Clinic Day with Agape!

Today was definitely a special treat-- I got to go out on the road to one of the remote clinics that Dr. Sherwood Pope and his wife Areli are now running with Agape in Action! They have been working down here essentially in the role that Matt and I played full time back in 2006-2008, and you can always read more about them at missionarydoc.com, nbri.net, or agapeinaction.org. They are a young couple, full of faith and patience and medical skills (Dr. Pope is a US-licensed Family Practitioner, and Areli-- although with no formal medical training-- is VERY good at picking up on small details from the patients during consults and picking up some ultrasound skills very quickly!) The first picture today is of us turning off of the main road from Quiche, which thoroughly disoriented me at first because I had no clue where we were! I didn't remember there being another tunr-off from that road, which is because it was never PAVED when we drove it for two years... A pretty good stretch of it now is although there is still a long way to go before it is completely paved out to where the Fickers live in Canilla... but time indeed does march on.

The next picture is of the Church where we set up our mobile clinic-- that's it, the little white speck in the middle of the picture! This picture is, unfortunately, taken from our "parking spot" where the truck could pass no further in the current road conditions. Rainy season has really been rough this year for ground transportation.

Luckily two strong-backed Church members came to our aid and lugged (and lugged... and lugged... and lugged...) our stuff down and then back up the hill on their backs! These truly are amazing people here. Areli and I between the two of us could barely make it with just ONE of these trunks on the way back!

About the time we were crossing over this "bridge" was when I figured that-- because I KNOW myself quite well, I should probably put the camera away before it went in the river or the mud where the rest of my body was likely headed...

Unfortunately, though, I forgot to ever get it out again to take any pictures during clinic or of the patients! Well, except technically the two guys carrying our stuff did ask for consults-- one said that his shoulders hurt a lot and feel tight all the time! Go figure. I tried massaging his back for him for a little while, but he said that hurt so we gave him some ibuprofen instead!

The patients we saw were pretty routine today for the most part-- lots of gastritis/gastric reflux, prenatal patients or women for pregnancy tests, body aches and pains, and kids with colds mostly. Please pray for our most interesting (and hopefully most fruitful) patient of the day, Maria Vicente. She had been in several times for aches and pains, ibuprofen and vitamins and such. Today, though, her chief complaint was that ever since a horse down by the river had charged after her a few weeks ago, she is very anxious and afraid all of the time. The translator was explaining to us that this animal has scared lots of people and runs a little wild, but after ruling out the possibility of prescribing a rope or chain to tie it up (a joke somewhat lost on the patient and our translator but nonetheless amusing to us!) we delved deeper into her issues.

Here in clinics, we have very little access to psychiatric medications generally speaking. This has led us over the years to probably a more effective treatment of anxiety and depression issues than I give many of my patients in the U.S., as we are left to witness to them of the only effective anxiety relief we know of-- the assurance of eternal life with our Lord and Savior by acceptance of Jesus Christ's gift of salvation for us. She was in the "Catholic" Church here (really often just a traditional Mayan religion, especially out in smaller villages) and claimed she had never even heard of Jesus Christ. Surely what we shared with her today and the prayer we prayed with her are just a tiny little "starter seed" planted, but we will continue to pray that it grows in her heart until she can share in the peace that we possess only through Him.

The area we were in today, called Tabil, is largely unreached by the Gospel in general and I am thankful for Agape's continued efforts there. Please pray for their continued strength, patience, and perseverance as they try to chip away at the darkness there one "Maria" at a time.

Tomorrow I will be back at ASELSI, another old "stomping grounds" from when we lived here, which will be another special privilege. I haven't even made it by there on most of my recent trips down here, so I am excited to see how much it has grown. I made Dr. Pope a deal that I would see all of the prenatal patients if he would see at least most of the men tomorrow, so I hope he holds up that bargain! Every now and then it's good to play the "gynecologist" card...