Merry Christmas!
This is the time of year when, first and foremost, we remember the coming of God’s son, Jesus, whom Matthew 1:23 also describes as Emmanuel, meaning God with us. I believe that God is truly with us, each and every day, often in the faces of those around us! We have been fortunate enough to see and recognize this truth many times in 2017.
For us, 2017 was a good year!
Our ministry here at International Hands in Service/Project Salud y Paz is led by a new Executive Director, Kristen Rinaldi, who has pointed our organization back in a more positive direction through an attitude of servant leadership, a desire to work together in ministry with the Guatemalan Methodist Church, and recognition that each person we treat, work with and meet in our journey is a child of God. Our clinics saw and treated over 6100 patients this year with many hundreds more being seen in our rural medical clinics. We hosted 29 teams with more than 400 individuals serving as short-term construction, surgery, medical and dental volunteers this year and expect similar numbers in 2018. We need general and eye surgery teams for 2018. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Rochester could send a surgery team too? Kristen was able to negotiate a new 20-year lease with the church for the two clinic buildings we have built over the years. Considering the state of the relationship between the two organizations when she arrived, this is a major accomplishment.
We are quite pleased to tell you that we will be joined in February by Nikki Gensmer, the 6th long-term volunteer from Christ UMC, Rochester. Nikki will serve as the team coordinator for Project Salud y Paz in 2018.
We are blessed as we continue to feel God’s call to serve here in Guatemala and our work is going well. Jan has been instrumental in improving our ability to track and report on the financial status of the organization, and in assisting Kristen’s learnings about the day to day clinic operations. My work on the pharmacy system included adding a new ordering module that uses historical data to forecast the needed medications for our clinics and rural teams. We used it in August to make a med order from the US through Blessings International, which we picked up last Sunday on the other side of Guatemala City at our shipper, Vine International. John Edmund continues his high school education at Atitlan Multicultural Academy, where he also volunteers as the Director of Technology and where he wants to complete high school. A highlight for him this year was his PSAT score which was 50 points shy of a perfect score, qualifying him to apply for a National Merit Scholarship. He has started to think about college and our trip to the US this summer will necessarily include time spent looking at colleges.
We have chosen to stay in Guatemala again this year during the holidays due to high airlines ticket prices, a shortfall of about 40-50% of our fundraising goal as well as the short duration of John Edmund’s school break. If you feel moved to contribute to our coming year’s expenses, please follow this link to the instructions for donating: http://www.spiritualjourneystoday.org/how-do-i-donate/
Please say a special prayer for our friend, former Operations Director, Juan Toj and his two boys Marcos and Jason. They’ve had a really rough year with the passing of Manuela (Juan’s wife) and the loss of his job at Salud y Paz as well as some other challenging problems.
God bless each and every one of you!
Merry Christmas and may you feel and recognize God’s hand in your life today and always!
Jan, John Edmund and John Lage, Jr.
Below I’m including a Christmas song I wrote in 2011, I hope you enjoy it!
‘Christmas Only Makes Sense’
This song was written Monday morning after driving back from Indiana for most of the night. We were returning from our Christmas gathering with my family. The first two lines of the chorus came to me while I was still in bed. I got up to write them down and my wife asked, ‘Another song?’.
The premise behind this song is that somehow this whole Christmas story just doesn’t make a great deal of sense from a human standpoint, but we must assume that it does make sense from God’s point of view. God’s ways are truly not our ways! God’s love is amazing and unbelievable, yet I know for sure that he is working in my own personal life!
God bless you in the Christmas season!
May you feel and recognize God’s hand in your life today and always!
JOHN
‘Your Ways Are Not Our Ways’
In a manger born, meek and mild
Sent by God’s own hand, is the Holy Child
He won’t rule this world, with a scepter of gold
He will change with God’s love, the beliefs that we hold
We await the birth of the newborn king
Celebrate the joy and the hope that he brings
Not in elegance, not in luxury
Born to common folks, just like you and me
God, Your ways are not our ways, help us understand
Christmas only makes sense, as a part of Your plan
As the angels sing, shepherds quake
Our perceptions fall, ev’ry rule he’ll break
He won’t rule this world, as an earthly king would
He will teach us to work, for humanity’s good
When the star stops there, wise men bow
In the presence of, oxen, sheep and cows
He won’t rule this world, with new taxes and laws
Using the golden rule, our frozen hearts He will thaw
We await the birth of the newborn king
Celebrate the joy and the hope that he brings
Not in elegance, not in luxury
Born to common folks, just like you and me
God, Your ways are not our ways, help us understand
Christmas only makes sense, as a part of Your plan
Herod’s wrath is felt, children die
Out in Bethlehem, heart broke mothers cry
God won’t rule this world, using terror and fear
Preaching hope, love and peace, He’ll make the whole world hear
We await the birth of the newborn king
Celebrate the joy and the hope that he brings
Not in elegance, not in luxury
Born to common folks, just like you and me
God, Your ways are not our ways, help us understand
Christmas only makes sense, as a part of Your plan
In a modern world, it’s still true
Jesus’ birth still means, hope for me and you
He will rule this world showing love for us all
We must follow God’s Son, we must answer God’s call
We await the birth of the newborn king
Celebrate the joy and the hope that he brings
Not in elegance, not in luxury
Born to common folks, just like you and me
God, Your ways are not our ways, help us understand
Christmas only makes sense, as a part of Your plan
Copyright December 19, 2011 John Lage, Jr. All rights reserved.
