Home again

I just returned from the states on the 8th of October. It was a great trip although some parts were bitter sweet. My family celebrated my parents 70th anniversary and my 65th birthday. My parents are now 89. Somebody is getting old. Sometimes I feel that it is me...but then I remember that this is only a small portion of my life eternal and that makes me glad. I wish and pray that for my parents to realize that this is just a small portion of their eternal life. It was a great time seeing old friends and making new ones. I was refreshed and blessed on every hand.

                                                            Myra with sister and parents

                                               

                                                       Myra with sisters Janice and Sheila

Returning home was great for a few days and then I wanted some time off....doesn't take much to get overwhelmed here sometimes. I'm catching up and trying to slow down. My ear infection is finally gone. I only have to use alcohol before and after I swim to avoid any problems. I love the exercise.

Speaking of exercise, my son Daniel is taking judo lessons on top of running two hours a day and doing push ups and crunches endlessly the rest of the day. the boy is an exercise machine. He says it makes him happy and thankful to God. So glad God is into exercise.

I have been to three graduations since returning and have two more to attend in November and one in December. God has provided assistance to these young people to continue on in their education. What a blessing that they are doing just that and some quite excellently.

My dear Gilma, my right arm,  lost her sister to cancer upon my return... another bittersweet moment. Her sister is a strong woman of God who never wavered in her beliefs during this last year of physical struggle. Now Gilma is caring for two young boys as she cared for her sister. She has such a servant heart.

Please remember Rene and Dora in your prayers. Jeffrey, their 7 year old son, died shortly after I arrived home.

Carlos is taking a two year Bible course from Lee and Carol Short's Vida International ministries. Daniel and I, along with three other workers, are also watching the videos. Its done by Spanish speaking teachers and will be a great tool for the future education of the church. I am so excited about having this material.

Coming home is great but I miss my mom and dad more now than ever. I may be coming home atleast twice a year for a month at a time. I have made some connections in the southern states and already have some mid and upper states connections. I can divide my visits into those two areas and also have time to visit with my aging parents.

I thank God for where he has placed me and the people whom I have come to know and love in Guatemala.

                                                                 
                                                                          Gilma

Rene's family

This is Jeffrey. He is 7 years old. He cannot walk or talk. He wears diapers and needs assistance to eat. His mother carries him most of the day. When her husband comes home from work he helps.

                                                                                             JEFFREY

His parents Rene and Dora are a loving Guatemalan family that has seen their share of struggles but they keep going on. They have two other children Jakeline 3,  and David who will be 2 in November. David is malnourished and cannot  walk as yet. The mother because of a childhood mutilation to her breast cannot give milk and the father’s income is very small. They have medicines that they buy for Jeffrey to control his spasms and now have a special milk they need to buy for David. It is overwhelming!

I met them this month through a referral from one of the families that are part of our ministry. Rene came in lovingly carrying  Jeffrey and told me his story. His wife sat by quietly holding David and lovely  Jakeline just sat and smiled. 

RENEE, JEFFREY (SMILING),  JAKELINE, DORA AND DAVID

Jeffrey has had a neurological problem since infancy. His body is contorted to the extend that he cannot have therapy because one of his limbs may break. He needs an operation to correct that. He has been taking medicine for over 4 years for his spasms but when he take it his eyes glaze and he appears delirious. The family wants to consult with a private neurologist to see if he needs another kind of medicine. They are currently attending the National Hospital which provides free service but usually does not have the nedications  they have to buy. 

Renee sells dishes, furniture and other household goods  which is not a very secure or well paying job. He earns about $10 a day. He used to drink but three years ago he gave his life to the Lord and has been a faithful family man. Dora, spends her days carrying the two boys from place to place in their rented house with one bed, one table and no chairs. Their youngest son, David, is malnourished and the hospital has prescribed a nutritional milk that is very expensive to buy. Both boys need diapers.

Please pray about helping this family. As a ministry we can provide beans, rice, corn once a month as well as vitamins, nutritional peanut packets and incaperina, a nutritional drink. They need much more. As a ministry we'd like to provide the  special milk for the baby boy, diapers for both boys , incaperina , eggs, oil, vegetables, beans, rice every week. Their special needs costs about $150 a month. We need 6 people who would consistently support this family at $25 a month so their children would have the basic necessities to survive.

We are also looking for a wheelchair for Jeffrey that hopefully we can find here. We are contacting a orthopedic doctor here to see if he would give us his assistance and also a private numerologist. Please pray that we will be able to provide help for  Jeffrey's health needs. 

This place called Chiquimula

There are many people I have come to admire in my life. My dad for being such a great role model for our family, my mom just being a great lady at all times, my daughter Lee for her strength and determination, my daughter Aimee for her laughter, my son Dan for his ability to mingle with all kinds of people, dear Adam for his purposeful life in Christ, dear Ruth for her consistence in prayer, my pastors Charles and Dottie for making the word of God alive and vibrant in their teaching and so many others.

I have found more unlikely people to admire in this place called Chiquimula. Women like Alicia, with broken bones and cuts inflicted by her husband, who stands in prayer and fasting for him and her sons.
O'Mara who has lost three babies and still smiles at age 20. Ernestina who lost everything, lived in a cave with her youngest two children for a while and does not complain. Juana who has struggled for many years and now has a decent home and is a motivator in her neighborhood to clean up the garbage, working towards making their homes better. Gilma, a widow, who has such a servant heart.

I believe God placed me here to be a help to these women, but I have learned and am learning so much from them. They are my heroes in this place called Chiquimula.

Mother's Day 2012

Another Mothers Day has  come and gone. This Mother'sDay was very special this year because our young ladies were a vital part of the event. They made small canastas out of tongue depressors so that each mother would receive a gift. Inside flowers were placed to make a pretty arrangement for the moms. The girls wore their best clothes and had a fashion show. I also wore one of my best dresses and strutted down the runway too. After the word was shared we had food and gifts. I was given water glasses by my workers and a cute wooden box Aimee made especially for me and received a cooked chicken from one of the ladies!

                                                                Myra with her girls

Andrea and Gilma were recognized as leaders in the ministry by receiving a exhortation license. They are exhorters in this ministry and they clean, prepare, share the word, pray and encourage the people daily. I am thankful for their presence along side of me.

I love my three children. My Lee is a wife, mother and grandmother. I am very proud of her and although we are far apart in distance she is always close to my heart. Talking to her always cheers me on especially since I know she has my back!

Aimee, separated mother of 3 boys, is closer and more in need of my counsel and prayers. She is a good mother to her small tribe. I have confidence in God that He will restore to her what the canker worm has stolen.

My Daniel at 14 is a challenge that only God can help me with. I recognize the call on his life and know that the enemy is not happy when he does well BUT GOD is in charge and is the father who loves Daniel as his own dear son.

I miss my mom most of all and at 89 years of age and in delicate health,  I wait for that final call to come home one last time. I rejoice in the times I can talk to her by phone and hear her voice nice and strong. I rejoice when my sister tells me how she deals with my sometimes cantankerous dad with "I love him any way".  My prayer always for her and for my dad is that their latter years to be better than their first.

I pray you all had a blessed day and remember this celebration is nothing compared to the one in heaven.

I'm on the mission field

April has brought some new changes in my life and the life of my son Daniel. He is no longer attending school in the home. He was dong very well with his lessons but being home all day and not going out much was wearing on both of us. This month he was transferred to a small school in Chiquimula whose purpose is to be a blessing to the students be they special needs, poor or just shy. Daniel at 14 is not an out going person normally but when he gets to know you he can be very talkative. He loves and respects the director of the school who loves the Lord and is always open to help anyone. What a great testimony! Please pray for this transition for my Daniel.

A fellow missionary was scheduled for surgery this month in Guatemala City where she had to stay for another 3 days after her surgery before returning back to Chiquimula. I volunteered to stay with her during the week so she would not be alone. What a blessing for me. The first night we both shared her hospital room which was not too bad considering they woke us up in the middle of the night for her to take her meds. The next three days were spent in a very nice hotel, free breakfast buffet, nice rooms and pool privileges! I only needed to pay $20 a day as the second occupant. God is good. Her recovery went very well and she needed to move around as normal minus heavy lifting so we went to the pool every morning, went walking, had quiet times of reading, window shopping at a great mall nearby, saw a movie and just relaxed. I've never just gone away on a vacation and even though the purpose of the trip was to bless her I was blessed in return with quietness and peace.

I also started pool exercises this month. As many of you know I don't swim and am (was) afraid of water. Not anymore. Two of my guatemalan friends invited me to accompany them to a local pool early each week day morn about 5:15 am. I went and am going regularly. Its been great for my knees which I injured over a year ago and have been using a bike to exercise. The water is less trauma and I feel great. Even though I concentrate on water aerobics, learning to actually swim is a big possibility too. Its never too late.

Coming back to Chiquimula  after 4 days away was an adjustment. I wondered what do I do? I needed to be a mom, a counselor, teacher, preacher, accountant, secretary, etc. So where did that question come from? So many times I don't realize the many hats that I wear and why I get so tired. My biggest roll apart from being a mom is to mentor the hearts and minds of these young girls and boys directly and indirectly. The smaller ones see more of Gilma and Andrea in the feeding program  but they do know my name as I walk through and greet them. "Seno Myra", they cry out. Some of the older girls come several days a week to help with the activites of the feeding program and one day of an intense Bible study and prayer.  My heart is that the light of the word will shine in their hearts and illumine their souls. Lofty words but oh such a lovely God, Who can only do the work in their hearts and souls. I am a instrument that plays a tune to draw them nearer to the living Word.

So pray for me as I am on the mission field and some days are harder than others not in the physical but in the spiritual. I am thankful for a God who "has begun a good work in (me)  will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ!"

The Word of God

I was totally impressed with the Word of God shared this morning by brother Carlos. It touched my heart in an area that needed encouragement. God is so faithful to bring the exact Word we need to hear.

Carlos is the husband of our new cook, Andrea. He also teaches in our Adult Education Program. They have been coming to the church and the ministry for the past 3 years. She mostly,  because they were attending a local Baptist church. He was working with the youth and  was in leadership. I don't know why I am using the past tense but lets carry on.

When we no longer had a pastor in January, I shared the Word a few Sundays. A friend, Hugo, also came and shared a few Sundays. One day I was impressed to ask Andrea if her husband would like to preach. She smiled and said yes. Carlos has been doing so for the past three Sundays and I am very impressed with his doctrine, his deliverance,  but more with the life of the Word that flows through his teaching. He has a 12th grade education and works as a builder when he can find work. He has taken Christian leadership classes in his church. He had been asked by his pastor to take classes to become a pastor but did not have the funds to pursue it.

Today he shared a very good Word that was as  always grounded in scripture. I don't know where the Lord is leading us in the placement of  a new pastor. I am waiting and praying. I do feel led to help him with his dream to study to be a pastor. He also has a heart for the young boys and for men. He was one of the men working on my well. While he was here he talked to my son Daniel about his relationship with the Lord and Daniel was impressed with what he shared with him!

Being always led by God, its not always easy to wait on Him. I am sometimes impulsive but my desire always is for God's best. I want the best  for the people He has brought to this ministry, especially the husband and sons of the women.

I thank God for the Word this morning that brought nutrients for my soul. God is faithful.

Andrea and Carlos (standing) teaching in the Adult Education Program

What can I say about the well problem? Its over!!??

What started seems like a month ago, but in reality started on the 13th of February,  ended on the 27th of February. We now have clear water for preparing the meals for the feeding program, washing clothes and bathing. We went from stinky, black flowing sludge to clear water. We went from a greedy speculator to honest hard working reasonable men who came for long hours, tried different options and finally resolved the problem to my joy and satisfaction at a cost but as we say here "Vale la pena". You can translate that as "no pain, no gain".

On to happier days like today. We, Gilma, Andrea and I have started a mentoring program with girls 15 through 18. Today seven young ladies and three slightly older ladies, (me the oldest!),  sat and studied the Self/confrontation manual that I am using as a teaching tool. They each came with their memory verse ready.

We had a discussion about being free to be different and not follow the crowd. This opened up a situation that needed to be resolved among three of the girls. Two had jokingly but cruelly rebuffed one of the girls who wanted to be part of the group. The girl that had been rebuffed had reacted inappropriately. God is so good and sneaky. This led Gilma and I to talk and pray with each of the three girls  individually. God used that time to lay bear their hidden hurts which really showed why they acted the way they did. It was a time of tears, prayers and hope. Each got homework too!

Their homework was to read and reflect over Ephesian 6,  especially about the armor of God so that they would let God do battle for them and to understand who the true enemy is, not their parents or other people but spirtual  wickedness in high places. They were  also  instructed to read Psalms 27 not to hide in misery and anger but to hide in God and be strengthened to go on, to know they are never alone because even if their mother and father abandon them. One of the girls had just been beaten up by her drunken dad, has a loosened tooth and memories of inappropriate behavior on his part towards her. another has never heard a word of encouragement from her dad and the last whose dad is a drinker has only seen anger and violence displayed in her home. Each of the girls have dads unfortunately who are not their biggest fan but each of the girls  heard about forgiveness, prayer and respect.

It was a better day and I am hopeful.

Did I not mention that the girls are helping out in the ministry? They help prepare, serve and clean up during the feeding program. They helped to bag up the beans and rice we distribute monthly to families. they helped put together the filters that were given out this month. They are working on a project to make 40 canastas for the women as gifts for Mothers day. Helping out and studying too.

They have chosen a name for the group. It literally means "Young ladies growing abundantly in the work for the Lord". They are truly doing that. Please keep them in your prayers. They are Jovita, Karla, Elizabeth, Anita, Iris, Yolanda and  Olga.

Some of the girls helping to fix tortillas for the feeding program

                                                                     Elizabeth studying

                                                              Iris studying on the computer

Happy New Year

Daniel and I returned to Guatemala on the 28th of  December with a group from Tennessee and hit the ground running. They left on the fifth of January after being a tremendous blessing to the ministry. Then the real fun began.

I tend to forget things after they are over but I do remember a strong sense of being overwhelmed in January getting the books in order for the end of the year financial report which included ordering the months of November and December.  Those  were the months we were in the states. It also entailed deciphering Gilma's notes about what she did with the money, asking her to clarify a notation, questioning why this was bought and what for...nothing major,  because she is an excellent person,  but its in Spanish and is not always clear to my North American brain. After getting that in order, its time to do January's financial report... then how about an update for November and December. Done! Breathing a bit easier...oh yeah, don't forget Daniel's home school begins in January...let's get rolling!!

My daily schedule changed also with the leaving of  Pastor Leonel. Until the Lord brings us a new pastor, I'm preaching, which I don't mind except I need to translate everything in Spanish and since I want it to be correct, I write everything down and translate via Babaefish,  which is not always correct so I have to reread and make corrections of the Babalfish translation. Done!

One January Monday I needed to go resolve some issues with the finance department of my town, where they tell me I need to get something authorized at a lawyers, which I do and return to the finance department who give me a long list of things I also need to do and pay at the bank but first go to the mayor's office and get a paper verifying I am a resident of the town and return to their office. This takes only 2 hours and its better than it was years ago and I'm walking all over town. Thank God its a beautiful sunny,  but not hot day.

I decided to wait and visit the bank another day and when I returned on another Monday, paid what was  due at the bank and returned to the finance office they informed me I did everything right BUT I needed to return to the lawyer and also revisit the mayor's office for other things that were needed. I past a flower stall and on impulse bought some flowers and gave them to the lawyer and the secretary who kindly helped with the next step, went to the mayor's office waited about an half an hour, got that paper work and returned to the finance department and EVERYTHING IS OKAY! PTL! Everyone was very nice everywhere I went walking through town from place to place.

In the ministry, Monday, Wednesday and Friday we hold the feeding program. Gilma and Andrea are in charge of that, singing, sharing the word, giving out medicine, preparing food and serving. I go around greeting the children and mothers, taking pictures sometimes but not much else.

Tuesday we hold a Bible study with the ladies which the pastor used to lead. I am now teaching on the women of the Bible and its going very well. I brought back some Spanish books as reference books so its less work.  Gilma and Andrea help me with the study by praying and ministering with the women.

Wednesday we started a mentoring program with some of the girls ages 15 to 18. Did I mention the cook, Graciela,  got sick with I believe  shingles, and is not working with us anymore either. So we have some students who are studying on Sundays or in the afternoon and I asked them to volunteer to help out in the ministry like half a day. I also decided it would be great to mentor these girl along with Gilma and Andrea helping out. Its going great. They come almost every day now and are helping fix the food, sharing with the smaller kids, cleaning up afterwards and also using the computer to keep up with their school work. I am using Self/confrontation which is a Bible based study and they love it. They have a verse to memorize each week. We named the group "Jovencitas creciendo abundamente en la obra del Señor" or literally "Young girls growing abundantly in the work of the Lord". I'd like to think of it as "from girls to women".

In between all of that I met in January with the construction guy to see what money I could find to keep the building going, gave out school supplies to all of the children , made sure all the sponsored students had their uniforms, shoes, inscriptions and school supplies, communicated with the sponsors of the students, bought prescription medicine for those who are seriously ill, bought winter blankets and give them out to 23 families, ordered and gave out in February: one stove, 8 water filters, 3 solar lamps, distributed bean,rice and corn to 28 families and bought 21 replacement filters to replace the fitters given out last year. Some of our older boys helped to bring in the parts of the stove to the home located in an area inaccessible by car.  Jorge, one of boys,  installed the stove.

So truly when I look back it really wasn't that bad, when I took a breath and did the next thing,  as some of my friends counseled me to do. People were kind to me on every hand, the girls are a blessing, my computer is functioning fine, Daniel is doing okay with his studies, Gilma and Andrea are a delight to work with, and I overheard one of my neighbors say she didn't want to be late to hear me preach! ...and then came the well problem....more later and I can alway use some help!.