Saturday, February 27, 2010

Busy Days!

We have not had much time to blog this week. It has been busy.

It was very hot on Monday. Abi and Samuel found that "swimming" in the pila helped to keep them cool! : )


Monday evening the weather started to change. The wind came up and then it started to hail. It was very loud on the tin roof of the clinic. Samuel is holding a few pieces in his hand.

This is looking out of the clinic door.

Tuesday morning there was an earthquake close to the Mexico/Guatemala border. (see map for details. We are kind of between where the earthquake happened and Guatemala City) We were lying in bed and the roof started to make noise. It didn't last long and we didn't have much time to react. There was a smaller one later in the morning. I yelled for everyone to get out of the clinic but it didn't last long. (Just long enough to make me a little motion sick!).

Don went to San Pedro to clinic on Thursday but the camera wasn't working so we have no pictures to post. It was much cooler there than it has been in the past which made the day go much better. Friday, Craig, Don and Caleb went to the Home to help with the computers. Craig is trying to teach the boys more about using them. They had a good morning. We have also been trying to bag some vitamins for clinics and help out however else we can. Caleb seems to get out of doing it somehow!! Here are the other three working hard!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Back into the Swing of Things

Today is the first day that we have had a chance to even get the computer out of the bag. The last three days have been filled.

Our trip up the mountain was somewhat uneventful (except for Hannah's carsickness and projectile vomitting!) and we arrived in Canillá at around 4:30 pm or so. We unloaded the truck and then Leslie and I headed to market. It felt very familiar and normal once I remembered the words for "dozen" and "green beans".

As we unpacked on Friday night, we piled all of the medicine that we brought with us on the table. We had not seen the whole amount together because we would pack it as we received it. We were curious as to exactly how much we brought. Take a look!


Thank you all for your generous donations. Everything was such a blessing.

Don jumped right back into clinic on Saturday and Sunday. The kids and I travelled to San Andres with him on Sunday. He took us to the Children's Home while he went to clinic. Rachel Ficker went with us and helped us with an activity with the kids. I jumped back into helping in the kitchen and with laundry. I even made a few tortillas! Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the camera but here is a picture of some of the things the kids made during the Fuse Bead activity.


In case you are wondering, it is very hot here. Even the Guatemaltecans think it is hot so it isn't just those of us from the tundra of Nebraska. Below the kids are having a water fight with syringes as a way of trying to keep cool.


Tomorrow is clinic in Chiminisijuan. There is a trip planned to the jungle of the Zona Reina on Thursday. Duane will take Don and Leslie and others in the airplane to San Pedro for a remote clinic. We so appreciate your prayers!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Arrival

We had a very long day of travel! A few ear problems from our colds (mostly me) but for the most part it was an uneventful day. We did not have to pay for any bags when we checked in with United in Omaha. They allow 2 bags free on international flights. We were hoping that this was still the case. Yay!

We arrived in Guatemala City at 10:20 pm. All of our bags arrived and we made it through customs quickly. We did get flagged to have our bags scanned and a couple were searched. The lady who was going through them with Don asked him a few questions - mostly about the vitamins! She asked when we had been here in the past and when we were returning. She said that we brought too many vitamins and next time we have to have permission to bring this many. But we did not have to pay any taxes on anything! Yay!

We found our truck easily in the parking garage - thanks to Aaron for driving it down! It was so nice to see it waiting for us. We drove out of the parking garage at around 11 pm.

We are now all getting ready for bed - everyone is exhausted . . . except Samuel who had a very nice little nap on the plane. He is chatty and wanting to play a little before bed!

Thank you for praying. We had great peace this entire day of travel. Tomorrow we head to the grocery store and then up the mountain we will go!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Samuel's Birthday

Samuel turned six last Saturday. My mom and dad came down for the weekend to celebrate and to spend some time with us before we leave on Thursday. My sister and her family came over as well. It was a fun weekend.

Samuel asked for a "clone trooper" cake. This almost made me panic but I decided that this needed to happen for him. I found a picture off of the internet and tried to duplicate it. He loved watching me and was so excited - it made the effort worth it many times over!!


Aunt Jen found him some cool Star Wars Legos. He was very excited.


We also tried to get some packing done. Mom and Dad brought lots of medicines/vitamins from their church in SD and Don brought home a box from the hospital. We have 7 bags packed so far with maybe 3 or 4 more.

Here is Caleb trying to see what the bag weighs. Don put some cans and a piece of board on the scale so we could actually read the numbers.


Caleb and I are watching Don put another bag on the scale. It is this back and forth of packing, weighing, taking stuff out, weighing, taking more stuff out, weighing, putting a little bit back in and then weighing again. You would think that I would be better at this by now!


Our plane leaves Thursday morning at about 11 am. We arrive in Guatemala at 10 pm. It will be a long day of travelling but it is all part of the adventure. Please pray for a smooth, easy day.

Also, we have been told that they have been going through bags as people get off of the plane in Guatemala. They are attempting to charge import tax for things brought into the country. This is a new procedure and we are just praying that we pass through easily. We have lots and lots of vitamins, medicines, etc. dispursed through our bags. We also have food items, gifts, candy, and lots of other miscellaneous items. If you think of us, could you please pray for a quick and painless pass through this? We don't want to pay any unnecessary taxes but more importantly, we don't want any of the medicines etc. to be confiscated. We are praying that the Lord will go before us and prepare our way. Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Vitamins

On Sunday, my friend gave us a big bag of medicine and supplies for Guatemala. She had purchased 3 large bottles of vitamins with iron and told me that one of the grocery store chains had them on sale for 50% off. This meant we could buy a bottle of 300 vitamins for less than $5. This was a way better price than anything that we had found so far. The only catch was that the sale was done on Tuesday.

After church we decided to go "hunting" for vitamins. We ended up going to 6 different stores and came home with over 20 bottles of vitamins. Then we got on the internet at home to find more locations. There were a few but many of them were really out of the way for us. We did see two more that were relatively convenient for me to go to after my Bible study on Tuesday morning (the last day of the sale).

On Tuesday, I went to one store on 180th St. and found two bottles of vitamins plus a few other groceries etc. Then I drove to 97 St. to another store. I found 4 bottles but when I took them up to the cashier, they did not scan at the sale price. The checker asked the manager if he would go check the price. He came back and said that they should have scanned at 50% off. The checker started to take off the original price with a line item that said "scan price guarantee". I asked her what that meant and she said that their store policy was to give the item for free if it didn't scan correctly. I only had to pay $3 for the sales tax and I left with another 1200 vitamins!

We ended up with about 30 bottles of Children's vitamins with iron (about 9000 vitamins) for about $130 (including what my friend paid for her 3 bottles). This is less than 2 cents per vitamin. The best deals we had found were more like 4 cents a piece. This doesn't seem like a big difference until you take it times 9000! At 4 cents a piece, 9000 vitamins should have cost us closer to $360.

Many people have been giving us gifts of cash to buy the things we need. As of yesterday, we had received about $100 which almost covers what we paid for the vitamins. Just writing this all out for you overwhelms me with how the Lord answered my prayer for vitamins. Thanks for praying with us! Now we just have to figure out how to pack them. :)

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Matthew 21:22
"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Thursday, February 4, 2010

2 Weeks!

Yes, we leave in two weeks! We still have many, many details to take care of but we are getting there. The good news is that Caleb and Bethany will be able to join us because we received their new passports!

Children's vitamins are a big part of the nutrition program in Guatemala. When we were there last year, the kids and I bagged many, many little bags of children's vitamins. It seemed that we could never really get that far ahead. The ministry has a need right now for children's vitamins with iron. I have been praying that the Lord will provide. I have done searches on the internet for "bulk" children's vitamins and found a large container of 1000 but it didn't have iron. Don has talked to a pediatrician about options. He also plans on talking to the dietitian at the hospital. Would you please join us in praying about this? It would be awesome to find some large quantities of vitamins at great prices! I know the Lord could make that happen! Thanks for reading!