Thursday June 12
Randy Stauner
Today in Guatemala we truly did what we came here for. The entire day
was spent visiting the homes of the people and to spread the word of
God.
We left our residence and drove to Amatitlan. After we arrived at the
mission we got back into the vehicle and drove for some time into a
more rural area. In the vehicle was a lady named Maria. It was her
house that we were going to. We were all amazed that this lady had
traveled so far on foot to get to the mission. Maria lives all alone
in a one room structure. One could not call it a house or even what we
consider a "home". The four walls and ceiling were corrugated steel.
The dirt floor was hard and unforgiving. Huge gaps were between the
ceiling and the walls that would admit light and no doubt rain. Maria
had big chains on the door to protect her meager possessions. The cost
for her to rent this shelter was about $15.00 American dollars a
month. There was no place to cook a meal as far as we could see. Maria
was very shy and wanted to read a passage from the bible to us. Her
bible was tattered and torn. She obviously read it a lot. I wanted to
give her my new bible but of course it was in English and of no use to
her. Maria has three children who live far away so she does not get to
see them. It seemed a lonely life so the mission must be of great
importance to her. We prayed with her and Nicky said a special prayer
for her as we tried to give her comfort. She was a strong Christian
and although she has had a hard life she has kept her faith in the
Lord. I was very moved when our interpreter, Edgar, gave Marie his
bible saying he had another at home.
Our next stop was in the city. In this small home we met Marta, her
mother, her father and two grandchildren. Marta has problems with her
eyes as well as other health issues.
Her father was recuperating from surgery. We were asked to pray for
her children and she told us they had been robbed of their money.
Maria, Marta's mother, went out of the house and brought back a
neighbor named Amelia to participate in our prayers. Then Marta's son
Miguel joined us. Miguel was a victim of the robbery and we prayed for
him, hoping to strengthen him in his faith and to comfort him. The
prayer was led by Bob who was able to give this entire prayer in
Spanish.
When we left Marta's family home we walked about a block to a
hospital. One of the women, named Donata, who comes to the mission,
had been there for 26 days being treated for diabetes. As with the
others we prayed for her diabetes to be brought under control so she
could return to the mission.
After we left the hospital we went back to the mission to eat the
peanut butter sandwiches we had made the night before for lunch.
Our last visit of the day and probably the most moving occurred after
lunch. We set out to find the home we were supposed to go to. We tried
to call her on her cell phone but got no answer. Directions had to be
asked for several times. Finally after about 45 minutes we backed into
a long, bumpy, dirt alley. We walked down the alley for about a block.
When we go to the house we found out that the ladies cell phone had
been stolen. Some of us had a feeling that something big was going to
happen. With all the trouble we had in finding this house it was as
though something was keeping us from getting there. Yet it seemed that
God had a special reason for bringing us there. Two young women were
there with their children. One of them was a Christian named Vicky and
the other one named Cynthia was not. This was an opportunity to bring
this young woman to Jesus. Coca, our interpreter, began speaking to
her in Spanish. Although we did not know exactly what he was saying,
we knew he was telling her about Christianity. Coca's love of God and
compassion was overflowing in his effort to give Cynthia the gift of
God's love. We recognized that she was touched by his words and we
strengthened his words with our outpouring of prayer and Gospel
passages. It was a very emotional experience for all of us because we
felt we had saved this woman by bringing Christ's word and promises to
her. Amazingly the return trip to the mission took about 5 minutes.