Saturday, August 1, 2009

Needle In A Haystack...On A Volcano In Guatemala (Guest Post By Lauren Pupchik)





I want to share the story of a 15 year old boy from the village of Santa Maria de Jesus, a town of 25,000 indigenous Mayan Indians. He came in to the dental clinic on Saturday held at our girls school, Proximos Pasos with an impacted wisdom tooth. Dr Todd, a dentist from NJ who was a part of the team from my sister's home church, worked on his tooth and gave him antibiotics for his severe infection, but he didn’t have everything he needed such as a scalpel to finish. We returned on Wednesday to do the lice wash with the girls at the school. Dr Todd and Pastor Gary ended up joining us even though it wasn’t on the schedule. Dr. Todd wanted to look for the boy who God had put on his heart and finish his dental work now that he had the all important scalpel. The only problem was that we had no idea where he lived, or what his name was. Did I mention that each little house in Santa Maria basically looks the same with a mixture of corrugated metal and corn stalks for walls. We decided to pray for this boy and ask God to lead us to him where he may be. Now I know Bill has made mention of my direct line to God here in Guatemala, and I’ll tell you that the reason I believe things happen when I pray is because I know that my only option is trusting my heavenly father to take care of me and lead me each day. We came together in faith asking God for a miracle. 10 minutes after we prayed, out of “no where” one of the girls at school tugged on my shirt and told me that her brother didn’t go and work in the fields planting corn today because he had a hole in his mouth. I felt God prompting me to pursue this and asked if the girl could take me to her house. I called for Dr. Todd and Pastor Gary to join me. I asked them if they were ready to see a miracle. The little girl led us on a winding adventure down narrow village roads with more twists and turns than I imagined possible. She led us to her front door and prayed in my head once more that this would be the boy’s house. A weary Mayan woman came to the door and eyed us with caution. I told her we were from Proximos Pasos school and that we were looking for a boy….”It’s HIM…It’s really HIM!!!!” Dr Todd yelled as soon as he saw a young man’s head peer out from behind his mother. His mouth was extremely swollen and he looked miserable but a twinkle in his eye said he was glad to see us. His mother invited us into the one room house with the smoke of an open fire swirling throughout the room and only one bed for her and her 11 children. The mother began to cry as she told us that she and her sister had been praying all weekend that God would send the Dentist back to their village to help her son and that God would take care of them. After hearing of her faith, Todd, Gary and I were all wiping away tears as we witnessed this miracle in the making. God heard the cry of a faithful woman and orchestrated an answer by moving each one of us to action. We all joined hands and prayed for the family while thanking God for leading us right to their humble front door. We took the boy, who we found out was named Rolando and his little brother back to the school with us. Dr Todd preformed a surgery right on the third floor patio of the school relieving a lot of pain and eliminating the buildup of infection that was present. Without an X-Ray to make sure that the entire tooth had been removed, Dr Todd had to use his judgment and do the best he could with such limited resources. God had yet another miracle in store for us. He led us to a local dental technicians’ office where they let us use additional anesthesia and suction to make sure the surgery was complete. Dr. Todd offered to pay the man for the use of his office but he would not accept money since we had come to help the people of his village. Our buddy Rolando will be sore for the next few days, but he will good as new after a week’s rest. I saw firsthand the way God cares for his children on that day. In a village of 25,000 people, God led a dentist to the exact house of a family praying for dental care. What a mighty God we serve!

To follow Lauren's missionary adventures, stop by her own personal blog at:

www.laurenpupchik.blogspot.com

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Volcano Land!

Volcano Land!
Hughes Family loves these Guatemalan volcanoes!

WORD OF GOD SPEAK!

"This is how we know what love is: JESUS CHRIST LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers...Dear children, let us NOT love with words or tongue but with ACTIONS, and in TRUTH...And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, JESUS CHRIST, and to LOVE one another as HE commanded us." 1 John 3:16,18,23

Noah Doing His Moves

Noah Doing His Moves
He captivating the hearts of the young guatemalan ladies with his moves

You Are Good (Eres Fiel)

You Are Good (Eres Fiel)
My beautiful bride and her sis teaching a song to the girls!

A House in Santa Maria de Jesus

A House in Santa Maria de Jesus

Santa Maria de Jesus

Santa Maria de Jesus
The road that Proximos Pasos is on...those structures are houses

Where's Waldo?

Where's Waldo?
Can you find us hiding among the girls?