As you recall from my Flees and Suicide blog, we have been working alongside a local church here in San Pablo, Guatemala. Pastor Efrain Alva and Bette (his wife and a trained nurse) have a burden to reach out to the people of San Pablo who, for a variety of reasons, do not go to the clinic or the hospital. Pastor and Bette´s desire is to convert the first floor of their home into a birthing room and a room where people who are ill can be cared for. The local clinic has two male nurses. In this gender-conscious culture, who most of the women do not want a man delivering the baby, which I can totatly understand. Bette has delivered several babies for the women in San Pablo at their homes.
Bruce Ahlberg (head of YWAM Antigua-Guatemala, a friend of the WRers who stayed in Guatemala this past month) helped Pastor Efrain and Bette already raise about three thousand dollars for the clinic. Their is still a need of another $4,000 to pour the roof of the second floor. Bruce tells me 100 % of the money donated will go to the project as no one in YWAM receives any money for administration of finances. This clinic is not a YWAM project. The money will be then given to Pastor Efrain for the clinic. Bruce also mentioned that donations are tax deductible, the the fullest extent that the U.S. law allows, as will be noted on a donor´s receipt. If gifts are sent, the check or money order should be made payable to YWAM Antigua accompanied with a note stating that it is for the medical clinic project in San Pablo. (YWAM Chico in the U.S. administers YWAM Antigua´s finances right now, so the check´s ¨payable to¨and the mailing address are different YWAM names.) Checks should be sent to the following U.S. address: YWAM Chico, 15850 Richardson Springs Road, Chico, CA 95973. If you feel encouraged by the Lord to help this family´s vision, I know they would be grateful. And all of you can join me in prayers for the clinic.
On a separate note, I have deeper burden for the community — that they would be able to have the Word of God translated in their own languages, and that the people would be able to read it. Currently there is a Bible in the Tzutujil language, but not many people know how to read. Also there are several other local tribal languages in Guatemala that do not have a Bible in their native tongue. Thanks for praying for this need to read and understand the Word. Over the course of this year, I have seen many needs and try to help when I can. But what I feel most passionately about is having the Word of God available and readable. I have not heard of any specific projects for this part of Guatemala, although I know our friends at Wycliffe have a this burden world-wide, so it wouldn´t surprise me if there was a project underway.
