Final Test

We were to leave Guatemala on June 20th. The rainy season had already started and the road leading up the mountain to the villages was impassible. Jaime Ortiz, a fellow missionary living in the mission house in Matasano, was trying to get up to his wife, Cindy, and his kids with the groceries he had bought in Zacapa. The past week, the Ortiz family had survived only on rice and beans. On the second day, after working on the road and getting a reprieve from the rain, we were able to deliver Jaime and the groceries to his family. It was now getting late and we would have to try to make the trip to Pinalito the following day. After waiting till late morning to allow the morning sun to dry the roads, my son, Dylan, his friend Gustavo (his friend from the states), and I ventured further up the mountain.
After two hours of driving, the ruts became too wide and deep to continue any further so we abandoned the truck. We would cross the stream and hike another 30 minutes on foot. Time was not on our side. The afternoon rains would be starting and we still needed to hydrate, pack our things and get off the mountain quickly. Ten minutes had not passed and we were still trying to catch our breath from the steep climb in the heat of the day, when a distressed young girl comes to our door with fear written all over her face. Gustavo and Dylan translated that a young girl is dying and we needed to come. Everything is dropped as we start the run through the mission to the mountain road and up the steep dirt path to the house of Gregorio. I heard crying and I recognized the voice of the pastor’s wife, Carolina, as she rebuked the devil and pleaded with Dios (God) to spare this child. Gregorio was holding his 5 year old daughter, Esmeralda, as she shook violently. Her eyes were blank and staring nowhere. Her breathing was labored and shutting down fast and she was convulsing and froth was dripping from the edge of her mouth. Rugina, Esmeralda’s mom, was weeping and kept repeating “liar!!! Liar!!!”, in Spanish. I had no idea if is she was accusing God or the Devil of the act.
One night two years earlier, she had lost her daughter, Milagro, to seizures. Esmeralda was her only daughter with five brothers. Most families would lose at least two children before they became adults. Dylan and Gustavo translated a series of questions as I tried to determine what had caused this, but I’m no doctor!!! She had eaten a fresh water crab and some fruit for lunch a few hours earlier. Was it food poisoning? Was she having an allergic reaction or was it something else? All the medical supplies were in the clinic but I didn’t have those keys and we were up here alone. I would have to get in Sarah and Melanie’s apartment and find their set of keys but they were in Guatemala City. Sarah is extremely organized and on the verge of being anal. Normally I would have to tease her, but today I would certainly thank God for that trait! She is quite unique and amazing to say the least. The keys are color coded but I don’t know which keys go with which colors. I dialed Sarah, knowing that I wouldn't get through... but there is a “Hey Ron” coming through the receiver! After briefly filling her in on the dilemma she asked me where I am and I explained "I’m in your apartment looking at your key board!” “But, that’s impossible, there is no phone reception in my apartment”, she said. My response was simply, “I guess God says there is”. Upon locating the keys, it was a mad dash to the clinic to find the epinephrine and syringes. We frantically tore apart the drawers in the dispensary with no luck. I decided to try to call Michael. After filling him in on the situation he directed me to a drawer in the dental room. “Where are you now?" he asked. “I’m in the clinic going through the drawers in the dental room.” Again the familiar response, “that’s impossible, there is no reception in the clinic”. My answer seemed all too familiar. “I guess God says there is.
By now the ordeal was well underway, but my testing was about to begin. You see, I have a very special pair of sunglasses that everyone thinks are sooo cool. While running with my hands full of vials of epi, a syringe, a pack of needles and a respirator, one of my lenses fell out of my glasses. The dilemma is.... do I stop and bend down and pick up a piece of my favorite sunglasses or do I continue to run to help a girl I don’t even know? I continued the run.
Well, okay, that was only $80.
Approaching the home, I could hear Carolina rebuking the devil, as well as the cries of her parents. Family members wait outside the house. After numerous injections of the epinephrine and the use of the respirator Esmeralda seemed to calm, but we must get off this mountain and to the hospital NOW, before the rains hit.
The villagers of Pinalito are reluctant to go to the hospital. Too many of them have died from neglect at the hands of prejudiced hospital personnel. Rugina has now made a sling and has Esmeralda in it. They started the descent from their home, down the narrow steep path and across a barbwire fence to the road that will lead to the truck. I desperately tried once more, to reach Dr Tosha Knight, or my sister in law Katie. I wanted to see if there is anything that I may have missed, before leaving the supplies in the clinic. There is no answer on either phone.
As I ran down the mountain to catch the others I realized that I hadn’t locked up my apartment. I had left our 4 laptops worth close to $8,000 strewn around the apartment. The materialistic side of me urged me to go back and secure my possessions. The compassionate side urged me to hurry down the mountain and help carry Esmeralda.
How these people hike up and down these roads is amazing. Some of the inclines are 45 degrees. We were now running down hill. The footing was terrible, with loose clay and rock underfoot. The washouts were everywhere, forming ruts across the road that must be jumped and avoided. I finally caught up and I’m sweating and breathing heavily but so is everyone. Carolina signaled for Rugina to put the sling over my shoulders. First, we sat Esmeralda down and used the respirator. Her breathing was once again much labored. I was not sure that we will get her down the mountain alive. My heart was pounding and my legs were on fire! Gregorio will have to finish the run.
Gustavo was in the front seat to interpret while the family was in the back. Dylan was hanging on for dear life in the back of the truck, while we bounced over ruts and come dangerously close to sliding over the side of the mountain. He would have to jump out and open gates on the descent than run to catch the truck as we continued our descent. The two hour drive was made in 20 minutes.
The materialistic demon was still on my shoulder telling me to slow down so I didn’t ruin my suspension. Michael and I had discussed this many times... how this mountain could tear apart a truck with all its rocks and ruts with Baja driving. I continued driving but shortly noticed that a red engine light had come on. I had just bought this truck-----the last thing I could afford was to blow the engine. The prayer became, “Please Lord just let me get Esmeralda to the hospital before the engine blows." We made it
. The next day, two prayer warriors, Sarah and Melanie, and I visited the family. It was such a blessing to see little Esmeralda being held in her mother’s arms. It looked as if Rugina would never turn loose. Sarah took Esmeralda and bought her a new dress, hair ties, and had her hair trimmed and shampooed.
Today Esmeralda is back on top the mountain doing fine and under the careful watch of her mother Rugina.
I had come away with not one, but two valuable lessons from my J.C. 101 class. The first came from my sister Rocky. When she heard of my reckless descent down the mountain, she felt compelled to tell me of a similar story about herself with a near tragic ending. She thought as I did, that everything depended on her, in saving a life. She was racing down the mountain to save a life with a carload of people when she had taken a curve too wide and had gone over the side of the mountain. Expecting to have the vehicle tumble end over end with all its passengers she prayed and asked God for forgiveness for killing everyone aboard. Just as fast as the road had vanished it now reappears under her tires. Excitedly she told her husband, Michael, the story. He was not at all amused, and was quite angry at her reckless behavior. Michael explained that she is NOT the one in control; it is God who is in control. Her job was to pray and act responsible.
It was a point well taken.
The second lesson had to deal with my selfish and materialistic life. The lesson started with my favorite sunglasses being lost and continued to escalate in value as the day progressed. From sunglasses, to computers, to my truck and ended the following day with me emptying my pockets to pay for Esmeralda’s hospital bills. In hindsight I realized I had received the best lesson/gift of all: I had finally realized that material possessions are not important. It is the relationships that really add value to one’s life. Of course, I’m certainly not in control of anything------God’s in control!!!!

We’ll be heading back in October. I’m not sure how long we’ll stay this time but the idea is until the first of next year. Please keep us in your prayers.

God Bless,
Ron and Kids

Guess Who Is In Control

GUESS WHO IS IN CONTROL?

Our trip was coming to a conclusion now near the end of June. We had finished working alongside the Indians on the Rio Dulce River building benches for the church and extracting teeth and doing other dental work in a makeshift facility on the outskirts of the village. It was time to head to Zacapa to meet up with a team of block masons from North Carolina. The dorms for the mountain children were ready to have the initial blocks laid. These men from the mountains of North Carolina, full of country twang and bear hunting exploits, were here for the mountain children of Pinalito and Mantasana. To be at this juncture in the building process was a story in its own right. Twice I had seen what could only be God intervening in the construction process. Only days before the footers are to be dug a long time missionary, Paul Emory who for years headed up construction building throughout the world for Missionary Ventures, called Michael to let him know he was flying a small plane into Zacapa-----Could Michael pick him up? Arriving at the job site Paul quickly noticed the building was laid out incorrectly. He spent that evening redrawing the plans to add more bathrooms and provide a better utilization of the space. The next day the building was re-laid to the new set of plans. After Paul had left, Andrew Weiver calls from New York saying that he’s coming in. Andrew is a college student studying construction and engineering. I had met him a couple months earlier when he came in for a week with a group of volunteers from New York Times Church. The timing was perfect, with his expertise in structural steel and concrete strength the pads and footers were formed, poured, and ready just in time for the masons. With the masons came another surprise Dan Schieffelin. He happened to be a warranty and service provider for Gentrac Catepillar generators. That particular generator was the main generator for the mission and had been out of service for with no one able to get it running. Dan had it purring by the following day. As help were needed God continually provided and expert in that field. It was quite amazing to experience.