It's Great to feel Good Again!!

it is great to feel good again

The first 8 days in Guatemala my body ran through a gambit of aches and pains. At first, I attributed it to a cold and sleeping on a hard floor for several nights after we arrived on the 4th. An aggravating sinus headache and stiffness could easily have been a cold but as the days progressed the symptoms changed to slight fever, alternating joints hurting, stomach cramps, my body hurting to the touch, and finally concluding with diarrhea. It was the morning of this final stage that I was to hike with one of the farmers to inspect the ponytail palms we had planted on a previous trip. I had put off the hike the day before and went into town to pick up our food, propane for the school, and fertilizer and fungicide for the farmers.

The morning was here and there were no more excuses. All I could think was ‘this is not going to be fun’. The trail to David’s farm is very steep and slippery and David is part mountain goat so there is no slowing him down. Even on my best days I’m panting to keep up with him. About three fourths of the way to the top I felt as if I would toss my cookies but I pushed on as David was now out of sight.

The nausea passed as I came to a reprieve in the climb and reached a more level stretch of trail. Once at the top, it was amazing to see how far the ponytail palms stretched up and down the ridges. Even more incredible was the thought of how anyone could have planted anything on this unfriendly terrain. David, making good use of the land, had even planted beans in between the palms. Unlike David, I was doing everything I could to keep from sliding down and taking out a row of trees. On the way back I stopped to see Gregorio and Rufino. Years before FIA had provided the villagers with coffee plants for them to earn an income. They were free to consume it or sell it to whomever they chose. I had Rufino roast 15 lbs for me.

A special thanks to Jack Norman Jr who spent countless days under assault by biting insects and the long sharp thorns of 5,000 citrus plants as he pruned them one by one. The citrus plants are all a deep luscious green and ready for grafting. Dwight, an American that moved here over 20 years ago with the peace corps and now has a fruit farm, called and is excited about helping me get some bud material to start the grafting. I want a different type of citrus to diversify the local market. Dwight feels he might be able to find Naval oranges and tangerines. Neither of these is available in this area. With 5,000 trees ready to be grafted this could really help bring an income to these people.

It was refreshing to come back to the mission and find things in not just good, but GREAT shape. David and Alfredo, the two new caretakers at the mission, are doing an outstanding job. They’ve trimmed the coffee, citrus, and banana plants, removed weeds, and mulched. Usually my worms for vermiculture are nearly all dead when I return. This was not the case this time. The worms are fat and happy. This is great news since I have a missionary couple from Honduras that will be picking up worms to take back in order to start vermiculture for their farmers. We are in the process of converting available space around the mission into vegetable gardens. We will continue to experiment with different vegetables with the most nutritional value.

Cassidy was very excited when I told her I was looking for a calf. David has a young bull. We will partner and raise calves for sale. In the meantime, they can keep the grass and weeds down around the mission as well as provide a source of fertilizer and pesticide. The manure can be added into the soil directly or fed to the worms and then added back to the soil. The urea is a great as a pesticide.

The clinic is busy as usual but with two less patients. Both Sophia and Tina had died while we were in the states. After placing Sophia in an elderly assisted living facility on our last trip, she was under the notion that the staff was fattening her up to eat her. Sophia ran away and came back up the mountain only to starve to death. Tina had come to me with headaches before we left for the states. I had given her medicine for her headaches but the underlying cause must have been more severe. She died a month before our return. When digging her grave the villagers uncovered the remains of 2 other deceased individuals. Tina’s body was simply placed in with the others and covered over.

We are seeing the usual ailments of colds, body aches, lice, and worms. The unusual problem was with Juana’s 2 month old girl that had puss coming from inside both her ears. We suctioned out her ears and flushed them with warm salt water followed by hydrogen peroxide and now she’s being treated with amoxicillin.

The church service was jam packed Sunday morning. Manalo started off with a message from Luke with Jesus instructing them to allow the little children to come to Him. He did this with in the front of church with Julio and his wife Juana as they presented their two month old daughter in a church dedication. Various members came up front to take the microphone and lead in worship songs for the next hour. This was concluded with Manalo again preaching, this time from Galatians 5:16-26 on the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Each fruit was represented by a drawing that Manalo would elaborate on. At the end of service, the bags of shoes we had drug in the night before were handed out to the villagers.

After church, I had several of the farmers follow me to the apartments. I have seeds that I wanted them to try out. One is a hardier tomato resistant to pests. The other is a mammoth sugar pea that I grew last year. The pods are 4 inches long. The peas were very sweet and nutritious and can be eaten right from the garden. Hopefully they will like them and we can incorporate them into their diet. We’ve started a list of other vegetables such as cauliflower and cabbage and I’ll pick up seeds for them later next week.

The first week here has been good. As I finish this my kids are having a water fight with the natives. They are all laughing and screaming and soaked to the bone. I’m choked up as I reminisce about how truly blessed we are that God would use us here in this village. God is GREAT!!!!!!