Meet the Team

Well, my first blog post of the week is always called “Meet the Team”, although this week it will be pretty short since any regular readers already know us all!  What a great joy and privilege to get to work alongside Dr. Chris(tina) Schwering (née DeLuca) this week again—I can’t believe it’s been 8 years since she first came down here as a resident with me!  Since then she has married, adopted his child as her own and seen her graduate from college, birthed a child who will soon start kindergarten, fostered two babies, become Chief of Staff at her hospital, and clearly is just freakin’ Wonder Woman! 

Her husband Tony is basically running IT support for the hospital out in Canillá, so he will fly out early Monday morning with a full lock and security/badge system to install for them this week while we operate.  Truth be told, I’m pretty sure he’s the one who keeps the Wonder Woman suit and plane clean, available, and running on time, but don’t tell him I know ;-)

I’m still “me”, Heidi Bell—the same OB/GYN who has had the amazing privilege of not only living here in the Department of Quiché in Guatemala from 2006 to 2008 with my own amazing husband, Matt, but also spending a week every three months here for nearly 10 years now since then!  God has been so faithful to keep this ministry going.  I learn something new every trip, and He clearly still has a lot more to teach me.  Also, I tend to be a slow learner on the more important life lessons, so I’m pretty sure I’ll still be coming for a while.  At least I hope so.

We arrived today with  probably close to 400 pounds worth of supplies for two hospitals (the one we are operating at here in Chichicastenango, plus the one our dear friends the Fickers (adonaiinternationalministries.org) and Docs for Hope (docsforhope.org) are building out in Canillá, plus gifts and treats for as many of the “boots on the ground” missionaries as possible.  Since I left my clinical medicine job a couple of years ago, my ministry here has really morphed into a lot less bringing of medical supplies and a lot more just ministering (through physical/tangible gift-giving from the US) to those who serve here.

It’s amazing how often these missionaries are neglected even by visiting friends or groups from their home churches!  Folks who have wonderful intentions, of course, of serving the Guatemalan people when they come down.  But when asked if they could bring down a book or other supply needed for the nursing school or other project or even just a personal need, it’s “our luggage space is really tight with all the supplies we are bringing for the VBS children” and such.  Again, total good intentions.  But after a while as a missionary, you just stop even asking, and you pray for someone to come along and ask YOU what they can bring YOU.

Enter folks like Chris, Tony, and I.  And all of you who have helped or donated to help us meet needs or wants or even provide little luxuries here and there over the years!  And don’t get me wrong—There’s lot of other needs that we are missing or neglecting to meet this one; this just happens to be the one that God has laid on MY heart and very specifically equipped Matt and I to provide for.  We cherish it.

Tomorrow will begin clinic and if recent history is any indicator, it will be a super long day—so now I’m going to bed.  Hopefully I’ll get my modem charged up with some money on the account tomorrow so I can actually post this to blogger since I am just typing it up in Word tonight… If you are reading this anytime before Sunday night, that plan worked, likely meaning that I sent Tony to a store with some cash and a note that says in Spanish, “please charge account number xxxxxxxx with these 50 questzales”!  And that the shop owner could read ;-)

You gotta love this place!  I know I do.