Newsletter September/October 2013

We are getting close to the end of the year!  This is the season for fairs and holidays and the last fews weeks of rainy season.  The road situations have been a little up in the air at times but hopefully we have found a reasonably long-term solution for the caved-in road.  Although it puts traffic just past our back yard it does allow us to travel again with fewer headaches for everyone. Here are some highlights from the last months.  Thank you for your support both financially and prayerfully.

Leche For Life
This year we started a program called Leche for Life.  It's goal is to begin nutrition counseling for first-time pregnant moms and try to affect change in the chronic malnutrition that is so prevalent here in Guatemala. After several starts and drop-outs, we had our first mom to complete the course and have a healthy baby girl in September.  The baby will continue in the program, with mom receiving education on breastfeeding and complementary feeding and health so she is equipped with information that promotes good development in her children. 

Baptisms in Xepocol
The church in Xepocol has been busy visiting the sick, teaching, and keeping their youth active and it shows!  Last month we witnessed along with the church as 11 new Christians confesses Jesus as Lord and his resurrection and then were baptized in the tiny river that passes at the bottom of the ravine.  It was such a great day for worship and fellowship and made a repeat picture of the members in front of the building.  Look at the difference between 2007 and 2013!
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Women's Health
Our push for women's health made another step forward when Dra. Sara Castellanos and I (Lisa) completed training for the VIA method of cervical cancer screening.  This will allow us to offer
screenings in the communities at very low cost to the women and help reach many who have never been examined.  We are thankful to Faith In Practice for providing this course here in Guatemala.
We have plans to purchase equipment for cryotherapy treatment as well this coming year.  May God go with us as we offer compassionate care for women and give us words that will convey God's love for them.

ABC Program
The children in the ABC program have spent all year learning, practicing and re-learning proper dental hygiene.  It's been slow going and sometimes frustrating but we are beginning to see improvements and some of the churches are joining in on the push--requiring the kids to bring their toothbrushes to Sunday School!  We began scheduling the kids with the appropriate hygiene index for their fillings and sealants and they were proud of their accomplishments and so are we!

Personal Notes
We are excited to see the successes the churches have had this year in growth, health, community outreach and fellowship.  We have days and weeks when we have frustrations and setbacks but at the end of the year God is gracious to let us see some progress!  It seems like this year we have had more health issues than before.  Nothing serious, but one of us or the other seems to be down with something every couple of months.  We are making changes to add more exercise and intake of the Word more regularly, but it's easy to get sidetracked.  So please pray for an extra measure of health and peace as we work here!
May God bless you in your part of the world.
Kemmel and Lisa Dunham

And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

Newsletter July/August 2013

Greetings from Guatemala! Take a peek into the latest news.


VISITING TEAMS
We were blessing in the last couple of months with visits from two special church families.  Hennessey Church of Christ from Oklahoma came down bringing Lisa's sister Dr. Anna and her husband Dr. Charlie Ferrell.  They joined us in ABC well-child checkups for two communities as well as other regularly scheduled mobile clinics.  This team also brought Dr. Ed (veterinarian) and Sandy Ferrell who went out and offered home visits for families with livestock health questions.  It was a week of good interactions outreach with local families, Christian and non-Christian alike.  We are grateful to partner with this group in the work and thank them for their generous support for our nurse Sheri Kretzschmar. 

Eastside Church of Christ from Colorado Springs is our own supporting church family.  It was so good to get to catch up with everyone and get to share in the ministry together.  This group's specialty is VBS productions and technical labor expertise!  The VBS team took a program to three different area elementary schools and taught about the Sovereignty of Jesus and how we should listen to Him.  Very straightforward and well put-together material and activities.  We utilized the help of local Sunday school teachers during the week, and based on the positive comments from parents, teachers and church volunteers it was a success.  We were even invited back by each school director for future educational activities, which opens up more opportunities for outreach.
Another part of the team brought down Sawyer water filters to install in ABC family homes and also in our Clinica Caris.  The church helped raise funds for the filters by several sales events over the last year.  Thanks so much for this work!  We see first hand the difference that water filtering makes in these families' health.
To round it off, we enjoyed the help of Ted and Jackie Mogey and Craig Thomas and Caitlyn Mogey and Sara Von Thun in our mobile clinics.  They went out each day doing nursing care and offering interventional prayer for our patients.  It is a privilege to spend time with these dear friends again!

CHURCH NEWS
Our outreach efforts through the clinics have gained us two new Christians, both in areas where there is not currently a church of Christ family.  One of the brothers is Manuel who despite his lack of Bible knowledge, is an avid evangelist, always telling others of his conversion and what Christ has done in his life.  He then calls Gaspar to help talk to the new people about the Gospel.  Be praying for this new brother and the possibilities of a church plant in the future.

ABC NEWS
Guatemalan children commonly have very poor oral hygiene and subsequent cavities and permanent tooth loss before adulthood.  Our dental hygiene program for the ABC kids is an attempt to reverse this pattern and teach lifelong oral hygiene skills that will protect from further loss.  This July we started seeing some results.  After two disastrous initial checkups (averages of 80-100% of surfaces with dental plaque) and multiple tooth brushing classes, we finally began seeing scores below 50% which qualifies the kids for further dental work such as fillings and sealants.  How exciting is it to see children develop good habits that will impact not only their health but also that of their children one day.  Be praying for our team as we focus on not only on curative care but also health education and prevention.