Eewwwwww!

Today was our day off. And it was pretty quiet. We usually have an assortment of visitors knocking on the door or activities to attend to on our off day, but this weekend was pretty tranquil. So we set about doing much needed house maintenance and continuing education studies. We even had a little backyard barbecue of sorts, whipping up some yumming steak tacos and fixings. Kemmel did a great job on the yard, mowing, weedeating and cleaning side walks (and being the perfectionist that he is, he even cleaned out my flower bed for me!). After he finnished outside he decided to tackle the clogged bathroom sink (reason # 9 not to cut your own hair at home). Here are some photos from the field.

Okay, I know that's gross. We're thinking we would rather find a snake than this unidentifyable mass. Kemmel says he feels sorry for my dad having to live with 4 women all those years.

Chabej chic, Lindsey and Camilo (Until next time... )

It's been real pleasure working with our PA intern Lindsey Pierce and her husband Camilo Gonzalez the last 6 weeks. They jumped in to the work from the get go, and humbly accepted their less than luxurious living conditions while getting to know this culture. I just realized that I haven't even blogged about them really. So here are some action shots from their time here.

Mission work

How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of those who bring good news,

who proclaim peace,

who bring good tidings,

who proclaim salvation,

who say to Zion,

"Your God reigns!"

Isaiah 52:7

The churches here are interesting because it is not very common to have one paid preacher or leader, but rather, an eldership and several who are prepared to preach and teach, and sometimes service groups that take turns leading worship services for the week.

We had the opportunity today to worship with some brothers and sisters who are starting a new work in the town of Chinique, about an hour away. This has been a dream of Martin Turquiz for some time now, and he and his father-in-law Enrique Castro and their family have dedicated time to visiting and sharing the gospel in that area. This week they also hosted the students from the Biblical Institute of Central America in Guatemala City, who came and offered bible studies and visits in Chinique. Among those students were 2 young women and 3 young men from the Chichicastenango area. The young man in the yellow shirt with the tie is the son of one of the health promoters that works with us, Tomas Garcia Tecum (they were very happy to be able to see him today). The others are from Paxot 3 (the 2 sisters), Mactzul 2 and Mactzul 5. There are also some young people from the area of Santa Cruz del Quiche. We are so proud of them and their desire to learn God's word and their willingness to share the good news here. Five people came forward accepting the gospel and 4 have been baptized already. Pray for these new believers and the continued work in their town.

Brothers Moving Company

Today we finished clinic and all headed over to Sheri's house to help her move into her new place. I say "we", but really mean all of the men folk. It was great to see how many brothers we have willing to lend a hand. Who needs Mayflower? She moved into a house two doors down from us--so now we will be neighbors. Let's give a big salute to our newest Xen (Chichicasteca)!

Si, se puede! (You can do it!)

Lent season

Fountain in Parque Central in Antigua

Over the weekend we were in La Antigua Guatemala, the old capital of the republic--before the earthquake in the 1770s. We were visiting with Glenn and Neva Berkey before they dive into their language classes. Also we made a run to the (new) capital to do some errands (including picking up my diploma to drop off to be signed).

"Senorita" Lisa Rene' Dunham-- Physician and Surgeon. I was told I could get "senora" put on it when I have my married name added! Maybe next year! I'm not too excited about going to get my birth certificate, marriage license and social security card authenticated in Austin, Houston and Guatemala City just to prove my married name.
It is impressive how many visiting tourists there here in Antigua this week. But, there will be 10 times as many during Holy Week. We are in the Lent season, which is is the 40 days before the crucifixion of Christ. Each friday of lent, there is a major procession or parade depicting a scene from the last days of Jesus's life. These processions in Antigua, especially, are world famous and attract people from all over. Last night we stepped out for a walk and watched one of the processions go by. There were floats carried by members of the fraternities devoted to the care of the statues and followed by other devotees and honored citizens from Guatemala. Following them were the hoards of "temple vendors" selling everything from mementos, balloons, t-shirts and popcorn. What a contrast! Float of Jesus in a boat passing through downtown

Disciples of Jesus

Parade participants

Vendors


It was a beautiful night, and after we had had our fill of parade and people we took advantage of the crowded streets to sneak into a new sushi place. Good sushi, but way to pricey! We haven't found anything as good or cheap as our hole-in-the-wall in the (new) captial.

Belated Birthdays

Just want to shout out a Happy Birthday wish to our niece and nephew who share the same birthday March 13. Happy 17th birthday to Sydney and 12th birthday to Corbin. Hope it was a great one. We love you both.

Spring Break Visitors

You've probably noticed the sound of crickets in the night eminating from our blog the last two weeks. Well, we are back. We just finished up two visiting teams of college students from Pepperdine University and Abilene Christian University. They were two great groups of young people (boy do we feel old!). We worshiped with local congregations, ate local fare and hit the back roads on our mobile clinic route. They got to try their hands at vital signs, pharmacy, patient interviewing and even pulled a few teeth, not to mention the children's activities. It was a busy couple of weeks, but we always enjoy meeting fresh new faces and sharing our ministry with them. I especially like listening to new music--and this age group always has an assortment of playlists to share. I even got to listen to Japanese rap last week. Very interesting.....

For more play-by-play action, see Sheri's blog http://www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com/ . She has some good coverage of the days' events.

Here are some action shots that we got.

Team Pepperdine at Mactzul I

Kemmel and Tim rigging up the baby scale

Brandon, Taylor, Keri, Shayla, Patrick and Me setting up the consult stations in Xepol

Alex and Drake running the children's activity table

Tomas, Sheri, Keri, Patrick, and Dr. Brian joining me on a postpartum house call

Tomas and Manuela the proud new parents with her mom and dad

Team Pepperdine at Los Cofrades Restaurant

Team ACU at Mactzul VI

Building churches? Kemmel and the guys lending a hand to tear down old walls to prepard for new construction

All in a day's work

Team ACU 2009 at Clinica Caris

Peaceful view of the town of Chichicastenango