Journal October 2-7
Tuesday, October 2, 2007.
This morning I finally made it back to Hermano Pedro. It was great to see the kids. All except a few of them who still have the chicken pox are now out of quarantine. As expected Byron was not in his power wheelchair because the batteries had gone dead and no one had taken the incentive to hook plug in the battery charger.
After lunch I met with a husband and wife who had called me earlier in the day asking if they could visit Hermano Pedro.
Before going home I stopped off at the grocery store and bought about $100 worth of groceries. I don’t like to buy more than a day or 2 supply of groceries at once. Just kidding. If I ration the food I can perhaps make the groceries 3 days. I was a bit surprise when I got home because Fernando was the only one at my gate. I had brought home 2 roast chickens and was beginning to think that we were going to have one each. I didn’t think that for long though because by the time the groceries were out of the car there were 10 of us. About a half hour later 3 stragglers came in but there was nothing left but a few bones. They told me that they didn’t think that cereal was as good as chicken.
Well the house has finally emptied out Except for Calin who is fast asleep on the floor. Fernando had also fallen asleep but he was on my bed and for some reason my floor doesn’t look as soft as the bed so I woke him up and sent him home. I think that I will quickly turn off the lights and claim the bed.
Yours in Christ: Dick
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
I spent part of my morning getting things fixed on my car. These camp recruiting trips have a way of making things break even on the toughest of vehicles. How 3 feet of exhaust pipe got ripped off is beyond me, How it can take a chunk out of your fender when it falls off is an even bigger mystery but it did. Weather or not either of them has had anything to do with my hood jamming shut I am not sure of, but I knew that I it would be best to have them all fixed before everything broke all at once and I found myself sitting on a big pile of broken parts.
I wanted to get a few more things done before heading to Hermano Pedro but got a call from Jessica telling me that a little boy up in malnutrition who I had put in a special chair was going back to his village today. The seating system that I had given him was perfect for him but when I originally gave it to him it was with the understanding that he would be staying at Hermano Pedro for at least a year. The wheels that were under the seating system were great for a hospitals environment but far to small if he was going to a village where smooth floors or pavement are unheard of. His parents were ready to leave so I had to work fast. Fortunately there was a larger wheelchair in storage at Hermano Pedro and in less than an hour I had the seating system mounted into the frame work of the larger chair.
For more people phoned me last night who wanted to see the orphaning so they joined Carlos, Paul, and myself and we were able to take 6 of the kids out to lunch. At this rate I’ll be caught up by the first of the year. The only problem is even those that went just yesterday were terry eyed when they saw the 12 of us leave.
I headed for home a bit early today. I still had to find a mechanic who could get the hood of my car open. I finally found one and with in 15 minutes he had everything working fine. His rates were reasonable to. He told me that this one was on the house.
When I got home I let the kids in for a while but then told them that I needed to do some work and that I would let them back into the house at 8. They did quite well for the first hour but come 7 o’clock and you would have thought that we were on daylight savings time. Tonight I set out some bread, cheese, and ham. It was not as big of a hit as last night’s chicken but no one complained and there were no leftovers. All of the kids are gone (as far as I know). I am tired so I am going to call it a day.
Goodnight, Yours in Christ: Dick
Thursday, October 4, 2007, 9:34 PM
Well it looks like the going nearly 2 years with out being robbed has come to an abrupt end for me. Today I took my car in to get the locks changed. Who ever it was that broke into my car a few days ago messed up the drivers door lock. I had the lock smith replace all of the locks while he was at it. the new locks are much harder to pry open. Unfortunately while the lock smith was working on my car he discovered a small compartment where I always leave about a hundred dollars just so I have something to get home on if I ever get robbed. Who says it pays to play it smart? The lock smith stole the money that I had hiden away in case I got robbed. Not only that but I am now wondering how many spare keys he kept for him self. Tomorrow I may hove to go out and find a new lock smith so that I am protected from the lock smith. Actually though I am not going to lose any sleep over it. These thing happen and around here they happen often. If I chose to be afraid of everything that there is to be afraid of here in
Guatemala I probably would not live here and then I would really be missing out.
It seems that the nurses are starting to lock the kids in bed even more than they have ever done in the past, if that is possible. Lately even those who are quite able bodied are no longer allowed to stay up in the afternoon. With the exception of about 5 kids everyone was put to bed at noon today. That means 19 hours in bed and 5 hours up. Even kids like 8 year old Minor who is sharp as a tack were put to bed at noon. When I walked by his crib he pleaded with me to get him out. Unfortunately so did dozens of other kids and I had just taken Minor out of his bed yesterday. I had to try to explain to him that this afternoon it was someone else’s turn and he would have to stay in bed until morning.
Yours in Christ: Dick
Friday, October 5, 2007
The first half of my day was spent in Chemaltenango. Chris joined me in returning to the lock smith and we asked him about the money that was missing from my car. He told us that he never found any money in my car. So either some one else took it or perhaps we were talking to a dishonest thief. Come to think of it if he were the one that took the money I have my doubts that he would have fessed up to it. An honest thieve is so hard to find now days.
I had intended on taking some of the older girls from the orphanage out to eat today but did not arrive there until just before 12 and I could not find any volunteers to accompany me. I had to tell the girls that they were going to have to wait a few days.
Nanette (our teacher) has once again approached Hermano Pedro as to the possibility of getting Sonia into school. None of the public ones in Antigua will accept her but we found a private one that will if the hospital gives the green light. So far they have not said no. They should be making a final decision in a few days. Please pray that they say yes.
Most of my afternoon was spent repairing wheelchairs. I had lots of little helpers so things did not go to fast but the kids had a great time helping.
Tonight’s supper consisted of 4 packs of Spaghetti, 2 pounds of hamburger, 2 loves of bread, and lots of juice. All 11 of us had plenty to eat. Calin actually went home tonight but Fernando and Abner have decided that lodging is included with the meal. At least they left me the bed so I think that I will go and lay claim to it.
Goodnight,
Yours in Christ; Dick
Saturday, October 6, 2007, 6:12 PM
About 3 weeks ago I told my friend Paul Tjaden to go ahead with a building project that had been on hold for nearly a year. At least 1500 dollars were needed to build a bathroom for Maria, Fedel, their grandmother and the rest of their family. A bathroom may not seem like something that would take priority over a house but when we presented this family with the choice of one new structure to replace one of 4 that they lived in, fixing up the 4 small structures that they presently live in. or building them a bathroom, they all agreed that the bathroom was want was most needed. Take into account that they only had running water a few times a week and had no bathroom facilities what so ever I could see why the came to this decision. Considering to that Grandmother, who is well into her seventies, had the responsibility of toileting and baiting 3 grown up grand children who were all in wheelchairs I can understand why a bathroom was at the top of their list. I felt bad that we had not moved sooner on this project but until a few months ago no money had come in for this project. Then about 2 months ago 2 checks for $100 each came in with in a few days of each other. At that time I got my hopes up and asked Paul if he would come along with me to visit the family and look at the spot where they wanted the bathroom built. I felt bad having to tell the family that not nearly enough money had come in yet but at least was able to tell them that some did so there was hope. They seemed to understand and even told us that if it was God’s will it would happen some day. I knew that they were right but also knew that this project could not wait forever.
I asked the kids to give me a few hours to get some work done when I got home but I once again hear them at the gate so I guess that I better see if there is any thing left in the house to feed them.
Yours in Christ: Dick
Sunday, October 7, 2007, 7:26 PM
Four kids showed up for breakfast and 3 more showed up by the time we left for church. I figured that since I was not at home last Sunday that the Sunday school teacher was perhaps ready for a challenge so we stopped off at the orphanage and picked up 2 more kids. I didn’t want the teacher to have a nervous break down so I had the 4 older ones stay with me for the entire church service while the others went to Sunday school. The little chat that we had on our way to church seemed to work because after the service the teacher told me that they all did well. It‘s funny how threatening not to fix any food for 4 days for those that misbehaved seemed to get their full attention.
We did not stop for lunch after church because all but 2 of the kids had been invited to Etiline’s birthday party. I felt a bad for the 2 that had not been invited but promised them that I would do something with them in a few days. Moises and Byron, who we had taken along from the orphanage, had the time of their lives. It’s a funny thing how Byron will scarcely eat a thing at the orphanage but when he gets a chance to eat food that is not blended into a pulp he will eat anything. After a good lunch, a piñata, and birthday cake some of the kids flew kites.
I promise a group of people from the USA that I would show them around Hermano Pedro tomorrow and take them to a few other places Tuesday and Wednesday so it will likely be Thursday or Friday before I head back out to do more camp recruiting. I plan on going into the Rabinal area and if Julia and her Husband (our contacts there) are free we may hike in to where Antonio lives.
Yours in Christ: Dick
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