Sunday, October 15, 2006

Great Weekend

We have had a fantastic past few days. This post will probably be short, since it's past 11pm local time and we have to get up in a few hours and head to another clinic.

Thursday we were in clinic at ASELSI. Awesome experience, as usual. Friday we were with Roy Espinsa at his church in Chinique. We always enjoy spending time with him and as an extra added bonus, we went to Pollo Campero (think Chik-Fil-A but not quite) for lunch. Our bill for lunch was about what you'd expect to pay in an American fast food restaurant and it really struck us that it was about three times what the average field worker makes in a day. Just makes you think...

Saturday we were up at the crack of dawn to head to Canillá for clinic with Leslie and Katie. Leslie just got back from the US (her son's wedding) a few days ago and it was great to see her again. Craig, a friend of their family, came back down with them and will be staying indefinitely. Craig is a very strong Christian and a true pleasure to be around. We are very glad to see him again, too. (He had been here earlier and returned to the US for a little while.)

Clinic was good Saturday with one of our key patients being a lady with severe pre-eclampsia. She's about 36 weeks along and really needs to get to a hospital. We offered to call an ambulance for her but her husband said he'd take her. The problem is that she doesn't FEEL that sick. We're not really sure they believe us when we tell them how serious her situation is, but we hope they took our advice and went to a hospital.

Duane, Aaron, and Joseph (the dad and two of their sons) are on their way back to Guatemala from the US with their new airplane! That's the good news. The bad news is that they were supposed to be here a few days ago and have been experiencing weather delays. Please pray for their safe return. We know that this airplane is going to be such a huge blessing to the people here!! Thank you, God, for making this long-standing dream possible for them!

Sunday (today) was clinic in San Andrés. Again, clinics with Leslie and Katie are always great and this one was no different. Nothing terribly earth-shattering. Lots more of the same things we've seen. One woman mentioned to us, quite non-chalantly, that a few months ago she threw up and some worms came out. Yes, we do have medicine for that and yes, she is in possession of this medicine now!

Tonight was a special treat. There is a medical team in from the US that is staying in Chichicastenango and we were invited to go have dinner with them. They have two pediatricians and we will be joining them on Tuesday for clinic in Xepacól (pronounced "shay-pa-COLE").

As you may know, we've been praying for some guidance on the possibility of Heidi taking a part-time position at the mission hospital in Chichi. We really, really want this to come to fruition for lots of reasons. We've prayed that if this is not what God wants for us, could He please close some doors because otherwise we're going to pursue this possibility. Well, He opened some more doors tonight. It's too late at night to get into details, but it looks like this is going to be an awesome opportunity for Heidi. Please continue to pray for us to know God's will here.

Okay, it's nearly 11:30, Heidi's already asleep, and I have to go join her. This didn't turn out to be as short as planned, but whatever. More later!!!

1 comment:

Mary Jean said...

We love reading and sharing your journal entries but miss the photos. Hint, hint!?!?

We have received emails and calls about the cover story and photos in the paper, Bedford Now, highlighting your mission.

You need to know that many more people are praying for your mission.

Stay safe,

Mom