Back in the Swing and Cleaning

Being back in Guatemala this week has been very interesting. I have been cleaning and going through things. Trashing things that are no longer needed and deciding what needs to be kept.

I found some notes from June of 2005.  This was my first trip to Guatemala and I was to spend time with Dr. Jim and Mary Rackely and meet Dr. Lisa and Kemmel Dunham.  It was the beginning of the MET Program and I would stay a week at Clinic Ezell in Montellano.

Things did not go quite as planned.  Dr. Rackley became very ill, with Whooping Cough, and needed to return to the states.  I received a call asking if I would still consider flying to Guatemala and of course, my answer was yes.

Carlos picked me up at the airport and we drove to Montellano. I spent the evening and Sunday getting to know Lisa and Kemmel.  They had recently moved down to begin a ministry in Chichicastenango. They had met a few years ago, when Lisa was a medical student and Kemmel translated. They eventually married and now they were back to serve with Health Talents International.

I did not speak any Spanish so Lisa began making me lists of words to study.  These are what I found in the journals that I kept during my first year coming down.  At this time, I had no intention of returning. Worshipping with the Montellano Church of Christ was a wonderful experience and I continue to enjoy being there.

For the next four days, we would pack up the trucks, travel to different communities and hold medical clinics. We may be located in a home or in a church building.  We tied lines up and hung sheets for privacy.  I was working with students, teaching them how to do blood pressures, taking temperatures and checking pulses. When we finished getting the patients ready for their consult, I would sit with Lisa and observe.

After each consult, Lisa would pray with each patient.  That is when I decided that there was something about this that I really liked.  Seeing this changed my view of caring for patients. Yes, we say that we care for patients holistically, including physical and spiritual but praying with patients was something totally foreign.

Lisa has been teaching me since that first day.................and she continues to.  We saw fourty-six patients today in Lemoa and she always has time for my questions.  Thank you Lisa!

While Lisa and the rest of us see patients, Kemmel keeps us rolling.  Without him, our vehicles would not be maintained and we would not have sufficient medicine.  It takes a lot of work and planning to keep our clinics organized in several different communities.  It is a team effort and I have been honored to be part of it for twelve years now.