The Body of Christ

As the food availability in our area decreases and the desperation rises, Leslie stumbled upon this article this morning. Written by World Food Programme (a United Nations' organization that has been helping provide food in our area through a program that requires certain work projects to be done in return), this article discusses some of the continuing problems in our area. Posted this morning and titled Guatemala Pushed to Hunger Tipping Point, here are some of the highlights (the full story can be found at http://www.wfp.org/stories/guatemala-pushed-hunger-tipping-point).

"Sustained drought, soaring food prices and a sharp drop in money from relatives working abroad have left many thousands of Guatemalan families struggling to feed themselves...

...Guatemala's rising need has put enormous strain on WFP's food stocks in the country, which have fallen to their lowest level in years. No food distributions have taken place since the end of January 2010. The situation in the extended 'dry corridor' is getting worse.

In order to survive until the September harvest, the Ramos family and thousands of others like them are in dire need of additional assistance. "

Sadly, this is the situation for the people in our area as well. And because of the commitment required to continue distributing, at the height of the need we have now had to officially close the project to any more people being added as we struggle to maintain the people already in the program with the resources that we have.

It is in these times that we are reminded of the abundance that God has blessed us with as Americans... very few of us have ever wondered where our next meal is going to come from or had to watch our children slowly become more and more malnourished feeling helpless to do anything. Yet it is also in these times that the beauty of the worldwide body of Christ can be seen as those who have give to those who have none. We thank all of you who have given your support through prayers and resources.

Please continue to pray that we will have soft hearts and discernment for the people that continue to come to us in need.

It's Here!

Finally, after much anticipation and lots of expectation...the truck and grain bins are here!

David spent 17 hours driving the semi here from the border. Foggy roads and a loaded truck made for a slow drive, but he made it in about 10:30 this morning. As he was driving through San Andres, about over 30 people were lined up outside of the orphanage where we distribute the 100 lb bags of corn every Sunday. Each person represents a family, and the list of people receiving help is growing. Sebastian says that the word is spreading about the project, and so we know we need greater levels of discernment to help those families who truly need assistance, and to encourage those who have the ability to provide for their own families.

As David drove through San Andres in the semi, Sebastian was driving in his small pickup looking for anyone who still had corn for sale. The corn at the orphanage had run out, and there was virtually none to be found in the rest of town. More than ever we are excited to have the truck and grain bins that we can use to maintain a larger supply of corn. It all still has to be put together, but we're one step closer! Thanks for your prayers and support.

Just as an update on Martin, he was still feeling bad when he arrived in Guatemala, but will be seeing Dr. Heidi Bell tomorrow.

Prayer

Today our good friend Martin left for houston to drive the truck holding the grain bins down through Mexico. He has been sick for a couple months now, with a variety of treatments and medications that he has needed to take, which have pushed his leave date back until just today, but we are hoping that we will now see this truck and these grain bins on Guatemalan soil in the next week or so!

And as the drought has now blended with out normal dry season, we see many families each week coming in to ask for food and corn. As many of the stories continue to break our hearts, we are finding more peace in our place in this current situation. We have started working from what a good friend of ours termed a "limited resources" mindset. While we would love to help every person who walks through our door, we realize that for our ministry to function, we must work within the resources that we have, which involves saying no to some families.

While this was very hard for us at first, I am also starting to see how in our inability to say yes, we are asking (and sometimes forcing) some families to rise up during this time in a way that they should have been rising up all along - specifically among the husbands who have a tendency to drink away their money instead of using it to take care of their families. I have talked with a couple very able-bodied men who profess to have a relationship with God that have come in complaining that they are poor, have no way to take care of their families, and that they need us to give them food, to which I have encouraged them that during this time where everyone is suffering, God is asking them to rise up and take care of their families. While I did not receive amazing tear-filled confessions of their desire to take care of their wives and children at the end of the conversations, my prayer is that these men left realizing that in a country that has been so encouraged to live on hand-outs by the countries around them, they do have a responsibility and that they do matter... that their lives do not need to simply exist on the level of receiving free things, but instead the fulfillment that is found as they live up to all that God has created them to be, and the joy of seeing their families thrive.

On the other hand, there continue to be families that come in that truly are in need beyond what they can handle. Our nutrition program continues to grow each week, especially in areas like Chiminisijuan and certain far-out villages in San Andres' township, where it seems like extreme poverty and malnutrition have become a way of life. While still seving with an effort to not enable people, I have often thought that there are times where there is no ability to "teach people to fish" (many times due to an ignorance that probably has been contributed greatly to by the malnutrition and poverty cycle that they are in) and you need to just hand the fish out to them... And so we continue to do this through your generous donations, knowing that without them we would not be able to continue to keep our corn project going. Thank you for giving to God and His Guatemalan people at this time.

Will you please pray for safety for Martin as he travels down through Mexico? And for wisdom and good favor as he maneuvers all the crooked dealings that are faced on a trip like this?

Would you please pray as well that God will use this time to rise up the men of this country? that there will be a true revival of heart and actions? That discipleship will start to happen and that these mens' eyes will be opened to all that God has creeated them to be?

Will you pray for these families that truly have fallen upon hard times and are struggling to find daily food for their families? That God's grace, love, and comfort will be their guide? That this food will be a tool with which God's love can be shown to them? And that the needed resources will continue to come in?

And will you pray for discernment - our greatest tool and yet struggle during this time - for us? That God's voice will be clearly heard?

We love you guys and thank you for your prayers that constantly surround us!

People, people, people

People are people anywhere. Guatemalans, Americans, Chinese, we are all living life, desiring to find fulfillment and purpose as we journey through. I have been reminded of this over and over as we have gone out to see different families or seen them through the clinics. A father in any culture seeks to be able to provide for his family, a mother in any culture works to put a smile on the face of her children, a child in any culture desires to have a full belly and the freedom to play and laugh worry free. Of course there are always exceptions and differences in every culture as well, but the basic needs that we all have as humans remain the same: spiritual, physical, and emotional.

As we work to keep this corn project going and serving the needs of the people, it seems paramount in everyone's mind that we do not forget the reason for all of this: the people themselves. Above are some pictures (yes, sorry, they are the same pictures on our Adonai Ministry blog if you read that) of some of the families that Juanito has seen as he has made visits to identify families in need, and here are their stories.

At the very top, you can see a picture of an older lady and her grandchild standing in her kitchen. As her fire that she will use to cook food and water burns behind her, she shield her eyes from the smoke and the sun that is sure to come through the cracks in her house made of small sticks put together to create walls. Most have at least an adobe house, although I have been surprised at the number that live in houses truly made of just sticks held together by some rope or wire. You may also notice her dress, called traje, the typical Mayan dress. The top is called a huipil and the skirt is called a corte. All hand made, the shirt will range from basic thread to a more fancy and even lacy design, and the skirts consist of 6 yards of material doubled over and then folded around them to keep warm and "grow" along with them as pregnancy, age, and food availability cause changes in shape, while allowing for the same skirt to be used.

Below this lady is a family from a nearby village called Tucunil. The mother recently died, leaving behind 5 children ranging in age from 12 years old to a little over a year, and husband with a drinking problem and signs of cirrhosis already. Most of the care of the family has fallen to the 12 year old daughter, as she has had to learn to cook, feed, and care for her younger siblings.

The third picture is of a lady who has been a wheelchair for years. As you can see, though, she does not let that stop her as she works on the board on her lap to get her tortillas and food ready to be coooked on the woodburning "stove" that she has created from some blocks and then a pan laid over an open flame. Most have at least what is called a comal, which pretty much is the same basic set up, made of blocks with a large metal sheet over top of an open area in which the fire burns. On this large metal sheet, they are able to cook their tortillas, food, or water.

The last picture shows a lady and her four children outside of their house. Here you can see the typical adobe house and how it is built in look and design. They are leaning on one of the wooden frames that holds up the porch roof, often made of tin. Behind them is a wooden door leading to one of the rooms; if this picture was panned out, you would most likely see another door on the other side of the porch, as they will line up their rooms in a row, all with doors leading to the outside, but with no connections between them from the inside. Dependent on your financial situation, the design will often stay the same, with more rooms added either to the sides or above, and then materials ranging from sticks to block for walls, dirt to tile for floors, tin to clay tile for roofs, and wooden to metal doors for each room. Again, if you have enough money, you may have a little room off to the side of the house which holds all the things necessary for a kitchen set up - starting with the most basic necessity of a fire. If you don't have the funds for a separate room, then the fire will just go in whatever inside space is available.

And of course, as every person finds frustrating when trying to tell stories from another culture, even with the aid of pictures, these pictures do not do justice to the stories behind what meets the eye: the strength to keep going when all around you looks hopeless; the perseverance to continue to provide for your family, even from a wheelchair; the fight to learn to care for a family at the young age of 12; the desperation that will cause you to turn to an alcoholic escape from life after the loss of your wife; the wisdom and stories that are told in the eyes of the elderly here as they have lived a life few of us Americans can even imagine, birthing and losing children, working with their hands to cook and clean, plant and grow, build and rebuild.... all of us people, all of us with a story to tell, all of us with an opportunity to glorify our Father.

And I am reminded of a Psalm I read last night...

"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters... Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in... the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.... the Lord Almighty, the King of Glory." Psalm 24

There is a hope for all people, even when times look desperate and hope seems lost.... May the glory of the Lord shine through in all of His creation.

Pluggin Along

We are sorry for the lack of communication for the past month on this blog. We have had much going on in our ministry with many of our own people coming and going, as you know if you have been reading the other blogs.

However, despite all the coming and going, the corn project has continued to go on. As the program continues to expand and be perfected, there are a few different areas of need/jobs that it can be broken down into. Hopefully, this explanation will make it a little more clear for those who are wondering what exactly we are doing.

Food Packing: Two of our regular workers have worked many long hours to get all the food packs and nutrition packs packed before each clinic so that they are ready to be handed out.

Food Delivery: Food and nutrition packs are then distributed through the different programs we have in place in each of our clinics.

Corn Delivery: We delivered each of the first packs of food to the families that were identified as in need. These were given out as gifts along with a ticket to purchase their next 100 pound bag of corn for 25 quetzales. (For further explanation on how the purchasing system works, please see one of the first entries titled "corn, corn, corn.") From now on, each family that has already recieved corn will come to either Canilla's or San Andres's distribution center to receive the corn.

Data Collection: We now have a data collection and recording system in place that makes it easier for more than one person to help keep track of all the families being helped and help us ensure that we are using the resources we have been given with integrity. While this is not the glamorous or exciting part of the work that needs to be done and is one of the most time-consuming, we have been reminded of how important this is each step of the way. The new people need to be entered and recorded, and any food that is given out also needs to be recorded each time we return from clinic.

Continuous Assessment: Each family is entered into the system as either "pending," "not in need," "in need (further broken down into whether their need is food, corn, or corn and food)," or "re-assess in ___ month." As we know that the problems that this drought has brought on are only going to continue to grow, this continuous assessment is one of the most important things that we have in place. Here is how it works: When a family comes into the clinic or is reported to us as a family in need, they are entered into the computer as "pending" until someone can go out to visit them personally and assess the situation. Once this happens, they are then changed to one of the other categories. If they are assessed as being in need, they are given a bag of corn along with a ticket and/or a food pack as decided by the type of need they are determined to have. If they are assessed as "re-assess," someone will go back out and visit them in whatever month it is marked that they need to be re-assessed in.

House Visits: Going along with the continuous assessment process, someone is constantly going out to the villages, often needing a 12 hour work day to see 3-4 families, in search of those "pending" or those we have identified as needing further assessment. However, we have found these times (along with the times where we personally hand out food and/or corn during clinic or the distribution centers) to be the heart of our ministry as it is often during these times that we are able to pray with and share with the people the love and hope of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your continuous support, prayers and encouragement! We could not do this without you!!