The church is quite poor - it's basically a clapboard building with a dirt floor - but the people are always so warm and friendly. Matilde, the pastor and K'iche to Spanish translator, is a wonderful man who really understands and knows the people in his area. He's also a tremendous servant who knows what matters and what doesn't. For example, he is planning to cancel church services in two Sundays so that he can accompany a few people from his village to Quiche (where we live) for the opening clinic of the team that's coming down. He feels that it's more important for those women to feel safe and secure on that trip than it is to have another church service that week.
We're still dealing with some mechanical issues on our primary truck, so we took the backup truck to Nueva Santa Catarina today, and will probably have to take it to Guatemala City tomorrow. It's 9:00pm here and Martin (our mechanic friend) has had the truck for about 7 hours and hasn't called yet to tell us what the story is. He is always eager to help us, always does a great job, and usually refuses to charge us anything. (Every now and then he just gets an envelope from us and has to take it.)
Today was the last travel clinic for Justin and Steve. We are in Guatemala City tomorrow for our OB appointment (so please continue to pray for Baby Isaac) and then Heidi is at Buen Samaritano on Wednesday and Friday and we're at ASELSI on Thursday.
Next week, the first of our summer teams comes in from Houston. Unfortunately, we will not be here for a good part of that week, since we need to get our passports stamped. We get a 90 day visa when we enter the country. We can extend it one time in Guatemala City, giving us a total of 180 days in the country at any given time.
With all the uncertainty around giving birth, we are going to leave the country to take a "baby-moon" at a resort in Costa Rica for about three days in the first week of June. That'll allow us to extend our visas in September, and then we'll have to leave in December, which is what we planned to do, anyway (we like to spend Christmas in the US). Yes, it seems like a lot of advanced planning, but that's how it goes.
So enough of all that. Here are some pics. The first is of Heidi and Matt at their "consult desk" in the clinic today. Note the coffee mugs on the table - one staple of this area is their ultra-sweet coffee - SOOOO yummy!
The second pic is of Justin apparently getting a rude gesture from a patient. Don't worry, he's just checking her blood sugar and needed the cleanest finger she had - which wasn't too clean. She initially licked it and rubbed it on her skirt. Then we explained that we have alcohol wipes for that!
The third one the guys spotted outside clinic. We're not really sure why, but roosters wearing socks are just plain funny.
And the last is of one of our favorite little patients, Sandra, and her friend outside the church playing.
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