God's hand led our way......

We started the morning in Tzanixnam with very few patients. We found that there are two other physicians now working in this area so probably we will scout for another area that has a greater need.

The first photo is of our team with the MET students who will be with us for about 4 more days.
The second photo is of the team sweeping the community building before we set up our equipment to see patients.

As mentioned we only had a few patients so we started to return to Quiche earlier than usual. The students were following me in a Jeep without any problem........until the wiring in the Jeep shorted out. So...........we decided that we could rewire it using some wire that was dangling from the radio.......yes, the Jeep actually did start again but in a few moments we realized how God was allowing the Jeep incidence to let us help someone.

Several trucks had passed but did not stop. One gentleman did stop, who just happened to be a mechanic. He stripped the wires for us and properly secured the connection with black electrical tape. As he was working, he told us that his 6 week old baby had a bad infection and asked if we would look at her.

We walked to his truck and talked with his wife about the baby. As we began to examine the child it was obvious that she was very, very sick. Her hands, feet and abdomen were covered by what looked like a staph infection and she was severely dehydrated. It was very difficult to examine the baby and not be emotional. Josefina told them that they needed to go to a hospital because the baby was very sick. They did not want to go because they knew of a child that recently had died in a hospital. They only wanted medicine from us. Even though we gave them some antibiotics and something for pain we explained our medicine was not strong enough. We pleaded with them to go to the hospital and Josefina even offered that we go with them. Sadly, they continued to decline. We prayed with them and said our goodbyes as the father was obviously distraught and tearful.

As we were repacking the boxes of medicine and getting ready to leave, they returned. I was so excited to see them again, not even knowing why they had come back. They spoke to Josefina and asked her to write a referral for them so they could be seen at the hospital! Gracias a Dios and we continued to pray that they would get the help they need.

We will not know the outcome of this situation but I do believe that God allowed the Jeep to short out so we could give some physical and spiritual support to this family.