New Clinic Pocohil

This month we have started a few new clinics in areas that are more populated and are located on what we would consider major roads in the area of Chichicastenango.  One of these clinics is in Pocoil and the house of Manuel.  Many who have visited either Chichi or Clinica Ezell know Manuel as he works with us as a tri-lingual translator.  We began speaking with Manuel last year regarding the interest in his community and after reviewing the ideas with the community leaders and receiving an approval, we started the first clinic on Feb 21st.

Pocoil is located up a different mountain road than any clinics we have ever served so it is new territory for us.  Yesterday was our second clinic and so far we are getting interest and people are passing the word around.  We are always amazed about how many people want prayers and how many people would like for us to follow-up and pray for them in their home and how many churches do not practice this.  In each clinic (all clinics) our ministry staff speak and counsel multiple people who are experiencing family struggles, violence, or anxiety.

Please pray with us that God will be glorified through this new clinic and we will be able to bring His compassion and mercy to people who need it just as much as we do and that God will raise up more local people in this area to serve as ministers with us.

Here are some pictures of the clinic.

This is Manuel, whose family is the host of this clinic and graciously opens his home as a service to his community.  A great, humble servant.

La Palma / Las Cuevas Thanksgiving Service and Baptisms

While trying to schedule the next clinic in the community of La Palma at the beginning of the year, the church notified us that they had a scheduling conflict as the church in La Palma along with the church in Las Cuevas was planning a Thanksgiving service and some baptisms on the same day.  

This presented a great oppurtunity for our team as the church invited us to join them and to assist in the services.  We mostly only see some of the communities we work with during our clinic environment and we are trying to open up to other possibilities to be a part of the local congregation.  These 2 communities are very rural and do not get much exposure to outside teaching, so we jumped at the possibilities.  The local team is very flexible and have a desire to help the churches grow in all ways possible.  Thus, Cesar volunteered to preach, Tomas and Enrique volunteered to help with the worship service and Gaspar, Mario and Sara scheduled a visit with one of the local families.

They also asked Gaspar and Tomas to assist with the baptism as they are both elders in their respective churches.

Great Day!

Tomas starting the worship service.

Crowd at the house of a member who is having a thanksgving service for the blessings of her family.

Enrique leading singing.. 

 Cesar giving a message

 Down at the river

 Antolino baptism

Domingo baptism

 Maria baptism

 Sara baptism

Celebrating With the Angels!

Sunday afternoon we joined the church from Xepocol on a "little" hike to the river to baptize 11 people!  It was going to be 12, but one had to do something at a school in Santa Cruz.  There was a new family the the church has been evangelizing, the husband of one of the members, and several teens from the church, including ABC program kids.  After the baptism we headed back up for worship services and filled the auditorium.  We asked the church to gather up for a picture afterward to compare to a 2007 photo we have.  What a huge growth!  Here are some pics from the day.  Please keep these new Christians in mind when you pray, that they will learn to follow Jesus' commands and be led by the Spirit.

Tomas and Noe being the ever gentleman and

bringing in more rocks for people to cross the river

Tomasa - ABC Child -

sister to Esteban and Ana below

 

Cannot remember this ladies name

but part of a family that was baptized.

Can you find us??

 

 Cannot remember this boys name but he is

part of a family that was baptized

 Esteban - ABC Child

 



  Manuel Esteban - ABC Child and

brother of Ana. 

Cristina - ABC Child and sister of Maria who

works with us as a dental assistant. 

Ana - Previous ABC Child

Silvia Manuela - ABC Child - looks like she is 8 but is 12.

 

Here is a before and after picture of the Xepocol Church family

 

 

In 2007

 

In 2013!!  Wonderful growth....

New Territory

We had clinic out in the town of Chicua II today.  Our new brother in Christ, Manuel is on the town counsel and has wanted us to come out and use the clinic/hospital facility that they have in their town, which has been sitting empty for several years.  After several dry runs due to competing activities we finally had a decent showing of patients.  We suspect there will be more in the future as there was a school meeting today and continued murmurings of unrest regarding the sacking of the mayor in Chichi.  Apparently people are leery of walking around town when manifestations are forming for fear of being forced into joining the crowd of protesters.  But we did have a nice group of patients including one of my regulars from Clinica Caris who lives out there.

 

We are praying for this clinic to grow and for our presence to be well accepted so that we will have more opportunities to visit and share the gospel with folks in the area. 

Lisa and Kemmel with long time Caris patient, Maria.  We are now in her town - nice..

Sandra and Maria setting up dental extraction area

Marcos and Martina ready for cleanings and dental restoration

Sheri in one of the equipped clinic rooms

Manuel, Ceci and Cesar prepping for vitals, lab and pharmacy.  Cesar was our radio announcement writer today..

Manuel, new brother in Christ and community leader.  We were also hosted by 2 ladies from the women's committee.  Very helpful and great hosts and extremely interested in what can happen in the future.

 

Today Kemmel and I and Gaspar and Manuel went out to visit a new brother in Christ (also named Manuel).  He invited us to come see a clinic/hospital building in their community that was built more than 15 years ago and left for the community to use.  Currently, the 14 room, 2-storey structure is only used by the health department once a month to give vaccines.  The town leaders want it to be used and are offering to let us use it for medical/dental clinics free of rent.  We are definitely interested in the offer and had a great talk with Manuel about the possibilities. 

While we were there he introduced us to his friend who is a struggling alcoholic  who would like to learn more about Christ and the Bible.  They asked if it would be possible to have a home visit and invite some other people as well. Manuel  says people keep asking him about his recent conversion and want to know more.   We are so encouraged by this new Christian's understanding of the great worth of the kingdom of heaven.  Just last week he was baptized and is our only contact in that community.  We thought someday we would be able to look at planting a congregation out there after more teaching and training of this new brother,  but already he is thinking of who else he can tell about the good news.  We have a lot to learn from him!

Jesus described the the Kingdom of Heaven being like a mustard seed, the smallest of seeds but it grows to be the largest of the garden plants and has branches big enough for birds to nest in.  Be praying for Manuel and his town and for Gaspar as he goes out next week to visit and teach the good news to people who need to nest in the Kingdom!

Celebration in Las Cuevas on March 23

At the beginning of March we received a call from Santos Lares from a small ABC community called las Cuevas.  Santos was calling because he was excited about an opportunity that was presented to the church, he just had no idea how to go forward.  The community leaders had approached him asking his church to lead the community in a thanksgiving service for 23 years of incorporation as a community, for the school, for having the first year classes of middle school and for the project of potable water for each individual house. 

In Guatemala, this is a huge opportunity and requires various participants of which they do not have many in this small congregation.  So he called asking for assistance to lead this service for the community.  We had the privilege of helping him organize this service and many churches and individuals came forward to donate their time for this endeavor.  We had to work out not having electricity, getting a sound system, finding speakers and song leaders for leading a thanksgiving worship to the Lord.  That can be difficult when you do not normally worship with a band and most others who get invited for these types of events do.  As you can imagine, it would be a little strange for someone to be up front doing a solo with others who do not know the songs. 

Thanks to Gaspar, Manuel, and Tomas were able to schedule 3 speakers - Jacinto from Mactzul II, Anastacia from Pacaja Xesic and Martin from Choacaman and also the singing groups of Voces Acapella and the men's singing group from Mactzul V to travel out to the small town of Las Cuevas.  Some for a couple of nights and some for just the long day. 

The community and the governing leaders expressed their gratitude for the spirit of volunteerism that exists in the church.  Hopefully, as a church body, we were able to demonstrate how we can honor God in all that we do and share in the thanksgiving of the Las Cuevas community.

Here are some pictures:

Santos giving the welcome 

 Jacinto

 Local Mayor

 Local Community leader

 Voces Acapella and Mactzul V singing group in front - with Josue, previous health promoter and scholarship student came to participate.

Anastascio

Leading worship

Men's group from Mactzul V

 The Cave that Las Cuevas gets its name from!

   Men's group from Mactzul V

We are sorry we missed out on the fun, but thought it  best not to draw attention to the gringos.