Thank You Letter

Hello from Guatemala,

I certainly have a lot of bad traits in my life but the one that I have really been convicted about lately is not saying thank you enough to all of you who pray for us and support us financially. I really have no good excuse to give to you. I read the statement each month from Missionary Companion Missions and see how much I have to work with for the month and see your faces as I read who the money came from.

Dr. Bill Schnurr & Beto

Gabby

I then say to myself I need to send a postcard or thank you letter or e-mail and say thank you personally but I get busy and then forget. So I want to take a minute and say a long over due "Thank You," for all you do for us here in Guatemala. If it were not for you the three children we have would not be in school. Instead because of your generosity, Beto is top in his class again and was chosen to compete in a math competition yesterday. Here is a boy who would have never gone past 6th grade. Gaby is also in the top of her class and they both know and speak fluently 3 languages, English, Spanish and Quetchie. For this I thank you. (I was in the top of the lower one third of my class). Debora is not in school till next year so she gets to go everywhere with us when we go to villages.

She has it made huh?

You have heard me talk about my friend David Alvarez and many of you have met him. A team from his church get off work every Friday night and drive 5 hours down here and stay here at the dorm and then at 5:00 next morning leave for the villages to cook the kid's breakfast and do the evangelistic and educational work.

For about 5 years now we have been going to a village called Aqua Caliente. It has about 800 people. It was a very dirty village. The people are all Quetchie and have no way of getting an education or climbing out of poverty. At first when we went there they were very afraid of us and most of the people did not even come to our first medical clinic because they were too afraid. But today I cannot even pass by that village without stopping and saying hello or they think I am ignoring them. It has a beautiful set of Hot Water Falls near by, where tourist visit and it is very beautiful. But one of the greatest things we are seeing in this village, is the way the village is responding to the JungleKids Program. I tried to help cook but they say I am not supposed to cook one and eat two. So they don't let me cook. The kids get vitamins and teaching on hygiene health and the Bible.

I cannot tell you how good it is to see the villages we have been working with preparing the soil for 5 years now, getting the Gospel and training to be future leaders. The Guatemalan team from David's church are unbelievably hard workers. To them I say "thank you." But I want to also thank every one of you who have given to the work we have here in Guatemala.

There is a man who is the Pastor of Agua Caliente. He has worked with us on the JungleKids project and has proved his honesty and integrity over and over. Every time he comes to meet us he is smiling and full of joy. He always has a clean shirt on and even runs home and puts one on if we show up unannounced. He has five daughters and a wife. They are all very polite and very shy. He lives in a house made up of literally sticks dug into the ground with a thatched roof of palm branches on top. His floor is mud as is his yard.

This Pastor approached David the other day and said, "Pastor, will you come with me to tell the elders that I have to leave the church?" He was very distraught. David said, "Why are you leaving when the church is growing and more and more people are coming to know the Lord?" He said, "Pastor David, the people in this village do not have good jobs. So even when they find work they only get $4.50 a day. When they tithe they bring me an egg or some fruit, but it is not enough to feed my family." He said, "I have been offered a job at one of the farms and I have to take it." So David said, "How much do you need to stay as full time pastor?" The pastor looked him in the eyes and said, "Just enough money to feed my family a chicken once a week instead of tortillas every meal." My heart broke to think how little he needed for his family to live and survive. So David’s church is now giving him enough money to stay as full time pastor.

Two days ago the pastor’s daughter fell and broke her leg. She now needs surgery and pins put into her leg so she will be able to walk again. Again, thanks to you, I can get her the surgery she needs and David and I will make sure she is taken care of.

I am not writing this to toot my own horn. I am trying to let you know that there is no way we could do what we do for these people if it were not for you. I know you have heard me say it before but I believe this will happen. When you are in heaven you will get a tap on the shoulder and when you turn around there will be a pastor from a small village saying, "Thank you for helping me tell my village about Jesus." Then a little girl will say, "Thank you for getting my leg fixed so I could walk" Then another will say, "Thank you for letting me and my brothers and sisters have a piece of chicken once a week." Then you will feel a warm calm come over you as you have never felt in your life as Jesus calls your name and says, "Thank you for healing my wounds when I was hurt and had no money." You will look up into His eyes and say, "Lord, when did I do these things?" He will say, "When you did it to the least of these; you did it unto me." But Lord, "When did I do these things?" Then He will show you that it was your money that bought that food for a family you did not know, And then He will show you the girl who was burned and you paid for her to get antibiotics to heal her burned back. And then He will show you the lives you touched, and didn't even know.

So to say thank you now seems so insignificant. I am sorry I have not sent you thank you cards as I should. I am sorry I have not hugged you like I should. But let me say from the bottom of Riechelle and my hearts, thank you for all you have done to help people who can’t say thank you….but when they do….. Look Out! Because the Heavens will shake. David and I went to have the final meeting with the hospital that will do the surgeries on the kids we have taken into our project. It went very well and they now also want to donate doctors two days a month to come with me in my bus and do free medical care. God continues to use people like you to make a way when it seems like there is no way.

Beto, Riechelle, Gaby, Mel Gibson, and Debora

I also want to thank David Harrison for making our DVD available for others who may want to help and to see the work here in Guatemala. If you would like a Junglemedic Missions DVD just e-mail me your name and address and David will send you one from Charlotte, NC for free. If you want to see what the DVD is like you can view a lower quality version of it on the web site at www.Junglemedicmissions.org. Just click the video link that says Junglemedic Video 2007.

Again Riechelle and I both want to say "THANK YOU," for all you do and send God's Blessings to you.

God Bless,,
In His Service,

Bryan & Riechelle and Kids

Junglemedic Missions
Rio Dulce, Izabal
Guatemala Central America

E-Mail: Bryan@JungleMedicMissions.org
Web Site: http://www.junglemedicmissions.org/

This page was last updated 07/21/07