Bringing you up to speed...

It has been a year to the date since I've written on this blog.  I realize that many of you are not on Facebook where I share my daily thoughts and ministry photos.  So, with that in mind, I will try to update and link you to our World of Facebook Pages and Blogs in days to come.  Yes, blogs in plural.  I am not good at keeping up with them as you see but I will give it a good shot once more.

We are living mostly in the Quiche Guest House that Agape in Action has.  We are back to host teams this year full swing.  Our teams have diversified to include Dental, Surgical, Medical, Construction of Homes for Abandoned and Orphans, World Racers, and next year it will include a team that will bring Bible Teaching and Encouragement to Local Pastors.  These groups keep us busy before, during and after their visits. They also bring us goodies from home from stuff for clinics to M&Ms, brown sugar and special deliveries from home.  We are truly spoiled.  

As we speak, Sally's small clinic in Patzibal where we are building our adobe home (yes, it is still walls) is having restructuring.  We are moving it from the Community Center to a rental room behind our rental home.  The walls have been plastered and flooring done to accommodate just a prenatal clinic and a teaching birth room to aid the midwives nearby.  She has waited hoping to recruit other American Midwives to do this project but God has led her to take a step of faith and open it.  She does have back up help in Colorado that are an inspiration and a great support system and they are a phone call away.  They've visited several times and are giving her the thumbs up!  She has also picked up her Midwife School books once more.

Sarah, our daughter, has adjusted very naturally to living here.  She has been here for almost 16 months and helps with the laundry, apartment upkeep, goes out with teams, and cannot wait to train to be a help to Sally in the small clinic.  Spanish School is also in her horizon.

Now we have chickens, ducks and turkeys at the Farm (where we are building).  We've planted coffee, nuts and fruit trees.  Erv built a bodega (storage room) to store the many gifts sent by the men that come in the short term trips.  They have blessed him with many building tools to help with ministry teams.  Just today, a generator came in, another great gift to be put to great use.  Hoping to have a garden someday but rainy season is the time to plant and is our busiest team season.

Erv keeps busy with 5 cars to maintain (ministry vehicles included), a large facility where we have 12 bathrooms and 12 bedrooms, large kitchen and large living room/dining area.  He also helps with the nearby ministries when they need his electrical skills.  He keeps the most busy of the three of us having to keep 2 women happy at home!

Hosting our own friends from home is a delight.  They come to serve with all their heart, mind and finances.  Our beloved Dr McCririe along with his daughters Paige and Morgan are frequent flyers, they come to serve with a surgical team every summer.  Our friend Jamie also comes to uplift us, to serve in whatever area we need it and has gone to the jungle to minister as a nurse.  Sally's sister Debbie also has come several times to bring us lots of joy.  In her most recent trip she also ministered doing consults in the jungle as well. Certified Midwives Peggy, Anita and Lisa also have visited to be a support system to Sally and her love for the indigenous women.

We thank the many that have supported our work here by praying, sending finances, working back home to make stuff to send, those that have sent things that are given away to the least of these.  Also to Lance and Sarah who have facilitated our visits home with buddy tickets, that otherwise we would not be able to afford. To our friend Sharron for her faithful help with our mail back home we give thanks.  Every time someone contributes in these many ways, they are touching the poor in a powerful way.  God bless you richly!

Our greatest joy this year (besides hugging and kissing our children and grandchildren on our trips back) has been our little Macario.  We met him at the hospital next door.  He came in with the worse case of malnutrition we've ever seen.  Macario weight 7 lbs at age of 3 years...he was dying, in fact, we prayed God would take him as he was so painfully weak.  He had no tears, no voice, could not support his own head, could not eat or be fed via tube, he was full of sores and his eyes screamed pain!  Some nights Sally would lay with him in the NICU (something now allowed by any parent), in the afternoons Sarah would hold him and sing to him.  The hospital did a miracle cure (prompted by the Holy Spirit for sure), they fed him colostrum, donated Moms first milk and his body began to heal.  Today he is a vibrant toddler, still weighs 16-18 lbs at his 4 year old life, he walks, runs, smiles, kisses loudly and hugs like no other boy can.  His parents have never come back in fear of jail.  He will go to an orphanage when he is bigger.  He is loved by so many at the hospital, the nurses, doctors, workers and our World Racers when they are here.
God has taught us all a lesson on who is the giver and taker of life.  We know Macario has a special call in his life.  He already taught us strength, endurance, and to smile even in our worse days.
Please pray for him as he continues to heal physically and emotionally.  His spirit is one of God's greatest attributes, we see HIM in Macario's smile, love and through his beautiful eyes.

Erv, Sarah and I moved to a rental next to the land we purchased as we build our adobe home in the months to come. The young lady in the blog also moved next to us as we have become her family. Sarah has adjusted nicely to the busy life of teams and community work. She has gotten her hands dirty and bloody as dental/medical team and building team came and went. Her compassionate heart overflows unto the least of these with ease and much joy. We are very excited that she joined us now for over 4 months. She still awaits her knight and shinning armor but is no longer holding her breath for him...all in God's timing!

Our son Nicolas is serving our country as a "grunt" in the Army (as he puts it) in the country of Afghanistan. He is doing well and considering re enlisting. He is starting long distance learning while there. He works in a Communication's Office also making special missions in the mountains as he did recently. Please keep him in our prayers and you are welcomed to send a note or care package to him or have a Sunday School or School Class send him an encouraging note...let me know if you want his address as I cannot make it public.

Our Family back in Michigan is doing well. The grandchildren are growing fast and we treasure all the photos and videos our children posts on FB for us to see.

We are partnering still with Agape in Action with specific teams, mostly surgical/medical but most recent with World Racers from AIM...Seth Barnes founder and leader. These young men and woman (21-35, single or married couples) travel to 11 countries in 11 months, on a spiritual journey while doing mission work. We hosted 14 of a group of 60 and they painted our community center and taught English at the local elementary school for 3 weeks. We built new friendships and added them to our prayer roster for the next 10 months.

We also are partnering with Cati's Friends (find us in FB) and a couple from McAllen Texas building homes for abandoned and abuse women and their children. We build 2 homes this year and a team of college young men and women came to build letrines, paint and build furniture for the two families.

Pray America/Manos de Jesus also has become a place we share our gifts and talents with this Fall. Erv has joined a group of electricians and volunteers from Michigan that came for 2 weeks to wire a large Commons building to be used for young teen girls that come from high risk environments. He also has helped wiring 3 missionary homes in the Manos de Jesus complex besides upgrading our rental and my constant "honeydew list".

I am still working with midwives. The new community allows for immersing ourselves in an all Mayan World. In just month an a half we have learned a lot of their culture, the good, the bad and the ugly. I could tell stories to fill a book in just the recent weeks. We are praying more and reminding ourselves that we are just itty bitty in the scheme of God's plans for the Mayan people. God was very gracious and we are meeting our neighbors at a small clinic I (Sally) opened the first week we came. I see 30-40 patients on Tuesdays. I work with a young lady translator. So far I've seen a bit of everything even diagnosing diabetes and hypertension. I am limited on medications so I do referred to a close larger clinic with 2 doctors working for Agape in Action. I am very fortunate to have developed good relationships with other clinics far and near so when I am "stumped" I can call. Sometimes I take photos of a skin condition and send it to the USA for doc friends to try and help me long distance. I love to touch the lives of people even with a bottle of antibiotic.

As you see we are still busy as always. We now have a PayPal account attached to "In the Highlands" blog. We are always open to donations and those can be sent directly to the ministry account in Michigan.

We have no immediate plans to go to Michigan this holiday season. Please remember us in your prayers as this is a difficult time of the year to be away from our loved ones. We must conserve funds so we can build the adobe home we are hoping to be in mid next year.

Here are our prayer requests:

For fast understanding of the new culture we moved into so we can be effective and not make mistakes that would cost setbacks.

For wisdom, discernment and courage as we deal with the huge amount of sin and lack of respect towards women and children around us.

For divine appointments to those that God wants us to minister to, as a whole is too big and could be "goose chasing"

For a godly life partner for Sarah, and safety for Nicolas while in the military abroad.

For spiritual protection for the three of us, this area has a lot of witchcraft and false teachings even in the Church.

For financial provision to build the house and take care of vehicle maintanance that arise from time to time. We have our home for sale in Michigan. We need to sale it.
We also have a ministry piece of land we would love to sell.

Lastly for finances to make a visit to my 84 year old father who lives in Puerto Rico and I have not seen in over 3 years.

As always, we would love to hear from you, your family and what is going on in your neck of the woods...Missionaries love letters!


Thanks for praying for us and for reading this long newsletter!

Serving in His Kingdom in the Highlands of Guatemala,

Erv, Sally and Sarah

New Year and perhaps...just perhaps...

Thought I give this blog another chance...well, maybe I can give myself another chance at it...let me see if I can figure it out again.
Today Erv and I began doing preliminary work on an new mission's adventure. Jorge and Lorena Rojas from McAllen Texas, have fallen in love with the Highlands like we have. We believe we are kindred spirits and thus began this relationship/ministry today. Their heart is to help others live better lives, not richer lives but better conditions physically and spiritually. We are going to build adobe homes for single mothers with children that have been abandoned or widowed and have no place of their own. This past summer they brought a team that built 2 wooden humble homes for 2 very deserved families. We visited with one of them today and their smiles at their better quality of lives, still shine through. Erv and I have decided to move back to Chichicastenago, 30 minutes away through a mountain ride only covering 10 miles. We plan (if God so wills)to purchase a bit of land, build an adobe home and have a mini farm where we can become a bit self sufficient in the future. We will also be working with Pray America/Manos de Jesus where Hannah Scott along with hubby Andrew serve as missionaries and have asked us to join them in efforts to equip the local midwives. Hannah and I are studying midwifery together and have the same passion for women and birth. After 2 years working with Agape in Action and Adonai International, we think we've found our purpose here. We appreciate the experience we gained and the wonderful wisdom these two wonderful ministries allowed us to acquiered while under their leadership. As we move closer to what we feel is our "destiny" here, we thank our Lord Jesus Christ for two wonderful years of safety, provision and a wealth of new people in our lives.

Friends in Paquiacah

Margarita had her baby and I missed it by a mere 6 hours. Start to finish, she delivered in 90 minutes, how is that for second baby? She has become very special in my life. Her family received a newly built home by St Johns Epicospal Church in McCallen Tx. Her husband gave his life to the Lord after years of drinking and abusing her and their first child. As a gift for our involvement with the house project they brought us a young rooster. He is now awaiting the soup pot in our freezer. Mayans are very appreciative and kind people. Erv and I have really learned to love them and their hungry hearts for more of God. They have a form of religion but deny the power thereof. Margarita and husband Miguel work hard to eat and provide for their family. Up to her delivery she was walking around with her machete bringing in wood for the stove for cooking. She insisted to teach me how to cook "Guiscoy flowers" which are squash flowers. The Mayans are carriers of peace. Indigenous people have suffered since the Spanish Conquest and are still mistreated and discriminated against. It is true that at times they have a mob mentality but wouldn't you if the law never protects you or watch over your own? They amazed me at their perseverance and resilience against their odds. This is their land, their inheritance and their portion. We are here with them to love them as God does and to touch their lives in His behalf.

Imprints...

I am really never lost for words. Those that understand that, are like me. Our minds are constantly full of words, thoughts and ideas. I should be a pro at this blog but in reality it is the learning my way around that slows me down. Technology has left me behind a long time ago. We are home in Michigan taking a time off Missions to visit with our children and grandchildren. Such joy to see them in person and receive those hugs and kisses that melt our hearts! We are bonding with our youngest ones as they are too little to remember us regularly. It is very important that they know who we are, so they can understand themselves better when they grow up..(joke) After this cold spell in May here in Michigan I've decided to scratch that month of May out of our visiting schedule. At that pace we are limiting ourselves to a couple of possible months a year...(funny, isn't it).
Many friends have contacted me in hopes to have a visit and a chat in person. How much I love walking downtown, go to the grocery store, to a restaurant or to a gas station and have people say how are you and how is it going in Guatemala! Only in a small town USA you experience such warm and homey love. I must admit, I miss Guatemala and cannot wait to head up those Highlands in June. My puppies await me, Vicenta and her family, the warm people at the clinica and my fellow missionaries. This week the news gave some disturbing information about a "massacre" in Peten, 10-12 hours away. How disturbing to know that the Mexican Drug Cartel continues to want to take over Guatemala so they can freely traffic their drugs to the USA. The government has ssized the area but they were not able to stop the brutal murder of dozens of innocent farmers. First the Civil War and now more Drug Wars...Lord, when will it end? When will these people have real peace and left to survive day by day? So what can I do? I pray. I shared with others so they can pray. I do my part while I am there and when I am here. I love my neighbor like myself (well, not always succesful but I should try). I teach these concepts to those around me. So see, even when we are at this "home" we long for the other. That is as an "imprint" that makes us want to be there and partake on their sadness and suffering. It is like watching Canadian Geese with newly hatched gooselings that know exactly who they belong to. We are gathering several things to take back. Erv is bringing more tools. I am bringing things the traditional birth attendants (rural midwives) need to be equipped. I have a group of 50 plus eager ladies wanting to learn how to save lives and keep them healthy. My guess is that there will be 100 before the year ends. In the meanwhile, we will go and hug grandbabies, squeeze them a lot and try to "imprint" their smell and little faces in our hearts and minds for the months to come...

After a year...

I've always been some sort of organizer. Since the elementary days of organizing events to organizing my head so I can get multiple tasks done. Today, I hardly do that. Burned out perhaps, too many years planning lesson plans for multiple level children, planning meals for my family, planning Sunday School, planning church activities, planning these moves, don't know but I can't live without it. After a year here in Guatemala, we've moved 3 times, gotten 2 dogs, an apartment full of "stuff", more school scheduled and trying to narrow our scope of ministry. I would like to say that our highlights have been saving lives and bringing people to Jesus but in reality it has been adapting and searching for our "niche". Those that know us, know what we are good at. Those that are getting to know us give us words of encouragement and gratitude for our service to those we come in contact. Deep in my heart I know what my purpose is...it is not what I am good at or what I am known for. My purpose is to please my Father, enjoying His Company in my day to day walk, and be good to my fellow men. There are things I want to do for example, I want to get to know my neighborhood and perhaps show Jesus in being a good neighbor. My hope is to teach the Mayan Women about health, birth and God. In return I hope to learn from them resilience, patience and endurance among many other qualities they have. I must focus and organize myself, my house, my time and my priorities to accomplish those things I desire to do and those things that pleases my Father in Heaven...hope to continue bloggin..

Testing...testing

Another day..another blog...I am new at this. Get used to the ...these are run in sentences and I make them legal that way. That is a disclaimer before my friend Brenda, the retired English School Teacher gets after me. To be honest it is hard doing this, especially because it is mostly written for other bloggers who are much more gifted at this than I am.
Our first Presentation of "Guatemala in Pictures" at HFMC went very well. For rookies the reviews were very uplifting. We hope to have gain a Short Term Team for next year. They collected small blankets and cloth diapers for the special children. Tomorrow will be at our "home peeps" in Tecumseh. There we get lots of laying on hands and impartation. Have a mature family interested on coming also!
Called our "sister helper" Vicenta yesterday. She was thrilled to hear my voice and likewise. She let me know the plants have been looked after and that everything is fine at the homefront. What a blessing she is...Vicenta is a 48 yrs old, breast cancer survivor (just a year ago), strong in the Faith, has 2 sons, one is all grown and lives in the Capital. The other is 14 years old, cleans the house for her, is very mature and handsome also. They live in a family house where other siblings have a room (called my home). She cannot help but shed tears when sharing about God's Goodness and her cancer recovery. One expression I will never forget the first week she worked for us was..."I thought I was drowing" as she comes out of the first shower she has ever taken. She does not have running water at home. There were many firsts for her at the dorms...Vicenta speaks K'che' and Spanish and can read both, which is a big blessing to us. She likes going to clinic to translate. She is very resourceful and God has brought her into our lives to be a blessing to each other...do you have someone you mentor, sponsor or love that in turn you are the one being blessed?