2017 has been a beautiful year. I’ve worked hard, loved harder, and have allowed my roots to grow deeper into Guatemala. There have been happy tears, sad tears, confused tears, and the type of gratitude tears that hit you out of the blue like a ton of bricks… the kind of tears that stop you in your tracks as you sit in awe and remember all The Lord has done.
I have lost patients I cared deeply for and spent days in my room grieving. I have also held kids who my hands had resuscitated months prior, in awe of their tenacity and progress. I’ve been a shoulder and a set of arms to hurting mothers, and an expert hug giver and nose wiper to orphaned toddlers.
Through it all, the one word that resounds in my head is grateful. I’m so grateful for all of it, even the bad moments because I have experienced healing and hope on the other side of my despair. I am grateful for our supporters– our financial donors, supply givers, prayer warriors, blog readers, post sharers… all of it. I have so many words I want to say, but they all seem so inadequate to express how deeply thankful I am. “Mil gracias” from the bottom of my heart. What we do isn’t about us… it is about THEM. And it is about you. Because you have provided a way for us to go.
As we approach 2018, we look forward to The Lord using us to our fullest capacities. With the new year quickly approaching, now is the time for year end giving. If you are interested in supporting us, Click here to find out more. I’m not sure what all this new year is going to have in store, but there’s one thing I can say for certain… it’s gonna be good. 💛
You are part of this.
You are loved.
-Whitney
Here are some of my favorite pictures of 2017 <3
Sweet Yolanda. Click on her picture to read her story.My William. I can hardly look at this picture without crying!! Click his picture to read his story.William again <3Delfi and Mariella. They were brought in the same day and were two of the ittiest bittiest teeny tiny chiquititos we had this year.Delfi nearly doubled his original weight after a fast five weeks.Sweet Mariella a month later! Same size bottle, much bigger baby. My heart!!Gervin was the sweetest boy!! He was always smiling and helping me with chores. He arrived to us severely swollen related to a kidney problem.Doris’ transformation is remarkable. You can click her photo to read her story.Elfido and his sweet mamaDoris <3Happy new year! Praying your 2017 was just as full as love as ours was.
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which He looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are His body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
― Teresa of Ávila
Exactly 1 year and 10 months ago, I hiked hours into the Guatemalan mountains with two Guatemalan men to bring back Valentin. The day would prove to be difficult, as we had to cut down a tree and tie a hammock to each end of it just to carry him back up the mountain to the ambulance. At 27 years old, he didn’t weigh but 40 pounds. But 40 pounds became very heavy for the three of us during our uphill journey.
We were greeted by his brother and pregnant sister in law at the door. They had tears in their eyes as they pulled back a plastic tarp to reveal what was inside. Valentin was critically sick. He was lying on the dirt floor, burning with fever and reeking of infection. When he saw me, he smiled. He explained to me how he had fallen ill a couple of months ago. He could no longer stand, and infection spilled out from a hole in his abdomen that fistula’d through to his bladder. He was pitiful, but you could see the determination in his eyes and the joy in his smile. When it came time to move him to a hammock so he could be transported, he winced and cried in pain. When I apologised, he smiled and said “It’s okay, Whitney. I’m just happy you’re here to help.”
To be honest, I was happy to be there to help too…. until about 10 minutes into our journey back. It was hot, he was heavy, and I was already exhausted. “Just about an hour and a half to go,” I tried to reassure myself. But that was difficult to do when the two hours that had elapsed in my head ended up being only 10 minutes in reality.
Had I known then what I know now, I would have done a lot less internal complaining on that journey up the mountain. I would have sucked it up. I would have disregarded my fatigue and carried Valentin with honor and pride.
Valentin was rescued February 7, 2016 on my oldest niece Kayleigh’s birthday. He turned 28 that following week on Valentine’s day. Today, he took his last breath. With his last breath, he also took a huge part of my heart with him. Anyone that has ever visited here knows he was my little buddy. He had a rough life– traveling to Guatemala City (a 3-6 hour trip one way) three times weekly for hemodialysis. Sunday’s I would wake up early to go pick him up for church and we would end the mornings eating lime cucos. I’m really going to miss him.
I don’t have a lot of words to say to adequately express how I’m feeling. Valentin became like a little brother to me (even though he was actually older than me)… we would read the Bible together, we would joke around, and he was always such a kind and gentle soul to anyone he ever met. To know Valentin was to love him, and he left an impression on everyone he met. It’s miraculous that he ever survived that first week to make it to his 28th birthday, but I had the joy of knowing him for exactly 1 year and 10 months longer than expected.
My soul rests in knowing where he is now. I am thankful for Jesus Christ’s promise of salvation. But in this moment, the world seems a little less colorful without Valentin in it. Oh, but his legacy will carry on in every part of my life. I will always think about him when I read the book of Philippians, whenever I eat a lime cucos, whenever I sit on the green couches at the hospital and watch the sun setting over the trees, whenever I go on a difficult rescue and forget to be grateful in ALL things and not just the easy things.
Valentin, thank you for letting me be the feet of Jesus just for a moment when we carried you up the mountain. I pray for the time that we had you as a patient that you felt cared for and significant, because you very much were. I still carry you, only now it’s in my heart… and the weight of it now sure does feel a lot heavier than the 40 pound boy I once knew.
Forever proud of his strength, his joy, his patience, and his drive. A boy that had a terrible prognosis spent a year and 10 months overcoming odds, learning to walk again, and adjusting to the difficulties of hemodialysis. You sure did make me proud, Valentin.I will forever cherish memories of your birthdays, reading the Bible, and giving you “chilero haircuts, como Bryan”
We love you forever, Valentin.
Whitney & Bryan
Dec. 7, 2017
