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.