Wow. What a trip this
has been! I think I last wrote on
Tuesday or Wednesday, so a quick update is in order of course. We finished up the surgical week with the
vaginal hysterectomy and laparoscopic tubal removal for sterilization on
Wednesday, then stuck around to help Tom with several more cases (hernias,
gallbladders, and a thyroid) Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. ALL of our patients looked fantastic Thursday
morning and were discharged—even Aura, who had a major surgery on Wednesday morning,
was asking to go home! We felt
comfortable sending her knowing that she lived near where we would be doing
clinic this morning (Saturday), so off she went.
Sweet Micaela, the lady we operated on twice, may have
looked the best of the bunch. God’s grace
and provision, clearly, since it could in no way be accounted for by the
“perfection” of surgical performance. It
is so humbling to see families of patients bring us gifts on top of the
financial offerings they are making to the hospital—from apples (ironically,
imported from the USA!) and avocadoes to hand-embroidered hand towels since
they know we “have to wash our hands a lot”, they are such sweet and generous
thoughts.
Truly, though, what really makes it worth it is the smiles
we can occasionally even catch on camera like this one from Marta—she stayed
one day longer than “usual” after her Monday surgery, likely due more to the
fact that on Tuesday, she got the news that her brother had passed away. He had been sick for a few years, but the
news was still quite hampering to her recovery.
Wednesday was the funeral, and then a large group of family and friends
descended upon her in the hospital that evening! What a gift it was to be able to get this
sweet smile after all that from her when I asked her to pose with “Flat
Stanley” from my second grader’s class ;-)
Thursday afternoon we flew out to see firsthand ALL of the
change and excitement that God is bringing about to His people in Canilla’
where our dear friend the Fickers live.
There are no words for how amazing everything is that He is doing
there! From a full-fledged
university-affiliated nursing school (with 37 students enrolled!) to footings
and walls being poured for a full-fledged HOSPITAL, to doctors and other health
care providers coming out of the woodwork to volunteer faster than housing can
be found for them all, to EIGHTEEN kids currently under age 10 running around
the compound, to another airplane that has been donated and may be able to be
flown down soon, and all around in everything in between, nothing is short of
miraculous. And yet all of it is just a
tiny reflection of His Glory and Grace.
I’ll share a few more pictures to leave you with for the
week—mostly just for fun.
There’s the one of “Flat Stanley” taking a rest on some
lovely coasters or doilies that one patient’s family gave to us, then him
getting ready to go in to the OR with me…
Then several of the hospital grounds, including one of me
playing (and losing) “king of the mountain” with Jacob and Joshua Ficker (Ryan
and Katie Ann’s boys), and one of the well drilling rig that is due to start
drilling any day now (it was promised in January…), and the final hospital
plans for any who are interested.
We then move along to the nursing school to see Katie’s
first day of TEACHING CLASS in the newly-built “wing” of the school dedicated
to the nursing program…
And the last are just for fun: Chris, Tony, and Caitlyn playing on the
swingset, Abi and Grace posing for us with “Flat Stanley”, “Flat Stanley”
getting ready to take off in the Cessna, and the hospital grounds from the air…
We will leave you finally with a few shots of the volcanoes
seen from above the clouds on our way back down to The City this morning—I will
never tire of that view!
Please continue to pray with us for healing for our
patients, and spiritual growth and renewal for Chichicastenango, Canilla’,
Guatemala, the US, and the World. God
bless you all.
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