We are all back home safe and sound.  It was a great trip, and I am proud of the team members and all they accomplished during the week.  God was indeed good to us, showering us with traveling mercies, and giving us the opportunity to serve Him in very unique ways.

My heart is aching for the orphanage.  It was hard not being able to go back every day and hold and play with the kids.  I am praying that God will open up the opportunity for me to return in February of next year.  Emma has expressed her desire to return as well.  She shared that she too was disappointed to not have more time with the kids.  However we both appreciated the opportunities God gave us to meet all the families we served in Tecpan delivering food and clothing, and to have the chance to participate in a wheelchair distribution. 

It was good to see Maria and her family again during our food distribution in Tecpan.  We first met them when Dick took us there in February.  Maria is a widow and mother of 5 children.  Lately she has been suffering from headaches, induced, she believes, by the stress of not being able to provide for her family.  She does her best, selling her beautiful tapestries, but it is not enough.  The headaches make it more difficult for her to concentrate on her work.  There are times when she has no food to give her kids, and this absolutely upsets her.  Members of our team gave her what money we had, along with some rice and beans to supplement a strictly tortilla diet, which should last a few months and ease the burden for a moment.  But to think that she knows that it is a temporary fix is painful.  I have been praying that somehow, someway she will find a better way to provide for her family without having to ask for or accept outside help, which I could tell was difficult for her.  She has a deep, genuine love of Jesus, and her faith is stronger than most people I know.  I can only hope that God will find a way to help her and her family.

I also pray for Moises, my dear little friend at the Hermano Pedro orphanage in Antigua.  We gave him a camera, and he was delighted.  The only problem is that within hours it had been taken from him.  I wonder if it would have been better to have not brought it at all in the first place.  While it was exciting to see his reaction, and to watch him joyfully use it, I’m wondering if it was the best decision.  He has already had enough disappointment in his young life.  Was it a good idea to give him something that would most certainly be taken away?  I can only pray that Dick will find a way to get it back to him.  Once again, have I imposed my own desires on a helpless victim causing him unnecessary hurt?

It is exciting to think that we will be sending another team to Guatemala in June of 2010.  Originally I had planned on an every-other year format, but Chris Mooney and the team felt that St. John’s could handle a yearly visit to Guatemala.  It looks like we already have lined up our adult portion of the team, beginning with the strong possibility of Fr. Scot and his wife Chitra serving on the team.  I also have to delegate much of the work to other people, since this last trip took more than 2 years of planning, and seriously took away time from the other ministries for which I am responsible.  In order for it to really happen it is going to take more volunteers, and hours of diligent and hard work.  Since we are increasing the team size from 12 to 15 members, the financial end will be larger.  Does our church have what it takes to come up with $30,000?  And can we ask of our parishioners, friends and families to give yet again in less than a year?  It will take a great deal of planning, and a heap of faith.  Please pray that I can give this all up to God and let Him make the decisions and plans.

Cathy