Sunday, April 27, 2014

RISK


Risk is for the young. The older I get, the more I shy away from risk. Back then, I used to do a lot of risky things as Youth Director, our camps were always a lot of fun when mixed with a little risk and in Mexico was no exception. We had a lot of fun, but risk was involved. Risk was like a spice! I was young! I was naive.

In the past half century I grew to accept risk as part of my life. The thin strata of society in which I work is a high risk strata! The poorest of poor; dirtiest of the dirty. In these many years I'm afraid I have grown calloused to the dangers in my working environment. Ministry to the deserving poor ... the poor that deserve their plight.


At 85 I'm becoming more aware of just what "could" happen. I've always been a prime candidate for kidnapping. In driving Mexico, if I hit a child, or anyone for that matter, I go to prison! In a car crash, if anyone is injured or killed I go to prison. If a group of young "malandros" or young thugs beats me and takes my money designated for the poor; that's the way it is. If I'm accused by one person of a moral violation, I go to prison. If the cops want me, all they have to do is plant some drugs in my vehicle and then arrest me. If my arrest will gain someone money, I'll be arrested.

Anyone who thinks there is justice in Mexico is a fool ... in the government, as in the judicial system, only money matters. Mercy? No way!

The only way I can account for fifty years Ministering in Mexico with no problems; and thousands of Tijuana miles with not one major accident. It has to be God's provision!


Thanks to the many of you who lift me up in prayer. Indeed the safest place you can be, is in God's hands. I continue to solicit your prayers as I finish out my course. Thanks.

Friday, April 18, 2014

FINALLY EMMANUEL SEES A DOCTOR!


Last week we had a neurologist look over little Emmanuel, and indeed he has some real problems. His concussion four years back did him some real harm. The neurologist's exam took over two hours. The Doctor gave Emmanuel's mother a box of pills, (one a day), and she took him home. His next appointment is this coming Monday where he will hopefully, undergo a CT and/or MRI scan so we can find out what's going on in that head of his.

The Instructions the doctor gave were simple, one pill a day! So for fourteen days he was taking the medicine.

During that time he wanted to go back to school, and his teacher was surprised that he remembered things and he had a different attitude. His mother mentioned that Emmanuel was remembering little things like what he ate and what day it was, and his name. It seems those little pills were really helping. The box the doctor gave him was a two-week course. Well, they ran out of the medicine the doctor gave him, so we were asked if we would get some more.

Hortensia went to the pharmacy to buy medicine for a month. Wow! What a surprise! This medicine is going to cost over a hundred dollars a month! Elizabeth, with her family of seven, hasn't enough money to manage food for a day. No way can they afford to continue with this medicine for Emmanuel.

I guess that's where we enter the picture! The little boy's worth it! We'll take it a month at a time. Above is a photo of Emmanuel holding a months worth of his medicine.

Let's see what the next step shows.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

HOW DO WE FIND THESE PEOPLE?


I'm interested in the way we find each other. At present we have over 120 needy families ... mostly widows. We try and help them with emergencies that come up. Lets include helping three orphanages and always a couple hundred kids ... and of course Chuy's large Old Folks Home.

How do we find the needy?

Yesterday was a good example; as we were about to leave our working area, an old beat-up car drove up and parked along the curbing. Several people asked if we would go talk with the young family inside the car.

It seems that one of their relatives, knew of us and talked them into coming, and a young man drove them to our location. Inside were young Tony, his wife and little daughter who live in one of Spectrum's areas, Barrio Laguna, but never show up on Spectrum's food give-away day. They had no need, so they proudly stayed away. Everything was going fine until four weeks ago, then in a few minutes their world collapsed.


It seems the little family was driving south, a two-day trip, to visit relatives. Late the first night a big truck sideswiped them; their car left the road and started rolling down the canyon. Tony had a seat belt on and made it out O.K. Sonia, his young wife, and their little girl were thrown from the car and were badly injured.

Tony called for an ambulance but the ambulance trip back to Tijuana cost more than they had. He got a quick loan from his company job and they made it to the general hospital where they operated on his wife and little girl. At this point Sonia can't walk and the little girl is in a big two-leg cast ... and Tony, well he feels guilty he made it out without a scratch.

At this point, they didn't have enough money to buy the prescribed medication (pain medication and antibiotics). They were also out of food (Pampers). And so they came for help. We immediately got the medication and food money to them.


How do we find each other? It's simple ... word gets around that we're willing and able to help in a crises like this. Thanks for making our ministry possible.