After tropical storm Agatha

"Blessed is he who has regard for the weak" Psalms 41:1

Hola everyone! Well, I'm back in Guatemala and into the swing of things. When I arrived everything was so green. The trees, plants, the walls in my house, food, toilet paper...we have had a very wet rainy season. Rain, rain and more rain. Unfortunatly the country has not recovered from the tropical storm that hit hard. Many people died and many more are homeless. The continued rain is causing the cleanup to be very slow.

I'm getting back into the culture but it's very different than the U.S. At the bank you check your gun with the guard, who has a really large gun himself. The signs in stores of "no smoking", "no guns" always make me look twice. This is the only country where I have seen those signs.

Unfortunately the crime here is escalating. As one of the top poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere people sometimes see crime as the only way out of their desperate lives. As missionaries we try to let them know that there is one solution to their problems, faith in Christ and the body of other Christians who band together to help one another.

The clinic is running fine but we are missing our helper Paco, who died, very much. He ran the AWANA kids club and we have not found a substitute that can impart the message of Jesus to the children like Paco could. Please pray that God will send someone with that gift.


A missionary friend of mine came to visit for 3 days. She is a former missionary to Guatemala and is visiting her Guatemalan families that she continues to support from the U.S. It was a great time of fun and Christian fellowship with a sister in Christ.

Now that I am here in the country full-time I am looking for another ministry to lend my help to. Our clinic, Hands-of-Hope, has 2 full clinic days on Tues. and Thurs. I'm looking for an opportunity to help somewhere else since I have the rest of the week free. I have been contacted by Faith In Practice to possibly be assistant to their surgical coordinator. This is a large organization who brings in short-term medical teams for clinics around the country and surgical teams for needed operations. Please watch the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0o4s8UTAkE to find out more about this wonderful ministry. I will be meeting with them this coming Fri. Please be in prayer that God will show us what His direction is for this possible joining.


Thank you again to all of you who have prayed for me and my family during this season of difficulty. God is good and my faith is stronger than ever.


All God's blessings,
Terri

Yes, I'm still here

Hola to everyone.I apologize for not posting in a long while. Most of you know that this has been a very difficult year for me. My son passed away this last March. I do think, that with the mighty strength of God, I am climbing out of the hole and ready to get back to work!

My daughter will be attending school in Florida this year so I will be driving with her, and her dog, from PA to Ft. Lauderdale, FL on July 31st. In the mean time I am meeting with people and preparing for my full-time move to Guatemala. I will be returning to Guatemala on Aug. 9th.

I now have a wonderful, mission oriented, church who is sponsoring me, Praise the Lord! So private donations will now be sent directly to Hands-of-Hope. The address is on the left side of my page. I am at 70% financing of my need for the next year.

Here is an update from Anita, the founder of our clinic on the disasters affecting Guatemala at this time.



"Well I spent the day going to Palin where out friends Pedro and Estella Pitman live. They are working in a shelter for people whose homes were destroyed or are under mud from the Agatha storm that hit us over the weekend. My electric still goes off and on. Karen Leier (another great Canadian) and her girls and Rachel and I bought soap, bleach (to purify the water and disinfect stuff) toilet paper, diapers, towels, and with donated clothes headed down there today.

Nothing could prepare me for the devastation...half of the highway to Palin was under several feet of mud, rocks, trees, homes...all washed down the mountain.

In Palin the mud was half way up the walls and some homes were up to the roofs in mud and there is no water...the tubes all broke and there is not even water to wash. People were working during the day to dig out their homes and come back to sleep in the shelters. They sleep on anything they can find...cardboard, bits of clothes, etc. The place really smells like a sewer and the heat and dampness is overwhelming. The sadness on the mom's faces was hard. It sure made me feel like I do not have any problems.


The trip from Palin to San Lucas (where I live) normally takes an hour but it took me about 4 1/2 hours because so much of the highway was closed and we had to keep crossing over into the other side of the divided highway. It was very hot and the mud was everywhere. I looked like I was playing in the mud just helping in the shelter.

Rachel and her friends decided to stay there for the night to help Pedro with a kids activity in the shelter. The best news was meeting this Texan online who had a machine that purifies 650 gallons of water in about 3 hours. He is donating it to Pedro and Estella as he was looking to help some ministry that he could trust. God brought us together and it turns out the Texan lives around the corner from me!! The need for safe drinking water is the number one concern.

We are sad for the 160 people that have been confirmed dead so far but excited to see the Guatemalans working together and trying to move on. They are a lot tougher than me.

I just got home and took a shower but am so exhausted. How much worse if I had no shower or home." -Anita

Once Guatemala is up and running again we plan to start building our community center. This building will hold Christian functions, AWANA, VBS, private bible studies and informal church services. We are also hoping to provide baby-sitting services so that the children are not abandoned while their parents are working in the fields. This provides the perfect opportunity to teach the little children about Jesus as well.


Some very sad new is our wonderful worker Paco has died. Paco was a wonderful man of God. If he didn't have a tool in his hand, he had his Bible. Paco lead the AWANA classes for the children. Paco also gave wonderful talks to the men of the villages about drugs, alcohol, being good husbands, all in the Christian context. Many came to know the Lord through Paco. He will be missed terribly. We are positive God will provide someone else to fill in this much needed position.





All God's blessings,

Terri

A Wonderful New Year

Hola Everyone, I hope you are all having a wonderful new year. I want to give you a brief note about my last trip to Guatemala and what is projected for 2010.

Things are going very well for us in general. Our doctor is now giving Bible studies to children in one of the villages we serve. I do believe that the biggest impact of what we are doing, will be with this up and coming generation. Raise them up in the ways of the Lord.

One of our helpers, Paco, (who happens to be the husband of Mimi, our front desk coordinator *see above photo), has been leading a "scout" meeting. He incorporates bible studies and fun ways of learning about God. He is so good at sharing the Gospel that we have decided we may loose him to this ministry instead of fixing up our clinic building. That would be a sacrifice worth making.


Part of the long, anticipated, road from the highway to the clinic has been paved. This has been a huge blessing for us and the villagers. It's so much quicker and easier on the bottom (if you know what I mean :) to travel. However, a dangerous problem has developed. It is now faster and safer for robbers to ride in on a motorcycle, rob the little stores, and get out quick. So, please pray that this will not continue and that no one will be physically hurt.

So many of the people in Guatemala inspire me to work harder, be more, trust God, live life daily, as I see them working and living fullfilling lives. They accomplish this with far less than we are privilaged to have here in the U.S./Canada. Watching them gives me the strength to live by Faith as an action and not a concept.

Now, for 2010, as it stands right now, I am looking forward to moving from the U.S. to Guatemala in July. I am extremely excited about this! I will be making another trip down for 3 weeks on Jan. 25th and will probably make one other short trip between then and July. Please pray for me that things will go smoothly and God will provide the means and way for this to happen.

I pray that each of you will have a wonderful and blessed new year.

All God's blessings,
Terri