Yosselin’s Surgery Is Paid For!

This is just a quick update to let you know that we have raised more than the needed amount for Yosselin’s surgery! Based upon the e-mails we have received and the PayPal contributions that have arrived, more than enough money is on the way. We praise God for His faithfulness and your generosity!

As I have stated, we have surpassed the expected costs required, but any excess funds will be kept to see if additional needs arise in her care. If not, it will be saved and used as an emergency medical fund for children that are in crisis.

Yosselin’s surgery is scheduled for the early morning of December 9th. Please keep praying for her and her family through this time.

Once again, thank you for giving to save her life!

Because of Him!

Daryl

Emergency–We Need Your Help

I very seldom come asking for money, except for seeking sponsorship for children. We do not fundraise for our ministry, and all the sponsorship for children goes directly to the children with no funds taken for administration or expenses of delivery. But occasionally we find a child with a need that is so great that we need an extra level of your help to meet it. This is just such a case.

A while back I wrote about Yosselin, a little girl from San Pablo La Laguna who was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. The doctor in the national hospital was telling her parents that they needed to wait to install a shunt to reduce pressure on her brain until after they had taken care of her leg problems. But I chose to override the doctor and take them to our neurosurgeon for an evaluation. It has taken a while to sort our way through the necessary appointments and testing, but we have finally completed the process.

The downside of these appointments and tests is that it has been determined that Yosselin has permanent and rather extensive brain damage. There is nothing that can be done to reverse this, but we can do something to prevent further damage. Currently her head is growing at three times the normal rate and internal pressure is building. She needs surgery to install a cerebral shunt to stop this build-up of pressure and enable her brain to grow more normally. If she does not have this surgery she will have increasing brain damage and pain and the pressure will eventually kill her.

The cost for this surgery, including hospital stay and follow-up is Q.22,040 (around $2,920 at the current exchange rate). In addition, she will require additional medicines and numerous trips to Guatemala City for appointments. I estimate the total bill for everything reaching around $3400 US.

Yosselin’s family is very poor. In addition to supporting his own wife and child, her father also supports his 9 younger siblings who live with them. They cannot even afford the bus trip to meet us in Chimaltenango, so we have been giving them money for the trips. Without our help this surgery will not happen and Yosselin will suffer and die. Yet today her parents were calm as they received the news. They love her very much, but they are trusting us to help save their daughter.

We have scheduled the surgery for the week of December 8. (The exact day is not yet known.) We are trusting God that we will have the funds available to pay at that time. For us to have those funds here in Guatemala, we need them to arrive at our US office by November 27th (six days from now). We need a miracle of generosity on the part of God’s people.

Would you please prayerfully consider giving to this need? Whatever you can afford or sacrifice will be greatly appreciated. Will you also please share this blog with others who would consider helping?

If you are willing to give, you can do so in two ways:

1) Mail a check to:

Hope for Home Ministries, PO Box 393, Troy, OH 45373

Please write “Yosselin’s Surgery” in the memo line. Also, please   write to me at daryl@hopeforhome.org to let me know you gifts is on the way.

2) Donate via Paypal at the following link:

http://www.hopeforhome.org/Donate.html

Please note that Paypal deducts a fee from what you give (about 1.5%, so keep that in mind.

Once again, every penny you give will go directly toward Yosselin’s medical needs. Nothing will be taken for administration or other expenses.

Thank you for your consideration and prayers for Yosselin and her family. And thanks for your help!

Daryl

The View of a Friend

Over the last three weeks my friend, Don Riley, has been visiting. Don and his wife, Melanie, and their three children are missionaries to Liberia, and I consider Don one of my brothers. We were prayer partners in the US while we were each preparing for the mission field, so this visit has been refreshing to me, both emotionally and spiritually.

Don recently wrote a blog update about his time with us, and I would like to share it with you. While I believe he made us look better than we really are, I also believe it is good to get another person's point of view of our ministry. (And since I have struggled to find the time to write an update of my own, this is a good time to steal his!)

I would also encourage you to save his blog and follow him as the work he and his family are doing with Wordsowers in Liberia is both inspiring and challenging. Please partner with them in prayer and finances as they seek to see a church in every village in our lifetime.

So, please click the link below and see what he has to say! 

Blessings,

Daryl, Wanda and the Crew

http://liberiacalls.blogspot.com/2014/11/pictures-and-updates-from-guatemala.html