Otter Creek Missions

Doc L. here tonight. It's 11:10 PM and time to post today's activities. Our dental and medical clinics today were located here at the Clinica Ezell. There was no bus ride. I really missed it. What a true adventure. Many of us are learning new driving techniques and strategies to get around pesky traffic jams by watching our driver practice his craft. Did you know that you can drive on the left shoulder of the road and merge across oncoming and right lane traffic after making a left turn when you shouldn't have. Think about it. That was when I decided to sit in the back of the bus so I couldn't witness the details.
Today, one of our first pediatric patients was here after seeing several medical providers over the first 18 months of her life. When her mother pulled up her shirt to reveal a myelomeningocele, my heart sank. This lesion in the United States is next to hopeless; here it is tragic. We were all grieved as our new friend Carlos gently explained the implications to her madre. It was all new to her. When she wept aloud, everyone in the room wept with her. We formed a plan to help with all of the complications that accompany this paralizing problem, and we discussed how we could find a way to get a wheelchair or other device in order to allow her madre to be able to take her along on her daily multiple mile walks along the dusty, rocky roads. Leila was able to help her madre with some upper body strengthening and physical therapy. These precious members of this community are now even more complicated. I will never forget them.
Dentist and the people that help them have become my new heros. They worked late on Saturday night in Samayac. They work tirelessly. They work without complaining. Their compensation is an outsrtetched hand and "gracias", then a smile that could brighten any day. The only problem is that there is no way to give back the change after the overpayment.
We see the hope in the children's eyes. They know what "fun" is. It hurts to see that hope is not prominent in the adults. We hate to think about the possibility that these presious children could loose hope also.
Tomorrow, we leave Clinica Ezell and travel for three hours on our bus to Panajuochel on Lago de Atitlan. Wednesday is a rest day. Sight seeing and food. Then on Thursday we travel by boat to San Juan La Lugana to participate in a family camp. Supposed to be more primitive than HyLake, believe it or not. All that to say that this will be the last blog of the trip as we will not have access to the internet after tonight. To our families and friends, gratitude for your prayers for safety and effectiveness. We continue to ask for them.
God is with us here and will remain as we leave because Carlos, Sylvia, Alex, and Dr. Walter and all their staff will be here. We will never forget them, either.

Well, we intended to blog last night; however, it was not in the clouds. Everyone was wanting to check their email, and the connection was particularly slow. Yesterday was a productive day thought it was not as busy as the first medical clinic.

After breakfast, we hopped onto the bus and went into a Mayan village called La Fortuna which was in Quiche (pronounced kee-chay). The trip was quite bumpy, and our Guatemalan bus driver made it over a creek where the makeshift bridge was just barely wider than the bus (ask Brian L. for pictures). When we arrived at the village, there were already people waiting to be seen. We quickly set up shop in the three room clinic. We as Americans should feel really fortunate that we have the medical technology that we have. Some of the children had conditions that could have been easily treated in the states, but with the lack of medical attention these diseases became severe. There were several incidents of scabies with the children and little babies. Another little boy was cross-eyed from birth, which is a treatable condition in the states, but here that just don't have the medical advancement to treat it, so he'll more than likely have the problem for the rest of his life. Dr. L. did show the mother that she could patch his strong eye to cause him to strengthen his weaker eye and taught a few exercises to help him. The children in La Fortuna were very hospitable to us showing us how to pick and eat coffee beans, use the certain plant seeds as make-up and braid and fix our hair with flowers. They loved to run around tickling us and climb trees. We really were sad when we had to pack up and head back to the clinic. When we came back to the clinic, some of us showered, and others went walking into the next village. We took some time to rest before we ate supper. For supper, the wonderful cooks here made us fried chicken, fries, salad, and a tasty dessert that was a strawberry version of a banana pudding! After supper, we had a devo led by Dr. L., and we sang a lot of songs. Then, several people dashed to the computer to get in line to check their email. Then all the medical geeks sat in a room reading books about surgical procedures and conditions. I think that that was enough for one day. Someone will be back later to post about our activities today.

Adios. Jesus Saves.

This morning we woke up to breakfast and then got ready to head over to the Iglesia de Christo for church. Although that most of us could not understand the service, we were still moved by the spirit (especially Brian L).*aside - we were especially impressed by the Guatemalan communion bread, which was really yummy, but it was a little difficult for Tina and Julie and to break off. Ask Ashley, who almost lost an eye to a crumb.* Also, Dr. Mark B. was called upon to deliver an improv message, which he did so eloquently speaking about unity in Christ despite language and cultural barriers, within just a moments notice. After church, several of us went wading in the beautiful stream. After wading, we returned to the Clinica Ezell to prepare for another adventure. After lunch, (which was scrumptious we might add) we prepared to go into a village to administer preventative worm medicine and to distribute vitamins. When we got to the village, about 100 people were there waiting on us. We presented a puppet show and sang songs with the kids before the medicine was given out. Afterwards, we ran around with the kids and sang songs with them. The kids loved to have their pictures taken by us gringos, and Brent surprised us by busting out some tunes on his harmonica. They got so much enjoyment out of the single coloring page and crayon we were able to give them. Although the children in the village had very little, they had so much appreciation for little things that we take for granted everyday. One of the main things that we realized from going to the village today is how futile our efforts would be if it were not for the ongoing work of the Health Talents International staff, who work here year round actually living among the Guatemalan people. It's a difficult job for them which requires much faith, perserverance, and dependance on God. We have seen how God has been faithful to this ministry, allowing them to expand their reach into even the furthest villages. May all glory and honor be given to God because none of this would be possible without Him.

Today was our first full day in Guatemala and we definitely saw the face of God in all of the people here. After an interesting day of traveling, including a search of our "chicken bus" by members of the Guatemalan government searching for illegal fruit and a thrilling backward entrance onto the interstate, we have had quite the experience getting to spend time helping the people in a nearby community and learning even more from them about the power of God's love.

We had "rooms" set up for dentistry, gynocology, general check-ups and the pharmacy. Many students got to spend time at each learning from the medical professional in that area and assisting by performing blood pressure checks, temp. checks, translating, holding the hands of people having dental work done, organizing and distributing medicines and developing relationships with the patients waiting in line and children in the area. These experiences provide an excellent opportunity for students pursuing medical educational paths to ask questions and find out through first hand experience whether that is what they really want to do.

The dentists and dental assistants stayed hours after the rest of us left the medical sight because they had so many more patients needing attention. After we all got back and ate a delicious dinner and chocolate cake (with sprinkles) courtesy of our generous hosts, we met together for a period of devotional.

We are encouraged to see some of the ways that God is at work in the lives of the people we are meeting. And we look forward to experiencing more and more of His work as we pray He uses us this week to show His love. Tonight, after the devotional, we were given some free time to spend processing all that we have experienced. We pray that we will be given eyes to see all that God is revealing to us throughout this week.