HOME SWEET HOME!

Thanks for all of the prayers over the last 24 hours! All of the flights went very smoothly yesterday, and I arrived in the Detroit airport at around 4:45pm yesterday. After a few small traffic issues, I made it to my home in Jenison at around 8:15pm, where I was surprised by a small gathering of my family and some very close friends! It is nice to be home and see everyone again, and I am very excited that my transition home has been going smoothly so far. Now, I am looking forward to catching up on some sleep and to getting started on some projects. One of those projects - CONSISTENTLY UPDATING MY BLOG!!! =) Be looking for more pictures and stories soon!

Homeward Bound!

WOW - where have the last 5 months gone?! Tomorrow, Nov. 21, I will head back home to Michigan for a little furlough time. While it has been SUPER hard to say goodbye to many people that I have had the wonderful opportunity of getting to know and build relationships with since July, I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends. I know that God has a plan for me in Michigan just as much as He has a plan for me here in Guatemala, and I am finding peace in the fact that I do get to return to Guatemala soon enough. =) Until then, there is plenty of work to be done - including more blog posts! I apologize that I haven't been the best at updating lately, but these last few weeks have been CRAZY with wrapping various projects up before my departure.
Please join me in praying for safe flights, not only for myself, but for the other 18 team members that will also be returning to Michigan on Sunday morning. Also, please continue to pray for Paradise Bound Ministries and especially for Aaron and Gwen Van Manen (the directors of Open Doors Orphanage) as they remain in Guatemala until December.
I love and miss you all and look forward to either talking with or seeing many of you soon!

Happy Birthday MARCOS!

For those of you who don't know Marcos, he is a precious patient of ours here at Paradise Bound who will simply break your heart with one flash of his smile! Today, he turned 17, and we had a blast celebrating with him by watching a soccer game in a nearby village and inviting him to eat at Pollo Campero with us. Although there was reason for celebration, the day was somewhat bittersweet as we were reminded of the urgency of his medical situation. Marcos has been battling a severe bone infection called Osteomyelitis for about a year, and the medical treatment they have been prescribing him here in Guatemala is not helping whatsoever. If the infection is not halted soon, it could continue to spread and potentially cause Marcos to lose his leg. For a young man here in Guatemala, that type of disability would culturally lead to discrimination - no work, and no hope of starting a family. Therefore, we are working feverishly with Healing the Children and Shriner's Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri to get Marcos to the States for surgery as soon as possible. I ask that you would please join me in praying for this young man - not only that his leg may be healed and that he may continue to have high spirits throughout this whole process, but also that the paperwork we have to complete will go smoothly as we have already hit some bumps along the way. More importantly, however, join me in praying that God would do a great work in his life. Marcos is a special young man, in more ways than one, and I know that God is putting him through this trial for a great purpose - to draw Marcos closer to Himself amidst a Catholic family that is buried in religion and tradition!

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! =)