Skirt Blessings!

We pray that you had a joyful day giving thanks to our Creator and Redeemer! God is so good!

A couple weeks ago, as is our usual Monday routine, we went to see our friend Maria in Amatitlán. If you've read our blog, perhaps you remember Maria's story that I wrote about some time ago. She continues to struggle with the thirty year old wound on her leg, which, frankly, about makes a person pass out to look at. Two of Maria's granddaughters live with her now and as the nurse was tending to Maria's leg, Manuel was giving me the "ch...ch" (the Spanish version of "psst!!"). He said "las faldas!" (the skirts!) We had been carrying a box of skirts around in the van to be ready for just the right girls who needed them...and we had found just the right little girls that morning! During Compassion Weekend 2008, a church in South Florida, LMIC (Lutheran Ministry in Christ) sewed lightweight skirts as part of the Sewing Across Borders national campaign, and with love, sent them to Guatemala.

After asking what their favorite colors were, Manuel and I went out to find the right sizes for these two cuties. Just to be sure, I had the girls try the skirts on. Dulce (means "sweet") had been wearing a thin cotton dress, so when she tried on the skirt, she couldn't find anything to wear on top, so I went into the "bedroom" to help with the search. There was a boy, Maria's grandson, laying on the dirt floor sleeping. The dark room had two small beds that were piled with all sorts of junk. Her sister was helping her dig through a big box that had clothes in it, but nothing was remotely close to a little girl's shirt. They looked on the bed, on the floor, and finally, we found a little white button down cotton shirt that was draped over a nylon rope that was hanging across the room, along with a bunch of other clothes. Isn't that crazy? We're so blessed to have a "shirt drawer" or blouses hanging neatly in our bedroom closet. Here are these two girls looking all over the place to find just one little blouse. Well, the skirts fit both of the girls and they were very excited to show their grandmother! Just too cute!

A couple of weeks ago, we had all of the little girls stay after our children's activity in Amatitlan and shared your remaining gifts of love with each girl that was there. It was so wonderful to see those little skirts in the arms of the sweet girls as they returned home, knowing that loving hands had made them in a place so far away. Thank you, LMIC, for sharing your talents, your treasures and your love with the girls of Guatemala!! God is so good!

His name was Alberto

You would see him most days at La Provision. Filthy with weeks of grime on his clothes, on his skin, yellow teeth...at least those that he had. He fits right in with the rest of the men who come each day for what very well might be their only meal. They stand with a wad of gauze covered with paint thinner or some other toxic liquid held in their fist, or even stuck in their mouth, or hold the familiar small plastic bottle filled with rubbing alcohol that they they drink or glue that they sniff. Huffers and alcoholics, certainly without a home. Q1, about 14 cents, will buy the high. It's short lived, so they must keep their gauze covered in whatever toxic chemical they can find close to their nose or in their mouth all day. These men, and even some women, are dying from the inside out. Some have sores all over them, and most, when they come through the line to wash their hands, are so caked with dirt that they barely get one layer off, leaving the drying towel filthy.

This one man was different. It's hard to tell ages of people who are in this condition, twenties? teens? But his shaking was what you noticed. So uncontrollable that someone would need to carry his bowl of food and drink bag over to the curb where the guys all sit to eat. His shaking made it so that using a fork or spoon was useless. So he would drink soup right out of the bowl or take noodles by the handful and shove them in his mouth.

One day, recently, Adrian came up to me and said the men in the line were saying that one of the guys had died the night before. I asked him who it was, so we went over and asked. His name was Alberto.

Just two days before I had watched him as he was shoving long spaghetti noodles into his mouth. I had stood there thinking about who he was, what had brought him to this point. Did he know his Savior? Did he have any family? Did anyone miss him? I was glad they at least knew his name.

Sometimes I feel like it's hopeless. These guys are so wasted. So young. They are barely coherent and are so addicted to whatever it is they're huffing or drinking that they can barely stand up or put two words together. But God knew his name...He knew Alberto before he was born. I pray that at some point in his life Alberto knew His Father and had come to a saving faith. I'll never know. But that's not important. What is important is the other Alberto's who need food, who need a hand on a shoulder, who need to have someone know their name, to, yeah, have a kiss on the cheek or a hug even though their clothes and smell are disgusting.

Who are the untouchables in your life? in your neighborhood? in your church? They may not smell physically, but they may be people who are, for one reason or another, rejected by others or just plain lonely. Reach out to them. Know their names. Take the time to love. Be His hands.

Daily Bread - A Prayer Answered

We have had such a joyfilled summer with mission teams. While our time is consumed with leading this journey of faith that more than 170 people have taken this summer, it is such a privilege to travel this road together with God's people serving with us here in this peculiar area in Guatemala City called La Libertad (meaning "free land"). I say "peculiar" because it is such a unique part of Guatemala that even many Guatemalans are unaware of the environment in which thousands of people live in their very own country.

Last week we were blessed to have teams representing three churches from Mesa, Arizona, New Berlin and Wausau, Wisconsin and the St. Louis Seminary serving with us. It seems that doing "La Provision" is one of the most impactful parts of each team's experience here. As you may know, "La Provision" involves going down to the shanty town to serve lunch. The shanties, mostly made of corragated metal, cardboard and other found materials have been built on top of the garbage dump after this section had been filled up with garbage and leveled off. We normally offer this meal four days each week, Monday through Thursday. This particular week, however, some of the members of the teams, after having experienced the joy that providing food brought for so many hungry people, asked if it would be possible for us to do La Provision on Friday as well, if they would provide the $35 needed to buy the food and drinks for the day. Kevin checked it out with the ladies in the ministry kitchen, who answered with a resounding "Yes!"

So, the shopping was done, the 100+ meals and drink bags were prepared. In true T.I.G. (This Is Guatemala) fashion, Rodrigo, the ever challenging red pickup truck, decided he'd had it and was down for the count (again!! but this time we think it's for good...). That meant that the huge pot of food, the two coolers full of drink bags, the two five gallon buckets of water for washing hands, and all the bowls and forks, soap, towel and hand sanitizer needed to be carried all the way down to La Libertad. It was a bit of a hike, but we had willing servants to do the carrying.

Earlier that day, on our way down for the usual Friday morning Prayer Walk, we passed some familiar faces and stopped to say hello...how are you...gave a hug and a kiss on the cheek... As we neared La Libertad I saw "Karmencita" standing on the side of the road, so I stopped to say hello and gave her a hug. Karmencita walks on crutches and is just a little slip of a woman. I'm sitting here trying to guess her age, but am clueless. She probably isn't very old, but her lack of teeth and shuffling around on crutches probably belies her real age. I wish I had a picture of her, but I can't seem to find one (stay tuned...). I asked Karmencita how she was and she said that she was sad today and started to cry. When I asked why, she said that she was very hungry because she hadn't eaten since La Provision the day before. Since we normally don't have La Provision on Fridays, she was thinking it may be until Monday before she might eat again. I told her that there was good news because there was going to be Provision TODAY at 12:30! Her tears melted into a big toothless smile and we parted with "see you at 12:30!". Her prayer for daily bread had been answered with a big "Yes!" by our faithful God and Provider.

And, of course, later, when the team was scooping noodles into bowls and passing out the orange drink bags, here comes Karmencita on her crutches with a plastic half gallon pitcher in her apron pocket. Those handing out the food put three scoops of noodles in the pitcher, which we squeezed back into her apron pocket with three drink bags in another pocket. More hugs and smiles and off she went with food for her family.

God's servants listened to His call...they acted on His call to love...providing daily bread in answer to the prayers of one of His lambs. All glory to our loving Lord! Yay!

Our pews are plastic!

Each Monday Manuel, Gerber (pronounced 'hairbear'), and our mission teams, if they are with us, travel through the mountains of Guatemala to our second ministry site, Amatitlan. Amatitlan is a city of about 61,000 that was hit very hard by Hurricane Mitch almost ten years ago, in 1999. Since then, there are thousands of people living in poverty. Manuel tells us that it is very difficult for them to find work. As a result, many of the families there can't afford to send their children to school because of the fees that even public schools have, the lack of school supplies, and the need for older children to help care for their younger siblings. The Servant's Heart has been privileged to bring help in the form of school supplies and hygiene kits to many of the children in Amatitlan, and hope in the form of Jesus Christ, their Savior. As we are in our third day of constant rain from Alma and Arthur, I can't even imagine how cold and wet the people who live in the shanties in Amatitlan and here in the city must be. The streets turn to mud, along with the floors in most of their homes. And the shanties are anything but airtight. We feel as though we are living in a mansion here in our one bedroom apartment with Randy's bed in the kitchen, and we thank the Lord for the shelter with which He has blessed us. So every Monday afternoon, after our leader's Bible study, the ladies and their little kidlets begin to stream in through the black metal door at the end of the long cement block corridor. There are so many babies, with moms as young as 14 or 15. The kids, 60-70 usually, find their way to the little building at the far end and sit on the floor to hear about Jesus, sing songs and do crafts. While they're singin' at one end, the ladies are singin' at the other!! Not the same song, of course... but that's what "make a joyful noise" is all about, isn't it? There's singing and praying and listening to God's Word. Sounds like church to me! And what are our pews? Pink and blue and tan plastic chairs! And the roof? Big blue tarps that Manuel and Gerber put up in the morning and take down in the afternoon when we're finished! During this rainy season, it's not unusual for some of the ladies sitting in the gaps between the tarps to get wet, but they usually just laugh about it and move their chair a little bit! Isn't it amazing how, when you're hungry for God's Word, hungry for fellowship, hungry to sing praises... that it simply doesn't matter how cold or hot or wet you are? Nothing else is more important than being with your Savior. He is all that matters.

Perfect Timing, Perfect Plan

The first time I saw a picture of Randy and Rachel I said to myself, "There he is. This is who I have been praying for for the past 26 years." Which is a little strange since I wouldn't be meeting Randy until he moved down here to Guatemala as a missionary with us this January. The two had met in Guatemala in February of 2007. Rach was here working on Sponsorship Program things and Randy was here with his church's mission team. The next time they would see each other would be that summer at the National Youth Gathering in Orlando. Rach working in The Servant's Heart booth, Randy working with his church's youth group. Each thinking the other was "nice" and easy to talk to, but feeling it would be a little silly to go any farther than that since Randy would soon be moving to Guatemala and Rachel would be in Arizona.

Well, in God's perfect time, Rachel came down to Guatemala to work on some projects for the Sponsorship Program just a couple weeks after Randy had moved down and, try as they might not to, God gave them a wonderful gift of love. It is a joy to see how the Lord has brought these two lives together in the most unlikely way. All in His timing according to His perfect plan.

Since Rachel was born I have prayed that the Lord would prepare her husband to be a fine man of faith and integrity. And Randy is just that... He has committed his life to serving His Savior and we absolutely love him. Since moving to Guatemala, he has spent almost every minute here in our little two room apartment and has felt like family since the first day we met him in January. And family he will officially be as he and Rachel will be married in October of this year! We are so excited to see God's love flow through His two humble servants, and can't wait to see what His plan is as the two become one. We praise and thank Him for their love. What an awesome God!!

Maria

From Wausau, to southern California, and now to Washington... We are blessed at the ministry to have a team of ten servants join us from Beautiful Savior in Milton WA this week. As usual, we spend our Mondays in Amatitlan. Half of the team went by foot to visit some families right around the ministry building there, while the rest of us went on the fifteen minute drive out to visit Carlos. Many of you remember that he had fallen into a well about four years ago and had lost one of his legs and the use of the other one. He'd been in the hospital for eight days with an infection in his leg, but had no money to buy the antibiotic that he needed to stop the infection. We took his prescription with us and were able to get the needed medicine, which we delivered today. His leg was pretty swollen and inflamed, so we pray that the medicine will take care of the problem soon.

I would like to share with you the other house visit that we made on Monday. Many of you have heard about Maria, who has had a wound on her leg for the past 25+ years. It simply will not heal and the doctors have told her she needs to have it amputated. She's just too afraid to have them do that, so lives with the intense pain. Well, Maria told us we sat around her little kitchen about some terribly difficult situations that she is facing right now. Her daughter's two children live with her as her daughter left them. Her grandson is about 12 and kept getting into trouble, so she has had to put him into an institution for boys because she just couldn't handle him anymore. He will be there until he is 18 years old. Then she told us that the sweet little girl that was in the room with us is her granddaughter. Her name is Andrea and she is 10 years old. Maria said that she doesn't have enough money to buy food for both of them anymore, so in June she will need to put her into an institution as well, until she is 18. She just broke down as she shared how difficult it has been for both of them, as she has had to tell Andrea that she will have to spend the next 8 years of her life living away from her grandmother. Then, as we asked her if there was anything else we can pray about, she said that her other daughter had just left the country to illegally enter the States, so she has no idea where she is or if she will ever hear from her again. What huge burdens for this tiny woman to bear. We prayed for her and for the children and her daughters, and as we left, I held her close praying that some of her burden would be lifted from her shoulders onto mine. Do you know anyone who is hurting today? Make time to hold them close, to pray with them, share some encouraging Scripture... the Body of Christ in action!

An update on Margarita... Adrian came to us last week to say that Margarita had died in the hospital. She had the surgery to amputate her leg, but was just too weak to recover. As we thought about her, we said that she was at peace, maybe for the first time in her long, difficult life. She is celebrating the joyful victory of Easter with no more pain or loneliness. Thanks be to God!! And thanks to each of you who shared the message of hope and life with Margarita.

Margarita

Many of you who have been here on a mission trip have gone to visit Margarita. She's a spunky woman who has had quite a life of pain in her 80-some years on this earth. She has lost her husband and her son, and still gets emotional each time she retells her story. Margarita has diabetes, which here in the States is often easier to control with medication and a balanced diet. However, for Margarita, it's a bit more difficult as she, for lack of food, doesn't eat regularly and rarely drinks the water she needs. Adrian and his family have tried to look out for her, but she's easily forgotten as people in her neighborhood go about their busy days. Adrian called me this afternoon to tell me that Margarita is going to have her leg amputated. It was quite a surprise as the last time we visited her (with the Wausau WI team a couple weeks ago) she only complained about her feet hurting a bit. She was given advice from Karen, the nurse on the team, to keep her feet and legs elevated. But apparently, the problem was worse than we knew. She has gone now to live with her daughter about twenty-five minutes from here. Hopefully, she will be better taken care of, although her daughter hasn't been very involved in her care in the past. Please pray for Margarita as she must be so frightened and unsure of what will happen. Her difficult life will be so much more painful. I will keep you updated on her condition if we are able to visit her.

We seem to encounter someone every single day that is in need of healing. The sickness and pain that people here suffer for lack of medical care is heartbreaking. But our pockets will never be deep enough to reach each and every person here who needs help. Sometimes it gives us a feeling of helplessness as we simply can't do what we naturally want to do, which is "fix it." I often wonder how Jesus felt as He walked through streets or travelled between towns, being pressed from every direction by hundreds of people needing His healing touch. But He didn't heal each and every person, did He? At least not physically. His first priority was always the healing of the soul. That's where the true healing and peace come from. Sometimes all we can do here is lay someone in the arms of the Savior, knowing that their physical situation may simply not change, and may in many cases get worse. What we try to cling to here where there is so much suffering is that, ultimately, the only thing that really matters for eternity is that the person has a saving faith in Jesus. Then, no matter if they continue to suffer or are relieved of the pain on this earth, whether they live or die, eternal life is theirs...no more suffering... and what could be better than that?

Ruth

Anyone who has served at The Servant's Heart in the past few years knows Ruth. Those of you who have never been here, you may have heard Ruth's story. Ruth is a beautiful young woman of twenty years. I've never seen pictures of Ruth that were taken before she came to the ministry, and I doubt she would want me to. Ruth used to work in the garbage dump alongside other members of her family, rummaging through the garbage of Guatemala City looking for objects that could be sold as recyclables, perhaps even looking for food to eat. Difficult, dirty, back breaking work, to say the least.

Well, yesterday afternoon we were honored and privileged to attend a worship service upstairs in an old building around the corner from her family's small cement block shanty just yards from the dump to celebrate Ruth's graduation from High School! Called Diversificado in Guatemala, graduating from this level allows Ruth to teach in the primary grades, so she has moved to the level of teacher in our ministry's after school reinforcement program. What a delightful occasion!!

Ruth had put up balloons, made little construction paper figures of a Precious Moments girl graduating, little graduation hats hanging between the balloons, and "Bienvenidos a Mi Graduacion" (Welcome to My Graduation) was strung across the front of the room, now a church. Songs of praise were sung for over an hour, after which the pastor stood up to honor Ruth, telling her how she had not "thrown in the towel", but had worked so hard to prepare to serve her Lord and Savior. We sat there as proud as parents, so honored to be included in this beautiful day.

Ruth is a perfect example of "from garbage to grace" as she has found God's purpose for her life. We pray she will continue to serve Him with her whole heart, growing in faith and love each and every day.

Marina

Marina. A sweet little girl barely as big as her 4 years. Marina has Downs Syndrome, but that doesn't stop her smiles and waves when she sees you. She is one special little girl. Gladys, who works every day at the ministry cleaning both of our buildings with Dalila, is Marina's mom, Raymundo's sister, Adrian and Astrid's cousin. It's taken a very long time, a very special school, and an awesome God, but Marina's been making such amazing progress this year. Gladys will often stop by to tell us one more word that her little girl can say or one more thing that she can do, for each is quite an accomplishment and cause for rejoicing!

The past few weeks, however, Gladys has stopped by more often to express her concern over tests that Marina will be having this week. They think there is a hole in her heart and the family is so anxious about the results of these tests. We cry, we hold each other, and we pray for this sweet little child of God...Marina... Please join us as we lay Marina and her family in the hands of their loving Lord...

Backpacks, School Supplies and Shoes!

In Guatemala, the school year runs from mid-January through October, so it's back to school time! One of the things that The Servant's Heart ministry provides for our children is a backpack, school supplies, a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of leather shoes (which must be worn to school). Our 5 teachers who will be operating our after school reinforcement program, along with Gerber (pronounced "hairbear") spent a day on the roof of the Missionary House counting out pencils, pens, glue, notebooks, and all the other great stuff that kids need for their first day of school. Each grade from Kinder through high school needed something different, so it was quite a production to put together 150 backpacks.

So Saturday was the big day...the kids started streaming in to our new building to get their backpack, then went into another room to receive their shoes. It was pretty crazy with dozens of kids with their moms trying to find a pair that would fit. We had boxes and bins full of shoes to choose from. While it's not the norm, there were a few of our high school guys who needed zapatos grandes (big shoes!), which are the sizes we always seem to be short of. But what kid doesn't love to get a new pair of shoes! It was great to see all the smiles as they proudly carried their new things on their backs.

Next stop was our sewing department where Raymundo, Rosa and Jose measured each child for their pants or skirts that would be needed for their school uniform. Those sewing machines will really be buzzing for the next few weeks as they make 150 pairs of pants or skirts!!

So, off to school they went...an amazing thing for these kids!! As we walked through a store the other day I was pricing some of the items that we had given the kids the week before. A spiral notebook for $1.00, a plain backpack for over $30. Those two items alone would prohibit a child from being able to attend even the "free" public school. But the kids at the ministry are able to attend safer, better private schools, which is opening doors to them that would never otherwise be possible.

So, if you're at a church or on a team that has collected or brought down donations of school supplies or shoes...THANK YOU!!!! The children and families here are overwhelmed with the generosity and love that you have shown to them through your gifts. If you are sponsoring a child or teen...MUCHAS GRACIAS!!!! You're making it possible for these kids to find God's purpose for their lives through education and a feeling of confidence that has been denied them for far too long. You are God's hands and feet and heart as you have given these gifts of love! Our ministry and the people in the shanties send their warmest appreciation.