Hanging Out With Mat.

My Friend Mat Smeltzer came for a week's visit. This is not Mat's first visit. He has been to several of the camps that we have for people with disabilities that live here in Guatemala. This time Mat did not come for camp though but among other things he got to spend a lot of time at one of his other favorite places, Hermano Pedro Orphanage.

On one of the days that Mat was here we were joined by some friends that work at the Hope Haven wheelchiar factory over on the other side of Antigua and took 5 of the teen age girls for the orphanage out to lunch. This was a real treat for both us and the girls from the orphanage. Mat was especially pleased since he got to take Christina his favorite out to lunch. I am going to let Mat tell you about a visit to another little girl named Estefani. Mat has been sponsoring her for several years now.

Then He said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”

Luke 9:48

Yours in Christ: Dick

Mat wrote the following.

I asked Dick if he would be willing to drive me to Tecpan to visit a young girl named, Estefani that I’ve been sponsoring for several years. I told him that it would be worth the trip, because her family is so special. He was very willing to do so, because he wanted to visit several other families in that area too. So that morning, I met him and Pat Duff at Hermano Pedro. Which by the way is an awesome way to start any morning. I love hanging out with those kids!

Before we drove to Tecpan we stopped to get Dick’s new hearing aide. Pat said, “Now we can’t talk about him as much.” However. It didn’t hinder our ability in that area one bit. We had snacks and drinks in the truck. And we were ready for a long day of visiting many different families.

When we arrived at Estefani’s village some neighbors were staring at us, because no one knew we where coming. We walked up to her house and greeted her mother. In the middle of introducing Dick and Pat, Estefani saw me from her house and came running out to give me a big hug. Momma invited us in, so that we could visit with the rest of the family. Dick hit it right on the head when he said to Estefani‘s father, “ When I met you all, I could tell there is a lot of love between you. But you have even more than that. This house is filled with the love of Jesus.”

We had such a wonderful time visiting with Estefani’s family and eating lunch with them, we never made it to the other stops on our to-do-list.

Mat