Meet the Team!

Wow!  I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the group of people we have down here this week!  It is something new every time and every trip, and this trip is, of course, no different.  So here goes the obligatory “meet the team” post…

For those of you who are completely new readers, first of all—welcome!  And thanks for following along!  I am Heidi Bell, an OB/GYN from Greenville, North Carolina.  My husband Matt and I lived here in Guatemala as missionaries from 2006-2008 .   Since then, I’ve been extremely blessed to be able to continue coming down every quarter to serve in Chichicastenango for a week.  We mostly provide gynecological surgeries, but also take care of quite a few chronic patients with fertility and bleeding concerns.  As long as God keeps providing, we plan to keep coming.  The amount of support—in prayers, money, donated supplies and equipment, and TIME—has been nothing short of overwhelming over the last 4 and ½ years.

Traveling with me on this trip are Karen Carr and Nicole Jacobs, friends from work and Integrity Church.  They are good friends with each other, and had each been talking about wanting to come down to Guatemala with me individually before we found out we all knew each other.  Karen took her first plane flight with Nicole in 2007, and today got her first passport stamp with her also! 

Karen is a Spanish interpreter at the hospital where I work, and truly has a love of the language.  I’m excited to learn from her this week, and excited about the love and energy that she will certainly exude in the clinics here just like she does at home.  God really seems to be growing her heart for missions, and I look forward to seeing how He works through her this week!  (He is currently blessing me through her in the form of her making up my bed for me while I type ;-)

Nicole teaches Special Education at home, and has a beautiful heart for the Lord.  I also found out tonight that she has had some nursing school, so I can’t wait to get her to work on blood pressures, fingerstick blood sugars, and whatever else she dreams up to do.  Her husband, Brian, works out at the gym with Matt (my husband), and we all go to Church together.  I’m also planning to get Nicole and Karen to scrub in to the OR with me and help (since I will need some help!), so I hope that doesn’t scare them off too badly!

We are also meeting Dan Singleton, a soon-to-be-graduating Family Practice resident who works with Chris Schwering, and a friend of his who is an Emergency Medicine physician also.  They are coming up tomorrow, so more on them later.

Mark Snoddy and his son (also Mark Snoddy) are also down here for two weeks, and I’ve been tasked with “putting Mark to work” and getting his feet wet in medicine, which he thinks he might be developing an interest in.  He’s currently in college, and we are looking forward to having a lot of fun teaching and working with him.  His Dad is a strong supporter of the hospital here (his grandparents essentially built the place!) and serves on the Board of Directors for the “Good Samaritan Hospital” where we will be working on the U.S. side.  It is always a pleasure to hang out with him.  He has been such a blessing to Tom and so many others over the years!

Also for the new readers, “Tom” is Dr. Tom Hoak, a general surgeon from the U.S. who lives down here full-time with his wife Jana.  They have just sent their last daughter off to college this past year, and are working down here “until God sends us somewhere else”, as they will tell you.  They are a continuous inspiration to me, and it is always good to see them and get to work with Tom again!

Pictures below are of Nicole, then Karen, then our attempt at a group photo-- hopefully we will do better tomorrow!