The boy above is Michael Angel.  He is 14 years old and blind and also suffers from unknown neurological problems.  He has not been to the doctor in 3 years.  When he went three years ago they simply said there was no way they can help him because the government hospital didn't have a neurologist.  So for 13 years he has been taking the same medication and has no physical therapy.  Look at his hands. 

The mother makes little woven bracelets that her son sells on the street to the tourists for about $.14 each.  She makes about 10 a day.  The father makes a woven greeting card that sells for about $2 each.  They make very little money.  I explained to the father and I had just purchased two of the cards from a young boy on the street just three days ago and he replied "Yes, that's my 11 year old son."  I had known this young boy for over a year because he approaches me when I eat breakfast in the restaurant downtown and I'm struck by his sad face.  What a coincidence (Not) that this boy turns out to be their son!  God is good!

We leave this family and our next planned stop is with a girl about 23 years of age who lives about an hour away.  I met this girl two months ago in a very strange series of circumstances.  I had flown to Guatemala and forgot to call for a ride from one of my guys here.  I figured I would just find a bus or a truck and rough it.  So I found the bus which was almost full except for two seats side-by-side which I happily took.  This gave me room for my computer bag which is very large.  Unfortunately it doesn't last long when the bus made one final stop and a young woman with what I thought was a baby over her back along with a two-year-old girl came and sat beside me.  So much for comfort!

As we drove along I prayed about several things I had returned to Guatemala to look into.  I needed to understand God's plan for bringing me back here so soon and was at a loss.  I'd come back because I wanted to buy or build a gas station here and had been praying about it but it didn't seem to be happening.  I just suspected God didn't want it.  And then, just a week after I'd returned home from Guatemala one of my guys here called to say that a property owner wanted to meet with me about a gas station.  He was going to build it and had all the contacts and experience.  It was a great discovery!  And so I was praying that this was something God wanted to reveal to me.

As we drove along, the baby on the back of the woman kept falling over onto my shoulder.  I marveled at how she kept a baby on her back, sitting on the edge of the seat, with her two-year-old daughter sitting on a small suitcase on the floor.  I marveled that we drove three hours and the little girl never spoke or cried or said a word.  The baby had a kind of a knit cap on its head and after several hours, it'd come off.  At this point I noticed the baby's eyes were open but he didn't appear able to control his movements or hold his head straight.  And at that moment I realized there was a large scar on the baby's head.

I hesitated to speak to the young woman for several reasons.  The indigenous people are distrustful of Americans and other foreigners and they speak one of 30 some dialects, sometimes not even speaking Spanish.  And my Spanish is difficult at best; my comprehension is even worse.  But something led me to go for it (the Holy Spirit?)  and so I asked her if there was something wrong with her baby.  She replied yes and we spoke for about half an hour, and I was amazed that I could understand so much of what she said on a noisy bus with other people talking and laughing all around us.  Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, I told her we might be able to help her and set up a meeting with Hector, one of my workers and she at her house.  We met him and went to her house where we talked.

At just a few months old, her three-year-old son had had a bad brain problem and had an operation.  Her husband had little work and they had little money and could not afford medicine.  After the birth of their second child the husband began drinking and soon after left altogether.  She found a job as a housekeeper two hours away from where her mother (and she) lived and she took it, even though it only paid 400Q ($65) per month.  They allowed her to keep her kids there and they fed her as well.  However, there was no money for her son's medical treatment.

The doctor of the foundation who saw her son charged a very nominal amount of money for each visit.  This along with the medication and therapy costs almost 400Q, the same amount that she makes every month.  There was no way she could make this payment and so for almost 2 years her son had no treatment and was getting worse and worse.  And that's when we met on the bus and we agreed to pay the money so she could take her son to the doctor and get treatment, as well as buy the medication.  And so we had.  And today she wanted to meet with me for a reason we didn't know.  So off we went.  Below are the pictures of the meeting two months ago before the doctor, the medicine and the therapy:

The boy was paralyzed on his right side, couldn't see and couldn't even hold his head up.  After two months of seeing the doctor, medication and therapy here's what he looks like today:

The video above shows it well.  He's holding his head up, standing up by himself on his two legs and even holding on to the hand of his young aunt sitting next to him!  She used to lay him on the bed, not worrying about him falling off because he couldn't turn over or move much.  Now she has to constantly be aware of him all night as she sleeps because he's able to turn and crawl.  He was able to group my finger with his right hand (the paralyzed one).  But this is not what was incredible.  It was her story that she told us today.

When we arrived I was unsure as to what we were going to discover.  Many times when we offer help the people want more.  They see us as "rich Americans" and know that this is their only opportunity to tap into the money train.  So we were prepared for this eventuality.  But it didn't turn out to be so.

The young woman's name is Santos.  Santos told us that she wanted to meet personally with me (again this is very uncomfortable for me but this is her story) to tell me what had happened that day on the bus.  As I write this now I have to stop to cry because I'm overwhelmed by the blessing that God has chosen to give me, when I was only his instrument.  She explained to us (two friends of mine and their two daughters as well as Hector and myself were present, as well as numerous of her family members) that she was sad and depressed that day.  She was coming home for the Easter week and she was thinking about her son whom she couldn't help because she had no money.  She was dreading coming home because her mother had yelled at her because she hadn't brought any clothes for the family when she had come home the trip before.  Even though she made little money they relied on her.  Yet she couldn't even afford to buy the medicine that would help her son.

She had prayed a great deal for months because she was so needy of what she felt was a miracle.  And now on this day, she was at the lowest point in her life.  That is, until God sent an angel to her on the bus that day (again, I'm no angel-I'm just telling you her story).  As I sat praying next to her, she sat praying next to me.  Interesting isn't it?  What a coincidence!  (Not) I thought I was coming to Guatemala to buy a gas station but God had other plans.  Anyway, she couldn't believe what was happening to her but she tried not to get her hopes up because many people in the past had promised help and never given her any.  And here I was, out of the blue, like an answer to her prayer.  I knew none of this at the time.  As she told the story her mother listened.  Santos began to cry.  When she told the part about her mother yelling at her she cried more and had to stop.  Her mother cried at that point as well and had to leave the room.  She told us she felt so embarrassed to be without a husband, without the ability to help herself and even unable to talk to her mother about it.  She cried throughout.  Everyone in the room cried.  It was an incredible experience.

So here we are two months later and we have her bank account number and put money into her bank every month.  We didn't do it because she was a Baptist (she isn't), we didn't do it because she was a Christian (she was but we didn't know it); we did it because God wanted it to happen.  And she is so grateful.  And she is blessed.  And we are blessed.  And we didn't do anything! 

So we leave her house and Hector tells me the rest of the story.  As I said, my Spanish comprehension is not good and Santos was crying and mumbling and had her hand in front of her mouth much of the time she was telling her story.  I only sensed the emotion but didn't understand the story.  Now it was all the more touching as I understood the details of what I just told you.

We talked about it a bit as we drove to lunch.  After lunch as is my usual custom I took everyone to the ice cream shop and bought them a cone.  When I say everyone I mean about a dozen people, mostly a bunch of the kids I know who sell on the street.  As I was standing outside talking to one of the older women in our ice cream eating group, the manager of the ice cream shop came out to me.  I only knew her casually from all the trips I had made to the ice cream shop, buying ice cream for all the kids (OK and me too).  And I always tip her as is my custom.  But I had never talked to her about Jesus or anything else.  Anyway, she comes to me and asks if I'm an evangelical, which is another word for Christian here.  I tell her yes and she asks me if I will pray for her mother who is in the hospital with a brain problem.  I tell her yes but I need to have her talk to Hector so we can get all the facts and I go to get him.  He is talking to someone else and so I go back outside to wait.  The manager tells me she has to go buy bananas and will be right back.

Meanwhile, the older woman I'd been talking to had overheard the conversation with the manager.  She to ask me if I was an evangelical and when I replied yes, she asked if I would pray for her.  She tell me she had just had a hernia operation and was having a difficult time selling on the street with her three kids.  I asked her if she was a Christian and she told me no.  I spoke with her briefly and then Hector walked up so I explained to him what was going on and he began talking to her in the native dialect, which we're fortunate that he knows.  Here are a few pictures I snapped after he had been with her for about 15 minutes:

She listened to what he had to say and they went back-and-forth about several things.  She didn't make a decision but that's not our problem (Calvinists).  Then we went inside to speak to the manager.

The manager told us that her mother was 86 years old and had been in the hospital for eight days.  She asked for us to pray for her.  After we took all the information and assured her that we would pray for her I asked her if she was a Christian.  To my amazement, she replied no and smiled.  I said why not?  Hector quickly said OK then forget it we’re leaving and pretended to walk away.  We all laughed and we assured her we would pray for her mother.  It didn't seem the right time to talk to her as there were people waiting for their ice cream cones.  Hector and I decided to give her 200Q ($30) and the Bible tract "This Was Your Life" By Chick Publications.  I haven't heard whether he was able to talk to her when he went back to give her these things. 

When we were leaving I heard someone call my name and looked to see a girl named Adelia.  She had a brother named Otto who had gotten into bad company and started doing a lot of drugs.  I had him to my house and tried to talk to him about Christ and he had prayed to receive Christ with Hector and Pedro and myself.  Shortly thereafter he was at my house and stole some jewelry to buy more drugs and I haven't seen him since.  Anyway Adelia told me that he had gone straight and was going to church and was living at their house again.  I told her I wanted to talk to him and asked her if she had gone to church and accepted Christ yet as I knew she was not a Christian last time we had talked…

Excuse me for the interruption but it is now 6:43 in the evening and I'm back.  Why?  Because the blessings just keep coming!  Coincidentally (not) in the middle of the above paragraph about Otto… yes, he called me.  He told me he is back in school, attends church regularly and is very thankful to me and owes me so much.  He thanked me for sharing Jesus Christ with him and said that God has a plan for his life, that he is in his heart and that he is so thankful to have his life back.  We're having breakfast in the morning at 9 a.m..  A praise the Lord goes here!

Otto is pictured below before his drug problem:

Anyway, to carry on the above paragraph, I was asking Adelia about Christ and she told me no she hadn't accepted him.  What an opening in the morning as her brother, whom she saw lost his life and now appears to have found it, tells about how Jesus saved him from the drug problem he had.  We will see how God uses it but this is incredible!

Okay, now you should read my opening paragraph from the earlier e-mail I wrote this morning.  I'll reprint it here for your edification:

Written Tuesday, June 27, 2006 at 9 a.m.

 I have no problem with you sharing any of what we write.  The only problem is it's so very difficult for anyone to understand everything that I believe when we try to deal with certain specific aspects as you are learning.

I certainly do not preach a prosperity gospel nor do I witness by the love of Christ only.  And I certainly don't sit around doing nothing but praising the Lord and letting him do some work somewhere.  I come to Guatemala because he called me.  I go out every day and work among the people because he sends me.  My life is a witness and a testimony to his love by what I do, but in my heart I know it's not what I do because in me there is no good thing except Christ.  Therefore it's only him working through me that produces anything of value.  And down here people are constantly thanking me for what I do and I find it difficult not to correct them to thank God for what he's doing in me and through me.  But make no mistake, I have no plan that I cling to when I come here.  He opens doors and takes me to places and uses me to accomplish his will.  Yes, I have to accept and follow his direction, but I still say he doesn't need me.  I need him.

So  maybe you can't see it and maybe the preachers can't either.  My life is my witness and my testimony.  I don't need to go out and knock on doors, I simply wait on the Lord and go where he directs.  There is nothing more liberating.  There's no pressure, no need to succeed and no agenda.  I feel bad for your pastors because their sole mission is to get people to do things.  And I know how hard that is.  But for me it's simple.  I have learned to wait on the Lord.  I have learned to trust in the Lord.  And I have learned not to lean to my own understanding.  But the most important thing I have learned is to acknowledge him in all things as he directs my path.

Let me say my most infamous line again; I am a steaming pile of trash on the junk pile of life.  I'm not good and I am not special.  Except in Christ Jesus.  Because I'm an heir to the throne, a child of the King and a servant to the master.  And in spite of me, he accomplishes so much.  In spite of me, so many people are blessed.  And in spite of me, I receive the richest blessing of them all!

I gotta stop now.  I can't take anymore blessings today!  God bless you and let you know that I love you.  And may God richly reward you for your eager desire to understand him better, to serve him more and to do his will.