Praying for the Priest

Today is a cold rainy day and we made bets on the drive out to clinic about how many patients would show. Gaspar (the pessimist) won--guessing 4. So we were pretty bummed about that. But, one of the patients (a regular) who came in is an interesting guy. He is a neighbor of the family that hosts the clinic, very nice guy with a good family. But he says he doesn't worship in any of the churches in town. He is actually a priest in the Mayan tradicional religion. I asked him if he would like to visit and maybe learn a little about the word of God, and he said that he has been invited numerous times by several churches and prefers not to get involved in the problems he has seen in them. He pointed out that many so-called "christians" that he knows are people who steal on the side or preach a good sermon and have 2 or 3 mistresses behind their wives backs. He then said he tries to be a good man and provide for his family and feels like that is good enough. So we talked some more about how we are all sinners, that no one is perfect and must all answer to God for our sins, but that God offers to forgive our sins by accepting Christ's death as payment if we choose to believe and accept that forgiveness. He then went on to tell us about how many times God had spared his life and that of his family, at which point we quickly pointed out the mercy and patience God has had with him in desire for him to turn to God and that one day there will not be another chance. That without Christ, we will have to answer for our sins here on earth. He was willing to talk and said he agreed with several points but he would have to think about it and he was still watching the church members here to see how they conduct themselves.

The moral of the story is our actions speak so loudly, and people are watching what we do and comparing our words to our deeds. Please pray for this man (Diego) and his family as they struggle spirtually that God will continue to be patient and that they will come to know the Lord. And pray that the church shines brightly in the community as the body of Christ and the example of God's love.

Band Practice

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of year again--Independence Day is just around the corner. And what is it that reminds us of the upcoming holiday? The weather? The decorations in the stores? No.....its the never-ending band practice that begins at 0500 hours and continues until dark. Every school in town has its drum corp working up its songs and dances! Kemmel is convinced they are all playing the same one song over and over again! There is also lots of torch-running races and water balloon throwing. Last year we had the pleasure of driving to Antigua (normally a 2 1/2 hour trip) on the day before Independance day when everyone was running the race. The entire trip was met with water balloons being thrown at us by kids along the highway (actually pretty fun) and then we got to the mother of all traffic jams in one of the cross roads towns where we sat for 4 hours watching water soaked teams of runners go by. Good times!

So, because we will be out of the country this year for Independence Day, here's to all the bands and runners and water balloon champions out there. Happy 15th of September!

Tick tock

Conversation today on the phone to change a hotel reservation in the States:
Hotel Desk: "XXXX's Hotel"
Kemmel: "Hello....I would like to cancel a reservation....." As Kemmel tries to give more information, receptionist interrupts:
Hotel Desk: "NAME?"
Kemmel: "Kemmel Dunham"
Hotel Desk: Okay, its canceled.
Hangs up.

Conversation today in the Health Department to arrange a seminar for midwives:



Staff nurse: "Hey, it's Dr. Lisa! How are you? (kiss cheek) We sure have missed you. How did your time in the city go? "
Lisa: "Hi, how are you (kiss cheek)? It's so good to see you again. It was great. Just getting back to work."
Staff nurse: "Is it good to be back?"
Lisa: "Yes, wonderful. I really missed being here. And how has everyone been around here?"
Staff nurse: "Great, but we have missed you a lot. When are you coming back to work here at the health department?"
Kemmel and Lisa: Other pleasantries.....
Staff nurse: Other pleasantries... for about 20 minutes before we get to the issue at hand.
1 1/2 hours later we finish arranging a meeting for a midwife seminar.

Today we spent about 3 hours just making reservations and getting things scheduled on the calendar for the midwife seminar. Tomorrow we will take the official letter to the health department and probably spend another hour exchanging pleasantries with various staff. While we often joke about the 3-times rule here in Guatemala (everything takes 3X as long to do here as it does in the States), we have decided that sometimes we like the hospitable/friendly way people interrelate and conduct business with each other here (except when we are in a hurry to get things done!!!).

Pictures from our latest Health Pomoter class

The reason we have not had any pictures lately is our camera has disappeared (code for maybe stolen). So we received these pictures from one of our co-workers, Marcos Lux, who is the dentist that works with us. I do not know if we have told his story but it is good and maybe for another day. To make it short he is a very compassionate caregiver and a great person.




These pictures are from our latest health promoter class and help demonstrate how much it has grown. We started with a few people and now we have this group which represents 17 communities including our phyisicians. We are very excited to see how this group has grown. For those who have visited you may recognize some of the faces from the communities and maybe if you have a keen eye, one of the table waiters at Hotel Santo Tomas. His name is Roberto and he is the brother of one of the ladies who normally comes and attends church in Chichicastenango.

Funny Things We See

From time to time we see really funny things here. Example:

A sign for a tiny little hotel along a strip of mechanic shops and cafes along the highway in Chimaltenango with a sign showing their (supposedly) elegant rooms and ocean view from the window. (For those of you not familiar with Guatemalan geography, Chimaltenango is a land-locked mountain town). We're on to them! Kemmel is filing a false advertising claim with the Chamber of Commerce--we will let you know how that goes.......