Sunday, September 09, 2007

dr. francisco

You may remember that Andrea and I have these awesome neighbors, the Gutierrez family. Francisco and Alicia, in case you've forgotten, live across the street from us, and they and their 3 college age kids have been a continuous and tangible expression of God's grace in my life since my very first week in Nicaragua. Francisco is a doctor--a pediatrician by specialty--but now directs one of the most prominent Nicaraguan NGOs nationwide, Accion Medica Cristiana (Christian Medical Action). He's running a multi-million dollar integrated health and agricultural development operation serving impoverished communities all over the eastern coast of Nicaragua, as well as rural areas in central Nicaragua...but in his heart, he's a dad. A teacher. A leader with a servant's heart and an analytical mind.
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This week has been a busy one for Francisco, as he has been involved in the international coordination of disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Felix. One night this week, Alicia told us, he came home at 8pm, ate, took a nap, and went back to work at midnight--and did not come home until 6am. So when he came over earlier tonight (the first we'd seen of him since before the hurricane), and invited us over to watch a news analysis program which featured him and a representative of the United Nations speaking with a prominent Nica tv journalist, we were excited, to say the least.
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Watching the interview and talking with him afterwards about the situation on the north Atlantic Coast, I see once again how Francisco is using his knowledge, his values, his mind, his heart, every ability he has been given, not only for the raising of his amazing kids, but for the raising up of his own pueblo. His life speaks, not only to me, but to hundreds, maybe thousands, of his own people.
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It's hard to convey his depth, intelligence, love, and commitment in words. But if you could meet Francisco face to face, I think you would see what I see. And I believe you would be as inspired as I am.

2 comments:

Sharis said...

Cool! I love it when you meet people that change your life.

Chuck Bean said...

I liked your post about Dr. Fransisco. Here's a link to a blog we're assembling about the relief effort in Nicaragua:

http://helpnicaragua.blogspot.com/