This month we had the pleasure of working with a group from Oklahoma Christian University. The group was made up of faculty, students and alumni doctors and family. Three of the doctors were former intern and past student visitors to our clinic.
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| Dr. Eric Phelps and Dr. Sarah Alcon always bring a star team with them! |
Going MobileWe had several mobile medical and dental clinics to wrap up our well-child checkups for the first part of the year. And we had an outreach mobile clinic about 2 hrs away in Joyabaj trying to service an area where a lot of our patients come from. This area is also "close" to our most remote ABC community of Guatzilep--they are still 2 hours away from there! But we invited them to come down for their checkups and dental care and paid their transportation. All of the families came down including the fathers and some extended family. We got to visit with all of them and hear about their lives.
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Drs. Jonathan Miller, Ryan Jones, Josue Alvarez, Mike Kelly and Lisa Dunham
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| Dr. Meridith Tinnin and husband Rodney Tinnin. |
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| Diane Willis working the library area during clinic. |
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| Dr. Jared Cox and Ofelia working hard in mobile clinic. |
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| Our fearless leader Kemmel always working on some kind of dental equipment to keep us up and going! |
Learning to Use Her Sword
One patient that I saw was a 13 year old girl--her first year in the ABC program. She had dropped out of school after 2nd grade. To be in the program they have to be in school, so this year she started back--in 3rd grade. I asked her if she can read well, and she said "yes, I can!" I asked her if she reads the bible every day, and surprisingly she said yes. She reads 5 chapters a day. Her mom said with pride, "yes, she spends about an hour every day reading the Bible!" I was so impressed and encouraged her to read to her family as well.
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
Another of the girls seen in clinic is 12 years old and has recently lost her mother to a sudden illness. Her parents were divorced and father remarried. So she had to go live with the father and stepmother and was struggling emotionally. We were blessed to have our pastoral counselor Gaspar and another lay counselor Anastacio join us on the trip, and the girl and her father were able to spend time with Gaspar. We found out later that Gaspar had been talking to several couples in that church who are having marital difficulties, so he is planning a trip up there to have a group class with the church. Be praying for that congregation in Guatzilep which is church plant about 3 years old.
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| Bode Teague with Jess Robinson our hygienist and their star guatemalan assistants, Ana, Brenda and Yoselin--former ABC kids volunteering for the week. |
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| Gary working triage. It's always funny to watch kids get their blood pressure checked. |
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| Gary and Diane Willis with their one of the ABC kids. |
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| Joyabaj municipal center was our clinic site for the day. |
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| Packing up our gear at the end of day. |
Thank You!
It's such a treat to see how the ABC sponsorship program blesses children and their families. When we see kids who have been in the program for years, thriving, we forget how difficult things are for other families. Seeing this new church and their kids start out in this program gives us hope for great things for their future as a church as community. Thank you to all of you who faithfully support this program. You are a blessing to many.
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| Thank you for your support! |
After a long week, the group treated us a smoked turkey Thanksgiving Dinner again this year--so good! Eric Phelps was the award winning pit master. It was served with traditional sides of beans, guacamole and tortillas! We fit about 40 people in our tiny clinic kitchen--Guatemalan and American-- and shared delicious food and great company with old and new friends. God is good.
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| Drs. Sara, Eric and Owen with the honor of the carving. |
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| Mi amiga Julie Kelly! |
