Dinner with friends.......

We planned on a dinner at a restaurant in Winston Salem for everyone to enjoy each others company. It was a wonderful dinner with 38 people attending.

The first photo is of me and my parents before the dinner.

The second photo is of my nursing friends who all at one time worked in ICU together at Forsyth Medical Center. In the last few years many have transferred to different roles or different organizations. Lynzi started her first day of school today. I hope that it was a good day for you :)

The other two photos are of people from the South Fork Church of Christ, my sponsoring congregation. I am looking forward to Charlie returning to Guatemala with me and then preparing a team to visit in October.

It was great to see everyone again I am hoping that we can do this again in December.

Update on clinics

Sorry for the delay in updates. On Friday we traveled to Chuquexa, which is one of Dr. Lisa's clinics and saw 18 patients. As we were seeing patients, we heard voices singing from the Church. It is very encouraging to recognize the songs in Spanish and to be able to hum along.

We saw three families with scabies, one lady with a hernia but declined surgery at this point, one lady with confirmed Tuberculosis and many more with the typical complaints.

If you have an opportunity, please visit Lisa and Kemmel's website at http://www.kemmelandlisa.blogspot.com/. Kemmel has given an overview of how some things will change over the next year due to Lisa's license. Lisa will need to do one year of community service in Guatemala. She will not be able to continue her clinics near Chichicastenango. She only had a few days to prepare and has now has started her six month work in Nebaj. Nebaj is about 2.5 hours north of Chichicastenango.

The last 6 months of her service will be in a hospital and they have been told it will be in Santa Cruz. This is not what we had planned on but we have to have faith that God's plan is at work. They will be able to continue to go home on weekends and Kemmel will still be able to help us in Lemoa.

Josefina and I will continue to work together with the promoters. To be able to fulfill all of our clinic responsibilities, there will be days we will split and do separate clinics. Kemmel talked to the leaders of the churches and they were open to reorganizing some clinic days. We feel that the clinics and the work of the local churches is too important to put on hold for the year.

Please continue to pray for the work and each of us as our roles are changing and we will have other responsibilities. Please remember Lisa and Kemmel as they will be traveling more than ever, if that is possible, and Lisa as she is working in a totally different environment.

My mom and I arrived in the States late last night. I am now headed to Winston Salem to see friends and worship with the South Fork Church of Christ, my sponsoring congregation.

Update after clinic and return to Santa Cruz

On Tuesday morning we loaded the van and headed for Samayac. Jose sat in front with me to help with directions. Once we got to the community building, Jose welcomed all of the patients, lead some songs, prayed for the patients and then he began to take their names to be seen by the physicians.

The second photo is of a mother and her children that wanted their photo taken with Dee and Lisa. Dee is from Houston and Lisa is from Sacramento. Lisa's husband, Dr. Andrew also helped us with the clinic today. He is an emergency room physician.

The third photo is of Dee with her father, her son Brandon and Olga. Dee's father, Dr. Ed allowed me to work with him for two days. I learned alot from him and he also left some medical journals with me to read. Olga lives in Sacramento and this is her second trip down. She is fluent in Spanish, helped us with translation and has also been an encouragement to me.

We saw 66 patients this day. During lunch, one patient returned to her home and brought back tortillas and some beef for our lunch.

The 4th photo is of Edgar and his grandmother, first day post op. He loves to laugh and play. He has regained his energy and is keeping everyone entertained.

The last photo is of Margarita who is having a more difficult time. She is not having pain but does not want to eat and still wants to sleep alot. This morning, Dee took Margarita and her father for a walk around the clinic in the sunshine. Maybe this will help her feel a little better.

We loaded the truck about 10am and headed back to Santa Cruz. It was a safe drive and the temperature change was welcomed......the highlands are much cooler.

I will finish out the week with two clinics and then return to the States on Saturday.

Clinica in Mixpilla

Today I went to Mixpilla with Dr. Walter for a clinic. We saw about 12 patients. Many patients had problems with gastritis, asthma, back pains and allergies. I was also able to work with Dr. Ed who is a family practice physician.

The first photo is of Michelle and Brandon playing with the children. Brandon had a puppet and they enjoyed playing with him. Michelle lives in Colorado and will finish nursing school in another year.

The second photo is of Edgar who had his lip repaired today. He rested well today and did not have very much pain after his surgery.

The third photo is of Margarita who is seeing her photo for the first time after her surgery. Her father has been at her bedside since they arrived. He has even spent time at other beds offering support to other concerned parents and family members. Margarita's mother has not been able to be here so she will really be pleased when she sees Margarita for the first time.

We had eleven surgical patients today and they all have done well. We pray for each patient in our nightly devotional by name.

Tomorrow I will go to another clinic with Dr. Walter, Dr. Ed and others who want to learn more about medical mobile clinics.

Plastic clinic in Montellano

We left Santa Cruz promptly at 0700 and arrived in Montellano at 0950. We had safe travels and arrived in time for worship, which is directly across the street from the clinic.

We had a quick lunch and then the patients began to arrive so they should be screened for surgery. Unfortunately, a couple had to be turned away and two will need to return in February for our next clinic here.

The two photos are of children that at going to have their lips repaired. They asked to have their photos taken but are not use to smiling. They had been playing and coloring in the patient ward getting use to the doctors and the nurses.

Margarita is the girl that I mentioned a few days ago. She lives near Santa Cruz. She will have her lip repaired this clinic and then return to have her cleft repaired.

We ended the day with a devotional tonight by the fountain. Everyone will get a good nights sleep and then we will begin again in the morning.

A day in Chichicastenango

Today was a free day so we headed to Chichi to shop and make shuttle reservations for Charlie Belch.

As we were in the travel agency, a lady who has been a patient at one of our clinics came over and told me that her family member was really sick. She asked that mom and I go and pray with her and her family.

We walked about 7 blocks to her house and met the lady. She had severe pain in her left leg and foot. She had fallen about 3 weeks ago and stated that she did not have money to go to the hospital. I told her about Clinic Caris being open on Monday and that Dr. Josefina would be there. She said that she would go early on Monday morning for a consult.

We prayed with Tomasa and the family. Mom had some Tylenol so we gave her some to help ease the pain. Hopefully, she will rest better tonight and see Josefina on Monday morning.

The photo is of Mom walking back to the bus after visiting Tomasa in her home......she enjoyed the hill :):):)

We are headed to Montellano at 7am. The group from the States should have arrived today and it will be good to see people that I met last year.........until later, adios.

Clinic in La Estancia

Life been busy and we have not been able to blog for the last few days. Lisa and Kemmel have returned to us from the States. It is good to have them back where they belong.

Today we had clinic in La Estancia. It was a small clinic because of a community meeting taking place near the house we were at. We returned early to Lemoa and met with Lisa and Kemmel. A lot of things can happen in a month that need attention.

A few of us will leave for the Coast on Sunday morning. We will be in Clinica Ezell for a few days to help with the surgical clinic. I hope to return with some photos of patients. We hope that one of our patients is able to have her clef lip repaired.

Please pray for the safe arrival of the team from the States and also the patients and their surgeries. Thank you.