Weekend and Monday

Friday night, Roy came in from Antigua where he has been studying Spanish for the past week. We had a nice dinner, thanks to Heidi (who is becoming quite the chef), and then sat up talking for a while. We're going to miss Roy when he goes back to the States between trips here...

Saturday morning, we went to clinic in Canilla. It was a relatively routine clinic but we did get to see one of our post-op cleft lip patients, Yasmine. Her picture is the first one below.

You may remember hearing about Roscoe, another missionary who lived near Canilla. We had done some very small things with him, such as helping with some OTC meds or loaning a wheelchair, but not too terribly much. We knew each other and had always intended to go visit his home for kids, but never made it over there. Roscoe died a few months ago. Another American family has come down to pick up where he left off. We had heard about them from the Fickers but hadn't had a chance to meet until this last Saturday when they came over and we got to eat lunch with them.

Later in the day, we took Roy out to show him the house and clinic building David is building in Chiminicijuan. Just some more ideas for Roy's construction project here in Quiche.

On the way, we stopped by a Toyota Tacoma that was burned and flipped over on the side of the road (the owner was a thief and the crowd was TRYING to burn him inside the truck but he escaped to Mexico). Roy just bought a new Toyota Hilux but the dealer took the tiedowns out of the bed when they put the bedliner in it. So we swiped the tiedowns out of the burned out Tacoma, cleaned them up, and put them in Roy's truck. So now Roy has an official Frankentruck. Congrats, Roy. You must be SOOO proud!

Sunday clinic was also relatively routine. You may remember the baby we saw the day before we left for vacation in the US who was very sick and was being cared for by the great-grandmother (mom died during childbirth). Leslie took the baby (and the great-grandmother) in for the night and Duane flew them to the hospital in Quiche the next morning. Well, the baby is looking much better. They had been wet-nursing her and finally, Great-grandma started lactating. Yeah, a little creepy, but an indication as to how thorough God was in his design plans. Anyone who doesn't believe the human body has been designed to live through adversity just needs to meet this family. Leslie is holding the baby in the second picture.

Monday, we had a scheduled clinic in Totonicapan to replace the now-closed clinic in Chinique. (There were a variety of reasons the Chinique clinic has been closed - we referred all of the needy patients to ourselves just a few miles down the road in Chicabracan.) For the second consecutive time, the pastor forgot about the clinic and didn't advertise it. So, apparently, God is sending us a message about that. We will continue to pray for guidance and for something to fill that Monday.

One possibility will be in Zona Reyna. Duane and Leslie have been meeting with the mayor of Uspantan, who has responsibilities for all of the villages "surrounding" Uspantan (if you're a bird, the villages are close - if you have to use a road, they're forever away). Things are looking promising for a more permanent clinic there.

So with a surprise day off, Matt finished painting the front of the house and washed and hand-waxed the 4Runner. Heidi spent the day reviewing and re-sorting the pharmacy - a MONSTER job, since it had been a while since that had happened and there have been several re-stocks since. Then our friends Toby and Britney came over for dinner and Scattergories. Afterwards, Matt and Toby (a volunteer firefighter here) took the fire gear donated by the Battle Creek Fire Department over to the firehouse and presented it to them. Those pics are below, also.