My Family

The last few days I've been camping. My family actually chose to leave our well-heated, spacious, amazing home to live in a trailer on wheels for three days in a park with other such trailers on wheels in 40 degree weather. Actually it was pretty fun. John, my mom, Christain, and my aunt Janice spent three days together on Carlyle lake. My grandpa even stopped by for a day. The only bad things were my mom and Janice giggling in the middle of the night while the guys tried to sleep. And the fish didn't bite. Christian caught three and I got none! I guess I'm out of practice....There are no tilapia here.

I just got news today that David, Joe, and Ryan got the grainbins down yesterday. Their uncles and friend, Mike Lovell, helped. Soon the load will be ready for our friend Martin to drive to Guatemala. I also just read on Adonai's blog that Duane and Leslie finally got to talk to the mayor of San Andres. He said that he has been overwhelmed by the people who have come to him with need; I think he has a list of 4,000 people, widows and hungry families who have asked for help. To top it off a pastor prophesied over him a month ago that "corn was coming. Corn to feed the people. This was before we had announced our corn project to anyone outside of the ministry. Anyway, I'm really excited about what God is doing. The prophet Isaiah wrote, "If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry, and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will shine in the darkness and your night will be like the noonday sun." The Lord is about letting his glory shine as he meets the needs of his people.

I plan to spend the next few days with my dad, grandparents, and the side of the family I haven't seen yet. If anything exciting happens I'll be sure to post!

Last words

My feet are soaked from catching our second bee swarm! Aaron found it under a bridge in town, so we made a hive and some tools last night. Tonight we caught as many as we could in a cardboard box. Later we'll dump what we have in the new "bee haven" box.
The last couple days have been pretty busy. Several of the pastors I've talked to the last couple days are really planning and looking for ways to help us with the corn project. I don't want to get my hopes too high, but I am praying.

Today in clinic there was a middle-aged lady, Estefania, who had a really high blood pressure, but nothing else wrong. After a few minutes of talking with her, she confided to us that she feels like there is an evil spirit oppressing her. I won't go into all the details, but it made me so mad that the devil has put such a fear in people here. I have no doubt that sin, the world(that is not subject to God's law), and the devil are the enemies of all mankind, but it makes me mad when Christians like Estefania are afraid of him. Here, more than in the US, poeple view the spiritual realm as very real, and tangible. Rather than calling a pastor to pray or taking medicine, people can call a witchdoctor to cast a spell to heal you (for a price of course). The cool thing is that people are healed quite often from chronic sicknesses after commitng their lives to Christ. Anyway, I just had some more spiritual stuff today than usual.

I'm looking forward to seeing my family, but not to the trip. I plan to ride my dirtbike in from Canilla in the morning (hopefully no more than a 4-hour trip) to get on the plane. I better get my bag packed...and get those bees in their box.

News

Well, I think I'm going to try this like a news update. When a lot is going on I have a hard time deciding what to say, so:

SURGERY UPDATE: To follow up with Helen and Edimira, we went back to the City this Wednesday. The doctor there looked at her skin infection, and said that although it was almost gone (I couldn't see anything) there was still some there. He wouldn't admit her for a surgery, so we came home and will continue trusting God to take care of her. Possibly we can try again in February when another group of neurosurgeons come down.

MINISTRY: This last week in clinic was really good as far as spiritually ministering to people. Several men and women gave their lives to Christ. In the midst of so many problems and sicknessess, it amazing me how God's word never fails. He's faithful when everything else is falling apart. More and more though, I'm realizing the real need for discipleship after a person or a family accept Christ. Some churches are great to refer people too, and then there are other's who's pastors charge people for prayer.

IN PRAYER: There was a young man, Domingo, who came to San Andres clinic last week. He had been drunk for a month without eating, and his liver and intestines where punishing him for it. After a few days sober he came to us for help. We gave him some medicine, prayed with him to give control of his life to Jesus, and set up a trip for him to our friend Victor's drug rehab center. Victor said he never showed up, but I'm hoping we see him tomorrow at clinic again.

OUTREACH: This last Thursday we had another trip to San Pedro, Zona Reina. Again we got in an out the same day with the plane. Our friend Dr. Pedro (from Guatemala City) went with us to pull teeth, and they loved him. It's really good to to get to know the people there. Our relationship with them is deepening, but we still lack Christian translators. A few people have accepted Christ, but anytime we ask our translator to pray or share something about God they are silent. One man (I remember him as Luciano's dad) has a mass blocking his stomach, so he is withering away. His heart is right with God, but I'm praying that he recieves a miracle from Him because the doctors have not been able to do anything for him.

CORN: David, Joseph, and Ryan are still busy in the States working on a truck to bring a load down for the corn project. On this end of things we bought our first 2,000 pounds of corn today and cleaned out the small silos we have. More families continue to come to us each week for food. At our clinics we announced what we are doing in case anyone wants to donate food to help hungry families. It amazes me how willing to help most Guatemalan's are; organization is where things get hard though. If we can help with that I know we'll make a difference.

IT'S DEER SEASON IN ILLINOIS: My friend Jeff has already killed a buck and a coyote (as of a few days ago) with his bow, reminding me of Fall back home. I'll be going home to visit my family for three weeks later this month. I've been home for a total of two weeks this year, and I miss them very much.

Helen and Edimira

Real quick I just wanted to post that our trip to the City went really well. Duane flew us in (I helped a little :) early this morning to go to the doctor's office. Helen's surgery is far form complete (not even started yet), but our initial visit to the hospital went really well. We were in and out in 10 minutes. At first the social worker we talked with asked us to wait in line with everyone else (which could have taken a day or two), but after telling her Helen's story she called a doctor directly to the office. Sadly, he told us that there was an infection in the skin of Helen's head that had to be treated before operating would be possible, but he told us to come back this next Wednesday and speak with him directly. As we left the social worker's office she confided to us that she too was a Christian and that she wanted to do all she could to help Helen and her mom, Edimira. To top it off, while Edimira, Helen and I were at a pharmacy buying the prescribed meds (Duane was doing some other City running), we ran into a Christian lady who gave us a ride to meet Duane. Overall, I feel like God was really faithful to go before us today and place the right people in our path. I'm now praying that God (hopefully through the medicine) heals Helen's skin infection before Wed. The American doctors leave Friday.

Also, tomorrow is our meeting with the pastors of Canilla and San Andres. We're planning and praying that all will go well. I hope that they'll catch the vision to care for the hungry people in this valley!