Growth in Gonzalez Park

¡Buenas noches!

     We (David and Jamie) are writing from the oficina (office) of the mission house after a great day out and about in the city of Amatitlán. After a great devotion from Oscar, we made the forty-five minute drive in our two silver vans and one silver camión (truck) to Gonzalez Park, which is located in the city. We got off to kind of a rough start, though, because Mars took a tumble! She tripped on a ledge and fell face-first onto the pavement, leaving her with a large gash on her chin that ended up needing a couple staples. She got to see another side of Guatemala - its healthcare "system"! Here's her story:

     After attempting to leave on house visits with one of the other groups, Ana called me back because she and Ruth decided that I needed to go get stitches for my chin. So Julián drove Kevin, Ana, and me through the streets of Amatitlán to find a clínica (clinic) where I could get patched up. The first place we tried wasn't open, so we continued looking until we arrived at a small green building. From what I could see, the clinic consisted mainly of two small rooms: the doctor's office, and a reception area with a desk and about ten plastic chairs lining the walls. After waiting for about twenty minutes, we were let in to see the doctor, and I practiced speaking Spanish to him while he practiced speaking English to me. After injecting an anesthetic into the area around my cut, the doctor took a soapy brush (think of a brush you would use for cleaning dishes), and scrubbed my chin over a sink. Needless to say, I was glad that I couldn't feel anything. After closing the cut with two staples, he covered it with gauze and prescribed an antibiotic and a mild painkiller. The bill for the service was only 150 quetzales (the equivalent of $20), which was astounding when compared to the incredible cost of healthcare services in America. It was overall a very interesting experience to have, and I ended up with a unique souvenir!

     We then split up into four groups, each with a Guatemalan or two, in order to go on house visits. We split into more groups than normal because this was our last day to go and minister to people outside of the mission house.
    
     Jamie went with Ruth and Ody, along with Kyle and Rhonda. Ody took us to visit two of the mission's scholarship children and their families. The first child was Daniel, who has cerebral palsy. He cannot walk or talk, but he absolutely loves music! They turned on the radio for him during our visit and his face positively lit up. His mother takes care of him, his twin sister, and her other daughter mostly on her own, and it's a struggle. It was simply incredible to see the love and care that is present in that family. It reminded us of the self-sacrificing love that Christ has for us, and it was great to be able to share that with his mother through words, hugs, and Bible verses. Later, we also discovered that Daniel is one of the children that Deaconess Betsy sponsors! She was able to see him for the second time and share her love and support in person. The second house visit brought us to Aura and her family. Aura is deaf in both ears, so she cannot hear or talk. However, she is incredibly intelligent and can understand reading, writing, and some sign language. She showed us her notebook and it was full of division problems that she had already completed, and completed correctly! It is always amazing to see the gifts God gives to His children, and the ways in which He continues to use what many of us would consider weaknesses for His good.

     David went with both Brians (Muldowney and McPherson), Paige, Manuel, and Chochi, and they got to see the whole spectrum of life in a very encouraging way during their house visits. At the first house visit, a 91-year old walked out from the back room with minimal assistance. It was really cool to be able to talk with him, even if we could not understand everything. He had fifty grandchildren, seventy great grandchildren, and ten great, great grandchildren! His faith was strong, and he seemed to have a very loving family. At the second house visit, we were greeted by the wonderful sight of a healthy twenty-day-old baby boy. The family also had a young boy and girl. The greatest and most encouraging sight for us, however, was the loving, Christian father by their side, which is, sadly, a pretty rare sight in Guatemala. It was so fantastic for us to see him eagerly pick up his Bible, and we encouraged him to continue to be such a great role model and Christian influence for his young children, and for the other men in the community.

     Upon returning to Gonzalez Park, which is actually more of a paved square in the town center, Manuel gathered all the team members together to pray around a young woman and her mother. We didn't know what was wrong, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that we were able to provide prayer and physical support for our sisters in Christ in their time of need. We then set up shop with numerous tents to provide shade. We also had to sweep the area clean because, unfortunately, a local horse beat us to the square in the morning and left a couple presents, if you know what we mean. We had a great time joking around and goofing off with the Guatemalan missionaries during lunch and then got down to business. We had a lot of adults (including a man who came to Christ during CUC's last trip with Groundwork Guatemala in August!) and close to 200 children. Although we weren't able to have the young adult Bible study session that we've been doing at the sites, we were able to spread out and connect with a lot of the younger children while helping with the craft, or manualidades. Each child received a plastic baggie with supplies to make two pescaditos (little fish). One fish is for them to keep, but the other is for them to share with someone to encourage them and spread our Christian love. After making the manualidades, our team kept playing and connecting with all the kids through things like jump ropes and English lessons. It was a really awesome sight to see.

     We packed everything back into the trusty vans later that afternoon, leaving a little time for a special surprise visit to Lake Amatitlán! We took a few group pictures and just had fun as a team, with both the Americans and Guatemalan missionaries (and Kevin, of course). We love the fact that it's like a big family here, no matter where a person may live. Our theme for the week is encouragement and we use the Bible story from Acts 11:19-26 about Barnabus encouraging the early Christians in conjunction with Hebrews 3:13, the memory verse, to illustrate that idea to the Guatemalan people. God has blessed us with a team of people that truly embodies that Christian encouragement, so it has been really incredible to watch that in action and be able to demonstrate it to the Guatemalans and to each other.

    We hope that everyone reading this is also encouraged by the amazing stories that have been shared through this blog, and thanks again for keeping our team in your prayers!

Dios le bendiga (God bless),
David and Jamie