Journal, May 27 & 28, 2010

Thursday, May 27, 2010

(Click on any picture to enlarge)

Not much exciting news today. This morning I drove into Guatemala City and Picked up Paster Bill from the airport. He came in a few days ahead of 8 other people from the States who were planning on joining us for a week of wheelchair distributions and house building. I say "were planning on joining us" because now that the airport is closed for at least 4 or five days it looks like there is no way that they will be able to make it on time. Oh did I mention that the airport is closed because Pacaya one of our local volcano's erupted a few hours after picking Bill up from the airport. The people in Guatemala city are now experiencing what it is like to have a couple of inches of snow on the round. Only problem is this stuff is black and it does not seem to be melting. Any way like I said not much exciting news today so I will keep this one short.

Friday, May, 28, 2010

Calin and Bryan had school today but since their teacher still had not shown up at school an hour after classes were suppose to have started I let them come along with me to Santiago today. Nearly 2 months ago we had a wheelchair distribution in Santiago where I met 3 teenage boys that had Muscular dystrophy. None of the 3 had enough strength in there arms to propel manual wheelchairs so I made a promise to all 3 that I would return as soon as possible with power wheelchairs for each of them. As you are likely aware of I have just returned from a 3 week visit in the States. While I was there pretty much relaxing I could not help but think about these 3 young men who were more than likely wondering if they were actually going to receive wheelchairs that would revolutionize their lives. Today their hopes became a reality. While I was in the States good old Alturo who works for Bethel ministries got three chairs that he and I had picked out before I left up and running. All I can say is Wow! Perhaps nothing more happened yesterday than a volcano erupting but today's excitement made up for that.

Below is a short video of Domingo test driving his new power wheelchair.

, , , , , , , , ,




Doming Attends the same school as Manwell, another young man that we built up a chin controlled power wheelchair for a few months ago.

Here is a picture of Domingo and Manwell.









On the left 13 year old Stephen patiently waits while the boys and I set up his new power wheelchair.








Below is Stephen in his new power wheelchair with his grandmother and step mom standing next to him.

Stephens older brother Sebastian was
also given a power wheelchair today.

Guatemalan teens are told that it is not cool to smile when you are having your picture taken but believe me there were plenty of smiles when they were off camera.

We did not get home until around 8 PM. It was a rather exciting drive due to a lot of rocks and mud on the road. Oh I almost forgot to mention that there is a tropical storm off coast and with the amount of rain that we are getting they say that many of Guatemala's roads will likely be closed by tomorrow. I guess the up side to this is that the Volcano is now dropping mud on the City instead of ashes and dust.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick