These are some excerpts from my recent February newsletter...
Arriving in the middle of the night, my first days here were a whirlwind of meeting people and becoming acquainted with some of the places well beyond Guatemala city that Catalyst Resources International works with: orphanages, medical clinics and rural villages. One morning, I sat on our rooftop here and looked out over this crowded, poor and polluted city of 4 million people. Instead of being overwhelmed, I felt God’s peace and joy fill me, knowing He had blessed me in revealing His heart and bringing me back to Guatemala.
My role here with CRI is diverse, which I enjoy. Some days, I see patients in a rural clinic at the very top of a long windy dirt road through small villages where families sleep together in small rooms and cook over open fires, daily inhaling the smoke. Spotting us as we drove up the dirt road through their villages, young children and mothers eagerly helped us haul our medical tools, books and newly donated supplements up the hill to the dusty clinic that hadn’t been used in over 2 months. Diane and I quickly cleaned up and handed out numbers to attend to as many patients as we could. These two children were like little monkeys climbing on me as I was instructing their mother in how to care for her illness. After attending to several patients in the crowded wooden room with tiny school chairs (our clinic), Diane and I followed some young children up narrow trash-filled footpaths to visit a 32-year old father of four girls who recently had a motorcycle accident. Please pray for me for wisdom and favor with these people in the villages.
I also work with House of Hope, the newly opened orphanage CRI started. Already, there are 9 children living there who love our attention and care, welcoming us with big hugs as we enter the gate. Most of them have been dropped of by the government and come from abusive homes or absent parents. Their stories are not easy to hear but my heart rejoices in knowing and sharing the love God has for them. I’ve also had the opportunity to begin talking about nutrition and cooking with the nannies and treat the children’s diarrhea, likely from parasites in the contaminated water.
Some of what we do here is connect people to the help we cannot give. Diane, whom I work closely with, is great at this! She searches the internet to find US doctors coming here on medical trips to give our patients the specialty care they need. This is Hugo, a 10-year-old boy from a rural village that we spent a day bringing to his follow-up appointment with an optometrist hours away. He had surgery to remove pterygiums but sadly (and thankfully) we found out that he actually has melanoma, a cancer in his eye. Please pray for him and his family in the long and difficult journey to come and that God will provide the help he needs and continue to use us to help in these situations.
Currently, I share a home at CRI with 7 young girls from poor families all over Guatemala who have the opportunity to study here in the city, an education impossible without God’s intervention. These girls have no family nearby and I am enjoying spending time with them: talking about everything, helping with homework, playing soccer, watching Spanish cartoons and laughing a lot. These curious girls also enjoy helping me make medicinal lotions and cough syrups for use at the clinic! Please pray for these relationships to continue to grow and that I may be a good mentor and example for them.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
To learn more about what I do or how to support me and this work, please email me or visit the Medical Service tab of this website.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
To learn more about what I do or how to support me and this work, please email me or visit the Medical Service tab of this website.
The view of the village from our clinic's front porch where the patients wait to see us, sometimes all day.