* GUATEMALA * * * * * * * * Dick Rutgers *

An ongoing journal of life as a Missionary in Guatemala. It will make you laugh and cry at the same time.

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Name:
Location: Chimaltenango, Guatemala

I work in Guatemala with Hope Haven international and Bethel Ministries. Along with my friends Chris and Donna Mooney and their family, we share the love of Jesus in various ways. Although giving out and maintaining wheelchairs is our primary ministry, we are involved in many other things as well. Building houses, feeding the hungry, providing education to handicapped children in orphanages and villages, and hosting a camp for the handicapped are just a small part of the things that God has given us the privilege of getting involved in. For several years now I have been keeping daily journals. Once a week I try to post new journals and pictures. My e-mail is dick@dickrutgers.com Guatemala Cell Phone # 502 5379 9451 USA Phone # 360 312 7720(Relays free to Guatemala)

Friday, April 30, 2010

Journal, April 25-30, 2010

Once again we have a teem here for a week and one of their members is graciously allowing me to publish some of his journals. This week I will try to do a bit of my own writing as well but I think that you will enjoy what Bob has to say.


Sunday, April 25, 2010


It's not all about Bob

Written by Bob

Less than 12 hours from the time I am sitting down to write this blog entry Keli and I will be leaving our house for Eppley airport. Keli's dad will be driving Keli, myself, and two other guys to the airport, where we will meet up with 6 other friends, to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight to Guatemala. Ben and Brandon will be staying behind with their grandparents, at our house, while Keli and I travel as part of a mission trip with Bethel Ministries International




It's been an amazing journey over the last few weeks considering, deciding, and planning to go on this trip. We have been so blessed to be in a position where Keli and I could make this trip together, and to have the time and financial resources (with a lot of help from friends and family) to make it possible.

Upon learning about the possibility to go to Guatemala, I felt an urge to go. When I first mentioned the idea to my wife, Keli was less than "optimistic". At one point we had decided not to attempt this trip, and I was going to inform our pastor the following Sunday that we would not be able to join the team. However, God had other plans, and event after event kept pointing us back to Guatemala. After deciding NOT to go, we rearranged our summer plans to be more responsible about how we would use our time and financial resources this year in order to support mission work. Coincidentally, those changes freed up exactly the number of vacation days we would need for a trip to Guatemala and a significant portion of the financial resources.

I remember the moment that Keli looked at me after speaking with a friend on the phone, tears in her eyes, to say "What is God doing to us?" Her friend was considering the Guatemala mission trip, but didn't want to be the only female on the team. If Keli wasn't going, she wasn't going to go either. This was just 2 hours AFTER I had planned to tell my pastor we were NOT going, but didn't get a chance to talk to him because he was in a conversation when I tried to inform him of our decision. I had opted to talk to him later that week, but that future conversation turned out to have a completely different tone. That night we spent hours discussing what this trip might mean, and why we should or shouldn't attempt it. The following morning found us meeting at the post office to send in passport applications "just in case". By the end of the week, we had decided to join the team going to Guatemala.


The following weeks were filled with a visit to the doctor's office to get the shots we would need prior to the trip, a visit with a lawyer to have our wills prepared, and several meetings with the team that had formed for the trip. That team is probably all in the process of packing and finalizing details (as is Keli) while I sit here typing this blog entry.



You might be wondering why I'm sharing all of this. I guess my hope is that, through this post, and the posts that will follow during or shortly after our trip to Guatemala, I can share a glimpse of how God is working through this team of 10 and how God will be changing us in the process. Those of you that know me best know that I can be a pretty selfish person. A friend once told me, half in jest, "It's all about Bob". He was right...and I've spent a good portion of my life thinking just that. This trip is most definitely NOT "all about Bob" and it's been a huge blessing to see how God has already been working through the generosity of others, encouraging words, supportive parents, prayer support, and stories about how people have already been touched by this trip. And all of that has been a amazing picture of how God can do amazing things when we are willing to step aside and let Him do His work in our lives.


...AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN LEFT YET.

Bob


Monday, April 26, 2010


Hello from Guatemala

Written by Bob

Sorry I don't have time to type much, but my food is getting cold.We made it safely and looking forward to a busy day. Last night we had a time a prayer and sharing. I think we can all agree that this trip is challenging all of us in different ways. Some of us have already been moved to tears on more than one occasion. This ministry is so amazing as are the people involved in it.

Bob


Here are a few pictures of what we are up to.

Meeting up at Eppley



Chris explains wheelchair distribution and introduces us to the team




Tuesday, April 27, 2010

King of the Casa

Written by Bob

It´s been an amazing 2 days here in Guatemala. We loaded up the truck this morning with more than 60 wheelchairs and a prefab house prior to making our rounds to 3 different families. We met several families today while doing food and clothing distribution on the way to Huehuetenango.

What a blessing it has been to meet these families and get a chance to see how they live. Although we have several projects to complete while we are here, it has been the relationships and time spent with the Bethel Ministries team and the families they have relationships with that have stood out the most.


Among many memorable events today, here is one. On our first food delivery stop we were greeted at the door by 5 year old Victor. Victor´s mother, Carmen, had taken Victor´s sister to the hospital to be treated for a serious foot infection and Victor was home alone. As we entered Victor picked up several small plastic figures and a play mat and put them into a plastic tub and immediately began offering us stools to sit on. Throughout the visit, we were awed by Victor´s hospitality as he proudly showed us the chicken in his kitchen (mothering a brood of both chicks and baby ducks), and his family´s pig, turkeys, and hens in the yard outside. We later learned that the reason Victor was home alone was that if someone was not physically on his property at all times, bandits would clear out the entire home within hours. Imagine your 5 year old son or daughter defending your home and property from thieves, by him/herself, and entertaining a group of 12 people, only 2 of whom he or she knew. Our first reaction was shock that a small boy would be left alone like this. What we later learned is that, although this small boy was at risk, his entire family´s life would be at risk if all their belongings were stolen. Chris jokingly pointed out that Victor was ¨King of the casa¨, which is exactly what this 5 year old boy was.

Bob

Click HERE to view Bob's entire blog


Wednesday, April 29, 2010

Written by Dick


Today was day one of a 2 day house building project. We have a rather large group of us staying here in Huehuetenanago. There are the 10 people from the USA plus 8 of us from Guatemala. Divide that into the 18 foot length of the house that we will be building today and Friday and you come up with 1 person per foot.




Since we had so many willing house builders I asked Pastor Juan, and Gordon if they wanted to join me in visiting a few families while the rest of the teem stayed back and built the house.

Nearly a year ago Roland Elf and myself went in to the back country to pick up Cilsa, a 13 year old girl whose family had agreed to let us take her to a specialist who could hopefully figure out why about 6 months prior she suddenly lost use of her legs and started having seizures that lasted from dawn to dusk every night. Just a few weeks prior to this we had taken her and her mother to Hermano Pedro to see a regular doctor and they had seemed quite happy that he had set up this appointment for her to see a specialist, however on the day that we showed up to take her there the family informed us that they had found some one that promised that they could cure her by giving her an injection that they had to pay $100 for. Unfortunately this area is full of witches, medicine men, and people that simply claim to be doctors. They all make promises of being able to cure some one of what ever aliment they have but demand large sums of money and once the the family is drained of all of the money they have they move on to a new victim. Letting us come back to pick up the pieces.




Today Pastor Juan, Gordon and I went back in to visit Cilsa and her family to pick up those pieces.



Celsa's mother sounds like she is now willing to let us take Cilsa to a specialist. I told her that I would try to return to their home tomorrow to confirm that Cilsa's father is in favor of this as well.










Next Pastor Juan, Gordon and I went to the home of Freddy a little boy who, thanks to a sponsor, we are now bringing antiseizure medicine to on a monthly bases. Only Ferddy's grandmother and 2 little girs were at home but grandmother told us that ow that Freddy is taking the medicine his seizures have all but stopped.










We were already back at the hotel when the others returned. They were tired and sore from all the work that they had done on the house today but no one was complaining. They know what a blessing it will be for this young mother and her 3 children to finally have a place of their own to live in.









"Let us be the ones who say we do not accept that a child dies every three seconds simply because he does not have the drugs you and I have. Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth determines your right to life. Let us be outraged, let us be loud, let us be bold."


Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick



Thursday, April 29, 2010

Wheelchair Distribution

Written by Dick


It seems that the needs of people here in Guatemaqla are endless. Today we at least had the privilege of reaching out to around 50 people that were in need of not only wheelchairs but of some one who cared. It would be impossible for me to share all of their stories but many of them brought us to tears. There were adults and children that had never seen doctors in their entire lives. One child that stands out in my mind was a little boy who is having 4 or five seizures a day but becasue of lack of money his parents have never been able to take him to a doctor.





I also gave a wheelchair to a 13 year old boy (not pictured) who had muscular dystrophy. His family had taken him to a doctor but like so many doctors here in Guatemala this one gave this poor family little more than the time of day and told them that their son had something other than the muscular dystrophy that he actually has. I did not have the hart to tell this family that their other 3 sons have a 50 50 chance of having it as well. The list goes on.






As important as the wheelchairs are to those that are in need of them I am more and more becoming aware that what is even more important to these people is simply knowing that someone cares. You would be amazed by the number of people that came up to us after they or a loved one received a wheelchair and an encouraging word from one of the pastors that was there to counsel with them, and thanked us over and over again for caring. One lady that appeared to be even older than I am (ancient) went around and gave each of us hugs for about an hour. Some of us got thanked by her 2 or 3 times.






No, we are not here for the hugs or the thank-yous but it does make us aware of how important it is to not only let these people know that we care but to let them know that God cares.


"Thank you Lord for once again reminding me that you loved each one of us enough that you were willing to give your only Son."


Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick




Sunday, April 25, 2010

Journal April 21-25 , 2010

The teem from my home church in Lynden Washington was with us until Friday and they accomplished a lot of things while they were here. Houses were built, churches were painted, wheelchairs were given out, but more important than any of that lives were impacted. Not just the lives of those that they came to serve but also the lives of those who came to serve. I was not with the teem the entire time but got the opportunity to spend some time with them in the orphanage and also in a few villages where we visited with some of the families that we are working with and personally saw God touch the harts of not only the Guatemalan people that live here but also the harts of the Americans that came here to serve. I said this a few weeks ago but feel that it bears repeating.




"Many people go on a mission trip with thoughts of blessing and changing the world, but return home finding that they were blessed because the world changed them."







To view Mike's journal about Faith Community's mission trip click HERE.


"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing."


If my mentioning a need for money bothers you,
please skip the next Paragraph.

While the group from the States were here 3 of us made a visit to Jason and his family. Jason is a 10 year old boy that use to stay at Hermano Pedro orphanage in Antigua. A few years ago Jason's mom took Jason back home where she and her daughter lived. The decision to take Jason back home was not an easy one for Jason's mom because her husband had walked out on her and she knew that raising her son that has CP along with her daughter would be a full time job. One thing that helped give mom a little time to do other things (mainly work) was that after a little coaxing the school that Jason's sister attended agreed to allow Jason to attend school as well. Things went well for a while but new teachers were hired and although Jason is very bright none of the teachers wanted to teach a disabled child. Jason has now been out of school for over a year. I told mom that I could make no promises but asked her what her thoughts were on us trying to find a teacher that was willing to come to their home a few hours a week and teach Jason. Both mom and Jason are all for it. I had to tell them though that since we are already schooling more children than we have sponsors for we could not take on any new unsponsored children. This is where you come in. In nearly 3 years of journaling I do not think that I have mentioned a financial need more than a few times because I have made it a rule not to make my journals a plea for money. Today however am breaking my own rule because I know how important it is for this 10 year old boy to receive an education. $35 per month can change Jason's life. My e-mail address is dick@dickrutgers.com .



Wednesday, April 21, 2010




Today we brought food in to some of the families that we have built homes for in the past. Most of these families consist of widows and their children who are struggling to earn enough money to feed themselves.


Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Thursday, April 22, 2010

Today the group from Lynden was divided into 3 groups. 4 people joined me in going to the orphanage and loving on the kids. Those of you that know me know how much of a sacrifice it was for me to do this rather than stay behind and paint a church but that is the way things go. NOT! I will give up anything including painting and even souvenir shopping any time I can get to the orphanage. At noon we took 5 of the kids out to Camperos. Everyone had the time of their lives, even the kids.



















Different kids more food.



When I got home this evening I felt like I was right back in the orphanage. Usually there are an average of 10 to 12 kids in my house at supper time. Word had gotten out though that Dick was making Spaghetti tonight so the number of kids exceeded that.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick



Friday, April 23, 2010

I have been promising Ronny and his family that I would visit them and take those that had good report cards some where for quite some time now. Since 3 of my kids had no school today (Why ??) we decided that this would be the perfect day. You may wonder if a 4 hour round trip drive to some ones house and then a 2 hour round trip drive to and from the nearest McDonald's is worth if but if you could have seen the faces of the 6 kids whose good grades we celebrated you would have gladly joined us.

The only grumbling that we heard was from Ronny's youngest brother who complained that he had nothing to wear.




I did not have to twist the arms of my 3 boys ether. They love Ronny and his family and knowing that there were some dirt roads along the way that they could practice their driving on was an added incentive.








Ronny continues to get weaker but has not been running any fevers lately.












Since I had just eaten ice cream at Camperos yesterday I was going go with out dessert today. Ronny's little sister had other plans for me though and insisted that she share her ice cream cone with me.

We did not get back home until 6:00 PM but after getting cleaned up I brought some of my older kids to a teen meeting at our church in Antigua.



It was 9:30 when we got home and for some strange reason I am to tired to do any more writing so I am going to say "Goodnight".

Yours in Christ: Dick


Saturday, April 24-Sunday April 25, 2010




I'm taking a few days off
to hang out with the kids
.








I'll try to write more on Monday.

Yours in Christ: Dick








Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Journal, April 15-20, 2010

Thursday, April 15, 2010

This week we have a teem of adults here from my home church back in Washington State. Their leader Mike Campfield is keeping a daily journal while they are here so I am going to take advantage of that by posting what Mike wrote along with a few things that I wrote.


We Have Arrived

Written by Mike
We thank the Lord for a safe trip. Other than Dick Rutgers driving we made it great!

(Then again perhaps I should be doing my own Journaling. I thought about deleting that last sentence but am praying that those that read it already know Mike and are aware that not all pastors are 100% truthful.)
Dick

Again Chris, Donna and Cindy Mooney (far right in the picture) have opened their home with excellent accommodations. Most of the team had a good night resting their eyes but getting used to the chickens, dogs, gun shots (far away), some loud bird landing on the roof and Warrren's snoring we slept great! We are off to paint, load wheelchairs, fix roads and have fun serving however we can!

Mike
Friday, April 16, 2010

Written by Dick

Today as Calin and I were heading towards the coast to deliver a power scooter we had to come to a sudden stop to avoid hitting the car in front of us that stopped at an intersection that he had the right away on. Unfortunately the pick up truck that was following us did not stop as quickly as we did and rear-ended me. Since other traffic was bearing down on us I decided to pull ahead to a wide spot on the road and motioned for the driver of the pickup truck to do the same. Judging by the force of the impact I was sure that substantial damage had been done to my car. The driver of the pick up truck started to pull off behind me but then swung back onto the rode and kept going. I quickly caught up with him and motioned for him to pull over. He did not seem all that interested in doing so. Perhaps the fact that there were about 10 adults in his truck and there were only 2 people in my car had something to do with this. Here in Guatemala It would perhaps have been wiser had I simply given in and let him go but being American and knowing that I was in the right kept me from doing the wise thing. I was not about to let common sense rule, so I kept forcing the issue and finally convinced him that I was willing to exchange a little paint if he did not want to stop and at least talk things over. Would you believe that right across the road from where we stopped there just happened to be 2 police men. Now I know that normally call these things Godincidences but after talking over what had just happened with the police men I am not all that sure that it was. Every one held their tempers (even me) but the police sided with the driver of the pick up truck and told me that I should not have stopped at that intersection since I had the right away. The fact that I had no choice unless I ran over the car in front of me seemed to make little difference. The Driver of the pickup truck told me that he would have stopped quicker but a semi truck was bearing down on him and had he stopped any quicker the passengers that were in the back of his truck would have been in far worse shape than our vehicles. Oh! the shape of our vehicles? In all of the excitement neither we nor the police had looked over the damage yet. When I looked at the front of the pickup truck I was sure that the damage on my Land Cruiser had to be extensive because this truck had a reinforced bumper on it that looked like it had been made for pushing trains off from the road. I think that you could have run this thing into a cement wall with out doing any damage. Next we walked over to my car. I was expecting the worst. There is a spare tire mounted on the back of my car and I figured that when it got hit it likely demolished the door that it is connected to. How the cow catcher bumper of the pick up truck that rear-ended me missed my spare tire and made contact with only my rear bumper is beyond me, and how Toyota can make a car so strong that only the bumper was damaged, and not all that bad, is beyond me but other than my pride, not much damage was done. The police officers looked at me and scratched their heads. Why had I even bothered them. I scratched my head. Why had I made such a fuss about this after all it was only a car? No one was hurt. My chance of getting hurt were a lot greater by confronting these ten men then they had been when I was rear-ended by their truck. We all shock hands then got back into our cars and drove off.

One thing that I have learned from this is that I have to drive even faster so that I do not get rear-ended by any more cars!


About and hour later Calin and I stopped off and gave Owen his new power scooter. Three years ago Owen was riding his motor cycle home from his last day of university. That night he was suppose to go to his graduation ceremony but Owen was run off from the road by a buss and his head struck a tree. Owen suffered brain damage and his life was changed forever. Later this evening as I sat in a 4 hour long traffic jam that had been caused by a head on collision between a car and a semi I realized how fortunate I was. Please continue to pray for our safety and for a lot more wisdom.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick




Saturday, April 17, 2010


Wheels from God

Written by Mike
We woke up at 3:30 AM this morning to be on the road at 4 so we could arrive at the wheelchair distribution by 7:30. The team slept, visited and enjoyed the landscape when the sun came up. Seeing active volcano's is always a sight to behold...

The distribution was to begin around 8 am, then told 9. Then most people arrived and actually started at 10. The mayor of the city came and had us join him on the stage (He's the one in red between Stephanie and Merissa). After his attempted political exploitation (according to Chris), we began doing what Chris and Dick do most of their days.



Our group jumped in and after a few minutes and acted as though they have done it all their lives. Of course there are numerous stories each person could share but the final story is a greater appreciation of the ministry going on through Dick and Chris.





The drive back was beautiful and the BBQ chicken, fresh green beans, potatoes, homemade tortilla and juice hit the spot.
We ended our night with devotions (led by Stephanie) reminding us of our indebtedness to Christ and our call as servants. We closed praying for Dick, singing two songs and time in prayer. Thank you Lord for another great day. Help each of us to serve you with our whole heart, soul and mind!
The "wheels from God" is true! Once individuals are fitted for their chair, a team of people meet with them to share the gospel. 13 people committed their lives to the Lord! The cool thing is those that meet with them are local people/pastors from the church to follow up. A great process for touching the least that last and the lost!

Mike


Sunday, April 18, 2010

A day to sleep in a bit but we were all awake by 7 AM. Stephanie, Warren, Sam and Donna made us breakfast. Robert gets the group going (below)! We are leaving for church, then to Antigua at the orphanage then football (soccer) with Dick's kids and pizza feed to follow...keep us in your prayers.

Mike

God says Good morning

Written by Mike
There is so much to write about today. God said good morning with a minor earthquake...

Church was great in the morning, the orphanage in the afternoon was eye opening and to end our day playing football (soccer) was fun.

It is so great to know that the God we serve is BIG and to be able to worship with another culture is a treat. The many hugs and kisses during the greeting was fun to be a part of. The love displayed to our group was great. After Chris Mooney's daughter-in-law Alyssa shared how the perfect Love of God takes away our fears we ended the service with prayer and worship.


At the orphanage we were reminded how truly blessed we are to have the health we have. Seeing the smiles the children had on their faces as we took them out of their cribs was rewarding. Walking past the others that we couldn't attend to for our time there was difficult. The group "jumped" right in and loved up on the kids.




Our time playing soccer was a treat. The three teams were split with Americans, Canadians (Brent, Merissa and Natasha) and Guatemalans evenly divided! Following that we ate pizza together. We closed our evening praying for each other and thanking the Lord for another great day!
Mike


Monday, April 19, 2010

House on the Rock

Written by Mike

Today we traveled "up"to about 8000 feet to start the first day of our two day house build. Sam, Robert, Natasha, Shayna, Glen and Gina made up the foundation crew. We staked out a 15ft x 18ft plot to start the foundation. We mixed the concrete and tried to pour and finish before the concrete set. We met the lady who was going to receive the new house, she was so happy and excited to see us all there. The children were checking us out all day from a distance, finally a small girl came over and got some candy from the Girls. Before long the kids were making there way over to get some candy and friendship bracelets and exchanging laughs and smiles. We all had a great time and can not wait to finish building and blessing this house for this family.



Stephanie, Merissa, Jess, Warren, Brent and Mike worked on painting the church in Chimaltenango. Not only are we painting the church but the pastor's house and classrooms as well.



After a full day of painting we took bags of food to six families. Of course seeing the living conditions of these families quickly slapped us in the face of how much we have and reminded us how great the needs are of so many in this area as well as many places in the world.




Groups that come down often build houses - same as the one we are building - and the homes we visited were those who have received the blessing of a new "house" by Bethel Ministries. One in particular stands out for our group.

Ruth has had some horrible experiences and through the conversation the hurt came out. Chris gently spoke with her to let go of the past and to trust in the Lord. She prayed to ask the Lord to restore her, for His forgiveness and to work in her life. Praise the Lord!


Ruth works LONG hours in her house working as a seamstress. She can NOT leave her home as her materials and sewing equipment are expensive. IF she does leave, her mother has to watch the house. Unfortunately her mother lives 20 minute drive but she has to walk as she has no transportation.



We pray the Lord will be with Ruth and the Holy Spirit will speak to her daily. We do thank Him for allowing us the opportunity to be a part of this Divine Appointment.


The rest of the homes were similar. Each was so thankful to receive the food and visit with us (mainly reconnecting with Chris!). Many have physical needs that seem overwhelming. Most trust the Lord and truly live by Faith...for the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the health they have and the provisions they need.


The groups will switch on Wednesday and look forward to completing the painting and house project!

Mike






Dick wrote



Since there were 2 new kids at the orphanage that were in need of wheelchairs I decided to break away from the group today and go there. When I arrived I was pleased to see that they had most of the kids out in the court yard but I was not happy to see that even though they did not have Ervin locked in his crib like they do most of the time he and his wheelchair were tied to a pole. I quickly decided that even though I had a lot of work to do today I was going to take him out to the park and to lunch.

I did not get straight to work becasuse today the therapists actually decided to use the swimming pool to do therapy. One more adult meant that one more kid was able to get into the pool. Six kids isn't much considering there are 240 full time residents but I figured that it was better than five.




When I got out of the pool I finally went to work. The first little boy that I put into a wheelchair is a new resident at Hermano Pedro. He has CP but seems quite healthy. He is still quite frightened and not at all sure what is going on but wormed up to me quickly and by the time I had him fitted into his new wheelchair we were the best of friends.








Why they think that Ervin has to either be tied up or locked in his crib most of the day is beyond me. Granted he is a strong willed child but once he knows what is expected of him he is a delightfull little boy. After lunch I let him play on the playground equipment at Camperos and he had the time of his life.


When we got back to the orphanage I went up to the Malnutrition ward to see an 11 year old boy that I had only briefly met when he arrived last week. When he arrived at Hermano Pedro he was very malnourished and his breathing seemed labored. Since he was so week I had decided that I would wait a week or 2 until I place him in a wheelchair. He seemed quite frightened and even though I was not going to give him a wheelchair that day I had thought about staying with him for an hour or 2 just so that he would not feel so all alone, but I had so many other things to do that I simply patted him on the head and promised that I would be back in a few days with a wheelchair for him. Today when I walked into the isolation room where he had been I was hopeing to see at least some improvement. When I looked into his bed I saw that it was empty. I feared for the worst but hoped that perhaps he had been moved to a different part of the orphanage or perhaps to a different hospital. I quickly phoned Jessica and asked where they had taken him. Jessica's reply was one that I did not want to hear. This 11 year old boy had died.



The rest of my day was not spent in fixing wheelchairs. Instead I spent it holding some of the other kids that are up in the malnutrition ward. I felt that it was important that they knew that someone cared.

“Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while,
so that we can see Life with a clearer view again.”


Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Faith

Written by Mike

Today we traveled two hours to experience the zipline and shopping as well . The time was fun and each had a well deserved break but as we reflected tonight seeing how many live in this area made us a bit guilty. Knowing the poverty and severe needs was brought more into focus. While we are thankful for our time today and the fun we had we look forward to getting back to serving Him!

Warren led our devotions having us read from Hebrews 11. A good discussion was had as we talked about where our Faith is and, more importantly, WHO is that faith in? We were reminded that those in the chapter (the spiritual giants if you will) had great faith but died before they received the promises.

How is your faith? Who is it in? How are you doing with applying that faith on a daily basis? Tough questions but worth pondering. Fear often holds us back and when we give in to those fears we miss opportunities for God's hand to work in our life. God WILL accomplish His will and when we don't respond someone else will be used by Him...



With zip lining our faith was in the equipment that held us up and provided security we needed. God provides the equipment to hold us and we have faith to know that He IS in control.

Mike