Dog Bites and Miracles

Last week I experienced another first…I was attacked by a dog. On Thursday afternoon I stopped by my mechanic’s shop to check on the work he was doing on my truck. When I entered the gated yard where he was working a female dog saw me from 20 feet away and apparently decided that I looked like a tasty meal. Before I could respond she had ran across the yard and torn into my left leg. (Actually, she tried to rip into my crotch, but I dodged and my thigh took the blunt of her rage.) Two bites later I was able to connect with a sharp kick to her ribs that sent her running.

I cleaned and treated the wounds, and our doctor placed me on antibiotics. The dog was a stray that had been hanging around the shop, so we don’t believe that she has ever been vaccinated. That meant that the next morning I headed in to the local health center to get my first of a series of rabies shots. Fortunately this series is now only five shots in the arm as opposed to the old process of 15 shots in the stomach. The bad part is that the dog ruined my best pair of jeans. If you know me, you know how much I hate to shop, but now I am forced to go find a new pair of jeans. I don’t mind the wounds and the shots near as much as shopping.

In this ministry we often experience the miraculous leading and provision of God. One of the ways we see this is in the way he connects us with resources and people at just the right time. Allow me to share with you the last three days of my life to show you one such miraculous connection.

This week we have had our good friends, Josh and Denise Stewart, visiting with us from New York. In addition, their friend and fellow pastor in their church, Jay Lee, came with them and has now become a good friend as well. We have had a great time with them and they have been such a blessing to our family and ministry. During their time with us I was able to take them out to visit numerous families in the village setting, and that is how our story begins.

On Wednesday morning I dropped the three of them off in Antigua to have breakfast with April Clark, our Ministry Coordinator. While they were there I headed over to Hope Haven to pick up a wheelchair for a young man named Saul who lives in Zone 18 in Guatemala City. While looking for his chair, the factory manager, Larry, was assisting me. As he was looking he pulled out a tiny little chair and made a comment regarding how small it was. When I saw it, I said, “Wow, that is small! It is hard to find a chair that small and really rare to find a child that small who needs one.” Most children that small are better served by strollers instead. We continued our search until we found the right chair for Saul and I went on my way.

I picked up the team in Antigua and we headed down to the city of Esquintla to visit Walter. We have been working with Walter for three years now. He is nine years old and has spina bifida that has left him paralyzed from mid-tibia down. We were contacted by his family a month ago requesting help in getting him new braces for is legs. At the time we did not have the funds, but told them we would look for a sponsor. Last week we found a sponsor and made arrangements for him to come in and be casted for his new braces, but when he arrived we realized he had a pressure sore on his left foot that made it impossible to cast him. So, we sent them home with wound care instructions and I was anxious to follow-up with him.

When we arrived we made some alterations to his wheelchair, treated his wound and gave his mother further instructions. His sore is already healing quickly and we expect him to be ready for casting in three or four weeks.

Pressure sores are a constant battle here. Once one of these wounds develops it is very difficult for it to heal. Even many of the doctors here do not know how to treat them, and we have had to train local health centers in what to do. Many people with disabilities die of the sores in developing countries because they so easily become infected. In other cases, limbs are lost. So we were very pleased with Walter’s improvement.

From there we headed down to Nueva Concepción to visit Jorge. It is a long drive to visit him as he and his family moved far outside our normal area of ministry. However, we had received a call from his mother telling us that the caster on his wheelchair was broken, so we headed down to make repairs. While visiting with him we gave them a gift basket of food and replaced his wheel. We also discovered that his mother was sick with stomach pains that we suspect are caused by parasites. They have been drinking water from the local well which is very unclean. So we made arrangements for her to go to the local health center. We will also be making another trip down soon to deliver a water filter.

Because of the long drive, we were all pretty well wiped by the time we returned home that evening. So I headed to bed early, knowing we had another long day ahead on Thursday.

The next morning we headed out again with the Stewarts and Jay, but this time we added my friend Rolando Monterosso. In February we had delivered a wheelchair to one of Rolando’s friends, a young man named Brandon, who attends a school in Zone 18 in Guatemala City. He had introduced us and took us to deliver the chair. While there we found another teen, Saul, who badly needed a chair as well. So this trip was to make that delivery.

We were able to seat Saul quickly and easily and he had a great time wheeling around and showing the teachers and students his new ride. He was beaming with joy.

At that point, the physical therapist brought a little girl to meet me. Her name is Divia, she is two years old and she suffers from low-tone cerebral palsy. The therapist wanted to know if I thought she needed a chair. He was pushing her in an old stroller and she was tied in place to prevent her from flopping forward. I pulled her from the stroller and felt her crooked spine and realized how weak she was. I knew immediately that she needed a chair with good back and lateral support, but it would have to be a very small chair. And suddenly I knew why God had placed that tiny chair at Hope Haven and had us discover it the day before. He had brought that chair to Guatemala for Divia.

So, this afternoon my daughter, Carissa, and I stopped by Hope Haven and purchased the perfect chair for that perfect little girl. (We already had a sponsor for her.) And, as I wrote that check, I praised God for His perfect provision.

While we were still at the school we were also introduced to a 13 year old girl name Yasline. She had been a completely healthy young lady until she suffered a head injury two years ago. That blow to her head caused permanent brain damage which resulted in high-tone cerebral palsy. The therapist asked us if we could help her by getting her a wheelchair as well. The chair she is using is ripped up and a very poor fit for her. So, we are seeking a sponsor for a standard chair for her. The cost will be $150.00 US. If you would be willing to sponsor that need, please write to me at daryl@hopeforhome.org.

As we were heading out of the city, we stopped to meet another family. Last week I received a call from a woman who told me that she had a son that she had adopted who was nine years old. She is now a single mother and is having trouble caring for him due to expenses. My Spanish is bad, and my Spanish over the phone is even worse, but when she began to cry I lost all ability to understand what she was saying. I was only able to discern that she loved her son, but was so tired.

I arranged for Gerardo to call her back and talk with her to get a better picture of her situation. We then made arrangements to meet her and her son while in the city yesterday.

What we found was a wonderful lady who loves her son, Daniel, deeply. He was clean and well cared for, but she cannot afford the doctor visits he requires. He needs a good check-up, a dentist (most of his teeth are rotted), a wheelchair, and a monthly sponsor for food and diapers. His mother also needs people who will stand with her in prayer. She wept as she told us that she has been praying for help for the last nine years and that we were finally God’s answer.

So, would you be willing to sponsor him for one or more of the following needs:

• Standard Wheelchair – $150.00
• Dental work – $100.00
• Monthly sponsorship for food and diapers – $40.00

Once again, if you are willing to help with any of these needs you can write me at daryl@hopeforhome.org.

In closing, I would like to give you an update on the malnourished little boy we agreed to take into our home last week. We have heard nothing from Human Rights or the courts, and all attempts to contact them for answers have yielded a brick wall. We simply don’t know if he is still coming or not. That is typical of Guatemalan government agencies. So, please pray for this little guy. We know that he is starving and in a home where he is not receiving the needed care, so our hearts are with him.

That is all for now. Blessings from Guatemala!

Daryl, Wanda and the Crew