Journal July 29 - Augest 7

Sunday, July 29, 4:34 PM

Six kids and one adult came along with me to church this morning. Jason one of the newer boys had a few problems but nothing serious. Some of the kids that have been coming along with me for years set him straight so there was little left for me to say when I talked with him after church. I can remember back to the days when all of the kids behaved much like Jason did today and I am truly thankful for how far they have come. I have several new kids coming along lately but for the most part they are well behaved. At first I thought that they were just going through what is referred to as the honeymoon period but I am starting to think that perhaps these kids are more well behaved from the start.

After Church we went out for pizza and then headed home. Elmer turned 22 today and I was invited to his home for a birthday party. His leg seem to have healed up nicely and he has needed no further surgery. He has been able to return to work and wants to thank all of you who helped out with his medical expenses.

Monday, July 30, 2007, 10:47 PM

Can anyone tell me?

Is it true or is it just my imagination? The closer you are to the equator the easier it is to spill a glass that contains a liquid?

Is it true or is it just my imagination? The stickier the substance that is in the glass the more likely it is to spill.

Is it true or is it just my imagination? That liquids that are spilled on a level table automatically gravitate towards the largest object that is near the table. (ME)

Is it true or is it just my imagination? That even though everyone at the table has their hands folded and their eyes closed, while praying and no earthquakes have been reported in several days, that a glass of juice can spill on it’s own.

Is it true or is it just my imagination? That one glass of spilled juice loves company.

Is it true or is it just my imagination? That if the only adult at the table gets the least bit upset when 2 glasses of juice are spilled before or while the food is being blessed, That adult will with out fail be the one to spill the third glass.

Is it true or is it just my imagination? That the person who goes from room to room looking for the mop is always the one that has the most sticky liquid on the bottom of his shoes.

We had pancakes for supper tonight. When we finished eating I told the kids that they could dump any leftover pancakes onto the floor. It is amazing how much spilled juice a pancake will absorb.

This morning they managed to run out of reasons of why not to swim with the kids at the orphanage so we actually swam. Seven adults and fourteen kids is quite an accomplishment considering all of the kids had to be held. A few of the ladies that were holding the kids had full intentions of keeping their make up and there hair dry but the two kids that I was holding made short work of that. I was accused of telling the kids to splash them but no one can prove anything. I am just glad that none of the ladies could understand English.

This afternoons lunch went a lot better than tonight supper. Three ladies who are adopting children here in Guatemala phoned me yesterday and offered to help me take some of the kids to lunch. I had not taken any of the teen age girls out in quite some time so we gathered up five of them and headed to Camperos. Carlos had also offered to join us. It was quite a parade especially considering that the three ladies who were each pushing a wheelchair also had babies strapped to their backs. We had a great time and believe it or not nothing was spilled.

When we got back from lunch some of the orphanage kids helped me repair some wheelchairs. I would like to say nothing was spilled but Ervin managed to spill my fairly large box of sorted nuts and bolts. At least they were not sticky but now I have a fairly large box of unsorted nuts and bolts.


Well it is getting late and I am trying to decide weather or not I want to attempt to cross my kitchen floor to lock the front door of my house. The way I figure it if any one tries to break in he won’t make it more than a few feet before he is stuck in his tracks. Besides that if I leave the door unlocked it will be easier for Kimberly to get into my house when she comes to mop the floor in the morning. You know I wander if she is somehow connected with all of the spilled juice? After all it is providing her with job security.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Tuesday, July 31, 2007

This morning Chris and I met for breakfast at Camperos. After seeing the schedule of upcoming wheelchair distributions, teams that will be coming in, Camp, and a thousand other things that are taking place I realized that I had better make good use of my free days. After spending a few hours at the shop getting a power wheelchair ready for a distribution that we are having in Cobon this weekend I headed for home. I decided that since August was going to be an extremely busy month I would take the rest of July off.


Now the hard part, what was I going to do during my vacation? I soon came up with the perfect Idea. How about going some where that has a nice place to swim and just relax. It would have to be some where close though as it was now 1:30 PM. My vacation would end by the first of August and that was only 10 ½ hours away. When I got to the hot springs that is only 15 minutes from my house I was delighted to see that there were almost no people there. I had been hoping that it would be a quiet day and that I would have the pool pretty much to myself. The 9 kids that were in the car with me were hoping the same thing. OK, so having 9 kids along is not exactly relaxing but I had only started out with only 3 of them coming along but the numbers just some how managed to grow by the time my car reached the end of the alley that I live on. Besides that “fun” seems to be a lot more enjoyable than “relaxing”, anyway that’s what the 9 kids that came along kept trying to convince me of. We had to hurry our swim up a bit though because when we talked the man that collects the money for swimming he told us that the pool was being drained for cleaning and we only had about an hour to swim. I figured that for 3Q (35 cents) each an hour of fun would be worth it. Actually we managed to stay in for about 2 hours. The kids did anyway. I got out when the level of the pool got to about waist deep. Most of the kids lasted until they looked like they were sitting in a mud puddle. And then the kids went over to a small pool that many of the local churches use for baptisms. Fortunately there were no baptisms going on so the were allowed to swim there. I knew that if I took the kids home with out feeding them I would have a hard time having any of my vacation time to myself so we stopped off at Burger King and got 10 of their 10 Q specials. Calin stayed in the car while the rest of us went in to eat. This was not his decision but mine. All he was wearing was a towel because his clothing had gotten wet. Funny how that happens when you lay your clothing at the edge of a pool that 9 kids are jumping into.

At 5 PM we got home and I told the kids that I was going to have the house to myself for a while. I think that in Guatemala for a while means about an hour or 2. When I finally reopened the gate at 7 PM not only were all of the kids that had gone swimming there but several others had been added to there numbers. The 10 Q special that I had eaten a few hours earlier was beginning to leave a vacancy in my stomach and I know that it had to be doing the same with the kids as well. Besides that not all of them that were at my gate had even had that to eat. I can’t be sure but it seems that many of the families run even lower on money at the end of the month than at the beginning because that seems to be when the kids are the hungriest. Any way there was no way that I was going to send them home hungry. Besides that I had my fill of having nothing to do but relax by now so I made a large pot of spaghetti and we all had some supper. Since Kimberly had spent a good part of the morning sweeping and mopping my house I served only water to drink. Nothing was spilled so this confirmed my suspicion that, “The stickier the substance that is in the glass the more likely it is to spill.”

It is now 11:30 PM. The last kid has just left my house. I know that I still have a half hour of vacation time left but I think that I will head off to bed. A half hour of extra sleep couldn’t hurt because now that my vacation is over, Who knows? Tomorrow could end up being a busy day.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Wednesday, August 1, 2007, 10:35 PM

It was a good thing that I did all of that resting up yesterday because today was a busy one. Carlos called me last night to let me know that Byron had taken out one of the doors that goes into the rooms of the orphanage with his power wheelchair. The nurses were pretty good about it but this along with the 2 mirrors and one cabinet door that he destroyed during the past few weeks was beginning to be a bit of a problem. Before heading out to the orphanage I received another phone call from a couple that are in Antigua adopting a baby. They had read the last journal of my web page and wanted to know if they could visit the orphanage. After giving them a tour we decided to take some of the kids out to lunch. I had previously told Byron that he would be one of the kids that would get to go on our next outing to lunch so when he saw me filling out the paper work he was all smiles. Unfortunately those smiles soon turned to tears. I motioned for him to follow me and started pointing out some of the damage that he had done with his wheelchair within the past few weeks. I explained to him that even though I knew that none of them were intentionally done they never the less happened and I knew that if they continued to happen the orphanage would soon demand that he no longer use his wheelchair. I told him that his power chair was not a toy and that he had to stop racing around with it in tight places. I especially emphasized how important it was to slow down with it when ever he is near the other kids. Then I really lowered the boom by telling him that he could not come along to lunch with us today. I know that this may sound a bit harsh especially considering that all of the mishaps were accidental but I also know that it would break his hart and mine if he were ever forced to stop using his power chair. Unfortunately if the orphanage made that ruling my hands would be tied even though I would rank that right up there with chopping off the legs of some one who accidentally walked into a mirror and broke it. The kids that got to go to lunch had a wonderful time and so did the adults that came along. I must admit though that I felt like I had come down a bit hard on Byron but kept reminding my self why I had to. Sonia is turning 13 tomorrow so we celebrated her birthday at Camperos. A group of about 20 Americans who are here building a church came in and sat next to us. I suggested that we all sing happy birthday to Sonia. Some of the Guatemalan people that were in the restaurant also joined in. By the smile on Sonia' face I think that she was convinced that everyone in the restaurant had come to help celebrate her birthday.

After lunch I went to work on Byron’s power chair. Byron was right there beside me and even offered to try to help turn a wrench or a screw driver whenever they were within his reach. Our modification project did not get finished but hopefully we will be able to finish up on it tomorrow. His chair is now programmed to go only about half the speed that it originally did and by the time everything is finished it should have enough micro switches on it that it will automatically stop even if Byron runs into a feather. I also moved the switch that turns the chair back on to a position that is difficult but possible for Byron to reach. This may frustrate him a bit but I also think that the harder it is for him to get his chair going after driving or backing into something the more careful he will be. Please pray that this will help. This may seem like a strange thing to request prayer for but those of you that know Byron also know how much this power chair has changed his life. Before heading for home I did a bit of carpentry work. The cabinet doors and the large door that Byron took off from its hinges are now back in place. Tomorrow I will try to find 2 mirrors.



This sounds like a repeat but Calin turns 13 tomorrow. He and Sonia were born on the same day. His step dad is not going to allow him to have a party so we had one at my house tonight. Talk about a nourishing supper.


The cake that I bought looked like it could feed 100 but the 20 people that were at Calin’s party finished off all but a few pieces of it. No vegetables tonight but the cake had some strawberries on top of it so I guess that and the orange pop gave the kids their daily supply of fruit. I had thought about Pizza for everyone but knew that if I did that our guest list would likely double. Tomorrow I have to go to the airport to pick up someone so I already told Calin that I would take him out to dinner. I guess that the other 19 will have to wait until their birthdays to do something like that. Even though the number of kids that spend most of their time at my house has grown the number of birthdays that we celibrate has declined. I can thank my computer for that. Back several years ago when I moved in here an had a more difficult time remembering all of the kids by name a few of them would have up to 3 birthdays a year. In fact Calin is the one that use to pull that one the most. Now I have everyone’s birthday on file and do a quick check on the computer before buying a cake or a present.

Well It is getting late so I guess I will go and see of there is any cake left in the refrigerator and then head off to bed.

Yours in Christ: Dick



Thursday, August 2, 2007

Most of my day was spent at, or going to and from Guatemala airport today. The drive from my house to Guatemala City usually takes about an hour but due to construction it took me over 2 hours just to get to the airport. Add to that thinking that one of the plains was scheduled to come in nearly 2 hours earlier, you have what I did all day plus one hour into Friday.


Friday, August 3, 2007, 5:47 PM

This morning at 8AM we loaded up the 2 Kia Vans and my car and headed off to Cobon. Actually we did not get out of town until 10 AM because we had to eat first and then load up some supplies. The 11 people that came in from the states and 6 of us from Chemaltenango plan to be in Cobon for 4 days and will hopefully give out nearly 100 wheelchairs at the 3 distributions that we have planned during those days. Only a few of the people that came from the USA have done wheelchair distributions before but one of them is a physical therapist and three are studying to be physical therapists. Two of the members of our team are daughters of Merry Tecon a lady that I have worked with in Viet Nam and Columbia. Merry and her husband Mural are connected with Children’s medical ministries a ministry that works closely with Hope haven international.

I forgot to take the power cord for my laptop along with me so I will not write to much for fear that my computer batteries will not last until I return home on Monday or Tuesday.

Yours in Christ: Dick



Saturday, August 4, 2007, 3:24 PM

I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is for those of you that like longer Journals and the bad news is for those who like me to keep them brief. I found a power cord that I can borrow while we are in Cobon so I do not have to worry about the batteries of my computer going dead.
This morning we had a distribution in Tactic. Tactic is a town that is located about a half hour from Cobon. The group of people that we have with us are all excitant workers and in less than 4 hours over 45 people were on their way to their homes with their new wheelchairs.

Kari the therapist that I worked with and myself do not hold any bragging rights to the speed at which all of the wheelchairs were skillfully fit and though. We spent the entire time seating a 12 year old girl. She had been added to the list of people that were to receive wheelchairs only a few days ago and we were sent very little detail of her size or what type of chair she needed. So when Chris shipped the wheelchairs to Cobon from our shop he had to make a guess on what type of chair would work for her. The wheelchair that we wanted to give her was the perfect type of chair but was much too big for her, however after 4 hours of cutting drilling and busily remanufacturing several parts we had a happy family and the girl had a taller made wheelchair. We were thankful that this was the only difficult case of the day or we would have been pressed for time.

After a late lunch most of the group decided drive around and see some of the country side for a few hours. One other gentleman and myself decided to head back to the motel. He was sleepy because he still has not gotten accustomed to roosters crowing and fire works going off all night long. I on the other hand had done enough driving for the past few days and wanted to just kick back for a bit. Well that about sums it up for now.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Sunday, August 5, 2007, 5:27 PM

This morning we went to a Catholic convent. No I haven’t changed religions but they had 2 nuns there that were in need of wheelchairs.

One of them appeared to be in her seventies and could no longer walk so we gave her manual wheelchair that she was very happy with. The second non that we visited with was a spry 87. Although eremitism had stopped her from walking 2 years ago she had not slowed down in her thinking an had a wonderful sense of humor. After putting her into a power wheelchair we kidded with her about now being able to chase the men.

We had to warn her though about being careful not to get her long nun’s clothing caught under the tires of her wheelchair. She laughed and told us that it was time she got up to date and thought that perhaps she would start wearing shirt and pants like many women do now days. Before we left about 12 of the nuns sang for us. Then before leaving a few of the women in our group sang some songs for them.

Next we went to a small town about a half hour out of Cobon. There is a small rehab center there and while we were there 17 people came in for wheelchairs. The first little girl that I sat was only a year and a half old. She was unable to walk due to a head injury that she received when she was hit by a car nearly a year ago. Her parents say that she is receiving therapy and regaining some movement so we are praying that someday she will be able to walk.

The next patient that Kari and I worked on was a girl of around 12 years old who was in bad condition. She was Hydrocephalic (water on the brain) and had a lot of other complications as well. This was a case much like yesterdays where we had to do a lot of building and improvising but after several hours she was sitting in the first wheelchair that she had ever owned.

After the center fed us lunch we headed back to Cobon. Some of the members of our group are headed to town where there is some type of a celebration going on. The oldest member of the group is going to stay behind to rest because I am tired. Tomorrow we have our last but largest distribution before heading back to Chemaltenango. We have had a great time and is wonderful to be able to help so many people but I am missing the kids at the orphanage and those at home. At least it looks like the group that is with us from the USA will be able to come along and spend some time with the kids from Hermano Pedro on Wednesday.


Monday, August 6, 2007

It was another full day today. Today we gave out 54 wheelchairs at a distribution in Cobon.


About 17 of these chairs were specialty chairs that take a lot of work to seat properly. Fortunately we had a great crew of therapists and seating people so everything went smoothly. When we finished up at around 2 PM we were all tired though. The thought of having to make a 7 hour drive home did not sound too inviting but we had to get back since we had already made plans for tomorrow. On the way home the van that Saul was driving narrowly escaped a head on collision with a truck. As Saul rounded a corner he was met by 2 trucks that were side by side coming towards him. Since there was a rock face on Saul’s right and a cliff on the left side of the road Saul had no where to go but could only hit the breaks and pray that the truck that was in his lane would get around the one that it was passing in time to pull in before hitting Saul’s van head on. According to those that were in the van the truck got back into it’s own lane only inches before hitting them head on. We are now all back in Chemaltenango. We are all tired but extremely grateful for a safe trip.


Tuesday, August 7, 2007, 10:08 PM

After breakfast at Camperos we all headed to the shop to sort out some wheelchairs for next week’s distribution and then drove to Hermano Pedro orphanage. I gave the group from the USA a rather fast tour of the orphanage that ended up at Sam Sam’s bed. It’s funny you would think that after over 6 years of seeing Sam Sam bang his head on the steal rails of his crib I would be able to talk about him with out getting tears in my eyes or out and out starting to cry. Thankfully I can not do that and hope that I will never be able to.


The day I stop shedding a tear for this child and many others like him I will know that I have become calloused to the needless suffering that Sam Sam and many other children and adults have to endure. Today there was one big consolation though. As I finished talking about Sam Sam I looked through terry eyes at the group of people that were with me and saw tears in their eyes as well.

I will never understand how these kids can make you cry one minute and then bring you laughter the next. That is exactly what the 8 of them that we took to lunch did though. They also brought a lot of smiles and laughter to many people that we saw in central park. Talk about a quiet reserved group, but if you do talk about them it certainly wasn’t this group. Fidel, Carlos, and Byron were racing around the park in their power chairs. Moises, who was in his walker, was dragging along behind Fidel’s chair, making sure that he drug his feet through every mud puddle that Fidel traversed. Sonia, Roberto, David, and Gasper were being wildly pushed by American volunteers and Joseph, one of the teen age volunteers, was weaving in and out of the group with his unicycle. I doubt that there was anyone in the park that did not take notice of this joyful procession. Due to the influence of our mature group of adults we settled down to doing some constructive crafts while waiting for our meal at Camperos. All of the kids have now been taught the finer points of building and flying airplanes made from paper place mats and the art of shooting a straw wrapper with such precisions and timing that it actually ends up in someone’s mouth. Fortunately all but a few of the targets were people that were seated at our table.

At 4 PM we said our goodbyes to the orphanage kids and headed out of the building. Most of the group headed back to Chemaltenango so that they could have a brief rest before meeting for supper at 6 PM. Mark Richard, 3 other people from our group. and myself headed for San Lucas. Earlier this week Mark discovered that the first person that he had ever given a wheelchair to no longer had a wheelchair. Back in 1988 Mark had seen this lady crossing the Pan American highway on her stomach. The next time that he returned here from the USA he brought in a wheelchair for this lady. That was 19 years and around 65,000 wheelchairs ago.

Wheelchairs don't last forever so this evening we gave her another wheelchair. It is truly wonderful that God has allowed Hope Haven International to give out that many wheelchairs in less then 20 years. What a neat way to share the love of Christ with people. I feel very privileged to be just a small part of it.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal July 21-28

Saturday, July 21, 2007


This morning I met with Chris, KC, and Michele at the wheelchair shop. Chris had to go back home to do some work there but KC and I stuck around until about 1 PM and worked on some wheelchairs. Fernando had also come along and after a short nap he was egger to work. Michele is feeling a lot better but is still not 100% so she mostly visited with Mario and his daughter Maria. Maria had found the perfect use for an old portable commode that we had considerd throwing away by discovering that it worked well as a desk.


After Lunch we headed over to the HIV orphanage that is located only about 10 minutes from where I live. It has been some time since I had been there and I had promised that I would stop by and see how Ingrid’s wheelchair was doing. Ingrid was move to this orphanage from Hermano Pedro about a year ago and is doing well. Even though all of the kids at the HIV orphanage are HIV positive this place is far from a dreary one. The entire place is bright and cherry. The rooms are all brightly decorated and the kids are well cared for. All of the workers there are extremely upbeat and loving. This place is a far cry from the institution like setting of Hermano Pedro. There was a large activity going on with a lot of visitor there today so even though the nuns that ran the place were more than happy to show us around, after seeing Erica, I told them that I would come back and work on Erica’s wheelchair in a few days. The nuns there are so proud of the kids that they wouldn’t let us leave until we went with them to see and hold 3 new babies. They were so adorable that it was hard to believe that there mothers’ drug habits has likely given them all Aids.

As we were getting into the car to leave I received a phone call from Ronny. I could not understand him especially since it sounded like he had been crying, so I handed the phone over to Fernando. I could tell from listening that something was wrong. Fernando told us that Ronny’s mother and little sister had gone into town to collect some money that her husband had earned this past month. While in town she took some of the money and bought groceries for the family. While on the buss ride home 4 men with guns robbed the buss. One of them held a gun to the buss driver’s head while the others one by one took everything from all of the passengers. Ronny’s mother was hit in the side with the but of the gun of one of the robbers and then nearly shot when they suspected her of not giving up all of the money that she had. Fortunately no one was shot but she and everyone else on the buss were robbed of all of the food and money that they had. Ronny said that they had not eaten all day and were completely out of food. It took the 4 of us all of 3 seconds to arrive at a unanimous decision. 2 hours Later we were turning in to the trail that leads to their home with groceries and some money to help get them through the month. It was raining hard and even with 4 wheel drive we did a bit of spinning but we got in. It was nearly dark but you could see that the tin shed that they live in was standing in about 5 inches of water. As soon as they saw my car they came out of the dark little house that they were huddled in and came to the car to greet us. Father quickly apologized for the fact that Ronny had called us but we assured him that we were happy that he did and told him that was what friends are for. We also reminded them that we were just serving as delivery people and the thanks was to go to God, and it did as we all huddled together in the rain and offered up a prayer of thanks giving that no one had been hurt seriously. The visit was a precious one that none of us will soon forget. Even though KC and Michele had only met this family 5 days ago one of the little girls was snuggled up so close to Michele that I know it would be difficult for her to say good-bye. It was difficult for all of us but it was now dark and we still had a 2-hour ride ahead of us. About half way hone we stopped off for something to eat. As we sat eating our food in the dry well lit restaurant I think that most of our thoughts were still back at the little tin shack that was sitting in 5 inches of water. Were we as grateful for what we were eating as this family was for the meager meal that they managed to receive?

Well it is getting late so I guess I will turn off the light and crawl into my comfortable bed but not without first saying a little prayer for Ronny and his family.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Sunday, July 22, 2007, 11:16 PM

I think that I have 3 more regulars at my house. The 3 boys that showed up about a week ago were once again at my door this morning. By breakfast time 4 others had also arrived. Lady was a bit outnumbered by all of the boys but she also came along to church. After stopping off at the orphanage and picking up Moises and Byron we were a family of 10. It was while I was at the orphanage that a friend told me that John Nickels an American that has been here for the past 3 years suddenly died of a hart attack this past Friday. John had been a teacher at an orphanage school here in Antigua. He was also the Sunday school teacher of several of the kids that come to church with me, so they took it hard. Needless to say Sunday school had to be canceled this morning so all 9 kids stayed in Church with me. I must admit that they did quite well especially considering that this was the first time that 3 of them had ever been inside of a church. I think that they were all given a little incentive knowing that they were serving lunch after church. I had told them earlier that if they could not behave that we may have to leave early. In Fact they did so well that I even took them out to ice cream on our way home.

When we got home I told them that I needed a few hours to my self but would let them back in at 7 PM. From the sound of things out side of my gate I don’t think that too many of them wondered off too far though. Fortunately when I reopened I discovered that one of the ladies was selling roasted corn out on the street at the end of my alley. It is amazing how much roasted corn can be bought for 20Q ($2.50). I managed to supplement their diet a bit by cooking up some pancakes as well. I think that having a few new kids around is good when it comes to doing chores. I don’t know what it is but every one wants to help lately. Weather it be a job that I offer to give a few Q for or one that only gets a hand shake and a thank you for all of the kids are more than willing to pitch in. Well almost all, Abner can still be Abner at times. I must admit though that tonight he helped Calin and me wash my car, but then again that was one of those jobs that involved money and not just a thank you.

Tomorrow morning I will be taking KC and Michele to the airport. It is hard to believe that they have been here for 2 full weeks. I have really enjoyed having them here. I know that they are seriously seeking God’s will in their lives. Weather or not that will be working with us here in Guatemala I do not know but I know that they will be a blessing to someone somewhere.

Bedtime,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Monday, July 23, 2007, 10:23 PM

This morning I took KC and Michele to the airport and then headed to Hermano Pedro for what I thought was going to be a half hour repair job on Byron’s power wheelchair. It ended up taking over 5 hours to get the head controller fixed but that was partially my fault. I let 3 of the kids help me. Judging by the proud look on their faces when we finished it was 5 hours well spent. I had to do the lunch thing with only one kid again today. I would have liked to taken more of the kids but there were no volunteers around to help out.

When I got home I took Calin shoe shopping. He is great at bargaining and we ended up getting him a good pair of leather shoes for around $18. His birthday is only a week and a half away but his school shoes were worn out. We are calling the shoes an early birthday present but I will likely still get him something for his birthday. I know that his stepfather won’t and his mother can’t. Tonight at supper he asked if he could take some leftovers home to his mother. He told me that she had not eaten all day. Yes we had leftovers tonight. This seldom happens but I actually made more than the kids could eat. There were 7 kids in the house when we started supper so I did what I normally do and made enough food for twice that many. To my surprise by the time that supper was ready there were still only 7 kids. It may have had something to do with the down pour that we were having at the time. Supper was once again a breeze. The kids are getting so good about helping out that it is getting unbelievable. Calin actually came up to me and told me that I could go and sit down because they had everything under control. The table even got cleared, the floor got swept, and all of the dishes got washed and put away befoer they settled down to playing a car racing game on the computer.
About the only thing that I had to do was band-aide duty. Getting a band-aid put on a cut or scrape seems to be an all time favorite with the kids. I am sure that it has little to do with the actual cut or scrape but a lot more to do with getting a minute or 2 of one on one attention from an adult.

I am planning on heading out early in the morning so I am going to close for now.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick



Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I have gotten a few days behind on my journals so I will do my best to get the sequence of events written down in close to the proper order.

This morning Steve Osborn and about 15 physical therapists from the USA came by and picked me up in Steve’s buss. They are part of a group called Mom’s on a mission, who are here for a week. We went to Chichicastenango, which is about 2 hours drive from here. There is a Christian couple that has started a clinic and rehabilitation center there. The have a staff of local Guatemalan workers that do the physical therapy on patients that come in to the clinic who are very caring people but they lack a lot of training and experience. They were very eager to work with the physical therapists that came with us today and seemed to learn a lot in one day. While the others worked a the clinic 3 of us went to a home where a child who had received one of our wheelchairs several years ago lived. We spent a good part of the afternoon fixing and resizing his wheelchair. He had grown so much that his mother had been unable to put him into it anymore. The experience of going into his home and working was a real treat for the 2 ladies that accompanied me because they had never before been in Guatemala. In fact the whole day was an experience for a 15 of our friends from the USA. I think that the bus ride down the curvy mountain roads was perhaps a bit more of an experience than some of them had been wishing for. They all did quite well though except for the time that our bus driver got a bit disoriented in the fog and we found our self in the oncoming lane of traffic. Steve assured our guests that it was no big deal though because our buss was much larger than the car that we narrowly missed hitting head on.

On our way home we stopped at one of my favorate Guatemalan restaurants and ordered some platters of food that the waiter assured us would fill us all up. Let me tell you he was not lying. I went home with enough leftovers to feed my kids for a week. Well it looked like a weeks worth but once I set it out it all disappeared in about 30 seconds. Good thing that most of the kids managed to get some before Calin filled up his plate.


Wednesday, July 25, 2007

This morning I drove to where the team was staying at San Lucas and we headed about 2 hours in the opposite direction to the orphanage in Anini. This is an orphanage that Chris, Donna, and I have worked at for years. They have about 40 extremely handicapped children there and up until this year had been with out a physical therapist so they welcome any help that they can get. Before getting started everyone met together to hear what some of their needs were. The list of needs was endless but we promised that we would do what we could to help. Some of our group worked with some of their workers on how to solve issues ranging from aggressive behaviors to a little girl that keeps popping her eyeballs out of their sockets. Others set up constructive toys and therapy devices for the children. About 4 of us went to work on re fitting children and fixing their broken wheelchairs. Even though we try to get in to most of the orphanages every few months it seems that the kids have a knack of breaking or outgrowing their chairs as fast as we repair them. We are planning on coming back on Saturday and hopefully by the end of the day we will once again be caught up with the list that we made out.

Tonight I ate at the mission house where the therapists are stay in San Lucas and there were no leftovers.


Thursday, July 26, 2007

Today the group of therapists were splitting up and going in various directions. I picked up 4 of them in my car and took the to Santa Maria Dejesus. Even though Judy and Amy were not there they told me that it would be all right to take the group through their school. All 4 of the people that accompanied me to the school were totally impressed. What God has allowed these 2 ladies and their staff to accomplish with these children is amazing. Here in a village where most of the physically handicapped children had been virtually hidden away not that long ago were 48 kids that were extremely friendly and well mannered. This school has done so much for not only the children but also for their parents and the whole town.


After leaving Santa Maria we headed for Hermano Pedro. Seeing the difference between the 2 places was hard on all of us. Other than a few kids who were privileged enough to have a volunteers playing with them the rest were either sitting in their wheelchairs staring into space or were in their cribs. We stopped in and visited the class room where Nanette, our teacher works and visited with her and the kids that are in her class room. She and this class are one small bright ray of hope to five of the kids that call Hermano Pedro their home but I could not help but think of the other 215 residence that live there.


After leaving the class room we visited some of the rooms that the kids are kept in. Even though the group of 4 people that were with me are trained professionals who work with kids that have a verity of sicknesses and deformities I don’ think that there was a dry eye in the group. Visiting with Byron who was zooming around in his head controlled wheelchair brought a brief smile to all of our faces but 5 minutes later when I took them in to where Sam Sam was locked in his crib the smiles were once again quickly replaced by tears.

I had arranged for 2 other ladies to join us for lunch so we were able to take 7 kids to lunch. Even going out to lunch had a bitter sweat taste to it when I told the group that we had to decide which 7 of the kids they wanted me to sign out. With so many kids wishfully looking at us no one wanted to make that decision. I finally had to be the bad guy and select the 7 who would get to come along. As we headed out of the orphanage I could not help but look back at a few of the kids who were loudly crying. Even David who had been out with me on Monday was in tears. I Imagine that even 3 short day can seem like an eternity when you have little more to do all day than just sit in your wheelchair and hope that some one comes along that at least has time to pat you on the head or say a quick hello.


After leaving the orphanage we went a checked out a few hotels. Some of the members of our group are considering bringing another team in next year and possibly spending more time at Hermano Pedro. I hope that they come back but I also hope others will come in the mean time. A year is a long time to wait for a hug or a pat on the head. It was 5 PM and we were suppose the meet for supper with all of the others at 6:30. Since we still had an hour and a half one of the ladies came up with a terrific idea, souvenir shopping. Now most of you that know me also know how much I enjoy souvenir shopping. I came up with the perfect solution though. I walked the group to where all of the shops that sell all of the junk, that no self respecting Guatemalan would ever be caught using or wearing, are located. I then handed them my extra cell phone that has my phone number programmed into it. I told them to call me when they were finished buying all of their friends and relatives those wonderful presents that they in turn can hopefully get rid of at their next white elephant party. While they were getting ripped off I went back to the orphanage and took Davis and 2 of the other kids out for a coke.

At around 6 received a phone call and returned to pick them up. We then headed out to eat. The restaurant that we went to was at one time it was an old monastery but is now the most favorite restaurants in all of Antigua. I think that the price of a meal is about the same as McDonalds. I am not talking about a Big Mac. I am referring to the price of one of their restaurants, if not their entire franchise. I was extremely thankful that I had been invited along as a non paying guest. I must admit that the restaurant was beautiful, the service was good, and the food was great but I could not help but think of the great contrasts here in Guatemala. I knew that what I had to eat tonight could have paid for the education of one of our kids for a month and have little doubt that tonight’s bill for our group had to exceed what most of my neighbors earn in a year. I am not sure if it is proper etiquette to ask for a doggy bag in a restaurant like this but we all did and my kids should have good eating for a few days. I hope that the kids can tolerate steak, and lobster in stead of hot dogs for a while.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Friday, July 27, 2007, 3:16 PM

This has been a day off for me. I had to get caught up on 4 days worth of journals and also have time to digest a few things that I took in during the past several days. Fernando once again had no school today so this morning I allowed him to stay in the house and play for a while until I realized that there would be no way to get this journal done with him interrupting me every few minutes. He tried hard not to but much like the orphanage kids it is hard not to want that hug or that pat on the head especially if there is an adult right over in the next room. Don’t worry though Fernando will be back as soon as I open up the gate. He knows that there are leftovers. Knowing Fernando as I do, by now all of the kids in the neighborhood know it as well.


I am going to try to break away and go to the shop for just a little while though. There are a few parts that I have to get for some of the wheelchairs that we plan to work on in Anini tomorrow.

8:53 PM

It only feels like midnight. I think that taking a day off has only made me realize how tired I was. I am not sure if Fernando got the word out or if they simply came on their own but I had no problem getting rid of last nights leftovers. Those that showed up late once again were the ones that suffered. I have a few kids that are in high school and they do not get out of school until 6 PM so I think that one of these days I will serve the cereal and bananas to the early arrivals and save the better food to those that come late.

Since I was tired I sent the kids home early. Calin is staying over because he is planning on going to Anini with the therapists and myself in the morning.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Saturday, July 28, 2007, 6:50 PM

Today was my last day with Moms on a mission. They are a great group but after 5 days with 15 ladies I am starting to know what it is liked to be married. I am sure that after putting up with me that all of the single ones are glad that they are single and the others will appreciate their husbands a lot more when they get home. Actually though they were a fantastic bunch and we had a great time working together. Besides that I was not the only man in the group. One of the members of Moms on a mission members was a dan so was the buss driver and Stephen Osborn was also with us all but one day. I guess that they are going to have to consider changing their name to Moms and others or something like that.

Today we went to back to Anini orphanage and did some more work. Calin also came along to help even the odds just a little bit. Some of us fit wheelchairs while others met with the workers at the orphanage and showed them some exercises and other things that would be beneficial to the kids. I am amazed at how eager the workers at Anini and some of the other places that we have visited this week have been to learn what ever they can that will help the kids that they are working with. I think a lot of it has to do with the way this group presents them selves. I have seen other groups come in like knights in shinnying armor who are going to save the world in one week. This group is very professional but takes the time to listen to the Guatemalan workers who may not have had a lot of training but certainly know and in most cases love these kids. The workers respect that and in turn listen to what these professionals have to say. Any way if any one from Mom’s on a mission reads this I enjoyed working with you. I am not good at names but I hope that the lady who’s face I pushed in to her birthday cake has a short memory. If not she is welcome to come back any month except January. That is when my birthday is. I suppose that she would not believe me if I told her that pushing someone’s face into their birthday cake is a Guatemalans custom that only pertains to women and children.

Even though we spent 2 days at Anini there is still more to do there. I am not sure when we can get back there because we have a lot of groups coming in during August. Hopefully a few of us from the shop can get down there for at leas a day. Please pray for us during the next month because it looks like it is going to be an extra busy one. We may have to figure out how to stretch each day out to about 28 hours but I am sure that it will all work out. I think that I will close for now and take a break. I hope that I don’t get board in the 41 minutes I have until I open the gate to let the kids back in.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal July 16-20

Monday, July 16, 2007, 9:14 PM

Abner asked his uncle and his teacher if it would be OK for him to miss 3 days of school and come along with KC, Michele, Benjamin, and me on a road trip. There were a few people that I wanted to see and I also wanted KC and Michele to see some of the country and meat some of my friends here in Guatemala. To my surprise both Abner’s uncle and his teacher said that it was all right. At 7 AM we all headed out. Our first stop was breakfast and then on to Ronny’s house. Even though I had been there a week and a half ago I wanted to return. I had vitamins and water filters for 2 families that are related to Ronny’s family. Both of these families live much like Ronny’s family. They are also in small tin roof shacks that have only sheets of black plastic tarp for walls. I was told that when it rains there is often 3 or 4 inches of water on the dirt, or should I say mud floors. Many of the children appear to be in poor health. I hope that we can find a way to get them into better homes but for the time being I hope that vitamins, worm pills, and clean water will be a start to better health. The water filter and Vitamins have already shown signs of better health in most of Ronny’s family. I still worry about his 3 and a half year old sister though. At first the vitamins seemed to be helping but lately she has once again lost her appetite and appears to be loosing weight. I held her today and doubt that she is much over 20 pounds. If worm pills do not help I am going to see if we can get her in to Hermano Pedro for a good examination.

We brought Ronny a larger manual wheelchair today because he is growing rapidly and has already outgrown his old one. I am glad that his power chair was larger so it looks like it will be a while before we need to make any changes there. I fully intended on simply trading his small manual chair for the larger one but suddenly remembered the little boy with spinal bifida that Ronny’s mother had shown us about a month ago. I wondered if perhaps Ronny’s old chair would fit him.

Before heading to the clinic we drove to where the little boy and his parents lived. His Father who is the pastor of a small run down looking church came to the road and greeted us. We were soon introduced to his wife and the rest of the family. We were told that up until now the little boy spends his entire day in a hammock. Like I said, up until now.
As we drove away we waved good bye to a happy 4 year old who was propelling himself across his yard in his new wheelchair.

Ronny’s Dad had offered to go with us to the clinic that we had visited the last time we were there. Since there were already 5 of us in the car and we had a lot of luggage and supplies with us only 3 members of their family, Ronny, his mother, and father, were able to join us. About a half hour later we arrived at the town that had the clinic. There were quite few people waiting inside. We were told that the Mayors wife and the gentleman that had joined us for lunch lat week were in Esquentla for the day but the doctor was in and we could talk with him. The doctor told us that he could not take us to see the people who’s pictures we had been shown last week but would gladly give us directions to there homes. I thanked him but told him that we would wait until another time when someone could accompany us. I asked him if there were any medical supplies that he needed. To my surprise the clinic did not have even the simplest of things. He told me that a stethoscope and a blood pressure gauge would be nice. He also expressed a need for a lamp and some simple suture kits. Basically they had nothing. When we handed him a case containing 6000 children’s vitamins you would have thought that we had handed him a check for $1,000,000. I promised him that I would contact a few people that I know and see what we could do about getting him some of the things that he so desperately needed. After exchanging phone numbers we were on our way.

It was lunchtime and I knew from when Ronny stayed at Hermano Pedro how much he loved going to Camperos. I asked where the nearest one was and was told that it was in Santa Lucia, which was a good half hour away. Oh well, since we were not going to be able to see the people that needed wheelchairs or medical attention today why not make Ronny and his mother and father happy? It was nearly 5:30 before we had gotten our friends back home and then made our way to Mazatenango where we are spending the night. We were all tired but a swim in the motel pool somewhat revived us. It is hard to believe we get all of this plus a buffet breakfast for around $12 each.


Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 9:09 PM

After breakfast we headed to where Jose and Enma live. We had earlier decided to skip this part of our trip and spend the morning swimming at the hotel because it was a hot day and we knew that the drive to the coast would be uncomfortable. After heading out to the pool we discovered that it was closed for cleaning. Only a few short hours later we were all glad that we had missed our swim and gone to see our friends. Enma started to cry and said a prayer of thinks giving when she saw that we had brought some groceries.

I think that they had completely run out of any thing to eat. Both her and Jose seem to be in better health than the last time that I visited but have endured still more hardships. Enma’s 37 year old daughter who had lived only a short distanced from her house had taken her life on Valentines Day. It was her sons 13th birthday and now he and his 2 sisters are without mother or father. Enma no has the full responsibility of raising her 2 grandaughters. Her 13 year old grandson has gone to the city to try and find work. As hard as life is for this lady she still has an inner piece about her that many of us would envy. After doing some minor repairs on Jose’s wheelchair and than having prayer with the family it was time to say goodbye. On our drive down the dirt trail that leads form Enma’s house both KC and Michel commented on how we had almost given up on visiting this dear lady and her family just so that we could swim. I wondered how many others often go hungry simply because we choose to be comfortable.

A little over 2 hours later we were in a much cooler climate. Xela is over 7500 feet above sea level and must have been 25 degrees cooler. It looked like a thunderstorm could be moving in so we chose to wait until tomorrow to hike in to see Erica and her family. After checking in to a motel and having an early dinner we decided to have that swim. Not only was the temperature of the air 25 degrees cooler but so was the water temperature. We all had a good time swimming. Benjamin quickly discovered though that even 2 plastic bags and a half role of duct tape did not keep the cast on his foot dry. I hope that it dries out by the time the doctor removes it in 2 weeks. Tonight we are all just resting. The kids are watching videos and I am getting caught up on some writing. We are all eager to see what tomorrow has in store.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Wednesday, July 18, 2007

We had intended on heading to the orphanage in Xela at around 8AM but my car had other plans. It did not want to get going until around 11 AM. We found plenty to do while waiting for it to go though. First we played with my jumper cables and met new friends while unsuccessfully hooking the cables up between my car and theirs. Next most of our crew went jogging. We found that you get much more exercise if you push a land cruiser while jogging. I must fess up though I did not jog. I simply steered the car and dropped the clutch whenever the crew that was pushing it got going too fast. Michele cheered us on from the sidelines her upset stomach kept her from being a participant. We never succeeded in getting the car but it proved to be great exercise especially since Xela is over 7500 feet above oxygen sea level. While the joggers rested Benjamin and I decided to take a tour of Xela by taxi. Actually it was only intended to be a trip to the nearest store that sold car batteries but I think the cab driver wanted us to get our money’s worth. We finally got back to the Motel and installed the new battery. By the time we got my car started the rest of the crew was rested enough to climb into the car. We still managed to spend enough time at the orphanage to fix a few wheelchairs and make out a list of those that still needed fixing.

We had all intended on hiking in to Erica’s house this afternoon but Michele stomach was bothering her too much. We all decided that Michel, KC, and Ben (who is still on crutches from a broken toe) would stay by the car while Abner and I hiked in. I guess I should rephrase that and say that most of us decided that Michel, KC, and Ben would stay by the car while Abner and I hiked in. Abner suddenly got one of his stubborn attacks and refused to hike in with me. I tried my best to convince him that I needed some one to interpret for me and had to go in because I had more medicine that Erica would likely need before we would have the opportunity to see her again. I now know that the only thing worse than a stubborn Dutchman is a stubborn Guatemalan. I never resort to violence but at any other time I would have demanded that he come along with me. Why didn’t I make him go this time? Well lets just say that Abner’s being the only Guatemalan kid with a car load of Americans in a Guatemalan village that seldom sees Americans gave Abner a distinct advantage in winning the argument. Especially since he had already managed to whip up some tears and we were starting to get an audience. I decided that Abner’s stubbornness was not big enough of an issue to get hung over. I fully intend to deal with it later though.

Michele, KC, and Abner stayed at the car while Benjamin and I headed up the trail to Christopher’s house. We figured that since it was much closer we could either perhaps leave the medicine with Christoper’s mom and she could some how get it to Erica’s family. It was a fair hile for Benjaman since he was using crutches but he did well. Christopher and his family were all at home and were happy to see us. I told Christopher’s mom that we were trying to get to Erica’s home and explained our dilemma. Benjamin stayed at her house and visited with Christopher and his brother’s and sisters while Christopher’s mom and I went back to my car. Soon KC and I were on our way to Erica’s house with the medicine. Christopher’s mom stayed at the car with Michele. Abner? Oh! He decided to come along to Erica’s house with us. I know, but I was to tired to think straight. Besides that we still needed some one to interpret for us.




When I saw Erica I was amazed. Her medicine is doing wonders for her.


It's hard to believe that she has only been using it for about a month.

Now all of the black scales are off from her arms and face and only a few remain on her legs. Her skin is still a bit rough but now takes on the appearance of skin that is peeling due to sunburn rather than black rotting leather. Even her toes, which you could not distinguish as being toes a few weeks ago, were looking almost normal. And her smile that I had thought was always one of the prettiest in the world was even brighter. Erica and her family are simply delighted. Once again threatening rain cut or visit short. On our way back we picked up Ben and after a quick wheelchair repair job and saying goodbye to Christopher’s family we headed for home.







When we finally headed for home It was late enough that most of the highway construction was finished for the day but the going was still slow due to fog, rain, traffic, and torn up roads. We stopped for supper about an hour before home but Michele stayed in the car and slept. It was nearly 9 PM when I walked into my house. I was happy to see that while I was gone my electricity had been turned back on and my Internet had also been repaired. We didn’t even make it into the house though before receiving some shocking news. Minor is a cousin of Abner, Fernando, and many of the kids that hang out at my house. He lives in Guatemala City but comes here to visit quite often. He was not one of my regulars but has had supper here on several occasions. Monday while he was walking down the street here in Chemaltenango some one came up behind him and shot him in the head 3 times. Minor was 17 years old. No one seems to know why he was shot because nothing was taken from him except for his life. I visited for quite some time with Abner’s family who are all asking why. I wish that I could have given them an answer but it is hard when your mind is filled with the same questions. All I know is that as much as I love Guatemala it can be an extremely cruel place. I also know that without the love of Christ it will only get worse.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Thursday, July 19, 2007, 2:31 PM

Chris and Donna got home from the states last night. I haven’t had much time to talk with them yet but it sounds like they had a great time. Chris told me that Michele is still sick. I think that KC is doing some wiring at Chris and Donna’s house since that is where they are staying. I had intended on getting in to Hermano Pedro today but this is turning out to be a catch up day at home. I may get into town a bit later but am not even sure of that. Just hanging out for the day seems pretty good.

11:34 PM

By 3 PM I decided that I had done enough resting and hanging around so I headed off for town. Calin showed up just as I was leaving so he came along with me. My first stop was at the glass store where I ordered 9 pains of glass. I only had 3 broken ones that needed to be replaced but I figured that keeping a weeks supply on hand wouldn’t hurt anything.

Abner’s uncle had gone in and paid my electric bill while I was gone but I hadn’t left him with quite enough money so I went in and paid the rest. Knowing that I had not fed any kids other than Abner for the past several days I figured that I better stop off and pick up some groceries before going back home. That ended up being a good idea but I should have bought even more groceries than I did.


As it turned out guests umber 14 and 15 showed up after all of the food was gone. Dinner wasn’t much work though because everyone pitched in and helped. Earlier this morning Kimberly had swept and mopped my entire house but in spite of telling everyone to be extra careful not to spill, a glass of coke was spilled before we even took our first bite. I didn’t scold the person that knocked it over because the kids look at me funny when I talked to myself. Since I didn’t get mad at myself it was impossible for me to say anything to Daniel who did an instant replay not 2 minutes later.

At around 9 I told the kids that it was time to go home. Three new kids actually listened to me and left. The rest followed their lead but some of them managed to take 30 minutes to do so.

Calin never did make it home. He was already sleeping before all of the others were out of the door so it has been almost like having the house to myself for the past few hours.

Well once again bed looks very inviting so I will say goodnight.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Friday, July 20, 2007, 8:54 PM

It had been well over a week since I had been to Hermano Pedro but I finally got back there today. It was good to see the kids again. It seemed that any of them that could talk or communicate in any way whatsoever indicated that they wanted to come along to Camperos for lunch. Unfortunately there were no volunteers available other than Carlos and myself. Carlos had just had surgery on his arm so I was the only one that could push a wheelchair. We once again decided that one is better than none so we took Minor out to lunch. Even though over 220 kids had to stay behind, today was a bright spot in Minors life. Even though he still knows only his Mayan dialect it certainly didn’t stop him from talking. I guess I should have listened a bit closer or at least caught on to his body language but we assured the waiter that the wet cushion on the chair that Minor had been sitting on would dry but he should perhaps not let any one else sit on it until it did.
When the waiter started insisting that we pay for a new cushion even Carlos lost all knowledge of Spanish. I guess that is one restaurant that we will have to scratch from our list. Thanks goodness it wasn’t Camperos. I still don’t know why the waiter made such a big deal of it. If, after holding most of the orphanage kids, urine didn’t wash out of fabric I would be buying new clothing on a daily biases.

Mario a little boy that use to be in malnutrition was coming in for a check up today. Jessica had called yesterday and asked if I could refit his wheelchair when his mother brought him in. She was scheduled to show up at 10:30 but was still not there when we returned from lunch. Finally at around 3:30 they showed up. He had grown a lot but the chair that he had could be adjusted a lot and soon he was once again sitting pretty. I managed to get some work done on a few more wheelchairs before heading home. I had full intentions of telling the kids that tonight had to be a work night for me, but how do you tell 10 kids that have been waiting at your door for hours that they can not come in? I told them that they could come in for a half hour but that tonight I was not going to make supper. I kept my word about not making supper but they talked me into letting them clean up on several boxes of cereal and well over a gallon of milk. Oh! About that half hour thing. They came with in 2 hours of that. I have the house to myself now though. Or at least I think that I do. They were all playing hide and seek when I finally told them that it was time to go and I am not entirely sure that all of the kids came out of their hiding places.

I was just reminded of how great some of the modern conveniences are. I am sitting here several thousand miles from most of you that will be able to read this the minute that I send it. (Although I doubt that you will since I will likely be working until midnight to get this journal out.) Not only will I be able to send this letter but I can send pictures as well. While sitting at my computer I just got a phone call from the USA over it. The call cost neither of us anything. We were able to make arrangements for a team that will be coming down to do a wheelchair distribution and will help build a house. I think back to books that I have read of missionaries not that many years ago who had no form of communication with the outside world other than a letter that may or may not get to some one and even if it did a moth or 2 may have gone by. Even most places that we go that are considered remote now have cell phone coverage. This has been a real blessing to especially me. With my limited (or should I say nearly no excitant language skills?) my cell phone has got me out of a few uncomfortable situations. You can ask most of the members of the Mooney family about that. I have their phone number listed under, HELP ME! Any way we may some time complain about how hard it is to keep up with modern technology but if we use it right some of it can be a real Godsend. I guess if we think about it that is true about life as well.

Please remember us in prayer. Philippians 4:13. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Yours in Christ: Dick

Journal July 8-15

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Today I got up on time and didn’t try to hurry the kids when we were getting ready for Church. None of the 5 kids that came along to church ended up crying and no one got their finger stuck in the car door this time. All I can say is overall it was much more resting than that extra half hour of sleep I got last week. We didn’t go to the orphanage after church because I had to get caught up on my journal and had to answer some e-mail. Before going home we went to the maul and I let the kids buy food from whatever place in the food court that they wanted. Well that was short and sweet but then so was my day.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Monday, July 9, 2007 9:02:11 PM


When I got to Hermano Pedro they were getting some of the kids ready to put into the pool. I had intended on fitting a few kids into new wheelchairs but due to cold weather, (Here in Guatemala they think any will get pneumonia if they go out side with out a jacket if gets below 85.) they had not used the pool in nearly a month. There were about 8 adults in the pool today so by doing 3 sessions with the kids around 24 of them were able to get into the pool for about a half hour each. Carlos was down with the flew today and any other volunteers that were there left before lunch so I once again had the choice of taking one kid to lunch or none. I nearly chose to take none but I was glad that I changed my mind and took Elmer.

This is the brother of Minor the boy that I took to lunch last week. Both of these kids are extremely bright and I have little doubt that 4 year old Elmer will be walking in the very near future. Just like his brother he talked a mile a minute but it was all in his Mayan dialect. I keep praying that their mom can find work and take them back home. An institution environment is so unhealthy for them. We are at least looking into the possibility of hiring a second teacher for a few more of the kids that are in Hermano Pedro but Elmer will not be one of them since he is only 4 years old. This afternoon I managed to get a few chairs repaired but ran out of time and didn’t give any new ones out.

The kids have been trickling in and out ever since I got home but there has never been more than 8 or 9 at a time. All those that showed up after 8 PM were shown where the food was kept and told to clean up afterwards. The nice thing is there are always enough regulars that the job gets done. I think that the regulars pass the word on that Dick means it when he says something and if they don’t do it there will likely be no food tomorrow night. Funny thing is as mean as I am they keep coming back. Earlier this evening 2 little girls and one little boy showed up. I thought that they were cousins of Etiline, one of my regulars. When Etiline left I asked her if her cousins were leaving with her. To my surprise she told me that they were not her relatives but just 3 kids that had wondered in with her. The little boy who appeared to be the oldest pointed out where they lived and before she left I had had Etiline go with him to make sure his mother knew where he was. He and Etiline came back and told me that his mother said that it was OK so all 3 made themselves feel right at home and stayed until dark. I hope that the word does not get out that I am running a free day care.

Once again I will keep this a bit shorter than usual. I have a feeling that some one is possibly cracking down on the quality of education that many of the kids are receiving at school. It seems that a few of the teachers are suddenly loading the homework onto the kids and a few of them are still at my table and are asking me for some help. I do OK with things like math as long as they are not Spanish story problems.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Tuesday, July 10, 2007, 7:00 PM


I HAPPENED to run into Nary and his sister today. Another one of those Godincidence things. I had originally been told that they were heading back home on Monday but their plans changed. When I talked to Nary and told him that it looked like we had a sponsor for him he lit up like a Christmas tree. I then asked his sister if she would be interested in having some schooling as well. She lit up like a hundred Christmas trees. I received a hug that nearly sent me to the chiropractor and my shirt is still wet from her tears. I took all of this to mean that she thought it was a good idea. I wanted to talk to Kate, the nurse that lives there to see how long it would take her to find a teacher but she was in Guatemala City and did not have her cell phone with her. 5 minutes later I HAPPENED to get a call from her though, Godincidence #2. She promised that she will go to work on finding a teacher but first it has to be decided on where Nary and his sister will be staying.

I had picked up one wheelchair at the wheelchair shop today. It was intended for a girl that was placed in the orphanage about a week and a half ago. Only a day after arriving at Hermano Pedro this poor little girl had several severe seizures that almost took her life. She is now back out of the hospital but after looking at her I decided that it would be better if I waited until she is in better shape so that I can decide just how much strength she has and can at that time better decide what type of wheelchair to seat her in.

Ready for Godincidence # 3? Not 30 seconds after I made the decision not to give her the wheelchair that I had brought along I HAPPENED to get a call from Jessica. A family that had never before been in to Hermano Pedro or any other hospital for that matter had brought their 11 year old son in to see the doctor. She told me that he had CP and had never owned a wheelchair. She wanted to know if I could come upstairs and look at him.


When I got there I was told that the family lived quite a distance away and were not sure when and if they would be able to return but wanted to at least fill out the paper work on their son so that hopefully he could get a wheelchair some day. I seldom break the rules but Chris is out of town besides I know he is as big of a sucker for kids as I am, and giving out one chair before a distribution shouldn’t hurt too much. Besides that I was only going to check and see if by any CHANCE the chair that I had brought today would possibly work for this boy. Guess what!

OK, OK, you already know what I am going to write don’t you? Not only did this boy go home in a chair that looked like it had been tailor made for him but the hospital gave me a bunch of wheelchairs and other equipment that far out valued the chair that I had just given away.


I am finding out more and more that it is pretty hard to out give God.

I don’t know just how we squeezed it in but 3 volunteers and myself managed to find the time to take 4 of the kids out to lunch. Actually I had talked to 2 of the girls yesterday and they jumped at the Idea. 2 other people had planned on coming but had to cancel out. This left us in a bit of a bind because I had intended on taking at least 4 kids out and this meant one of them could not go. Since David was the one that had gone recently I had to tell him that he would have to wait a few days before I could take him. This went over like a led balloon. One of the volunteers that were coming along pointed over at someone that I had never seen before and asked, “What about her?” We walked up to her and asked her if she wanted to help us take a few kids to lunch. She looked a bit startled and told us that she was a new volunteer that had only come in to more or less get acquainted. What better way to get acquainted than to take 4 kids to lunch? We all had a great time especially David and the new volunteer.

Well it is 7:36 and I told the kids that I would open the gate at 7:30. Amazingly it is still standing but by the sound of things it may not be for long, and perhaps I won’t be once they get in. Now for the decision of the day. What kind of junk food do you feed to an angry mob?

11:15 PM

Yep, it was a mob but it was a friendly one. I think that pancakes and French fries must be a favorite because there were 13 of us crowded around the dinner table. The 3 new kids that were here yesterday never showed up but there was another new boy. It has been great to have nothing stolen from my house in over a year and a half now but it looks like we are going to have to sit down and go over the rules with some of the new kids. Only 2 Q (25 cents) were taken but the money belonged to Abner. The Kleenex from mopping up Abner’s tears cost more than the amount that was taken.

At 10:30 I had all but 2 of the kids cleared out of the house. That is when Fernando who had been playing games on one of the computers for the past hour and a half announced that he had lots of homework to do. Melt down # 2. I am heading off to bed. Fernando is sitting at the table half asleep attempting to at least get part of his homework done. He wants me to set the alarm for 5:30 AM so that he can try to finish up in the morning. I think that he is going to be one sleepy boy.

I guess that Calin had enough because he has fallen asleep. At least this way Fernando will have someone to lead him to school in the morning.

Good night,

Yours in Christ: Dick



Wednesday, July 11, 2007, 10:11 PM

Michele and KC Houston arrived at my house this morning. They will be staying for about 2 weeks. Today I took them to Hermano Pedro and introduced them to the kids. We took our teacher and the 5 kids that are in her class out to lunch. This was a fairly easy task since 3 of the 5 have power chairs and Moises got towed behind Byron. Even though KC and Michele plan on spending a good deal of their time here at our wheelchair shop working on power wheelchairs I had to promise them that I would get them back to Hermano Pedro as soon as possible. It looks like they have fallen in love with the kids. This evening they also got to meat a few of the kids from my neighborhood and I think that they feel the same about them as they do about the orphanage kids. Calin joined us for supper at restaurant 56. And then we brought KC and Michele to the Mooney’s where they will be staying while they are here.

Michele asked me to tell her mom not to worry about her, besides if she gets kidnapped the ransoms here are only around $20,000. So now you can sleep well mom. I think that instead of talking about sleep I will try doing it.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Thursday, July 12, 2007, 6:38 PM

We had a small wheelchairs distribution in Chemaltenango today. All but 3 of the chairs were easy fits so we were done before noon. For us it seemed to be a rather uneventful distribution but for the 15 people that received wheelchairs it was anything but a routine day. Sometimes it is hard to imagine what a life changing experience receiving a wheelchair can be. Take for example the 25 year old lady who was the first person that I fit. For all of her life she had to be carried by her brother or her parents if she moved from her bed. The wheel chair that she received today meant new freedom not only to her but also to her family. Since Chris is in the States and Kalb had other commitments we did not have a service before the distribution but those that received wheelchairs were told that we were giving them these chairs because we wanted to share with them in this small way the love that Jesus had for them. Even though not a lot of God’s love was shared in words today a lot was shared in actions and I think that the actions rang out loud and clear.

Our afternoon was spent at the wheelchair shop. We are spending the next few days trying to see how many power chairs we can get going.

Tonight when I got home things were pretty much normal as well. The kids kept flowing in until there were a dozen. The last 3 came in to late for supper but I am sure that they will be on time for the pizza feed that we are planning on having tomorrow night. KC and Michele want to meat as many of the neighbor kids as possible and a pizza feed is a sure fire way to get that opportunity. I have an idea that it will be a standing room only crowd tomorrow night. This is the first time that I will have ever ordered pizza and given the kids a 24 hour warning. What is scarier is that I had 3 new kids tonight and they are from a totally different neighborhood. They seemed like nice kids but were really hungry so I have little doubt that they know a few hungry friends who will likely tag along tomorrow as well. After supper I got out my camera and took some video of the kids destroying my lawn. I still can’t understand why the goal has always got to be the bare spot on my lawn. Oh well after tonight’s game the goal now takes up the better part of the soccer field. After downloading the video I let the kids watch their game on the video. They thought that was great. Actually that is one of the really fun things about these kids. They think that anything you do for or with them is great. Only a hand full of kids are left in the house. They are finishing up on their homework and then they will head for home. Now that I have finished up on today’s journal I am heading off to bed.

Goodnight.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Thursday, July 12, 2007

Once again we spent most of the day working on power wheelchairs in the wheelchair shop today. KC, Michele, and I are trying to get as many of the power chairs as we can up and running. This is not a speedy task since there are so many makes and models. Hopefully by tomorrow we will have a head controlled power wheel chair ready to deliver to a man in San Lucas who has been bed ridden for 15 years. We were also trying to get one more head controlled chair set up for a little boy who lives in Guatemala City but have a way to go before we finish that one.

Mario who is a friend from Chemaltenango has a little 4 year old girl named Maria. Even though Mario is in a wheelchair he has taken it upon himself to raise this little girl who’s mother abandoned her close to 3 years ago. It is a big responsibility and a lot of work for Mario but praise God for some one like him, or who knows where Maria would be today. Just last month Mario got word that Maria’s mother had just been killed in a high speed car chase. Mario has been coming to the shop nearly every day to work on some Guatemalan GPS maps that he is making and takes Maria along with him. I think that Michele has fallen in love with Maria. I know that Maria has fallen in love with Michele. The bond of friendship that they have established is fun to watch. It is so healthy for Maria to have the influence of a strong Christian lady like Michele.

This evening KC and Michele got to meat around 14 of my kids. Like I had thought telling the kids that we were having pizza for supper 24 hours in advance gave them a lot of opportunity to gather everyone up that has ever been to my place plus 3 or 4 new faces. Things almost had to be postponed when I discovered that my electricity had once again been shut off for not paying the electric bill that I never received. An extension cord that I through over the wall to my neighbors house quickly took care of that problem. I will sure be glad though when Monday rolls around and I can go in and pay my bill. The cold shower that I had tonight reminded me why the neighbors are always lined up to use mine. I am sure that word will get out that I have no electricity though and they will all wait until Monday to shower. Six large Pizzas proved to be just enough to take care of most appetites but perhaps would not have been enough had I not limited the intake to 2 1/2 peaces each.

After supper we all went out side and played with the kid. With in an hour we had the kids all so wound up that I decided that it was time to escape by bringing KC and Michele home. Other than a dirty floor and one more broken window nothing got destroyed though so I considered it a good night.

Talking about good nights just gave me a great idea. Good Night.

Yours in Christ: Dick


Saturday, July 14, 2007, 10:15 PM

It seems that everything in my house is quitting all at once. Yesterday the electricity was shut off. Now my Internet quit working. I think that I still have water but have not checked that yet. For some reason a relaxing shower does not sound all that relaxing to me tonight. It may have something to do with having no hot water until the Electricity bill is paid on Monday. At least I don’t have to worry about having an audience when I finally decide to shower. No electricity also means no lights in the bathroom. I am not the only one that is having problems with things not working though. Juan the neighbor that borrowed money from me to buy a different truck called me while KC, Michele, and I were at 56 having dinner tonight. He told me that his truck had run out of oil and he was stranded in Comalapa, a small town that is about 45 minutes from here. We were tired but I could not leave him sit there all night so we headed there as soon as we finished dinner. When we got to where he was I was happy to see that it was his old black truck that was broken down and not his newer white one. He indicated that he wanted me to tow him home. The roads from Comalapa are steep and curvy and it was raining. I told him that I would give him a ride home but there was no way that I would tow him home on those kind of roads at night. I asked him if the truck would run if we put oil into it but he said no. The conversation got a bit interesting due to the fact that we had no one to interpret for us. He said that he could not leave it sit out on the street but had a friend who lived not too far from there and thought that his friend would perhaps allow him to leave it at his house overnight. The conversation during the next 15 minutes got utterly insane. He wanted me to tow him to his friends house but I could not get across to him that he would first have to ride in my car with me to his friends house so that I would know where it was that I had to tow him to. Once he was in his truck behind me I would have no way to know where to go. Wow this even sounds confusing in English! Any way he finally caught on that I was not going to tow his truck until I knew where to tow it. After finally being shown where we were to tow it to we returned to his truck. We asked him if he wanted us to help push the truck and get it turned around before hooking a rope to it. This only seemed logical since our trucks were facing in opposite directions and his was the one facing away from his friends house. Who was I to know that this had absolutely nothing to do with logic? Any way he said that would not be necessary. He then climbed into his truck started up the motor turned the truck around and motioned for me to follow him. I did as he asked. Who was I to try and figure all of this out? The truck seemed to run fine but like I said, “Who ………..” After parking his truck at his friends house he got into my car and we headed for home. On our way home he asked me if I could possibly bring him back to where his truck was in the morning and help him tow it home. I knew it was a stupid question but even though I had asked it before I felt it bore repeating. Rather sheepishly I asked “Why can’t we take some oil along with us in the morning pour it into the engine and then you can drive your truck home?” He looked at me for a moment with a rather puzzled look on his face and then said perhaps that would be the thing to do. The rest of our trip home was a rather silent one. There were lots of questions going through my mind. There still are for that matter. Questions like since there was a gas station only a few blocks away from where he ran out of oil why had he not bought more oil and simply driven home? Oh well, who was I to try and figure all of this out?

I was only glad that my entire day was not as crazy as this. Finally being able to bring the man in San Lucas a head controlled wheelchair made all of the crazy thing that happened seemed well worth being able to watch this 40 year old man who has been confined to a bed for 15 years drive his own head controlled power wheelchair. Once again we were also able to share that all of the thanks was to go to God and we were simply serving as His delivery boys. Wow what a totally awesome day we had today

.


Yours in Christ: Dick


Sunday, July 15, 2007, 11:31 AM

I hope that after being here another 5 or six years I will have a few more things figured out but I am not holding my breath. Juan showed up at my door at 8 AM. I knew that getting his truck back home had to be a real priority because he actually showed up at the time we had agreed to last night. He had a gallon of oil with him. It was the same brand of oil that they had for sale at the service station that was only a few blocks from where he had left his truck last night. I am still scratching my head on why he had not bought some there last night and driven his truck home at that time but asked no questions. At least to day Calin, Abner, and Fernando were joining us so I figured that with 3 interpreters along things would make a little more sense to me. When we arrived where Juan had left his truck last night we discovered that someone had left the air out of one of the tires. This proved to be no big problem because I had a tire pump with me. The pump was not the fastest in the world but after about 10 minutes the tire was inflated far enough that the truck could easily be driven to the service station where they had an air compressor. Juan decided though that he wanted to inflate the tire all of the way. When we finally got that done he poured a small amount of oil into the engine that appeared to be bone dry. I suspected that the engine needed at the very least the entire gallon but said nothing. My suspicions were well confirmed when Juan started it up and the clattering noise brought several people out of their homes to investigate the noise. However Juan seemed satisfied with the amount of oil that he had poured in and closed the hood. I told him that I would follow him back to Chemaltenango. About a half mile down the road he pulled the truck over and stopped. He then got out of the truck opened the hood and poured in the entire gallon of oil. All I can figure is that he wanted to first give the engine a little taste to see if it liked this kind of oil and add the rest after he was sure that it did not get nauseated. Everything went well for the next few miles but when we reached the start of an up hill grade that lasted for several miles Juan pulled over and stopped. I asked him if he was afraid that his truck could not clime the hill he told me that he didn’t think that it would have any problem making the hill but he wanted to check and see how much gas the truck had in it. After inserting a stick into the gas tank he said something to Fernando. Fernando then told me in English that Juan was low on gas so he wanted me to toe him at least to the top of the hill so that he would be assured of having enough gas to make it to the next town that had a gas station. I once again scratched my head and wondered why he had not bought any gas at the station a few miles back where he had stopped to add air, even though we had put in the proper amount but didn’t even want to ask. Any way we are all home and all I can figure is that gas and oil must be a few cents cheaper here at home than they are in Comalapa I doubt though that Juan figured in the time and gas involved in my 2 trips up and back. Oh well I guess that is just one of the things that helps make Guatemala such an adventure.

I am still getting electricity from my neighbors but the extension cord does not reach to my bathroom so the showers are cold. At least this way the line up for my shower is shorter which makes it more convenient when I need one. My Internet is also down but I got a promise that they will be out Monday or Tuesday to fix it. As far as I know my water is still turned on but tomorrow I am sending Calin in to pay the bill if there is one.

Tomorrow KC, Michele, Benjamin, Abner, and myself leave for a 3 day road trip. We plan on visiting the Clinic near Ronny’s home. The people that run it want to take us around to see some of the local people that need wheelchairs or operations. After that we plan on working our way west to Mazatenango and then over to Xela. We will try to drop in on several people that we have given wheelchairs to in the past. Hopefully we will also hike in to Erica’s home to see how she is doing with her new medicine. Please pray for our safety as we travel.

I am going to try to get to the wheelchair Shop and send this out later today. I may ask my neighbor to tow me there because diesel is nearing the $3 mark.

Yours in Christ: Dick