Looking for Normal

I want to begin by giving you an update on my family situation back home. If you follow this blog, you read last week how my cousin shot his wife and then himself last Saturday night. This, understandably, was a shock to our entire family and we have wrestled with the situation all week. It is still hard to imagine this happening within our own family. Many of you have been praying for his wife, Tara, and Scott’s immediate family while also praying for me. Thank you for all your prayers. We have felt them.

As I reported on Monday, Tara is expected to live. The bullet hit her in the hand, one lung, and her spleen, and she has already had two surgeries to repair the damage. I received a message from my sister about an hour ago telling me that her blood pressure is high and she is now running a fever. They are doing some scans this afternoon to try to determine the cause of these complications. Please continue to lift her up in prayer. Scott’s funeral was on Thursday.

Meanwhile, life has continued here in Guatemala. The last week has continued to be filled with helping the Ecklebargers with their transition to their new country. There is so much involved in such a move that it is hard to adequately prepare a family for all the tasks ahead of time. But, overall, their family is dealing well with all the changes and work involved.

Over the last three weeks I have logged over 600 miles (1000 kilometers) in my van and Forerunner, driving them to appointments, house showings, shopping, governmental offices, etc. That gives you a small grasp of the monumental task involved in such a move. Over the last week, we managed to purchase the wood they needed for shelving, set up their bank account, obtain a NIT number for them, and purchase a van. This morning I drove into Antigua, did a money transfer to pay for their new vehicle, and set-up the meeting so they could receive the vehicle. I last saw Ron driving his new purchase out of Antigua at around 11:30 this morning.

The van they purchased is actually one that we tried to buy back in January. Our friend, Esdras, was not ready to part with it at that point, but he made the decision to sell it last week. It is the same make as our van (pictured here), but is 4 years old, enabling them to get a better price. With this purchase I am able to get back to some sense of normalcy as they no longer are dependent upon me for their transportation. (Be careful out there, guys! You are not in Kansas [Ohio] any more!)

On Thursday I was able to get back into the villages again. Ali (our mechanic) was able to make the repairs on my Forerunner and get it back to me on Wednesday, so I was itching to get out. In addition to missing the families with which I work, I was also needing the therapy and release that such trips provide. So, we loaded up the van and my daughter and son, Krishauna and Jeremiah, along with the Ecklebarger’s oldest son, Bob, and our friend, Gerardo, and I headed back to Las Palmas and La Gomera.

One of the things that I realized at the end of that day is that I need to assign someone to be my photographer on these trips. I get involved in visiting and working and completely forget to take pictures. So, I only have one picture of the entire day.

This is Pedro and Victoria and their daughter (I cannot recall her name). We were visiting with Ponceano and working on his physical therapy when their daughter came over and asked if I could visit her father. He has been having breathing problems and she was concerned. So, I grabbed my medical backback and headed across the street to their home. When I listened to Pedro’s chest, I realized his lungs were full of fluid. I told them that they needed to get to the clinic and provided 50 quetzales to pay for their bus fare.

I also explained that both he and his wife were dehydrated. They were both complaining of headaches, dizziness, and fatigue, and when I did the pinch test their skin did not spring back. So I told them they needed to drink more water. Pedro proceeded to explain to me that water made him sick. Patiently, through Gerardo, I tried to explain that as long as they failed to drink more fluids they would continue to struggle with these symptoms. This is one of our big challenges…convincing people to drink more. Most of these villages lie at lower altitudes, so the temperatures are hotter and humidity is high. They sweat a lot when they drink, and they don’t like to sweat. So they drink little, and we hear a lot of complaints about headaches, dizziness, and fatigue.

While we were in town we visited Henri and made some adjustments on his new wheelchair. We also stopped in to see Reina, but she was out taking a long walk. (A great sign considering when we found her she could not stand up unassisted.)

We were also called to the home of a lady named Clara that I had visited back in July. She is on Lasix and struggles with swelling. We found her in bed and in a tremendous amount of pain. Her abdomen and legs were severely swollen. I also listened to her lungs and heard fluid. We gave her and her daughter-in-law money for a trip to the clinic and told them to go soon. They assured us they would go the very next day. Please pray for her.

Finally, we stopped in to see Pillar. I wrote about her last month and described her as the most malnourished person I had ever seen upright. I wish I could say that had changed, but it hadn’t. Her daughter and granddaughter told me that she was stronger since we provided the ensure and vitamins, but she was still a thin sheet of skin wrapped around bones. I asked her if she was eating, but she said that the over-the-counter medication she takes for pain makes her nauseous, so she has no appetite. When I questioned her, I realized that she was taking an analgesic that is noted to cause stomach problems. So, I provided her with one that is more gentle on her stomach.

At that point, I explained through Gerardo that if she did not start drinking and eating more she would die. My Spanish skills have come a long way, but it sure was nice to have Gerardo there who could use the nuances of the language to say it in a loving and concerned way. If I would have said it, it would have simple been, “If you don’t eat, you are going to die!” He, with the love of Christ, was able to express gentleness while communicating the life and death urgency of the instructions.

From there we went to La Gomera to drop off food for Jorge and his family. While we were there, I checked his bed sores and found his foot doing much better. The one on his buttocks, however, is worse. Thankfully he has an appointment with a wound specialist at Hermano Pedro this week. We gave them Q800 from a US sponsor for a scan of his spinal column that is scheduled for this week along with an extra Q100 for bus fare. Please pray that they will be able to help this handsome young man.

While we were at his house, I taught him and his siblings my newest version of the Guatemalan handshake…a hand slap followed by a fist bump followed by an explosion. The kids loved it and their mom and grandmother laughed hysterically, although I am not sure if they were laughing with me or at me.

I returned that evening both exhausted and renewed. As I stated earlier, these trips are therapeutic, and I definitely needed some therapy after the emotional demands of the previous 5 days.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support that make this ministry possible! We could not do this without you!

Good afternoon from San Antonio Aguas Calientes!

Daryl, Wanda, and the Crew