Week Schedule for Jan 31

Well we missed a week or 2 of posting our schedule but we are trying to get back on track.  This week we will be in the following communities:

Monday  -  Clinica Caris in Lemoa
Tuesday  -  Pacaja Xesic
               -  Chutzurob
               -  ABC Distribution of Supplies - Manuel will meet 9 community coordinators in Santa Cruz to deliver supplies for the ABC program, including 1100 pounds of milk and over 1500 pounds of rice and beans, plus other supplies.  Each coordinator will return to their village to distribute the supplies to the approved families. 
Wednesday - San Jorge (large diabetes clinic)
                    - Xepol
Thursday  - Clinica Caris
                  - Panajxit
Friday        -  Chuchuca
                  -  Paxot 2 - ABC clinic as well
Saturday   -  Clinica Caris Women's health and procedure clinic

Please join us in praying for safe travels for us and our patients and that the Lord will be glorified through the ministry.

The Nissan is still in intensive care.  Had it all put back together but now the engine clanks so going back in for more exploratory surgery!!!  Bummer.  More later...

We are in the process of adding around 50 or more children to the ABC program, so if you are interested in helping develop a child's spiritual life, continue in school and in assisting us in reducing the amount of chronic malnutrition in the area please visit the website at http://www.healthtalents.org/ for more info or feel free to write us.

Nissan Pathfinder

For those wondering what happened to the Nissan, the mechanics came and visited me this morning and took it away to the car hospital!  Looks like we have a malfunctioning water pump and 2 burned out head gaskets, but still pending final diagnosis after they open her up.  :)

The good news is we live in Guatemala and in Chichi where we do have a decent mechanic and lower cost labor.  Especially since we will have to take half the engine apart!

More later.....

Reverse Cultural Awareness

For those that have been to Chichicastenango you know that market day is crowded, very crowded.  The normal manner of getting around as a local is pushing your way through the crowds.  No one thinks anything of it; it's just how it's done.  You put your head down and just plow through. 

In clinic in Mactzul V yesterday we had a conversation two brothers of the church regarding some of their cultural observations of the Northamerican species who visit in Chichicastenango.  It was pretty funny.  The conversation went like this.

Brother #1:  You North Americans do not push in crowds do you?

Kemmel:  No, not so much.

Brother;  You all get fined if you push people, don't you?

Kemmel:  No, we normally do not get fined.  We just are not used to pushing through crowds, we normally stay in line or get out of peoples way.

Brother #1:  Yeah, I notice that when I'm Chichi.  You Northamericans just kind of step out of the way if someone is pushing through or if someone is carying something.  We do not do that; we are always in a hurry so we just push our way around to be able to get to where we need to go. 

Brother #2:  I have noticed that you all even say "excuse me" as you try to get through the crowd.  How do you say "excuse me" in english?

Very observant!

Updates and ABC Clinics

Well, we forgot to post where we would be this week, so we will post where we will be next week on Sunday.  We have been focusing on ABC check-up clinics this week in Macztul I and Mactzul V, while having clinics in other locations such as Chuchuca, Chuguexa and Panajxit.  For map lovers, here is a map that demonstrates where the clinics are.  We live in Chichicastenango and travel from there with the farthest clinic being 1.5-2 hours away which are the clinics on the far right of the map.

No news on the Nissan yet as we just have not had a chance to get to the mechanic.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

This is from the Conference in Paxot 2.  One of team members, Gaspar Chan, is the second from the left on the top row with his son Noe next to him.  Noe is in the ABC program and will graduate high school this year.

Another picture from Paxot 2.

This is a ABC family from Mactzul 1.  This young mom is a widow and lives with three other widows or single moms who also have young children. 

This is another family from Mactzul I.  This family has 12 children and as you can imagine they probably have not had many children finish elementary school, so ABC is allowing them some additional oppurtunities for their children.  The oldest child is probably in her late 20's.  Great family.

The group from the Mactzul I Church of Christ

Family from Mactzul 5 - Tomas Garcia Tecum (one of the health promoters with HTI) and his wife Juana and 6 kids.  They one older son as well.

This is the Ordonez Yacon family from Mactzul 5.  The father Sebastian (in the middle) is one of our volunteer health promotors and is on the Guatemalan board of HTI.  His oldest daughter finished high school and there are 2 more in high school now.

We had to include the picture of Chepe (Jose Yonatan).  Chepe is a new child with ABC in Mactzul V.  Chepe is learning disabled but says that he will go to school and will be starting kindergarten this year.

That's a Bummer!

We decided on Saturday after clinic in Chuchipaca to run some errands in the city as we needed a few things for the house and the office and there was a good movie worth seeing (our favorite past time).  So, after seeing the 10 patients in Chuchipaca we loaded up the Pathfinder and headed to the city.  All was good.

The mall now has lights in the parking lot indicating where there is an available parking place and even screens that tell you how many are available.  Pretty cool.

On the way back on Sunday the Pathfinder broke down!  Somewhere around half way home the car seemed to have started to loose power and then the engine stopped.  Thankfully we were able to pull off the side of the road before ending up in the middle of the highway with a stalled car.  When we stopped the engine was smoking.  It was not the radiator and we have oil, but it looked like it was smoking from around the engine block so we may have a blown head gasket.  We also thought maybe a burned out clutch disk, but not real sure yet. 

We do have insurance which came in real handy.  Our coverage includes having our vehicles towed.  So we called and about 1 hour or so later we were on the back of a tow truck headed for Chichi.  It was slow going but we finally made it about 8pm, about 2.5 hours later from when we left. 

We will see what happened today or later this week.  Bummer!

While we were pushing the car to get it off the road a little more a lady and her daughter walked up, having dropped their corn load and offered to help push, but we were already where we needed to be.  She stayed for awhile, talked and assured us the area was safe and we had nothing to worry about.  We were not worried but what a great gesture to make us feel we were safe.  We also had other passerbys who greeted us and told us the same.   Later our tow truck driver used to be a bus driver so it was interesting to get his perspective on the life of a bus driver.  This changes our perception of them as well.  He did confirm that the bus drivers in the Quiche area are the craziest drivers!

In Memory of Miguel Sucuqui Ordonez

Miguel is the man in the white shirt.  This was 1 year after our first visit with him in his home in Mactzul V.  This photo was at the ABC celebration in 2007 at Clinica Ezell.

His daughter, Josefina, was baptized this last year.

Last night we received a call that one of the brothers in Mactzul V had passed away.  Miguel came to know Christ through a home visit after coming to clinic 5 years ago.  At his first visit he was so sick, and close to death because of congestive heart failure and chronic lung disease.  We gave what little medicine we could to help him feel better, and prayed for him and asked if someone from the church could come check on him at home and pray for him.  The church had tried to share the Word with him and his family in the past, but had been ademantly rejected.  After the first home visit they asked to come back and pray with him and also offered to share the gospel, and he agreed to it.  He accepted the gospel and was baptized shortly after, but his family wasn't too interested. 

Over time his health improved somewhat, despite his serious diagnosis, and his family began to attend worship with him.  Later, his wife and several family members also accepted the gospel, and most recently, his teenaged daughter was baptized.  We are sad to lose this dear brother, but thankful that he new Christ and brought his family to Christ before he died.  And we are especially glad that God gave him these few years extra to be with his young children, and enjoy seeing them grow and excel in the ABC program.   We look forward to seeing him again in heaven in his resurrected and health body.

He will be remembered for his humble disposition and character, his smile and his hat.  :)

A Good Week

We asked for prayers for our specific clinics, and they have gone well.  We have hit the road running this month, working in our well-child check ups for the ABC kids, as we also attend to our normal clinics.  It's gone well, and the kids all seem to be growing.  Kemmel informed one group that they had the highest grades of all the churches--this at a church that 5 years ago discouraged families from sending their kids to school past 6th grade.  For the older kids, it's also a good time to start talking about the gospel.  One young man came in with just his dad, as his mom died several years ago.  He has finished 6th grade, but not sure if he will continue much longer as they need the income that this 14 year-old can bring in.  He did tell me that he had been baptized this year, and his dad was really proud of him.  We would like for him to get through junior high, but he has at least finished elementary, far surpassing the education that his parents received, and is a new Christian, faithful in the church--hardly a failure. 
In addition to well child checks we saw patients with diabetes, pregnancy, colds, indigestion, miscarriage, infertity, intestinal parasites, hypertensive crisis, bed wetting, alcoholism, ears plugged with wax, hernias, neumonia, warts, fractured wrist with mal-union, heart murmurs, acne, prostate trouble, gallbladder trouble, anxiety, a 26 year-old diabetic blind with cataracts, a 34 year-old with sudden blindness, a 37 year-old man depressed after his wife dying and leaving him with 6 children--the youngest of which he "gifted" to family....... Some of these things are easy to diagnose and treat; others require an educated guess and Hail Mary pass of prescribing and/or referring or placing our faith in the powerful but merciful God to heal.  But all of them are opportunities to show the love of God, offer some time in prayer to the Father, and share the Word that will offer hope in this life and the next. We are honored to be given this job, and thank you for keeping us in prayer.

Conference in Paxot 2

On Monday we attended a conference in the comunity of Paxot 2.  Conferences are big church parties/tent meetings which attract people from all over the area with guys dressed like normal and many women with their newer nicer clothes (we are the same everywhere).  Normally there are 3 or more conferences per year in the area, but right now many of the churches are building bigger facilities (to accomodate the conferences) so they have put them on hold for this year.  As a result, we think this made more people come to Paxot II than normally come. 

For those that have been to Paxot, the inside was packed with little moving-around room, and all of the outside--in front and on the sides was full of chairs and people.  It was great time to join up as brothers and sisters in Christ and worship together.  Although it's fun, we are always ready to go home at the end of the day.  It is actually a 2 day event with some people coming and going and some staying the night.  We would estimate that there were 1500 people or more on Monday with more there on Tuesday. 

Church of Paxot 2 - we took a picture during the conference, but on another camera, so come back in a day or so and see the after picture and the sea of people!

During the conference there were 20 baptisms!  One of which was Gabriel Quino Bernardo, who is the brother of Juan Quino and to some know as "Oscar".   In the picture he has his hand up ad is wearing a black sweatshirt.  Proud family!

We are enjoying a little cold front and rain, quite a treat during dusty dry season.  It was nice to head out on the dirt road  without dusting the pedestrians.  Clinics are going well this week!

The coming week of January 9

We will start posting where we will be each week and would like to ask everyone to pray for the clinic ministries in each of these communities each week by name.  We will also be doing this as a team.  Also, as always please remember all of our highland staff members in your prayers - Gaspar, Juan, Manuel, Tomas, Mauri, Martina, Josefina, Marcos, Sheri, Lisa and Kemmel.

Acitvities and clinics for the week of January 9, 2011.

Monday - Clinica Caris (Josefina and Marcos) and Church Conference (Tent Meeting) in Paxot 2

Tuesday - Clinic in Xepocol with a ABC Children check-up Clinic and Clinic/ Dental in Patzite and Church Conference in Paxot 2.

Wednesday - Clinic in Mactzul 6 with ABC Children check-up and Clinic in La Palma with ABC childrens checkup. Marcos will travel to the city to purchase some dental instruments.

Thursday - Clinica Caris (Lisa and Marcos) and Clinic in Chichicastenango COC.

Friday - Clinic in Choacaman and Clinic in Macztul 2 with Dental and with ABC Children Check-up

Saturday - Clinic in Chuchipaca and group arrives to go to Clinica Ezell for surgical clinic.


Have a great week, I know we will.

Back in Chichi

We arrived back in Guatemala Monday night and arrived in Chichi on Tuesday.  We are glad to be back home and excited about what the new year will bring. During the past 2 weeks we were able to visit both of our families in Arizona and Texas.  We had some good food, got to eat out at some of our favorite places, were spoiled by family and best of all got to share some time with everyone.

While we were traveling on Monday, Josefina, Marcos, Martina, Mauri, Manuel and Tomas started the year with the first clinic at Clinica Caris. 

We started the week strong with Lisa heading out to clinic in San Jorge on Wednesday with Josefina, Marcos and the team.  This is primarily a diabetes clinic with normally more than 35 patients, so we send 2 physicians which allows us to provide more diabetes education and spend more time with each of the patients.  They saw 39 medical patients, around 20 dental patients and did 10 teeth cleanings.  The family at this clinic lost their father last year which has been pretty hard on the family but they seem to be making it alright.  Sheri headed out to Xepol and saw more than 10 patients which is exciting as this location is a located in a more remote area and a fairly long walk for people.  We always think it is close to the highway, but really 10-15 minutes driving through some not so good roads, so worse if walking.

On Thursday we had our second clinic at Clinica Caris for the year and also had a good clinic with returning patients and a couple of patients with more severe medical issues that we will be praying for.  One patient is a yound man with severe diabetes and who is already blind due to cataracts, so we are sending him to a local surgery team that will be here in February and the second is a lady who has lost her sight in the last week and we are not sure why, so we referred her to some eye specialists about an hour away at a private indigent care hospital.  During our devotional time, Marcos challenged us as a group to read the at least half of the Bible this year and to focus more on our prayer life and everyone is willing to accept the challenge.

The upper respiratory crud seems to be making it through all of us, so please pray for good health for everyone. 

We finished the week with caring for around a total of 175-200 patients between all of the teams.