Bikes and stinging bees.

I rode my bike, ate some dirt, and just washed off a lot of grease from my hands. After clinic today Joe, David and I rode our motorcycles with a few friends of ours. We kid each other, push each other up hills, and even have a cool handshake (some of the kids we ride with are about 15). This week two of the guys came over and asked me to fix something on their bike (David wasn't around), and I love to get to know them.

Clinic yesterday went fairly smooth. I wasn't feeling anything to share with the people as far as evangelizing goes, but as I looked through some notes and different teachings I had made over the last few weeks, I found where I had written, "When I don't feel anything special to share, just share the Word because it is always true." So I took my Bible and guitar and made my way out to the 50 or so people in the waiting area. Tomas and I shared from John 1:12 where Jesus invited all who believe to be children of God, and it was like God just filled me with a desire to share--and He gave me the words too. I remember the first times, actually first year, that it was so hard for me to talk to groups of people in Spanish, especially about the Bible. Now it's like people are actually engaged and attentive to my stories and examples. Whether it's just improved Spanish or some new thing God is doing, I like it.

In other big news from the week...I took some honey from my bees last Thursday! It was actually pretty awful. Not only did I kill hundreds of my bees by enticing them to sting my bee suit, but I didn't get much honey and the bees got super mad. I ended up running across the yard and out of the gate when I got a few bees inside my mask. There were pieces of my suit strewed all along the road as I ran toward town, and man and beast alike were looking for cover from the small buzzing creatures. Passerbys on the road where swatting at stray bees, cows were jumping, and chickens were fluttering. When I finally got back to the house everyone was locked inside and one of our workers was laying block with a welding mask on to protect himself. All in all only I fell victim to the honeybees' sting, four to be exact, and we got close to a quart of honey out of the deal. I think next time I need a better suit and a lot of smoke. If you have experience with bees and are reading this, feel free to send me any thoughts you may have, but please wait for a week or two as nearly everyone who was here for the "bee attack" has already given me more advice than I can process this week!

Anyway, that's about all that's up from this week. Tomas and I spent Friday making house visits in Chiminisijuan. My legs hurt pretty bad by the end of the day, but I'm only 22 and shouldn't complain. Leslie, Hannah, and Katie are all outside right now delivering a baby in the clinic. I figure they have it all under control out there, and I am supporting them through prayer from here in the house, at a safe distance.

Thanks for reading and for all the prayers and support. I'll try to put a post up this week as more happens!

Drug Rehab

This picture was the best I got from Bob and I's visit to Victor's drug rehab center. I wish you could see more guys that live there but I just didn't take many pictures. The eleven men who who where there in the morning range from Domingo, 15 and without parents, to Johnny, 50, who has not been able to lay down the bottle in past. By afternoon, there were 15 men in the house, two of the new ones coming directly from the hospital as referrals from a judge. All of them though have chosen to come and try to change.

Bob and I went to Quiche yesterday to see Victor and these guys. We taught, worshiped with them, and just spend time one on one with them. Each one has a unique story, usually a very hopeless one, but each one is there with purpose now. As I listened to their stories, they are just exaggerated examples of most of our lives. All of our actions have consequences, and none of us deserve the love that God has for us. Alex, one of the men who reminded me of the cowboys in Canilla, had a family who loved him and brothers who were in the cattle business with him. He lost them though, because of his drinking problem. As Alex sat with Bob and I he cried tears of remorse for the family that had rejected him and kids who were at home without him. He said he had been to church quite a bit but had never accepted Christ into his heart until that day. That was yesterday, and today he still couldn't talk about God without tears in his eyes. He had finally tasted hope. It was real, and it was his because Jesus loved him and can help change him. I believe he will get his family back and rejoin his brothers in the field.

We also enjoyed a time of encouragement from Phil Stern and Kent Henry. They were here for two days and spent a lot of time in prayer, worship, and just time encouraging us. Kent has a prayer model that he's been implementing in churches in the U.S.--how to read the Bible, pray it, sing, it, and then think hard on it as a group. We're going to start using it to organize our worship times as a ministry at least once a week.

This weekend is clinic in Canilla and San Andres. It's been kind of chilly lately, even down to 45 at night, but that just makes sleeping with lots of blankets even better!

Clinic Memories

The last couple of days will go in the memory book for me. Probably Katie and Hannah too. Leslie made a quick trip to the States to visit her uncle before he passed away, so were short on staff.

Yesterday morning started out busy, giving out numbers and preaching at 7 outside of clinic. By the time I got back out there at 8, Katie and Hannah had already delivered a baby and were in the middle of care for an 11 month old girl with a heart defect. The baby was a stillborn, most likely dying a few days before. The mom, a young Mayan woman said she stopped feeling the baby move about 3 days before. It was a sad day, full of many very sick people, a baby funeral, and other people who kept coming to our door after clinic. This morning we were prepared for another long day at San Andres clinic, but God was merciful and there were few really sick people. We gave out a lot of food and milk, did a lot of ultrasounds, and saw many of our chronic patients (mostly diabetes and hypertension).

There was a point in the afternoon when I laughed to myself because I thought we had ran out of food only to have Rosa (our translator) surprise me by pulling a bag of beans, rice, oats, and sugar out of a "secret" spot in the cabinet. It is so hard to tell a hungry mom and her kids to come back in a week because we're out of food, and I was so relieved when Rosa pulled that bag out! Upon a visit to the orphanage where our friends Sebastian and Juanito distribute corn, I found out that we had just enough for the day. We sent out 3,100 lbs of corn to 31 families, and didn't have a bag left when everyone had passed through. That's cutting it a little close, but like Juanito said to me, "at least there won't be any to go bad throughout the week!" Next week's corn will be all fresh stuff.

Here is a picture of one of the houses Sebastian visited. It belongs to a widow named Micaela who he started on the corn program...Tomorrow Leslie and three good friends from our church in St. Louis will be coming in for a few days. We'll be happy to see them.

Back

Duane and I made it back to Guatemala yesterday afternoon. We made it before the 5 degree 40 mph winds with snow. My trip was a total of 2 weeks and Duane was there for 5 days. Here you can see a picture of Duane and a group of pastors praying for Guatemala at the Destiny church missions conference. The conference lasted for 4 days and was really incredible. About 20 missionaries from all over the world were present with their ministries, and we had services and prayer every morning and evening. It was very refreshing and I met a lot of cool people. Below you can see a picture of Ben and me. Ben is a man from Gana, West Africa where it is "very hot." This was his first time in the United States, and he's there for 4 months. Like many people in Gana (and Guatemala) Ben has wanted to visit for a long time but never felt it was the right time until now. He has spent the last 7 years building a church discipling pastors for outlying village churches. We had lots of time to talk since I drove him back and forth between his brother's house and church. I think I was blessed more than he was through our talks.

Overall my visit was really good. I spent time with my family (below is from Christmas at my grandparents) and had some good time with a few close friends, even a few who surprised me by popping up at the missions conference!
Now we're back in Guatemala plugging away at the daily work. Our friends Norm and Vicki Sutton came over for a visit, and Norm and I spent some time working on an airplane. Maybe more than ever I am thankful for prayers over my life and ministry here in Guatemala. I know I plan to do more of it.