A week ago we left Antigua to explore the Puerto Barrios/Livingston area on Guatemala’s northeastern Caribbean Coast. Gary and Nancy Leengkeek had given us a great lead on a contact with the Nazarene churches in Puerto Barrios- Dona Gladys. She was awaiting our arrival after an 8 hour cross country bus ride. She had a huge bowl of spaghetti ready for us!
Her granddaughter Mildred came over and translated for us. Mildred and our girls hit it off immediately. Annie, Joy and Brienna stayed at Mildred’s Poolside/Gulfside home and the guys and I stayed in a house that belonged to the church. The church has a “Youth Service” on Saturday nights and it was a lot of fun. Probably the first time during The World Race when I’ve been around a bunch of teenagers and it was refreshing.
We attended church on Sunday morning. The girls worked with children in Sunday School and the guys were able to share testimony and talk about The World Race through a great translator named Jose. Dona Gladys’ children treated us to lunch and dinner and on Monday morning connected us with Pastor Marcos from Livingston.
We took the slow boat across the bay to Livingston with Marcos and his wife and two of his daughters. Upon our arrival to Livingston we hiked about 20 minutes uphill to Pastor Marcos’ Nazarene Church. We were able live in the church and eat meals with the Pastor or members of his congregation. We were supposed to have a translator meet us before the Tuesday and Wednesday church services but he never showed up and we were not able to preach or share testimonies. We did sing a few English worship songs. We spent one day hiking all over the jungle with the Pastor visiting and praying for his church members. He has a great heart for his people.
On Wednesday the Pastor and his wife and a couple of his kids took us about 30 minutes downriver. The Rio Dulce is beautiful. Jungle and hills and rocks rising out of clear cold water interspersed with occasional hot springs bubbling up along the edges of the river. A Cruise Ship was in the area that day so there was a lot of tourist in the neighborhood.
We had plans to go back to Puerto Barrios on Thursday afternoon but not before Ryan and I visited a lady he had met a couple of days earlier. Ryan befriended Justine and discovered that she didn’t own a Bible. He bought her one. We took Pastor Marcos with us and along the way met Pastor Salvador from the other Nazarene Church in Livingston. We were blessed to have both of them go with us to visit Justine. On the way there Ryan told me she had a gangrenous-like wound on her foot but his description did not prepare me for what I saw. As best as I could understand, she had been either bitten by some animal or maybe injured by some machinery and then eaten on by some animal while she slept. I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that about half her foot was missing. It was one big open wound with exposed broken bones. We called Mildred to help us translate and it looks like the Pastors are going to take the lead in getting Justine some medical attention. We haven’t been able to follow-up yet but we plan to before leaving Puerto Barrios. Ryan and I have discussed coming up with some funds to help her. I’m pretty sure she will need to have her foot amputated. We don’t know yet what the cost will be but I’m sure it will be far less than it would in the States. If it’s not taken care of soon I think she will die from infection. She has no family. There were neighbors nearby but no one seemed to care. Our hearts ache to go back and check on her. It looks like we will have to trust God and the Pastors in Livingston.
