In April, Dámarys and I travelled to the United States for LAMB’s annual Chili Supper.  While we were there, one of our Clinic employees suffered a painful loss.  Gonzalo has worked at the San Lorenzo Clinic for close to 15 years.  His wife Nancy cooks for us when we are operating and when we have visiting groups.  Their oldest son Darío had gone to work in the mines in a town near San Lorenzo.  On a Friday after work, Darío and a friend went down to the river.  It is near the end of the rainy season here in San Lorenzo, and so it had been raining heavily, and the river was high and the currents strong.  Darío wanted to go swimming.  His friend urged him not to, but Darío went into the river anyway.  He dove in, and his friend never saw him surface.  On Sunday, Gonzalo and Nancy were told that Darío had gone swimming and had not come out of the river.  On Monday Gonzalo joined a group of people who went out along the river and the adjacent towns to look for Darío.  They found his body on Tuesday.  Because his body had been in the river for five days, Gonzalo and Nancy were not able to have the wake that is customary here.  He was buried immediately upon his return to San Lorenzo.  Darío was 27.

Obviously this has been extremely difficult for Gonzalo and Nancy.  Gonzalo is now back at work, and Nancy has remained at home.  Please pray for the Holy Spirit’s comfort for their family and that their pain will be eased.

Darío at the Clinic Christmas party in 2002