Rubber Meets Road

We read the story of Jonah recently—it’s a weird one. Unlike Jonah, I wanted to come here. But kind of like Jonah, I’m learning that it’s not all about seeing God work the way I would design. It’s about what God is doing in those around us, and how He wants us to be a part of that. And in the meantime He’s working in us. Things haven’t been as dramatic as the big fish here, but we’re seeing God at work.

While doing a clinic in the village of El Gorrión I met Rosa, a woman of 25 with a few health concerns. Rosa asked if we could see her brother Carlos who had been in bed since being struck by a car over two weeks ago. Earlier this week Tori and I had the opportunity to go with clinic staff to another very poor area, to visit Carlos. In bed with Carlos we found his nine-month-old granddaughter Marixa, coughing harshly from a combination of a lung infection and billowing smoke from the cook fire.

I’m not really sure where the baby’s 13 year old mother was. The father didn’t want anything to do with the child. Carlos’ wife of course was out trying to earn something to keep the family going. This family (and many others like them) need our prayers—please remember them. I hope to visit them again, perhaps with pastor Mario. He told me that in that area, the large majority of girls, and boys, follow tradition by getting married (or at least getting together) and having children around 13 or 14 years of age!

...This is one reason so many C-sections are done here. Also, many women only arrive at the hospital after being in obstructed labor for some time. Many deliver at home with madronas, kind-of midwives who don’t really have any training. (Still, I don’t think that accounts for the 42% C-section rate I saw on the stats from the national hospital we visited.) Sadly, the infant mortality rate here is very high as well. How do you improve things like that? Well, for starters we can help look after baby Marixa, and we can help educate the people we meet about basic health care principles.

I have also been to an asilo, or home for the elderly. Some are funded with a bit of private money, but this was a welfare home. Many of the clients are so sweet, but are cared for rather poorly by a very small number of nurses with inadequate support and almost no supplies except basic food and bedding. We helped with bed sore dressings and teaching, and attended to some of their medical concerns. I felt these precious, neglected people are particularly close to the heart of God.

Thanks for your prayers for us in general. I did a quick scan of what everybody is missing back home: Friends came up number one, big time. After that, our house came up pretty often. Matt misses watching the Canucks (so do I!) and especially our cat Louie. So does Hannah, and almost everyone. Some of us may miss our dog Charlie more. Aaron misses his electric guitar, and his iPod since it recently got laundered (oops). Bonnie would love a hot bath (bathtubs are rare here), and her kitchen. I miss the hot-tub and good Canadian activities like hockey and snowboarding. Tori misses everything.

Our little pet turtles Sam & Ella helped a bit, at least for a couple days. (You can get Salmonella from turtles you know.) We love the weather here, and the interesting and/or fun outings. We love being able to pick up wonderful fresh stuffed or savoury breads from the nearby bakery! Getting 16 hot fresh tortillas for about 75¢ is sweet. Pineapples at that same price are really sweet. Having cousin Austin here for a week was a great diversion and encouragement. We got to have some great adventures, like injecting baby goats and cows and squealing pigs, doing a house call for a family looking after their ailing father, trying to roast marshmallows by the heat of flowing lava, and fighting beastly waves on a black-sand Pacific beach. We celebrated Hannah's birthday there, and Bonnie's is coming up too. The Cuaresma (lent, pre-Easter) activities here keep ramping up, and are very impressive to say the least. For a good primer, check out: http://www.questconnect.org/guat_semana_santa.htm . (I plan to post some more info on that as well.) Once again, there are plenty of pics on at http://picasaweb.google.com/jkornelsen --check the last four albums for recent stuff.

Thank you for the encouraging communications, and again for your prayers. With some of the funds donated we have done some lab tests on baby Marixa and will provide her with some formula. We are also providing some vitamins for two young brothers living in El Gorrión with muscular dystrophy, amongst other things.