12 October 2023

 

We have been in Guatemala for three days and a lot has developed.  On Monday, we got up at four something in the morning in Mexico City and beat rush-hour traffic to get to the airport nice and early.  Our trip from MEX to GUA was smooth.  After a hiccup of needing to do an online form rather than the paper form we filled out, we breezed through immigration and customs.  Our missionary pilot friend (Duane) was dealing with a medical transfer for a very young lady in renal failure.  He swung around to our side of the airport to pick us up really quickly as the ambulance had not yet arrived.  Then we rushed back to the private side of the airport to meet the ambulance at the gate.  After signing some papers and paying for the ambulance, they took the patient away.  Later, we found out the hospital did not take her and that is another ongoing story.

 

The next step was to decide whether or not to make a run to Price Smart (the big-box store in Guatemala City) to buy some things for us and stock up the missionaries.  We couldn’t find any information online as to where they were open in the midst of the protests and no one answered the phone when we called.  Anyway, we decided to go.  They were open and had a decent amount of food but it was going fast.  We grabbed a big load of food and headed back to the airport.  We loaded the cold food onto the plane and part of our luggage and flew the 20 minutes to Canillá between thunderclouds.

 

The protests started a week ago due to election issues.  They seem to be getting worse.  More roads are blocked.  Gasoline is running out.  Food is dwindling in the town.  Guatemala is refusing to sell aircraft fuel to anyone—including commercial airlines.  This has essentially shut down Adonai’s airplanes despite an incessant stream of calls from people of all classes requesting flights.  The U.S. embassy has canceled routine appointments.  This situation continues to have an increasing effect on everyone here in Guatemala.  And as usual, this disproportionately affects the poor.  Areli overheard a poor lady at the store upset that there was no more corn flour left and she didn't know what she was going to feed her family.  

 

Nothing is critical for us at this point.  Half of our luggage and groceries are still in the city.  We haven’t seen sandwich bread since we got here.  But despite the limitations, Areli has been making awesome meals.  And we’ve become more appreciative of the provisions and blessings God gives us. 

 

It seems that a lot of our time has been spent on getting settled into where we are living, getting groceries, and surviving.  Everything seems to take ten times longer to get accomplished for these and other reasons such as search and destroy missions for scorpions every night before bed.

 

I have been helping with the clinics and I’ll share more about that later.  But at this point, we are requesting prayer for the people of Guatemala:

 

1. That God’s justice and will would be done regarding the election.
2. His providing hand for those who need it most.
3. That our productivity in all areas would increase as time goes on.