Happy Birthday, Sandra!

I met Sandra, my ABC child, and her family today to celebrate Sandra's 15th birthday! They had plans to be in Chichi so that gave us a perfect opportunity.

We met at 5 PM and they were prompt and excited! I told Sandra that she needed to order the largest sundae that Sarita's had. She giggled and did not argue. So, when I first asked her what flavor she would like, she started with vanilla. I then told her that she had to think of two more flavors and that she could look at all of them before she decided. I think she was overwhelmed and quickly decided on chocolate and strawberry.

When the other family members saw it, I asked them if this is what they wanted...........sure!! All wanted the same flavors!

So, here is part of Sandra's family. Sandra is the second from the left. The other three ladies are her sisters and then her dad.

I gave her a small bottle of perfume for her birthday.

It was fun to spend some time with Sandra and her family. Sandra enjoys school and receives good grades. Her family is very nice and they live in Xepocol.

Two exciting clinics

We have had two very busy days and that is the way we like them!

Yesterday, the guys and I went to Choacaman IV and we had 13 patients. We did not see anything different but it was good to have this many patients there.

When we were finished, we went to Lemoa and loaded the dental cleaning equipment.

On Saturday, Ruben went to Chuchipaca with us. We had patients waiting and the porch was almost full!

We had several patients who were returning after the diabetic classes. I was pleased with the progress they have made. One lady's blood sugar originally was over 400 and today she was 96. How about that??

We had three pregnant ladies. This is Ruben as he is using the new Doppler that we now have. I asked this patient if it was ok that I took her photo. She welcomed it so I will take her a copy next month.

This is the nursing student that has been translating for us. Here, she is with a child of one of the patients.

We all had a safe return to Chichi and then we went our separate ways until Tuesday. Ruben meet Tomas and he will spend the weekend with his family. I put more diesel in the truck for Juan. Tomorrow, he will be meeting some people from Xepol and Chutzurob and they will go meet with a congregation about a new clinic. Gaspar headed to Xepocol and I am sure he will have a busy weekend.

I talked to a man about starting some diabetic education in an area that has a lot of diabetics. So, we have some new plans that might develop into exciting things.

Another wonderful day!

Today we had clinic in Lemoa. There were patients waiting for us and that is always a good site!

We began our morning with prayer. There were several prayer requests. Lisa and Kemmel's safe travel and the exams that Maury and Martina will be taking. We prayed for a young child that lives in Paxot II that needs to to go to the city for tests but the parents feel they can not afford it. We also prayed for the child in Chutzurob that also needs to go to the city for exams. Prayer is very important and we believe that God will answer.

There were 11 patients for consult and Gaspar had one dental cleaning.

There were 4 diabetic patients and all were controlled! It is very exciting to see patients improve and many times it is because they better understand the disease. One patient originally came with a blood sugar of 549 and today he was 109!

One lady returned with her ultrasound report and she does not have an abdominal mass. How exciting is that?

One man came in with his son today, who was the patient. The father was basically jumping to the ceiling and yelling since he was so nervous over his son, whose main complaint was how nervous he was.

As the father talked louder, I spoke more softly. I finally was able to get him to sit back down and let the son talk more to me. As with many patients, they had jumped from one clinic to another getting whatever medicine they could........just hoping to feel better. The son was getting injections, of who knows what, every eight days.

We talked for quite awhile and then they stated talking about spiritual things. We talked about going from one church to another and being so confused on what they were being taught. One group would tell them what they needed to do and then another group would tell them something different. Because of this, they do not worship anywhere. The son told me his head was just too full and he could not sleep at night.

I emphasised the teachings of The Bible. We should not listen to what men say but to what God says. Now, in a culture where many people do not read, these people have to listen. How many times do we take reading and writing for granted??

These men are able to read so I asked them to read a portion of Acts and pray every night. They will return in a week and we will talk again.

When they went to get there medicine from the pharmacy, they talked more to Juan. Later, I heard they had made plans to go and talk to Sebastian in Mactzul V. When people seek God, He will be there. He is not a God of confusion. He wants people to understand the truth.

So, today was another wonderful day!

Clinic in Mactzul VI

Today, we had clinic with dental in Mactzul VI. Yesterday, Juan and one of the men from Mactzul VI took the truck and announced the clinic in the community. I was hoping for a bigger turn out but if we helped one person, especially spiritually, then we did our job.

I picked up Martina at 0730 this morning and we drove to clinic together. The road was still closed so we had to take the long way around. We had a lot of time to talk about stuff and it was good.

This is a photo of Martina. The ones I have of her are days that she is working so I hope that she does not mind a "stole" a photo from her Face Book.

She told me today that she only has one more exam and she will advance..............to what grade?? She will then be in the 6th grade! I am very excited for her! She is 25 years old and has returned to school and has the hopes of being a dentist.

She told me about her class, which has 40 students. They range in the ages from 19 to 42 years of age. She enjoys all of her classes and told me that she usually does not have to study a lot.

I am proud of her and I think she can complete her dream!

We had 9 medical patients today and 7 dental patients. When we finished clinic, we heard the road had reopened so we would be take the normal route back to Chichi.

Tomorrow, we will have clinic in Lemoa. I think it will be a good day..................as most of them are!

Clinic in Xepocol

Last night Gaspar called and told me that part of a road was closed and that I would need to take the long way around to Xepocol. No....no problem!!

I stopped to take photos of the river. For those of you who were here during Agatha, you will not recognize it. This is the river at the fork where we drive to go to Paxot II, Juan's community.

This is a photo of down stream.

We are hoping for rain. Some of the people have planted a little corn already but it is so dry. Almost every day as I drive to clinics, I see fires in the distance.

We only had four patients in Xepocol today.

The highlight of the day for me was the family of Sandra, one of my ABC children brought us a wonderful lunch! It was fried chicken, rice, salad and tamalitos. It was a huge plate and I had a difficult time eating it all.

Sandra was not with them since she was in school. I teased them about "my child" better be is school. They just laugh and giggled. Two of the sisters were sick so we saw them in consult.

They told me that today was Sandra's 15th birthday and that is a special birthday here in Guatemala. They will bring her to Chichi on Saturday afternoon and we will have ice cream. I am looking forward to that.

If any one would like information on how to have an ABC Child, please let us know. You have the opportunity to help a child and share a part of their life.

Monday in Chichi

Today was a day to catch up on things at home. Somehow, the days never seem as long when you have a list of things you want to accomplish.

I went to visit Ruben when he arrived in Clinica Caris. I remember Ruben from 2006, when I met him one afternoon. It was good to see him again and it will be enjoyable working with him.

Yes, it was a sunny afternoon in front of the clinic. Here are Tomas, Marcos, Josefina, Martina, Maury and Ruben.

Josefina has an opportunity to study ophthalmology the city. Ever since I have known Josefina, she has talked about wanting to study this. This is an exciting time but one that also brings a lot of change for her. It is a transition phase for all of us. It will be good as we all push ahead to serve.

We had 3/4 inches for rain last night and we really need it. There has been a lot of fires in the surrounding areas due to the dryness.

Tomorrow, we will have clinic in Xepocol. I will leave early since I have heard one of the roads is closed and I will meet the guys there. I hope that we have a very busy clinic!

Happy Spring!!

This morning I went to Santa Cruz and had breakfast with Josefina. We met at Pollo Campero, for those of you who know it and we had pancakes. We chatted and caught up on different things. We do not have many clinics together so it gave us a chance to spend some time together.

We talked about the good time her family had over the Semana Santa. Her brother, Juan Diego, visited from Honduras and he preached that Sunday in Santa Cruz. She told me what a great lesson it was and when I asked what it was over, she told me the resurrection.

I got so exited because especially here during the Semana Santa, Christ's death is the focus but there is no celebration of the resurrection. That should be the focus! Yes, Christ died for us. He carried our sins with him to the cross. He was humiliated and spit upon as the people he loved stood and watched. Even His father turned his back on him as he was laid in the tomb.............but, He was resurrected! That is where our hope is! That is what we need to remember as His disciples did.............not just one day a year or one day a month. Why? Because it is a Biblical example that we need to follow.

Please, remember a young girl from Chutzurob in your prayers. She had a significant fall and probably needs some more exams in the city. We had it arranged so she could go but now the family has decided that with their faith in God, they do not need to go. Yes, God can heal so we will pray that He will do so. Lisa mentioned her on her last post at http://www.kemmelandlisa.blogspot.com/

Please also remember Kemmel and Lisa as they are traveling to visit family. Tomorrow, we will have a new physician here. His name is Ruben and he will be working with us.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.