This was written last April and after meeting this couple, I am thoroughly convinced that it is not random that these people came to Canilla….  Read on only if you’re prepared for an amazing story….

PART 1 ( from Vickie Sutton, who serves in San Andres at the orphanage)

Tuesday we had the privilege to host a group of four people (and a baby) for the day for lunch and a tour of the home.  The interesting part is that these four people came from Spain to Guatemala to check out different ministries (more about that later) and among the four of them they represent four different countries.  One is from Spain, one from Guatemala, one from England and one from the United States.  They all know each other from their church in Spain.

The even more amazing part is how we even got in touch with them in the first place.  It’s a little bit of a long story, so bare with me here.  You know how sometimes your plans don’t go exactly how they were supposed to and you are inconvenienced?  Well, when that happens we just adjust (or get bent out of shape) and go on with life and don’t really know or see any reason for that inconvenience to have happened.  Well, about 2-1/2 weeks ago when I was coming back from a short visit to the States, my return was postponed by 24 hours due to a delayed flight that would cause me to miss my connecting flight, the last one of the day.  It caused some minor inconveniences both on the U.S. end and the Guatemala end, but the blessings that came from it are far more.  First, I got to spend another day with my daughter. Second, I got to help with another wedding detail that I had really wanted to help with but had run out of time.  Third, when I did end up flying back to Guatemala I got to fly first class!  The fourth involves my husband, Norman, on the Guatemala end.

By the time I got a hold of Norman to let him know I wasn’t coming back until the next day, he had already left the home to head to Guatemala City to pick me up at the airport.  He was in Quiche, an hour away from home, but that hour is a pretty rough road and it isn’t exactly a joy ride to navigate.  When I called him, he “just happened” to be with some other missionaries picking something up from them.  They told him they were hosting a couple for the night and invited him to stay.  So he stayed and met this nice couple.  He is Guatemalan and she is English and they have an 8 month old baby.  He is a Doctor and has been in residency in Spain.  He will be done in a year and a half.  They both have a heart for serving the Lord and for Guatemala.  So while they were in Guatemala visiting family they also have been visiting different ministries to see where God may lead them to serve when they return.  If my flight hadn’t been postponed, he wouldn’t have met them.

A couple weeks later we received a phone call from the wife saying that they had two men from their church in Spain here visiting and they wanted to come visit the home.  Once they got here and shared their heart, we told them that they needed to go to Canilla and meet the Fickers and learn about Adonai International Ministries.  Their time was limited but we zipped over there and had an awesome time listening to the vision God has given both the Fickers and this young couple.  Meeting this couple and their two friends and spending the day with them was such a blessing to us.  We enjoyed hearing how God is working in their lives.  And it is all because my flight was postponed by 24 hours.  God’s ways never cease to amaze me and they are definitely higher than mine!

Isaiah 55:9  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

PART 2 (written by John Epperly, a doctor from the group who w

has been here with us for this crazy month).

He Is Always Faithful!

Our waiting room outside one Indian village

Leslie and Armando(translator/pastor) seeing a patient

Shea and I continue to see that trying to build a hospital in a developing country is not for the faint of heart. This journey has already been filled with more challenges and surprises then we expected. These challenges have all come before we have even put a shovel in the ground. The amazing part is through these “roadblocks”, unexpected turns, and difficult questions, God gets to show up and be really big!

One of our more recent “road blocks” came in the form of a Guatemalan regulation requiring that any functioning hospital have a Guatemalan licensed physician on their medical staff. This was a bit of issue seeing as how our current planned medical staff are a long way from being Guatemalan citizens. The wonderful thing about this problem, is long before we even knew we had a problem, God was working on the hearts and minds of a licensed Guatemalan physician and his wife to show His glory in a magnificent solution.

For some time Dr Luis Aquino and his wife Naomi felt a call to return to Luis’s home country of Guatemala. Luis finished medical school, and even worked for a short time in Guatemala. An opportunity for better training came up in the form of residency in Spain. Luis is currently finishing up his 4th year of family medicine residency in Spain, and he and Naomi have both felt a strong burden to serve his people. Now, Luis is from one of the bigger cities in Guatemala, so one would think it would make logical since for him to desire to work in his home town. Thankfully, Luis felt that he wasn’t suppose to serve in the city, but was suppose to use his skill set in a more rural or remote area of Guatemala. The biggest question for Luis was where in rural Guatemala he should serve.

Fortunately, part of that question was answered for him over a year ago in a very vivid (I call God inspired) dream. He said it was unlike any dream he had ever had, but in it he saw a hospital in a very lush, pine forest mountain range, encircling a large valley. Now, unfortunately Guatemala is full of beautiful mountains, so this dream gave him no specific insight….at least not yet. If you fast forward to April 2013, Luis and Naomi took a vision trip to Guatemala to see if they might get a feel for what region in Guatemala God might have them serve.

After sometime of exploration had past, Luis really didn’t have any solid leads on hospitals where he felt he should work. It was in the city of Quiche that Luis and Naomi “happened” to run into a missionary friend of Duane and Leslie Fickers, by the name Norm. Norm actually lived several hours away, much closer to the Fickers, but just “happened” to be in Quiche at the same time. It was here that Luis told Norm his story and his desire to find a hospital in rural Guatemala. Norm of course emphatically told Luis about the Fickers plan for a hospital and about our groups desire to staff this hospital with our physicians.

At the time, Luis and Naomi were on a tight schedule and had to get back to Guatemala City fairly soon. Thankfully, Norm convinced them that they had to go to Canilla and talk with Duane’s son and daughter-in-law Aaron and Katie. He told them that Duane and Leslie where back in the USA for a short time but they really needed to talk with Aaron and Katie about the vision for the hospital in Canilla. After much discussion, Luis and Naomi finally acquiesced and headed on a 2-3 hour drive the opposite direction of there intended destination to see Canilla.

As Luis and Naomi approached Canilla, he looked up and saw a beautiful plush, pine forest mountain range encircling a small city located in a large valley. It was at that moment he knew this was the exact area God had showed him in his dream. Realizing this he wept, and Naomi along with him. They realized that God brought them to the exact location they were supposed to serve. They met with Aaron and Katie for a short period of time, but as Aaron recalls they really just wept for joy during most of their time together. They were both overwhelmed by the journey God had taken them on, and so thankful for His faithfulness to them.

Similar view to what Luiz saw while driving into Canilla!

This story came to life for us just last week as Luis and Naomi came to Canilla for the second time just to confirm their decision to work here. Shea and I, along with Duane and Leslie, were able to spend a lot of time talking, dreaming, and praying about the future of this hospital. After their trip here, Luis and Naomi felt God had completely confirmed their decision to work in Canilla, and plan on starting here in January of 2015. Praise God!

What an amazing answer to prayer! God is always faithful. He is even faithful to take care of our needs and problems before we even realize they exist. As a typical North American I love to plan, strategize, and worry myself into a frenzy. I often feel that if I can just work harder, think harder, or sleep less all of my problems will be solved. This story is just another reminder to me that more then anything I have to fall back into the arms of my Lord and wait on Him to solve my problems, and answer my prayers. What a peace this gives me. Matthew 6:25-34 goes into great detail about why we shouldn’t worry. Jesus says he even takes care of the needs of the birds, and how much more valuable are we to Him. In Philippians 4:6-7 Paul says: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus! 

Remember this as you go forward this week. Working hard is of tremendous importance, but we have to realize that our strength and peace come only in the Lord.

This morning I watched an older man filling a sack from his wheelbarrow along the canal.  As I approached him I thought he was collecting firewood, but in reality, it was dried cow patties.  He asked how I was doing and what I was doing there, and I had a short conversation with him.  As I walked away I pondered his morning.  He was collecting the droppings of cows that had dried, putting them in a sack, and then carrying them on his back to his house more than a mile away, up a steep revine.  Prior to my encounter with this man, another man approached me and after the usual greeting asked if I liked it in Canilla.  Although I am not new to the area, I am assumed to be new because I am white and look like the rest of the new folks around here with the school.  There is a sort of energy that is present when townies talk about the school.  They are encouraged by the hope and possibilities that are coming….. And I think to myself, if they only really knew where this was going.  The vision keeps growing.  I have not had the time to sit down and update everything to keep you in the loop, yet I feel like it is extremely important.

One of the things that I am most excited about is the people that God is assembling here.  the last six weeks we had complete chaos and craziness as people were coming and going, some for the first time and some long time friends.  All in all, it was good to all be one the same page and unified.  Here is definitely something that we can’t deny God’s hand is in, on and around all of this….  Two stories from you.  One written last April….and the next two from two of this pieces of the puzzle….. Stay tuned for the latest and greatest…..

January was a month of change where we were unsure of where all the sticks would fall, but we have come through on the other side…. And continue to gather confirmation of the path we are on.  Here is what we have been up to….

School news-  Monday we will begin classes for four different schools.  To me that is an explosion of the original idea, but as we walked the path and weighed options, we know that we did not want to just create a dead end for those students who have potential to study further.  And so we are opening two different nursing schools, one for auxiliary nursing and one for professional nursing.  We also are opening a bachillerato de biologia which basically is a pre med  program focusing on biology.  These students will be able to go onto medical or technical school.  The last school is an English school where we will be teaching, children, young adults and adults.  This school will also eqip those in our area for others jobs where knowing English is beneficial.

It is always encouraging when we have a random find in the bodega that greatly benefits someone.  A few months ago, someone donated some hearing aids that greatly have changed lives down here.  See the smiles on these faces.

A week ago we had 41 plates at our table.  Between teams, visiting doctors, and those that have made their home here…. We are becoming a formidable force.  Recently a Guatemalan doctor and his wife were here with a confirmation story for us all.  Both of them had hearts of gold to serve these people and it was seen from early on.  We continue to host people and rotate doctors through, trusting that God makes his way known in the midst of the chaos at times.

This is the dry season and there are so many contrasts to life during the wet season.  The first contrast is obvious- it is dry – and brown – and dusty, all of the time.  I will take this over cold and snow any day, but it gives me appreciation for those people that live within these circumstances as well as a deeper understanding of the difficulty that comes with these circumstances. Dryness can cause a desperation. Many women are desperate for the health of their children.  I see others desperate for food. For their livestock.  For their cracking skin.  Dryness of the land almost seems into the soul and causes a dryness within the person as well.  Many of the men have left to work at the coast where they can have two growing seasons.  There are families as well that have left this area in search of work.  Even children as young as five will work in the sugarcane fields to put food on the table.

We are lucky enough in our valley to have a canal that supplies water to the valley. The small percentage of people that own flat ground can use this canal for irrigation, allowing for another growing season.  The canal runs outside of our house and reminds me that water and life and so connected here. I see it daily. I hear the flow of water at night.  We even benefit from the water running over onto the some days and keeping the dust at bay.  If you have water, your life is that much richer.  You have water to wash I with, cook with, give to your livestock, and use in the fields.  It dries up the desperation and provides hope to continue.   Likewise we are encouraged to drink from a well that never runs dry (  The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in dry places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like watered land, like a spring of water, whose water does not run dry Isaiah 58:11).   As I see the water flowing every day, it is a constant reminder for me to go back to the source.  The source of the canal is a spring/ river at the top of the mountain.  This river constantly flows and the canal branches out from the river.

Likewise, we are promised in scripture that Jesus constantly flows life into us – Living water that refreshes our lives.  When I was younger I sang the tune “I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me. Opens prison doors, sets the captive free.   I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me”. This promise is one that I hope doesn’t come just from the physical water that is here in the valley.  With the expansion of our ministry and the opening of our schools, my HOPE is that we can figuratively pour living water into this valley that lasts, during the dry season, during the wet season, during the times of trial and tribulation seasons, and during the season of searching. Living water can quench even the driest of souls.

As 2014 promised, it is a year of change. A year of differences. A year of patience testing. Starting with the return trip during the polar vortex which delayed just about every plane in the airport, I headed back to embrace the differences.

When one door closes, another is sure to open and we are waiting to step forward right now. With the opening of the school set for this month, the teachers have come and we’ve been further training them in clinics and working with them to know their levels of competency and teach them the side of nursing that they don’t get here, compassion. The school is cleaned up and ready, and we have a class of students eager to begin. The piece missing is cooperation from the Guatemalan government. They have threatened to take back the seal of approval that was given last fall. This is not just happening to us but to others in the country as well. We have learned that it is a byproduct of the corruption here. Thankfully there is a Guatemalan friend that knows the system who has been daily speaking with governmental officials. And so we wait and pray at this time…. Diligently, feverently , knowing that what is happening is illegal but we cannot make enemies with the system yet work within the system.

Because there is no snow or reminder of the Christmas season, Christmas could pass us by without us really even knowing it occurred.  There is no music blaring in every store you enter, cold winter air, or Salvation Army bells ringing.  We have reminders of it ourselves though as we have the advent candles out and snowflakes on the windows, creating the spirit that I know, just a little bit.  It has caused me to reflect though on Christmas itself.   Christmas is a holiday that celebrates Christ’s birth, hence the Christ part of Christmas.  And yet in Guatemala it is not a major Christian holiday.  Because there is such a great divide between those who are Christians and their traditional ways of celebrating holidays, they do all they can to remain separate.  Having a Christmas tree is against the Christian rules here is Guatemala.  Decorating is not accepted.  There is little celebration or even mention of the day.  Then what is Christmas if there is not celebration?  Yes, we have established these traditions and many times we get so caught up in shopping and the hustle and bustle of the season that we forget the root of the holiday.  But our traditions also help to create anticipation for Christmas Day.  We are Christians should remember Jesus year round and although there is debate over what month Jesus was actually born, it is during Christmas that we focus on His birth and celebrate him even further.  Our traditions that we have built in bring us to this celebration.  It brings families together with the reminder of what Jesus means to each of us during this time of year.  I hope that your preparations have been in anticipation of this celebration.

Today we went in search of a Christmas tree…. Here are a few pictures from the excursion.

I feel as if I’ve been experiencing a lot of death lately, both figuratively and literally.  It has amazed me how quickly green can turn to brown.  The rains ceased less than a month ago and everything is not only covered in dust, but has died as well.  There is a haze over the land impeding my view of the mountains as dust is heavy in the land.  I feel this weight over the people as well almost as I see feet shuffling along and few signs of life.  Death.  Dust.  How bitter these can taste.  How heavy these burdens can be.  This week we enter into a greater heaviness as well as the fiesta has come to town.  People come in from the surrounding villages to celebrate, often drinking until they pass out on the streets.  There is a lot of activity that is promiscuous and destructive during this time.  Death.  Death to a different life.

This death has even a greater choke than this.  I have been helping with ultrasounds more frequently and have seen three ladies who lost their babies in one week.  In any culture and for any person this can be a heart wrenching experience.  But I have found it to have multiple emotions here ranging from confusion, to fear, to sadness and numbness.  Having to confirm this truth makes your heart ache.  Last Tuesday was the third, a mother of four who was seven months pregnant.  Flor was doing the ultrasound and came upstairs to confirm what she had seen.  As I walked towards this momma, a blue towel was draped across her abdomen, almost signaling the death that lied beneath.  The woman was listless, not moving, already retreating to a mindful of questions and gripped by fear.  And her face was so downcast and worried, with reason.

She was alone to care for her four children.  Her husband was away working at least till Christmas, she wasn’t sure.  Nor was she sure about how she could get to the hospital or what to do when she did arrive.  She had four children to care for.   Armondo explained to her that this wasn’t her fault and that at times God wants some children with Him even before they are born.  She nodded her head to this, but the blank stare on her face was filled with fear as she realized what she was walking home to.  And so she slid off the table and over to her 18 month old son.  She lifted him onto her back, wrapped him in her rebolsa, and started the journey home…. Only to live out the reality that so many here encounter, giving birth to a child that
is not breathing.  The air and my heart were heavy as I realized how difficult death is, each time.

Yet another woman comes to my mind.  She came last week for medicine for her nerves.  Six months ago she had lost her baby and had to go to the hospital to have it removed.  The experience still made her anxious and she spoke with fear as she was afraid this would happen again.  I have never lost a baby, but I have friends that have.  I know it is one of life’s most difficult moments.  And yet I find the difficulty doubles within this culture.  There is little understanding to what needs to be done or what could happen if nothing is done.  And there is less trust of the hospital and fear over what could happen there, then there is of dying at times.

As I prayed with this first woman and watched the tears well in her eyes, I could see the determination in her face.  The determination that she would be there for her children.  That this too would pass.  Yet I couldn’t help but be filled with hope that one day, in the near future, there would be a place a little closer to home that would welcome her with love and be a place of refuge for her during this time.

O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
Our God is not dead, He’s alive, He’s alive

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

Matt Maher – Christ Has Risen Lyrics

Although death creeps all around us, we have a promise that death is not the end.  That there will be life and that it will come up from the ashes.  And so we continue on, to give home to these mommas and press forward for what is to come.

Since we work all weekend and Saturday and Sunday are our busiest days, we take Wednesday off as our rest day.  This is the day that I like to explore something or go on a day adventure somewhere.  I catch up on emails and try to feel grounded.   Here are a few of the things we have done on our “day off”.

The closest town to us is San Andres.  It’s a 10.9 mile road that is dirt, with plenty of potholes, ridges, rocks, ditches and hills.  I should say hills, hills, and more hills.  It’s one of those challenges that’s sort of been established around here – to ride there and back.  And so I agreed to the ride this month with the crew.  We had a close call with a truck, numerous close calls to wiping out, we rode the last 5 miles in the dark, while downpouring, and the sweat blinding me.  How no one wrecked is still a mystery.  Our bikes were sort of pieced together and we only needed a wrench once on the ride.  Not bad.  David was riding Grace’s oldest bike – kind of like a unicycle.  None the less, about as good as adventures get around here!

We also have visited the Rio Grande….. a good hour drive from our house and then a good 40 minute walk down a STEEP grade.  We found a raging river at the bottom where we had a picnic, found a lizard, and explored.  It is always good to get a break and a change in scenery.  For me the highlight was finding this waterfall…. a clear trickle of water was flowing into this massive river of turbulent water and as I followed it, it led to a beautiful cleft.  So peaceful.  So quiet.  As I climbed higher and higher my eyes feasted on the beauty.

A termite nest in a tree….

The view from the cove.

The Rio Grande itself

The view from midway down our path.