Weekend through Today

Saturday was our normal clinic in Canilla. We started to head out that direction and no sooner made it to the edge of town than our newly repaired truck overheated. We pulled over, let the truck cool, then tried again to head down the road with some prayer coverage. God's answer was "no" (this does occasionally happen!). So we turned around and came home.

After letting the truck cool, we found that we were down MORE THAN A GALLON on our radiator! Mazda had just serviced the coolant system on the truck the week before, so we were a little baffled. We filled the radiator up and went to Canilla. On the way, we realized that waiting for Martin to come back from the US to help us change the bushings on the truck was probably not feasible.

Thankfully, David helped us change the bushings and the truck drives COMPLETELY differently. It no longer feels like the front wheels are going to fall off!

Anyway, clinic went fine - we were very excited to meet Ryan and Katie Ficker (as well as their unborn child) for the first time. We've grown so very close to their family that it really completed things to be able to meet the last members of the family!

Saturday evening, we called Quiche to find that Jim, Roy, and John had had a very eventful trip to the house - there was rain, fog, darkness, and a rockslide. So they were thankful that Heidi had made them dinner and it was waiting for them in the fridge when they got here.

Sunday, the guys came over to San Andres to meet Heidi, Leslie, Rachel and the two Katies for clinic. Heidi had a very exciting patient. A girl came in only five weeks pregnant and wanted to know if there was a pill to make the baby go away. Heidi explained our beliefs on that topic and asked if there was something behind the desire to do that. She said that her husband has been in the United States for three years and that he probably wouldn't be too happy about this. Heidi asked her if she was in a church. No. Does she believe in God? Yes. Does she know Jesus Christ? Who? Hmmm... Let's talk.

So Heidi spent a lot of time with this patient, explaining the concept of sin, forgiveness, and grace. After this, she asked if the girl wanted to speak to our translators' dad, who is an excellent evangelist (and K'iche speaker). She said yes. Mateo came over and spent some time with her and the last we heard, she is interested in getting to know this Jesus who doesn't hate her for what happened. Now THAT'S what we're really here for!

Sunday afternoon, we got home and spent a really nice evening with Jim, Roy, and John. (See pic #1).

Monday, the guys went to go work on some business items here and we went to clinic in Nueva Santa Catarina. We saw about an average number of patients there (30-40, but who's counting?). As always, Matilde did a great job of explaining health items, as well as taking opportunities to promote his church. His wife, Maria, helped a BUNCH by carrying Isaac around on her back while we did consults. He, naturally, slept a good part of the time.

Today was Jim and Roy's flight out of the City. We left at 4:45 am to avoid the construction that stops the road for 1-2 hours at a time that starts at 6am. We stopped for breakfast in Chimaltenango and the grey truck wouldn't start (we were taking both trucks back to the City to leave the grey truck for some more work at the Mazda dealership.) It has been starting quite hard since they worked on it last and the hard starts basically killed the battery. Coincidentally(??), our friend Jenny Trig pulled in. No one had jumper cables, but Jenny marshalled several people in the restaurant to help us push the truck out of the parking spot, then Jim push started us with the green truck. Every day an adventure, right? Thanks, Jenny!!

We made it into the City, dropped off the grey truck at the dealership, went to UNICAR to meet with Dr. Cruz Molina and bring him some surgical supplies from the US, then dropped Jim and Roy off at the airport. It was really good to see them again and we're looking forward to seeing Roy here again shortly.

Then John and Matt had some shopping to do, made a run to Antigua to drop off a check at our travel agent's, then drove back to Quiche. We had already had one truck problem today, but it seemed to be a double-dose kind of day, so we struggled all the way home in the green truck that seems to have some type of fuel delivery problem. Grr....

Anyway, tomorrow, John is doing some more business here in town, Heidi has two surgeries (if one of her patients isn't too sick), and our friends Janeane and Danny are coming over for dinner tomorrow after the surgeries. They'll spend the night, then go help us at ASELSI on Thursday.

Heidi was home all day with Isaac, who was pretty good for a while, then a little less than good for a while. We love him very much, but as you parents know, sometimes it's a good thing that love is unconditional!

While we're sharing pics, we'll show one of him from today, then a composite of Mommy, Isaac, and Daddy - all at about the same age. Clearly, Isaac is far cuter than either of his parents were, causing us to question some of that "genetics" stuff...