I Have Decided to Follow Jesus

Hiking down to the river in Chimente where there is a warm spring pool.

There is a new church plant out in Mactzul 4 started by some families from Mactzul 5 and Mactzul 3. Today we attended a baptism service for 4 new believers.  It was encouraging to see the work of their evangelism efforts.  We met another man who is close to making the same decision after recovering from a life threatening illness last month.  He is coming to see me tomorrow in clinic, so pray that we will be able to encourage Tomas on his spiritual journey as well.

l-r Victor, Tomas, Maria and Sebastian about to give their confession of faith.

Members from several area churches gathering around the pool.

Tomas

Sebastian

Victor

Maria (I think she was pretty scared to get in the water, so her faith must be great!)

The sermon after was about those of us who have been baptized in Christ have clothed ourselves with Christ, and that our old life is no longer who we are, but rather our new identity is a that of Jesus. We are given power to live this new life through his Spirit living in us. He reminded us of the things from our past self that we should let go of, asking God to mold us more into the likeness of Jesus.

Ephesians 4:25-32

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Change, Change, Change

Teresa and Manual manning the pharmacy.

Staff Change
As we mentioned on Facebook earlier this month, we have lost one of our health promoters to higher education.  Cesybel passed her entrance exams and stayed in Xela to study professional nursing at the University of San Carlos (the national university).  We are so proud of her and sad for us at the same time.  But she'll be back some day!  In the mean time we have hired a new health promoter named Teresa.  We hired her as a temp a couple of times to see how she would work out and it has been a great fit.  She is an auxiliary nurse and has worked with an OB-GYN in the past and seems very comfortable in our mobile clinic setting. She has already helped Sheri out at a Women's Health class and did a great job.  This week we also have her studying up on the different drug classes that we carry in our pharmacy.

Teresa learning our pharmacy inventory system

New Intern
We have the pleasure of hosting a 4th year medical student with us this month.  There is nothing better than teaching to get you into the studying mood!  He is keeping us on our toes. Nick Darby was a Medical Evangelism Training student with us in 2008 and has come back to visit us twice now.  We hope to keep him and his wife Andrea on the path to medical missionaries someday!

Dr. Mike Kelly and almost-Dr. Nick Darby

Behavioral Health
Many of our patient encounters here have some type of mental health or spiritual health component. Normally we refer patients to the local church contact and continue with some amount of sound counsel during clinic visits.  Last week we saw a man who is going deaf but came to see us because he feels he is being tormented by an evil spirit to drink and do other sinful things.  He says when he drinks the spirit goes away and leaves him alone for a while.  He knows this is not a good situation, but feels helpless and came asking for our advice.  He is from a town quite a ways away and can't communicate by phone, so after talking to our evangelist Gaspar we decided to schedule an appointment for him to see Gaspar in our central clinic and hope to make a home visit later. Gaspar has had good experience with folks caught up in alcoholism and I think he will be able to help this man understand the change that Jesus can offer.

January's Highlights

Can you believe a whole month of 2016 has already flown by?  It kind of sneaked up on us! Well here is an update for you to enjoy.

Clinic News

Noe Chan 

Noe working with a patient at her home. Foto credit: Gaspar Chan

Our year has started out on a good note with our mobile clinics back in swing and the addition of Noe Chan as our new physical therapist.  We spent most of January getting him set up with equipment and supplies that he could use here at Clinica Caris and down on the coast at Clinica Ezell.  He will travel between the two sites giving us a week at a time.  The great part is that Noe loves home visits and is keen to get out to areas away from here that don't have access to physical therapy.  We are grateful to Jennifer Hoines at P.T. International/ASELSI Ministries and Shes Rivera for helping Noe get going and for their suggestions and offers of continued training with them.  He is already filling up his schedule quickly, so it confirms the need for these services.

Staff News

Dra. Sara and Martina

We have two coworkers who are on maternity leave.  Martina Sente, one of the dental assistants, had her sweet little boy in January, and Dra. Sara Castellanos is due any day now.  We think it's a girl... So in Dra. Sara's absence, we have the honor of Dr. Mike and Julie Kelly visiting and going out on the road with us.

They are experienced missionaries from times past who decided to work in a couple of trips a year to come help us out.  They are a real blessing to us, and the patients love talking to them in Quiche too!

ABC

We have wrapped up all of the ABC year-end celebrations and are happy to report lots of prizes this year for top grades and program points.  There are so many kids and families making good on this opportunity to study through the ABC program.  And the churches are getting more involved and creative now about giving back to their communities with work projects and service days.  It makes our  hearts happy to see kids wanting to help others and looking for ways to show God's love to others.

Patient Notes and Quotes
Maria, a diabetic lady in her 40s came in with blood sugars out of control while taking meds as prescribed.  She reported that her husband is running around on her and still coming back home and won't leave.  She is stressed and suspects that is the reason her sugars won't come down.  She asked if we could pray for her and her situation.  Please keep her in your prayers too.

50+ year old diabetic lady came in and reported feeling so much better and having relief of the burning diabetic neuropathy pain in her feet. I asked what she had been doing differently and said she decided to start walking up and down hills, walking to visit family and not taking the taxis around.  Her family was giving her a hard time saying she needs to rest more, and she told them her doctor recommended it.  They thought she was making that up, so I wrote her a signed and sealed prescription!

15 year old kid named Elvis who came in for an asthma exacerbation.  I asked (half joking) if he had been smoking.  He said, "No, Doctora.  I just got baptized last week!"  Good to hear it!  Brother Elvis is one of my favorites, and it will be fun to have him around for eternity.