Lester, the child not worth saving

People who have heard us make presentations about the nutritional center in the last couple of years have heard of Lester, the "miracle baby." We had the pleasure of seeing him on our trip in July. He is a very healthy 5 year old.

The first picture of Lester from Sr. Ana Christina

In October 2005 Sister Ana Christina called our house in a panic. She had just received a new baby who was in very bad condition. The baby was one year old and only weighed 9 pounds. His name is Lester.

Lester's family went to three different doctors, before being sent to Sr. Ana Christina. Each of the doctors told his Mother the same thing. "This child is going to die, there is nothing I can do for him, so take him home and let him die, he is not worth saving." As a parent in America, this would be appalling how could a doctor say such a thing? But in Guatemala, this is reality. They don't have health insurance. There is no Medicaid to help. If you didn't have enough money to feed your child, you certainly don't have money to pay a doctor or hospital.

The worst of the worst

The last doctor did say that there was a nun in this Santo Hermono Pedro hospital, who might be able to help. He made the referral to Sr. Ana Christina, and we got the call. Sister called and told us of this baby, and that she needed help. The child was so sick that she needed to hire two people to care for him. The ladies would work 12 hours shifts, and their only job was to take care of Lester. Lester was in such poor condition, that they could not just feed him. He was filled with parasites and his digestive system was a wreck. All he could handle was 1 teaspoon of a nutritional drink (similar to our our baby formula) every 15 minutes. He was so weak that if he even caught a cold, he would die. His breathing was labored and Sister wasn't even sure if he would make it through the night. She stayed at his bedside on her knees and prayed over him all night long. In the morning he was still alive. Each day he got stronger.

Lester 2006

We had a friend e-mail us photos of Lester, and took them to Fr. Don Geyman. His response was to have a special collection this week and we will send her the money we raised. We went to the church with it that weekend and raised over $3,000.00! The members of Holy Family parish heard the call and saved this child. All of the prayers and financial support came just in time to make the difference in this one child's life.

Lester is still at the center, he is very healthy and very much a 5 year old boy. His fine motor skills are delayed but they said he seems to have normal intelligence.

Sr. Ana Christina has never lost a child

The only sad news is that his families condition has not improved. Lester will stay with Sr. Ana Christina until things turn around for his family. Lets pray that comes soon.

Lester today with Sr. Ana Christina and Michelle

Fr. Francis Rother, the martyr

When we planned the mission trip for July 2008, I was a little concerned because we always schedule some tourist time for the people who come with us. Because of the flight schedule we were not able to do this. Since we had never been to this mission before, we did not know their philosophy about mission work. I was please when we arrived to find out that the mission plans an excursion on the lake for the missionaries.

The trip consisted of two stops the first was in Santiago and the second was in Panajachel. We had met this group from California. Absolutely great people, friendly, kind, helpful, and they had been to this mission before. Their group was headed by Deacon Pat Kearns (I stole the idea of a blog from him, We all know that no lawyer has ever had an original idea, they get it from someone else). You can read more about Pat, his family, and San Lucas Toliman on his blog http://www.patkearns.blogspot.com/.

Pat said we should go to the church in Santiago and then shop in Panajachel. We took the approach of , hey you know the neighborhood, we will just follow your lead. Church at Santiago

He took us into a side garden, and then into this tiny room, and I was thinking ...OK this is nice but what is in here, other than a restroom, and I really needed one. He said "This is where Fr. Francis Rother was martyred." I immediately had chills.
Fr. Rother came to Guatemala, in a manner very similar to Fr. Greg. It was a call by the Bishop of Guatemala for priests. When he got there he really connected with the indigenous people. He learned their language, and transcribed the Bible into their native language. The first thing he did when he arrived was plant corn. No priest had ever done this before.
The Maya loved him. Lake Atitlan was a hot bed for the civil war, in Guatemala. From what I've read and heard, the Maya took the brunt of the civil war. It was close to an attempt at Genocide. Fr. Greg became their voice and protector.
Because of this, he was placed on a death list. When word got out about this, he was forced to go back to Oklahoma by his Bishop. He stayed in the U.S. until they thought the heat was off and then he returned to Guatemala.
After he returned, he remained on the death list, and he was warned that he remained in grave danger. In June of 1981, his top catechist was abducted from the steps of the church, and was never seen again.
On July 26 1981 three masked men came to the church. They found a man in his room and forced him at gun point to take them to Fr. Rother. As they approached Father's room, the man warned Father that they had come to get him. Fr. Rother knew that if he allowed these men to take him, he would be tortured, killed and his body would never be seen again. The army would then use his disappearance against the people in his parish. He decided to fight the men. They shot him. The bullet hole is in the picture on the right. We saw the blood stains which still remain on the wall.
The Maya wanted him to be buried at the church. His family wanted his body here in the U.S. They came to an agreement, his heart and a gallon of his blood (both are very important to the Mayan people) would be buried in Guatemala and the rest of his body would be buried in the U.S.
Ten years ago the church was being renovated and his heart had to be moved. Fr. Greg was present . When the heart and blood were removed
His heart was still pink and fleshy, and his blood was still liquid.
They have applied for Sainthood for Fr. Rother. The beatification of his heart and blood is the first miracle, and they are looking for two more.



The plaque dedicating the chapel

The Chapel

Leap of Faith youth mission trip San Lucas Toliman work

In San Lucas Toliman we did physical labor assisting in the construction of the Women's center and also at the reforestation project. The Women's Center construction project is being built as a place where women in the community can go and learn skills for both the home and vocational skills. It has been under construction for a couple of years.

Construction in Guatemala is very different than in the United States. In the U.S., we borrow the money and build it as fast as possible and then worry about paying for it later. In Guatemala, we find that they save their money, build a little, save their

money build a little more, and eventually your project Women's Center
is complete.

We did a couple of thing at the women's center. First we mined Lava rock out of the side of this hill. Then we took the rocks up the hill to a cistern by the Center. The Lava rocks are going to be used as a filter for a rain collection cistern.
We also filled bags of dirt from the volcanic soil in this hill. Volcanic soil is incredibly rich and will grow any thing. The center has several gardens surrounding it. Some the the gardens provide nice relaxing spaces, others grow fruits and others have medicinal plants.
The goal of the center is to build the self esteem of the women in the area. It does this by giving them a peaceful and safe place to go and learn.

We also worked on the reforestation project the mission has. This area was hit hard by mudslides from a hurricane. The mission has been running this project for 27 years. They start the trees from seeds and grow them

until they are small trees. They then take them out and plant the trees where ever there is bare ground. They teach the people the importance of planting strong trees with good roots. They also go into the schools to teach the kids.

We dug dirt from a compost pile, sifted it and then filled the little bags with the dirt. The compost dirt was made from a mixture of coffee shells and manure.

I'm told that filling the bags is very relaxing. I couldn't tell you, because I spent the day digging and sifting dirt.

The hand sifter we used was tough work, although the Guatemalans made it look easy.


Taking a break with Jesse

Sharon Maude Jordan and Alyssa Filling Bags

Jesse hauling dirt

Bailey, McKenzie, Eva, Michelle and Shelly Alex and Michelle Sifting dirt

Sophia filling bags

Alex and Jesse

The bags we filled

Our pile of rocks

Me, Jesse, Craig and Alex taking a break from digging dirt.

Church in San Lucas 2008 Youth mission trip "Leap of Faith"

We had our second youth mission trip to Guatemala earlier this Summer. We had previously taken adults and another youth group and my family has gone several times on our own on vacation/mission trips. This time the trip started in San Lucas Toliman Guatemala. Located on Lake Atitlan, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

We had a group of 16 people that went. Included in the group is my wife Michelle, Daughter Sophia and sister in law Angela. It is always fun to introduce a group of teenagers to mission work. They are so open and they absorb the entire experience.

We started the trip in San Lucas Toliman Guatemala. The mission is run by Father Greg. He has been at the mission for 45 years. He out lasted the countries 33 year civil war, while living in the hot bed of the revolution. He is one of those truly Holy people, you can feel it in his presence.


The mission has several projects that they are working on. They have a hospital, school, a coffee co-op, and a reforestation project. It really is a great mission. We really liked the mission and its philosophy. One of the pillars of the mission is the dignity of the person. We could see that with the way the Guatemalans treated us and especially in the way they responded to Fr. Greg.
Michelle and I overlooking Cielo
D'Oro
Mass was incredible. I have never seen a procession take so long, because Fr. Greg was stopping and talking to his parishioners, hugging them and blessing them. I compared it to Mass here, and I could imagine people here getting mad because he took time for for the people he was tending to. The at the sign of peace I think that every child under 10 years of age ran to the front of the church to hug Fr. Greg.

We arrived for mass about 15 minutes before it began. The place was packed, and it looked like every seat was taken. All of a sudden people started squishing in (no ushers, the people in the pews just did this) and started calling us over. We couldn't sit together, but they accommodated our sixteen and I think another 30 people.




Inside the church at San Lucas Toliman

Mass was packed and people kept arriving all throughout the service. The incredible thing for our group of Americans was that it was not an issue if you came late, or didn't have a seat, or Mass went late, or Father Greg spent additional time with the people who came in.
The Mass was vibrant. The music was beautiful and everyone sang. We usually sing loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to offend the person sitting next to you. But in Guatemala, singing ability is not an issue, praising God is, and they belted it out, without shame, because their purpose was greater than who has a good voice. It was great.

Guatemala Mission

We just returned from a mission trip in Guatemala. We have done several of these trips, starting back in 2002. We adopted our son from Guatemala in 2001. When we went to pick him up we decided we wanted to spend time in country, so we could tell him about the place he was born. We were very innocent and naive about the rest of the world, at that time. Neither of us had ever really visited another country, other than Canada and tourist trips into Mexico.

We could not believe how beautiful the country was, and how genuinely friendly the people were. It was also the first time we saw severe poverty. As we toured the country, we did not see poverty in a few places but we saw it everywhere we went. We asked our friend, Juan, about the extent of poverty in the country, and he told us that only about 5% of the people live like we do in the United States. The rest live in either poverty or extreme poverty.

We went home and this weighted on us, especially Michelle, she is very kind and empathetic. She kept coming back to one thought, which was, how are we going to answer this question if our son ever asks "If Guatemala is so poor and the people are so hungry, why didn't you ever help?"

Michelle contacted our friend Juan in Guatemala City and asked if he knew of a project that we could help with. He directed us to the Nutritional Center in the Santo Hermano Perdro Hospital in Guatemala City. The nutritional center is for severely malnourished children. It run run by Sr. Ana Christina. At the time we were introduced to the center, Sister Ana had no employees and had over forty malnourished children. We began by sending her money by Western Union (very expensive).

Michelle at the Nutritional Center

We stared doing individual or family mission trips. One of our children could go at a time, but they had to pay their own way ( this usually meant the child would give up Christmas and birthday presents, and solicit money from Grandparents, Aunts Uncles, Pan handle, whatever it took).

In 2004 Michelle met a priest from Food for the Poor. He suggested that we contact them and see if Fr. Marquies of Caritas in Guatemala would help. He immediately started the center on their milk and food programs. This began our association with Food for the Poor. They set up a special account in which 100% of the donations we solicit go directly to the nutritional center, without any fees or the high cost of Western Union.

In 2005 we did our first group mission trip to Guatemala. We took seven adults, including our priest Fr. Don Geyman. We used our standard rules for a mission trip. Everything you need will fit into your carry on, and we are going to use your suitcases for humanitarian goods. A few grumble the first time, but it always works out.

Food for the Poor considers their trips pilgrimages, because they are inspirational, but you really don't do any work. The trips consist of going to the country, staying in a nice (and safe hotel) and touring their projects. We added on some tourist time. The first trip we went to Antigua Guatemala, the original Spanish Capital.

Fr. Don and Sister Ana Christina

Since the nutritional center is a sister mission for our church we spent a day there. Sr. Ana Christina gives us specific direction to spend our time there playing with and giving attention to the children at the center.

When we are at the center we bring Children's vitamins, preferably with iron, soccer balls, toys, medicine, blankets and hand made sweaters. The women at our church make the most beautiful sweaters for the children at the center. We are asked about this often, since Guatemala in in Central America, Americans assume it is always hot. Guatemala has a lot of mountains, and it gets cold at the higher elevations, where a lot of these children come from. All of the children at the center have families. They usually stay there for 6 to 18 months until they are healthy, and their family circumstances have changed.

Fr. Don and kids at the center. The little girl
he is holding is 3 years old!

You never know what is going to inspire someone when we take them to Guatemala. Tom Reder, a loyal member of the Knights of Columbus was really affected by the fact that water did not go to all of the sinks and the bathroom at the nutritional center. As soon as we got home he set up a fund raiser for water at the center. Tom and the Knights of Columbus raised enough money to have water pumped into all of the bathrooms and sinks at the center.

Tom Reder and Sr. Ana Christina
carrying water to the other side of the center.