Otto:

He came into our Nutrition Center weighing 12 lbs. and was 25-1/4" tall. He is leaving weighing 22 lbs. and grew to be 28-1/4" tall. We'll miss his giggles and his contagious smile.  

Santos:

He came into our Nutrition Center weighing 25 lbs. and was 34-1/4" tall. He is leaving weighing 36 lbs. and is now 35-1/2" tall. We'll miss those special hugs and smiles.

"At Pueblo Modelo last week, I met Juana, my first visitor of the day. She could not read, and she could not see the eye chart to measure for distance vision so I tested her closeup vision first. It confirmed she had very poor vision and needed a very strong prescription of a +5.0. I decided to see how well she could see with a +3.50 reading glasses for distance since even with the one pair I had given her, they would not help for distance. As soon as I had them on her face, she screamed in Spanish, 'It's a miracle!' and started crying and hugged me. I then started crying, as did Cathy who was helping me. We were so happy and she was too, praising God for bringing us to the clinic that day! It really was a miracle for all of us. She undoubtedly had never been able to see well, which was probably why she couldn't read either. I have seen this over and over again - these less fortunate people, with poor vision, often cannot read, and probably found school to be beyond their reach. If we catch them early enough, maybe we can change their story. Another one of our volunteers was testing the vision of a 40-year old woman who also could not read, but when she had her new reading glasses she said, 'Now, I can learn to read!' "

Thank you for supporting our eyeglasses program by donating your gently used reading glasses, prescription eyeglasses, and sunglasses - they can really change a life in only a few minutes.

During the July 17-26 Trip, U.S. Firefighters held a special training for Chiefs and Officers from 40 Fire Stations within Guatemala. The great thing about this training was that it will not stop after their session ended. Those in attendance will continue to share what they learned with their fellow Firefighters when they return to their stations implementing life saving procedures and tactics to prepare them for the many different situations that may occur. 

The last week in August the HIM Staff at the Munster headquarters and some volunteers successfully loaded another container and sent it on its way to Guatemala.

A huge thank you to all who donated the medical & dental supplies, physical therapy equipment, firefighter equipment, musical instruments, clothes, shoes, items for the Nutrition Center-Reese House-Senior Center and so much more for those we serve in Guatemala.

The last week of August, HIM was involved in the training of 30 Ecuadorian Firefighters at Carol Stream Fire Department in Illinois. There they had the opportunity to have hands on experiences in many different areas of firefighter training not readily available to them in their home country. Thank you to the Carol Stream Fire Department for hosting this event and for all the Firefighters, from various other local Fire Departments, who helped in the training.

On July 30-August 2 we held our 3rd C amping Trip at Cedar Lake, IN for the youth from the Humboldt Park area of Chicago. We joined forces with The Carpenter's House Church in Chicago to give them this opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, participate in different sporting events, be challenged in discussions that helped to mold them into being responsible adults along with spending time in praise, thanking God for all He is doing in their lives.