Waiting

You are the God who works w o n d e r s [psalm 77:13-14]

I remember one time when I was young and sitting on the bench of my daddy’s 1976 red Ford truck as we drove up our long, winding dirt driveway. It was winter time and I was telling him how excited I was to see my cousin Krystle in a few days. “I can NOT wait!” I exclaimed. I remember him looking over and smiling at my anticipation. “I can’t wait either,” he’d tell me as we drove along. It wasn’t long until my excitement turned into frustration, because for a seven year old, days can feel like years sometimes. He would tell me “You know, Whit, we spend a lot of our lives waiting. We’re always waiting for something.”

I am sure when he said that, it was something to get the pesky seven year old blonde headed kid out of his bubble and to stop asking so many questions… and I doubt when he said it, he realized how much permanence that statement would resonate with me. It’s so true though. We seem to always be waiting for something…. waiting for tomorrow.. the weekend.. next month… five o’clock.. Christmas.. vacation.. the list goes on. While in Guatemala, I was counting down the days until I could get back to the states to see family. Now that I’ve seen everyone, I am counting down the days until I get back home to Guatemala. Although I’m a bit homesick for our house, the kids, and the warmer weather… I’ve got to remind myself how important every moment is while I am here in the United States. How every moment of “waiting” isn’t wasted time, when we are waiting on The Lord.

THIS ARTICLE was posted just the other day about how Anne Frank’s diary inspired some victims of Guatemala’s civil war to tell their stories. It makes my heart ache that I have stood face to face and hand in hand with women with similar stories. I have watched mothers carry 5 gallon buckets of water on their heads as they carry baskets of fruit under their arms and a line of children linked to their other arm. I have watched mothers hiking barefoot up mountains, carrying their babies in makeshift carriers. I have watched mothers cradle their malnourished children in their arms as they pray to a God that they have only recently heard of for a miracle. I have watched as mothers carried their limp, nearly lifeless babies toward us, begging us to help them– and with tears in my eyes, I’ve had to turn mothers away when we were too full to take others in.

THIS VIDEO shows details of a recent rescue that I went on… where these people aren’t just people with sad histories and stories that you read about in books or on the internet… but they are people out in the mountains in Guatemala that I have held the weight of their bodies in my arms and carried the weight of their stories in my chest. The thought of young children being raped, abandoned, sold into slavery, or orphaned because of poverty, desperation and sin isn’t just a harrowing statistic. It’s a girl with a name whose nails I paint in the hospital. It’s a mother with a name who asks if I can buy shoes for her kids. It’s a boy with a name who hugs me and calls me “Memmy”– which is his own word for a mix between Mommy and Wendy, and truly, he could call me whatever he wanted and I would still give him all the love I have.

So although I am enjoying precious time with my family here, I. can. NOT. wait. to get back to the sweet people of Guatemala that I love so much. In an effort to turn this very brief season of waiting into something productive, I have made a NEW PAGE with donations that are needed at the hospital at Hope of Life. Here’s how to use this!
1. Go to our Current Needs page
2. The best way to get the supplies to Hope of Life in Guatemala is to bring them yourself or send with a team coming down!! If you are unable to do that, you can send them to Hope of Life International in Rhode Island, clearly marked for Whitney Saulton a CRN. It would be helpful to include money to help with shipping expenses.
3.. Biggest needs right now? Diapers and ODT Zofran!!
4. Share The List with your friends, church, and groups you know who will be traveling down here!! If you would like to contribute a financial donation to purchase supplies here, that may also be done… but items are usually cheaper / easily purchased in bulk in the US. For details on how to financially contribute, email whitney7788@gmail.com

Many of the Mayan mothers are afraid to look at the camera or smile... — Many of the Mayan mothers are afraid to look at the camera or smile…

It takes time, perseverance, and trust to break down walls and build relationship with them.

Faces once housed with fear and pain now shine with hope and happiness.

Even to "the least of these" you can see every day the promises that The Lord is carrying out here in Guatemala. — Even to “the least of these” you can see every day the promises that The Lord is carrying out here in Guatemala.

I truly believe 2017 is the year of greater things to come!!!! <3

Choosing contentment in where I am… thankful to be here with family and that they fill me up with so much love that I am able to take the overflow of it back to Guatemala with me <3 2016 has been a beautiful year of hope and healing… and I think 2017 has even better things to come. Thank you for being a part of our journey <3

You are loved!
-Whitney

As we are approaching the end of the year and a full year of being here, we have so many different things to reflect back on and be grateful for this year.

Guatemala has been everything we expected it to be, but even better. We’ve gotten sick, we’ve learned Spanish (and a little bit of Spanish sign language and Kaqchikel), we’ve made many new friends, and we’ve witnessed miracles. We’ve settled into our jobs and roles here and finally got settled into our home in late August. When I look back on this year, I am overwhelmed with all God has done for us, in us, and through us.

We are so grateful for our supporters… without you, none of this would have been possible! You have prayed for us, encouraged us, and held us up in the moments where we’ve gotten discouraged or tired. Although we’re looking forward to a visit back in the states, I’m already excited to come back in 2017 and hit the ground running with our ministry.

There are a few exciting changes going on with what we do… A few new volunteers are coming in 2017, so that will allow me more time to do a few other things within the hospital. I am planning to start an English class one night each week for the hospital employees, and I also want to be more intentional about doing devotions with the moms within the hospital. Bryan and I also want to start routinely visiting the senior center to sing songs with them, we’re hoping to do this every other Sunday.

Our biggest change is going to be how we are receiving our donations. We have partnered with an organization called Mission Quest that is run by missionaries and for missionaries, and they will be handling all of our financial donations. This is such a big blessing because it will relieve some of the burden of the work for Hope of Life in 2017, and it will also allow us and all of our sponsors to access what contributions have been made. Possibly my favorite thing is that we have our own link, so the money will easily go directly to us.

To give a tax deductible donation, go directly to our site at missionquest.org/118
You can also mail checks and find additional ways to easily give here.