Cultural Appreciation Day?

 So this morning we were able to "sleep in" a little and didn't go down to the hospital until 8:00.  There is a worship service there every morning, and it is always a special privilege to attend.  We worshipped, listened to a brief message from sweet Pastor Julian who preaches and visits with patients there each day.  We then prayed corporately for the patients we had operated on as well as for several other requests that the group had.  I was asked to pray, which is always intimidating in front of a group in Spanish—good thing God even speaks a little “gringa español”!!

We then got rounds done and discharged several more patients who looked great.  Thanks especially for your prayers for Marta, the hematoma from yesterday who looked much better this morning.  We were much more comfortable sending her home after watching her overnight and seeing her hematoma shrink significantly.  One more patient was begging to be seen this morning so despite our prior plans we caved and saw her, and will hopefully save her jumping through a bunch of hoops and spending a lot of money to get a surgery at the National Hospital in Quiché that she doesn’t probably need!

After that it was off to the market!  Much damage was done to many wallets and the soles of our feet, and there was full-blown sensory overload with all of the colors and products.  I think everyone made some great purchases and definitely enjoyed the experience and a little down time.

This afternoon we sat around at a café where there was WiFi, and I have to say it’s the first time this group has sat around and been in front of computers and iPads this week instead of talking and really having meaningful conversation.  What a great group.  I continue to be really impressed. What a blessing!

Here are some scenes from around Chichi… captured mostly by Hale, who has a great eye for photography.

And then there are some scenes from the hospital: Hale snuck a picture of prayer with a patient on her way to discharge home this morning…

And then breakfast trays were brought, and he surreptitiously caught this shot of sweet Cruz blessing her meal before eating it.

This one was from earlier in the week, but apparently I was getting a little tired of the camera in the OR-- sticking your tongue out at it has a little different effect with the mask on, though!

One of my favorite things to teach people that come on the trip is how the family of the patient wants to see the removed organs after surgery when we are telling them how everything went!  Here is Angelica, the sweet nurse that is a huge help in the OR helping Sylvia, Hale, and Anna tell the family of yesterday's last patient that surgery went well-- "thumbs up"!

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Then there's some really cute shots of the team from the roof of the hospital, one of my favorite places!

 And this last one is probably my favorite… this little girl, Gladis, is the now SEVEN year old daughter of (the late) Maria Suy Chan, who some of our very long-time readers may remember as the lady that we diagnosed with breast cancer when she was pregnant with Gladis.  I always see her husband and other kids in the market, and today when Gladis was there he took special care to point her out to me.  She followed us up the street and chatted for a while, then let us take her picture (for which she was somewhat handsomely compensated with enough cash for ice cream for her and her siblings, of course!)  She is beautiful, and reminds me of her sweet mother, God rest her soul.

 Tomorrow we will round, hopefully discharge our last two patients, and fly out to Canillá to see the Fickers, which is like my spiritual retreat and a place where God is really moving!  Check them out at their own blog for further reading at http://adonaiinternationalministries.blogspot.com !