Students are Here

We did clinic yesterday morning in Chicabracan. It was relatively calm - we had between 35 and 40 patients, depending on how you count. One was a little boy from the school who had nicked his finger with a pair of scissors. The teacher brought him in and he was crying because he was afraid he was going to lose his finger. After we told him he wasn't going to lose his finger, he got a lot tougher and more stoic. Funny!

Juan Diego, as usual, was fantastic and proved to be a continued blessing to us and to the people of Chicabracan. He seems a little frustrated, at times, because people like to hear the stories about Jesus and they understand that He is who He says He is, but they're not ready to accept Him yet. Sounds like us, sometimes, huh? In any case, we always discuss the fact that some people sow, some people reap, some people gather... It's just our job to do what we can and God will do the rest. Maybe someday someone will come to Chicabracan and find the fields all prepared and they'll think that it's easy picking!

Anyway, we got home and got some lunch and Matt went to the gym. We figured that the students would come in pretty late because they needed to find a Chicken Bus in the City and deal with all that. Roy Espinosa was going to bring some friends over who had been pretty sick (and pregnant) so we agreed to check them out. About ten minutes after Roy called, we got a knock on the door (it's about a 30 minute drive from Roy's house - pretty impressive). But it was the students - mid afternoon. They were exhausted and a little bit terrified, but here and safe (Jeff Gordon's got nothing on these Chicken Bus drivers).

Anyway, we had a great night. Roy brought his friends by and we looked at them (it's a husband and wife). She's pretty miserable, but basically okay (bad case of Guatemala Gut) and her baby is fine. It's also a boy, which brought a smile to Daddy's face! We also treated one of Roy's "kids" for a fungal infection on his face he got after swimming in a local river. eeewwww!

During dinner last night (Guatemalans have a great sense of timing), Jacob came by and we had a nice visit with him. Our pharmacy students, Justin and Steve, speak limited Spanish, but Jacob speaks some English, so it was a nice conversation. Our medical student, Tammy, is completely bilingual, so we're hoping to learn a lot from her!

Anyway, this morning, we went to market to get some fresh fruit for breakfast. It's our day off so we'll use it to rest the students up from their trip, organize some things in our pharmacy (they ARE pharmacy students!), maybe walk into town and look around, and if we have time, run out to the ruins outside town.

Tomorrow will be a long day at the Hospital Buen Samaritano. They have clinic in the morning and a couple of surgeries in the afternoon. Matt has a lot of studio work to get done, so that's where he'll be - making racket.

We'll take some pictures of the students today and post them so their families know they're here in one piece and we weren't lying about that or anything!