I returned from lunch to find Andrea and Delfina working on projects while waiting for their patients to arrive. Without missing a beat, Andrea asked if I was ready to hear the story she wanted to share about her experience in the therapy program at ASELSI. She started to tell me the story of Sergio.

Sergio, according to Andrea, is one of many examples of how God is working and moving through the therapy program at ASELSI in Guatemala. Here is the story she shared with me. 

When Shes (Guatemalan physical therapist and director) evaluated Sergio, she told me he would never walk because of his form of paralysis. However, I am not giving up hope that he will learn to walk one day. As we started his therapy, he couldn’t do anything, but then he learned to lift his head. Little by little he learned to roll and sit alone. We were all excited to see him do so well.

Then he started having seizures, and he lost the ability to do all he had learned to do. It was hard to watch the mom, so sad and crying. Her husband suffers from epilepsy and has seizures, too. He works selling bread, so he doesn’t make much money. They didn’t know what they were going to do, as the medicines for their son are very expensive.

Through the clinic at ASELSI, Sergio received some medications and further treatment. Slowly, he started regaining the abilities he had lost and more. Today, despite weakness in his hips, he can stand by himself. He no longer cries with the therapy sessions as he did before.

Andrea believes this is one of many examples of how God is working in and through the therapy program here in Guatemala. She says she saw God’s provision to meet the needs of a family facing many difficulties with limited income. She’s seen a change in the mother’s disposition. Andrea believes, despite what others say, Sergio will learn to walk someday, but even if he doesn’t, she knows God is at work in their lives.