New year, new challenges.

January 20, 2017 It has been a very busy month! We started the month with sickness, seizures, hospital visits, and more than a little morning for baby Maggy whom we lost on Christmas Eve. Savanah and Alex joined our intern team and are living in the home to work as nannies, and work evenings and weekends when staff is not in the home..I had only one short week with them, but after only 1 week they seemed to be adjusting to the fast pace of the home. In addition, the Gross family arrived a week before I left, leaving us with a very full home of 12 kids in the home, 4 fulp kids living at home, 4 interns, 2 parents, and 4 Grosses.

Savana (far left) and Alex (4th from the left) our new interns
Madison Gross (far right)

The Grosses put an offer in on a home large enough to house the next group home, Hogar de la Fe, although they still await a response. This property is large enough to house the home, and the ministry supplies which are currently in another building because there is no room in Hogar de la Esperanza. Please be praying for them as they continue into their cross cultural immersion, language classes, and house hunting. Further, my last week in the home was also the week that one of my home churches, Pleasant View Missionary Church sent a team of 5 ladies to minister to children with special needs in a variety of venues. Among them were my sister, one of my best friends, and three women for whom I have had much respect over the years. They were a blessing to us, and they got to experience several aspects of our ministry including time in the grouphome, in a local hospital/long term care facility for individuals with special needs, in the homes of specific families in Escuintla, and at a feeding program in the community around the Escuintla dump.

Deborah and Alison

Gloria and Edy

It was incredible to share our lives with them. On Wednesday, half of the team went out with Daryl and Mr. Gross to check in on some families, and help in specific situations with families who we do not see monthly. The other part of the team came with me and our team to Sipacate, and La Gomera to visit our montly sponsored children who receive food, medicine, or other monthly help. Like our team, we were once again blown away by the generosity, and love shown by these families who have become quite precious to us. In Daryl’s group, they met a new family, and were offered a live chicken by the mother. After quietly speaking with her, it was determined that they actually did not have enough food for the family. This woman was so gracious as to offer precious food to people she had just met when she did not even have enough food for her own family. God provides. She, who was so generous as to share all she had, instead received food from a source she had not expected, just when she needed it the most. Praise God! In our group, I explained to some families that I would be leaving for the states, but only for a matter of months. I was shocked at the responses I got, and the love shown to me. But you see, our monthly visits are not about giving material supplies to people. They are about building a relationship which can be used to show Christ’s love. Month after month we visit these families. Month after month we ask about their lives, and struggles. We listen and love them. And every month we pray for them. They have become very dear to us. It is not about the supplies. And so it should not have surprised me how our families responded when I said I was leaving for a time. There were hugs and kind words, and sentiments of safe travel and quick return. I was struck yet again at how incredible our families are.

Alicia

Manuel

Deborah and Christy's first coconut milk,
here only about 70 cents each

While we visited the home of Hector, a young man with cerebral palsy whom we visit every month, I started talking with his sisters who always greet me by name are are excited to talk with me, even though my Spanish is still not very good. They help me find words I am looking for, and they were happy to meet my sister and friend who traveled with us that day. When they learned that back in my home, Ohio, there were no banana trees, and nothing was growing now because of the snow, they ran off beckoning for me to follow. Their yard is full of banana trees, and they wanted to send me and my friends along with a few dozen bananas for the trip home. I love these girls so much! So after a very busy last week, I joined the team in flying home. For once, this trip was quiet and uneventful, a nice break from my slowly growing airport mishap stories! After a long break, I got to see my parents again, and my siblings and nephew. I am in Dayton, close to WSU campus for the class I can’t get online, but sadly I have had a number of issues meeting some of my other objectives here. I am waiting for a current TB test before I start shadowing a wound care specialist near Troy, and I am very grateful for a great many nurse friends who helped me make the necessary connections to gain this experience. We have a great many wounds in our rural areas, and few resources so this experience is necessary.

In the time that I have been in Ohio, I find it harder than ever to feel at home. I very much feel like I don’t quite fit here anymore. There are the little things like getting food frozen, or from a can instead of fresh, and using minute rice instead of regular. But then there are the habitual things like flushing the paper, checking my shoes for spiders, wanting to thank cashiers in Spanish, and waking up without bright sunlight through the windows and skylights (which does not fully light a room even midday). All of these are small, and really not a big deal. But talking with people is different. People talk about things that do not hold significance to me anymore. On my campus the young adults talk rudely about professors, parents, and boyfriends. They talk about clothes, new make up devices, and the latest iphones. But even off campus, most conversations lean into things I can’t relate to. It is certainly a challenge both to be here in this culture, and to be away from my friends and family in Guatemala. I love this place where I grew up, but it does not feel the same as it used to. But I take great solace in talking with my family, all of whom are supportive of my life in Guatemala. Those who have not been out of the country for ministry, still understand better than most. It is great to visit with friends and family, and I know God has a purpose for this time.

Cesar in our home

Alejandra in our home

Alison and Edy from our home

Since I have been home, the group home accepted a 17 day old baby with renal failure, although the courts later assigned her to another home. We have since learned that they cannot take her because she has a colostomy, and is on dialysis. To my knowledge, they have not asked our home again to take her. From the sound of it, she should be in a hospital, although there may not be a hospital safe enough for her in the national hospital system. Please pray for this precious baby.