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| Sonja is pictured in the middle with her nurse |
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Friday we visited with Gaspar and talked about his stomach problems and possible operation to remove his gallbladder. Afterwards we went into his
house and prayed. As we were leaving we were asked by a member of his family if we would go to the city of Antigua to
visit and pray with a 13-year-old girl who has cancer. All we were told was that she was sent home from the hospital
and told there was nothing further they could do. We agreed to go by Antigua on Monday upon our return from the City
of Guatemala and an appointment we had there.
After our appointment Monday morning Jose Carmen, Hector and I arrived in the city of Antigua at about 11 a.m.
We couldn't remember whether our appointment was for 12 or 2 in the afternoon so we went to a restaurant and ordered some
iced tea and began talking about God. At one o'clock we decided to go into this square and ask people if they knew of
a 13-year-old girl with cancer. It was a long shot but we had nothing better to do.
The first two people we asked told us they didn't have any information about such a person but the third person we asked knew
exactly who we were talking about. She told us the girl we were looking for had died the previous day at 10 in the morning
and the family had returned to Santa Catarina. We went to our car and began the hour and a half trip back to Panajachel.
As we were driving we talked about whether we were through with this task or there was more, more that God had for us
to do. We decided that we needed to go to Santa Catarina to see if we could do anything for the family.
Upon
arriving in Santa Catarina we spotted Gaspar in the street and he told us the family was having a service in the Church just
down the street. We were wondering if we should just leave when a procession came towards us, and leading the procession
were eight girls carrying a casket.
The procession was somber with maybe a hundred people or so following the casket, walking slowly down the street towards
the cemetery. We waited until it passed and fell in behind, walking with the group to the waiting area just inside the
gates. For several hours we stood and watched as several people spoke and then the casket was placed in one of the crypts
and bricks were cemented in place to seal it off.
Gaspar's wife was there crying and asking for Hector, who came over and talked to her for some time. They asked us
to return the next day and speak with the family. We agreed and then left for home.
| Mother and Father |
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On Tuesday morning
we met with the family and offered our condolences and a check to help cover some of the expenses of the funeral.
This family spent over 4500 Quetzales ($600) as well has lost a considerable amount of money in their normal income while
this situation took place. It all started about six months ago.
In June of 2006 Sonja complained of a pain in her right leg. After a while she was taken to the hospital where
she was diagnosed with bone cancer. After 2 1/2 months in the hospital the decision was made to amputate her leg.
The problem was the cost was 30,000 Quetzales ($4000) and the procedure had to be done at a private hospital. As they
were making preparation to try to find people to borrow the money from the doctors called to tell them the cancer was far
too advanced and had spread to her lungs and heart. It was September 27 when they told the family that Sonja was going
to die. And they sent her home where she did just that on November the 12th.
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