Trip To Saquixpec - PICS

Here are some shots from the trip to Saquixpec. We took three trucks, besides the two that went the long way around because they don't have 4WD.

Gone and Back in Two Long Days

We'll write more tomorrow, but we just arrived home. We left here about 3:50am on Thursday and arrived home just before midnight on Friday. We are EXHAUSTED!

The trip was just over 7 hours (about 80 miles) up and about 6 hours back. We arrived in Saquixpec to see several hundred people waiting for us outside clinic. Most of them had numbers! For most, the problem was gastritis and headaches. The typical food there is very spicy and they drink coffee almost exclusively - very little water. Yes, we saw some more complicated patients and we'll share some stories later, but the most important thing was that this seems to be fertile ground for planting the gospel.

Twelve people publicly accepted Jesus Christ in their lives (we brought a pastor and an evangelist with us - both native Guatemalans - who did amazing spiritual work with the people we were working with medically).

The Fickers and some of their friends made a huge movie screen out of 9 queen sized sheets and PVC and showed the "Jesus" video, overdubbed in Ke'kchi (the local language) on Thursday night. Most of the village showed up to listen to a message from our friend Tomás and see the movie. Luckily, the movie ended before the rain started. Unluckily, the rain didn't end. At all. It started raining at midnight Thursday night and was still raining when we left around 6pm on Friday. Friday was a long day.

We started clinic around 8am and went almost straight through til 5pm, when we packed up to come home. Aaron, David, Craig, and Joseph stayed behind to keep working on the plane, which is nearly disassembled for the road trip back to Canillá. We'll have picture of that, too.

Anyway, the mission is nearly complete, for now. Several hundred people were exposed to a tiny example of the love that God has for us. Several accepted Jesus Christ into their lives. Several more had infirmities that had been bothering them for a long time addressed. And lots of people will feel much better tonight after they take their Rolaids or Zantac or Tylenol or Ibuprofen. And we're one step closer to fixing the plane and taking a 30 minute flight instead of a dangerous 7 hour drive the next time we go up!

Now a hot shower and to bed. More later!

Looks like a Winner

Every now and then, government inefficiency can work in your favor. We talked to Jacob this afternoon and it sounds like the container will almost definitely not be here before Saturday and probably not until Monday.

So we will both go to the Ixcan, return on Saturday, and hopefully receive the container early next week.

Thanks for all your prayer coverage on this. We knew God would work it out one way or another, we just didn't know how until today.

Ernest and Connie Braren, along with some of their friends, will be arriving here at our house tomorrow afternoon (about 12 hours after we leave), but we've left them a well stocked fridge and as many notes and things as we could. They've stayed here before, they'll survive a day and a half without us.

Well, tonight will be a short night. We'll leave here at 4am tomorrow, drive an hour or so to meet the Fickers, then several more hours up to the town we'll be working in. We'll start clinic when we get there on Thursday and go until we can't go anymore, then start over again on Friday. We'll go all day on Friday, then try to get back late, late Friday night. The rumor is that they have a list with about 650 names on it. Now, please direct your prayers to a safe and effective trip, with continued "success" in the container arena.

We have two very exciting pieces of news, besides all this. One, the hospital has re-opened. That's right, the Consulta Externa is back open in the State Hospital next to our house. They have different days for each "specialty" and they only give out 12 numbers each day for each of two doctors, but they are open nonetheless. They have also purchased a new X-ray machine and are working on a mammogram machine. The bad news is that no new agreement has been forged with the government. They are simply operating on last year's budget, with no increase for inflation. It's not unlikely that the money will run out at some point during the year, but for now, they're open. (Also, this year is an election year in Guatemala, which means the same thing it means in the US. Lots of promises, very little action.)

The other piece of exciting news is that Heidi is pretty convinced that she has been feeling the baby move, starting today! Like we said yesterday, we've seen lots of movement on ultrasound, but today was the first day to feel anything. It won't be long before she'll probably wish for a few motionless minutes every now and then, but it's still very exciting today!

Valentine's in Guatemala

Due to all the silliness surrounding the container and our trip to the Ixcan, we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day a day early this year. Today (Tuesday) is our day off, so we had the whole day basically together, anyway.

As I say that, Heidi actually went into town this morning to do some grocery shopping for both the trip and our visitors from the US who are coming in to meet the container. Matt did some house cleaning and some work in the courtyard. Heidi's (surprise) present to Matt was a trip to the local greenhouse to buy some more plants for the courtyard. Matt's (not-so-surprise) present to Heidi should be completed in the next few weeks (a bathtub).

We had a nice surprise visit from our Irish friend, David, who lives just up the road. He will be going to Guatemala City on Thursday to pick up Ernest and Connie Braren and two friends who are coming with them to meet the container. He's going to borrow one of our trucks for the day so the kids who live with him can get to school while he's gone to the city to get the Brarens.

Our grey truck is spending a few days in Canilla without us. Duane Ficker called the other night and said that the frame on Aaron's truck broke and that he was stranded in Quiche. We loaned him our grey truck (the better of the two) for a few days because we were just here in town today and Heidi will be just a few minutes down the road tomorrow.

The latest news on the container is that we still don't know when it's coming in. Clearly, it didn't make it here today and probably won't be here tomorrow (Wednesday). The good news is that it might not make it until Saturday. If the news by tomorrow night is that it looks like a Saturday or later arrival, we're going to both leave for our two day trip to the Ixcan. We'll be back in time to meet the container. The only downside is that we won't be here for the first day and a half to host the Brarens, but they've hosted themselves before and we're leaving a well stocked fridge! Besides, we'll be back on Saturday and they'll be here at least into the middle of the next week. We'll have plenty of time to hang out!

We spent a pretty long time with the ultrasound machine and Baby Bell today. Before the ultrasound, it was clearly a 50-50 proposition for boy or girl. We're a little more sure after the peek today, but our child was taking after Daddy and being a little rebellious. His or her legs were closed about 95% of the time, leaving us with only a few glimpses. And at 17 weeks, the differences are noticeable only when you get a good look. So we are about 60-40 now. We'll make the announcement when we know more like 90-10. Like us, you can wait!

Our Valentine's Dinner was a bit of a gamble. There is a local restaurant that we've seen but never been in. It's beautiful but we seldom see anyone inside. So we rolled the dice with our stomachs and tried it out. Heidi had steak and Matt had the house special, which is a mixed meat platter. Don't get your mouths watering, this is Guatemalan steak, not the Outback, but it was pretty good. Total bill, including a pretty generous tip, just under $20. Pretty expensive for this part of the world (one reason we think our stomachs are safe), but quite reasonable by American standards.

Wednesday, Heidi is at Buen Samaritano and Matt is at home, preparing for a possible trip to the Ixcan. We will hear from Jacob on Wednesday afternoon when to expect the container and we leave at 4am on Thursday if it's a go. Please continue to pray for everything to work out to the glory of God!

Not Quite the Normal Weekend

The weekend, as many weekends do, really started on Friday night. About 10:45, WAY past our "old fogie" bedtime, our cell phone rang. We looked at each other and commented that that's why God invented voicemail. Then the house phone started ringing. So we figured it needed to be answered. Luckily, we did. It was the hospital calling.

When we first moved here, we introduced ourselves to all the folks at the hospital and gave them our phone numbers. They always have a doctor on staff during the night, but he or she is not always an OB/GYN. Heidi let them know to call anytime they needed help from an OB/GYN. Until last night, they hadn't called.

The doctor on staff had correctly diagnosed the mom with pre-eclampsia and fluid in her belly (can you tell it's Matt writing this?) and was afraid that the baby had the same problem. Heidi checked the ultrasound with him and decided that the baby just had a full stomach. In any case, she spent about half an hour there and we think that she really built some relationship by being available for consult. YAY!

Neither of us had been feeling very well on Friday and, by the time we had to get up to go to Canilla on Saturday, Matt was markedly worse. Apparently something didn't agree with his stomach and was determined to get out by any means necessary. So we didn't go to Canilla. A few hours later, Matt was pretty dehydrated. Luckily, his wife is a doctor and we have a fully stocked pharmacy here in the house. On her first try (practice sticks don't count), she got an IV in and Matt was rehydrated much quicker than his stomach could tolerate drinking much water. The rest of the day was spent "laying low".

This morning, we got up and headed to San Andres. Neither of us felt like running a marathon and the bumpy road was less fun than usual, but we made it. Good thing, too. We had over 70 patients! God let us know right away that it was a good thing we came, too.

Our second patient of the day came in bawling. We learned that her husband had beaten her up. Her husband is now living with another woman, whom he has kids with. She went to their house this morning to ask for her "child support". Needless to say, she didn't get any money. So we spent some time praying with her, putting some ice on her bruises, and giving her some pain meds. Then we thought to ask why she had gotten a number in the first place (she had a very low number, which means she had come at around 6am to purchase it - about two hours before she'd been beaten up.)

She told us that she was pregnant but was afraid she was losing her baby. She had reason to be afraid. She's only 18 weeks along (only one more than us) and had already broken her water. We'll spare the details for the non-medical people, but she's already quite infected. The danger is that her body could get overwhelmed with infection and she could be in a lot of trouble. On ultrasound, we were astonished to see a beating heart. This is where it gets tough for a healthcare provider.

Stastically, the baby has as close to zero as you can get for chance of survival. Even in the United States, where we have the best Neonatal ICUs in the world, this baby doesn't have much of a chance. In the third world, even less. However, you have a fetus with a beating heart. We are going to pray a lot for this woman. Her danger of severe infection is very, very high. She could lose her uterus or she could die. We treated her with antibiotics and we gave her all our contact information in case she starts feeling sick or developing a fever. In the meantime, we wait and pray. We ask you to do the same!

In other news today, we saw another woman with Bell's Palsy. She wasn't nearly as concerned about it as I would have been! We had another patient who had been a victim of spousal abuse in the past week and it's probable that she has some broken ribs. She's about 70, about 4'6", and about 80 lbs. We think we saw a case of mumps, a few days after the baby received the vaccine. Our friend, Rosa, was back in, too. Rosa is an asthmatic - perhaps one of the worst cases you can imagine. She almost died during her last pregnancy, but apparently, that's a nearly monthly adventure for her.

Last week, her family took her into the Centro de Salud (Health Center) unconscious. She says she can't remember anything. She gives herself IV steroids on a regular basis and even had to take some good puffs on her inhaler just to make sure she could walk a few hundred yards to clinic this morning. We always put her on our nebulizer for an hour or so. She always has a great attitude, even when she's visibly having a hard time breathing. Imagine the panic most of us would feel if we couldn't breathe. She simply sits down and waits for the nebulizer to be hooked up. She is young (20s or 30s) and probably doesn't have a 78 year life expectancy like the rest of us, but is saved and seems to be quite at peace with whatever God has planned for her. We could all learn a little from that.

Anyway, tomorrow, we are at our clinic in Chicabracan. We are fortunate enough to be able to bring Juan Diego back with us (the evangelist we met who has been helping out there). We are more excited about the work he's doing there than we are about what we're doing. All we're doing is trying to improve the health of peoples' bodies. His work should have a longer lasting impact.

Please continue to pray for our trip to the Ixcan. The enemy is doing his level best to discourage us from going and to throw up roadblocks. He clearly does not want us to invade "his" territory. But God is prevailing at every turn. There are still plenty of roadblocks to overcome, and we leave on Thursday morning, but we trust that God will help us.

Interesting Clinic

Today was our clinic at Roy Espinosa's church in Chinique. It's probably the most diverse clinic we run. Our patients range from one of the richest men in town (who's in his 80s and tells us the exact same story about going to Sacramento every time we see him) to some of the poorest people we've ever seen. Some of our patients are Latins, some are Mayans.

For the first time ever (at least for us), we had a Latin woman offer to translate for several Mayan patients. Where she learned to speak K'iche we'll probably never know, but she was very sweet to them and quite helpful. (Of course, she did ask to be moved up in the line, but after all that, who could deny her a few minutes shorter wait?)

Some of our patients there are extremely overweight and suffering typical consequences for that (diabetes, hypertension, back and knee pain). Others are so malnourished that you feel bad for asking if they're fasting when you take their blood sugar. Of course they're fasting - they're probably almost always fasting!

The one thing that all of our patients there have in common, though, is their need for Jesus Christ. Some are in churches, including Roy's, but most are effectively unchurched. This clinic may be one of the few times in their lives when they get to hear the name of Jesus in a religious context. And that is our calling there.

Today, we both felt pretty under the weather. Luckily, clinic only went about four hours. Neither of us really has much of an appetite and we're hoping that it's just something that'll pass in a day or so. The good news was that we got to come home from clinic and nap. It'll be an early night tonight as we prepare for the next two days with the Fickers.

Again, please continue to pray for the safe delivery of our container from the U.S., and that it comes before we have to leave for the Ixcan.

Also, please pray that our clinic in Chinique can be a vehicle through which our patients can be saved. Tums, tylenol, and even blood pressure and diabetes medicines only go so far. It would be best if we could work to ensure that we see these people in heaven.

Clinic at ASELSI

Today was our "almost" weekly clinic at ASELSI. John and Sharon are gone to the US for a while, so we clearly miss them a lot. Virginia, a nurse from Canada who now works at ASELSI, is doing a great job filling in, though, so that helps.

We saw several prenatal patients today, a few babies (fortunately, most were really not very sick), and a few diabetics.

We did see a baby with a very loud heart murmur - to the point that it's very hard to even hear her breathe through all the "whooshing". She's over a year old and weighs 13 lbs. She's simply not growing. We'll be contacting UNICAR (the cardiac hospital in Guatemala City) to see what we can do to help her.

Also, we had a male patient in his 50s (he looks MUCH older than that) who came in with a paper from a lab stating that he does not, in fact, have tuberculosis. Apparently he had seen a doctor somewhere who asked him to go get this test done. He has had a nagging cough for some time. He looks awful. Matt asked him if he smokes. No, but he looks like he does. Heidi pointed out that he looks like a smoker because he looks like he has cancer. He just has "that look". He has extremely diminished sounds in one lung and has pain on that same side. Additionally, he described some issues in his throat that make it feel closed sometimes. So our next step is a chest X-ray and a lot of prayers that we're wrong about this.

We also had a female patient who has had uncontrolled diabetes for a few years, according to her. She said she had a surgery a few years ago in which they took out something that weighed 15 lbs, but she doesn't know what. After that, they told her she has diabetes, but she hasn't taken anything for it. Her sugar was about 3 1/2 times the normal level. She's going to bring what records she has at her house the next time we're there, and we'll try to get her chart from the hospital here. With any luck, we can figure out what happened and try to help her.

Today has been busy with phone calls and emails surrounding the arrival of our container here next week. Please pray that everything goes smoothly and we get it here before we have to leave for the Ixcan. That will make life much, much easier for everyone. The enemy REALLY does not want us to make this trip and we are determined to work against him.

Just this evening, we got a call from our pregnant patient whom we diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago. This has been quite the journey. Originally, she and her husband were very compliant. They got the tests done that needed to be done, had her biopsy taken at Buen Samaritano, and scheduled her for a radical mastectomy in December. Then things went bad. They went to a faith healer who talked her out of the surgery. Then, they apparently decided to get the surgery, but in Guatemala City. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough money. So we offered to help with money (the real goal is for her to get her surgery done, not that we necessarily do it). Our call tonight informed us that after she'd been in the hospital for nearly a week, they told her they couldn't do her surgery because she's pregnant.

The problem is that she has an aggressive form of breast cancer. The sooner we can do something about it, the better. Her baby will not be born for a few more months. Waiting isn't really the best option. Hopefully, we'll convince them to come to Buen Samaritano and get her surgery done before any more time passes. It's already been two months since her original surgery was scheduled! Please pray for things to go smoothly there, too.

Tomorrow we have another neat clinic in Chinique. This clinic is with our friend Roy Espinosa. Roy, you'll remember, is an American who was raised bilingual. He is a pastor and teacher here and lives and works in a pretty dark area. There are lots of coyotes (human smugglers) and occultists in his town. Clinic is a great way to get people into his church so he can minister to them as they're waiting for their consult.

Sorry for the long post with no pictures... maybe tomorrow!

Nueva Santa Catarina

Today was our clinic up in the mountains in Nueva Santa Catarina. We got to bring Katie along, as she's spending a few days with us.

The first picture is with Katie, Heidi, Matilde (the pastor and translator) and some of the folks gathered outside the clinic/church. They still have benches piled up inside the church because attendance has been swelling on Sundays. Praise God!

We had our regular patients today, who we've started to become quite good friends with. They ask about our families, we know their families, and we get to joke around with each other during the consult.

One of our patients returned today actually using his walker instead of his wheelchair! He was involved in a horrible accident in Houston a few years ago and was lucky he wasn't killed. He nearly lost both legs and is pins and plates from one end to the other. He spent nearly three months at Ben Taub Hospital there and came back to Guatemala walking a little bit. When we saw him for the first time, though, he was using the wheelchair exclusively. Rehabbing an exploded leg cannot be fun, but it's necessary if you ever want to walk again. We convinced him, over time, that it was better to walk around, even with a limp, then be confined to a wheelchair the rest of his life. He came today to find out when Dr. Edgar (our orthopedic surgeon friend) is going to be at ASELSI again so he can get some pins removed from his knees.

The second picture below is just a shot inside the church/clinic with Katie, Heidi, a patient, and Matilde.

The third pic is of Heidi holding an incredibly cute kid who we initially thought was quite sick until he actually woke up and started playing around. On the scale of sick and not sick, not sick. We treated him for a mild case of diarrhea, though, and sent Mom on her way, happy to know that he wasn't in any grave danger. (Kids do die from diarrhea here.)

The fourth pic is five kids (out of eight) and their mom who came in all completely covered with scabies (bug bites). The good news is that we have treatment for that. The bad news is that it includes Mom having to wash all of their clothes, including sheets and pillow cases, in very hot water, all at one time. Needless to say, she doesn't have a washing machine. We just sentenced her to a very long day of washing clothes. Bummer.

The other bummer is that we gave them all of the cream we had to treat the scabies with. And fifteen minutes later, another complete family came in covered with scabies! No worries, they live right next to the church. We had planned to run into Quetzaltenango (about an hour down the road) after clinic anyway and do some grocery shopping (and running shoes for Katie). So we bought some more cream there and dropped it off at the church on our way back.

Tomorrow we take Katie back to her clinic in Chiminicijuan and we'll probably stay and try not to get in the way too much. Then Wednesday Heidi is back at Buen Samaritano where she'll actually have a male patient, probably. A local pastor we worked with called the other night quite concerned about his cough and cold symptoms. After a few minutes of asking questions, Heidi was able to assure him that he'll probably live until Wednesday when she can have him come by the hospital, get a quick exam, and get some relief in the form of good old fashioned American over-the-counter meds.

Weekend Clinics

Clinics this weekend were relatively routine. It was great to see all of the current Guatemala resident Fickers together again. Duane, Aaron, and David are back from their nearly five week adventure in the U.S.

In case you didn't know, the boys went to the U.S. in late December to pick up a handful (seven or eight) vehicles they bought on eBay and bring them back to Guatemala. Some will be used in their mission, others will be sold here.

Duane flew up in January to check out an airplane that had been donated to them following the crash of their first plane in November. The Enemy is clearly opposed to the start of an air ministry here, as Duane nearly crashed the donated plane in the U.S.! So he rode back through Mexico with the boys. Included in their caravan were some semi's, some dump trucks, some pickup trucks, an airplane nose, and lots of goodies.

Thank you so much to those of you who donated items that came down in the Ficker convoy. We have now replaced most of the items that were stolen in the break-ins here in December and January.

Today, Katie came back with us from clinic in San Andres. (She is a nurse who is living and working with the Fickers in Canilla.) She will spend the night here tonight, go to Nueva Santa Catarina with us tomorrow, spend the night again, then we'll take her back to their clinic in Chiminicijuan on Tuesday. It's an opportunity for her to have a few days that are a little quieter and to see a clinic that we talk about alot because we love it so much!

We know we haven't posted any pictures in a while. Sorry about that. We promise to take some soon and post them!

Please continue to pray for Baby Bell. We are 16 weeks along today. Everything seems to be progressing well, but we can all use a little prayer coverage, right?

Also, please pray for our upcoming trip to the Ixcan. We are going to drive up to the area we had previously attempted to fly into. We'll be in a several vehicle convoy with 15 people. Some of us will do a medical clinic, others will work on the plane. We will all be ministering to this area. There are only three Christian families in the entire town. Pray that we have a safe and effective trip. It's a shame that in the year 2007, there are still people who have never heard the name of Jesus. We aim to do something about that - at least in this town!

Friday at Buen Samaritano

Heidi was back at Buen Samaritano today for her first "official" clinic day. She only had a handful of patients, but we have no doubt that things will pick up with time!

One particularly difficult patient was one who was nearly as far along as we are in our pregnancy who lost her baby. Counseling her through her various options hits a little closer to home now than it ever did before.

Yesterday, Heidi woke up about 5am to the realization that we did not have clinic at ASELSI. (The first Thursday of every month there are other doctors there.) But we ended up going to Chichi anyway to discharge her surgical patient from the day before.

We then went into Quiche to meet with Juan Cuc, the man who built the dorm, to pick out some tiles for a planned rennovation to the shower in our bathroom. We'll put up pictures when it's done, but we're going to have a shower/bath. An expectant mother who lives here really misses her bathtub from Houston.

Also, we have our fountain about 99% complete. There are a few little clean-up items, but it's running and working great. Attached is a pic.... Since the dry season is pretty hard on plants around here, we will have a bit more work to do once the rain starts coming again in a few months. But it's work we really enjoy!

We took the opportunity yesterday afternoon to get some ice cream in town and sit next to our fountain and enjoy the dripping yumminess....

Tomorrow we're back to Canilla to see the boys for the first time since we left in December. Hard to believe it's been two months since we saw them all!

Hospital Buen Samaritano

Yesterday was Heidi's first day at the Hospital Buen Samaritano. She sat in on a couple of surgeries with Dr. Hoak, including a breast biopsy for one of our patients from ASELSI. She also did a vaginal hysterectomy on a woman from our clinic in San Andrés. This woman came to us with a diagnosis of early cervical cancer (squamous cell carcinoma in-situ for you who use big words like that...) She had a surgery scheduled in Guatemala City but was trying to raise some money to pay for it. Leslie knows the family and the church and told us that she had a tough hill to climb. So Heidi did her surgery for her.

Dr. Hoak and Heidi normally have to pay an anesthesiologist somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 for each surgery. This week, we have an American volunteer anesthesiologist for a few days and we're getting as many surgeries done as we can. That's why Heidi didn't get back to Quiché until nearly 9pm last night!

Today is Heidi's first day in clinic at Hospital Buen Samaritano. It'll probably be a quiet day from a clinic standpoint, but she'll likely end up sitting in on some surgeries with Dr. Hoak.

Matt's been home starting work on his solo album (lots of pre-work to do before his studio gets here) and doing some work around the house.

Tomorrow is clinic at ASELSI and then Heidi will be back at Buen Samaritano on Friday.

Busy Weekend

Sometimes our weekend trips to Canilla/San Andres are uneventful, relaxing weekends with a lot of spiritual "topping off the tanks". This was not one of those. Not that it was bad - far from it - it was just not "uneventful".

Saturday morning began around 6:00am with a phone call. It's not customary for people here to introduce themselves on the phone, they just start talking - which usually starts the guessing game. After a few minutes on the line, we determined that this caller was the father of a boy we've been looking for in Chicabracan. The Sisters at Ceritas informed us that they had encountered a 13-year-old boy with a cleft lip and wondered if we could help him. The problem was that they didn't know how to contact him.

At our clinic in Chicabracan last week, we asked if anyone in line knew of an older boy with a cleft lip (it's not a big place, Chicabracan). Of course, someone knew him. So we sent our phone number with them and asked them to have the boy's family call us. So they did. At 6am on a Saturday. Oh well, we had to get up anyway!

Clinic in Canilla was actually very short, for some reason. Apparently, nearly everyone around town was feeling just fine on Saturday. So we had a long afternoon to hang out with the Fickers. We built some concrete forms for work that needs to be done at the hangar, we netted 50 fish out of one pond and brought them to another, etc. - all normal stuff in a day in Canilla.

It was nice and warm, though (sorry for those of you living in snowland right now), so we hung out near the fishpond behind the house. The second picture is what happens to girls like Katie who stand too close to a body of water when boys like Joe are around. (The first pic is a shot from the road on our drive there in the morning.)

The third pic is what Heidi looks like when she's done with clinic. The creature in her overalls is, possibly, an even more loving cat than Jake - and a good mouser, too. (Jake did quite well this week, though, with at least two rats that we counted.)

As we sat down to watch our movie and eat some dessert that Heidi made, we were interrupted by someone at the gate. Joe went out to find out what they wanted and returned to let us know that it was an emergency and someone was bleeding, but we should wait to see this next scene in the movie real quick before we go out there. (He doesn't get worked up too easily.)

It turned out that the emergency was simply a guy who had had a bit too much to drink before he ventured out onto a dirt road on his motorcycle. He'll have some nice scars for his trouble, but he'll live. Basically, just a clean-up job.

This morning, well before any of us had any intention of waking up, someone else came to the gate and demonstrated some considerable proficiency at operating their car horn. It was a local midwife with a 14-year-old patient. She had been laboring since 3am and the midwife wanted to check with our ultrasound to see if the baby was head down (cephalic) and not breech. It took Heidi about two minutes to decide that this baby was either going to be born in the clinic room or in the car on the way back to her house.

So about 30 minutes later, we had a new baby with us. It was Matt's first opportunity to watch Heidi deliver a baby and he didn't pass out or anything. The fourth pic is of the mom and her first baby, a little girl.

Clinic in San Andres was relatively uneventful except for the family we brought back to Quiche with us in the back of our truck. They have a baby who Leslie believes is pretty sick. It's a testament to our faith in her opinion that we never really even looked at the baby, we just brought them all here to the hospital.

Well, that's about it for now. Tomorrow we are hosting most of the local American healthcare providers for our periodic networking get together. We'll be meeting two missionary doctors who are coming in from Guatemala City for the meeting, too, and we are very excited about that!

ASELSI

Yesterday was a busy day at ASELSI. A normal load of patients there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 20. We saw over 30.

Many of our patients there were prenatal patients. This is wonderful because it's something Sharon has been praying for for a long time. If we can get moms to come in while they're pregnant, then come back for well baby checks, we can help with lots of problems, such as cleft palates, club feet, and malnutrition. Sometimes, babies born with a birth defect are simply abandoned or relegated to second-class status. In many of these cases, a surgery can correct the problem but if parents don't know that surgery is available... you see where this goes.

Naturally, we have a few stories from clinic. One was a twelve year old girl who came in with a very severe looking rash on her bottom lip and left cheek. She said she had had it for four years. We treated it as impetigo, which is probably is, but we found out later that the man who had brought her in was not her father (we simply assumed he was). He was her teacher. How neat to have a teacher who cares enough about his students to bring them to a doctor when he sees they need help. This girl was clearly quite poor - her school uniform sweater probably wouldn't qualify for car-rag duty in the U.S. The sleeves had unravelled at least a few inches each and there were holes all throughout. Most of the buttons were missing and at least one set of "button holes" were tied together with string.

She is probably poor beyond our ability to really comprehend, but she's in school. She seems very intelligent and has a teacher who has taken a personal interest in her - not just an academic interest. Please pray that she is able to break the cycle of poverty in her family and that her kids will have new sweaters to wear to school.

One moment that would have been funny had it not been so serious was when about half of the ladies who work at the registration desk came bursting into our clinic room (in the middle of another patient) holding a little lump under a blanket and chattering about 100mph in K'iche. We saw just the little face poking out and it was smaller than your palm. Naturally, our gastritis patient had to wait a minute.

The baby's name is Juan Ernesto Macario Guarcas. He's two months old, more or less, and weighs 4 1/2 pounds. The woman who brought him in is not his mother. Juan had been abandoned, probably for dead. Someone called her one day and told her that if she wanted a baby, she'd better come get him. He was clearly born quite premature and likely doesn't have the greatest chance in the world. He has survived two months, though, and seems to take a bottle well. We sent Juan and his adopted mom to the hospital in Quiche with a note explaining the situation (she doesn't speak Spanish). We'll go down later today to check on them.

And probably the saddest story we've had in a while is the story of Efrain Gregorio Villegas Lopez. He's 50 and lives here in Quiche. His wife brought him to ASELSI because she heard that we sent people to Antigua for surgeries. Efrain is a diabetic and is in probably the early stages of kidney failure. His sugar wasn't too bad (137), but he can barely walk due to the deep ulcers on both feet. He also has one on the back of his leg about the size of a coffee saucer. He's probably not too far from losing both legs.

His wife repeatedly asked if we could write him a note to get him his "dialysis surgery" in Guatemala City. We explained that dialysis is not a surgery, but really a process that will have to continue the rest of his life. She was very kind and caring to him and clearly desperate for help. We referred them to the hospital here in Quiche, too, for them to do some work on his largest ulcer on his leg (we took pictures, but we'll spare you!). We'll work with the Social Work office here at the hospital to see what can be done for him, but it looks like the end of the road isn't too far down.

Thankfully, he is saved and belongs to a church here in Quiche. One of the neat things about working at ASELSI is that they're also a Bible School so we had plenty of folks willing to minister to him and his family (all who speak Spanish as a first language - very helpful).

Sorry this turned out to be so long, but yesterday was a long day. Today we have some follow-up to do on some patients at the hospital and some more work around the house. We're going to buy some supplies to see if we can get our shower converted into a shower-bath for Heidi and the baby!!!!

Back to Work

Today was our first day back to one of our "solo" clinics this year- Chicabracan. This is a clinic that is held in a school in a tiny village outside Quiche. Previously, it was the only clinic we had that did not have an affiliation with a church or an evangelist of some sort.

We have hired a friend of Dr. Lisa Dunham's (our Family Practicioner friend in Chichicastenango) to come with us and witness to the people waiting in line for the clinic. His name, which we've mentioned before, is Juan Diego Lux (pronounced "Loosh").

We had about 25 patients today, two of which we thought had their diabetes under control but appear not to, four kids in one family with chicken pox, and several with allergies and body aches and pains. We did diagnose one pregnancy, though, which is always good when you're an OB/GYN.

One patient, however, stuck out a little bit. Her name is Isidra Alvarado Osono. We didn't recognize her, but she had seen Paul and Lindsey while they were doing our clinics for us for a few weeks while we were in the US for Christmas. Their note about her in the computer (what a GREAT donation that is turning out to be) was that she has had eight miscarriages and has lost four living children due to violence from her spouse. Since Paul and Lindsey are native Spanish speakers, we're pretty sure there wasn't anything lost in translation there. Even if she's a terrible historian and is way off on her numbers, that's still a horrible situation.

She was clearly a troubled woman. She had a hard time looking either one of us in the eye, spoke very softly, and followed every description of a physical complaint with a qualifier. Her stomach hurts, but it could be worse, etc.

We, of course, treated her for gastritis and some aches and pains (her right eye was swollen from a recent beating). We also brought Juan Diego in to talk to her and pray with her. Not only is he a super neat guy and a wonderful evangelist, he is from here and knows the people around here. He knew the village she's from and knew of a man there who could help her. She knows the man and, whether she seeks any help or not, at least has one more option in her mind. Please keep Isidra and her husband in your prayers.

Oh, and before we forget, we have dates for our first trip to the Ixcan with Duane and Leslie. Apparently, there is going to be a caravan of 15 or so people headed up there in February - by ground, unfortunately - to do some medical work and some repair work on the plane that's still sitting there. Duane, Aaron, and David should be back in the next week or so. Then it'll be time to start planning for a long, crazy drive. Thank God our truck seems to be in the best shape it's been in a while. It'll need to be!

Tomorrow we're going to be back at ASELSI in Chichicastenango. We hope to see our patient with breast cancer who, as of yet, has not consented to her surgery. We have been praying a lot for her and look forward to seeing she and her husband again.

Blessings

Wow... what a great day this has been! We have literally had emails and phone calls pouring in from about the time we woke up this morning, offering support and condolences after our "Struggles" that we posted yesterday.

People have literally-- less than 24 hours after that post-- offered to replace, piece by piece and person by person, every item that we mentioned was missing. Thank you, thank you, thank you all for helping to restore our faith in humanity in such a beautiful and tangible way. This whole experience has served to remind us of many things, the most important of which is that God is still Good. We are also reminded that "stuff" is just "stuff", and that we often have way too much of it to begin with, anyway. (Check out the link to Katie Eleiott's blog for her most recent post, which speaks to this in a powerful way...) And, most importantly, good friends and family are good to have. We are truly blessed, rich, and lucky.

Today has been another wonderful day for playing "catch up" on emails, finances, and all kinds of beginning-of-the-year stuff. We also got some house-cleaning (much needed!) done, and were just able to spend some nice time together. Next week we will start our new schedule in full force, it looks like. We are trying to really appreciate the few days off we have had here lately, since we will have about three days off each month after Heidi starts working at the Buen Samaritano hospital!

Please pray for the Ficker family as they try to travel home through Mexico with several newly purchased vehicles and lots of great medical supplies this week. After recent experiences with landings, we're pretty glad to have Duane and the boys on the ground this week!

Also please pray for one of our clinic patients from San Andres this weekend-- her name is Yendi Blanco Reyes, and she is 16 years old. She has been to see us several times with her mom over the last few months, and we are truly stumped as to what her problem is. Apparently, for about two years now she throws up after every time she eats! She is not terribly malnourished, does not have any signs of bulemia, is not pregnant, and has not responded to several different attempts of medicine to help her problem.

She and her family have never set foot in a Church, and we are very worried about what might be stressing her out at home. There is a strong sense that her problem is really more spiritual/emotional than physical, but we are having a hard time to get her to open up to us. We did get a chance to talk to her with her mother out of the room this week, and she often looked like she was about to cry when asked about problems at home-- but then she would smile really big to cover it up and say everything was fine.

We prayed with her and her mom, and gave her our cell phone number in case she decides she wants to talk. Please pray for wisdom on our parts to ascertain what is truly the problem, and for God to open her heart on her part, so that she might know His love, peace, and salvation.

Tomorrow we will attend to some business at the hospital, and continue cleaning and organizing and getting ready for the week to get a lot busier starting Wednesday!

Struggles

Sometimes it's easier to give than others. For instance, when you're being stolen from, it's hard to have a giving heart. As we mentioned here last week, our truck was broken into in town. We knew that Matt's iPod had been stolen. But as we were packing for Canilla on Saturday morning, our emergency box seemed a little light. Apparently, when we lost the iPod, we also lost our toolbox, our spotlight, our scrubs, our inverter, our air compressor, and some assorted other things in there. All told, we probably lost $600-$700 worth of stuff.





Then, we went out to our outside storage room to replace the tools in the truck with the ones Matt's dad brought down in November and found that we had been robbed there, too. While we were gone in December, someone broke into our courtyard and stole all of the tools Matt's dad brought. The new drill, all the bits, all the tools, everything. It was a gift, so we don't know what the price was, but we're guessing we lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $1000 in the last little bit.





We've walked away from everything we know in the United States to come serve. And to think that what we're giving isn't enough for some people - that they feel the right to take even more - is pretty angering. It makes it very hard to have a servant's heart.





We have an idea who broke into the house, but without proof and with a police force that's ambivalent, at best, there's very little we can do. We will, of course, do a better job of locking things up. A razor wire fence simply doesn't look like enough. It's likely that they came over our roof from the front. Now we'll have to go up on the roof tomorrow and see what kind of damage they caused up there. (Our roof isn't really made for people who aren't being careful to walk on.)





So that's that.





We did have two clinics this weekend, which probably served as the best possible chance to "get back on the horse" and serve whether we felt like it or not. Both went very well. We had some fun times with the Fickers, as usual (of course, "the Fickers" also include Katie and Craig).





Duane, Aaron, David, and Martin will probably leave the US early this week with several semi trucks and drive through Mexico to arrive here about a week later. Duane obviously won't be flying their new donated plane back. It'll probably get sold to help pay for repairs to the one still sitting in the Ixcan, where it crashed about two months ago.





On the very good news front, we were invited to go see a work day in progress at the school that New Beginnings Resources is helping to build in San Pedro. (New Beginnings Resources is one of the groups that supports and works with Agape In Action.) Pastor Eliseo organized a work crew from his congregation to clean up around the grounds of the school. His congregation is mostly women and children - many of the area men do not attend church , but at least allow their spouses to.

Now to the pictures. The first picture is of the work area in front of the school. The second is a closer view of some folks cleaning and dragging stuff to the burn piles.

The third picture is of a man digging a trench (manually, of course) for the plumbing for the future bathrooms. And the fourth is a shot across the work area of the soon-to-be headmaster and his wife coming to check on the progress.

Administrative Day

Sometimes being a medical missionary is not very medical. That would be today.

The nice thing was that we didn't have to set an alarm this morning. We got up and did about 200 lbs of dishes from last night when we had an ambush dinner party. Yes, occasionally, Guatemalans will simply drop in. Last night, Paul and Lindsey stopped by and we had a wonderful visit with them. Luckily, we had enough dinner started to feed four. But, since we were having so much fun talking, we left the dishes for this morning.

Then we went down to the hospital and met with Dr. Patty, the sub-director, and started the process of getting all of the paperwork done for the teams that we have planned so far for 2007.

Most of the rest of the day was spent answering emails we'd put off til today, organizing cleft palate information, making new clinic forms, updating Palm stuff, and general organizing.

Matt went to the gym, stopping off just long enough to buy some milk and fresh flowers - and apparently long enough for some kind soul to break into our truck and steal the iPod that Heidi gave Matt as a wedding present. Of course, the man standing near the truck didn't see anything. And, since it's considered bad form for missionaries to choke information out of people, we're going to ask Carrie to buy us a new iPod and have it sent down.

We also got the word today that Duane, Aaron, and David were involved in another incident with a plane. Duane had flown to the US to look at a plane that someone was going to donate. Aaron and David were already there on some other business. The three of them were flying up to Chicago to meet their daughter Hannah when one of the two engines went out. Duane had apparently just gotten the plane on the ground when the other engine went out. Maybe this isn't the plane God wants them to have.

For any of you who don't believe in Satan, Duane can tell you for sure that he is real and that he is powerful. And he is not very excited about the work that the Fickers plan to do with this plane.

So please keep them in your prayers. We know that God has an answer to the plane situation but we obviously don't know what it is yet...

Tomorrow starts another clinic weekend in Canillá and San Andrés with Leslie, Katie, and Craig. WEE!!!!

Clinic at ASELSI

Today was our first day back at ASELSI since before we left for Christmas. It was good to be back. In case you're new or had forgotten, ASELSI is an American-run clinic in Chichicastenango. You can learn more about them on their new blog which is linked to on the right hand side of this page.

We saw a pretty fair number of patients today, including a bunch of prenatal patients and all seven of our cleft lip and palate kids!

It's more fun doing prenatal visits now than it was before. We can compare our progress to the patients we're seeing...

We did have one very interesting patient today. She told us she was 50, but she was being quite generous with that. Based on the fact that she only comes about halfway up on Matt's abs, we're guessing her height to be around 4'0". She weighs 78 lbs completely dressed (and it's cold out today - so she's probably in the low 70s for weight). She wasn't really sure why she was there, but she had an appointment. We called Sharon and Dr. Hoak, since Sharon's writing was on her appointment card and she was clutching a prescription for estrogen and vitamins from Dr. Hoak.

Her main complaint was gastritis. But that didn't jive with the appointment card or the prescription, so we asked a dozen more questions through our interpreter, who was equally baffled. At least we knew it wasn't a language barrier! Heidi did an abdominal exam on this woman who has a perfectly flat stomach at probably more than 60 years of age... and we guessed from that (and it was confirmed) that she's never had any children.

She said she had been told by a jornada (a medical team from the US) that she needed surgery, but had no idea why. We repeatedly asked if her uterus was falling out and she answered "no" every time. So we sent her home with some vitamins and some gastritis meds.

Shortly after that, Dr. Hoak called back. He had pulled her chart and she has a complete prolapse of her uterus! Go figure.

Anyway, the rest of our patients went much more smoothly. It was very nice to see everybody there again.

Now, for the pictures. The first picture is of Franco post op. He's crying, but he no longer has a big hole in his face. The second picture is of Maria. That grin on her mom is about the biggest we've ever seen on her. Maria has milk in her mouth, which seems to be completely normal for her. Look at those big chubby cheeks!!!!

The third picture is of Carlos Santos (sleeping) and the fourth is of Carolina (also sleeping). Keep in mind that the rest of these kids are a week and two days post-op and Carolina is only six days. All of the parents are doing great work with keeping the incisions clean and not bottle feeding their kids. They have one week to go on syringes, then they can go back to the bottle.

We'll post some more pre-op vs. post-op pictures some other time, probably, and each of you who sponsored a child will get a complete set of pics for your child (both pre- and post-op). We'll see the kids again in a month and will post some more pictures then. ALL of the parents are so happy with the results of the surgeries, as are we!

Tomorrow, we go down to the hospital and meet with the staff there to start planning for the teams who are coming in 2007.

Unexpected Trip

We spent last week in Antigua with the cleft palate families and we were back again last night. It wasn't a completely planned trip, but a nice visit nonetheless.

On our way back to Quiché from Antigua, we noticed that our truck wasn't acting just right. We had a fair amount of work done on it and had let it sit for nearly a month, so we weren't sure exactly what was wrong. Driving to Canillá for the weekend, though, was painful. We nearly didn't make it. Things were getting worse by the kilometer and, by the time we finally got there, our maximum engine rpms were about 2200 and we were spewing a massive trail of smoke. We looked like we fit right in - and not in a good way.

Duane and Matt worked on the truck for a good part of the afternoon, trying various things, and nothing really worked. We got it home from clinic on Sunday with lots of prayers and decided we wouldn't even try taking it to Nueva Santa Catarina on Monday - it's a three hour drive on one of the main highways in Guatemala. So we took our backup truck instead. The backup truck isn't in the greatest condition, either, though, so it was a rather long day.

We decided to take both of the trucks back to Antigua. We figured we were doubling our chances of making it. We left the grey truck with the mechanic who originally worked on it and took the green one (the backup) into the capital to get some new tires put on it (American owned store with free road hazard and a good guarantee).

We were lucky enough, while in the capital, to schedule our first OB visit for Heidi. Dr. Mario Ruata is a native Guatemalan who did medical school here in Guatemala but his residency in Dallas, Texas. Our Spanish is coming along quite nicely, but it's nice to have an English-speaking doctor. He spent about thirty minutes with us, got a very detailed history, did some explaining of various things (mostly for Matt's benefit, of course) and did an ultrasound. Everything looks good at 13 weeks and we got to hear our baby's heart beat for the first time. YAY! Now this is the part where you all get jealous. The visit cost about $30.

Well, with the extended doctor visit and Guatemala City traffic, we didn't get back to Antigua until after the shop had closed, so we spent another night in the Lazos Fuertes hotel. We had a wonderful breakfast this morning at the Doña Luisa restaurant (for less than $6) and got the truck back.

Matt had drained the entire fuel tank, changed out the filter, inspected the belts, and messed with a dozen other things on the engine and it was (drum roll, please).... a microfilter hidden inside the fuel pump. It's a pain in the rear to change, so it's not on the normal checklist. But, apparently, you need the little bugger to be clean. So $8 later, we were on the road.

The good news is that, starting in 2007, we have two trucks with brand new tires, and all new belts, fluids, filters, etc. on our main truck. Without transportation, we can do very little for the people we work with. And it LOOKS like we're in good shape now (knock on whatever is handy).

Ah, and a treat we hadn't counted on, we got to eat at Subway yesterday. Nothing like a good 30cm sub to get your day going!

Tomorrow we're at ASELSI. We're planning on seeing all of the cleft lip/palate kids for their follow-up visits. We'll take lots of pictures. (And since we've been gone about a month and a half there, it could be quite a long day - we'll pack a lunch.)

OOPS! Sorry this is getting rather long, but Duane Ficker flew back to the United States today to take a look at another plane that might fill the gap while they're working on the wrecked one. Please keep him in your prayers.

...And back to work again!

Since we last "talked", we have had the opportunity to complete our re-entry into Guatemalan life by doing a clinic every day for the last three days. Saturday in Canilla and Sunday in San Andres (both with the Fickers-- so great to see them again!), then today in Nueva Santa Catarina.


It's a three hour drive each way out to Nueva Santa Catarina, but we just can't resist going because of what the pastor we work with says is happening in his Church out there! He attributes a lot of the growth to the clinic, but we know that our clinic is really just a way for him to get his "foot in the door" of these people's lives and hearts and talk them in to coming to Church and meeting Jesus their Savior. His time spent ministering to them and in prayer for them during clinic is in most cases much more beneficial than any of the Tylenol or Sudafed that we're handing out...


Regular readers will remember this as the little wooden shack (literally!) of a Church high up in the mountains, where they were lucky to have 10 people attend on a good day. Today when we walked in, there were new benches/pews literally piled high in a corner to make room for the clinic to run-- apparently they were needed to accomodate the almost 50 people he said were there yesterday! Even with extra benches, there is no telling where they all could have possibly been seated. The picture below is of the Church to refresh your memory, although it's an old picture.

While it was nice to see some of our regular patients out there again, it's always interesting to see what new things will walk in the door. Today our most interesting patient was the last one of the day-- a ten year old boy who "cut his finger" with a machete yesterday while trying to chop firewood. After unwrapping his bandage, we could see that he actually meant that he "cut his finger nearly OFF"-- the tip of it anyway-- with said machete. He will certainly never again have a pinky nail on his left hand, but the family had cleaned it up pretty well considering. Hopefully with some antibiotic prophylaxis and some better cleaning and bandaging supplies, he will heal just fine. All of you who are the proud new owners of Guatemalan machetes received as Christmas gifts from us, though, take heed-- those things most assuredly CAN relieve you of any body parts that happen to get in their way!

Anyway, for any of you who were still worried about whether or not Jake had made it home Friday night, rest assured that he is back safe and sound and living the life of luxury which he has become quite accustomed to. He has not let us out of his sight at all when he can help it since he found us here Friday night! Says to tell you all, "hi", by the way...

Before signing off, we do have a prayer request that is a little different than the others we have posted here... Our truck, just out of the shop where it spent the month of December getting lots of "preventive" maintenance done, doesn't seem to have taken too well to all of these repairs. Or, in other words, it no longer seems to want to pull us up any of these mountains at more than 6 miles per hour! This is a big problem, especially considering that the three best mechanics we know (Aaron and David Ficker and their good friend Martin) are all in the States right now! We are going back to the shop in the City that did the repairs tomorrow, and we are very thankful to have the time and the support to be able to do that. But a little prayer never hurt, either-- And if you feel at all silly praying for a truck, don't worry-- we've all certainly prayed for sillier things before, and God has never once laughed (out loud, at least...) at any of our requests.

So we're off to Guatemala City and Antigua tomorrow-- hopefully we will be home tomorrow night, but that depends on what they say about the truck and how much time they need. Heidi was fortunate enough to get an OB appointment with the doctor we will be going to in the City for tomorrow also, so at least we get to accomplish that in the meantime. There's also always plenty of shopping to be done after being gone so long... Wish us luck!