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.

Happy New Year!

The "Big D".  We hit the road hard this trip covering parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico and Arizona. 

We are back! Our trip home to the good ol' U.S. of A. seemed quick but we got to see most of our family and some friends along the way.  We logged more than 3000 miles on our little road trip!  Along the way we did an oil change and tire rotation and evicted some dead rats from our cabin filter.  But all was good. It was comforting to get to visit with family and enjoy the familiarity of life in the States.

One of the holiday hits this year was this electronic Boogie Board that Aunt Kelli got the little kids.  Who knew handwriting and drawing could be so fun?! 

It is amazing to us how many services are available like city parks, public pools, State and National Parks, evenly matched up sidewalks (or sidewalks for that matter), sales at department stores (here a big sale is 25% off) and Chick-fil-A.  Yum!

Kemmel getting in a few laps at the Balmorhea State Park  south of Pecos, Tx which has a spring-fed pool boasting a year-round 72-76 degree temp.   We enjoyed a quick break from the interstate on our way out to Arizona.

But, we are also glad to get back to our quiet little home without heating so we can enjoy sleeping in the cool nights. We get to hear the birds every morning, buy abundant and affordable fresh vegetables and fruit year round and enjoy springlike temps even during the "cold" season. We were greeted with calls from folks here to check on us and see if we made it back okay.  It is good to home!

Yesterday we kicked off the year with another ABC program celebration in Chuchipaca.  It took place down at the river bank and had a great turnout of kids and families. 

Drama about King Solomon choosing between the two mothers fighting over a baby.

Thanks to some of the sponsors who support the ABC program

Fun in the sun and the river.  Brrrrr! It was pretty chilly up until high noon.

We also witnessed a baptism right there in the river. 

Brenda's baptism

The angels in heaven together with the church celebrated Brenda's new life in Christ.

Last night we walked up to the central park in Chichi to an acapella concert  to finish out a week of evangelism by area churches of Christ.  We saw so many friends from the churches around Chichicastenango and Quiche and enjoyed the fellowship.

So, it is back to work, like everyone else.  We feel blessed to get to do our work here!

Last Day!

Nothing like the last day of work or school before vacation!  We wrapped up the year with a work day in the clinic, cleaning out mobile boxes, disinfecting the clinic, preparing the pharmacy for next year, organizing the store room and unloading our mobile equipment.  We looked through the calendar and schedule for 2016 and ended the day with a late lunch.  We thank God for the wonderful team we have  here in Quiche and their desire to serve him and the local communities.  Taking the job out on the road everyday is physically and mentally challenging, so everyone is looking forward to quiet time at home with family for a while!  Merry Christmas everyone.

Celebrate Good Times!

We have been making the rounds to the ABC celebrations in the local churches.  It's fun to see how each one has a little different take on the whole thing.  The day always starts with some form of corporate worship, lead by the kids. Then on to talent show (Bible reading, singing, dramas, skits) and then competitions and lunch. Somewhere in the mix, they present the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners of the points accumulated during the year.  As a recap, the kids get points in the program for grades, Bible school attendance, writing letters to their sponsors, and health checkups.  At the end of the year we tally up the points and prizes are given for top points getters.  Theoretically they could all get 1st prize, but it doesn't seem to work out that way!
They did great this year, with more first place prizes than last year and fewer failing, which is always great.  This year we really saw the older kids step up and take responsibility for the activity and demonstrate their spiritual maturity in their encouragement of the younger kids.  Thank you to all of you who sponsor kids in this program.  The families ask us over and over to personally thank you and tell you what a blessing the program is to them.

Worship leaders for the Chichicastenango activity.  They sang, preached and sang some more.

These singers had been practicing!

First place winners from Xepocol.  

Memory verse competition.  They were all pretty good, but Silvia cranked out the most verses!

Moms from Xejox having a good time.

"Cacahuate"  They have to relpy, "cacahuate" whenever asked a question.

First and second prize winners in the same family.

Egg toss demonstration by Kemmel and Noe

Aaaand, she missed!

Blow up a balloon and pop it while hugging your friend.  Try as they might, they just couldn't do it!

Run and pop a water balloon on your teammate's lap

Chow time.

Heading to the Hills

Beautiful mountains above San Bartolome

Yesterday we headed out at the crack of dawn for the end of year ABC celebration in La Palma. This year it was decided that instead of having a large celebration here in Chichicastenango with all of the churches traveling in, we would have the activities at each local congregation.  The cost of transportation alone was getting to be prohibitive, and the size of our guest list too big for the local installations.  With very little convincing necessary, the ABC coordinators agreed to host the activities locally.  With the money saved in transportation, we were able to allocate more funds per church so that they could invite the whole congregation to the party.  People from farthest away were especially glad not to have to deal with a bus-full of carsick kids.

La Palma is a tiny town in the mountains north of here about 90 minues away.  The people walk everywhere--uphill both ways.  The junior high kids live an hour-and-a-half walk from school (no cars), which means most kids board with a family during the week and come home on weekends. They are some of the most cardiovascularly fit folks we know!

Iglesia de Cristo La Palma

Since they are a smaller congregation and don't have any dedicated Sunday school teachers or high school kids, we invited some of  the scholarship kids from the Xepocol church to help out. We had a great time with this small but friendly congregation, recognizing the academic achievements of their kids.  We shared a time of worship, games, Bible trivia, "marathon"and lunch before heading back home. (Thanks to Cesar, Manuel, Tomas, Tomas, Maria and Tomasa for their hard work.

Working on the agenda for the morning's activities.

Menfolk getting pine needles ready to adorn the floor for the activity.

Pyramid building race

Maria and Tomasa enjoying some sun

While talking to the local ABC coordinators, they mentioned how much they appreciated having the celebration in their own town and getting to share the day with everyone.  It was a great day!

The most hilarious competition--moms feeding their "babies" a bottle of milk.

Alberto carrying his egg to the finish line.

Marta reading her "race to find the scripture"  verse.

Cheerleading section

And they're off! Up the mountain about 3/4 mile and back.

And they're--off with their shoes!  Better barefooted than in flip flops...

Manuela was flying down the hill to the finish line.

Honorable mention.

Have you ever played soccer on a ridge?  Let's just say, out of bounds is a real bummer.

So we have 15 more communities to go.  Most of them before we all leave for vacation, so we will divide up all of our staff over the next week to attend the celebrations.  Should be good!