Soapbox Time

It's soooo easy! Just swipe your credit card through a little machine, sign your name and you are in debt. I had to learn this week how to use one of those little machines, now I have it down pat.

There was a friend of mine once, when I lived in Michigan, who was a truck driver and received a monthly expense check. He decided to put all his expenses on his credit card then pay that bill off when his expense check came. Unfortunately, his expense check first and he spent it on other things so he didn't have the money to pay the credit card bill. This friend eventually declared bankruptcy. Do the phrases "take responsibility for your actions", "payday someday", and "paying the piper', come to mind?

When I used to work as an escrow agent doing loan closings for people who were refinancing their homes in order to pay off some debts, it was astounding to me the amount of money some people owed to credit card companies. How could they let this happen? It is so easy. It is amazingly easy to obtain a credit card and even easier to use it, often times irresponsibly.

What is it about us that we almost think we are being unpatriotic if we are not in debt. You might say we are helping the economy when we buy things because if we don't buy, there won't be a demand. We have been demanding things for years and where is the economy.

Sadly, I see the same thing happening in Guatemala. More and more people are handing over the little piece of plastic in Maxi Bodega (Wal-Mart).

I heard on the news just this week that the average person has eight credit cards. My word! Why would a person need eight credit cards? I don't mind being below average in this respect. I only have one and have considered shredding it, but it is so convenient. Oh well, if I get too far in debt, my faithful government will bail me out.

Luisa

The Sky is Falling

What is that stuff falling out of the sky? There has been little to no rain in Guatemala since mid-October and the day after I arrived in the states, it rained all day. I'm sure the Easter egg hunters were disappointed, but it looked good to me.

Just before I left Guatemala, a couple of people came to me with needs for help in paying for medical exams. One was for a woman's son who needed x-rays and other exams on his back and another was for a lady who needed an ultra-sound to determine if she had miscarried. She got the results a couple of days before I left and it looks as though she has lost the baby. Whether this was brought on by stress or would have happened anyway, I don't know. It can be very stressful when men show up at your house with shotguns demanding to see your husband as they did at hers. She managed to close the door on them and no one was harmed, just frightened out of their wits.

As I spend these few weeks in my home country, I am reminded again of how blessed we are here with material things. If material things were all that we needed, America would have no needs. We don't know that we are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and naked, and blind. But there is hope....in Jesus Christ.

Luisa

Joy, Joy, Joy

What a difference a few days and a little good news can make. Last week I received word that my residency has been granted for me to stay in Guatemala. It has been well over a year since the process was started to bring this about. What this means is that I can now stay in Guatemala for two years without having to leave the country every 90 or 180 days. After that I can apply for a permanent residency which I understand is a much simpler process. All that's left to do is go to the city Friday to pick up my passport from my attorney.

This probably doesn't mean much to a lot of people, but to me, it is a big deal. Without the residency there is always that time limit hovering around in the back of my mind like a little gray cloud. To me, it means freedom to think and to plan things that I was hesitant to do before.

There is a young man here who has become an object of my prayers. He has no job, no money and through the generosity and good graces of a friend is attending the seminary here in Chimal. This friend is looking for a way to set the young man up in a business in order for him to support his family and continue his studies at seminary. This bears more investigation and as I said much prayer. Please join me in praying for him and for direction and wisdom for me.

Luisa

Gloom, Despair, etc., etc...

Being sick is depressing to say the least and I almost forget what it feels like to feel good. I have heard it said that there is something good in everything...a silver lining behind every cloud. It is hard to see anything good when a person is flat on their back and their body aching from fever. However, after four of five days in bed, I noticed that some of my body parts were getting some much needed rest and weren't as sore as they had been. So maybe there is something to this silver lining business.


During all this, there has been a team at the mission house. This team is comprised totally of college students from the University of Alabama. I enjoy young people.....from a distance. They are so enthusiastic and full of energy. They are creative and flexible. They haven't yet learned that they have limitations, that there are certain things they aren't able to do, so they just do them anyway. This team of young people built five houses, held a basketball camp, visited homes and took food to families, conducted VBS, and had a block party. Now I can imagine what a block party in Guatemala must have looked like. In the states, it would consist probably of the people in one block or neighborhood. Here, I am sure people would come from everywhere to join the fun of a block party.

March has been relatively quiet and the time is rapidly approaching for me to leave for the states. It will be good to spend some time with my family and friends.


Luisa

Wise Friends

Whether accidentally or on purpose, I don't know....I prefer to think on purpose....a very good, wise friend helped me this week to understand something that only someone who was standing back from the forest enough to see the trees could.

I have been put into a situation the last few days that has causing me not some small degree of stress and this friend made me see that what I was doing was protecting myself rather that reaching out to someone in need. That does not mean that I intend to roll over and play dead, but I have been able to formulate a plan that has relieved the stress somewhat.

I have another very good, wise friend who said something long ago that has stuck with me, but I have yet to figure out how to accomplish it. He claims that this was not original with him, but it sounds like something he would say. He said, "humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is not thinking of yourself at all."

We, meaning Laurie King and I went to see Berto last Thursday and he is doing surprisingly well. He has seemed to be doing better ever since his week's stay in the hospital. He has some pain, but it is not unbearable. On Saturday, I went back loaded with tangerines, Ensure, vitamins, and pain relievers for him. He is still adamant about not having the surgery....his choice.

I have decided that these posts need to be shorter and more frequent. I can promise shorter, but am not too sure about more frequent.

Luisa

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