Last Friday my beautiful bride celebrated her 45th birthday with gifts and cake. All during that day I kept thinking how glad I was that she had robbed the cradle and married a younger man. I don’t know why she didn’t take that as a compliment when I mentioned it to her. Seriously, I am so grateful for such a wonderful wife who somehow manages to love me and get more beautiful with each passing year.
Earlier in the week I was able to get a new wheelchair to Joel in San Antonio. His old chair was starting to fall apart and was not a good fit for his needs. The Ecklebargers had brought a wheelchair when they moved from the States that they no longer needed, so they donated it to the cause. I spent about two hours making repairs and adjustments, and it was a perfect fit for him. He beamed as he sat in it for the first time.
Since Gerardo began working for Hogar de la Esperanza full-time, he has been such a blessing to me. He has been doing a wonderful job of checking in with families and doing much needed work. He has turned our ministry into a much more personal outreach as he is able to visit families several times a month instead of my normal once a month drop-ins.
His help has also freed me up to spend valuable time in my office getting better organized. As our ministry has grown, it has become increasingly difficult to track families and needs and to make sure that the appropriate follow-up is done. So, last week I was able to spend two full days organizing a database that enables me to track families by towns, needs, or dates. I was also able to clear about a three-inch stack of work from my desk.
Another benefit is that Gerardo has managed to find a doctor in our town, Dr. Agusto, who will treat the special needs children that we send to him for free. In addition, he is willing to give any samples he has to our children for free, saving us a lot of money on prescriptions. Finally, he has also agreed to treat any non-special needs person we send to him for half-price (Q.45 instead of Q.90). I am so thankful to this doctor and to Gerardo who found him for us.
You have heard me talk about Kids Against Hunger and their food packets numerous time on this blog. Over the last several months I have been rationing those packet carefully as we were almost out. This past summer Dr. Coral Matus and her family came down and spent a week with us. During that time she mentioned that they had started a KAH branch in Toledo, OH and were sending shipments into Peten. She readily agreed to share those packets with us, but it has taken us some time to put together the details and arrange the trip to pick them up. Early this week, we finally managed to do it.
On Monday morning bright and early Gerardo, Jeremiah and I picked up Dick Rutgers and started on what I thought would be about an 8 hour trip to Peten. Just over 11 hours later we finally arrived. The trip was only 350 miles according to my GPS, but that same unit also let me know that our average moving speed was only 34 mph. Driving in Guatemala is not like driving in Ohio at all.
Along the way we stopped in to visit Marta. You may remember that I wrote about her in my last blog, but I called her Maria there. It seems I have trouble reading my own writing at times. She has a nasty ulcerated sore on her left leg that she has had for 20 years. Dick had seen the photo in my blog and knew exactly what it was. He had a special wrap that is used to treat it and donated it to the cause. When we arrived she told us that she had seen the doctor who had prescribed two kinds of antibiotic. As a result, her wound was looking better. The bad smell was gone and it was no longer oozing green. Dick cleaned and wrapped it and she told us it felt better. I will be checking back in with her next week.
By the time we arrived in Flores we were all exhausted, but were very happy to find a motel that had a grand slam of services (a clean room, air conditioner AND hot water)! And the cost was only Q.100 (about $12.50) per person. We checked in, took a brief break and headed to meet Coral and her team and pick up the food.
We met them at the Nazarene Church District Headquarters in Santa Elena and began loading KAH food packets. I had expected to receive 30 boxes, but when we hit that amount we were told to keep loading. I was thrilled. When we hit 40, they again told us to keep loading. We finally insisted that we take no more at 50, and I had tears in my eyes. These 50 boxes represented 1,800 packets of food or 10,800 meals. In dollars, this is $2,700 worth of food. I was overwhelmed by what this would mean to our needy families. I am so grateful to Kids Against Hunger, Coral and her ministry, Sew Hope!
Afterwards, their generosity continued as they treated us to supper at a local restaurant. They had brought a team that included Coral, a doctor, Gary, a pediatrician, and Jenny, a nurse, and have been running a clinic in Peten all this week. Their ministry is a real blessing to the region, and it was great to spend some time with them.
We finally returned to the motel, showered, and hit the sack at almost 11:00 pm that night. We slept peacefully to the sound of Dick’s coughing and snoring that reminded me of a slaughter house and rose early to hit the road again.
On the way home we stopped by to visit some friends of Dick, Mike and Karen Rhea. It only took about three minutes before I considered them my friends as well. They run a ministry in Rio Dulce called Rancho Esperanza (Hope Ranch) that takes in children and teens that have been emotionally or physically abused. They are somewhat isolated (about 5 hours north of Guatemala City), so it is difficult to attract teams to help. Most groups do not want to spend so much time traveling once they arrive on the ground, so they get overlooked in favor of other ministries.
However, their ministry is worthy of support. They are making an incredible difference in the lives of these children and teens and they desire to expand their work in the name of Jesus. They are currently praying for house parents who would come work with them and enable them to open another home (already partially completed) on their property. They also hope to open a school and a clinic, so they need medical workers and teachers. And, like all ministries, they need additional funding. Would you prayerfully consider if God might have you come and work with them, either as a short-term or long-term worker or if he would have you support them financially. Click here to visit their Web site and learn more.
After that we finished our journey, which included an encounter with a speed bump at which I attempted to fly and our battle with rush hour traffic in Guatemala City. I think we all slept well after spending 22 out of 36 hours traveling.
That’s all for now! Blessings from San Antonio Aguas Calientes, Guatemala!
Daryl, Wanda, and the Crew
We opened presents and enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by Wanda. Somehow we were able to move the furniture in our living room and put two large tables together and fit everyone around them. Everyone enjoyed the food. Brittney was even able to get Leonel, who will not eat and is on a feeding tube, to eat six good bites of cheddar mashed potatoes.
I should be sleeping now, but my mind is preoccupied. All evening long I have been contemplating the Christmas story and one person’s role within it. Namely, Joseph. When you stop and think about it, he was a pretty remarkable guy.
