Chiminisijuan

Snapshot of villagers in Chiminisijuan waiting to be seen in the clinic. Chiminisijuan is a village way out on a mountain side, and has been named the village of the greatest need around our area. In past history this village was greatly impacted by the war. We set up clinic here every Tuesday.

   "What can you do for the deaf and the blind?" This was the question I heard in my spirit.  It was as if the Lord himself asked me the question. 
      It was mid-Sunday morning; Leslie called me from doing Ultra Sounds, and asked me to do general consults for the sick. So, I stepped into the next room and sat next to a woman with diabetes. She was a beautiful indigenous woman, adorned in beautiful local Guatemalan garb. As I spoke with her, I noticed that she wasn't looking or focusing on me as I spoke. I looked at Leslie and asked, "Is this woman blind?"
"Yes,"  Leslie replied, "She's blind due to her advanced diabetes."

So there I was again with the question reverberating through my spirit, "What can you do for the deaf and the blind?" Parts of Isaiah 42 came swiftly to my mind :

 I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
   to be a covenant for the people
   and a light for the Gentiles,
⁷ to open eyes that are blind,
   to free captives from prison
   and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
 ⁸ “I am the LORD; that is my name!
   I will not yield my glory to another
   or my praise to idols...


 And I knew I had to pray. I knew without prayer I had nothing to offer. I had no medicine to cure her blindness. I had no words that could open her eyes. But God has the power to open blind eyes! God has the power to make the deaf ears unstopped. God has the power to free the captives!

So I touched her eyes, and I prayed. And then I tested her "Can you see how many fingers?" She couldn't. And so I prayed again, "Can you see how many fingers?" Again she couldn't. This process went on for a while and each time she couldn't tell me how many fingers. Oh how badly I wanted her to see. Oh how badly I wanted her to jump up and say "I can see!" But she didn't. Her eyes were the same. I felt like a failure.

  But as I continued to pray, and talk with her she asked me for food. So, I ran over to our food bin, pulled two bags full of uncooked rice and beans, and placed them delicately into her hands. "Gracias," she said, among other things, and we said our goodbyes...her face ingrained in my mind. " At least I was able to love on her," I thought. "At least I had the opportunity to pray with her." And a saying replays in my mind from the House of Prayer in St. Louis "This is the school of intercession. This is the school of intercession." 

Yes, I am in the school of praying for healing. I am in the school of missionary work. I am learning. I am learning, one step at a time. And I'm not giving up.

Snapshot of one of the Clinics. (The San Andres Clinic)

Come Home!

God showed me a picture last night of the old stone farm house where my brothers and I grew up. From what I remember of this house, it was romantic in stature, sat atop a hill, and it was surrounded by fields. For seven years of my life, my brothers and I used to go out far from the house and play, making forts and sandcastles by the creek. Since we played so far from home, my mom would at times call us for dinner by the use of a "dinner bell" which was a metal triangle with a small metal bar. By beating this small bar against the triangle, my brother and I would hear that is was time to come home. So in this picture I saw the "dinner bell" calling us home. I wondered what this meant, and almost immediately, I thought of Matthew 22. In Matthew 22, Jesus gives the parable about the wedding banquet being ready, and how it was time to come and feast. This was the end of the picture, and I was left with an impression of what God is saying. Perhaps, God is saying that now is the hour to come home, and see that the Lord is good. Perhaps He is saying, that is now time to go out to the crossroads, and bring home those who have gone far away and need to come near to God. And I also offer to you, that perhaps this is the time to stop wasting our time on things that don't satisfy, but instead waste our time on Jesus. Ring the Dinner Bell!!! It's time to come home! Isaiah 55 says it like this: 1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, Isaiah 55: 1-3 And in Matthew Jesus explains it like this: 1AND AGAIN Jesus spoke to them in parables (comparisons, stories used to illustrate and explain), saying, 2The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son 3And sent his servants to summon those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they refused to come. 4Again he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my banquet; my bullocks and my fat calves are killed, and everything is prepared; come to the wedding feast. 5But they were not concerned and paid no attention [they ignored and made light of the summons, treating it with contempt] and they went away--one to his farm, another to his business, 6While the others seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and put them to death. 7[Hearing this] the king was infuriated; and he sent his soldiers and put those murderers to death and burned their city. 8Then he said to his servants, The wedding [feast] is prepared, but those invited were not worthy. 9So go to the thoroughfares where they leave the city [where the main roads and those from the country end] and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. 10And those servants went out on the crossroads and got together as many as they found, both bad and good, so [the room in which] the wedding feast [was held] was filled with guests. Matthew 22:1-10------------- So whether you are far from God or close to him, it is time to come near again!...It's time to come home! The banquet He has prepared is ready! Come Home!!!

Canilla Clinic- Day 1

Today, in the clinic, here in Canilla, Quiche, Guatemala we saw everything, from the common cold and allergies to scabies and STD's. The clinic began by seeing chronic patients with High Blood pressure and Diabetes. Then, we continued on by seeing general consults (which basically means those who are sick and need a doctor). The clinic also provides prenatal checkups for expecting mothers to make sure mom and baby are healthy. This prenatal check up includes blood pressure checks, blood sugar checks, an ultra sound, and the distribution of prenatal vitamins. Although, my nursing and Spanish background help, I still feel like I have alot to learn in order to be able to do these clinics well. As I work with Leslie, a long time and experienced nurse and missionary, I try to glean all I can from her as I watch her, and ask her questions. Today we (by we I mean Leslie through a translator as I observed) also had the priviledge of talking with an elderly lady about having Jesus in her heart. My heart was just overwhelmed with love for this lady as God has placed in me a heart for the elderly and for the Guatemalan people. Leslie earlier today, talked with me about the Spiritual atmosphere of this area, and named several Spiritual strongholds that have been named in this specific area. I have only just arrived but, have sensed a certain amount of hardness of heart among a few people of the Guatemalans I encountered today. Be praying for more opportunities to share Jesus, for the moving of the Holy Spirit, and that the sick would be healed. Tomorrow, we do a clinic in San Andres, Quiche.

Today,as I watch my baby nephew, Ira, I reflect on the sacrifice of leaving family and friends behind. I am confronted with the reality that I won't be here when Ira takes his first step. I won't be here when Ira says his first word...and I won't be here when Ira is able to say "Auntie Rachael, I love you." And so, tears do seem to well up inside of me as I realize all the things I have given up to move to Guatemala. But, here it is on the eve of my departure, and tomorrow I will be living in Guatemala. My stomach is full of butterflies, my eyes full of tears, and my bags are packed. Yes, there is sacrifice in this. It isn't easy. But, Jesus never said it would be easy. He said pick up your cross, die to yourself, and follow me. So, this is the call, and this is what I do, knowing that though sorrow may last for a night, joy comes in the morning! And knowing the promise that, 5 "Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them." Psalm 124:6 And so, I hold on to the promises of God that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I ask or think! (Esphesians 3:20) But, that's not all He calls us to, and that's not all He says...He also said to love. In my head, I keep hearing a message I heard by Misty Edwards that rings over and over, "Did you learn to love? DID YOU LEARN TO LOVE?" It's not about ministry, it's not about me...it's about love. The Bible says I can give all I have to the poor, but, if I do not love it isn't worth a thing. 1 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-12 And so, my heart is set on a pilgrimage.