and Chris Drove all around Guatemala City to take us to the BK, and wow, I am glad none of us were driving. There are almost no rules! People were getting cut off, and I didn’t see anyone use a blinker. On our way to Antigua we saw a guy lying on the side of the road. Ted asked Dick if we should stop, but Dick said that if we stopped, the police would think we did it.

Sharron Leinweber wrote,

I am sitting here in the open air courtyard outside our rooms watching the rain fall. I am just in awe of the incredible beauty. It was dark when we arrived in Antigua last night so I couldn’t tell how rich and green everything is. All the flowers are in bloom and the colors are so vibrant. Surprisingly I slept really well. I think I was the first one out in our room. Luckily, we are all readers before bed so that worked out really well. I woke up this morning to the sound of beautiful Guatemalan women outside in the courtyard making and selling the most amazing textiles. Good thing I haven’t had a chance to get any small casallas (I don’t think that is how the money is spelled, but you get the idea). Well now I am going to eat breakfast and then be off to church.

Molly Anderson wrote,

Hello ! I wish you could see all of the things we have seen. We’ve been here less than a day, but I already love Guatemala. Even our hotel is amazing. Although it is raining, it is warm and we’re eating breakfast under cover in the courtyard. The food is great; they gave us eggs, beans and fried plantains, as well as the “ best watermelon on earth”. Now I’m not a watermelon fan, but even I thought it was pretty good. I am totally enjoying the company of everyone, especially my “roommates” Marlene, Sharron, and Emma. Oh my goodness, I think we were all a little loopy last night. Emma had a sudden fear of cockroaches after Marlene told her that they are in every tropical country. Emma wanted to leave the lights on all night to keep them away, but we finally convinced her that they weren’t gonna bug her. She swears she heard them moving last night, but I have yet to hear or even see a single bug. Well I guess I have to go get my prayer book, everyone is done with breakfast ( desayuno) and we’re getting ready for devotions out in the courtyard. Adios!
Brad wrote, . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hay haws it going? Today we went to Hermano Pedro (orphanage) and that was one of the hardest things in my life to do. We stand outside and Dick told us about himself and how he got involved and that was cool. Then we went inside and we went and saw some of the kids and then things got hard. We went to the babies and then we were expected to hold them; I could not do that. I don’t know why I just couldn’t. Our tour of the hospital was H... for me!!! The rooms as they go on they get worse. Starting with the adults all the way to the disfigured babies. In the end I “played” soccer with a kid that can kick my..... in a walker.

I’m worried that when we go back on Thursday it will be as hard or harder for me.

Monday, June 22.2009

Brad, Josh and Ellis, wrote,

Last night we had to change our room to a couple rooms down. Apparently the toilets here can’t...…… How were we supposed to know? Anyway, after we moved from room 3 to room 9 because it was “necessary”, we tried to fall asleep. At that time it was about 8:30, and there was to be no sleep for us for the next couple hours, unbeknown to us. The room was definitely the same size, but it felt smaller. Then something happened. Brad started to laugh almost uncontrollably, and Josh and Ellis were so tired, they started to laugh at Brad, ..............

Bill Hughes wrote,

We all rose early this morning to be picked up at 5:45 AM. All of were ready, when Dick arrived but Chris, the wheelchair guy with the van, overslept. Cathy made the executive decision that I would take Ellis, Josh, Molly, and Brad with Dick. Dick had brought along Fernando, an eight year old from his neighborhood. Plus, Dr. Brad was in to provide free medical advice. The eight of us crammed into Dick’s Toyota that can seat five comfortably, and left. (Do not worry. We complied with all Guatemala traffic safety laws, at least the ones that are enforced.)

(Good thing that Bill was not with us the day that I had 21 people in my car. Dick)

As we left Antigua, we passed through a shanty town. I have seen these in pictures, but this is the first time I have seen one in person. THIS is poverty. The drive was beautiful. There is a volcano on the horizon that looks like a textbook volcano. It is spewing ash. Fortunately it is very far away.
(Click on any picture to enlarge)

We drove to Rio Bravo, about two hours out of Antigua. We set up in a covered area with a dirt floor. It is about the size of a skating rink. However, ice would not last more than a second. It was in the 80’s and high humidity. Most of us were uncomfortably hot and were drinking as much bottled water as we could hold. Some of the Guatemalan folks were wearing wool sweaters. We set up plastic chairs for the “patients” and their families. I think that whenever I see a plastic chair when I am in the US, I will think of Guatemala. They are everywhere here. We lined up 35 wheel chairs from a truck. Dick taught us the basics of fitting a wheelchair as the local politicians greeted everyone. What looked like a news crew filmed the process. Only Ted took more pictures.

Dick Rutgers, Ellis, and Brad set up an area for “specialized” chairs. These were the more customized units for more severely handicapped people. We also set up an area for Dr. Brad to meet patients. Father Tom and a local pastor met with individuals at another station. The rest of us broke into four teams of two for the “standard” wheelchair recipients. Chris had distributed pieces of paper with numbers on it.

Cathy and I started working with patient #1. He was an elderly gentleman with crutches. We helped him by picking from the selection of chairs in terms of seat width and height. We adjusted the foot supports to his needs, having to scavenge some pieces and parts. When we were done, he asked to see the doctor. We took his picture with us and wheeled him over to the doctor. The routine was the same, but each individual had his or her own story. One patient that touched me was an elderly lady. She said that she had broken her leg. She really had broken her hip. She is relatively frail, and in her 70’s. Her husband was in his late 80’s. He was really thankful to have us help his wife get around. The love for each other was apparent to me and all of us. Her prognosis is not bright. Dr. Brad gave advice to help her heal in the best way possible. We were able to help them get along in their lives.

Towards the end, Dick, Ellis, and Brad were working hard on a chair for a boy that needed a custom chair. Each time they added a piece, such as a chest belt or a head rest, he would break out in a BIG smile. It was a golden moment each time. He could not speak, but he did not have to.

After we gave chairs to everyone, Axel, our local contact, invited us to his home for lunch. A committee of women made us a delicious meal that we ate local delicacies on his patio. We all chatted about the people whom we served and had touched our hearts. We then loaded up and drove back to Antigua to take a shower.

Ellis wrote,

This morning we woke up too early. Granted, it was the time that I normally would wake up for school, but that night I had fallen asleep around midnight. After waking up, and getting dressed, we saw no one out in the courtyard, and assumed everyone had not woken up. After a few minutes, I saw some other people getting up. When Dick got here, only my dad, molly, josh, brad and I fit in with the gear, and two other people. When we got to the place to do the wheelchairs, brad and I got assigned to work on special wheel chairs.

The first kid that we helped was about 6, and after 3 hours, the chair had been modified and fit the child with Cerebral Palsy and seizures. The father and mother were thrilled, and eagerly learned how to move the angle of the wheelchair and move it around.
The next kid that was brought to us had scoliosis so severe that his organs had started to be destroyed. Brad, Dick and I took his leg, back, and waist measurements, and chose a wheelchair. Because Brad and I had gotten some experience from the previous person, our modifications were a lot quicker, and in less than two hours, the child was fitted and ready to go.

When we strapped him in, his smile almost split his face in half, and even though his scoliosis had almost bent his spine so it was nearly unrecognizable, he sat up strait in the seat. That had to be the highlight of my day.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The group will be with Chris and Howie building a house for the next few days. I will continue to post their journals but will also be writing about a few highlights of some of the things that have been taking place around here.

Doctor Brad Kamstra is here for a few days. About a year ago Brad is showed me how to treat the leg of Cesar, a man that 3 other doctors had told that his leg would have to be amputated. Brad had not seen Cesar since that first visit but I stayed in close contact with him and he continued to advise me on how to treat it. Several months of treatment and a lot of prayer proved positive and Cesar's leg is doing well. Today brad finally got to see Cesar again. Cesar and his family could not believe that Brad would take the time to visit them and thanked him over and over again.

Dick

Molly wrote,

Another early morning, and another great day. After showing up almost 45 minutes late yesterday, Chris Mooney decided to arrive to pick us up twenty minutes early today, much to my surprise (I was still in the shower when he pulled up, oops!). Although the hotel usually provides breakfast, six AM was too early for them, so we ate a gourmet breakfast at Burger King. After that deliciousness, we broke into two teams of six. One team jumped into Chris’s van and headed to the hills to build a home for a family with five or six children at home, and two more that are severely disabled and live in an orphanage. They spent the day leveling the lot, laying down cinder blocks, and mixing and pouring cement ( all by hand). They all worked very hard and got very dirty.

The team I was on went on a food distribution. At the beginning of the day, we sorted out several suitcases full of clothes into general age groups and packed six bags of food into the van, and headed out to visit families in need. Every family we visited was one part heartbreaking and one part awe inspiring. The children especially surprised me with their resilience. Even though they have faced hardships much more severe than I can fathom, they were cute and funny and downright joyful. Being able to communicate with them ( I’ve taken Spanish since 8th grade) more than most on the G-team has made it very easy to earn their trust and as Dick says, “Love on them”.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Emiliana Tol Vargas and her 4 children live in one room of a mostly vacant building in Chimaltenango Guatemala. Emiliana is unable to work due to poor health. Her oldest daughter works 3 days a week but after paying rent the family has less than $15 per month left for food, clothing, or any other expenses. We have found a sponsor so that the 2 younger children, Iadelaida and Estuardao can go to school and so that some food can be provided each month. Silvia who is blind was thrilled when I took her hand and explained each button of the audio bible that Calin, Cesar, and I brought her today. You should have seen her face light up when she heard the New Testament being read to here.

Emiliana tol Vargas and her 4 children
with their new Spanish audio bible.

Daughter Silvia , who is blind (holding bible) loves listing to Christian Music but up until today she had no way to read her bible.

After visiting Emiliana and her family the boys and I stopped by the shop to drop off some paper work. Our 5 minute stop turned out to be about an hour and a half though because a family that had a little girl that needed a wheelchair was there and there was no one around to fit her. My work was made easy though because Calin is getting really good a working on wheelchairs. Cesar does not have as much experience as Calin but he is very willing to learn.

Since I will be gone with a group on Saturday and Sunday, the boys and I took advantage of an hours break in the thunder storms and played soccer this afternoon.

I spoke with Alex today and although he still has to take it easy he is feeling much better. Please pray for a complete recovery.

Dick

Sharron Leinweber wrote,

Do you ever have those days when you know exactly what you are doing and everything is clearly planned and it doesn’t take you long to realize that God is laughing because you are silly enough to think you are in charge? Today was one of those days for me so bear with me as this may take a bit to explain. We split up again today and half the team began distributing food and clothes early this morning. Like yesterday, the first family we saw had several children without shoes. I cannot tell you how it feels to see these people in the muddy, dirty streets or hauling water without anything on their feet. That being said, I am already working on a way to possibly help alleviate some of this. The rest of the day was similar and we ended up finishing the distributions early. Our last stop was to bring food to the family of the build site. We were excited about helping the rest of the team with the build, but there were just too many people so we were stepping on each other. Some of us ended up taking some of the children for a walk instead, besides, we had a few members with “crummies in their tummies” so we needed to find a farmacia (notice the use of Spanish). We had not been gone long when a thunder storm began to threaten so we headed back. I have good news: the roof of the house does not leak and the gutters work great. Unfortunately, after such an intensive downpour – we could not finish the build. Now, if you remember, we have a few members that found the orphanage to be more than they were ready for and did not have the skills to cope with the feelings they encountered. Tomorrow is the day we get to go back and serve at the orphanage again. Well, here is the part where God was laughing because he saw how much stress this was causing and he already had it worked out. The boys (and Kelly) have to go back tomorrow and finish the build and will therefore be unable to join us on the trip to the orphanage. Wow – who could have planned that rain better? I sometimes wonder why I worry so much and take so long to just trust in the Lord. It sure would save me an awful lot of stress if I could figure that one out! Well, I am now off to bed – Buenos Noches! Sharron

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Today most of the team that is with us this week came along with me to Hermano Pedro. For many of them this has been a real exercise in broadening their comfort zones, but I think that today the group was prayed up and most of the fears of really getting in there and loving on these kids that some of them showed on Sunday appeared to be gone.

At noon we took nine teen age girls to lunch and I don’t know who had the most fun, the girls from the orphanage or the team. Overall I think that it was a win win situation. Everyone ended up with new friends and everyone was a bit richer for it. After lunch we spent some time in the park and a few of the more childish members of our team even had a water fight in one of the fountains. I made a promise to the rest of the group that I would try to grow up and refrain from getting any one wet if we ever do this again.

We got the girls back to the orphanage at around 2 PM. That is when reality set in for the members of the team. The team members noticed that all of the wheelchairs were sitting empty in front of the rooms where the kids sleep and one of the ladies asked me if the kids were all taking naps. When I told her that they were in bed until 8 AM tomorrow morning they all looked at me in disbelief. “That is 18 hours!” one of them exclaimed. I think that they were still a bit in disbelief until the care givers motioned for them to bring the girls that we were bringing back from lunch to there beds so that they could be placed there until morning. Some of the team members stood by their beds weeping, others retreated for the halls where they could sit in silence. I know that some of them thought that I was a bit pushy when I insisted that they go in and say goodbye to the younger kids whom they had played with earlier in the day but I wanted the reality to sink in. Yes it was hard for them but I know that it would have been harder if they just walked out with out saying goodbye. Besides that, were we there so that we could feel good or were we there for the kids? So many people come and go in and out of the lives of these kids. Some of them refuse to love on the kids because they know it will hurt too much when it is time to say goodbye. Others leave when things get a bit uncomfortable. Thanks team for being there for the kids even if parts of your visit were difficult. I know that you made some of these kids very happy. I have a feeling that the kids had a positive impact on you as well. I wish that I could say that I no longer shed tears when I go to the orphanage. Then again perhaps I should be thankful that I do.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.

Mother Teresa

Journal, June 13-19, 2009

2009-06-19T20:05:00.007-06:00

This week I have not had much time to write, so my journal entries will consist of a lot more pictures than writing.

Sunday, June 13, 2009 -

On Saturday we manged to get the Lionel's house nearly completed.

All of Lionel's family were excited when they saw us unload a wood burning cook stove from the back of my car. Mom and oldest sister were the most though because they are the ones that spend countless hours cooking over an open fire.

On Sunday morning Howie and Nan headed back to Antigua while Ben, John, Jerry ,and I returned to Lionel's home to put some final touches on the addition to his families home.

While John, Jerry, and Ben installed the chimney I took out my computer and showed the family some of the photos that we had taken during the past few days.

The family liked seeing the photos of themselves and of their house being built but when I told them that I had pictures of Lionel they really got excited. Since most of the family was standing behind me I could not see their faces but Jerry told me that there was not a dry eye in the house. Just 2 days ago, after having prayer with the family and dedicating the house I had talked with them about taking Lionel back home. I explained to them that even though he was getting physically healthier at Hermano Pedro, that he was very homesick and that he spent a lot of his time crying. Mom and dad told me that they knew that he was close to death when we had taken him there and were afraid that the same thing might happen if he were to return to his home. They promised that they would think it over. They said now that they are getting some monthly help with food and 2 of there children's school needs are being taken care of that they were doing a lot better but that they were still worried that they could not properly care for him. They did promise that they would talk it over though.

The remainder of Sunday and all of Monday was spent visitig peole in various villages.

One of our first visits was to a boy that lives only a short distance from Lionells family. I had met this boy several months ago. His 82 year old grandmother takes extremely good care of him but she is very poor ,so up until today he has never owned a wheelchair.

...................

We were also taken to a home of a neighbor who has been bed ridden for several years now. I told the family that the 3 wheelchairs that I had in my car were already spoken for but promised them that I would get one for them as soon as possible. It is hard to make these families wait but we always have far more people needing wheelchairs than we can supply.

One of our visits was to Rolando,
a young man for whom we are providing a teacher.

Another visit was at the home of Rudy. Rudy needed some adjusting on the artificial leg that we gave him a few months ago.

Rudy is now walking well but he is growing fast so I am afraid that he will soon outgrow this leg.

Ben did an excellent job of interpreting for us and he was a big hit with the kids.

On Monday we made the 3 1/2 hour drive from Huehuetennago to the area where Lisvi use to live. The trip there can usually be done in 2 hours but when we were 45 minutes out of Huehue we realized that we had left the 3 wheelchairs that we were planning on giving away back at our motel. We all blamed Benjamin for that one. After all he was the only one of the 4 of us who was not over 60 years old. How on earth could any of us old codgers been expected to remember something like that? Never the less we finally made it up to this aldea that is located up a dirt road that takes you from 3800 feet above see level to 8200 feet above see level in the shortest distance humanly possible.

A few months ago Lisvi's family had asked me to take her back home with them instead of allowing her stay in the malnutrition ward of Hermano Pedro. I must admit that I had a rather sleepless night the night before taking them back to their home. During the trip back and the following day I got to know this family a lot better though and God gave me peace about this little girl going back to the loving arms of her Father. He even gave me peace when her father phoned me only 2 weeks later tell me that she was now in the arms of her Heavenly Father. Today I was able to see even a little more why knowing Lisvi for even a few days was so important. God had used Lisvi to help the people where she lived see that we were there because we cared, because God cares. I am quite sure that we will be seeing these people on regular basis.

John 4:34-36

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now those who reap draw their wages, even now they harvest the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together."

We had planned on taking a northern rout back to Chimaltenango on Tuesday but on Monday night I received a phone call from Ronny's mother saying that Ronny has steadily been getting worse. She wanted to know if I could get him into Hermano Pedro to see a doctor there. I told the group that it would not be as scenic but explained the situation and asked if it would be OK if we took a bit of a southern detour home so that we could pick Ronny up and take him to Hermano Pedro. They unanimously agreed. The following morning we were on our way to the coast.

While on our way to Ronny's I received a phone call from Vicky, a friend that lives near the lake. She wondered if I could come and take a look at a little girl that had been coming in to a feeding center that Vicky and her husband operate. I told her that I would not be able to for at least a few days but suggested that she have someone bring the little girl in to Hermano Pedro and meet me there that evening. Roland Elf was also scheduled to meet us there with Florinda, the little girl that he and I had met last week.
It is now Thursday after noon. I brought Ronny back home yesterday. The doctor gave his mother some medicine but explained to her that Ronny is loosing strength and there is not a lot that can be done. Ronny’s mom broke into tears when she got home and tried to explain things to Ronny’s father. I have met several kids that have the same disease. None of them have lived to see their 18th birthday. Ronny is 15.

The little girl that Vicky sent in has also returned to her home. Even though she is blind and is hydrocephalic I think that she is going to be all right.

Florinda is not looking well but at least they have admitted her into the malnutrition ward of Hermano Pedro. Thank you Roland for being every bit as persistent as I can be.

A few hours ago I went over to Alex's house. Yesterday I found out that he had spent the weekend at the hospital. 13 year old Alex has always been one of my healthiest and most athletic kids. On Saturday night he woke up with severe chest pains. He is still quite week and cannot eat anything. The doctors at the national hospital are saying that it is his hart but tomorrow I will take him in to Hermano Pedro to get a more qualified doctor to look at him. Please pray for this family. In the last several months 3 of the children have been hospitalized. Pray also that Alex's father who has been in the USA for the past 6 years returns home soon. His family needs him here.

I wish to thank those of you who responded to Pat's journal a few weeks ago. Had it not been for that response I am not sure that any of the kids that I just wrote about would have gotten any medical help.

One more thing that I would like you to pray about concerns a phone call that I got last night. Chris Called telling me that a container of specialty children’s chairs that has been sent from the States is being held at customs. We are not sure but is sounds like any charitable goods that come into Guatemala can only come in through the first lady. I don't exactly know what that means or just how it is going to get resolved but there is a fee for every day that the container sits at port and around 200 children have to go that much longer with out wheelchairs.

Matthew 19:26

Jesus looked at them and said, "With human beings this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Thursday night, and things are pretty much back to normal, or at least as normal as things get around here. I just said goodbye to 16 American visitors who brought in pizza for the 20 or more kids that were here for supper. Since I had not been at home for several days to cook for the kids everyone was hungry and the 12 pizzas disappeared fast. Everyone had a good time though but the floors that Fernando had swept for me this morning looked more like normal. Before supper he had offered to sweep them again after dinner but after taking one look at them he mysteriously disappeared for the rest of the night.

Well I am now down to just 2 kids and myself so I guess I well call it a day. Before I do though I would like to speak out in defense of the food that I feed my kids and my personal eating habits.

A few of you have been writing to me stating your concerns about the type of food that I feed the kids and myself. I want you to know that I do not take your comments lightly even when you are wrong so I asked my Guatemalan Doctor if there was a slight possibility that I was wrong and that you were right. Here it is straight from my doctors mouth. Now remember though that I am fairly deaf and my Spanish leaves a bit to be desired so there is a chance that a little bit got lost in the translation. Any way this is what I think I heard.

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! ..... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO! Cocoa beans ! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

AND.....

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you..

I think that I'll go and have bowl of ice cream and a Pepsi and then head off to bed.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Friday, June 19, 2009, 2:31 PM

I just returned for Hermano Pedro with Alex, his mother, and older sister. Not only was Alex able to see a regular doctor today but he also saw a hart specialist. It appears that there is a slight problem with one of the valves of his hart so the specialist prescribed some medicine that he is to take for a month and then the doctor wants to see him again. Meanwhile no running or any other strenuous activity. This is not going to be easy for Alex because he loves to play soccer.

While I was at Hermano Pedro I went up into the malnutrition ward to see Florinda. They have inserted a feeding tube so hopefully she will gain back some much needed weight. To my knowledge the doctors have not yet determined what she has. Roland and I had thought that a medical student had pinpointed it when he said that she had all of the symptoms of tetanus but her doctor told us that there is no way that she could have stayed alive this long if she had tetanus. Pleas pray that they can figure out what she has before it is to late.

I also spent a bit of time with Jose. Jose who is now nearly 3 years old is no longer 8 pounds but he still looks like a baby. People are really shocked when they see that he can walk.

7:23 PM

I just got back from Antigua. Chris, Donna, Benjamin, and Cindy picked me up and we then went to Hermano Pedro and picked up Fidel. It was his 24th birthday this week and we had promised him that we would take him out for supper. We have been celebrating birthdays with him for several years now. Fidel has no living relatives so he sort of considers us family. Fidel gets pretty lonely at times and this outing meant a lot to him.

Well it is Friday night and my house is rapidly filling up with other kids that are begging for some attention, so I will say, “Goodnight”

Yours in Christ: Dick

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat."

Mother Teresa

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal, June 6-12, 2009

2009-06-13T04:01:00.003-06:00

(Click on any picture to enlarge)

Saturday, June 6, 2009, 8:54 PM

Weekends are made for relaxing so this morning Calin, Fernando, and I went to the Orphanage and relaxed by playing with some of the kids. As expected Calin and Fernando got hungry at around noon so we decided to go to Camperos and have some lunch. Since we had taken no tools along with us today for fixing wheelchairs we decided that we just as well use our hands for something so we each took an orphanage kid along with us to lunch. Now you may think that taking 3 kids that are in wheelchairs out to lunch is no way to relax but don’t knock it until you have tried it. One big advantage of coarse is having 2 kids like Calin and Fernando come along with you to help out. These 2 are so in love with the kids at the orphanage that there is no way that I could convince them that pushing wheelchairs several blocks over cobble stone streets and then trying to feed your self with one hand while feeding some one else with the other is anything but fun. Come to think of it I would be hard to convince that there is any better way to spend your weekend.

We managed to get back home in time for 2 of us to get haircuts and also bought a week’s worth of groceries. Well I thought it was a week’s worth but what is becoming our weekly Saturday night soccer game worked up some appetites and the 12 kids that were at my supper table put a pretty good dent in what I thought was a weeks supply of food.

I told the kids that I needed a bit of quiet time tonight so I actually have the house to my self. I think that it may be short lived though because I told Calin that he could come back at 10. His mom and step dad have been fighting again and mom has been staying with Calin’s grandmother for the past several days. There is not much room at grandmother's house for Calin and he really does not want to stay at his house with his step dad.

Well I still have a half hour, so I think that I will kick back and listen to the silence……whoops there goes the door bell.

Mother Teresa once said,

“Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.” She also said, “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Sunday, June 7, 2009, 9:17 PM

Moyses and Byron joined The 10 kids that came along with me from home and myself and the 13 of us went to church and then to Chimaltenango for lunch. I dropped off 8 of the kids before bringing Moises and byron back to the orphanage because I wanted to visit with Jo Jo and figured that 10 unsupervised kids would be pushing it. My kids love going to the orphanage and playing with the kids but 10 of them at one time has proven in the past to be a mistake on my part.

Just 15 days ago, in my May 23 Journal entry I wrote the following.

"Even though they were just reprimanded for it last week the nurse that fed Jo Jo, who has severe breathing problems, managed to squeeze a full bottle of milk into him in approximately 30 seconds. The way that he gagged and coughed during and after the feeding indicated that a lot of the milk went directly into his lungs."

This morning I visited Jo Jo who was in the intensive care unit of Hermano Pedro. Judging by his condition I was not sure weather or not this would possibly be my last visit with him. He was unresponsive and even though his eyes were open his pupils were not visible. When I returned later this afternoon I was happy to see that his condition had improved greatly. Praise God, even though he has a long way to go it looks like he is going to pull through another bout of pneumonia.

Tonight all 10 of the kids that came along to church with me are back plus another half dozen. Those that are not playing a board game in the house are playing a lively game of soccer out in my yard and by the sound of things I better get out there and supervise if I want to save my windows and keep the first aid kit full.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

10:24 PM

I just received a phone call from Rolland. He is in a village that is located about an hour out of Huehuetenango. On May 26 Roland and I took Balanca a little girl with club foot from this village to Hermano Pedro to see about the possibility of having a teem of orthopedic specialists that are coming in from the States operate on her in July. Tomorrow at 4:00 AM Roland is taking her and her family in to Guatemala City by buss so she can receive some final tests to determine weather or not she is a candidate for this surgery. Tonight’s phone call was about another little girl that Roland found this evening who is starving to death. Just a few days ago I had to tell Roland that we had nothing left in our medical funds and we would have to stop taking new kids in for medical attention until we received more funds. Roland told me that the little girl that he had met tonight reminded him of Lisvi a little girl that had died just a few months ago. He said that did not look like she would last more than a few days if we did not get her into the malnutrition ward of Hermano Pedro. I have not checked to see if any money came in this week that has been designated for medical expenses but it doesn’t matter. If her family agrees, Tuesday morning Roland and I plan on driving up to her village to pick her up.

Mark 10:14 (New International Version)

When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

... .. . . Lisvi 2003 - 2009

Goodnight again,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Monday, June 8, 2009

Wow! Monday’s are the days that the therapists are supposed to swim with the kids at Hermano Pedro. What is incredible is that today it actually happened. Granted only 6 of the kids got to swim but at least those 6 enjoyed themselves. A few of the therapists got into the pool with full intentions of keeping their hair dry but Byron and I had other plans. Once they found out that there was no way that that was going to happen all but 2 of them joined in on the fun. I still can’t figure out why some people believe that anything that is good for you can’t be fun. Sort of like, Church and school, back when I was a kid. Any way most of us had fun and both the kids and the adults got plenty of exercise.

After swimming I signed Henry out and we went over to Hope haven’s wheelchair factor and picked up 2 brand new wheelchairs. Henry had a great time visiting with some of the workers while I loaded up the chairs. While driving back to the orphanage Henry made it perfectly clear that he was in no hurry to get back there, so he and I stopped of at the Café that our church runs and had some lunch. After lunch I fitted Edwin a new boy at the orphanage into one of the wheelchairs that we had picked up.

I headed for home at around 2 PM because I needed to have some more work done on my car. After all it had been nearly a week since it had been into the shop. If you could spend a week with me and see where this car goes you would understand that this car is not a lemon In fact it has to be nothing short of a Sherman tank to have stood up this good. Just ask anyone who has ridden in it and they will at least tell you that it rides like a Sherman tank. Four hours later my car was once again ready for another week of battle. I figured that was $12 well spent even if $3 per hour is outrageous.

Lots of kids tonight and either they were a lot louder than usual or I am getting my hearing back. I had previously told them that they could all stay until 10 PM but by the time 9 PM rolled around I seriously considered making my home the only one in all of Guatemala that observed daylight savaging time. Even after 12 of them left ant there were only the 4 that I had previously given permission to stay things still stayed a bit on the wild side. Fact is I got a bit frazzled when it waked out of the house and saw water flowing out of the door way to my bathroom. My first thoughts were that a water pipe had broken but I soon discovered that there was a water fight going on. I guess I must have not used my Mr. nice voice when I not so politely asked the kids to stop because with in a matter of seconds the water that was flowing was coming from the eyes of a few of the boys. I instantly apologized for yelling but went on to explain that I did not appreciate seeing nearly every item that was not securely anchored down flowing out of my bathroom door.

It is now close to midnight. The kids have all been reassured that I still love them, even though the water fight had gotten completely out of hand. All of the tears have dried. Now I can only hope that my bathroom floor will do the same.

Goodnight:
Yours in Christ: Dick

(Note to self) If you need the bathroom during the night remember to put on your high top shoes.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Funny ting how last week I threatened to cut back on my journal writing but and then discover that so far this week my journal entries are longer than ever. I can’t exactly explain it but some how I seem to be finding more time to write. I guess that is why I find my self sitting here at 3:23 AM writing this entry. I guess this is my hour break from a good night’s sleep.

This morning I met up with Rolland Elf at Hermano Pedro. Yesterday Roland had taken Blanca along with her parents to get some tests done in the capital that would help to determine weather or not she was a candidate for corrective surgery of her two clubfeet. Today she was scheduled to see the neurologist who would make that final decision.

Pat had mentioned in one of the journal entries that she had made for me last week that due to a drained medical fund we were going to have to stop bringing kids in for medical help for a while. Have you ever tried saying no to a six year old girl who has been offered the opportunity to walk though? We couldn’t say no, and I don’t think that God wanted us to. Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. (Luke 8: 41 & 42) I have my doubts that Jesus checked how much money he had in His wallet before heading out to see this girl. Could it be possible that these verses had been placed in the bible so that we could learn something from them?

We were unable to stay with Blanca’s family at the hospital long enough to here what the neurologist’s decision was though because we were on our way to pick up Florinda, another little girl that needed medical attention. I know what we wrote last week but how do you say no? Three and a half hours later when we walked into the mud brick dwelling that Florida’s family called home it was confirmed that we had done the right thing. I feared that this frail little 3 and a half year old may not even survive the car ride to the hospital but we had to let this family know that some one cared.

About a year ago when Florida who up until that point was a healthy happy little girl had developed this mysterious condition her parents had taken her to the national hospital in Mazatenango only to be told by the doctors there that they did not know what was wrong with her but that she would likely dye. Florida’s parents know that their daughter was very ill and that our taking her to Hermano Pedro was no guarantee that she would survive but they also know that if she did not get medical help that she would not last more than a few days. It nearly broke my hart when they told us that they had no money to pay to burry her if she died along the way. As mother and father walked to my car carrying their precious little daughter I looked back to say goodbye to the rest of the family. Several of them were crying. I know that they were wondering if they would ever see Florida again.The trip went well and we got the family settled in to Cassa Defay before dark. Tomorrow morning Florinda and her family will see a doctor who cares. We are praying that something can be done for this little girl. I feel though that just by showing this family that some one cares a lot has already been made it worth it.

Oh by the way when I got home I had an e-mail from some one saying that God had laid it on their harts to send some money to be deposited into our medical fund. This will help take care of the medical expenses of these 2 girls but I can guarantee you that there will be a lot more Florindas and Blancas. Fact is on our way home I received a phone call from someone telling me about Edvin Baudilio Requiac Morales, she asked me if we had a wheelchair for Edvin. She went on to tell me that 9 year old Edvin weighs 23 pounds.

I have just received word from the neurologist that next month Blanca will be able to have corrective surgery on her 2 clubfeet.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Fernando and his Mom (actually his aunt) were at my door at 7:00 AM. Fernando’s aunt has been having chest pain and at times almost blacks out, so she had agreed to come along to Hermano Pedro to see a doctor today. When we reached Antigua we stopped of at Cassia Defay and picked up Florinda, her family and Rolland. And then headed to Hermano Pedro. When we got there the hallways were already filled with people that were hoping to see a doctor. Had it not been for the fact that the hospital staff had saved a number for both Florinda and Fernando’s aunt I am not sure that they would have been able to see doctors today. It was still quite a wait but shortly before noon Fernando’s aunt was escorted into the doctors office. After examining her he asked if she could come back tomorrow for more tests. After asking the doctor how much the tests would cost she told the dctor that she would not be able to return. She explained that there was no way that she could come op with the $15 to cover the cost of these 2 tests. I asked her how much money she could get by tomorrow and after she told me I agreed to pay the remaining $ 12.

Roland stayed at the hospital with Florinda and her family while I drove Fernando and his aunt back to their home. When I returned Roland told me that our prayers had been answered because the doctor that examined Florinda had agreed to admit her to the malnutrition ward of the hospital. The doctor said that there were 2 children in the malnutrition ward that had some thing contagious though, so he felt that it would be best if Florinda’s family kept her at home for a few days and then returned with her on Tuesday. Since I plan on being up in Huehuetenango for the next few days we had to arrange for the family to travel by buss.

Florinda’s condition had me puzzled because she had been a healthy little girl until a little over a year ago and then her health had gone down hill rapidly. She now showed all of the symptoms of some one that had severe cerebral palsy. The doctor said that if the doctor that Florinda’s family had taken her to when she first started having these spells had given her something to control what he feels were petty mall seizures, chances are that she would be a fairly healthy little girl. Unfortunately since that doctor didn’t seem to want to give Florinda’s family as much as the time of day each seizure that she had did a little more damage and no there was likely some permanent brain damage. We are praying that once they get her on the right medications and into the malnutrition ward that we will see improvements though.

I got to see Jo jo for a short time today and he is doing well. We can only pray that the care givers have learned from this and that they start taking the necessary time that it taks to feed the kids properly, but so far I have not seen much improvement.

Today I also spent some time with Jose the little boy who was two and a half years old and weighted 8 and a half pounds when he was admitted into the malnutrition ward a few months ago. Jose is now gaining weight quite rapidly and he is dooing well.

After getting Roland, Florinda, and her family on to the buss I headed over to a place called the Jackson house. The Jackson house is a fairly new facility that also works with malnourished kids. I had stopped in there a few days ago after being told about Jose, a little boy that was in need of a wheelchair. Jose who appears to be around 6 years old was brought into Jackson house about 6 months ago. His family had abandoned him because they did not consider him to be perfect. Wow! I am sure glad that my heavenly Father never considered doing that to me. I am quite sure that he could have found plenty of reason to say that I did not meet up to His standards and thrown me out. Since Jackson house works primarily with younger children It is not certain how long Jose who appears to be around 5 or 6 years old will be able to stay there but I am praying that he does not have to be moved too soon. The staff that works at this place are very loving and even though this facility is not set up for some one that is in a wheelchair I am convinced that love is more important than a flight of stares.

Thursday, June 11, 2009, 8:18 PM

Tonight we are in Huehuetenango. My ex-boss John Bosman and an old high school buddy Jerry Zyelstra flew in last night and this morning the 3 of us, plus Howard, Nan, and Benjamin headed up ths way to build a house for Lionel’s family. Presently mom, dad and Lyonel’s 5 brothers and sisters live in a mud brick dirt floor structure that is much smaller than most peoples bedrooms. A good part of our day was spent driving here and then buying some of the supplies that well be needed to add an adjoining room onto their present dwelling. We managed to get up to the job site this afternoon but plan on starting the actual construction tomorrow. Lionel’s entire family is very excited about getting this new room added onto their home.

At around 4 pm we said our goodbyes and drove down off from the mountain where they live. Luis, Lionels father rode along with us to the nearest village. There he introduced us to a man that sold gravel. For less than $100 he said that he would sell us 5 pickup loads of gravel and have it all delivered to Louise’s home by noon tomorrow. Knowing what the road to Louise’s house was like we didn’t even try to barter on the price.

Tomorrow morning we will try to buy all of the remaining supplies here in Huehuetenango and then drive back up to Louise’s house and start building the 12 by 14 foot addition to this family’s house. 12 by 14 may not sound like much but that will nearly double the living space of what this family of 8 is presently living in. The cement floors that we plan to put in should also be a pleasant relief from the damp mud floor that the family has been sleeping on. I don’ think that I will ever again complain about my mattress being too hard.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Friday, June 12, 2009, 8:08 PM

After loading up Howe’s pickup truck and my land Cruiser with lumber. metal siding, and bags of cement we headed up to Lionel’s house. Howie’s pickup truck had the blunt of the load on it but he managed to get the entire load up the steep dirt raod with out loosing anything. The fact that the entire load had shifted back about 8 inches simply made it easier to unload things when he got there. To our surprise all of the gravel that we had ordered last night had been delivered as well so we went straight to work.

There was plenty of work for everyone and it was an extremely warm day so we are all tired tonight. Tomorrow we plan on finishing up the cement floor and then starting on the framework of the house.

This evening we picked up a wood bringing stove that we are planning to install tomorrow. Most of the people in this area cook over open fires but since the fires are usually under a makeshift roof or even inside of an enclosed structure many of women that do the cooking have lung problems. This new stove should also cut the amount of firewood that is consumed down to at least half of what they had been using.

Not unlike the wheelchair ministry from time to time I have to remind myself that as important as it is go get this family into a new house; houses and wheelchairs are not what this ministry is all about. What we are here for is to share the love of Jesus with these people and what a better way is there to to show Christ's love then by helping meet some of their physical needs? But as happy as I am to see this family get a new home, I am even happier to see that they are realizing that we love them with a love that only God can give. The highlights of my day was when a little girl that cried every time that we got near her reached out her tinny hand from around the corner of the doorway where she had been hiding and placed it into mine. This was the same little girl who's 2 uncles along with 39 other villagers had been slaughtered by other strangers that had come into her village not all that many years ago.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal May 30 - June 5, 2009

2009-06-05T13:00:00.011-06:00

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Saturday and Sunday, May 30 & 31, 2009

Since it was the weekend I am going to keep this one short. Since things have been so busy lately I am trying to spend more of my weekend time with the kids that hang out at my house and those at the orphanage. This is even difficult because they are still allowing almost no visitors into the orphanage so I am unable to take any of my neighborhood kids along with me when I go there. Hopefully this will change on Monday. My neighbor kids certainly hope that it does because they really miss the orphanage kids. Mean while I will have to try to figure out how to better divide my time and we will have to have separate soccer games on the weekends.

My friend Pat Duff has graciously offered to share her Monday and Tuesday journal entries with me.

. . . .. . .. .
. . . .. . . . . . .^ Click button to play

Thanks Pat.

Monday, June 1, 2009 (by Pat Duff)

Today I finally got to spend the day with the kids at Hermano Pedro. I was walking around saying hello to the kids, and came upon little Brenda. As I said hi, and tried to walk by to see other kids, she quickly lost her smile and began to cry. All she wanted was a little attention, and was happy to be wheeled around with me as I saw some more of the kids. Shortly after I got there, Dick came in with Di, a nurse/paramedic from Australia who is down doing volunteer work in Guatemala. Di is a very interesting lady who has quickly become bored with the tourist activity of Antigua and was looking for something more challenging to do with her time here. Dick immediately invited her to go with us to Esquintla tomorrow to visit some families in that area.

It seemed that as soon as Dick got into the children’s ward, there were constantly staff members coming up telling him about one child or another who needed a chair fixed. His goal for today was to fix Fidel’s power chair, but before he got to that, he fixed a walker, two head rests and was told about a new boy who needed a wheel chair. How he manages to keep all this straight is beyond me. He even took time to show me how to fix a few things on chairs. He has much more confidence in my mechanical ability than I do, but, if I can tighten a few screws to keep things from totally breaking, and maybe lighten his load a bit, I guess it’s worth stepping outside my comfort zone. My biggest fear is that I’ll mess things us more than I’ll help, but I guess that’s how I’ll learn.

Dick also walked me through the process of signing out kids for lunch. Since there were only two of us here today, we could only take two kids. You could see the inner struggle Dick was having deciding who to take. This was one time I was more than happy to be “submissive” because then I didn’t have to carry the guilt of the sad faces of those who could not go. Moises had been promised a trip out a couple weeks ago, and then the orphanage was “closed” to volunteers and outings to keep out the swine flu. Today was the first day kids could go out, so Moi needed to go with us for sure. Henry was our second lunch guest. He’s a really bright 5 or 6 year old, who only recently returned to Hermano Pedro after being at home with his family for a number of months. Dick said he just doesn’t seem to be himself since he returned, so we hoped a trip out would cheer him up.

Our original plan was to go to Campero’s, but when Dick asked him if he wanted to have lunch at Camino’s Café (run by the church), Moi jumped at the chance. As we were walking there, Mark Richard, from Hope Haven Guatemala drove by, and decided to join us. With him was a gentleman (whose name I can’t remember, but you can feel free to fill in, Dick, if you do!) from Hope Haven in Rock Valley, Iowa. This is the second time I’ve met someone here in Guatemala who lives only about 2 hours away from me back in the States! They joined us for lunch and I got to hear a bit more about what Hope Haven International is doing here in Guatemala.

The boys had a chance to wheel around while waiting for our food and enjoyed the freedom. There was a little boy about 3 years old in the café, who you could see was fascinated by the boys’ wheelchairs, but was too timid to come over to them even with encouragement. Moi and Henry seemed to enjoy “showing off” for him a bit. When lunch came we all settled down to eat, though I think Henry was a bit disappointed that he got stuck with me helping him rather than Dick, but we managed. He did get to sit on Dick’s lap for a bit, and I think that satisfied him.

After lunch Moi wanted to take pictures with my camera, so we started taking pictures of flowers and the garden area. There was a young woman (the three year old’s mom) sitting on the couch and Moi wanted to take her picture. I told him he would have to ask her permission, and I swear he blushed. But he did, and she was happy to “pose” for him. We began talking and I discovered that Rosa Angelica was born in Antigua but was married to an American and has lived in San Diego for the past 20 years. She was interested in finding opportunities to do some volunteer work with her children (Lauren, age 10 and Christopher, 3) and was very interested in knowing more about Hermano Pedro.

After he had his fill of photos, Moi decided he wanted to get out of his chair onto the grass in the garden area. Henry didn’t even have to think about joining him, and soon the two boys were crawling around and playing with Lauren and Christopher. It was a delight to see them interacting so “normally” with kids who could walk. And, to their credit, Lauren and Christopher seemed totally comfortable with the boys. A couple of times we had to reign in Henry because, though he’s only a couple years older than Christopher, he’d actually get a bit rough with him. If I didn’t know them, I’m not sure I would have been able to tell which of the four kids on the grass needed the wheelchairs. When we talk about “normalization” for individuals with disabilities, we get all technical and theoretical. This was real “normalization,” just letting the kids BE normal and getting out of their way! I’m grateful we met this wonderful young family who was willing to reach out to our two kids.

When we got back to Hermano Pedro, Dick finally got to fixing Fidel’s chair, with Moi’s help as “tool handler.” I went and got Brenda and we just rocked and rocked and talked. She would just light up with the least bit of attention. Dick then introduced me to Eduardo, a new boy at the orphanage. He literally looked like a tiny little waif, and almost appeared to be “shell shocked” in his responses. What happened next is one of my best memories from this trip. Ervin, whose nickname used to be “monster” wheeled over and tried to play with Eduardo. He didn’t get much more of a response than Dick and I did until he started clapping, and Eduardo brightened and imitated him. Ervin kept this up, and Eduardo came out of himself more and more, even beginning to vocalize a bit. I haven’t seen him smile yet, but am hoping this will come if Ervin keeps “working” with him. I don’t think that there is anything that touches my heart more than to see these kids reaching out to each other.

After helping Moises with his homework, it was time to head home. I still had a couple of errands to run and it was getting late. This was a full day, but a satisfying one. It seems every time I am here, each day is better than the last. After a day like this, I fall into bed exhausted, but I wouldn’t trade this exhaustion for a week in the Bahamas!

Pat

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 (by Pat Duff)

Wow! Each day seems to get more jam packed than the last, if that’s possible. While I can’t say the pace is hectic, it sure is intense, at least when I’m hanging around with Dick. But what I get to experience going out with Dick makes the exhaustion at the end of the day well worth it.

Today we planned to leave early for the Equintla area. Shortly before he was to pick me up, Dick called saying that he’d be late (yes, this is Guatemala. . .yes, this is Dick. . .’nuff said!). He thought his steering felt a little off, and when he got down to check it found that 3 of the 4 bolts that hold the steering arm on had snapped off. He thought it might be a good idea to get these fixed before we set off on a two hour drive, so he’d be a little late. I guess this time, he was right. I’m so grateful that God let this happen BEFORE we set out, and even more grateful for Dick’s sensitivity to what’s going on with his vehicle.

This gave me time to work a bit on my journal. I now know why Dick only publishes once a week. This last week we’ve been too busy DOING for me to want to spend much time writing about what we’ve done. On the other hand, I don’t want to forget any of it, and, if I can give you just a “taste” of Guatemala, it’s worth the effort.

About 11 I met up with Di, the young woman we met yesterday at Hermano Pedro. She was anxious to get out of the city and see some of the “real” Guatemala, so was coming with us today. As she shared her experiences, and Dick shared some of his, I kind of felt like a “poor relation” tagging along, but enjoyed their stories immensely. Cesar, one of Dick’s boys, came along with us, too, since, once again, he had no school today. I couldn’t quite get a good explanation of why this was, but do know that there seems to be no such thing as a substitute teacher in Guatemala, so if the teacher will not be there, there is no class. I was glad he was coming, though, because I’d wanted to meet him since I met his brother, Miguel, last January.

As we headed out I was excited to get to return to a part of Guatemala I’d visited with our mission team last year. This coastal area is very different in almost every way from Antigua, and I think that’s some of the reason I’m so attracted to it. Our first stop was to see Sergio who lives near Santa Lucia. Going to his home seemed like an exercise in “you can’t get there from here.” We kept hitting dead ends, closed roads, impassable parts. When I went to take a picture of one of these dead ends, Dick calmly suggested that I might not want to do that, since this would greatly increase our chances of getting lynched before we got out of town. Seems the folks in this area are not too sure of white folks, given the stories they have heard about foreigners. Somehow Dick, with the help of his GPS, managed to find the house. Sergio was not going to school because the wheel on his power chair was broken. It just so happened that his mom had called Chris Mooney, head of Bethel Ministries, about this just the day before, and Chris called Dick to find that it just so happened that he was planning to go to this area this week. Godincidence Perhaps?

When we got there Dick discovered that all that was needed was a nut to go on the bolt of one of the front wheels. It seems incredible that something so simple can keep this young man from school, but this was the case. Since I was the only one on the trip with a passable knowledge of both English and Spanish I got to do the interpreting today. I’m continually impressed by the willingness of the Guatemalans to help me muddle through. This family was no different, and I think Mama even enjoyed having someone to talk with about her son. I tried to explain to them that if this happened again, they could perhaps get the part at a bicycle or auto shop. Am not sure they “got it” but it was worth a try.

I am always humbled by the hospitality of the families we visit. As soon as we enter a home, the family scrambles to find chairs for us to sit on. In this case, they also brought us juice to drink, and offered us a snack. Sergio’s brother enjoyed having to teach both Di and me how to eat guyaba. I don’t know exactly how to describe these except that they look like a tiny green orange. So I started trying to peel it, much to the family’s amusement. I now know that the entire fruit is edible, and the pulp inside is a bit sweet.

Our next stop was Ronnie’s. I was really looking forward to seeing this family, because I was part of a group that had painted their house last summer. Ronnie is one of seven children, and has Muscular Dystrophy. He is obviously much weaker than he was a year ago, but was still able to show his excitement at seeing Dick. We were bringing him a new battery for his power chair so he could go to school.

It was wonderful to see this family again, and I got tears in my eyes when Clara, the second oldest daughter, came up to me and said, “I know you. You painted my house!” I’d fallen in love with the three older girls, and it touched my heart that she had remembered me. It was nice to see, too, that the family had made “improvements” on their home, putting a fence around the yard and planting flowers on both sides of the “walk” to the house. You can tell they appreciate and take pride in their home.

Dick and Cesar, with the help of Ronnie’s dad, were able to trade out batteries in no time at all, while I got to visit with his mom about the family. Orlindo, the 6 year old boy, had just “made” his school’s soccer team and was so proud. All the children were doing well in school and Dick was happy to hear that Jessica, the oldest daughter, was still in school. She had been having some problems with her teacher because she was often late, after helping get Ronnie ready and to school. It seems her parents have resolved this issue with the school at least for now. It is so good to see these parents willing to advocate for their daughter.

Mom told me that Jessica would turn 15 next year, which is cause for a great celebration when a daughter hits this milestone. Dick tells me the families often make a bigger deal about a “quinsinera” than they do a wedding! Evidently Mama was already starting to dream about what she would like for her first daughter’s “coming of age.” I’m hoping I’ll be here to attend Jessica’s party. The two older girls were excited when Di gave them a dress and blouse she’d brought with her. She literally gave Clara the “shirt off her back” and the two girls tried on their new clothes and looked like princesses.

Since it was getting late and threatening to rain, we cut our visit with this family short and started back for Antigua. We did have time to stop at a clinic operated by a doctor from Cuba and his nurse Walter. They help with providing food for some of the children in the area who have returned home from the malnutrition program at Hermano Pedro. Walter updated us on Julio and Milton, two of these children. Dick was not sure that Milton would still be alive, and was pleasantly surprised to hear that, at least for now, he is doing well. Even though it was after 5 in the afternoon and there were still a number of people in the doctor’s waiting room the doctor came out to greet us in between patients. He is such a kind and gracious man.

As we finally headed back for Antigua, I was pretty well exhausted. But Dick’s day was not nearly over. He still needed to connect with Roland who had brought a young girl with spina bifida and clubbed feet down to the hospital. Roland needed money for some tests the girl was to have done in Guatemala City next week. Dick provided these funds from his own resources, but had to firmly explain to Roland that Bethel’s medical fund was completely out of money. With all the things I’ve gotten to watch Dick do, having to say no to helping someone always seems to take more out of him than anything else. From the little I’ve been here I can understand this. There are so many people in need. How do you decide who gets help and who does not? All they can do is pray and trust God to show them who to help. When there is no money available, however, this makes the decision easier, but even more painful. If you’d like to donate to this fund, please e-mail Dick at dick@dickrutgers.com or click on Bethel Ministries to find out how you can help. I know Dick doesn’t like to ask for donations in his journal, but I’m hoping in this case he’ll make an exception and allow me to make you aware of this great need.

While I’m sitting here writing this, I have (finally) realized just how different my experience of Guatemala has been because of my friendship with Dick. I first met the kids at Hermano Pedro through him, went into a traditional village for the first time with him, and have gotten to tag along and meet countless “real” Guatemalans over the past 2 years and even have the privilege of sponsoring a wonderful young man named Miguel so he can stay in school. I probably would have been very satisfied to stay with the “traditional” volunteer activities here in Antigua, were it not for his encouragement to step out and try something different. When I first thought of moving to Guatemala, he was one of the first people I talked to abut this, and his belief that I could actually pull this off gave me the confidence to take the risk of pursuing this dream. And if I “fit in” with the Guatemalan people, so much of this is due to what I have learned watching him and from his stories. Little did I know a few years ago what would happen when a young man in the Guatemala City airport told me that I needed to meet “this guy” in Antigua who makes and fixes wheelchairs. Thank you, God, for all the “Godincidents” you’ve given to show me the way, and thank you, Dick, for letting our Father use you in growing me.

Pat

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 (by Dick)

After stopping off at the shop and picking up the powered wheelchair that Cesar and I had rebuilt for Myrna. I headed out to Hermano Pedro. I had forgotten a few things at home so I stopped of there to pick them up. When I pulled into my alley I was greeted by Fernando He told me that he had woken up with a stomachache so he had stayed home form school today. His stomachache was no over but if you are not at school by 7:30 you are not allowed in. It took a bit of talking by both Fernando and his aunt but I finally gave in and let him come along to Hermano Pedro with me. When we got to the orphanage we were met by Pat who already had all of the needed paper work completed, so that we could take Ervin, Brenda, and Bobby out to lunch. I think that Camperos my be loosing some of my business because we are starting to enjoy the food and relaxing atmosphere of the cafe that our church has. Even though there is no playground equipment and no toy with your meal the kids seem to enjoy it every bit as much as the adults. They love playing on the large grassy area as well.

After lunch Fernando, Pat, and I drove up to Santa Maria De Jesus. Myrna had been with out her power chair for far to long so I was glad that we finally had the opportunity to bring it to here today. What we did not count on was a cloud burst that soaked us and the wheelchair while were pushing it up the narrow alley that leads to her home. Even though we tried our best to keep the chair as dry as possible something got shorted out and when we finally got it into her house we discovered that it would not run. I tried my best to get things dried out but could not get it going. Myrna’s family was very understanding though and seem far more concerned about how wet we were than the fact that the wheelchair would not run. They even found a shirt for me that somewhat fit and even attempted to dry me off with an old towel that felt like sand paper. We visited for about a half hour but the rain did not let up. I told the family that I would leave the wheelchair there and return for it on a dryer day.

When we got back to Antigua we drove straight to Hope Haven’s wheelchair factory. Mark had called me earlier in the day telling me that some one was bringing in a little girl that needed a wheelchair. Shortly after we arrived Moraine a lady that live in Chimaltenango arrived with 2 a and a half year old girl that is named Lady. Moraine operates a small orphanage for special needs children right here in Chimaltenango. Judging by the love that was shown to Lady by both Moraine and a caregiver that had come along I think that I want to visit this orphanage as soon as possible. I nearly wept when I was told that this precious little girl had been thrown into a hole and left to dye bye her parents because she had some brain damage. Praise God she now has people that love her to care for her. Both Pat and I would have loved to have the opportunity to hold her more but Fernando beat us to the punch.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Ronny’s mom had called to say that Ronny was quite sick and that they had no way to get him to the doctor. I picked up Pat and we headed to his house. The rest of our day was spent in seeing doctors, and having tests done at various labs and clinics. He has some infection in his lungs but it looks like it has been caught in time to prevent it from turning into pneumonia. Please pray for Ronny because he seems to be a bit weaker every time that I see him.

Friday, June 5, 2009

I would like to write more about days like yesterday and today but lately I simply do not have the time. I am finding it harder and harder to find the time to write these journals. I don’t know the answerer but may have to stop doing daily entries and just post the highlights of the week.....Just five minutes ago I received a phone call form a lady in Antigua who I promised a power wheelchair to over 3 months ago. Yesterday when we went to see Ronny I had taken a wheelchair along for a boy who lives in Esquentla hoping that I would have enough time to get him fitted. As severer as he was I need several hours to do this. This chair still sits in the back of my car. Even with out stopping there last night I did not get home until 10:30 PM. I have been praying about this and it seems that one thing that takes up a lot of my time is this journal. I love doing this journal because it gives me time to reflect on what God is doing down here and I know that it is also important to keep people informed, but I often find myself having to put off things that are possibly more important. Please pray that God gives me wisdom in this matter.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal May 23 - 29

2009-05-28T07:28:00.015-06:00

Saturday, May 23, 2009

I keep hearing reports that the economy in the USA is really taking a tumble and I am hearing about people that are having to do without a lot of the necessities of life that they have been accustom to having. Some are having to do away with things like Internet or even cable TV. Others are considering getting rid of their second car or possibly even moving into a less expensive home. I even heard of a family that had to give up their yearly membership to their local health club. Don’t get me wrong because I know that there are a lot of people in the USA that are having to tighten up their belt strings a lot further than that, and my prayers are with them. However compared to the 2 families that we visited today I think that the majority of us are richly blessed and should perhaps be counting our blessings rather than out losses.

The first family that we visited today is one that the team that was here built a house for this week. I guess by most of our standards we would not consider a 12 X 25 tin shed a house but don’t go telling this to this family of 6 who consider this a mansion compared to the corn stalk and black plastic dwelling that they had lived in.

(click on any picture to enlarge)

Today the team only stopped by to give the family some groceries and say a final goodbye. But for mother and the 2 youngest children who were not out trying to see if they could find a little work so that the family could put at least something on the table tonight, it was an occasion to once again thank God and the team of Americans for the mansion that they provided this family with. Mom just could not say enough to express her gratitude. She even had each member of the team write down their names so that she could pray for each one of them every day. No this family does not have cable TV or Internet. Guess it would not do much good with out electricity anyway. As for a second car, as far as I know they don’t even own a bicycle. And who needs a health club membership when there is water to carry and fire wood to gather. Why than did this family seem to be so happy and so grateful for something we would likely only use to house a farm animal in.
Next we stopped off at a home that I try to visit at least once a month. Mom is to sick to work and it seems that even though the oldest of the 4 children has a job, working 3 days a week for $3 per day just does not cover all of the families expenses. Even though the one small room that they rent in a nearly vacant building is only 250 Q ($31 per month) that only leaves the family with $5 per month for food and clothing. I guess that since the second to the oldest child does not go to school she could go out and try to find work but jobs are hard enough to get even when you are not blind. The third to the oldest child is the next in line to be the family breadwinner but she would really like to get a few more years of schooling in before she attempts to enter the work force. It is my wish as well that we can keep this fourth grader and her 6 year old brother in school for at least a few more years. We had prayer with the family and then took up an offering. It just didn’t seem fit to pray for them and then leave with out doing some thing other than saying “God bless you. Stay warm, well fed, and healthy.” My friend James had something to say about that. James 2:15 & 16

Just a few weeks ago I was told that some investments that I had made might not be there for me in my golden years. Come to think of it I guess these are my golden years and I am far from starving and I love what I am doing so how can I do anything less than the 2 families that we visited this morning, and praise God for how richly He has blessed me.

The rest of the day was spent at Hermano Pedro. It was good to see the kids but I was saddened to see that even though Jessica talked with the care givers about not keeping kids like Ervin in bed 18 hours a day, things had gotten worse instead of better. When we arrived at 11 AM we found Ervin locked in his cage like crib. It was evident that he had not been taken out of bed at all today and also evident that they had no intention of getting him out of bed. I said nothing to the care givers when I took him out of bed but by the look on my face they all knew that I was going to say something to somebody this coming Monday. I am also going to try to do something about the way that they are force feeding several of the kids. Even though they were just reprimanded for it last week the nurse that fed Jo Jo, who has severe breathing problems, managed to squeeze a full bottle of milk into him in approximately 30 seconds. The way that he gagged and coughed during and after the feeding indicated that a lot of the milk went directly into his lungs.

Even though they are still not allowing visitors into Hermano Pedro for another week or so, I got special permission to bring a group of 12 medical students along into the orphanage with me today, so that we could repair and replace some children’s wheelchairs. Before going there I reminded the group that even though we were being allowed into the orphanage because I had promised them that we would work on wheelchairs the kids were the mane reason that we were there and that they needed love even more than wheelchairs. Guess what? This outstanding teem of young people managed to give the kids both. Even though they fixed and replaced a number of wheelchairs each and every one of them took the time to love on the kids. Thanks team, it was a pleasure spending the week with you!

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Since I wrote far more yesterday than I usually do on the weekends I will make up for it today by keeping this one short.

I had a good weekend.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Monday, May 25, 2009

This morning I went to Hermano Pedro with the intention of swimming with the kids. Monday is the day that they are suppose to do pool therapy with the kids but it seems that it materializes only about once a month at best. The pool was full of water and the temperature was perfect but I was told that today’s reason for not swimming was because the pool had a leek in it. Like I said it was full of water but perhaps there was a fear that it would suddenly get worse and one of the kids would get sucked away.

Since there was no swimming I decided to go in and see if Ervin was once again locked in his crib. I was happy to see that his crib was empty so I went out into the court yard to see if he was there. Sure enough there he was sitting in his wheelchair leaning up against a post. Well actually he was tied into his wheelchair with a bed sheet and his wheelchair was tied to the post. When I asked why I was told that there was a fear that he would get into the flowers. I guess a few days ago he pulled one out of the ground. Heaven forbid a poor flower should be allowed to suffer like that so the intention were to leave Ervin tied to the post until he was put to bed in a few hours. That may have been the intention but he quickly became my mechanics helper for the morning and he had a ball, and never gave mean ounce of trouble. Ervin and I managed to get several wheelchairs repaired and even gave a new one to Gustavo.

At around noon I headed back to my house and picked up Caser. It was actually Abner’s turn to go some where with me but he and most of the other kids are having exams this week. Caser goes to a different school and does not have exams until next week so his teacher said that it would be all right if he missed one day of school. We are spending the night in Mazatinango and plan on meeting up with Roland Elf in the morning.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

After a huge breakfast Caser and I headed out to meet up with Roland in a town that is near the village that Catarina, one of our new students lives in. When we reached the town I phone Roland and discovered that he was in a village about a half hour from there. Seems that the parents of the 2 children that were planning on going with us later today to see the doctors at Hermano Pedro, were getting a bet hesitant on weather or not they wanted to go after all. This is an area that was hit hard during the war in the late seventies and early eighties, so there is still a lot of mistrust of foreigners. It was decided that we would postpone seeing Catarina until later today and go with Pedro, one of the local men that Roland has become friends with and talk to the two families. As things turned out Pedro knew a lot of other people that had clubfoot or other problems that he wanted us to see so we ended up making a lot of unscheduled visits along the way.

One aldea where we stopped off and visited a little girl that could not walk was one of the poorest that I have ever been in. Nearly every house there was made from either rusty pieces of tin or black plastic. One bright spot in the aldea was a small lean-to structure that served as a makeshift classroom for 5 or 6 kids. I doubt that they had ever seen any white people before and the they were quite amused that Rolland and I had to duck way down to go through the doorway of the house of the little girl. After visiting a few more families I said that if we were still going to hire a teacher for Catarina and get the two families to Hermano Pedro before 6 PM that we should do that and schedule few days with Pedro in the near future to see all the people whom he knew that were in need of surgery or wheelchairs. Pedro agreed and promised that he would have plenty of people for us to visit the next time that we came. I am quite sure he will live up to his promise.

As it turned out once we met with Balanc’s parents they were put at ease and wholeheartedly agreed to go with us. Daniel a little boy that I mistakenly referred to as Dario in my April 29 journal had been scheduled to go with us today but his mother had been ill so they could not come along with us. I am still praying that we can get them in to the hospital at a later date because Daniel seems like a prime candidate for clubfoot surgery. Pedro took us to meet another family though. This was the family of Elizabeth, a beautiful 17 year old girl that has 2 clubfeet. Even though she and her family were extremely shy and did not speak any Spanish, once Pedro explained to them why we were there they had there bags packed and were ready to go along with us. Elizebth can walk short distances but knowing that there is even a slight chance that surgery can possibly help, she and her mother decided that even though they were extremely nervous about going with us they were not going to pass up this opportunity of a life time.

Roland and I promised both families that we would be back to pick them up in a few hours but before taking them to Antigua we still had to go to get things set up. We still had to go to Catarina’s village and get her schooling set up. Manwell the man from Catarina’s village was waiting for us. He had already located a lady that thought in a nearby school. This lady proved to be a Godsend. Her interest in working with Catarina was remarkable. I have little doubt that even though Catarina is 20 years old and has never had any schooling Antonia, the new teacher will work hard on getting Catarina mainstreamed into a regular school in a year or two. Catarina was thrilled with the prospect of finally being able to learn to read and write. She was equally as pleased with the wheelchair that we brought for her. Up until now 20 year old Catarina had to get around by dragging herself around with her hands. Antonia, who I am quite certain, will be a real advocate for Catarina, asked us if we could see to it that Catarina got to see a doctor some time in the not to distant future. Catarina has never been to a doctor in her life.

We managed to get the group checked into Cassia Defay in time for supper. Casser was quite shy whenever there was any one in the car besides myself but when he and I stopped off at Piccadilly for supper he thanked me over and over again for taking him along. I thought that the highlight of his trip would have been staying at a motel that had a swimming pool but it sounded like the part that he enjoined the most was that I let him do all of the necessary adjustments on Catarina’s wheelchair. Could it be that this 14 year old is becoming one of those weird people that that find the most joy in serving others? I certainly hope so.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 1:04 PM

I am at the mechanic’s shop. My car is once again loosing power so I have decided to have it looked at. Today I decided to go with Elie. He is the honest inexpensive mechanic that I use most of the time. Every now and then I take my car to some one who seems a bit more professional than Elie but I usually end up finding that I the quality of work by one of the so called professionals is not any better and the price is at least 10 times higher. Besides that I do not have to look over Elie’s shoulder all of the time just to make sure that I am not getting ripped off. I have had to go out and help him find a bolt or even a car part that he accidentally dropped into the dirt a time or 2 but I think that Elie believes that a clean shop is an expensive shop. He even unlocked his small office that he seldom uses and after sweeping some of the dirt off from his desk I have set up shop here and have gotten caught up on several days of journaling. I just heard some one say the equivalent of “Oh No!” in Spanish so I guess I will go out and see what it is that got dropped into the dirt this time.

6:01 PM

My car is fixed. Elie worked on it for over 4 hours and had to disassemble he turbo but he finally found the problem. While he was at it he changed the oil, oil filter, Fuel filter, and he and his family had me join them for lunch. Not a bad deal for $50. As far as I know he didn’t loose any parts while putting my car back together either; at least nothing all that important because my car is running great and so far the steering has not gone out like it did the last time he worked on it.

May 28, 2009
On occasion I ask friends who come to Guatemala if they would like to do journal entries for me. Today I asked my (friend) Pat Duff if she would like to do the journal for June 28 and 29 and she gladly accepted. After looking over her first few paragraphs I am not all that sure that my asking her to do this was a good idea. I thought about editing some the places where she talks about my forgetfulness and my driving but I figured that those of you who truly know me will assume that they are exaggerations, and those of you who know Pat will know for a fact that they are not true. Besides that correcting her spelling mistakes took me forever so you can only imagine how long it would take me to edit everything that she wrote and put write down what really happened.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Part One (According to Pat)

Dick called about 8 this morning, to tell me we would be leaving later than expected—he needed to wait for his clothes to dry! Why did this not surprise me? I’m in Guatemala. . .it’s Dick. . .’nuff said.

About 10 he called, saying he and the boys, Abner and Daniel, were leaving Chimaltenango and would meet me at Pollo Campero’s in about 15 minutes. So, I went, caught a tuk-tuk, and beat them there by about 5 minutes. Was feeling pretty self-satisfied at getting a suitcase and a backpack down there by myself—until Dick confessed that he thought he’d driven right past the house where I’m staying! Why am I not surprised? I’m in Guatemala. . .it’s Dick. . .’nuff said! (According to Pat) (Pat originally asked me to meet her in front of the big church in Antigua. Do you have any idea how many big churches there are in Antigua? . . . .'nuff said.)

After stowing my stuff in the back, we were off for the area around Santa Rosa. The two and a half hour drive was beautiful, and quite restful for me. . .of course, I wasn’t driving. This was actually, though, one of the calmest trips I’ve been on with Dick (Older people frighten easily)
—no real narrow misses and I only have a few more grey hair from his passing two to four vehicles at one time. (Pat failled to mention that the vehicles that I passed were going the opposite direction.)
The trip gave us a good chance to catch up, as Abner and Daniel were busy with their MP3 players in the back seat. I not sure they said more than 2 words in the car the entire way. (My boys have been taught not to interrupt a woman when she is talking.) Boy, my kids NEVER traveled like that! We took a fairly leisurely pace, even having time to stop for ice cream in Esquintla.

Arriving in Barbarena we stopped at our hotel, checked in, had lunch, and headed for Chilapa to pick up Erik. He runs a bicycle repair shop near the home of one of the families we were to visit today. Erik has invested much time and effort attempting to help the people in his area, and was instrumental in setting up a wheelchair distribution there a while back. He is a genuinely kind man. He rode with us up to Wilmer’s house. Wilmer is a great little guy who Dick met at this wheelchair distribution. Together Dick and Erik were able to find a teacher to work individually with Wilmer since he experienced too much ridicule when he tried to attend school.

As we got to the house, Wilmer greeted us at the gate, riding a small trike that he seems to prefer to his wheelchair when in the house. We had a short time to visit with him and his sisters and brothers before Mama returned home. She could not wait to show us Wilmer’s school work, which was top-notch. His teacher was coming up with things for him to do that were not only at his beginning reading level, but age-appropriate and even interesting. We then set off to pay Betty, the teacher, who we were told lived only a short distance up the road. Now, you have to realize that time and distance are measured differently in Guatemala than in the States. I’m not quite sure what their unit of measurement is in reality, but, let’s just say that a “short” distance tired me out (especially since it seemed to be all uphill). And I’m not sure if it’s the altitude or the proximity to the equator, (Have you considered Age?) but 10 minutes takes a lot longer down here.

I considered offering the little boy my suspenders
but I knew that Pat was following me with her camera
and my need for suspenders was as great as the little boy's .

After Dick asked me if I was going to have a heart attack at least twice, we finally arrived at Betty’s home, to find she was not there. After talking with her sister-in-law, it was decided that we would leave Betty’s pay with Wilmer’s mom. We also discovered how Betty had chosen to work more hours than she knew she was being paid for, because Wilmer was willing to work so hard and was excited about this opportunity to learn. I’m sad I didn’t get to meet this dedicated and creative woman. For some reason, the walk back seemed much quicker (downhill?). After we discussed arrangements for Wilmer’s trip to see the doctors at Hermano Pedro, Maria, his mom, asked if there was any way his younger brother Walter could possibly see a doctor also. Dick and I had been discussing how to approach this topic, since Walter appears to have a number of medical problems that need attention. Once again, God came through for us, and Mom herself asked for this help. It’s great to offer to help people, but it’s also easy to come across as “know-it-all” American’s that it’s better when the request comes from the person themself. When this was settled, Maria had one last request before we went—she knew of a little girl in her area who could not walk and didn’t have a wheelchair. Would we have time to measure her for one? Well, if you know Dick, you know the answer was an immediate “yes.”

Maria went with us to show the way, knowing full well she would have to walk home the distance it took us about 15 minutes to drive. I am continually humbled by the willingness of people who have so little to do so much to help others. How she and her young daughter would cover the distance home, I couldn’t imagine. Then there was Erik, who left his shop with no notice in the middle of the day to go with us. Here I’d been complaining about the walk to Betty’s house. Forgive me, Lord, for my addiction to my own comfort. Our activities had taken us quite a bit longer than planned, and I was a bit disappointed that I would not get to meet Byron until tomorrow. Byron was the deaf child I’d brought down a communication system for. Little did I know what God had in mind.

Thursday, May 28, 2003

Part Two (According to Pat) (I read over this section and it seems to be a bit more truthful. I think that the 2 hours nap that Pat had between part one and two may have helped her memory.)Tonight I’ve learned the meaning of the pure joy brought by the surprises our God has in store for us. The drive back to our hotel took us directly past Byron’s house, but we’d decided that it was too late to stop. Dick had promised Abner and Daniel that they could swim this evening, and he was not about to break his word. As Dick was pointing out Byron’s home to me, who should just happen to be playing in front of the house in the approaching darkness? You guessed it, Byron. Of course, now there was no way we could NOT stop. Of all the kids Dick writes about, this one is unique. He and Dick have a special “heart bond” that you can see on both their faces when they are together. So together they would be. We’d planned on stopping only for a few minutes to say hi. Byron’s family graciously invited us in, and Byron immediately rushed to show Dick his schoolwork. Grandma explained that though Byron could not attend the school his brother does, they found a teacher at another school willing to work with him. For the second time in one day, I was amazed at the dedication and skill of another Guatemalan teacher. This little one who could not hear was learning to read and write and count. How the teacher was teaching him this, I don’t know. I do know Byron is one bright little boy, who manages to communicate quite well with his family through a type of sign language they’ve developed. It seems he would be able to do anything he put his mind to. We’d told Grandma about the cards I’d brought to try to help Byron communicate more easily. She was very willing to have us try this, and we told her we’d be back the next day. As the conversation went on to Byron’s up-coming appointment at Hermano Pedro, Dick looked at me sheepishly (According to Pat) and asked what I thought of asking Grandma if Byron could come to spend the night with all of us at the hotel. (Actually I had Pat's welfare in mind I know that if we took Byron to the hotel with us Pat would be able to break away from working with Byron and go to here room for a nap every half hours or so.)
Since I wanted to be sure this was communicated in exactly the best way, I asked Abner to translate for us. Grandma immediately agreed and the next few minutes were spent frantically looking for appropriate clothes for him to wear, and having him wash up. It was heart-warming to see Grandma and Byron’s aunts scurrying around to get him ready. He is truly loved and cared for by this family. And the depth of their concern for him made their willingness to entrust him to us for the evening all the more touching. As we walked to the car, I don’t know who was happier, Dick or Byron. I guess it really doesn’t matter. This was my first experience of pure joy tonight, watching them cross the road hand in hand.

After a quick supper in the hotel’s great restaurant, it was decided that it was still not too late to swim. So off to the pool we went. Byron didn’t seem too accustomed to swimming, and was playing by himself in the children’s pool while the big guys swam in the “deep” one. Since I really don’t swim, I went over to sit with him. He was so excited he couldn’t contain himself, and made every effort to show me every trick he could think of. His delight was contagious. This was my second dose of pure joy for the night. After a bit, Byron’s confidence grew and he was willing to go with Dick into the deep water. More and more he relaxed in Dick’s protective grasp. More and more he became willing to try new things, until he was totally comfortable taking a running leap off the side of the pool to be caught up by Dick before he would go underwater.

Watching his total abandonment and trust in Dick was the third time I felt pure joy this night. Oh, that I would trust my heavenly Father half as much as this little one trusted Dick. In a few minutes, Byron got cold, and he and Dick went up to change and watch TV. Since the night was still and the water warm, I decided to stay down and watch Abner and Daniel play their own brand of “water soccer.” Abner had worked so hard today translating for us when I felt unsure of myself. It was refreshing to watch him and Daniel just being kids. Their pleasure in their game renewed my heart. I enjoyed the time getting to know them a little bit more. Their acceptance of me touched me. My final gift of pure joy for the evening was floating at the side of the pool, hearing their laughter and thanking God for the day. It doesn’t get any better than this!

Friday, May 29, 2009 (According to Pat)

As I was slowly waking at about 6:30 (more like 9:30) this morning, I was jarred to immediate alertness by a LOUD banging on my door. I jumped up, threw on my skirt, and leapt to the door ready to strangle Dick who I’d assumed was just being obnoxious. Throwing open the door ready to pounce, I was greeted by Byron’s smiling face, motioning for me to come with them to breakfast. I hurriedly dressed and we walked down the extremely steep hill to the restaurant. I swear, everything in Guatemala is on at least a 60° angle! (15° at best)

Being much younger, Byron (and Dick) ran ahead of us (me). As we entered the restaurant, Dick and I saw this little guy who could not speak had already gotten the attendant to turn on the computer for him! What independence. He had watched a little boy playing on it the night before. We helped him find some free games on the internet, but he wanted little if any help figuring out how to play them. He made it extremely clear that he could do this himself! It appeared that Byron must have had some opportunity in the past to use a computer. After checking out a number of games, he did condescend to taking turns with a motorcycle game with Dick. We let him play until his breakfast arrived. Then it took the full willpower (stubbornness?) of two grown people to convince one little boy that he really did want to eat more than he wanted to play the computer. (Turning off the monitor helped, too.) Thankfully, we averted a tantrum this time. Once again at breakfast, Byron showed his independence. I’d forgotten to order him something to drink, but that was no problem. He just took the cup Dick was not using, poured himself a cup of coffee, and added two heaping teaspoons of sugar to it! Tasting it, he made a sour face, and added a third for good measure. And when the waitress returned to see if we wanted anything else, he very ably communicated to her that he would like a glass of orange juice just like Dick’s! What a kid! Earlier this morning, Dick told me, Byron had figured out how to use the self-timer on Dick’s camera and had a great time taking pictures of himself with it. He has quite the aptitude at using electronics, it seems. He learned my camera instantly, and occupied himself by taking pictures of everyone in the restaurant this morning! After a quick swim, it was time to get to work at using his communication cards. I’d worried for weeks about how to communicate their use to a child who didn’t hear. This was all new to me. Silly me, Byron took to using them like a duck to water. He especially liked the photos I’d included of his family and Dick. With no instruction, he immediately made it clear that his favorite activity of those on the cards was kicking a ball. We practiced some with using the cards to request different types of candy and colors of crayons. It was clear, however, that he didn’t need practice, just the opportunity to use the cards in the real world. He ran off excitedly to show his new cards to Dick. With our work done, we headed back to the pool. The sun was shining warmly and it was a truly glorious day to be in the water. Dick, Byron and I tried to play a game of “keep away” against Abner and Daniel. With my inability to swim, and the water up to my chin, and the need for Dick to hold on to Byron to keep him from going under, Dick got quite the workout. And he now knows why I was usually the last one chosen (deservedly) for team sports in school! How the time flew so quickly, I don’t know, but all too soon it was time to check out. Dick and I talked about how this trip was nothing like we had expected—it was so much better than we thought it would be. Thank you, God, for this gift of recreation. I hadn’t realized how much I need to relax, have fun, and just laugh. Thank you, Dick and Byron, and Abner, and Daniel, for giving me so many opportunities to do just that! I couldn’t have picked four better men to travel with, even if the testosterone level in the car was a bit high at times.

Lunch at Campero’s was a bit challenging for our little guy. He’d seen the card I had with the Campero’s logo sitting on my bed, and he jumped right on it. It was clear that that was where he wanted to go for lunch. How do you say “no” to a little boy who finally was able to ask for what he wanted? So Campero’s it was! Walking in, Byron was excited to see some animal hats that should have come with the kids’ meal in a display case. Yes, I said “should have come” because when our food came we discovered that the store was out of the hats and was substituting a little pokey-mon type stuffed character. Byron was obviously disappointed, and gave the toy to Dick. He ate his meal well, even if he and Dick did not display the best table manners, and was ready for dessert. Disappointment #2—this Campero’s didn’t have ice cream, even though there was a large sign advertising ice cream cones! This was VERY difficult to communicate to Byron, and after his earlier disappointment about the hats was almost too much for him to handle. We tried ordering him chocolate pie, offered him flan, but he would have none of it. It was ice cream or nothing! I stepped away from the table for a few minutes, and returned asking Dick if he wanted me to go to the “tienda” across the street to buy Byron a cone. With a scathing look, he informed me that that would NOT be happening as Byron had been pouting with his head on the table since I’d left. Knowing better than to argue with Dick (and being the submissive woman that I am) (Those who know Pat know the truth) we left without Byron having dessert. He continued to pout all the way to the car and until we pulled away from the curb. Then Dick remembered that he’d “promised” Byron that he could help “drive.” Motioning for him to sit on his lap, Dick helped Byron steer the car around the block. Byron actually did a pretty good job of doing most of it himself. I could not refrain, however, from asking Dick to explain to me the logic of refusing to give a child ice cream because he was pouting, and then allowing him to DRIVE A CAR while he was still pouting! Dick mumbled something about keeping promises, (I didn't mumble I think that pat was having problems with her hearing aid.) and I’m still waiting for a reasonable answer. (Seemed reasonable to me) This seemed to appease Byron, however.

We headed back home with Byron, all of us dreading the need to say good-bye. As soon as we got there, Byron showed his cards to Grandma, and demonstrated how to use them. I really wanted to meet the teacher who was willing to put so much effort into helping Byron, so asked where she lived. Since it was only a few doors away, one of his aunts went to get her, and Julicia (the teacher) was with us in a few minutes. This beautiful young woman then explained to us all she was doing to help Byron learn. What was so amazing was that she didn’t seem to think she was doing anything unusual, let alone remarkable. Hopefully she now knows how much of a blessing she is to this little one, because we sure tried to tell her! I asked if they had a computer at her school, and she got a shocked look on her face, explaining that they did not even have electricity! Grandma also said that Byron had never used a computer. Dick and I were stunned. Evidently he had learned what he knew about computers from watching the little boy the night before in the restaurant. I’d give anything to know what his real ability level is, because he has to be a lot smarter than I am! Something tells me that this guy is going to “make it,” and probably do something really remarkable. He sure seems to have the ability to do so. Am still trying to figure out whether or not Byron is handicapped, despite his inability to hear. Seems to me he functions better than a lot of us who have full use of all of our senses!

Pat Duff

Thanks Pat: We had a great time as well and we are proud of ourselves for letting you pick on us so unmercifully with out retaliating. It was a great trip and we were glad that you were part of it.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal May 16-22 2009

2009-05-22T20:25:00.006-06:00

Rodrigo
February 2006 - May 2009

I just received the following letter from my friend Rolland Elf. Rodrigo is a little boy who’s home we visited and gave a wheelchair to last January. Both Rodrigo and his mother were in poor health due to a severe beating that Rodrigo’s mother received from her husband while she was pregnant with Rodrigo.

Hi Dick,

Rodrigo son of Francisca; on Monday I received the very sad news about our little friend Rodrigo. I offered to take him and his mother Francisca, the week before to Antigua, when I was going with mother Rosaria and her son Freddy and Mauricio and his son Giovanni. I gave Francisca money to help a little and she and her brother said that they were going to think about my suggestion that I could bring Francisca and her son to Antigua. .......... He was having fever and coughing and I think he had a convulsion before he died. I hope I can find a scholarship for Francisca's little sister Rosa, to help their family a little; I will keep on searching for Rosa.

I am sending you some of my photos I took in January when he received his wheelchair; one is with him with you and Pat. Perhaps you want to write a little about him and his mother in your journal. Rodrigo is now with God

God bless; Roland

Galatians 6:9

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

"Tonight I am weary."

Matthew 11:28

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

"I am so thankful that I have a Heavenly Father Who holds me tightly."

Goodnight;
Yours in Christ: Dick

Sunday, May 16 - Thursday May 21, 2009

It has been another busy week. A teem of medical students has been with us since Sunday and we have done wheelchair distributions, home visitations, built a house, had a pizza party at my house, and many other things. One thing that I have not been doing for the past several days is writing in my Journal. I considered spending my entire day at home today, getting caught up on my journal but I have to many other things that I have to get done. So the first 5 days account of this week’s journal is going to be highly condensed and consist of a lot more pictures than words.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Friday, May 22, 2009, 7:48 PM

Today Cesar came along with me to the wheelchair shop. Actually all of the kids were out of school. (Why? I have given up on trying to figure out why.) I let Cesar be the one to come along because I was going to try to put the finishing touches on Mirna's power chair today and Cesar who had been the one that helped me work on it a little over a week ago had taken a real interest in working on it so I wanted him to help complete it. I had hoped that we could deliver it to Mirna today but we simply ran out of time because I had to run to Antigua to get a list of chairs that we are going to try to repair tomorrow.

Hermano Pedro orphanage is still closed to volunteers because of fear of swine flue. I personally think that most people are over reacting. However I do believe that there are a few people who should perhaps be a bit more cautious.

(Click on any picture to enlarge,)

(but only if you really want to.)

It took special permission to get the group of medical students allowed into the orphanage with me tomorrow but only after I assured the administration that none of them had traveled through Mexico on there way to Guatemala and that none of them had recently kissed any pigs they finally gave their OK. We will not be able to take any kids out to lunch but at least we can get into the orphanage and repair some wheelchairs. I have already briefed the group on allowing as many kids as possible to help out as mechanics. Yes that will slow the repairs down to a snails pace but the repairs are not what it is all about.

Since I will be busy with the group tomorrow and plan on heading up to Mazatinago on Sunday, we moved our weekend soccer game up to this evening. We had a good turn out tonight, fifteen of us in all. After the game the kids told me that they were hungry so we went to my house and filled up on bologna sandwiches. After our gourmet supper I told the kids that I needed a few hours to myself so that I could get this journal finished. All of them have now gone except 3. Those 3 are playing so quietly that I am going to act like I forgot to tell them to leave as long as they keep the noise down.

Actually I think that over all, now that the kids are getting older they are a little more mellow than they use to be. I have not had to replace a window in over a week now. Then again I did have to replace my motion detecting yard light yesterday. Evidently it did not detect the motion of an oncoming soccer ball in time to get out of the way. I have also made a sign to remind the kids that soccer is an outdoor sport.

Well the clock on the wall says that it is once again time to say, "Goodnight."

I thought about buying a new clock,
but this one still works.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal May 9-16

2009-05-14T23:34:00.012-06:00

Saturday & Sunday, May 8 & 9, 2009

A friend that was here with the last team gave me some money and told me to spend it on my kids so this weekend we did it up big.

(click on any picture to enlarge). . . . . . . .. .. .

. . . . . . . . .

We went swimming and then out for hamburgers on Saturday, and after church on Sunday we went out to eat and then 15 of us rented a soccer field. That was my weekend in a nut shell.

Monday, May 10, 2009

While I was at church yesterday, I was told by some friends that they had gone to visit Hermano Pedro but were turned away at the door. They had been told that because of fear of the swine flue no visitors were going to be allowed into the orphanage section of Hermano Pedro for the rest of the month. This morning I went to Hermano Pedro to check into this. I met with Xiomara (easy for you to say) who coordinates the volunteers and she confirmed that the board of directors had made this decision. I guess that they figure that if any one were to bring the virus into the orphanage it would likely be a foreigner who had come in from another country. So I am allowed in but at least for the time being I cannot take any of my kids into the orphanage with me and I cannot take any groups through the orphanage or take any of the kids out to lunch. They are talking about lifting this restriction at the end of the month.

After my visit with Xiomara I went into see the kids. A few of the therapist were in the pool with a couple of the kids. I quickly put on my swimsuit and joined them. This at least allowed one more kid to get into the pool. Five kids is not a lot but since there were no volunteers, only 5 kids got to swim this week.

After swimming with the 5 kids I went in to see the other kids. I tried to explain to them why I well not be able to take them out of the orphanage for a while but I am not sure that many of them fully understood. Moises who I had promised to take to Camperos today seemed to understand but was not happy about it.

As you can see by the photos neither Byron nor Ervin were all that pleased either.

I did not stay long because I had to make an emergency run to the coast. Carlos a little boy who we supply seizure medicine for had run out of medicine. Since there was no school today (What is the reason for no school? Logical - It is 1 day after Mother’s Day day today.) Calin, Caser, and Miguel accompanied me.

After getting money for the medicine to Carlos’s mother the boys and I stopped of and visited with Ronny and his family. Things are going quite well with Ronny’s family except that the teacher that always worked with Ronny has transferred to another school. Ronny’s family is getting braver though and they have gone to the administrator of the school to complain about a teacher that dislikes Ronny and does not want him in school. I am staying out of this one but am happy to see that Ronny’s family is standing up for their son’s rights. Guess what, the entire school in Ronny’s aldea is out for the week. Why? You guessed it. It was mother’s day on Sunday. I guess some of you moms who don’t think that you get enough recognition, as mothers should move down here. Then again I am not sure that the mothers here consider it all that much of a treat having 5 to 10 more of their kids stay home with them all day.

Ever since there last visit I had promised Ronny and his brother Arlindo that I would let them come over and visit at my house again, so since they had no school I figured that today would be as good of a day as any. Mom made Arlindo take a bath before he came along though. I think that was a wise decision because I was not sure weather or not there was a kid under all of that dirt. I think that once he got the hang of it he liked being clean because he asked if he could take another shower when he got to my house and then took his third one of the day before bed.

Ronny is not running fevers like he had been a few months ago but he is getting weaker. He can still sit up and drive his power wheel chair but often times his head falls forward and he does not have the strength to bring it back up again. I will likely have to get up every few hours and re-position him because he gets sore lying in one position and cannot re-position even his arms or his legs anymore.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Arlindo is in the shower and Ronny is in his wheelchair playing on the computer. Ronny slept about an hour and a half at a time but then he would call me to re-position him. We did this all through the night but at around 6 AM he asked me if I would put him into his wheelchair. He seems to really be enjoying himself though and although he is a very quiet boy and visits very little with my other kids he seems quite content just being here. Seven year old Arlindo on the other hand is an extrovert and has my neighbor kids in stitches most of the time. I am praying that he does not have muscular Dystrophy like his brother. If he does it will likely show up with in the next year or 2. There is a 50-50 chance that he has it. He and Ronny have a younger brother that also has a 50-50 chance of having it. It is not likely that the girls in the family will get it but there is a 50-50 chance that they will carry it on to any sons that they have when they get older.

Once Arlindo got out of the shower the 3 of us headed to Camperos for breakfast. (Believe it or not all of the other kids are in school today). Since we had taken Ronny’s power wheelchair along to my house we decided to walk. When we got to Camperos Arlindo complained about how cold it was. Actually it was near 75 but that is a lot colder than the weather where he is from. He told me that when we got back home he wanted to take a hot shower to warm up but fortunately he forgot about that by the time we returned.

At 2:30 the kids got out of school. I had promised Abner, Fernando, and Alex that they could come along to bring Ronny and Mr. clean back home. I had also hoped to pick up 2 families that live near the coast on our way back from Ronny’s and get them in to Hermano Pedro to see the doctor but we were unable to contact one of them and the other evidently waited for us at the wrong place. Tomorrow both families plan on taking the bus in to Antigua and meeting me there. We can only wait and see.

I am back at home and have just ushered the second to the last of a dozen kids to the gate. It seems that even though it is past 10 PM none of them were all that anxious to leave. Calin is still here but I told him that he may stay. I want to have a little talk with him. His brother Walter just sent him $100 so that he could buy a new cell phone that has a built in camera and plays music. I am paying Calin’s way through school because his family cannot afford to. Am I just tired or is there something wrong with this picture?

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

As I was on my way out of the door I received a call from David, who works at the Hope Haven wheelchair factor in Antigua. He told me that a family had shown up there with a 13 year old girl that needed a wheelchair and he was wondering if I could come by and fit her. I told him no problem but when I got there I discovered that there was one. None of the wheelchairs that Hope Haven had on hand were right for her. A quick phone call to Chris over at Bethel Ministries and we were back in business. Chris confirmed that he had the right chair for her. At first I was going to drive back to Chimaltenango by my self and pick up the chair but then I decided to take the family that needed the chair along with me. That way I could fit the girl there and make sure that it was indeed the chair that she needed. It was, and with in an hour we were all on our way back to Antigua. I love it when Christian organizations can work together to help change someone’s life.
I am now sitting at the coffee house that our church runs having some lunch. Believe it or not I am all by myself. Seems that all of my kids happen to have school at the same time. That is a rarity. Fact is Caser has already informed me that he has no school tomorrow. I didn’t ask why but it is probably in celebration of it being 3 months and 12 days after ground hog’s day tomorrow.

Well I guess I better head over to Hermano Pedro. The Lady that I waited nearly an hour for yesterday is suppose to meet me there in a little while. She called this morning to ask why I wasn’t at the place that we had arranged to meet at yesterday. I was there, so I am hoping that today one of us is more visible. There are actually two families that are supposed to meet me at Hermano Pedro today. Each of them has a child that has been having severe seizures and the parents want to see if anything can be done for their children. These are the 2 kids that I wrote about on May 5. They have not seen doctors in several years and there seems to be little interest on the part of the doctors that they had seen to see them again.

I had to wait until around 5 but didn’t have much time to sit around because Jessica wanted to show me 2 new kids that are in need of wheelchairs. Actually I discovered that only one of these 2 little boys needs a wheel chair. Upon examining the second one I could see that he had good strength in his legs so I stood him up. He had no problem standing so I took his hand and motioned for him to walk with me. After a few steps I let go of his hand and away he went. You would think that everyone would have been happy but Jessica looked at me and said. “You realize that if the nurses find out that he can walk on his own they will likely keep him locked up in his crib the entire day, just like they always did with Sam Sam”. Since I was in the room alone with the 3 therapists I asked them if they had no power over this. I told them that I thought that they were there to try to get the kids to be as mobile as possible. I asked what good it was if they succeeded in making a child mobile if that child was only going to be locked up all day. Jessica said that they had a meeting scheduled tomorrow morning so she promised that she would once again bring up the subject. I think that after years of seemingly banging your head against a wall most people get tired of the head aches and ease up a bit. I pray that the children continue to take priority over the headaches. If not I will be guilty of letting my comfort take priority over that of the kids. I know that Jessica feels that way as well, it is just that we have to remind each other every now and then. OK I will climb back down from my soap box, but there is something terribly wrong when a child has to be put in a wheelchair so that the nurses do not find out that he can walk. I praise God for Hermano Pedro because a lot of people are getting good help there but I will not give up on advocating for the changes that still need to be made.

After the families showed up we got the needed paper work done to get both children scheduled for an appointment with a pediatrician in the morning and then hopefully the opportunity to see a neurologist. I got them settled in to Hermano Pedro and then headed for home. It was my full intention to lock the kids out for a few hours but since 2 of them were already in the house doing home work and those that were waiting at the door gave me a look that can change even the hart of a tired old man I gave in and told them that they could come in for a little while. That was about 4 hours ago. Now that all 10 of them have eaten and we have all done a lot of visiting I am going to get firm and tell them that they have to leave. Well most of them, I have promised Fernando and Caser that they can spend the night. The other day I overheard some one, and it sounded like they said that I had a soft hart. Then again my hearing isn’t all that great so they may have said that I had a soft head. Either way those brick wall have worn it out for the day so I am going to say, “Goodnight”.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Thursday, May 14, 2009, 10:27 PM

My entire day was spent at Hermano Pedro today. Because of the Swine flue threat there is still almost no one accept staff allowed in with the orphanage kids but hopefully that ruling well be lifted by the first of June. Although a good part of my day was spent in the orphanage part of Hermano Pedro I also spent part of it with the 2 families that brought their kids in to see the doctor. Both kids got to see the pediatrician but well have to come back to Hermano Pedro in July to see the neurologist. While we were waiting to see the doctor I went and got one of the walkers that some of the orphanage kids use. I put Sylvan the 7 year old boy that was there to see the doctor in it and even though he did not seem to like the idea at first with in a few minutes he was allover the place with it and I had a real battle when it was time to get him out of it. I wish that we could give him one to take home but his mother told me that the floor of their house is uneven dirt. Perhaps he can not have a walker but I am praying that something can be done about the frequent sezures that both children are having.

I managed to get some wheelchair fitted to a few of the kids and even got one of the new little boys into a wheelchair. This was not the boy that I met yesterday that can walk. though. I am still fighting that one. The work that I got done on the wheelchairs went even slower than usual because there are almost on volunteers allowed in the orphanage, thus my amount of little helpers was even higher than usual.

I hated to do it but tonight I simply had to get caught up on answering e-mails, returning phone calls, and getting caught up on this journal, so no kids tonight. This is not easy for me or for the kids but sometimes it simply has to be done.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Friday, May 15, 2009, 7:42 PM

I worked fairly late on the computer last night so I had full intentions of sleeping in this morning. Jason and Caser had other plans though. Jason, who has school in the afternoon came to the house early and informed me that he had to use my computer so that he could do an assignment that had to be handed in today. Not long after he arrived Caser showed up at my door. He announced that just like yesterday he had no school today. I had not been aware until now that the 3 months and 12 days after Ground Hog day celebration lasts for 48 hours. I think that the animal rights people are fighting to have the ground hog get as much recognition as mothers get.

Since Cesar had no school I asked him if he wanted to spend the day with me. Our morning was one of those run around and get nothing done mornings but Cesar seemed to enjoy just hanging out with me. One of our more interesting get nothing done stops was at the upholstery shop that had upholstered the drivers side seat of my car a few months ago. A few weeks ago the front passenger seat of my car got a tare in it so I decided that I would fork out a whopping $25. Not only would it be good to have the tare in the seat fixed but I thought it would be nice to have the 2 front seats match. Who knows if I liked it I would possibly have them upholster the back seat some day so that all of the seats were the same color. Before the helper of the man that owns the upholstery shop removed the front seat of my car I double checked on the price and also confirmed that they could have the work done by noon tomorrow. We have a group coming in from the States Sunday night and I hate to make them sit on apple boxes all of the way from the airport. The owner promised that the job would be done by noon tomorrow because he already had the fabric and confirmed that the price would not change. I then gave a nod to his helper who was already standing next to my car with his wrenches in his hand. With in ten minutes he had the front seat of my car lying out on the ground. As I helped him carry it into the shop the owner proudly held up the piece of material that he was going to upholster the passenger seat with. I quickly gave his helper another nod and with in 10 minutes we had the seat mounted back into my car. Before driving off I promised the owner that I would stop back next week and if he had a piece of fabric that actually matched the drivers seat of my car I would still let him do the job but if not I would take my business else ware.

After a few other stops that were nearly as productive as the upholstery shop, Caser and I headed over to the wheelchair shop. We had several power chairs there that have been had been brought in for repair over a month ago and I knew how desperate their owners must be getting to have them back. Alturo does his best to keep up with the repair of the power wheelchairs but he has several other duties at the shop as well so every now and then I try to spend a day at the shop helping him out. The first wheelchair that we looked at is a head controlled power chair that I put together for a boy about 6 months ago. Since we had no head controllers I attempted to build one. When we gave this boy the chair I told him and his family that I was hoping that the controller that I made would last him until we got a factory made one into the shop. Unfortunately the controller that I made gave out about a month ago and we still do not have a replacement for it. I gave some consideration to building another one but we do not have the right parts, so I guess this young man is going to have to wait. At least he had some freedom for a few months. We still have 3 other people that are waiting for head controlled chairs. I have been promised by some one in the USA that they will arrive shortly on a container.

Next we went to work on Myrna’s wheelchair Myrna is a little girl that lives up in Santa Maria Dejesus. She has gotten good use of a power chair that I set up for her several years ago but has finally outgrown it. Alturo had already replaced a faulty controller so today Caser and I dissembled the chair and built a new seating system for it.

I think that tonight the amount kids have made up for lack of kids that were at my house last night. I am sure this was partly due to the fact that I did not lock them out tonight, but for some reason there were even more kids than usual. I don’t think that wall-to-wall kids is an overstatement. I tried to get a head count but outer than a half dozen that were quietly sitting on a mattresses and another 5 or 6 that were on one of the computers, it was like trying to count a swarm of bees.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Saturday, May 16, 2009, 11:10 AM

That’s right it is the weekend. The 4 kids that never left last night have finished making breakfast and are now doing the dishes, sweeping, and mopping the house. I am paying them for doing some of the chores but they are doing some of the other things with no pay because even though they are not here all of the time (some are getting close to that though) this has in a lot of ways become their home as well as mine.
I am going to try to get this journal out yet today and then the kids and I are going to go out and play soccer.

Hope you have a great weekend; we plan to have one.
Yours in Christ: Dick

2:12 PM

Well we almost got out of the gate to go and play soccer but when we opened it there was a man standing there who told us that he had just driven in from his home that is several hours from here. He told us that he had a 17 year old son that has muscular dystrophy and that his son's power wheelchair had stopped running. This man had taken the wheelchair to Guatemala City hoping that someone there would be able to repair it but had found no one. By a stroke of luck he ran across someone that know about Bethel’s wheelchair repair shop, so not knowing that the shop was closed on Saturdays he had headed out early this morning to see if he could get the chair fixed there. Even though the shop was closed it just so happened that Pastor Juan was there doing some carpentry work. Once Juan heard this man’s story he told him where I lived. Luckily he showed up when he did because if he had shown up at my door 2 minutes later he would not have found me. Normally I would have told him to leave the chair at my place and I would see to it that it got to the shop next week but I could not help but think abut Ronny who also has muscular dystrophy. I know how much Ronny’s power chair means to him and know that a week or two with out his wheelchair could seem like an eternity to this young man. The foot ball game would have to be put on hold.

Twenty minutes later Calin, Cesar, the father of the boy that needed his wheelchair repaired, and myself were at the wheelchair shop. As chance would have it we happened to have the needed parts and in less than an hour we had the chair loaded back into this man's car and were on our way back home with a good running wheelchair. Over and over again this father said how grateful he was, and that he considered it a miracle that his son’s wheelchair had been repaired. Neat thing is Calin and Caser were more excited about the fact that this man’s son now had a working wheelchair than they would have been about scoring a goal in soccer. Could it be that just perhaps all of the so called coincidences that made this happen was actually a GODINCIDENCE ?

As far as the 12 other kids that had been told that the game was being delayed until later this afternoon. I think that they all understood and would have actually felt bad if I had not gone to the shop and repaired this chair. You see, all of my kids have been involved in the ministry in some way and they seem to have caught on to the fact that sharing Christ’s love with those that you come in contact with gives true happiness.

Oh by the way, we did get that Soccer game in a bit later today.

Hope that you have a great weekend; ours certainly has been so far.
Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal May 1-8 2009

2009-05-08T23:57:00.002-06:00

Thursday, April 30 & Friday, May 1, 2009

Click on any picture to enlarge

I am back at home and things are back to normal, or at least as normal as they get around here. A fair size group of kid was already waiting at my gate when I got home Thursday night. There were 12 of them here for supper Thursday night and 16 on Friday. I think that I am going to have to advertise for a cook. The only problem is I don’t know if a cook could fit into my house when there are that many kids. Actually things went quite smoothly. Almost all of the kids pitched in and helped cook on Thursday nigh and on Friday those that did not help out on Thursday got drafted and once they realized that the only way they were going to get anything to eat was if they pitched in and helped. They are all great kids but a I do have a few that take advantage of the willingness of some of the others that are willing to help out with out being asked.A group of around 10 people that are with “Joni and Friends” are going to be with us for about a week, so Friday we had the first of 5 wheelchair distributions that we have planned while they are here. Today’s distribution took place right here in Chimaltenango. Fernando and Cesar came along and helped. No School again?? We gave out about 35 wheelchairs but we did not finish up until around 3:00 PM, because many of them were difficult fits. I worked with Dell a therapist from the States. Because of the severity of 2 of the people that we seated Dell and I only did 3 chairs today. It was great to see some of these people who had never in their lives had a wheelchairs leave for home with smiles on their faces though.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

I only thought that we had some difficult cases yesterday but today we had a family come to the wheelchair distribution in Santa Catarina, that had a 24 year old daughter that made anyone that I have put into a wheelchair lately seem easy. This poor girl was so deformed that I did not know where to start. Usually when we get some one that is extremely difficult I do my best to seat them only to find out a few hours later that I just can’t do it. Then I usually pray about it and God just seems to take over and the fun begins. Perhaps with age I am getting a little wiser because today I immediately recognized that if this young lady was going to be fit into a wheelchair properly it was going to have to be a God-thing.

This young lady was so deformed that Calin and I had to start out with a piece of foam that was nearly a foot thick and carve indentations into it that were nearly that deep just to accommodate for the disfigurement of her back. All I could say when her father laid her onto the piece of carved foam was “Thank you Lord.” The look that this young lady gave me told me that it was perfect for her.

I am starting to realize more and more that every day is a God thing day. It’s just that I don’t always recognize them as such. I think that it is easy to look at the days where everything seems to go relatively easy for me as one of those days where I didn’t really need to rely on God all that much. I guess for some strange reason God seems more real to me on the days that I have to really hold on to Him. How easy it is to forget that He is the one that has a firm grip on me.

Praise God at today’s distribution some of the people that came to receive wheelchairs also made a commitment to place their lives in God’s hand.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Some of the group that is here with Joni and Friends came along to my church with Chris and Donna This morning. After church they had lunch in Antigua while I ran the 11 kids that came to church with me Back to Chimaltenango. Dell the physical therapist that I have been working with the past few days rode along with us. Before dropping the kids off at home we stopped off at Martha's and had some lunch. After dropping all of the kids off Dell and I Headed back to Antigua and met up with the rest of the group at Hermano Pedro. I had planned on giving them a tour of the orphanage but they were already inside with the younger children when I got there.

That was all right with me though because I had not seen these kids in over a week. The next few hours all of us spent most of our time playing with or holding the kids.

At around 4 pm I headed for home. The group from the USA left the orphanage at the same time as I did, so that they could do a bit of junk, (I mean souvenir) shopping. I said a little prayer for them though so perhaps they came to their senses and did something more sensible.

Well it is getting late so I am once again going to say “Goodnight.”

Yours in Christ: Dick

Monday, May 4, 2009, 9:07 PM
We had another good wheelchair distribution today. I think that at least 40 people received wheelchairs. We always give the entire family the opportunity to speak with some one after they have received their wheelchair and almost 100% of the time they say that they want to.
I left the distribution a bit early because I needed to pick up some supplies for tomorrows wheelchair distribution in Antigua. I had also promised the kids that I would do my best to get home in time to rent a soccer field for them for an hour. We normally do that on Sunday afternoon but this weekend it had to get postponed.

After the football game I took Elder, Alex, and Daniel out for Pizza. It was Elder’s birthday yesterday so I had promised him that that I would take him and 2 other kids of his choosing out to eat. I don’t think that I will try that again though because each of the 11 kids that did not get to come along were not to pleased with Elder for not choosing them. Also I had actually planned on taking them out for something bit healthier than Pizza but there was little in the way of open restaurants in town this evening. How was I to know that all of Chimaltenango was going to be with out electricity for several hours?

Tuesday, May 5, 2009,
. . . . .9:26 PM

Wow! This one is actually getting written on the day that it happened. We had another good wheelchair distribution today. Over 50 people received wheelchairs today and for most it was a life changing experience. Can you imagine having to be carried around by some one all of your life? Or even worse having to spend most of your life in bed because there is no one that is willing to take the time to carry you? I feel so honored to be associated with several ministeries that are willing to not only talk to people about the love of Jesus but are actually demonstrating that love to not only the people of Guatemala but to people all over the world. I am also proud of the fact that their primary concern is to have God receive the glory with little thought to weather or not they or their organizations get any recognition. The last few days has been a good example of that. Although these five distributions were going to be primarily a “Joni and Friends” and “Bethel Ministers effort, When it w as apparent that we had more needs than wheelchairs, Hope Haven International was willing to drop everything that they were doing at their Antigua factory to quickly construct over a dozen children’s wheelchairs that have been given out during these distributions. Thanks Mark. Fact is the list of people and organizations that made this and other distributions possible is endless. For fear of leaving someone out I will simply say thank you to everyone.

This morning a few of us got to the distribution about an hour before it was scheduled to take place We discovered that a good number of people who had been invited to this distribution were already there. After we got things set up I asked Hanna if she would interpret for me while I looked over the children that were already there. I like to do this because when we register the people we give them numbers so that they can get served in an orderly fashion. Although we try to serve those who come the earliest first we do make exceptions. If while looking the kids and adults over we see someone that is going to be a difficult fit that will likely take a few hours we often take them first. This not only gives that family the opportunity to head back to their home as soon as possible but it also assures us that we will have enough time to properly fit this individual even if the fitting takes several hours. On today’s walk through we found a few children that would take an hour or 2 to fit but not anyone as severe as the young lady that Calin and I had fitted a few days ago. We did find 2 children though who are having frequent seizures. Fact is one little girl had a seizure while she was at the registration table. We were told by her mother and the mother of a boy who was having several seizures a day that doctors had put them on medications a few years ago but there had been almost no follow up after that. The mother of the little boy contacted the doctor that had seen her son several years before but he did not seem to be interested in even seeing the child and simply told the mother to continue giving her son the medication that seem to be doing him no good. It has to be so hard to watch your child suffer but not be able to find anyone who is willing to do anything to help them. When we asked the parents of both children weather they wanted us to get their children into Hermano Pedro for a good check up there was no hesitation on their part to say yes. On Thursday I will try to set up a day that these 2 kids can come in and be examined by a good neurologist.

The kids that I fit today were a lot of fun. One little boy was so eager to try out his new wheelchair that had a difficult time trying to get him to sit still long enough to fit him. Since he had never been in a wheelchair before I figured that if I set the brakes he would not be able to figure out how to release them. Wrong! Even though he had use of only one hand he quickly figured things out and I had to do a good part of the fitting while he was moving around the building. Perhaps this sort video of him will give you some idea of how much this kid loves his new wheelchair.

. . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . .. . . . . . . .^. .Click button to play video.

After the distribution the mayor and some of the people from the town that we were in of the town that we were in said that they were treating us to lunch. We drove a few miles out of town to a place that had dozens of large cement tanks that were filled with water. The water in the tanks was not the cleanest that I had ever seen but if you looked closely you could see fish swimming it. There were even one or 2 fish floating belly up in the water. I guess they were for anyone that was hungry but could not stand the Idea of having to have one of the fish that was alive slaughtered for his or her benefit. After seeing what our meals were going to be we all sat down and waited to be served our lunch. There were a few in our group that simply could not eat a lunch that was staring back at them but most gave it a gallant effort. Even Chris and Donna who are not big fish eaters did a fare job at picking away at theirs. Judging by this picture of Donna I am not sure that she will be recommending this place to her friends though.

On the other hand “Hurricane” cleaned up on his fish like a tornado. I didn’t do to badly either but contrary to the coaxing of the Guatemalan gentleman sitting next to me some how managed to get full before I reached the head. He told me that the head of the fish and especially the eyes were good for my brain. I convinced him that it was to late.

When I got home tonight the kids and I made spaghetti. I had given some thought to serving seafood but figured that I had eaten enough fish for the day, or perhaps even the year.

Well it is getting late and tomorrow we have another wheelchair distribution scheduled.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Wednesday, May 6, 2009, 6:53 PM

Today was our 5th wheelchair distribution in 6 days. Some one would probably think that these wheelchair distributions are getting to be so much of a routine with us that most of the excitement is gone or that we are perhaps even getting a bit burnt out on fitting and giving so many wheelchairs away. Yes perhaps someone may think that but it certainly isn’t anyone who has ever took part in a wheelchair distribution. I can truthfully say that these past few days of wheelchair distributions have been as exciting for me as the first one that I took part in nearly nine and a half years ago. I never tire of seeing people, some of whom have been through so much be able to see that some one cares about them. Even more exciting is the fact that we can also share with them that they have a Heavenly Father who cared enough about them to give his only Son. No wonder this work stays so exciting.

Two of the teens that were given wheelchairs today looked like they may be candidates for power chairs.

The first was a teen age boy named Elvis. Elvis who is 17 years old has a body that is a mess. To my knowledge he has never owned a wheelchair and I think that I can understand why. When you first look at him you get the impression that there is no way to get this young man into a comfortable sitting position but after several hours work and a lot of prayer, by two therapists a few others and myself Sylvan was comfortably sitting in his new custom fit wheelchair. No, it was not a power wheelchair but his family is going to bring him to our shop in a few weeks and I am going to see what I can do about putting a power chair together that will work for him.

A little later in the day Chris called me over to see a teen age girl that George was setting up a manual wheelchair for. She had not hand use but much like Fidel who lives at Hermano Pedro she has writes and paints with her feet. I ran a few quick tests and I am certain that she will have no difficulty driving a foot controlled power chair. It took no persuasion at all to convince her family to come into the sop in a few weeks so that we can get a power chairs set up for their daughter. Talk about one happy family.

The teem from Joni and friends flies home in the morning. In less than a week we gave out over 220 wheelchairs. Not bad considering a large percentage of them were specialty chairs that required a lot of adjusting and fitting. Pastor Juan told me that several people receive Christ and many rededicated their lives to the Lord as well. Like I said there is no way some thing like that can get humdrum or boring.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Today Caser and Esben accompanied me to Hermano Pedro, because they had no school. Why? The reason for no school is really quite logical. Sunday is going to be mother’s day. Anyway that is logical by Guatemalan standards. Not all of the schools agree with the policy of giving the kids a day off 3 days before mother’s day. Take the school that Calin, Fernando, and Abner go to. They take a far more practical approach to things. That is why they have no school tomorrow, which is only 2 days before mother’s day.

The 2 boys and myself spent a good part of our day getting Byron’s power chair up and running. About a week ago his head controller broke. The poor kid has been lost with out his chair so he was all smiles when we got it going again for him. We managed to take a break from fixing wheelchairs at around noon, and took 4 of the orphanage kids out to lunch with us. Lionel’s father had been here visiting Lionel for a few days so he came along and helped us out as well.

Lionel is doing well weight wise but hates being locked in bed most of the time. I guess that is only natural for a 10 year old though. As much as I appreciate what Hermano Pedro is doing for these kids I have yet to understand why they Allow the caregivers to keep the kids in bed so much of the time.

The kids that showed up at my house when I got home certainly were not locked in any beds, Although in some of my weaker moments when I have really craved an hour or 2 to myself: the thought has crossed my mind.

Here are a few things that I have learned by having at least a dozen kids in my house most of the time.

-There is no such thing as a clean house.

-There is no such thing as a full refrigerator.

-There is no such thing as leftovers.
(I have not tried cooking liver yet though.)

-There is no such thing as quiet time.

-There is no such thing as a full first aid kit.

-There is no such thing as clean windows.
(There are always plenty of cracked ones though.)

-There is no such thing as a perfect lawn.

-There is no such thing as unbreakable plants.

-There is no such ting as unbreakable plates.

-There is no such things as an unbreakable anything.

-There is no such thing as a dry toilet seat.
(The majority of the kids that hang out at my house are boys)

(And best of all.)
-There is no such thing as not feeling needed.

Well I think that I am ready to put myself in bed for a few hours so I will say, “Goodnight”.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Friday, May 8, 2009, 9:42 PM

This morning was spent doing all of the things that I love the most. “NOT!”

I did some of those exciting things like cleaning house, and running errands. I don’t think that I have looked under my bed in months and once I did it frightened me. I didn’t think that there was that much dust in all of Guatemala. Wow! I wonder if that is part of the reason that I cough the most when I am in bed? I guess that I will find out tonight. That is if I get over coughing from all of the dust that I inhaled while sweeping up this morning. After getting the house cleaned up I went to town and bought a new garden hose. This was a replacement for the one that Fernando set the hot frying pan on when he was doing the dishes. I also made my once a month stop at the local glass store. I am happy to say that I did not have to purchase any windows today. I still have about half of last month’s supply of windows left. I have discovered that if I partly deflate the soccer balls that the kids play with it keeps them from going so far and it also softens the blow when a stray ball hits me, my car, or my house. Today’s stop at the glass store was for my second glass top for my coffee table. Last month Miguel who is one of my older and bigger kids discovered that he weighted just a bit too much to us my coffee table as a chair. Then just a few days ago Fernando discovered that even though he weighs less than Miguel his weight combined with that of a computer monitor is a bit to much for the glass top to hold. Fortunately no Band-Aids were needed in either case. Although Fernando made up for that a few hours ago by some how falling onto one of my cactus. Actually my Cactus looks as though it needs more patching up than Fernando does.

At around 4:00 PM we rented a soccer field for an hour and the kids really got my money’s worth of fun. Our only casualty was the soccer ball that went over the fence of one of the more well to do families here in Chimaltenango. I guess that they are not as well of as we had thought though because they felt that they needed to keep the soccer ball. I must admit the boys handled it well and did not lose their cool. Then again it wasn’t their soccer ball, it was mine. We got our money’s worth on the field rental though. The man that collects the money appeared to have spent just a little too much of what he had collected on alcohol so he let the kids play for much longer than the hour that we had paid him for.

Since I had not gotten my journal out I came up with a brainstorm. Since we were so close to the mall why not walk over and take advantage of the 2 slices of pizza and a coke for 10Q ($1.25) that Camperos sells out in front of their restaurant? This way the kids would be fed and I would not feel guilty telling them that I was going to have the house to myself so that I could get this journal sent out tonight. Why is it then that it was not until abut 15 minutes ago that I got them all to leave? It seems that they came up with every excuse in the book. At one point as I was just getting ready to tell them to leave I walked into my bathroom and discovered that 3 of the kids were using the shower. So I decided to at least let them stay until they had finished. I know that this is Guatemala but I could not send them home the way that they were dressed. Or I guess I should say undressed. My next attempt at getting them home was interrupted by Fernando falling onto the cactus. Then when I discovered that some of them that have mothers were making mothers day cards and had not finished yet, how could I make them leave. Even when they did go Calin and a few others were mad at me because I would not let them spend the night. Calin promised that they would be quiet and let me get my work done. I reminded him that I had been given that same promise a good 3 hours earlier but some how I had still gotten hardly anything that I had intended on doing done. Anyway the gate is locked and as far as I know the house is empty and there is no one in the shower, so hopefully I will get this published before I go to bed.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal April 25-30

2009-04-29T07:03:00.011-06:00

(Click on any picture to enlarge)

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

2009-04-24T13:33:00.011-06:00

(Click on any picture to enlarge)

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

2009-04-17T10:16:00.006-06:00

(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