Did someone mention ants??

I went to the bus station this morning at 0500 and headed for Antigua. Sarah is studying Spanish two weeks at Christian Spanish Academy. She and her family visited in June of last year and it was great having them here to help during the MET program.

We met in the park and then walked to church. The minister talked about ants and used Proverbs 6:6-9. He talked about how ants have different jobs and responsibilities within their community.........each being equally important.

Sarah and I went to eat lunch at The Sky Cafe. We ate outside on the roof and enjoyed chicken and cheese enchiladas. After we were finished eating, I looked more careful at our table which was covered in glass. Between the glass and the cement table, there were ants running around. Hmmmmmm, I wondered what their job was. I guessed they were the ones responsible for gathering food.

After lunch, Sarah and I went to the top of La Merced Cathedral. I love it up there but unfortunately it was not a very clear day. This is Sarah.......

These are different views of La Merced which I think is very interesting. I love the sculptures of lions in this photo.

We visited different places in Antigua and Sarah took me to an art museum that I had not been in before. It was very interesting with unusual creativeness. One room had a maze that you could walk through that was created with string. Inside was a video........and can you guess what the video was of??? Yes, ants!! It was a video of ants collecting small pieces of paper that were parts of flags from different countries.

After this week of class, Sarah will help in the surgical clinic in Montellano. She asked if she can come back to Chichi and do clinic with us on Saturday and then ride to the coast with us. I said, "Sure!" I love to have people go with us to clinic. So, I am going to ask Dad Kemmel, if I can borrow their Suk to pick Sarah up with.........hmmmm, maybe I better email him before he reads this here :)

ABC Clinic in Mactzul V

Today we had an ABC Clinic in Mactzul V with 30 ABC children and 5 non-ABC patients. If you were able to read the blog from yesterday, you will remember that was also an ABC Clinic. These clinics are part of the ABC Program in which people from The States volunteer to sponsor a child. The gift of $30 a month provides medical care, dental care, food and clothing for the child. Part of the program is to assure that the family remains active in their local church and the child remains in school. If anyone is interested in sponsoring a child, please let me know. You will hear from your child and would also have the opportunity to visit them here in Guatemala.

This ABC child likes her Winnie the Pooh shirt.......

and her brother likes his Winnie the Pooh cap.

This little boy was eating candy and when he finished, he wanted to show us his mouth............I would say teeth but as you can tell, he doesn't have any.

Currently there are a 700 children in the program and two more communities were added this year.

ABC clinic in Paxot II

Tuesday we had an ABC Clinic in Paxot II. We had 45 children from the program come for a medical consult, 19 dental consults and 12 non-ABC patients. It was a busy day but also a good one.

This is Manuel preparing the list of children for consult. Manuel and Juan both live in this area and they helped with the clinic.

One of the members of the church brought their new-born to the clinic. Baby Juan is only one month old. He is doing very well............

............and was very content as we weighed him in the baby sling.

Please check out Lisa and Kemmel's blog at http://www.kemmelandlisa.blogspot.com/. Lisa talks about parents who say that their children won't eat but the main concern is what what they eat. I talked to a mother that said her child won't eat anything........as we were talking, the child ate a whole pack of cookies. Now, this was about 1pm so do you think this child will be hungry for lunch?

Speaking of lunch...............wow, Paxot II fed us BIG TIME! Poor Kemmel missed out since he was doing other work :( We had a great soup with vegetables and each of us had about half a chicken. The churches are very appreciative of the clinics and want to share with us........and we really appreciate hot soup on a cold day.

Clinic in Panajxit

Today I went with Josefina, Manuel and Tomas to Panajxit. It is a clinic that we started in 2006 soon after I moved here. I have been working at other clinics so I have not visited here in quite awhile. It was good to see Enrique and know that the clinic has continued to grow and do well.

We saw a few patients with diabetes today. Josefina was very kind as she explained the disease process and talked with the patients. Many of the people in this area only speak K'iche' so it is an added bonus for them to have someone that is able to speak their language.

One patient visited with the primary concern that she was always thirsty. Through more questioning, we found that the lady also had others symptoms of diabetes. I could not understand everything Josefina was teaching her but I could tell that the patient very much understood what was being explained.......as she chuckled, smiled and nodded her head. When they finished, Josefina told me that they were talking about the lady's urine. As she would urinate on the ground, the sugar in the urine attracted ants and other insects. The moral of the story........if you are out in the woods and you are attracting wild animals, maybe you should have your blood sugar checked :):):)

Not Spring........but we cleaned!!

Since I have been back in Guatemala, it feels as if the days are only 8 hours long......they have passed so quickly.

Tuesday we had clinic in Chutzurob with 21 medical patients and 4 patients for dental cleaning.

Wednesday was a planned procedure day at the clinic and Lisa saw 2 patients. The rest of the day was for cleaning and reorganizing............and that we did!

We carried all of the supplies from two storage areas to the outside area of the clinic, cleaned and then reorganized. Kemmel added more shelves for storage.

Gaspar, Lisa and Maury looking as some new equipment we have.

Kemmel helping Juan, Gaspar and Maury repair a box that we will be using for medicine.
This year we will be developing some new clinics and working more with the schools. It will be an exciting year with many opportunities. Ernie, who helps me with my insurance recently bought a cantaloupe that was labeled from Central America. He said he thought of the work here and then mentioned that our garden consists of souls. How true that is. There is much fruit, many souls, to be harvested everywhere. Let us pray that those hearts are tender to the gospel this year.

Back in Santa Cruz

I arrived safely in Guatemala with Lisa and Kemmel meeting me at the airport. The flight was one of the most turbulent ones I have been on. The pilot asked people to remain seated twice......but many were not doing what he was asked. On the third attempt he stated, "For those passengers who were not able to hear the previous announcements, please take your seats due to the turbulence we are experiencing."

I could actually hear the frustration in his voice. I do not know anything about flying a jet but I am sure it takes concentration. It made me think of when God was dealing with the people in the Old Testament. Do you think they heard frustration in His voice at times? Applying it to today, if we could hear God's voice would we hear frustration at times? The pilot was asking the people to be seated due to the possible danger. God direction is given to us due to His love and wisdom.


The streets of Santa Cruz were quiet today for a Sunday. Usually the market is packed with people pushing their way through the streets. Maybe they are resting from the holidays.


I think it is interesting to see what the first purchased item is when you travel or return home. Usually when I get back to the states, I buy a Diet Dr. Pepper. I usually buy one in the airport or my parents meet me with one. Today, the first thing I bought was a chuchito. It is a scoop of corn that that has been steamed with a little chicken in the middle. It can be served plain or with a little salsa. Below is a photo......they are wrapped in corn husks and steamed.

Tomorrow will be another day of cleaning and organizing and then our clinics start on Tuesday.......the first being in Chutzurob!

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope it is a year full of blessings and adventures!

Today mom, dad and I will go to Charlotte and spend the night. My flight leaves in the morning at 0600 so we will relax tonight in Charlotte.

We had lunch today with Tom and Freda at Subway, which is their favorite restaurant. I asked them how many times a week they eat at Subway. They told me they ate their last meal of 2008 and their first meal of 2009 there! What loyal patrons.