Guatemala Licensure

At the end of last year we found out Lisa could not renew her temporary license in Guatemala and had to look a getting a permanent license. This involves getting her diploma authenticated by various governement agencies, paying a fee and then the hard part, taking a test which is supposed to be extremely hard, or serving in a Guatemala hospital for a year.

So the story started in November of last year when we received the news, then in January we traveled all over Texas to get Lisa's diploma in Lubbock, have it notarized, then go to Austin to have the notary authenticated and then to Houston to have the notary of notaries authenticated by the Guatemalan Consulate. We think this must be part of the test to make sure you think it is worth the trouble!

Now we are in the phase to have the documents we had authenticated in the states, re-authenticated and translated in Guatemala. Quite an interesting process and very frustrating. Anyway, we went to the city on Sunday so we could start some things early on M0nday. Of course, being optimists, wew were expecting way to much. We found the office we needed to have our documents authenticated in - Ministry of Exterior Relations - and were hoping it would be a day thing. Much to our dismay, not so. Takes 3 days.

Thus, we are going back tomorrow to hopefully get the paperwork, have it translated (hopefully by Friday) and then we can submit Lisa's application for the permanent licensure and find out her options to take the test. When we asked the dates back in November we were told that they could not release that information until all of the paperwork was authenticated and the application completed. Highly secret information!

Lisa has to take her board certification relicensure in July and we think the Guatemala test is in August. This allows her to study once for 2 tests. The only kicker is the Guatemala test has basic science on it as well. We will see how it goes. If she passes the test (60%) then she gets her license, if not, she has to work for the government for a year. D = MD!

Please continue to pray for this process. We have had this request before and then we put it on hold for awhile as we needed to wait until now to make sure she was not scheduled before July to take the test in Guatemala.

Everyday is a new lesson in patience and humility. The guatemalans have us beat on these 2 character traits - except when they are driving a car.....