Woes

Church in Mactzul VI

The saying when it rains, it pours has been proving to be true lately so I will start the blog with our woes but it end with what is good.

We have had a few unfortunate events happen lately that make life tough, but manageable. First we had some problems with the battery with our Suzuki which all in all is not that bad, but you must consider the 3 times rule for Guatemala. I thought I could just go buy a battery and be good to go in an hour or so. Not so, about 5 hours later I was ready to go. I went to about 4 places before I could find a place to charge the battery and then ended up getting a new one as well.

Next the Pathfinder that we purchased had been overheating some and then when I went to Montellano it started to really overheat. I had to stop about 6 times on the way back to Guatemala City to let the engine cool down. So we took the vehicle into the shop thinking the thermostat is plugged up and it needs to be changed - no big deal and not much cost. Well......, it had no thermostat because the previous owner took it out because the radiator the vehicle has is too small for the engine and was probably overheating on him as well. I guess he never went to the hot weather! So my small thermostat changed resulted in a new radiator, fan clutch and thermostat. Let's just say ouch! Although we paid much less than we would have stateside and is still less than buying a new vehicle. The risk we run purchasing a used vehicle here in Guatemala.

Then we have our water cistern saga. We have the cistern but have not been able to get the pump to work as it is not holding pressure. Probably nothing big, but since we are not in Chichi for more than a day and a half makes it difficult to nail down the problem. The latest is now the pump motor does not even turn, so we are not sure what has happened. We will get a new motor and try it out. Luckily they are relatively inexpensive - less than $40.

Then today, I was in Chichi showering when I heard a pop and the some of the lights went out. the water got cold so the shower ended quickly. I then checked to see what happened and one of the lights had burned out. So I thought no big deal, turned on another light. 2 seconds passed and POP! another light burned out, then thought weird, tried another one, POP! So then I figured something is not right and turned off the electricity to the house. So now I am in the dark (this was all happening about 5:00am before it is light outside). Then I smelled some electrical burning and really thought something is not right. I left the lights out, read by flashlight for awhile waiting for the sun to come up and went outside to check the incoming lines thinking maybe something happened outside. The wires that connect the house to the electrical reader had exploded. Me not being much of a repairman thought, this is still bad, but what do I do. So I left the electricity off and went to find some breakfast in Chichi since we have nothing in the house. Not much open but found a bean sandwich - for those who have not tried you are thinking man, that does not sound good, but let me tell you, they are pretty good but must be refried black beans. :)

Back on point... I was expecting Tomas (local construction guy) early in the morning to see about the pump. He arrived and I told him about what happened and then showed him the wiring. His surprised response was "we are going to have to find someone who knows about that as it does not look good!" And he also pointed out the reader was spinning when the electricity was turned off - also not good. So we were not able to review the pump as no electricity. So I waited for a little more to make sure another friend was up and going and asked him to come over. He is an US electrician by trade and has lived in Guatemala for many years. He looked at it and confirmed it was bad and then I pointed out that the reader was still spinning while the electricity in the house was off. This meant that we also had a short circuit somewhere, so we needed to find it. Luckily we did find it in the breaker box and got it turned off. He indicated it was spinning like we had about 30 1500 watt bulbs on which would really make the electrical bill look scary. So to end the woe, we have to re-wire from the reader to the house as the original cables were not sufficient for the energy usage of the house. Bummer! But since we do not have to stay there for a couple of weeks, hopefully we will get it fixed soon.

So after this I went to check what we lost due to the short circuit and it appears we lost our Internet routers. Possibly also the fridge but it may have survived. We will try it again once we have the new wiring. It smelled bad, but was still operational at the time.

OK, so that is all of the woes. Of course these are the same woes anyone can experience but it makes us feel better to write and complain about them...

So the good.

Yesterday we went to Mactzul VI to start up the ABC children's program. We took the names of 40 children to enroll in the program which focuses on keeping children in school and in church by creating a partnership between HTI, the sponsor, the churches, the parents and the children. HTI has about 500-600 children in the program and most are young children less than 13 years old. This last year we did have 13 graduate from high school or vocation school as teachers, computer technicians and secretaries. 2 are continuing in Central American Bible institutes and others have a desire to continue to college. To put this in perspective - None of the parents we met with in Mactzul VI continued past 6th grade. Of the 5 families I met with, most did not make it past 3rd grade. So now for the children to finish high school provides the parents and the kids more hope for the future.

Violeta and Pedro discussing program with congregation.

This church has around 40 families total and 23 or so with families in the ages to qualify for the ABC program.


Here are some of the local camera hams...

Took 3 photos to finally get them to smile. Use the word "wiskil" and it works everytime.

Tomasa Chicoj Salvador - this is the young girl that had the retinoblastoma and started chemotherapy and radiation therapy this last year. Her progress is still good and the other night her and her brother decided to just call us to say hi. That was a treat.

Today in Clinica Caris we had our 4th education class for all of the promoters we work with and had a great turn out - 17 promoters, 6 paid and 11 volunteer. They had their first tests and did well and helped us discuss potential new areas for clinics. We continue to be extremely blessed with participation in the churches and great leadership with Josefina, Marcos and Sheri.

Last week HTI hosted a surgical team in Clinica Ezell providing surgical care for patients with hernias, cysts, tumors and other ailments. They had a great week with one difficult case where the patient is recuperating well. One young lady from the Chichi area had a fibroid tumor removed that weighed 12 pounds. She is doing great.

Many of the clinics, including Caris, continue to develop and we continue to see positive outcomes both physically and spiritually. Of course there are always the tough patients so we ask you to pray for Pedro who has been confined to the bed and we are not sure what the problems are, Marta who as a blood disorder that we are waiting for the outcome on, Tomasa our retinoblastoma patient and Julisa our lukemia patient. The churches continue to report continued growth through connections with patients. See Sheri's blog for more updates - http://www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com/.

On the Lisa front, she continues to work in OB this month. Her calls are not as bad and she is getting a little rest each night. Please pray for May, this is when she starts surgery and will be on call every 3rd night. The word is no sleep and no time for much else so this will be a hard month on her. She has also been a little ill, so please pray that her energy will remain strong. As always, she has a great attitude. Many of her fellow students are interested in what we are doing which gives her opportunity to explain why we are here.

For another prayer request, please pray for a friend whose father is talking about going to the US to work and the family is really struggling with this decision. Please pray he will decide to stay with his family and find other means to provide for his econimic situation.

God is always GOOD! He just never said life would be easy.

God bless and please keep checking in!