If I Were King, or Queen....

It is a good thing I am not the one in charge of deciding who gets a house built for them here. When a lady comes to my house to pick up a pair of shoes for her child and asks me if it is possible for her to have a house built because she has eleven children and some nieces and nephews living with her in a one room house, I want to grab my hammer and say "let's go". But wiser heads than mine have been chosen to make those decisions. I would probably bankrupt the coffers very quickly.

There has been an ongoing project here since last August that has seen some good results. Without going into a lot of detail, the story is about a little boy, Joel, who was told by a Dr. in a visiting medical team that if he did not have surgery on his eye, he would go blind. As it turns out, after visits to a couple of Drs. here, he does not need surgery. He is allergic to the sun and with the help of a group of generous people in the states, he now has medication and instructions on how to protect himself. His eye has greatly improved and his sight is much better. He and his sister both had lesions on their arms and those are almost gone.

It is my natural, fleshly tendency to be a hermit. If ever I have any tendency to be cordial or hospitable, it is an unnatural or maybe supernatural one. My hermitishness has been stretched this week when a family...mother, dad, and baby came to stay with me for three days so the baby, Felix, could see a doctor here in Chimaltenango. Felix was born with a birth defect which probably can be corrected with surgery. He is 16 months old and they were told at one time that the surgery could be done when he was one year old. The specialist here said usually that kind of surgery is not done until the child is two years old. Another complication is that he has severe anemia. He is being treated for that now and in October, hopefully, they can come back for the surgery. There was something almost like regret when they left. I had gotten to know them and Felix is one of the few babies here that doesn't scream for his mother when I pick him up. They will be coming back in three weeks for a follow-up visit with the doctor.

The parents, Jorge and Ada, were very disappointed about the surgery....first for Felix's sake and second because they rode a chicken bus for eight hours to get here. They live north of Huehuetenango, almost to the Mexican border. So, how do I know about Felix? Through our on site dentist, Manuel Chavez, who not only is a dentist but an evangalist as well. He travels far and away throughout Guatemala holding dental clinics, preaching, and ministering to people.

I took some photos of Felix and the family and printed them out for them. I have never seen anyone so excited over a small thing like some family photos. It makes me wonder when was the last time I got excited over some small thing.

Luisa

Can You Say Mountain?

Little did I know what I was getting into last week when I volunteered to drive a truck to a village to haul medical supplies and team members for a medical clinic. I had driven this truck before so I thought "no sweat". No one told me where this village was so I just followed the leader....straight up a mountain. Did I say straight? Strike that....there were hairpin curves, one after another. By the time we reached the village, at an elevation of 8,000 ft., the truck was overheated and steaming. To add to the problem, when we got in the truck to return, I smelled brake fluid. My thoughts were of all those curves and while the scenery was beautiful, I didn't want us to end up a part of it rather that just looking at it.

It was a good day though. The doctors attended to about 190 people with everything from coughs, sore throats, and ear aches to athletes foot. The doctor who treated the athletes foot said it was so severe that the fellow was near to losing some toes. One lady who came to the clinic wanted treatment for her two little boys who were not eating and were sad. I was helping translate for the lady taking names, ages, and problems, so we put down depression for her boys. I thought this was kind of strange for two little boys until the doctor told us later that her husband, their father, had been killed in the landslide that occurred in Guatemala City a few weeks ago.

There were several doctors in this team as well as nurses and a pharmacist. As well as treating the physical ailments of the people, they also covered them with prayer. Our table was set up outside, but I managed to venture inside the building a few times. More than once, I saw the group who was treating someone praying with them.

We closed up shop about 4:00 and started back down the mountain with me holding my breath, as though that would help if we had no brakes. However, everything went fine and we met up with the rest of the team at Paulino's Restaurant in Tecpan for some wonderful food and fellowship.

This team was the third one in three weeks and now it is back to putting the mission house aright in anticipation of the next team later this month.

Luisa