• To alleviate human suffering through medical and humanitarian relief efforts all around the world
• To recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every human being
• To provide a practical demonstration of Christian love

While Window of Hope is founded upon Christian principles, we will never make acceptance of any religious doctrine criteria to receive care. We serve the poor and needy, regardless of their race, color, gender, religious, or personal beliefs.

Since arriving on site we have been able to partner with our in-country network of churches and NGO’s to provide relief on a number of fronts.

The need is great and the “crime scene” of the disaster is spread out over a large geographic area. This is represented by the included photos and the stories we are hearing from the victims. We have worked both in the metropolis of Guatemala City and in the more remote rural areas. Today Dr. Jim flew with other organization leaders to a small air strip and then took a pick-up truck and a boat trip across Lake Atitlan assessing the communities of San Lucas and San Antonio. There we heard the heart breaking story of 3 families who all lost homes and family members to mudslides. One particularly sad report was from San Antonio where a number of people were moved from an area thought to be at risk of a slide only to have been moved directly in the path of where the actual slide came down. The result was tragic. One young girl lost both parents and is now left to face life as an orphan.

The stories are all equally painful and it is our desire to provide real hope and comfort to all who are suffering during their moment of need.

Our friends who work here full-time have begun a plan and are buying property to assist the 3 families mentioned above. We were able to provide a water filtration system for them to prevent disease and are providing medications to a physician who works with this ministry team.

To summarize, since arriving in Guatemala we have been able to:

1. Educate 120+ leaders to provide health information to the victims so they can avoid illness (water purification techniques, hygiene, food preparation, etc.).
2. Provide food for distribution to those at highest risk
3. Provide medical clinic to victims suffering from illness and the stress/grief as a result of the disaster
4. Distribute water filters to multiple sites to provide thousands of gallons of clean water daily
5. Assess needs to insure those suffering get care and are not taken advantage of – and to insure aid does not go to those who do not really need it
6. Assess current needs and work to develop local, indigenous and sustainable responses to restore communities to wholeness
7. Develop partnerships to work together to problem solve rather than reproduce efforts among local and foreign organizations

Many thanks to all of you who continue to hold us up in prayer and to those who have provided funding to our disaster relief efforts.

Your prayers and gifts are truly making a difference.

Be Blessed,

Window of Hope

To the people of Israel God showed his acts, but to Moses He showed His ways.

Today while rushing to get to a field hospital in Port au Prince, then off to receive a team at the airport (all to help Haiti), it was very easy in the heat of the moment to work on problems without seeing THE problem – hurting people. As we rolled up to a security gate a large UN bus blocked our path. It was a bit of a nuisance as we had so much to do and so little time – all good stuff but…

I watched as the bus driver stopped and handed a Halal MRE (meal ready to eat) to a small Haitian boy standing at the gate in front of us. I then noticed the Jordanian patch on his military uniform and was challenged by his compassion and the significance of the moment. It is so easy to help the crowds but miss the individual person. Yet this driver was moved to act and to serve. It provides a reminder of what our own Lord modeled so well – that while Jesus could speak to multitudes, He always ministered to individuals.

Can we not also keep our eyes ever open to see both the near and the far? The crowd AND the little boy who needs to eat? Let us as believers learn from the heart of God who speaks to us even using those who do not share our faith. In so doing may we not only learn the acts of God, but also His ways. Then may we too see the joy of compassion ministry reflected in the full toothed smile of a little boy who will get to eat tonight.

Dr. Jim Lindgren is President and Founder of Window of Hope and an ordained minister in the Arizona District. He has led a disaster medical response team to Haiti and collaborated with Convoy of Hope to provide relief to the victims of the January earthquake. Convoy has provided over 3.6 million meals to the hungry in Haiti.

Today I caught up with and ran around with Fire Captain Paul who is back to help receive the surgical team from Mission Outfitters which includes one of my med school classmates. Just before they arrived I got a big surprise by way of an email that my flight out tonight will be earlier than scheduled by a fair bit.

I had to scramble with my bags on a moto-taxi last second but now am through security and waiting for the earlier Air France flight. The bugs with the re-opening of commercial flights still need to get worked out. To my chagrin there is no toilet after security and to stay hydrated I drank my water before they took it as I went through security. With a bit of effort I went back and forth and now am waiting with a bunch of people crammed like sardines in a sauna box.

I must say my life is so blessed though compared to those who live in poverty and suffering here in Haiti. For this reason we are committed to the sprint and marathon of the relief and to bringing hope and healing to this nation.

If flights go well I should be at the Pan American Health Organization HQ in Washington D.C. tomorrow to continue the collaboration and assistance with the medical relief efforts here in Haiti Many thanks to all the organizations who are working together on this and who are supporting our efforts and in turn Window of Hope theirs.

We are blessed to have you on our team and appreciate so much your love and support.

Be Blessed,

Dr. Jim

We are doing laundry and trying to catch up on mail and emails (about 250 in my inbox this morning!). I will be heading out Saturday for a quick trip to the Seattle area for 3 church services (morning at Mountainview Assembly of God at Smokey Point Campus then Marysville Campus and evening at Lake Stevens Assembly of God). Come out if you can – I will be talking about our work in Haiti. I will then return home Monday morning and participate in another conference call with the Haiti Hospital Bed Capacity and Capability working group Monday and then plan to head to Haiti and Washington D.C. to work on the same this week. We continue to collaborate with our friends at Convoy of Hope and are working to supply medical professionals to areas of need working beyond and across organizational lines to benefit the people of Haiti.

You guys are great. We’ll try to keep you up to date on our activities. We may not have daily posts due to the administrative workload and travel but we’ll do our best.

Thanks and God Bless. Dr. Jim

We then boarded our plane in Miami and are getting ready to head home. Hopefully the next posting will be from Phoenix before heading out again!