Our push for cervical cancer screenings in the area has really taken off this month. The trucks are packed to the gills with our regular mobile clinic supplies as well as our rustic GYN setup.

Maury, Cesy, Angelica and Dra. Sara at the Chutzerob I Iglesia de Cristo

Me, Cesy, Sheri and Maria in Mactzul I--Nothing like pelvic exams on a cold rainy day! (I borrowed this pic from Sheri--thanks!)

 We have four mobile women's health clinics scheduled this month, and the ladies have been very receptive.  A big thanks to Sheri for going out and giving classes on the need for cancer screening.  She has lined up several communities for us who are ready with a list of ladies signed up already!   Yesterday Sheri and I went out with Cesy and Maria to Mactzul I.  It was a great day!  Sara and the girls tackled Chutzerob on Wednesday with great results as well.

Our massage table/mobile exam table, outfitted with the GYN package.

Vinegar, flashlight, cervical swabs and speculums--cheap and effective!

 It is still shocking sometimes to find women in their 40s and 50s who have never had a pap smear or any kind of pelvic exam.  It's frustrating is when they tell you they have had a pap before, but the doctor/nurse lost the sample, so they never found out the result.   And even more disappointing is seeing patients like the 47 year old woman we saw this week with advanced cervical cancer who can only be offered palliative care now.

High-level disinfection station.  A series of washes and bleach solutions for on-the-field disinfection of instruments.

Tight spaces in the Sunday school room, but it worked.  

The new rapid screening test we are offering (VIAA) has been well received, and the ladies are more than pleased when we give them the results on the spot with a written report to take home, not needing a follow-up appt. or a phone call in a month.  And the best part is, they were able to walk to clinic rather than pay for a ride into town!
It's been a good start to the year and we all happy to be a part of this work.  Thanks to all of our supporters who make this mobile service possible for our rural patients!

Moral support--Everyone sharing their past experiences with the ones who are new to this.

Back to School

It's back to school week and everyone is flying around getting ready, buying school supplies and getting into clinic to heal up those lingering respiratory infections, gastrointestinal ills and scabies outbreaks! This week Kemmel and Manuel offered to help move several of the scholarship and  kids to Guatemala City as they get settled into "la U"  (the University of San Carlos).  They filled two trucks full of college kid stuff and five anxious-to-get-there college kids and headed off to the big city.  Thankfully, they are all staying in the same guest house, so it wasn't too crazy.  These kids will be part of a student body of approximately 200,000.  The stats from 2013 reported by Emisoras Unidas were 170,000 students enrolled at USAC,  and they expect to surpass the 200,000 mark for 2015.  The downside of attending this free government-run university is there are reports of budget shortages as always and the threat of strike days from faculty and student body, interrupting the school year.  On the bright side, it is still the university you want to go to if you are studying medicine, dentistry or nursing, as it has the most rigorous pre-admission testing.  So, we pray for the best for them and hope there are few interruptions in their school year as they begin training to be future healthcare providers with us.

It's good to be back!  We had a great time in Arizona and Texas braving the cold weather together with family, killing our diets and getting rested up. Let's just say we probably shouldn't eat any more dessert for about 6 months!  But we jumped into January and are enjoying the surge of will power that accompanies this time of year. 
Our patients are also feeling the heat after a month of county fair/Christmas/New Year's frivolity.  Almost all of the diabetics came in with blood sugar in the 300s and having run out of pills more than two weeks ago, despite us reminding everyone to make sure they get seen in December to get enough pills to make it through the holidays. Live and learn...  We did have a couple of folks walk the straight and narrow who came in with great, almost normal sugar levels.  One lady told me about her desire to stay healthy and stick to her diet.  I asked her how old she is and she blurted out "27" and then caught herself and said "57" and laughed.  We decided that was her soul age!
We hope everyone has a great 2015 and wish you great success in your New Year's Resolutions.  Today's devotional message from our co-worker Enrique was a good goal to add to this year's list:
 I Peter 3:8-9 (The Living Bible version):
⁸ And now this word to all of you: You should be like one big happy family, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. ⁹ Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t snap back at those who say unkind things about you. Instead, pray for God’s help for them, for we are to be kind to others, and God will bless us for it.

Happy Holidays!

We are enjoying some time road-tripping to visit family. Is there anything more fun than road-tripping?!  We celebrated Christmas today in Phoenix, AZ with warm weather and family--a good time had by all.  Yesterday we saw St. Vincent at the movies (great movie!) and went hiking at Pinnacle Peak State Park to work off some of the extra cookies and nonsense we've been enjoying! The trails wind around a large hill of boulders and look out over the other surrounding desert mountains. Beautiful!  There were lots of folks enjoying the hike, including two brothers who travel around in "The Van with No Plan"  We were definitely intrigued and had to look them up on facebook.  Going to have to give that a try sometime!
Tomorrow we are off to Texas to continue the holiday celebrations and get to enjoy some yummy green chile along the way in Albuquerque! Merry Christmas, everyone.  May God bless you with peace this coming year.

October - November Acitvities in Photos

Beyond our normal clinic activities we are very blessed to be involved in many different activities with the local churches and families, including youth conferences, weddings, Thanksgiving services, area wide worship services, baptism services, anniversary celebrations and the list could go on.  Enjoy the photos...

Chichicastenango Youth Conference in October

Young men from Xepocol enjoying the youth conference

Each youth events now includes various acapella singing groups that have formed over the years, mostly in the last 2 years.  Recently, another youth conference held in Paxot III included around 10 different groups.  We were unable to attend but have heard great things.  Some of the young people below are in the ABC program and were in the ABC program and scholarship program.

Gaspar had the privilege of officiating 2 weddings of previous ABC yound people - one in La Palma and one in Las Cuevas - This is from Las Cuevas.

This is about as happy as people look for photos, but they really are happy.   :)

Area-wide  Worship Service in Mactzul VI.  Packed house!  They report this as a 3-bull conference which means they had to slaughter 3 bulls to feed everyone.

Graduation of Gaspar's youngest son - Josue.  He is off to the BICA Bible Institute this coming year.

Ladies from the community of San Jorge who once knew former missionaries Roger and MaryBeth, who Gaspar has been studying with and want to reconcile with the the church in San Jorge.  The church there continues to grow and mature.

7th Annivesary of the Children's Sunday School classes in Chuchipaca

 Parable of the Prodigal Son

 Parable of the Talents

Young people who have graduated from the Children's Bible Program

The two girls with their hands covering their mouths are twins.  Even some of their mannerisms are identical!

 Sunday School teachers honored

 Cesar from Chuchipaca who started the Sunday school vision

Gaspar and Manuel in Zacualpa for Baptisms of young people Gaspar has been teaching 

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  No picture here, but the church in Chichicastenango also had a baptism service for 5 people a couple of days before!

 Our coworker Tomas was also involved in baptism in Mactzul V - 2 ABC young people and another young man.  

Graduation and Thanksging service in Mactzul III for the Ricac family who had a son and daughter graduate from high school.

With waiters even!

Wedding of Josefina Lux and Randy Cole

Tiny bride's maid, niece of the bride--these weddings are long and sometimes you get hungry!

Dra. Aura Alvarez Osorio!  Our newly-minted dentist!  

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Diego getting his high school diploma with a dream to study to be an architect.

Giving Thanks

As November rolls to a close we start to feel a sense of excitement about getting back home and sharing time with family.  After being out of the country for a while you kind of forget about the building momentum of fall/winter holidays which has it's upside and down.  We don't have to put up with all of the commercialism that comes with this time of year and the worries about weather interrupting our travel plans.  But of course no one celebrates Thanksgiving here or even Christmas the way we do in the States, so we miss out on the holiday cheer and crisp weather and yummy treats. 

However, we do still think about the things we are thankful for, like our health and work and supportive family and church.  We are are grateful for our Spirit-filled life that brings us closer to God each day.  And we are blessed to hear about other people express their gratitude for gifts that God has brought to their lives.  

•    For instance a diabetic patient blind from cataracts in both eyes by 48 years of age, who had surgery last week after months of trying to get his blood sugar under control. He was so full of joy and thanksgiving on his followup appointment, thanking God, the surgeons who helped him and our staff for helping him get his sugars down. 
•   Parents of a scholarship students who watched their children graduate from high school or college or professional school, when they themselves had only finished 3-4th grade.  They were full of thanksgiving and praise for God's blessings on their familes.
•    Finally,  the lady Sheri saw today in cervical cancer screening clinic who has a precancerous lesion but was so thankful to have found it early, as her own mother died of some type of uterine cancer at a young age.  Rather than leaving clinic heavy-hearted with the diagnosis, she she left happy at the chance to avoid her mother's outcome.

So, Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and we wish you a wonderful and restful time with family and friends.  Don't eat too much turkey!

    

Time Away

We recently spent some time in the States visiting our supporting congregations Eastside Church of Christ in Colorado Springs, CO and Meadowbrook Church of Christ in Jackson, MS.  We were treated like royalty in both places, much more so than we deserve. We felt like we had not even been gone, jumping back into fellowship just like before. But on the other hand we could see and feel little differences in the atmospheres of the churches--for the good.  We felt a warmth and welcoming spirit that extended to all who were there, and a growing diversity of membership that must be a beautiful thing for God to see.

Our time away also included a brief but great visit with some of our family in the States and with Kemmel's dad and brother in Chile. Chile was a relaxing break from the road tripping we did in the States, and we enjoyed the change of culture and scenery and outstanding bread and empanadas!. It's funny how experiencing different cultures allows you to appreciate your own in a new light--the good, the bad and the ugly.  And it makes us think about how God must really get a kick out of watching how many different ways we humans figure out how to live life!

We made it back to Guatemala after just 5 weeks away and we could already see changes and newness from when we left.  Graduation season swooped in and all of a sudden we had 9 kids just from the ABC program graduating from high school.  That is a giant leap from when we first stared here and knew of one kid in high school from the area churches.  We also got word of several baptisms in the area and one in particular of a patient contact from our clinic--always joyful news.

Our team did a great job running things and we are grateful to Dr. Mike and Julie Kelly for filling in at clinic and house/cat sitting for us!  We really enjoyed talking to them after our return to get their view of how things had changed in Guatemala since their time here in the '80s and '90s.

Time away is blessing in may ways but we especially love the change of view that it gives you on reentry! So here we are, back in the swing of things and thankful for our work, our supportive families and church families.  Thank you, Lord!