Journal, June 29 - July 7, 2011

A lot has taken place since my last journal entry which was posted on June 28. That night 3 of my boys (Fernando Jason, Cesar and I were in San Pedro Lagona and were planning on Making it home the following day (Wednesday). As you know by now things never go as planned here in Guatemala and we finally found ourselves back at home on Friday, July 1.


Wednesday, June 29, 2011

This morning we worked our way down the narrow streets of San Pedro Lagona and then headed around the back side of the lake in the direction of Santiago. We knew that road was a lot rougher than the way that we had originally come in to San Pedro but the day before we had encountered some not so friendly tuk tuk drivers while driving through a near by town so we decided that an alternate rout would be a good choice. There are occasionally reports of bandits on this stretch but I have driven it several times and have had no problems. I try not to take any unnecessary risks here in Guatemala but truth is if you stayed off from every road that has ever been reported to have bandits you would not be able to go anywhere.






,, ,,,,,I didn't do all of the driving


When we arrived in Santiago we decided to stop of fat the home of Sebastian, a young man that Bethel Ministries had given a power wheelchiar to a few years ago. Sebastian lives behind the special needs school that held the wheelchair where he originally got his wheelchair from. Sebastian's wheelchair was still running good but he told us that his Brother Stephan's power chair that I had brought in a few weeks after Sebastian had received his wheelchair was no longer running. Sebastian's parents are separated and his mom and brother live about 15 minutes down the road. I was not sure that I could find the place but one of the teachers from the school said that she would ride along with us and show us where he lived. As we were driving to his home the teacher told us that she was the daughter of Argentina, a friend of ours who lives in Santiago. Argentina is the lady that started this special needs school and is also the person that we work with when setting up wheelchair distributions in this area. Her daughter quickly called mom and she insisted that we come for lunch once we checked out this power wheelchair and visited another young man that Argentina and her daughter thought was in need of a power wheelchair.

Stephan's School

When we arrived at Stephan's home his mom showed us his power wheelchair which had indeed seen better days. There was no way that I could repair it there. Fact is it may have to be replaced. Two years is a rather short life for a power wheelchair but after 4 wheel driving from Stephan's house to the school that he attends we quickly understood why it had warn out. This kid needs a bulldozer. Seeing his desire to study and knowing now that his power chair is no longer running his mother must push him nearly a mile to his school, I promised to find him a power chair that would be able to navigate the rough terrain.

After visiting him and his rater shy teacher and classmates we said our goodbyes and then headed to the home of Alex and his family. I had never met Alex or his family before but Argentinian's daughter's assessment that this 17 year old boy who also attended a school was in need of a power wheelchiar was right on. Alex and his family thanked us over and over for coming and were in tears when we told them that we would do our best to get a power wheelchair to Alex. With Fernando interpreting we got to share with this family that we were Christians and that we felt that it was more that just a coincidence that we had heard about them. They agreed.

A stairway that ran between these buildings became a waterfall.

Next stop Argentina's house for lunch. While we were there it started to rain. I have seen it rain hard in Guatemala but this one had to be a record breaker. The rain had started only 15 minutes before we returned to the car but the street already looked like a river. I was thankful that we did not have to retrace our steps down the dirt road to get out of town or we would have been stranded. About 20 minutes out of town the rain eased up to a down pour so we were now driving in only 4 to 6 inches of water and it was much easier to find the road. Since we were still a long way from home we decided to see if we could find a motel and stay one more night. The nearest one that I knew of was about 2 hours away and about an hour out of our way but the boys had been a tremendous help and I figured that we could all use a little fun time. By the time we reached our hotel the sun was once again out so we got good use of the swimming pool. At about 6 PM the thunder clouds rolled in but we were ready to quit swimming by then any way.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Thursday, June 30, 2011

After eating a big breakfast we decided to head for home. Like I said though, nothing here in Guatemala ever goes as planned. Shortly after getting out on the road I received a phone call from Daryl Fulp. He and a few friends had stopped off at the home of Jorge, the boy who's bed sores I had worked on about a week ago, to drop off some food. Daryl told me that he tought that one of the sores on Jorge's foot was getting worse and asked if I thought that we should try to get him in to see a doctor before his scheduled appointment at Hermano Pedro on July 26. I told Daryl that I was only a few hours from there so I would go in and see if the Doctor at the clinic in Lagomara could take a look at it. Lagomara would only be an hour out of my way so I figured that we could still make it home before dark. Doctor Jose who is the regular doctor at the clinic is in Antigua doing some further studies for a few months but the lady that is there in his absence was very friendly and told me to brig Jorge in so that she could look at his foot so we then drove to his house and picked him and his mother up.

This time it was Jason's turn to interpret and he did a wonderful job. After examining Jorge's foot the other bed sores the doctor gave Jorge some antibiotics and told mom to continue the treatment that I had shown her. Actually mom had been doing a marvelous job of caring for Jorge's sores before I showed her anything. Mom beamed when I told her that she knew exactly what she was doing and that I wished that she could have been there for other people that I have worked on in the past.

By the time we got Jorge and his mom back to there house it was nearly 3 PM. We had not had any lunch so the boys and I decided to stop off at a little hamburger stand in Lagomara. This place is nothing to brag about but I have eaten there often without getting sick and that is more than I can say for some of the other places that I have eaten. The only problem was we had to sit out side and it was hot in this town. The boys and I kept looking over at a motel that was less than a block away and wondering if it had a swimming pool. We Fernando thought that if it did perhaps they would let us use the pool for an hour or so if we paid them a little bit. I finally told him and the other boys to go aver and check. Sure enough the owner of the hotel agreed to let us swim for about $2 each. Once inside the gate the place did not look to bad. I then asked out of curiosity what the price of the rooms was. "Two rooms or one." the owner asked. Without hesitation I said "One!" In trying to save a few bucks I had made that mistake last night. Have you ever tried to get any sleep when staying in the same room with 3 teen age boys? My only problem tonight was that my room had air conditioning and theirs didn't so they still hung out in my room until I kicked them out at around 10 PM. Now it is nice and quiet so I think I will try to get some sleep.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick


Friday, July 1, 2011

We made it home today.

Tonight I took a bunch of my kids to youth group. I went over and visited Pat while they were there. After youth group the kids and I went and got something to eat and then headed for home.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ: Dick

Saturday & Sunday, July 2 & 3, 2011

My kids a had a soccer game scheduled in San Lucas this morning but it rained all night so the game was canceled. The 4 that spent the night were soon joined by 8 to 10 more so the house has been like a zoo all day.

This evening I rode along with Chris to pick up a teem that was coming in from my home church (Faith Community) in Lynden Washington. The teem consists of 7 teens 3 adult chaperons and my friend Gary Hawkins. Blake Whitman, the youth pastor and leader of the teem is journaling this week's activities. I do not plan on being with the teem the entire week but will take advantage of Blake's journals on those days that I am with them.

Goodnight,
Yours in Christ; Dick

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Posted by Blake

GREETINGS FROM OUR TEAM!!!

After an awesome nights sleep for most of us (the rain pouring on the tin roof for a good couple of hours really helps you relax after a long day of traveling), we were up and at ‘em and ready for our first full day here. That is to say after an awesome breakfast of pancakes and bacon, made by Donna, and our very own Ryan and Krista!

At that point, we headed to Antigua for church ….

Each evening, we take time to discuss and debrief the day. There were many things about our experience at church that were great. For example, obviously the worship through music time was in total Spanish … yet, a couple of the songs we knew as well, so we sang in English. What it awesome experience to see His people, joining together in worship, and those language barriers having no say in it!

It was also incredible how God spoke straight to our team about some things that we were looking towards later in the day through the pastor (Ben Mooney was translating the message for us).

There were also some things we noticed about the church, specifically the passion and genuineness of the body there, which spoke a lot to all of us, and really challenged our own approach to Sunday morning worship.

Like I said, it was a great experience, and one which God spoke to us through!

At that point it was time to head out for a little lunch ….

This picture really does not do it justice … but we are literally back inside a GIGANTIC market that is all covered, and it was like a maze getting back in there. It is owned by Saul’s (Hannah Mooney’s husband) family. We were treated to straight up authentic Guatemalan food … chicken, some sort of potato like thing, all in a sauce. Not to mention pop out of glass bottles (totally old school looking I thought).

Then it was off to the orphanage. Hermano Pedro is the orphanage many of us have heard of from Dick and the Mooney’s. It is an orphanage/hospital, and houses mostly handicapped patients … of all ages. After going through each wing (teenage guys, teenage girls, then kids) we were given the opportunity to just interact with anyone we want. Again, this is a handicap hospital, and the physical and mental state of a majority here is not pretty. Especially within this culture, these are “the least of these”. Many are abandoned, dropped in holes, beaten, locked away in rooms … etc. There time in the orphanage is obviously better, yet, with the number of patients, and the number of nurses, they are usually locked in their cages/beds for up to 20+ hours a day, unless a group like ours come in.

Let me say this, before we went today, I did see some hesitation from our group. The unknown is not an easy thing, and experiencing a place like this humbles anyone and everyone. That being said, you should all be extremely proud of our group, as EVERYONE jumped right in with both hands, and incredibly FULL HEARTS. I can only upload so many pictures, so here are a few … I will show them all once we get home …. GOD AT WORK …..

It was an incredibly emotional day, yet INCREDIBLY powerful as spending time with these kids, we learned things about God, and about his love for us, and about worship, in ways that we couldn't even comprehend. Like I said, we have many more pictures coming once we are home.

After having to say good bye to our kids, it was time to go check out a small market where we were able to buy some things if we wanted. Then headed home for a great dinner prepared by Momma Donna (yeah, she takes awesome care of us). As I mentioned we spend some time discussing, debriefing, crying, encouraging, challenging … after dinner. Then worked on our skit for Tuesday, now we are all winding down and headed for bed. It was a great first day … and one that challenged each of us tremendously. Now it is time to rest our bodies as we prepare for food distributions and house builds tomorrow!

GOOD NIGHT FROM GUATEMALA … miss all of you!

Blake

Monday, July 4, 2011

Posted by Blake

Happy 4th of July to everyone back home! We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful day off with bbq’s, family, and fireworks! We had a great day down here today. Once again, it did not rain at all … in fact some of us even got a little sun burn. At least we know we will come back looking like we were in Central America for awhile.

After breakfast, we loaded up all the things we needed and headed to the Bethel International’s wheelchair shop where Chris introduced us to everyone that works there, as well as gave us a great tour of the entire place. He also explained just how much finances and work goes into collecting, refurbishing, and distributing wheelchairs to those that need it. Absolutely mind blowing to be honest … God sure does provide!!

At that point we split the group up in two in order to accomplish more in a single day. Already having a smaller group, I wasn’t sure how well it was going to work, but I can not stress just how awesome each member of this team is. So much was accomplished today, and we each had things to share once we met to debrief tonight.

The first group stayed at the main shop for awhile, preparing all the food and clothing that was going to be going out on our food and clothing distributions. They also helped load a HUGE truck that is going to bringing things down to our distribution tomorrow, as well a house to build. As Chris put it this morning, everything that we do, is a tremendous help, and allows those that are employed by Bethel to continue working on and refurbishing wheel chairs that go out during the distributions. Here is a quick glance …

After lunch time, the group then headed out to a small “village” to distribute clothing, food, and to just love up on the people. It quickly became obvious that the children living there LOVE IT when they are visited by teams. The families were blessed, excited, and extremely thankful for the items they received, and I am not sure whether the children or our group members were more blessed by the other. I will let you try and decide from a couple of pictures.

As Group one was busy blessing the people in the village … the second group was busy laying foundations and cement slabs for future house builds. This may seem like an easy project back home (which it usually is), but we forgot the cement truck, mixers, and good wheel barrows at home in Whatcom County. We ended up finishing one slab, and got a great start on the 2nd one in the afternoon. Yes, it does take ALL DAY to do one and a half slabs when you have to mix every ounce of concrete on the ground, in a pile, and mix by hand. The pictures should give you bit of a feel. **Notice the last picture, and how much the little kids LOVED Scott**

At the end of the day … everyone had a great experience. Many lessons learned, a few sore muscles, but most importantly, many families and individuals blessed by God’s love!! And what a better way to end the day, but a spaghetti dinner, and a small firework show here at the Mooney’s in honor of the 4th of July!

For now though, I need to get to bed, as we are getting up at 3am in order to be and the wheelchair distribution in time. Please pray for our travels tomorrow, and also that God’s Spirit would move in the lives of those we will be serving tomorrow.

Blake

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Posted by Blake

Here is our day in a nutshell to keep things simple:

3am wake up + on the road by 4am + 60 wheelchairs given out + 23 1st time commitments to Christ + one house built + 2 landslides + home at 8:15pm = ONE AWESOME (and long) DAY!

The 3am wake up, and being on the road by 4am was because we had a 2+ hour drive ahead of us, but more so because there was a report on the news of a “road block”. Evidently, the farmers in an area are not happy about something the government did, so they staged a “road block” ALL DAY. This sometimes consists of burning tires and such, Chris told us. We did not see it however, because we were on the road by 4 … and to our destination by 7.

In Rio Bravo, we had a wheelchair distribution. For those that do not know, people come from all over to be fitted with a new wheelchair, walker, or cane. We had two “specialty stations” which were run by Dick and Saul … this is where extra care has to be in order to fit a specific wheel chair for a specific disability. Then there where three other stations manned by FCC YOUTH! Each pair of students, when an individual came, would then sit, adjust, and finalize a wheelchair for that person. For many, this is a HUGE day as I witnessed many family members smiling, taking pictures, hugging … crying, as their loved ones were being fit in a chair by our group. It was just incredible. As all of this is going on. We also had a couple of girls making pancakes for everyone there, and serving them to the people waiting for their number to be called.

Once someone was fit in a chair, they were then sent to one of a number of pastors on hand who would spend time one on one with them, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, encouraging, and praying for them. It was an AWESOME sight to see, and as I mentioned TWENTY THREE people gave a first time commitment to the Lord this morning! PRAISE GOD!!! (that is not to mention a large handful of others who recommitted their lives)

One quick story of just how awesome God is. Chris told us that they had on record 43 people coming for either a chair, walker, or cane. They usually bring more than needed as it gives us the ability to mix and match parts to make them fit. Long story short, there was a large number of people who just showed up looking for wheelchairs. At one point Chris mentioned “we are in trouble” because it didn't look like we were even going to be CLOSE to having enough chairs. Long story short, towards the end, we had four chairs left … and FOUR PEOPLE LEFT! Planning for 43, and having around 60 show up, and there was EXACTLY the right amount of chairs to go around. To make things even more incredible … the final two chairs, when brought to the women that needed them, FIT THEM PERFECTLY W/O ANY ADJUSTMENTS!! May of us simply stood in awe as the distribution closed up … almost as if God was saying “Remember who is in control here guys and girls!” … All that said, here are a couple of looks into the morning …

After things were cleaned up, and close to 60 people had left with their new chairs, we then headed up into the jungle … literally. The road we took up, was old, dirt, bumpy, and at one place had part of a mini-river running through it. About the time we thought we were headed out into TIM-BUK-TU … we arrived in a village, where we were going to build a house for three widows and all their kids. The concrete slab had been finished the week before, so all we had to do was get the house built. With the tremendous help of Jorge, Juanito, Saul, and Chris … our team began to put the house up. After awhile, I was asking Chris how long he expected it to take, and he mentioned the fastest one of these houses has had been put up was around 4 or 4 and a half hours. It was awesome watching our team dive in, and not just the guys either. In no time, all the girls had electric screwdrivers in hand, up on ladders, up on the roof, helping all the guys! It was like one big rotation, for awhile one group would help, then some others would take over and give a break, and back and forth. The work was SOOO efficient, the building was up and finished in just over three hours!!!

The other great part about our time was as we began to build, many people from the village began to come and watch. What started out as a small pocket of children, and maybe half a dozen adults … probably ended up at 40 – 50 people if not more! When we were not helping build, many were playing with the children or talking with those standing and watching. Gary and Dick were also entertaining the children the entire time. You all have to ask me about the video clip of Gary surrounded by a flock of children, as he played games with them … WOW did they love him! The house build definitely became the center of the village for the three + hours!

Once the house was done, we were able to meet inside with the three widows and their children to encourage them and pray over them. There were many tears, many hugs, and many THANK YOUS. What an experience!

Then came time to go home … and what an adventure that became. At one point, one of the vehicles overheated. A couple minutes later, a monsoon hit which made it very difficult to see, or do anything for that matter. Shortly after that, traffic basically came to a stop … then it moved 20 yards … and stopped. This went on for about an hour. Finally Saul got a phone call and heard that there had been a huge mudslide which covered the highway, as well as brought down power lines across the road. Our three vehicles ended up making a U-Turn, finding some old farming road, which led to some deserted/closed road, which ended up getting us around the mudslide and back in business (with a little help from Saul’s GPS on his I-Phone of course!). After one smaller landslide about 30 minutes from home, and we pulled into home-base at about 8:15! A wonderful taco dinner and showers for all … and now we are all headed to the sack!

Since we worked so hard today, Chris decided to give us a day off tomorrow instead of Thursday, so it is going to be play and shopping day tomorrow, with a little bit of zip lining as well! Please pray for safety as we travel and have fun up in Panajachel.

BLESSINGS FROM ALL OF US!

Blake

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Posted by Dick

Wow I am really letting Pat off easy this week because even though the 2 of us were together today I have decided to write today's journal. If Pat writes a journal today I will make sure that I post it as well.

Today Gary Hawkins and I broke away from the group and went to Hermano Pedro Orphanage to hang out with the kids. No we didn't do it to get out of work! Fact is this is the teems day off and while Gary and I were holding on to kids the teem was taking a well deserved rest by hanging on to zip lines. If you like you can reed about their adventures by clicking HERE.

Gary and I were joined by Pat and 2 of her friends and the 5 of us took 4 of the kids from the orphanage out to lunch. Alfonzo a new boy gave Pat and myself a bit of a run for the money but we sort of tag teemed and trading off a few times gave each of us a breather and the strength to keep up with his antics and by the end of the meal he was doing great and had even finished up on all of the food that he had not earlier thrown on the floor. Don't worry Gary treated us to the meal but I left a tip that was nearly as large as the bill so I think that we will be welcomed back.

Not all of today was a fun as lunch though. Lionel is not doing well. It has now been well over a week since he has eaten anything and even though he is on a feeding tube he continues to loose weight. He is also running a fever. His father is here visiting him all week but even his presents does not bring a smile to Lionel's face. I have seen Lionel get pretty sick in the past but this time he seems to be giving up and things seem worse. Please pray for him and those of us who love him so dearly. We have seen a lot of kids whom we really love pass away in the past year or two. Today his father and I were content to take turns holding him, but I will find it difficult to let go of him if his Heavenly Father decides to take him home.

We left the orphanage at around 4 PM and after bringing pat and her 2 friends home Gary and I headed to my house. Gary had met most of my kids 2 years ago when they brought Stephen down for a visit and Gary wanted to visit with them again. He even offered to buy Pizza for the crew. I did not tell the kids that we were having pizza ahead of time because I knew that if the word got out I would end up having 3 times more kids then usual at my house. As it was there were 15 of us here by the time the pizza arrived. We had a great time though and every one was happy except for the 2 or 3 kids that could not fit into my car when we brought Garry home. At first I though that my new land cruiser must have less room than the old one but then I realized that my kids have done a lot of growing since the days that I could get 23 of us into it. Besides that it tonight it was raining so we had to keep all of our hands, feet and heads inside of the car.

Well that about sums it up for now so I will say, Goodnight.

Yours in Christ: Dick