Guatemala Mother/Daughter Trip July 30, 2009

Blog July 30, 2009
We started our morning with an incredible devotion challenging us to dare to live large, believing the Lord to use us in ways we’ve never dreamed of, living intentionally, being willing to be inconvenienced for the gospel. A good start for a day in which we would celebrate small victories and continue to pray for healing for the precious children at the Malnutrition Center.
Victories. . .When we arrived at the Center, we heard the news that all the babies were sick. Walking in their room, we saw dirty little faces that perked up with recognition. After 45 minutes and clean diapers and clothes and lots of loving, the children looked so much healthier. Little Billy actually ate a bowl of cereal and even sweetly patted the team member who has poured her life into the little guy this week. A little girl named Brenda was very lethargic yesterday, having to be fed with a dropper. Today she was sitting up using a cup. Our team has an exercise physiologist, an occupational therapist, and a vision therapist on it and they led the toddlers in play therapy. Those little guys and girls have attached themselves to the teenage girls on the team and lots of laughter comes from their room. (Of course, they don’t stay in their room and can often be found roaming the halls looking for more people to become their playmates.) They are all now sporting new shoes thanks to many donations. Not only did every child receive shoes, the closet is now overflowing with shoes for the future. Our God is our abundant God! The shoes are all organized and so is the pantry and all the clothes thanks to some industrious team members. Some of the team members selflessly scrubbed and Cloroxed the bathroom that will be used for a free medical clinic for children living in town who are in need of medical services as well as the children in the malnutrition center. (A medical team arrives on Saturday.) A big praise was that today a high school youth group from North Dakota came to visit the Center while we were there. They were so touched by the needs of the children; they have decided to bring a group back to work solely at the Malnutrition Center.
We continue to pray. We have all seen it on TV- the skin sagging on bony arms, the hollow eyes, the distended stomachs. We have heard about it, but we have now touched hunger and it has changed us. A new eight year old girl was dropped off by her parents today. She wept when her parents left and it broke our hearts. What a loving act by her parents, desperate for their daughter to live. An eleven year old on the team was the person this little girl attached herself to and we all saw again how the Lord uses us, no matter what age.
We ended our day with an incredible authentic Guatemalan meal and a wonderful sharing time. We all think this is the “best women’s retreat” we have ever been on. Run Gunter, our only male team member, thinks so too!