First Vision Trip - Dave Russell

A small team of interested folks took off for Guatemala on Wed. the 22nd of August and returned five days later. The purpose of the trip was to go to the very ends of the Vine Pipeline to see first hand the fruit of our labor. I have always seen that fruit in Vine's medical teams, but had never been where our supplies are being used 365 days a year. We covered the mountain region, characterized by Guatemala's famous volcanos and it brightly attired indigenous population. I lost my heart to this part of Guatemala on Vine's first trip 15 years ago.

Pictured on the blog are Dr. Sergio and a midwife. We dropped down to the Pacific coastal plain for a day and visited Dr. Sergio at Hospital Santa Fe. He is the only doctor serving thousands of patients in the little town of Chocola and the surrounding jungle area. He could be lots of othersplaces making a repectable living, but he knows our time is short and he wants to serve his people and reach them with the gospel. He works out of a grouping of former government training buildings that are in disrepair. He could really use a team to help him spruce the place up. Sergio is a remarkably humble man who could not stop thanking Vine for everything he has received. For, me, Sergio alone was worth the trip.
Another stop was in Olintepeque (O-lin-tay-pay-kay) where we met two tiny Indian sisters who started and run a midwife service. Here they provide birthing assistance and train others in midwifery. Of course, they have nothing, and Vine is critical to supplying them with necessary items for their work.

Some words that come to my mind from our visits with these servants of Jesus over 5 days: humility, self-sacrifice, and the abiding life of Christ. I could not be prouder to be yoked with these dear servants. Our hats are off to Dennis and Doris for finding folks like this who partner with Vine to bear fruit for the Kingdom.

If you are a Vine Friend and want to take a foray to the end of the pipeline, please send us an email. dave@vineinternational.org

Shipping Updates - Better News - Woody Woodson

First, much thanks for your prayers concerning Vine's shipping issues. To say they've been resolved is not totally correct, but as the Lord often does - He provides another way - & in this case - it's paying import taxes on the aid. Sounds weird - right? Having to pay taxes to donate aid? Actually, it gets stranger. It can be cheaper to pay taxes than to import tax-free. Would a short explanation help? Technically, the container shipping companies give shippers (like Vine) free use of the 40-foot box for about a week & then start charging daily penalties - & earlier in 2006, they began enforcing those penalties. Importing tax-free through the First Lady's Office of Guatemala takes a month & we've been paying $1,000 to $1,500 in penalties per tax-free container. By-passing the First Lady's Office & just paying the import tax on charitable aid is a quick process - with no penalties. We've just shipped in 2 tax-paid containers - one costing $450 & one with a lot of medicines & vitamins costing $1,550 in taxes. Overall - we're figuring the typical container will be under $1,000 in taxes - without all the delays. Between now & the end of the year, we'll be playing catch-up on our aid-levels shipped for 2007 & when the new Guatemalan administration is installed in January after elections, we'll re-visit all the tax-free issues with the new First Lady's Office. Clear as mud? There is nothing easy or simple about this process - but what we do know is that well over 100 projects in Guatemala look to Vine to assist their efforts in serving the poor in Jesus' name. So, please know - your prayers & support are effective & they keep the pipeline flowing. Again, muchas gracias.

Frustrations - Woody Woodson

It has been some frustrating months. The Lord continues to build Vine’s pipeline of aid to Guatemala, yet the government keeps getting harder & harder to work with. I’ve said it countless times - we have two choices - work through it - or pack up & go home. However, if God has called us to do it - then we really have only one choice. As a member of TECH (Technical Exchange for Christian Healthcare), I hear similar stories from brothers & sisters serving in medical missions all over the world. No question about it - these frustrations simply go with the territory. Will it ever improve? Probably not to any real degree. And maybe that’s the point - that difficulties are not the point. Personally I’ve found the hard things are the very things that drive me to the Lord to discover things of Life I could find no other way. Self-sufficiency & a smooth life even seem to hinder that progress. Sometimes when I read Paul’s words it’s as if he’s speaking to me personally - like 2 Cor.4:7-12 - “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness may be of God & not ourselves; afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus may be manifested. So death works in us, but life in you.” God loves to work in paradoxes & life out of death is one of them - not in physical death, but in losing our lives to find them. It is the “grain of wheat” Jesus speaks about in John 12 that must go into the ground & die in order to bear much fruit. So, do we go looking for problems? No, we just look at them in a different way. And then a strange thing happens. We find we are no longer a slave to the fear of problems because we learn intimately that God is master of causing “all things to work together for good.” So… in spite of my sarcasm-laced 2nd Quarter Newsletter on Vine's website, I really do feel better now.

Introduction

Hello Vine Family,

Some of you have been receiving news and updates from me via email recently and I'm sure you're wondering, who is this guy? So this is my attempt to introduce myself to those of you who visit this blog. I was informally adopted into the Woodson family back in 1992 when I started dating, as Woody puts it, his #2 daughter Cassie. Needless to say my first introduction to Woody was a little bit different from most. For a 17 year old boy, missionary and mercenary sound a lot alike. Imagine Woody as the Terminator. Now that's funny. Cassie, truly my better half, and I have been married for 10 years now, and have two additions to the family, Ethan 6 and Emma 4. Being introduced as a mercenary sounds more appealing now that I have a daughter. Anyway, I'll let Woody do most of the introduction, you can find a description of a son-in-law in his next newsletter or by clicking here. Also if you have not done so and would like to join Vine's mailing list for those updates and news click here and just put in the subject "add."

I'm sure like many of you, before visiting Guatemala, it was just another name on a map. You know the one under Mexico. But after meeting the Woodson clan, Guatemala became more like a fairy tale. Countless family stories of tracking through the rain forest, floating down a river to get to a remote village, smoking volcanoes, and ancient Mayan ruins. A couple of years back and pre-kids, Cassie and I had a chance to go on a discovery trip with Woody where he would visit existing and possibly new projects. This would be my first trip and her second time back after living there. I had to catch up on my Indiana Jones flicks before we went, you know just in case. My fairy tale ended. An absolutely stunning Country, but I was left speechless by the poverty. Like many of you, my story is your story. I brought back a suit case full of emotion and willingness to do something. That was 7 years ago.

I was recently reminded (from a certain Wood pecker) that when a tree grows, it grows slowly, except in the spring. You can almost watch it expand and reach toward the sky, but then it stops. Summer, Fall, and Winter, nothing. And then the process starts all over again. I didn't realize it, but during those "nothing" seasons the tree constantly strengthens itself. If it didn't, we would have a lot of limp trees. Everything is spiritual, sometimes it just takes a while to see it. God placed a slow growing passion in me sometime back for Guatemala and its people. He continues to build, cultivate and strengthen this passion.

Vine's approached to spreading the good news is unique, but not new. Reaching out to the humanistic needs of a person often opens the door for more important issues. Remember the majority of Jesus' teachings were done after he healed. My role with Vine is to help out with communicating to you, the Vine Family, important issues, news, and updates. It's on a volunteer basis so it may take a while for me to respond, but I'll do my best.


Jason

Vine Pipeline Clogged!

There is no sugar coating it — this has been a frustrating spring and summer! Precious medical supplies wait in 5 containers unable to ship to Guatemala. Meanwhile, our warehouse in Guatemala City is getting desperately threadbare. For reasons that are unclear, unrelated to Vine, the government is dragging their feet in giving us clearance to ship. We haven't been able to ship anything. This is now a matter for prayer and supplication. We must remember that this is the Lord's endeavor, and he is continually teaching us at Vine to be dependent on His strength and His ways.

Please ask in Vine's behalf that our containers be released for shipment, that the 100 projects we serve in Guatemala may do their Kingdom work.

Reconnecting — Dave Russell

A few of us from the February trip gathered at Cedar Springs Church a few weeks ago to share memories and renew fellowship. Anna Garlington was the first person in Vine history who was successful in such an endeavor after a trip. Anna gets the “Bringer Togetherer Award.” She was also kind enough to bring along some frijoles negra y bananas negra, the latter being unintentionally crisp! It was fun to see everyone.
Ernie and Charlene arrived a little worse for wear after arriving Thursday morning from Las Vegas where Ernie said their daughter had just been married by Elvis. You’ll have to ask him about the truth of all that.
Woody rolled in with chips and salsa in hand. Do you think he was wearing a hat? We were all standing up talking when Stephanie slipped in. It was so good to see her once we all sat down:) Becky (AKA Barbie) arrived with her smile and easy way to complete our circle. Then, ever the observer, I watched us as we looked at pix on the TV and leafed through Ernie’s photo album. There was the off chance that we would talk about Mandy’s wheelchair, and sure enough we did. We are still in awe that God would have visited us in that way, in that place. As I watched, I thought of each person and how the Lord used our gifting in specific ways for His glory. I had my own slide show or sorts playing in my head as I remembered.
The LORD had pulled us together and knit us into His body for a particular task and for a particular period of time. He placed us individually in that body just as He willed to do in order to bring glory to himself and to provide pleasure, fulfillment and joy to us. The little remnant of our body, through chips, salsa, beans, and bananas and each other’s company remembered. And through the remembering we want to remain. Remain where? In His presence. Doing what He is doing — in the rightness of caring for the poor, the outcast and the oppressed — in the kind of sweet communion we find elusive elsewhere — in the unpredictable adventure of being blown by His breath.
It has been said that a joy is not complete unless it is shared. And in coming together to reconnect we share our joy and the joy is renewed. Stephanie understands this, for she is diligent to gather our email addresses and keep us together if only by cyberspace. She gets the “Keeper Togetherer” Award.

More Than "Stuff" — Dave Russell

There's more than "stuff" in Vine's Pipeline. There are people.

There are lots of reasons that Vine “ships” people to Guatemala. Mostly it’s for connecting. People are disconnected. They are disconnected from each other, from different people groups, from the poor, from less than sterile environments, and from their own hearts. The people that come through our pipeline sometimes think they are needed, but they are needy. Sometimes they want to make a difference, but they need to be different. Sometimes they want to share their wealth, but find they are poor. Sometimes they want to find life — and they do!

They find that there is real living in losing your life and that joining the fellowship of His suffering brings fulfillment and peace. The poor, the outcast, and the oppressed give us that gift. By connecting people to medical missions, orphanages, wheelchair ministries and mission hospitals, we help those organizations with much needed manpower and resources. In this regard, Vine is a relational catalyst. We put people together in the service of the poor and nothing is ever the same again. Vine is often the silent partner in works that shout loudly about the goodness of God.

Be sure to look at the blog for our warehouse in Guatemala City. www.vinebodegaguatemala.blogspot.com