Answered Prayers

Hola everyone! What an amazing time in Guatemala! I want to tell you about multiple cases of prayers that were answered.

When I first arrived it was the day before Independence Day. They have a tradition of letting the school kids run down the roads and highways with torches while people on the side of the roads throw water at them. This is a very dangerous practice. The school in our furthest village named Yalu picked the brightest students to ride in the back of a pickup to the highway as part of the celebration. The pickup was packed and the kids were standing up holding onto metal railing. As the teacher turned a corner the metal frame fell off the truck, taking the kids with it. Multiple kids were injured, 2 seriously. One boy and one girl were in a coma. The poor teacher was so upset she fainted.

That evening Anita and Gregory, (founders of the clinic) had a dinner party. After eating, Anita, Karen, (another missionary who works at the clinic ), and I decided to pray for these children. Anita told us of a 12 year old son of missionaries who was also in a coma. He suffers from asthma, had a severe attack, and was transported two hours to a hospital that could handle the situation. He had received no oxygen for 4 minutes prior to getting help. When he arrived at the hospital he was placed on a ventilator but then he developed pneumonia. Things were looking bleak. The three of us prayed long and hard for all of these children.

The next day we learned that the girl in the accident had woken up with no residual problems. The second day we learned that the boy from the accident woke up but would still need some further treatment. Later we learned that the MK with asthma woke up and said "hi mom!". He is now fine. Praise God!

The last day I was there one of the indigenous women who works in the clinic was distraught. Her brother and boss were leaving the village at 3am to sell their truck load of tomatoes in another town. They were kidnapped. The only thing we knew was that someone had seen it happen and that her brother was tied up. At that point they had been missing for 6 hours. The entire clinic team prayed that morning for their safe return (which was unlikely).
Later that day the brother and his boss returned tired, no tomatoes, no money, no truck but safe and alive! Praise God!



Update on the church/community center. We have one more payment to make on the land before we can start building! We are so excited and have many plans to use the building for God's glory.

Along with the blessings come trials. Guatemala is having the driest rainy season in 30 years. Many people are starving because they rely on the fruit of the land for survival. This drought has hurt the area where the clinic is located but we are much better off than other areas.

As many of you know the road from the highway is being paved. This has made life so much easier for the villagers. However, this has also made it much easier for robbers to get in and out of the villages. Armed robberies, in broad daylight, are happening. The robbers are able to escape by motorcycle which would have been impossible before. It's frightening because we see them robbing the tiendas (little stores) when we are arriving to the clinic. I'm pretty sure those rifles are loaded! What's really sad is that these store owners are poor and now they have even less and can do nothing to stop it from happening over and over.

The other day I found myself saying something I never thought I would say, "thank you for letting me borrow your machete." You can imagine the monster weed growing in my back yard that was the cause of me borrowing it!


Update on Ranger(aka Sweetie). Look at the previous posting for the before picture of her. She received all her chemotherapy, her operation, shots, and now is in perfect health. She is happy and very sweet. Will make a great family dog. If any of you are looking to add a very sweet dog to your family she is available for adoption. E-mail me for details on getting her to the US.Oh, her friend needs a home too.














One last funny thing that happened. Anita, Gregory, Karen and I went out to eat. At the cafe the menu had been expanded and they had interpreted it into English. Well, bless their hearts, the interpretation is funny, if not appetizing. On the menu were such things as:
Hamburger with cheaps
Turkey jam sandwich
Chocolate mouse cake

We had great fun, good coffee, and the chocolate mouse was delicious!

All God's blessings,
Terri