Maribel Rice with team members in Costa Rica

It was with lots of fears and nervousness that I left my country this time, since it was my first time flying alone. When I arrived in Costa Rica, I didn’t know how blessed I would be for two weeks. During the first week God showed me that sometimes you only have to be quiet and HE will do the rest. I spent the first fives days with a missionary family and I enjoyed the time that we shared together. I also worked with a group that had arrived at the Bible seminary where they live and serve. I enjoyed working in construction with the group so much that I was tempted to work with them instead of the medical team because I am not a doctor or a translator.

When the medical group arrived, I already knew about half of them even though I hadn’t spent much time with them before. The other half of the group were complete strangers, but in a short time I saw that they were wonderful people. In the beginning I doubted that I was where God wanted me, but that’s when I realized that sometimes, we ourselves may feel out of place and in reality we are exactly where God wants us. We worked in many different places with lots of different people that are really not much different from us. They were people that not only needed medicine, they needed to be loved and not just any love; it’s only the never changing love of God that softens the hardest of hearts! So my first mission trip outside of Guatemala, has filled my life with blessings because I was able to serve and God allowed me to get to know many awesome people!

Habacuc & Dave were my roommates at the 09 Christian Skate ministry Conference.

Our ministry will be collecting financial contributions to help with disaster aid relief in Chile from this morning’s huge earthquake. Our good friend Habacuc Diaz Ramos is a missionary in Santiago Chile, just 200 miles northeast of the epicenter from the jolt that registered 8.8 on the richter scale. All donations received for this humanitarian aid effort will be forwarded to Habacuc for dispersal in hart hit areas. As always your gifts are tax-deductible, and remember it’s times like these when we all need to join together to show the love of Christ to those who desperately need it. Contact Us, for more info.

Maribel Rice

Maribel left for San Jose Costa Rica on Saturday February 13th and is staying with our friends there until the medical mission team arrives this Saturday, the 20th. Then, she will be joining with the medical mission team from Life Covenant Church to serve with them for four straight days of medical day clinics. She will be returning to Guatemala on Saturday February 27th. This is the same church that brought a medical mission team to Coban last February. Please pray for God to use this team mightily for HIS glory and that they would make an eternal difference in the lives of others!

Ray Wolfe

We wanted to give you a quick update about our friend Ray Wolfe’s participation in medical relief flights to Haiti last week. Ray was one of a five man flight team that made multiple trips between Florida and Les Cayes to carry a medical team and much needed supplies to the island so heavily damaged by the January 12th earthquake. Ray is a Captain with Southwest Airlines and volunteers for our ministry in the area of Web Development. The unique part of their relief trips was the ability of the Albatross seaplane they were flying to land in the water as opposed to the overrun airport. There is much more info available, including pictures and stories on the Albatross Haiti Relief Mission’s page on Facebook.

Catherine with Hector & Carmen

We have been blessed to have a strong friendship with Hector and Carmen Coc for many years. We first met them at a patient screening for children with physical impairments in March of 2007. Their daughter Evelin Suleymi was a special needs child who was born with Spinal Bifida and Hydrocephalus. Our ministry helped her receive needed surgeries and a custom wheelchair before she went home to be with Jesus on January 8, 2008. Our involvement with them during a tough time in their lives built a strong bond between our families. When they returned Evelin’s wheelchair to us, Maribel told Carmen about the necessity for a woman to take folic acid several months prior to becoming pregnant to improve the chances of the fetus forming correctly.  Before they left, Maribel gave Carmen a huge bottle of folic acid with about a year’s supply. We visited their home with a mission team last August to share a meal with them. At that time, I happened to notice that Carmen had put on some weight and I asked Maribel if she thought that she could be pregnant. Maribel didn’t think so and I didn’t have the nerve to ask. This morning I received a phone call from Hector saying that Carmen gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl last night. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness with this family! We are so happy for them and are anxious to see her. Click here to view Evelin Suleymi’s story.

February 4 -7, 2008 – Carlos Morales, and I were asked, to help with a four day medical outreach. Everyday, the clinic was held at the same church in the remote mountain village of “Esperanza Chilatz.” in Guatemala. The doctor leading the group was a Guatemalan and the other physician along with several nurses came from Indianapolis, IN to help with the clinic.

This article is a continuation click here for the original post.

This article is a continuation click here for the original post.

This summer, we were privileged to join with “Kaitlin’s Mobility Foundation” to bless many special needs children from the region of Alta Verapaz with donated custom wheelchairs. The organization’s directors, Doug and Carol Whitfield, brought a team from Seattle, WA to help distribute the wheelchairs and teach rehabilitation practices to the families. Their team included two special education teachers, a physical therapist, a registered nurse and a family with many years of experience with special needs children.