A Time to tear down...a time to build

One of the hardest things for me to do here in Guatemala is to discern who to help, when to help, and how to help. I have decided that the Guatemalan branch of the Feed the Sheep Shop was not such a good idea after all. My list of families had grown to 25 and there were people coming for food who I knew were capable of buying their own, but I found it very difficult to turn them away. Compared to J. Paul Getty, I am as poor as Job's turkey. But compared to most of the people here, I am rich.

In my attempt to save the world, I rushed off to Russia a little over 10 years ago to convert the whole country. People had been trying to do that for centuries, but I was convinced they were just waiting on me. I'm not really sure when the revelation hit me that "each one reach one" is a much better concept, but somewhere along the way, it did.

Right now, most of my efforts, aside from cleaning the mission house, are concentrated on the needs of particular individuals, such as Berto and his family. They have had to move twice in the last few months due to the fact that he cannot work and they could not pay for the property where their house was, nor pay the rent for the one they moved to. They are living in a very small house now with no water and no electricity. There are eight people in the family and the Q300 rent and money for food is just not there. Please pray that an affordable lot will become available that interested persons can purchase and on which a team could perhaps build them a house.

Luisa

Los Gozosos

Taking three hours to make a one hour trip is not my idea of a fun afternoon. Last week, Maureen Casey, director of Los Gozosos, a children's home in Chimaltenango, and I went to the city to buy some supplies for the children. Traffic in the city was at a standstill because of a demonstration by the teachers. They were blocking the main road and no one was going anywhere. Whether or not they accomplished their purpose remains to be seen. At one point, Maureen wanted to give up and turn around and go back. However, turning around was not an option as we were blocked in. All's well that ends well and we finally made it to Price Smart, made our purchases and returned home...a one hour trip this time.

Los Gozosos (The Joys) has about a dozen children and all of them are physically and/or mentally handicapped. These children attend the same church that I do and I marvel at their behavior. They are so well behaved, they love to clap their hands with the music and one little girl was doing the twist to "God is Good" last Sunday. They are always dressed to the nines and well groomed. One boy in particular, Daniel, has caught my attention. He is always smiling and Maureen said before Christmas when there were no gifts under the tree that he knew that God was going to fill their tree with gifts, and He did. Maureen has my utmost admiration for the job she is doing. Last year, a team wanted to go there to take pizza for the kids, so we did. One little girl scared the wits out of me eating so fast that she started choking. A worker came over and helped her and she went right back to stuffing in the pizza. I vowed not ever to do that again.

The season for teams is about to start. A team from Canada arrived yesterday. I really think the reason they are here is to get out of the cold and snow. Whatever their reason, it should be fun having a group from Canada here, ay.