What an amazing week we have had! There are times when I struggle to keep up with the blessings and movement of God, and the last seven days have been one of those times.
It started last Friday when another neighbor rang our door asking for help. She has a 13 year old boy who she took in shortly after he was born who has some profound disabilities. We don’t know for sure what has caused his disabilities, but we suspect spinal meningitis. Meningitis is common here and, unfortunately, many Guatemalans believe the best treatment is to wrap the child in blankets to help with the fever chills and withhold liquids. As a result, permanent brain damage is often the result.
Her little guy’s name is Marcos Antonio and he is severely cognitively impaired. He has decent balance and can take short steps, but has no bowel or bladder control. He is underweight and they have no bed for him, so he sleeps on a thatch mat placed on a concrete floor. He has a bright smile.
We provided some Kids Against Hunger food packets along with diapers. Today I will purchase a roll-out mattress for the floor to provide some padding. We are hopeful that our children will be able to take him out in the street to play and provide some stimulation and interaction with other children. I am pleased to say that we already have a sponsor to assist he and his family on a monthly basis.
On Monday we had the inaugural trip of our 4-Wheel Drive ministry, and what a wonderful trip it was! Jessica Huwer (our visiting nursing student), Pat Duff, Paul Branch and I drove out to Los Palmos to deliver a new wheelchair to Ponceano. The excitement on his face when we pulled up was worth the entire trip. We made the necessary adjustments and he was riding comfortably quickly.
Then we took him to their backyard where I taught him and his family some basic stretches and exercises to improve his range of motion and increase his upper body strength. My desire is that we will be able to eventually get him up and walking with a walker. He and his family were excited to know that there are some things they can do to improve his situation.
While we were working with Ponceano, a line of people formed hoping to get some medical help from Jessica. A little girl with a skin infection, a lady with a nagging cough, a man with chronic hip pain resulting in a fall from a tree. Jessica was kept very busy.
Two cases especially tugged at our heart. Ponceano’s grandmother came asking for help. She suffers from chronic arthritis pain, but has also lost her appetite in recent months. We were alarmed to see how malnourished she was and immediately conferred together as a team to discuss how to best help. In the end, we decided to drive back to the nearest town (25 minutes of rough roads) and purchase some Ensure and ibuprofen. I will be doing follow-up with her very soon as I don’t know how much more weight loss she can survive.
Then, David’s mom took us next door to visit an elderly lady named Reyna (translated “Queen”). This sweet woman has struggled with a nasty respiratory illness for over a month, and Jessica quickly confirmed that it had turned into full-scale pneumonia. In addition, she had lost her appetite and was severely under-nourished. She was dehydrated and showed signs of anemia. We had the antibiotics with us to treat her respiratory problems but, after conferring together, it was decided that she needed to get to a doctor quickly. We stressed this to the family and they told us that they didn’t have the money to pay one of their neighbors for gas. We quickly provided the funds along with a two week supply of Pedialyte to help with her dehydration. The family wept as we provided the help and then prayed with them. Please pray for Reyna. I don’t know if we arrived in time to save her or not. Jessica and I plan on heading back to Los Palmos in another week-and-a-half to do follow-up with her and several patients.
At the end of the day, we all returned home tired but praising God for the success of our first trip. As always, we left with a plan, but God graciously changed it to make it better.
Tuesday was Brittney’s 21st birthday. When we asked her what she wanted to do, she didn’t hesitate. She told us that she wanted to go to Hermano Pedro and take some of the kids our to Pollo Camperos to eat. So we did, and what a wonderful day it was! Sonya, Veronica, Willie, Angel, Carlitos, and Diego all joined us for chicken and we laughed until our faces hurt!
What a blessing it is to have children who care about things that really matter! On that day, Brittney showed Jesus’ priorities, but all of my children model them on a regular basis. I am humbled to be the father of kids who love the least of these that most overlook. They teach me more about the heart of God every day.
Speaking of my kids, Jeremiah had another soccer game last Saturday. The game was held, as always, on a dirt field, so it was hard to see what was going on much of the time due to the cloud of dust that followed the action. But occasionally a breeze would clear the cloud and you could actually see the ball. His team lost 4-2, but they had a great time. After the game Jeremiah was so dark from the sweat and the dirt he almost looked Guatemala. I am posting a team photo below. If you have trouble spotting Jay, just look for the white spot.
Dick Rutgers continues to heal from his surgery in one of our upstairs bedrooms. The first few days were painful and difficult for him, but now that he is feeling better he is starting to act like a caged lion. Yesterday he convinced me to walk with him down the street to visit Joni and double-check my measurements for his wheelchair. (I don’t think he trusts me.) Now that we have his chair he wants me to bring him back to our house today to do the final fitting so he can supervise. (I told you he didn’t trust me.) As he takes less pain medication he gets a little harder to handle. Fortunately, we cook his food so we can slip some in occasionally.
That’s all for now. Blessings from Guatemala!
Daryl, Wanda and the Crew
