Have you heard the news? (By Rachael)

Unless you regularly go searching for Latin American news, you’ve probably missed out on what’s been going on the past few weeks in Guatemala.  On the other hand, this news is so big that there’s a chance it made it into the international section of your hometown paper.  Why? Because, as the Guatemalan paper Prensa Libre reports, never before has a democratically elected president been accused of murder.  Murder.  And the president is accused. 

 

You can read more on the following sites:

Foxnews.com

Abcnews.go.com

Cnn.com

So what does this scandal mean for Guatemala? The middle class and wealthy Guatemalans are demanding that the president step down.  The poor and indigenous people are protesting in favor of the president.  Violence and fear are increasing. The FBI has been asked to get involved.

 

What does this mean for us and our upcoming trip plans? Our friends, John and Emily, were in Guatemala the very week this scandal erupted.  They were more cautious than usual and noticed a lot more traffic, because the protests are affecting the traffic patterns.  Nevertheless, they had a wonderful trip. 

 

We’ve heard that we might need to stay at a nicer, more secure hotel instead of the apartment we originally planned to rent.  We know the hotel is a very secure option and Buckner is looking out for safety, but this move will mean out housing costs for the week will jump from around $100 to closer to $700.  Ouch.  We weren’t counting on that.

 

We ask that you pray for the people of Guatemala and the political turmoil in their country.  Please pray that the country calms down quickly and differences are resolved peaceably. 

 

Please pray for us that we’d make wise decisions regarding our trip.   Pray that the turmoil wouldn’t keep us from visiting any of the orphanages—Elisa Martinez, San Gabriel, or the Baby Home.

 

Pray that we’d raise the funds to make up for the difference in housing costs. 

 

As always, we are thankful that we get to be involved in God’s work in Guatemala, and we are looking forward to visiting the children there and showing them love!  Pray that nothing would get in the way of His plans.

Hope (by Nate)

 

Yesterday we had lunch with a friend of ours, an experienced world-traveler, who has been keeping up on our adventures in Guatemala. We had a great time sharing our stories with an interested and active listener who challenged us to think about motivation, purpose, goals, and the potential for growth and expansion of our work in Guatemala.

Over the course of the conversation, our friend suggested we think about expanding our involvement in Guatemala to include others in the Terre Haute community, not just our church. After all, the people in our church aren’t the only ones who care about children and poverty. I know that a lot of people, regardless of their faith or theology, could get behind showing love to the unloved, providing opportunities to the overlooked, or giving hope to the hopeless.

Last night, in the middle of The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, one of his stories in a chapter about race jumped out at me. He was describing some of his interactions with a black businessman in West Chicago who described some of the hopelessness that is a common experience among inner-city blacks in the area. Many of them have no hope of living past 30 or getting to see their grandchildren grow into adults.

I think a similar thing is going on in Guatemala. Especially among orphans, there is a lot of uncertainty about the future and definitely a lack of guidance about long-term thinking. Even though the government and Buckner have rescued the kids we work with from a certain type of poverty by giving them food, water, clothing, and shelter, there is an emotional poverty that we are able to speak to. That’s the main focus of Foreign eXchange.

But what hit me as I put this all together is that by meeting this emotional need for love, we’re also stimulating the hope that causes people to want to learn and improve their existence. That’s exciting to me to see such a positive, unintended consequence of doing something that needs to be done.

If it goes no further than just passing on hope to the hopeless, I know a lot of people would be happy and excited to get involved. But for me, if that encouragement doesn’t spur people on to seek God and wrestle with who Jesus is, then it’s all just a nice gesture without any deeper meaning. My personal hope is that over the next several years we’ll be able to to spread both kinds of hope and that they wouldn’t be separated from each other.

Aliceña (by Rachael)

Today I went searching for pictures of a girl we met in Guatemala.  Her name is Aliceña, and in August she was living in Guatemala City so she could receive proper treatment for her leukemia.  When we visited in March, we found out she was living at one of the Buckner Transitional Homes with some of the older girls.  And her leukemia was gone.

I wanted to find her pictures so I could see for myself how much she had physically changed in a mere seven months.  Here’s what I found:

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

True, it’s obviously the same girl.  But now her hair is longer.  Her face is thinner.  Her eyes are bright and open.  And she’s lost that “little girl” look.

Come to think of it, the others have changed a lot as well, especially the kids at the Babies’ Home.  Each time we go back, I expect them to look the same as I remember them from the last trip, but look how much Estuardo, Danni, and Cristal have all changed in less than a year!

                  

Isn’t Estuardo guapo (handsome)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I kinda liked the bowl cut, but Danni’s cute any way you go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cristal has perhaps visibly changed the most. In between our first and second trip, she received a new eye!  She loves looking in the mirror and telling others how pretty it looks.

I’m so excited about going back in June that I’m having trouble falling asleep at night.  If you know me, that’s a big  HUGE deal.  One of the many things I’m looking forward to is another shocking reunion with these “babies” where I’m once again blown away by how much they’ve changed in a few short months.