October 2008
For more info and stories of our adventure go to: www.allisonfamilyinguat.blogspot.com
We arrived safely in Guatemala on September 18th. Lori and the kids flew in to the airport in Guatemala City and Don drove across the border from Mexico. He made the drive to the City in time to check into a hotel and pick up Lori and the kids from the airport. It was wonderful to be together as a family again.
Since we arrived we have been settling in to our “new” home in Canilla, Guatemala. The kids have resumed school, Don has been helping in three clinics a week and with other miscellaneous medical “consultas” (consultations). As a family, we travel to a Children’s Home two days a week. The Children’s Home is located in a pueblo called San Andres. It takes us about 30 minutes of driving on mountain roads to get there. The Home now has about 30 kids living there. We love all the kids and have relationships with many that we met in 2003 on our first trip to Guatemala. We want to tell you about a new little boy that we met this year.
We don’t know his name, neither did the people at the Home, at first. They found him on the mountain road that we travel from Canilla to San Andres. About halfway between the two places, there is a village called Lililla. The little boy was near this village on the road by himself. Sebastian and Oralia, the Guatemalans in charge of the Children’s Home, have looked for and asked about his parents. But because they did not want to leave him by himself, they took him to the Home with them thinking that his parents would inquire and probably come to the Home to look for him. When we talked to Oralia about the little boy, she thinks that either the mother or father, or both, have a problem with alcohol and that is probably why they have had no one come looking for the little boy. Later when Don talked to Sebastian about him, they had found out his name. It is a very hard to pronounce, long Quiche (Indian) name. Don asked if his parents knew he was at the Home and Sebastian said “si”. Don asked if they wanted him back – Sebastian replied “Esta bien”. Apparently, that means that all is well with the child living at the Home. All of this story is very sad except that he is very happy at the Home. He laughs and follows Don around like a little shadow. He hides and peeks and is “muy contento” there. It is hard for all of the kids to be at the Home because it means that they have no parents or their parents don’t want them, but we know that the kids at the Home are so blessed in many ways. They have food which is often not available in the homes here in Guatemala. But more importantly, they meet Jesus. Sebastian and Oralia try very hard to make sure that every child living at the Children’s Home know about Jesus and what He has done for them and how much He loves them. This little boy is lost but he has found a place where he is being taken care of physically and spiritually. His parents may come and get him eventually but we pray that it is not before he gets a chance to meet Jesus, who will never leave him or forsake him.
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