Day 12

Friday, October 29, 2010

I went back to San Antonio Agua Caliente yesterday to visit again with the family I met on Tuesday, and to meet the other handicapped children and their families.  There were already many families inside the home upon my arrival.  The family had borrowed chairs from a local church and had them sitting all around the home.  More families arrived after only a short time.  The home was quickly filled to well over its capacity.  The father of the home stood up in the center and introduced me to everyone there.  He then gave a presentation of the need the community has for a place for these handicapped children to do physical and speech therapy.  After he finished, he called out each handicapped child’s name individually.  As each child’s name was called out, the parent would bring them over in front of me and give the story of their child.  It was very heart breaking as the families would stand and weep in front of me.  The children would hug me, and I held onto each of them for a long time.  Many have spinal bifida, and many cannot talk and/or hear.  Some are mentally challenged as well.  The stories and needs of each of these families came to me one by one.  There were tears, laughter, and the complete presence of the Holy Spirit.  They were so excited when I presented to them that my family is moving to Guatemala in January as missionaries.  I promised them that I would share their stories with my local churches in the States, and that my family will help them any way that we can.  I watched the parents intently in the room.  I imagined if this was my child.  The hardship it would be for me to have a handicapped child in the States.  It would be very difficult and stressful on my family.  But I would have the means of insurance, hospitals, and all the other professional help that I could get.  These families have no money.  No means of transportation to the capital for the help they need.  No work because they must stay home and take care of their children 24 hours a day.  The need is to rent a large home in the community for these children to go to and get physical and speech therapy.  It would need to feed them breakfast and lunch, and have the necessary equipment and teachers to meet each of their needs.  What I would like to ask of you is to pray.  Pray for these needs to be met.  Pray for wisdom that can only come from God for my family to assist these people in meeting their needs.  Pray for the finances to come in for the place that each of these children can get the therapy they need.

God Bless