Special Prayer Request

Today, I met this precious 8-day-old baby boy who was born with a cleft lip and a cleft palate. Although I could not stop smiling as I held his small, seven-pound body, my heart broke for his family as only years before, his cousin had been born with the same birth defect. Now, 5 years and many surgeries later, the cleft lip is barely noticeable on Abner's face, and I hope and pray that this will be the case for this little life as well. Please join me in praying and supporting this baby and his family as Paradise Bound Ministries strives to do "whatever it takes" to bring physical, emotional, and spiritual healing to this family.

Photo of the Week!

" Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Lamentations 3: 22-23

Miercoles (WEDNESDAY!)

On Wednesdays, I usually leave the mission base early to meet up with our pastor (Hermano Jesus) and head out to San Jose Cajaqualten. This village is one in which we built houses in 2006 and 2007, and now we return weekly to conduct a discipleship follow-up program. Every week, we visit with two or three families in their homes, talking with them, praying with them, and sharing a few verses of Scripture with them. Many in this village are very closed off to the Gospel, due to the war-torn history of the area and the strictness of their ruling committee, but it has truly been a blessing to see the spiritual hunger that is present in the lives of the ten or so families and young people that we have visited already. I know that God has great plans for this village and that He is going to use these families and teenagers and to begin a small devotional service that will soon blossom into a community church! Below are a few before/after pictures of a few families that we ministered to in the past while building houses for them and that we are now ministering to again by spending some time encouraging them spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally in their new homes!


















After our time is up in Cajaqualten, we begin making our way back to the mission base. As we make our way down the dirt road leading to the mission base, we take the first left down this tiny path into the village of Santa Isabel. In this small village, ten houses were built with the first three ministry teams that came to serve with us this past summer. Here, the system is a little bit different than in Cajaqualten as we visit with only one family every week inside of their new succulent spring salmon stucco house. As we arrive, we first share in a small lunch that one family has graciously prepared for us. Then, we share in a time of prayer and worship together, ending with a brief message by Hermano Jesus and the opportunity to minister to the family with medications if they are ill physically. I have only had the opportunity to just begin building relationships with the individuals in this village, but I have already been blessed by many of them in this short period of time.

A Week with Erin in Guatemala!

Well, many of you may (or may not) be thinking, "What the world has Erin been up to down in Guatemala the last two months without the summer mission teams around?" If that is you, then today is your lucky day! =) With the next few blog posts, I hope to give you a little taste of what a typical week down here looks like for me - although no one week is "typical" compared to another!
On Mondays and Tuesdays, I usually stick around the mission base and help out with various projects. Most of my time, however, is spent in the clinic, putting my Hope College nursing degree to good use! Some days, I will conduct consults and prescribe medications to the patients that come to our in-house medical clinic with our other nurse, Yojana. Some of the patients we actually are helping to treat long term. The following picture is of a little boy name Johnny who had numerous seizure every day for about three years or so. However, with the treatment from our clinic, and the healing power of Christ, he no longer seizes! Now he just comes to our clinic to receive his vitamins.


Other days, I may spend some time organizing the clinic and its medications in a way that is most conducive to the system under which we operate. A lot of my time is also spent calling patients as part of our medical follow-up program, which you will hear more about later! Until then, enjoy a few pictures of some of the other patients we have seen in our clinic. Stay turned for the next edition of "A Week with Erin in Guatemala" when we learn about what Erin does on WEDNESDAYS!!! =) Haha, I know, the suspense is killing me, too! =)

Tropical Depression Matthew

Thank you all so much for your prayers - Tropical Storm Matthew has been recently demoted to a tropcial depression! We are all safe and sound here at the base, despite the constant rain we have been getting for the last 24 hours or so. The rain hasn't even been able to stop our construction teams from pouring the concrete floor of the orphanage! However, the tropical depression is still expected to dump heavy rains on Central America over the next few days, so we would greatly appreciate your continued prayers for safety as well as for clear skies so that the construction team that is here now can still leave on their flight home tomorrow. I'll be sure to keep you updated if I hear more information, but sometimes heavy rains can make the internet crash as well. I will also try to get another update on soon about the different projects that are going around the base and within Paradise Bound Ministries/Open Doors Orphanage. Thanks again!

Happy Guatemalan Independence Day!!!

On Wednesday, September 15, 2010, Guatemala is celebrating their 200th anniversary as a country! There will be lots of celebrating with marching bands, parades, fireworks, flags and torch-bearing. As a mission, we will also be welcoming back the family of Dan and Heidi Smith, the head missionaries, as well as the family of Aaron and Gwen Van Manen, fellow missionaries and the new directors of Open Doors Orphanage! Please pray for safety for all as they have a big day of travel ahead of them with their final arrival time in Guatemala set for around 11pm EST.

Photo(s) of the Week!

Yesterday, I had the privilege of being able to hold these precious, 20-day-old twins! The baby boy weighed only 4.5 lbs at birth, and the baby girl only 3.5 lbs. The girl had to spend a few days in the hospital after she was born because so wasn't eating and her circulation was poor, but after examining them both, they seem to be doing just fine! Neither of them have names yet because, due to the high mortality rate here in Guatemala, it is custom for the parents to wait 30 days until they are almost certain that their child will survive before they name them. However, after spending some time visiting this family, providing them with gifts, holding the children, praying with them, and reading the Bible with them, I am confident that the Lord will pour out His rich blessings on this family by providing these newborns with great health and the opportunity to grow-up in this Christian home as followers and disciples of Christ!
(A special thanks to my Grandma, Grandma Rae, the wonderful woman of Appledorn Village, and the numerous other ladies who spent countless hours knitting the beautiful hats that the twins are wearing in these photos!)