| Update - November 2008 |
Symphonies of Hope– Choirs of Faith
| Symphonies of Hope Chris & Coleen Anderson P.O. Box 1061, Pharr, TX 78577 In the U.S. : 608 - 313 - HOPE Message phone in U.S. : 956-781-5133 Email: chriscoleen@symphoniesofhope.org Email: chriscoleen@choirsoffaith.org |
| SymphoniesOfHope.Org ChoirsOfFaith.Org SinfoniasDeEsperanza.Org CorosDeFe.Org |
| Orchestras & Choirs Serving in God's Love |
| Quick Summary |
| This month has been a blur of classes, incubators, violins, water tank building, chickens and eggs, traveling, and visiting various people, punctuated by medical emergencies and miscellaneous visitors. We had the incubators all built and then had troubles with the bottles that made the thermostat function… It was a week of experiments before the bugs were worked out. Then power outages added stress to starting them up. The fair came to town and made it downright impossible to get anything done that required leaving the hills for civilization. The loud music and fireworks could be heard 5 miles away. School ended here and “summer vacation” began! (It´s strange to us how they call summer winter and vice versa!) It´s cold in the summer and hot in the winter here. Elizabeth has been visiting all the ladies here vaccinating chickens and giving advice on how to cure sick chickens. She learned a lot about the local problems with chickens here… most of which can be solved by vaccinating regularly. Today the ladies who made incubators are starting up their first batch of eggs. We are building an experimental water tank that holds 7000 liters at Domingo´s house.Water is always a problem here. We haven´t had access to wash water for 5 days now… We hope when the tank is done there will be water to fill it with! A regular store- bought tank here is about $600 which is out of reach for most families. Ours is about $200. We hope it works well. (We don´t foresee any problems) |
| I will praise you, O heart; I will tell of all your wonders . I rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Psalm 9:1-2 |
| Our current permission in Guatemala ends about the end of December. We still have at least two more communities that we would like to return to and allowing for 5-6 weeks in each community it is difficult to see how that is going to work out. Though our resources are running slim we are still trying to work with the Guatemalan government to extend our visas. Laws have recently changed here and it is not as easy as it used to be. Prayers that we can have enough time and resources to properly show respect and love to those additional two communities would be very much appreciated. Noah recently took a trip to Guatemala City to deliver the papers personally to the president’s house. |
| The good news is that after communicating to the mayor of districts of several thousand people… that we did not want to just teach about chickens and violins, but that we wanted to teach Bible stories and do everything we can to encourage young people and adults to follow Gods ways through Jesus-he told us that he would give us a half hour of time on the radio each week and he would permit us to use the main community building for our meetings. The tragedy is that I can’t imagine such a thing happening in the US—our homeland— the place of our childhood—the place that speaks our native language—the place where our friends are. The tragedy is that the government of our homeland has become hostile to any mention of God. We spoke several times over the airwaves from the tiny one-room radio station on the mountain above Malacatancito. It was an exciting moment for the children. We set up a tape recorder at home and got at least part of our interview to listen to later. |
| A trip to Guatemala City for Papers |
| A Visit to the Radio Station— Good News and a Tragedy |
| Class Nights—Ups Downs and Obstacles |
The “cultural center” building was a fine place to have classes—sometimes. Other times it was a nightmare. In the places where we visit you can never allow yourself to become arrived only to find that another group had taken all the tables and chairs—looks like we are having class on the floor. On other occasions there would be another meeting with amplified music and speakers happening at the same time—That time we took the violin students to the street and practiced on the sidewalk. On another evening a party on the other side of the wall (the building only has 3 walls, one side is open) meant fireworks everywhere. Some were thrown inside the doorway - very loud. There were a few minutes each evening when everything had to stop. There is a very large Catholic church next door with a very loud bell. Our classes were held at about the same time as evening mass. The bells rang a half hour before service, at the time mass began, and again after mass. On many evenings we felt more like we were going to battle than going to share with other families. The town’s people always made it difficult. One evening we decided we would not be surprised—we would just expect the worst. We supposed that when we arrived there would be a rock band, no chairs or tables, fireworks, big bell bongs…….You name it, we were mentally ready to face it all. When we arrived everything was peaceful. All was quiet except for the families that had gathered to spend time together. There were even tables and chairs. We commented to each other how nice and peaceful it was for a change. Noah started setting up chairs…then all of a sudden……….Zip………no lights. All the power would be out in town for the next 5 hours. No emergency lights, street lights, nothing. Well, try again next time I guess… We packed up quickly and made the return trip to the camper as quickly as possible. Our incubator was out of power and the chicks were just 3 days from hatching! We set up the generator and saved half of them. The chill killed several...another issue to solve for our incubator builders… what to do when the power goes out. (A frequent problem here) |
| We struggled and struggled to design an incubator that would work well for Guatemalans. After making about 50 different modifications we think we finally have something that works well. There is a lot of enthusiasm for the incubators. After word spread we had village people and people from other organizations stopping by to inquire about building them. The thermostat for maintaining the temperature is made out of a small magnet, plastic bottle, screw, and a piece of stove pipe tin. Amazingly it keeps the incubator at 100 degrees all day and night in cold or hot weather. Of course this is Guatemala and there better be a backup plan if there is no electricity. Sure enough… shortly after some of the ladies put their first eggs into their incubators it was announced that there would be no electricity for the next 20 hours. It was a good chance to try the backup system—a little alcohol burner that is used in place of the light bulb. That seems to be working well too. We give thanks of prayers that God helped us work out the bugs because there were some times when we thought that we just were not going to be able to make it work. Elizabeth now runs the incubator technical support hot line. |
| Incubator Inventions |
| 1st Concert of the Malacatancito Orchestra |
Before we left Malacatancito we wanted to have a little concert with the young people that had come regularly. (See the attached flier). I remember our first night of classes. Despite talking to many people and announcements on the radio…..Nobody came… nobody. Our family started practicing our instruments and left the doors open. Lester, a young man of 13 who was walking the streets poked his head in. We explained to him what the classes were going to be about and that we were going to put God and his ways at the center of all of our activities and movies we might show. None of that seemed to bother him. He came to almost every meeting since. He is now one of the main leaders of the violin group. He and a few other students have completely mastered the first few songs of the Suzuki violin book. He has come a long way. We had the concert Sunday afternoon and moments beforehand he came to me and looked very distressed, saying, “Chris, my parents didn’t come…..They didn’t come” as he glanced up and down the streets. I was feeling quite angry, not at Lester, but at his parents. After about 60 hours of his investment they couldn’t afford one hour to appreciate the effort he had made. I asked if they lived close enough for me to go get them. It turned out they had a phone and Lester gave me the number. We talked for a minute and amazingly enough…they appeared about 8 minutes later. Lester and I felt a lot better. The concert went well and we are hoping the little group will continue, but they have many obstacles, the first of which is no violins. Each Violin is about $95 and that is a lot for many Guatemalan families. We may be able to leave them a couple but there are 12 or 15 students. Please give them your prayers. |
| Quite often we are invited to a lunch or dinner with different families who live in the mountains… It isn´t really proper to say no without at least visiting at least once… Often they make their way to our little camper even if it´s a 3 hour walk. We were recently invited to visit the home of Yolanda… the mother of the twins (who were babies a few years ago when we stayed in Las Espinas.) We knew it was a bit of a hike to her house from Las Espinas… but she told us it was closer if we walked from the road in Cacum. Since our visit to Mirta’s house I had my suspicions that it would be more like a hike than a walk and was I ever right! I took my water bottle with me and advised the children to bring a drink too. We drove through Cacum and the road became progressively steeper and narrower as we went. We nearly slid backwards down the final hill where her daughter was waiting for us. It was drizzling a little when we got there. We parked along the road and followed her children up a narrow, rocky, winding path. Every time I saw another house on top of another hill I thought it must surely be the one but after a half hour of steady straight up climbing the girl told us we were less than half way. It seemed impossible that the trail could continue on and on and up all the way. We are not in as good of shape as they are! After nearly an hour of huffing and puffing we were informed that after one more cornfield we would arrive. Samuel was begging to be carried and my legs felt like towers of Jell-O but we finally made it. The lunch was special and after we ate and visited it was time to make the descent. It was now sprinkling rain. The trail was slippery but we made it down without incident. It was a spectacular view all the way but exhausting. And our day was just beginning! We still had a ladies meeting to attend and a visit to the taxi man’s house. Then on the way home we got a call… Had we forgotten we were supposed to eat dinner with Domingo’s family? No, of course not… though tired, we were nearly there. It was an especially long day for us but it is always an honor to visit these humble homes. |
| Just before we have our evening family get together with other families of the community our day becomes a bit hectic and there often is little time for food. We often end up missing a meal. Right by the community building there is a little French fry stand and when it has been 5 or 6 hours since you have eaten your concerns about health kind of disappear. We would purchase a plate or 2 of fresh fried French fries from the “French fry lady”. The kids and everyone of the family slowly came to know her and became friends of sorts. Mirta told us that she would very much like to have us over for lunch some time and she had asked repeatedly, so we decided we would make the effort to oblige her. She asked us to come at 11 am so we could have lunch with her and meet her daughters. She lives in Cacum, the neighboring community where we were thinking on doing our next classes. When we went to Cacum we called her as we had arranged and after about 15 minutes she appeared at the end of a trail. She told us to park the van there and follow her. It was a very steep path straight up the side of the mountain and through the bushes. As we neared the summit we were all out of breath. (except for her) It was a breathtakingly beautiful place. As we entered her yard it was apparent that she was quite a gardener. Flowers were everywhere, ferns hanging thickly over her porch. As we entered the dining room and sat down we noticed that one wall was decorated with flowers and drawings of angels… and in the center was a photograph of her husband standing in a parking lot in the United States. After a few minutes of small talk she began to tell the story of how her husband had been killed in April this year. We knew that her husband had died this past April but really didn´t know the details. He had gone to the U.S. three years ago because they had no house and no land of their own. Every time they rented a house eventually the land owner would ask for it back and they would be forced to move again. So after a while he began to think that the only solution was to go to the US for a short time to find work. He made it to Miami Florida after paying a “coyote” $2500 US dollars in borrowed money. He spent the first year working to repay the debt. He spent the second year earning enough to pay for the house. His third year he was beginning to make plans for his journey home—their small house was now almost complete. His wife, Mirta, urged him to come home right away but he wanted to stay just a bit longer to earn just a bit more to build her a nice kitchen. Two weeks before his departure date he was sleeping in the back seat of a car in Miami Florida when his traveling companions were pulled over by a police officer for suspected driving while intoxicated. The driver fled the scene and ran away. The policeman came to the car and without provocation shot her husband who was still asleep in the back seat. Upon further investigation it was found the police officer had shot 5 other persons in a similar manner including one child. The policeman now awaiting trial—set fire to his own house and then killed himself. Later Mirta was made aware of all the details because US officers actually made the trip to Guatemala to discuss the whole matter with her family and convey condolences. As she told us the final portions of her story her face became full of tears and her voice melted as she held her head. All of our family sat opposite her in a tight circle listening to her carefully. This was a bit different than times of similar stories in years past because now virtually everyone of our family could understand completely everything she was saying. As she spoke a child had turned on a television in the neighboring room—there was repeated gun fire from the audio of the program playing. The violence of our world seemed much punctuated at that moment. We all sat silently, absorbed in thought, as the shooting continued in the background. She was looking for some understanding of how this could have happened… Did we know why the police would shoot her husband? None of us had a good answer for her. A few days later Elizabeth spoke with Mirta about the television… Mirta said her older daughter had bought it and she really hated how it had changed her children and grandchildren. Elizabeth suggested that she give it away but Mirta said it would make her daughter mad if she did. The following day Mirta seemed very happy when she spoke with Elizabeth. She pulled her aside and said, “I lost the cable”. “What cable?” Elizabeth asked. “The cable to the TV “, she replied. She had taken off the cable to the television and “lost” it. She told the kids the TV was broken. She said her house hasn’t been so peaceful in a very long time! |
| The French Fry Lady—Mirta |
| Visiting Homes In The Mountains |
| Two years ago Noah spent a lot of time and effort trying to acquire the papers necessary for two or three children of Juana to attend school. (Juana is the young lady who had a severe eye infection after being wounded by her husband with a knife. When we left two years ago it looked as though the papers were almost complete and things would be fine. Upon returning this year and making some phone calls we found that shortly after we left the office managing the school papers closed down and the papers were lost. None of Juana’s children to this day have attended any school despite numerous schools that are 3-5 minutes walking distance. Noah is continuing to try to find the missing papers—he is our specialist in persistence. |
| News From The Past — Juana’s Children Still Not In School |
| News From The Past—Alvaro Died |
| In our previous books describing our journeys in Guatemala and Mexico we had written about a man named Alvaro. Alvaro was a man of about 35 who lived his entire life on a small pillow. Unable to walk, unable to move his arms or legs, unable to utter any kind of sound, he lived his life curled up in ball. He would open his eyes wide and observe the world around him. Whenever we saw him we would always wonder what he was thinking. When we found him we arranged for a carpenter to make a small bed on wheels for him to make it easier for his mother to wheel him outside under the sun. He seemed to like that. Upon returning this year we learned that he died about 6 months ago. Perhaps the most remarkable thing to witness was the remarkable care and dedication that his mother had shown for him for all of those years. |
| In Conclusion |
| We are on our final week here in Malacatancito and it is difficult as always to tie up all the loose ends and get things packed up. We are feeling a bit sad to leave Domingo´s family again. It is hard not to feel like we are abandoning people when we leave a place. We still hope to be able to arrange a more thorough testing for Domingo and his boys. This week, Luis, his oldest, suddenly had a spell of severe headache and a numb hand and tongue… this revealed a surprise to us… Domingo´s illness began the same way. When he was 15 or 16 he began having spells just like the Luis had. The headaches, cold hands and feet, numbness of the face & hands at times, all seem to be a part of his later Parkinson´s Disease. Over time the spells were more frequent and then at age 40 his hand began to shake. It appears that Luis already has begun the same symptoms. Wilmer is 13 and he has the cold hands and feet but as of yet hasn´t had any headaches or spells. We are really concerned for their family. It is frustrating that there doesn´t seem to be many options to investigate the problem here. We have been communicating with a nurse at Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota and they are fairly sure that it is not Huntington´s disease. The head of the hospital here in Hue-hue seems to think it has something to do with circulation or blood. We will continue praying for them and searching for answers. If any of you are able to find any information please let us know. Thank you to all of you for your continued prayers and concern. We couldn´t do this without all of you. It is definitely a day by day thing here. We never know what new challenge we will face from one day to the next. We are thankful that God has been so faithful to care for us on these journeys. We love to hear from you… I know sometimes it takes us a while to respond… We haven´t forgotten you! Sometimes it is difficult to get to the Internet often and it is always for too short a time to write all we want to. Until next time… God Bless! With Love from All of Us, Chris, Coleen, Noah, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jonathan, and Samuel |
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