Team "YO"

Well, typically my first blog entry on these trips is just letting people know that we got here safely and introducing the team for the week.  This trip is a little unique in that I am travelling by myself!  Can’t complain at all about the provisions God has made so far to help me, though.  I had 148 pounds of checked luggage to deal with, but not once did I have to lift more than one of the bags myself!  Matt got home from work this morning just as I was getting up to go to the airport, so he was able to drive me, park, and come in to make sure all of the bags made it under weight limits.  HUGE help.  Then here in Guatemala, there’s always luggage porters trying to make tip money so I gave in and let a guy help me today.  For around five bucks, he helped me load everything on a cart and get it outside (without being X-rayed; double bonus and thanks be to God!), where Don Tono, the Hospital Administrator, was waiting!

Sweet Aaron Ficker had apparently been way more concerned than I was about me handling the extra luggage weight (in fairness, nearly 60 pounds of it was airplane and car parts he had requested ;-)) – So he had arranged for a friend from Canilla’ to meet me at the airport and take two of the bags off of my hands right then and there.  “Easy-bo-peasy”, as four year-old Micah would say…

Now I’ve had a lovely time getting to know Tono and his wife a little better (we are usually too busy to get very far past polite greetings at the hospital!) on the drive.  Absolutely fascinating to hear about the times of the Civil War here (the early 80’s were the worst) and how the hospital got by with just two nurses and no supplies.  They had little to offer and brought in very little money on which to live.  This is just one of hundreds of thousands of families that have stories like this in the current generation, and was a great reminder of where some of our patients are coming from.  The burdens they carry with them are barely imaginable to a North American who has never truly wanted for anything. 

These gentle reminders from God to have a little extra compassion, spend a little extra time offering anything positive that I can, and to focus a bit more on appreciating what I have been given are all evidence of His grace.  Another HUGE gift is that I will be joined Monday by two of the best helpers I could even imagine having—Don Allison and Luis Aquino are coming to join me from Canilla’!!  Some of you will remember Don as a PA that has spent quite a bit of time down here off and on for the past five years or so, and is currently committed along with his family to at least two years (I think) serving in the currently-under-construction hospital in Canilla’.  He is a great clinician and a great man.

Dr. Luis is someone many of you have heard me talk about—He is such an answer to such a specific prayer that it is nearly mind-blowing!  In order to open the hospital, there must—by law here—be a Guatemalan native Medical Director. There was much anxiety for a while over who that could possibly be—where would we find a Guatemalan physician with a heart for the Lord and their people who wasn’t already neck-deep in their own work or ministry?  Enter Luis—A man to whom God had given the vision of serving Him in a Guatemalan valley for many, many years during his journey to become a physician.  He did his residency in Spain, so has first-world medical training also!  Apparently, when he first drove in to the valley where Canilla’ sits (photo below), he immediately recognized it as “his” valley (he had assumed the vision was more of a “generic” Guatemalan valley prior to that.  The rest is history, and he and his wife (from the UK) Naomi and their two sons Joshua (3) and Isaac (~18 months now?) are now here for at least three years!  You cannot be around this man without seeing his genuine love for the Lord and for the Guatemalan people, and I truly feel honored to know him and his family.  Can’t wait to spend more time with him this week~ just wish that Naomi and the boys were coming, too!

Tomorrow will be a long day, as I will do clinic all by myself—no small task, as most of you are aware!  (Ask Kelly Pieh-Holder about that from the last trip; poor thing!!!)  Please pray for patience for both me and the patients, and that God can use me to provide each of them what she needs.  Also, a strange but URGENT specific prayer request tonight: 

Since falling asleep on the first flight this morning, I’ve had the pinky side of my left hand go numb.  I assume I’ve ticked off my ulnar nerve somehow (from a position I slept in, etc…)—But I would have expected it to be better by now!  Operating with two numb/tingly fingers would obviously be sub-optimal, so I’m very much hoping and praying for full recovery – hopefully even before clinic tomorrow for patient exams!

So that’s all the news from Chichi for now—(I’m typing in the truck on the way up the mountain, actually—ETA around 20-30 minutes)  The country is beautiful now during rainy season—green and full landscapes and lush countrysides and gardens.  All the more evidence of God’s grace, my friends.