Something new!

After enjoying the blogs of several friends, we decided some of our friends might enjoy getting more details on life here in Guatemala. So, we are starting something new! Actually John did a daily journal for a number of years which served as our newsletter. Some people loved it; others filed it away in the trash. For those of you that like details and to get to the "heart of the matter" this is for you! John and I will both be writing in the blog about things that have touched our hearts or difficulties we face or just plain news.

My day started out with 6 families meeting at ASELSI to load into our van and travel to Antigua. Each of the families have a child with a cleft lip and palate. Miguel Angel drove the van and Dr. Heidi Bell and Matt followed in their truck. Everyone got treated to lunch out, which is not a common thing for these Mayan families. They arrived at Hermano Pedro Hospital in Antigua and received their appointments for tomorrow morning. The hospital provides housing for the patients and families. It is so great to see the parents encouraged that just maybe their precious little one will look normal and be able to eat normally. Miguel's major gifting is as an evangelist so he always uses these trips to spend time talking to the families about the Lord.

We have 11 children that are in need of surgery for this problem. Each surgery will cost us $300 to $500 to cover all the costs. That is really cheap when thinking like a north American but way out of reach for these Indian families. We are trying to raise money to cover each child. So far we have 3 of the 11 surgeries provided for!

I got invited up to the Casa del Rey which is another ministry here in town. They had clinic furniture and supplies to give away. It was better than a garage sale! I found a good exam table, adult weight scale, stools with wheels for the PT program, and lots of other odds and ends. Those are all things I have prayed for and just look how God supplies our every need!