This and that from past Face book entries.

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For those of you who do not use Facebook 

Here are some of my Facebook entries from the past month

 Pat was recently told about a 19 year old young man that was injured in an accident about 6 years ago. It sounds like he must have injured his spine because he can not walk and has no bladder or bowel control. The details are sketchy but we have been told that his father has rented him a room somewhere and only comes to see him once every 2 weeks to bring food and to change him.  (We are not sure if this is from never being cleaned or if the skin is dying.) He is full of bed sores from lying day after day in his own filth. We are praying that what we are being told is an exaggeration but our source is very reliable. We wanted to go there tomorrow but must wait until Saturday because the person that is taking us there can not get off from work until then.

We plan on going with just a couple of us although some of my boys are begging to come along even though they are fully aware of what we may run into. Many of my Boys were nearly in tears when they heard about this. Fact is seeing their compassion caused me to nearly break into tears myself. Did I ever mention how much I love these young men. God is doing a real work in them.

Any way please pray. This young man sounds much to severe to place in Pat's home or even Hermano Pedro orphanage. We would not consider any National Hospital other than Roosevelt which is located in Guatemala City, but there you need someone that can stay with him to feed and care for him. A private hospital is an option but would be far to costly. So we do not know exactly what to do. I have learned though from past experiences that when we give up on our own sulutions God takes over and we are trusting Him for the answer. All we know right now is that we are sure that God wants us to go and see him. If for no other reason than to let him know that we care and that God cares. Are we looking forward to this? We know that going into that room under our own strength will be impossible but we also know that with God all things are possible. So Please Pray. Pray for wisdom and also pray that if father does not have a good excuse for treating his son that way that Pat nor I meet up with him. (Especially Pat)

--UPDATE ON URGENT PRAYER REQUEST--

Two days ago I wrote about (Roberto) a young man who's parents basically abandoned him after he fell from a tree and became paralyzed from the waist down four years ago. See (I HAVE AN URGENT PRAYER REQUEST) a few posts down. 

Today we discovered that most of what we had been told was true. Roberto who is 18 years old lived in a small rat infested building that has no windows and an opening where a door should be. He can not get out of bed and is only visited by either his mom or dad every 7 to 14 days. That is when he is brought food and water and is changed. He has no bowel or bladder control.

Miraculously he is in much better physical condition than we had thought. He is malnourished and has rather large bed sores but no infections and does not to need to be hospitalized. ENOUGH SAID. 

Pat will be able to fill you in on the rest as soon as she has time. She is a bit busy at the moment. She had not figured on having a new son today. THAT'S RIGHT. Through a series of GODINCIDENCES As of this afternoon Roberto is one of her young men who is living in her home as I wright this. All I can say is PRAISE GOD !!

A few of you asked how you can help so I will tell you. #1 Continue to pray. It is working! That is why Roberto is part of Pat's family right now. #2 Without medical expenses that I am sure Roberto will have it is going to cost Pat close to $500 per month to keep Roberto in her home. She does not have it but she had the faith to take him in. You know that in the 15 years that I have been here I have seldom mentioned money. Tonight I am. Not for me but bot Pat's ministry. Especially for Roberto and also for the new home that her and the boys plan on moving into. You can give to Pat's ministry by contacting Pat at guatemalagrandma@gmail.com

or by sending any donations to.

The Josiah Foundation
2112 S 163rd Circle
Omaha, Ne. 68130
The Josiah Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization

Donations are tax-deductible. For tax-deductible receipts, please make checks payable to the Josiah Foundation, noting Mission Guatemala on the memo line, expressing your preference that your donation be used to support Pat's work.

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Four of my young men and I hiked in to visit a family who's little boy Carlos, I had taken to San Lucas Toliman for foot surgery a few months ago. Carlos and his family live in a remote area and have no electricity. Considering the fact that here in Guatemala it gets dark between 5:30 and 6:30 all year around we thought it would be a great idea to give this family a solar system. These systems are nothing elaborate that you can run your washing machine or color TV from but for a family that sits in complete darkness except for special evenings when they can afford a candle they thought that they had been given the world. Besides that they have no running water anyway. It took some time to get the small solar panel set up, the motor cycle battery in just the right place, the switches mounted and the 2 LED lights in place but the entire family patiently waited while my boys and I put one light in their small one room house and the other in their even smaller open fire kitchen that was constructed mainly of corn stalks. When we turned on the lights the family stood in awe. You would have thought that they were looking at the worlds most spectacular fireworks display.

After a few minutes father turned off the lights. He said that he did not want to waste electricity because he had heard that it was quite expensive. This is where the fun part really began. With the help of my boys we explained to the family that the sun provided the energy for the lights and that the family could use them as much as they wanted and there would never receive an electric bill. I went on to explain that since God made the sun this light was a gift from God. Do you see where this is leading? Any way it was a great day and I promised that I would be back and am praying that we can talk more about the "Son and the Light". Next time I plan on bringing this family a water filter. Seems that a story I once heard about living water may be brought up if the good Lord so directs.

+5

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Today with the help of our El Salvadorian friends that we have been training we were able to give away and fit 21 wheelchairs to needs children here in San Salvador. It has been a busy 5 days but tomorrow we drive back to Guatemala with hearts full of joy.

I have been in El Salvador for the past 5 days with Sergio and Hilario who are two workers from the Guatemalan Hope Haven factory. We have been teaching sitting clinics to therapist and other health care workers at several El Salvadorian organizations. Not only do we do one day of classroom teaching but we also do a day of wheelchair distributions at each place we go to. Here our students are able to give out wheelchairs to needy children and also get hands-on experience. It has been a win win situation for everyone that has been involved.

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I just returned home after spending 4 great days with 11 Guatemalan friends from Hope Haven Guatemala. With the help of a Rotary Club grant we spend our time in Xela giving out and professionally fitting 65 children's wheelchairs to needy Guatemalan children. The distribution was 2 fold. Not only did the families that received wheelchairs get to witness the love of Christ first hand but we were also given the opportunity to work with and help train a number of therapists and therapy students form the Xela area in how to properly fit wheelchairs to some extremely deformed people. I really want to thank everyone that I worked with for truly making me part of the teem. Other than for my lack of Spanish and some of the goose looking street food that you tried to get me to eat I seldom remembered that I was the only Gringo in the group.

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Thanks to some great sponsors, On Tuesday Miguel and I were able to give food and vitamins to a few clinics that I work with and several families that live near the coast. You cold never imagine how much not only these items but also our visits means to these long time friends. Thanks to all of you that are involved in giving and getting these items to us.

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"Congratulations Miguel and Merna! " 

Wow do the years fly by! Seems that it wasn't all that long ago that we were celibrating Miguel's ninth birthday. Now I just attended his wedding.

(A special thanks to Hope Haven Guatemala for letting us use your van so that Patricia Duff could take her boys to the wedding.)