I have been wanting to post these photos of our Christmas service at the Hogar Betania de Ancianos (Bethany Home for the Elderly) on December 22. This was right before Nathan was born (can you tell from the photo that I was about to pop!?!) and needless to say, life got crazy and I never had the opportunity to post these photos.
It turned out that only Santi and I were available to do the Christmas service for the residents as all our other regular volunteers were out of town. So we had invited the Weeks family (missionaries with HCJB) to come and join us for the service - mostly because Brent & Shelly are very musically talented and let's just say Santi and I don't really sing too well!
The Weeks graciously agreed to help us out along with their three boys. We had so much fun singing Christmas songs in Spanish - THANKS TO BRENT AND SHELLY for planning some wonderful music.
And Santi organized the story of the Three Trees (maybe you have heard it before - the three trees who wanted to do something special in "life" and ended up being the manger, the boat and the cross). It turned out to be perfect for the Week's three boys to help out and represent the three trees.
We also want to THANK our dear friend, retired missionary, Karen Pedersen, who left the story of the Three Trees with us in Quito several months ago when her and her husband moved to TX. We were looking through files for pictures of the manger, boat and cross, when I came across the entire story and flannel cut-outs that she had left with me! PERFECT!
The residents were very attentive throughout the story (it probably helped that there were three boys helping out providing additional entertainment).
And they also enjoyed the gifts we were able to give them at the end of the service - they each received a blanket (these had been donated throughout the year from VBS children from the US), a bag of candy (they probably didn't really need candy as their teeth are mostly gone!), and somehow in the throes of the final days of pregnancy, I managed to make sugar cookies for them!
I have mentioned before that we have been looking for practical ways to help out the elderly at the Hogar Betania. We have been receiving a donation of $150 per month from the English-speaking church here in Quito. With that money, we have been trying to cover the cost of some medicines that the 40 residents need - they just don't have any way to pay for these medicines on their own. Sometimes it's something as simple as some tylenol to help ease the pain of arthritis. And other times, it's something as complicated as heart medicine which is very necessary. What amazes us is that rarely do the residents complain of their aches and pains.
Another thing that we have been able to do in recent months is hire a young lady, Miriam, to go to the Hogar twice a month to do pedicures and manicures. She has special training in working with feet and toe-nails and also has a great smile and personality to cheer the residents as she works on their hands and feet! I can't tell you what this simple act does to help the residents feel better (and the ladies love showing us their newly-painted fingernails when we go on Sunday). And it definitely helps with their health - I probably shouldn't describe to you what sort of condition their feet and toes were in before she started going out there!
And of course, there is more that we'd like to do, but lately, the $150 that we receive each month from the church is not covering all the requests for medicines and to be able to pay Miriam to go out there twice a month to do the pedicures and manicures. I normally would not use this blog to raise funds, but perhaps there is someone out there who would like to help with these needs at the Hogar? We would be thrilled to have you be a part of the ministry to these dear people in this way if God leads you to do so.
If you are interested in helping, please feel free to email me directly at: rarteaga@extremeresponse.org. AND/OR if you'd like to send some funds to help with the needs at the Hogar, you can send your tax-deductible donation to:
EXTREME RESPONSE INTERNATIONAL
PO Box 345
Snellville, GA 30078
PLEASE INCLUDE A NOTE THAT THE DONATION IS FOR THE HOGAR BETANIA PROGRAM. We will use any funds received to help the residents at the Hogar, through purchasing medicines for them, continuing to provide pedicures and manicures, and doing special things for them from time to time.
Thanks for reading all about the Hogar Betania - these residents are very dear to us! Please pray for the Hogar Volunteer Team as we seek ways to continue to help them!
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