March 4, 2010 by Dawn
Filed under News and Events
by Heather Nielsen
What a blessing it is to share this story with you. Pastor Sebastian presented us with information about a young lady named Bartola. Bartola’s parents asked us for help finding her a wheelchair. Bartola was born 1 day before me during the worst years of the civil war here.
For environmental and genetic reasons she was born with a very short stature, unable to walk or talk. She is the eldest of 5 children. Until January 27th, her siblings and parents have had to carry her everywhere she needed to go, She is also unable to crawl or pull herself a standing position. This day she received her first wheelchair from Hope Haven Guatemala, an organization with roots in Iowa.
Hope Haven able to fit her chair specifically to her. One of the best quality chairs I’ve seen. To make this happen, we received donations from Salud y Paz, Hope Haven Guatemala, and Coronado United Methodist Church in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. It was so beautiful to me to see everyone pull together to make this possible.
Bartola’s way of saying thank-you to us was through her never ending smile and a tug on my nose! I turned to see her mother’s face overwhelmed with appreciation. Bartola you are a gift to God!
I live in New Smyrna Beach. Bartola might be interested to know that her picture sits on my desk as I send this message to you. When her need for the chair became known to us Barbara and Jack Travis were at the clinic. Barbara immediately sent an email to my husband, Wayne, and told him about her. He told Barbara that it was a “done deal”. He immediately went to his computer and began day trading. God gave him this gift to be very successful as he called it “Trading for Jesus”! I will be returning to the clinic in January 2012 and hope I get to meet Bartoola. Wayne passed away a bit over a year ago, but he was so happy to see her using the chair.