A message for JoAn Dwyer

Dear Friends,

Please excuse my delay in sending this email. Since "Agatha" came, my internet has been out, Mary's flight was canceled and she couldn't return from the States and I have been in San Juan and San Pablo. We were quite fortunate in the two villages where we work, because there were no major mud slides and nobody died here. However, the other villages around the lake lost houses and people died. Sorry I don't have the stats with me, but we will send them later. We just want you to know that we are both okay, as well as the clinic and our houses. The staff and local volunteers are all okay, as well as their houses and families. We opened the clinic on Monday, 5/28 after the storm hit over the weekend and were open all week. (We didn't have a water supply but managed, and were able to find drinking water in small containers. The roads to our villages were blocked for several days, but are open now.)

Thank you so much for your emails of concern......we appreciate you and all of your support of our ministry. This storm was compared to Hurricane Stan (Oct, 2005) and this time there were fewer lives lost, but the economic impact will be greater because of the high number of displaced families and the overall damage. Guatemala City was affected by the eruption of Volcano Pacaya on Thursday (that's when the airport was first closed), and there were 4-story sink holes from "Agatha". However, the outlying areas were hit very hard by the incredible rains and subsequent mud slides.

Please keep us and the Guatemalan people in your prayers. It will take a lot of relief work and working together to help heal the wounds, both physical and emotional. ( I treated a 41-year-old pastor with Bach Flower Remedies for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on Wednesday. His only child, an 11-year-old boy, died a month after Hurricane Stan and he lived in the Colonia that was wiped out by that hurricane.)

We feel your love and prayers,
Muchisimas gracias,

JoAn Dwyer & Mary Micikas
Individual Volunteers in Mission
United Methodist Church

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ODIM Organizacion para Desarrollo de la Indigena Maya
Callejon Cho'Cruz 0-25
Barrio Jucanya
Panajachel, Guatemala, C.A.
Cell Phone: 011 502 5215-8608
(in Guatemala, dial 5215-8608)