I've broken this down by areas:
Nueva Vida
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In January,
2012, I began serving three days a week at Centro Educativo de Nueva Vida (New Life School ) in Santa María de Jesús, a small Mayan village on the side of the Agua volcano near Antigua . Nueva Vida is a Christian school for children
with a variety of special needs, founded fifteen years ago by a fellow missionary, Judy
Kerschner.
Teachers at the school have been
coming to me with questions and concerns about individual students on a more
regular basis. They have begun borrowing
materials from me to use in their classrooms. They also have come to talk about
personal concerns as well as ask for prayer.
It has been an honor to be able to pray with these folks. In addition, I have begun doing formal in-service training in coordination with Sandra, our psychologist, and Jennifer, our speech therapist.
Speaking of Sandra and Jennifer, during October and November we worked together to evaluate more than 40 students who wanted to attend Nueva Vida. We looked for students who for some reason (physical, cognitive, or emotional) would not be successful in a government or other private school. We accepted 27 of them.
Through the ministry Latin Deaf
Services, I am learning Guatemalan sign
language to better serve our deaf students.
Hermano Pedro
During 2013 I worked closely with the administration of Hermano Pedro to facilitate Fidel's transition to Casa de Esperanza. With the opening of the home, I have had
to limit my service at Hermano Pedro to focus on the needs of the
residents in the home and the children in Santa Maria .
Whenever possible, we have tried to include some of the Hermano Pedro residents in activities here at Casa, including Easter, birthdays and Christmas.
Casa de Esperanza
In January, 2013, Cesar and Fernando, two of Dick's boys from Chimaltenango, moved into Casa to enable them to go to school in Antigua. Cesar wanted to attend a pre-teacher training program here, and Fernando needed a family atmosphere in which he would be held accountable. Both of these guys have become like my own. With the delays in moving Fidel into the house, it was good to have company.
During Holy Week (the last week in March), 2013, when most of the residents at Hermano Pedro return home for a few weeks, Fidel, Moises and Don Antonio came to stay with us. this was our "dry run" to see if the house really would serve as a home for the disabled, and to discover what, if any, additional training would be needed by the young men who would staff the home. Our guys were wonderful, and with this experience under our belt, we were ready to approach the administration an Hermano Pedro to begin the transition of Fidel to Casa de Esperanza.
Fidel arriving for the first
time as the first permanent
resident of Casa de Esperanza
Miguel began working for us July 1, and spent his days with Fidel at Hermano Pedro, learning to care for Fidel's physical needs, and
providing Fidel the freedom to go into the community as he wished.
During August, Fidel spent Monday through Friday with us at the
house, and returned to Hermano Pedro for the weekends.
giving Fidel his independence!
This was a challenging time for all of us, but we were delighted when he moved in permanently, becoming our first resident on August 28.
During the “test week,” it became apparent that with four
young men living full-time in the home, I needed help with the household, if I
would be able to continue teaching at the school. In June, in preparation for Fidel’s move into
the home, I hired a part-time housekeeper/cook to work mornings while I was at
school. After a number of unsuccessful
trials of workers, we are delighted to have Flor Ramirez working for us 20
hours a week. Flor is married with two
children, one of whom has Cerebral Palsy and because of his needs she had not
been able to work previously. This has
been a win-win for both of us.
In October, I was approached by Cesar who asked if I would consider accepting a resident from Peten,
who had been living with his aging grandmother is severe poverty. Alberto, age 25, is a young man with brittle
bone disease who has never been able to attend school in his area due to his
handicap (the schools would not accept him).
With the help of his cousin, he has learned to read and write at do
basic math, but wanted to receive a formal education along with a diploma. After talking in over with our staff, we
decided to accept Alberto on a trial basis, and he arrived in late November.
Hope Haven Guatemala
Due to the demands on my time from the house and from
school, I have not spent much time working with this ministry. I have been able to attend about six of their
distributions this year, providing communication systems for the children who
would benefit from them.
Hope Haven,
through Mark Richard and Ilse Caballeros, has been a great supporter of Casa de Esperanza in
offering counsel and support. They have also lent us their lift vans on occasion so we can take the guys on outings. They are good friends of our ministry.
Short Term Mission Teams
While it has not been our calling to work with large mission teams, we have been blessed often by teams who come down with other organizations who want to spend a day or two working with us, either at the house or in Santa Maria. We also often connect with teams which are serving at Hope Haven Guatemala. Above is a particularly fun group from Louisiana, who knew how to both work and play hard.
Another such team was a group of Occupational Therapy students from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. They spent an entire week working with us at the school, and they contributed immeasurably to our program for our students with occupational therapy needs. I can't wait for them to come back.
In mid-March, I was delighted to spend a day with a team from my home church, Westside Church in Omaha. They had been down working with Bethel Ministries building houses, distributing food, and giving out wheelchairs. They spent their last day with us here in Antigua, and, since it was during the height of the procession season here, our options were pretty limited for what to do.
We did manage a lovely lunch at Cafe Skye after church, and spent the afternoon visiting with the kids a Hermano Pedro. That night, I was able to share a "tipico" Guatemalan supper with them. Having them visit was such a blessing. I got to see old friends and make some new ones.
These teams encourage us greatly, and provide valuable opportunities to connect with others in the US.
We do, however, greatly enjoy hosting individuals, families or small teams who would like to shadow a missionary for a week or two. These weeks may included projects such as home visits, food delivery, or even house building, but will be part of our regular ministry activities. We had two such visits this year which were, I think, quite successful.
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In June Donna Hultman, a vision
specialist from Omaha , and Vicki Shurmer, a
pharmacist at the Med Center in Omaha ,
spent two weeks with us, consulting at the school and working with some of our
blind students as well as training our speech therapist and myself in
techniques specific to the needs of these children.
Village Ministry and Sponsorships
While difficult to travel with my other responsibilities, I find that often the village ministry component is where I feel most like a missionary.
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| One of the places I don't get to visit as often as I would like is a small community outside of the town of Tecpan. I met Maria, a young widow, on my first team trip here, and have fallen in love with the women who live in this community. While not directly related to our ministry to the disabled, the six widows all living within walking distance of each other have become very dear to me. |
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| Visiting Jessica who has successfully returned home from the malnutrition project |
We cannot keep up with everyone who asks us for help, and our ministry limits our assistance to families with a disabled family member. There is so much need here that otherwise we could dilute ourselves to the point of being ineffective. Often times, though, we go just to visit, to share Christ's love with the families and receive a large dose of His love in return from them. These relationships are so important in building the kingdom of God, and often a part of ministry which is overlooked. I love the way a friend puts it, "We're not interested in filling their bellies while they're on their way to hell." We want to give that which will last for eternity.
We as missionaries and teams can bring many gifts. I have learned, however, that the most powerful and most need gift is the gift of ourselves, our time, and our undivided attention. Material gifts are soon gone, but families remember for years that we cared enough to come, visit, talk and pray with them. When I need a reminder why I am really here, I go out into the field. God always shows me "why" right away.
A critical part of our ministry continues to be helping people receive the medical care they often so desperately need. Most often, this is through the clinics a Hermano Pedro. We have, this year, also taken a few children to see a neurosurgeon in Guatemala City, and will be following up on Gabriel as we look for surgery for him for his unresolved spina bifida.
This year we also worked with Alma, a thirteen year old young lady and her family, to help her get surgery from a missionary team which came to San Lucas Toliman to work with our friend, Dr. Will Bogler. She will need another surgery in early 2014, after which it is hoped that she will be able to walk comfortably for the first time in her life.
We do, however, provide material assistance when we believe God is leading us to do so. Currently we are providing food sponsorship to a ten year old in Santa Rosa who lives with his grandmother and has severe malnutrition. It is our hope that he will either begin to thrive, or we can convince her to bring him in to the malnutrition project at Hermano Pedro.
We are providing a scholarship for a young man named Gustavo whose father is in a wheelchair after having a stroke in his early forties. He is unable to work and his wife works as a teach, but is unable to educate all of her children and provide for her family at the same time.
There are many others who have asked for help, and some we would like to help. At present, though, our budget is stretched to its limit, and we need to maintain what we are doing before taking on any more commitments. This is, I think, one of the hardest parts of the ministry. Learning to say, "no," when we see so much need. I have learned, though, that I must be faithful to do what God calls me, specifically to do. No more, no less. I can trust that He has called others to do what I can and should not.
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