A simple seed, a dire need.

It's been nearly a year since I last posted, but I wanted to spread the word on a future project that I am really excited about! Drea, a student who went to Guatemala last spring through the same program as me, is going back this December 14-28. While she is there, she will be helping the families at the garbage dump plant a vegetable garden and teaching them how to take care of it. The kids, and adults alike, are in dire need of food that will provide them with nutrients. If you are interested in helping Drea buy the seeds and other resources for the community while she is there, please email me at kathyjoyjacobs@gmail.com or jackath@lycoming.edu. Although I won't be going with her, I am so excited to see what God does through her while she is there. Please keep her in your prayers, and if you would like to help with the project financially, please contact me! Thanks! :)

Drea in Guatemala

Following His Will with JOY in my Heart

It’s hard for me to grasp the concept that my time in Puerto Barrios is done, at least for a little while. I won’t be holding orphans, teaching them how to walk, and playing with Dalia every Monday. I won’t be at the Children’s Hospital every Tuesday coloring with sick kids and talking with concerned parents. I won’t be talking to prostitutes or walking through garbage dumps every week anymore.

Some things I’m happy are coming to an end- cold showers, constantly sweating, power outages, water shortages, rice and beans, pila washing, and language barriers. But then there are those things, like Pastor Roni, the kids at the hospital and orphanage, my neighbors, and my team, who make all those discomforts seem insignificant.

One of the many things I will take away from this experience is motivation, motivation to continue my education and become a medical missionary. It upsets me when I look at the statistics at the hospital and see that kids are dying from easily preventable diseases. It infuriates me when I see some of the conditions patients are put into and how untrained some of the doctors are here. From misdiagnosing a Staph infection as bug bites to giving the incorrect dosage of medicine, the past few months has shown me how much of a need there is for competent and trained doctors.

Before coming on this trip, the thought of medical missions sounded appealing but the thought of living in a foreign country for longer than a month didn’t. I wanted to have the American Dream: a husband, some kids, a house, and a stable job. I figured I could go on a medical mission trip once or twice a year for a couple weeks and that would be enough. That may be what God has planned for my life, but because of this trip if that is not what His will is, I will be ok. In fact, I will be more than ok. I will be happy because I know that He has something bigger and better planned for my life. I realized that there is nothing I would rather do than what God wants me to do. That means that if He wants me to pack up my bags and move to Central America and work there, I will. If He wants me to stay in the States and work in an undeserved community, I will do that. And if He doesn’t want me to become a doctor, I will be obedient to His call. And that is something that I couldn’t say with confidence three months ago.

God has used the people of Puerto Barrios to teach me humility, patience, and contentment. He has changed my outlook on life. In the last three months, He challenged me when I needed to be challenged and strengthened me when I needed to be strengthened. He gave me comfort when I needed comfort and taught me patience when I needed to learn. He showed me how good He is and how He always wants what’s best for me. He showed me that His plans are far greater than anything that I could come up with.

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.’”
-Jeremiah 29:11-13

God has blessed me with great supporters. Thank you so much for your reading my blogs, sending me encouraging emails, and praying for me. I love you so much!

Happy Birthday Mom!

This Sunday is my mom’s birthday, and I want to share a story for her. A few weeks into the trip, our team went to an elderly lady’s house and talked and prayed with her. I told my mom about her and every couple of weeks, my mom for some reason asked about her. I didn’t really know what to tell her because since that day, I hadn’t seen or talked to the lady. A few weeks ago during ATL (ask the Lord what He wants you to do), Joel, Taylor, Emily and I went to the elderly lady’s house to visit her. She was very happy to see us and welcomed us into her house. She told us that her son recently fell and as a result, had a neck injury. We prayed for him and then later prayed for her. We talked, read a passage in the Bible, and sang some Christmas carols.

The lady’s living conditions are not very good and she doesn’t have much money. Her house needs some fixing up, but I don’t have the skills to do that. I wanted to bless her, but I didn’t know how I could. After praying about it, I remembered my mom and how much she was asking about this lady. I knew my mom’s birthday was coming up and I knew that I didn’t have a present for her. But I also knew that my selfless mom would rather give than receive, so that is what I decided to do. With the money that I would have spent on a present, I went to the market and the mall and bought a basket full of food and goodies for the lady.

Emily and I went to the lady’s house last week and gave her the basket which we told her was a present for her from God. Tears filled her eyes when we told her it was for her. She kept saying “thank you so much” and “God is so good.” She later went on to tell us that she was having a lot of health problems. Her whole body was aching and the medication that she needed the pharmacy didn’t have yet. She asked us if we could pray for her. We sat down, laid hands on her, and prayed for her. When we finished, streams of tears came rolling down her face. We gave her hugs and then continued talking.

A couple minutes later, she went outside and came back with a basket. Then she started putting the things we had given her into her basket. When we told her that the basket was for her too, she got the biggest smile on her face. Then she pointed to the Christmas platter in the basket and said, “for me too?” We responded with “yes, it’s all for you!” She was so happy and it was so good to see her smile!

Then she cooked lunch for us. We had soup, tortillas, and rice, and it was delicious! We talked a little longer and then left, telling her that we would come back and visit her.

These are the people I am going to miss. This is why it is going to be hard to leave. An elderly lady who feeds us before herself, little girls who meet me at the park every week and greet us with huge hugs, kids at the orphanage who love you like family, Pastor Roni who treats us like his children, patients at the hospital whose parents don’t visit them, and the tienda owners who threw us a party this past week because they wanted to bless us... These are the people that have made Guatemala home to me the last three months.

Pastor Roni

My favorite girls in Guatemala

At the party our neighbors who own the tienda (store) threw us

Jose Manuel... He's getting so big!

Abel at the Hospital

Trusting in Him

God has been showing me and teaching me so much on this trip. This past week, He has brought me to a place that I have never been before. I am at a place now where I actually BELIEVE that God’s plan for me is the best plan for my life. Before this trip, I always knew that, but now, I truly believe it. The thought of giving God complete control of my life no longer scares me. It actually makes me excited! Whether He wants me to stay in the United States for the rest of my life or live in a foreign country doing medical missions, I am at peace, knowing that He will always be with me, and that is an amazing feeling to have. I know that He will be there beside me in every circumstance, always protecting me and wanting the best for me. Romans 8:28 is a verse I have recited numerous times in my head the past three months, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” God has got my back! All I need to do is listen to His call and obey.

Thank you for supporting me on this journey. I can’t believe that I will be home in less than three weeks. This trip has been such a blessing to me and has changed me in more ways than one. Hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving!

Holding the Hand of a Broken Little Girl

Yesterday I heard and saw firsthand the best of God’s creation and how easily it can be destroyed by sin.

I was more excited to go to the children’s hospital this week than other weeks because there was going to be a team from the states performing cleft lip surgeries. When we got to the hospital, we were greeted by a couple ladies on the team who were very surprised to see a bunch of young white people at the hospital. While we were talking to them, Pastor Roni was in one of the rooms talking to one of the patient’s mother. He left the room and called me aside. The excitement I was feeling suddenly turned into a different mix of emotions.

He explained to me that there was a ten year old girl who was sexually abused eight days ago by her eighteen year old uncle. To make matters more horrific, she has special needs and her mother was the one who found her brother-in-law doing this to her little girl. Pastor wanted me to go in and comfort the mother, woman to woman he said. I didn’t know what I was going to say to this lady, and I prayed that God would work though me.

I filled Jaimie, one of my teammates, in on what happened, and we walked into the room. I gave the mom, Norma, a hug and kneeled down beside her. You could tell on her face that she was deeply broken. You could see the pain that she was feeling; pain that I can’t quite comprehend.

Jaimie sat on the bed with the little girl, Vilvia. We talked with Norma for a little, pausing every once and a while just to watch little Vilvia sleep. Since the abuse, Vilvia hasn’t been eating or walking. Before the abuse, Norma said Vilvia was always happy. What I saw when I looked at her was a brutally broken little girl that might never recover. I can only imagine what Norma saw when she looked at her once smiling happy little girl. I rubbed Norma’s back and held her hand as we talked about what happened.

Norma has a total of five kids, and she homeschools all of them because there isn’t a school close to them. She been staying at the hospital and has been sleeping on the floor every night. She told us her neck was starting to hurt her.

After about an hour and a half, it was time to go. We said our goodbyes, but I knew I would be seeing her again soon. Once we left, all Jaimie and I needed to do was look at each other and we knew we were both thinking the same thing- we needed to do something for Norma.

We went with Pastor Roni to the store and bought some snacks, fruit, drinks, tissues, bread, and a blanket for her. While we were in the taxi on the way to the hospital, I was in constant prayer that we would be God’s hands and feet and that He would bring comfort and healing to this broken family. When we got to the hospital, the guard let us in with all the stuff we just bought, which I later learned usually isn’t allowed. Pastor Roni said it was by the grace of God that we could.

When we got there, Norma wasn’t in the room but Vilvia was awake. Jaimie and I sat with her, played with her hair, held her hand, and sang songs to her. After about 20 minutes, Norma came and we gave her the gifts. She was surprised we were there and kept saying thank you and God bless you.

As I was riding in the taxi on the way home, my mind was full of emotions and thoughts. I was angry at the uncle. How could a man who was married do that to his niece? My heart broke for Vilvia and Norma. Will Vilvia every recover from this? Will Norma be able to sleep peacefully when she has that image in her mind? And why did God choose Jaimie and me to talk to Norma?

I have heard these types of stories on the news, but to actually hold the hand of the victim was completely different. The pain is there, and it is so real. My prayer is that God will erase those memories from their minds, that He will heal Vilvia’s body, and that Norma has the strength to get through these difficult days.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our trouble, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” -2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Blessed.

There have been many moments the past two months where I think, “Where am I? What am I doing? And how did I get here?” These questions came rushing through my head when I found myself being interviewed live on Honduras TV. I sure didn’t think I would be doing that when I signed up for a mission trip to Guatemala!

The five days we were in Honduras were some of my favorite days on this trip. The people that we met and worked with were so joyful, kind, and generous. They were very happy that we were there and wanted to bless us. They just kept saying, “Our hearts are so happy that you are here!” The last night we were there, the pastor’s family surprised us with a little bracelet for each of us with our names on it, and then later cooked us a three course meal with the most delicious chicken I have ever tasted. The same family (parents, two sisters, and one brother) drove us to the boarder, and the girls cried when we left. It was amazing to build such a strong connection in such a short period of time.

While we were in Honduras we broke up into smaller groups and went to schools, churches, different neighborhoods, a hospital, and a prison (only the boys went there). One of my favorite moments was holding a very happy baby boy at the hospital. The town where we stayed, Puerto Cortez, has a big bilingual school, so a lot of the people there knew English, which made holding conversations a lot easier.

In addition to all the fun experiences we had, God opened my eyes to numerous things while I was in Honduras. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a planner. I like to know what is going on and having everything planned. I like to look forward to things. God really challenged me for the next month to focus only on the day at hand, to not think about the next day, and to not countdown the days anymore. The reality is that my time in Guatemala is quickly coming to an end. I don’t want to look back on this time and think, “Man, I really wasted it. I was too busy thinking about home.” So from now on, I am only focusing on the day at hand and how I can make the best of every opportunity. Since I have had that new outlook, my days have been great! I can see God working in me and in the community.

This past Tuesday, we went to the children’s hospital. God has blessed me with individuals back home who have donated money for projects and supplies while I am here. Because of that, I have been able to organize numerous projects that I wouldn’t have been able to do without the funding. This week, we bought flowers for the prostitutes, which brought smiles to their faces and made them feel valuable. I was also able to go to the store and buy coloring books and markers to hand out to the kids at the hospital. Some of the girls and I made get well soon for the kids too. When we got there, we broke up into smaller groups and went into the different rooms. I was in the room with girls, ranging from ages two to around eleven. They absolutely loved the coloring books! It is amazing how a little coloring book, equivalent to about 27 cents in America, can make someone’s day. Thanks to all my supporters! I am so blessed to be here.

This little girl was burned (arm and leg) when a pot of hot coffee spilled on her. She is four and full on energy. I sat on her bed and colored with her for a while, and then I went to talk to some of the other girls. She must not have liked that because she got up, her coloring book and markers in hand, and hopped over and sat on the floor with me and continued to color. She was adorable!

Top Five Favorite Moments of the Week in Pictures

1. Tennis!

During sport's ministry, our Pastor knew I liked tennis so he talked with the tennis instructor at the complex, and he let me play. It was a very unexpected treat!

2. Outdoor Church Service on Friday and Saturday

At the church service, I met these two adorable and sweet girls. Cesia, the girl on the right, was patient with my Spanish speaking skills, and we are able to have a good and long conversation. They bought me a lollipop and Cesia gave me her bracelet.

3. (Little) Cliff Jumping and Swimming in the River

Friends of the pastor we work with wanted to bless us, so they took us to a river about two and a half hours away and cooked for us. It was by far the best Sunday I have had in Guatemala. I also had a two hour conversation with our bus driver (in Spanish!) where he opened up and told me about some of the things he was struggling with. God definitely gave me the ability to understand and talk to him because I do not have that much Spanish knowledge.

4. He has a name, Jose Manuel!

Last time we went to the orphanage, I held this little guy who was only seven days old. He didn't have a name, but when I came back this past Monday, they named him Jose Manuel. :)

5. Carnival at the Orphanage

We did the carnival at the orphanage this week, and they loved it! It was great to see all the smiling faces.