A Letter from Guatemala

Hola!

It´s been a week since I last wrote and so much has happened since then. I've written and rewritten this trying to capture the wonder and marvel of what God has done, but I simply can´t put it all into a few paragraphs so I'll try to do what I can.

What an awesome God we serve!

The past few days were spent in La Union, Zacapa, one of the poorest departments in an already poor country. How do I begin to describe the incredible love and compassion of God that I have witnessed during the past few days? How do I describe seeing a man with leprosy and thinking about the compassion Christ must have had to reach out and touch this hideous disease and the person suffering from it? How do I describe the love of my friends and brothers and La Union and the hospitality they showed me? How do I describe the wonderful feeling it is to work with people who give 110% to serving the Lord and whose only desire is to be the vessels through which God works to save his people?
Monday Raul, Eybi (the preacher and his wife,) and I woke early and went to the community of Tasharte. For those of you have been to such places as Montaña Izopo and Montaña de la Flor in Honduras, Tasharte is very similar. Since the doctor who was with us Saturday and Sunday had to work Monday, he had already left. Wanting to help the people in some way even though I couldn´t give them medicine, I decided to give them something that would last longer than anything received from a doctor´s visit: education. With Eybi´s help, I taught a class about handwashing and how to make a simple drink that will keep their children from dying of dehydration. I´m a firm believer that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and that educating and empowering people does more than any handout could. To make a long story short, the rest of the day was spent in a devotional, handing out food and clothing, and breaking piñatas with the children.
To look at it, it wasn´t much: an elementary lesson in health, some candy in a couple of piñatas and a few pieces of worn clothing. Yet to these people, it meant so much. It was if it were Christmas and they had just opened the best present in the world. It was all I could do not to cry as I saw the look on the faces of our brothers and sisters in Christ. All I could do was offer a million thanks to God and his infinite love and compassion he has for ¨the least of these¨¨and of all the things that He put into place to allow this wonderful event to occur.
Tomorrow I leave for another campaign, 1-2 days of evangelism and 2 days of clinic. I can´t wait. I think I'm beginning to have an inkling of how truly great and immeasurable is the love God has for us.

Por la causa de la cruz,
Michele

¨Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion.¨ -Psalms 103:2-4