Our son, Jerek Player, is currently serving an LDS mission in Phoenix, Arizona.  He was called to Ecuador, and hopefully makes it there at some point, but for now, Phoenix is his home.  For the past couple months, he’s had the opportunity to serve in a companionship with Elder Edgar Argueta.  Edgar is from Guatemala and his journey to get him to where he’s at today is nothing short of amazing.  He comes from a family of 13 children and came to the United States when he was 15 so he could earn money while he was going to school.  He sent nearly all the money he earned back to his family in Guatemala.  Most of that money was used for medication for his mother, Esperanza, who suffers from severe diabetes. Edgar and his family have faced many challenges, but one of the most difficult was his decision to serve a mission.  He had worked so hard for what he knew was the right decision for him, but by choosing a mission, it meant no money would be sent back home to help his mom.  No one else in Edgar’s family are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which made the decision even more difficult.  Eventually, with the blessing of his mother, he knew the right decision for he and his family was to serve a mission. Unfortunately, Edgar’s mother’s symptoms have worsened, and she is now unable to afford the treatment and medication she needs.  This GoFundMe initiative is to raise enough money to aide her in this fight and get her the assistance she needs to be able to continue raising her children and to ensure Edgar can continue serving his mission, and go back and see his mother when finished. Jerek and Edgar became friends nearly the day they first met.  Jerek has ALWAYS had a soft spot for people in need, but especially when he sees it affecting someone he cares so much about.  As of last week, they are no longer companions and Jerek is hoping to keep the donation anonymous to Edgar and Esperanza. Our goal is to raise $2000 for the Argueta family.  We know this is an extremely lofty goal.  This is not something Rachelle and I would normally do, but Jerek’s determination and level of care for his friend and his mother convinced us it was something we needed to do.  Jerek initially wanted us to pull the majority of the money from his savings account, but he’s going to need that for school when he gets home.  He’s said in lieu of any gifts for his birthday on September 7, he’d like people to donate to this GoFundMe.  We’d like to have the campaign wrapped up within 2-3 weeks as we need to get the money down to Guatemala as quickly as possible. Anything you could/can contribute would be extremely appreciated and is definitely going to a great cause.  Thank you, ALL! Michael and Rachelle Player . . . Update 9/1/2020: People have been more generous than we ever could have imagined for this fantastic cause. I’m sure there are people that would love to donate that have not yet been able to, so we are upping the ante and taking the goal up to $3000. Most of us can’t even fathom what this kind of money will do for this family in Guatemala. Jerek has no clue how much has been donated so far, but we’re planning on recording our convo with him on Friday to see his reaction! Thank you everyone who has already donated. Our hearts are full. ❤️