August and September Happenings

Medical Evangelism Contacts

Jose visiting with families through clinic contact.

Our weeks are busy and it's easy to get caught up in the day to day of healthcare delivery or feel defeated when there are difficult or untreatable cases, but the Holy Spirit reminds us regularly to look for opportunities to share the good news of salvation with those who are hurting or desperate. 

We got news from our evangelist that his wife and a friend were walking by the church building on a day we had  Mobile Clinic, and a patient left the building crying after her consult. They asked the patient if she would like to talk and found out that she was given a difficult diagnosis. After talking some more, the woman confessed that she had been living a sinful life and was living the consequences of that. The ladies  offered to come visit her at home and talk some more and were invited to come talk to her and her family the next day. They shared the gospel message of  God's love for us and Christ dying to pay for our sins and that God loved her too. The woman and her husband-to-be decided they wanted to follow Christ and will be baptized soon.

Another regular patient of ours from Clinica Caris who confided to me that she had been having disturbing nightmares about demons, agreed to talk to our evangelist. She told me this week that she was so thankful for the counseling she has been getting and the spiritual teaching that is helping her to seek God and read his word and pray daily. Her demonic dreams have stopped and she is looking forward to continuing to learn more about her relationship with God and is encouraging her daughters to join her. Please pray as we evangelize these patients and help bring them to saving faith in Christ. 

One of our Nutrition Program mothers is a teen mom in a volatile relationship. She asked our evangelists to come and talk to her family and help her marriage. She and her husband decided to follow Christ and were baptized along with another family member this past weekend. Be praying for their family to grow in the Spirit and raise their child to know God as well. 

New sister and brothers in Christ

 

 

Medical/Dental and Surgical Teams

August and September are busy months around here with visiting medical/surgical and dental teams. We enjoyed a team in Chichicastenango helping us with our community clinics and ABC checkups and dermatology consults. They were hard workers and spent time healing and giving patient education. 

Jodi getting all the kids weighed and measured.

Dr. Ron sharpening his pediatric skills! He's a real trooper of an internist!

Dr. Donna checking up on our ABC kids' growth and development.

Me blinded by the light haha! Mobile clinic conditions can be challenging sometimes.

Kemmel translating for hygienist Mallory and fielding messages from the other team. Bode waiting for dental instruments to sterilize.

At Ezell we have had two surgical teams covering general surgery, plastic surgery, urology and gynecology, PT and OT. We are grateful for the successful procedures and good outcomes. And always appreciative of the teaching they give us in caring for our patients.

Katie doing Early Childhood Development classes with some of our Nutrition Program families.

Nurses' station is always hopping at Ezell!

Drs. Dwayne and Dwyane knocking out the plastic surgery.

Thank You, Lord For Water!

Water well drilling

Our water spring  for Hospital Ezell has slowly been decreasing in production to the point of needing to find another source to ensure enough supply for our surgery week load of patients and volunteer teams.

We started drilling a well several months ago and after lots of rock and machinery setbacks, we struck a great flow of water and at a sooner depth than expected--which saved us a good amount of money. We are grateful for this blessing for our staff and patients and visitors! 

More than enough!

Children Are A Heritage From the Lord

The churches in our area are always active with fellowship gatherings and activies. We received some photos of some of the young adults from Rio Mactzul church  hosting a children's ministry activity for their families. It makes our hearts glad to see former ABC kids active in their congregation and teaching the the next generation.

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Romans 12:10

Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Corintians 16:14

 

There are some great folks in this group and fruit of their parents' love for God, the ABC program's support and the inspiration from our visitors like Eastside Church of Christ. We thank God for these precious brothers and sisters in Christ! 

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8

Good Things

June has been full of good things! We thank God for his faithful presence and guidance and abundant blessings. 

Our MET students have wrapped up their time with us, and we are proud of their great attitudes and desire to develop relationships with so many people here. They will be great ambassadors for Christ and help bring many to salvation.

Carson, Abby, Graham and Luke enjoying one last Parma Dairy run! 

Kemmel and I celebrate 33 years of marriage this year. It doesn't feel like that long--I guess that's a good thing haha!  We feel so blessed to be able to serve together in this ministry.

Happy 33 years to us!

This week we as a Guatemalan staff got to honor Rick Harper for his years of dedicated service here in Guatemala and Hospital Ezell. We presented him a Guatemalan style gazebo.  A nice cool sitting area for quiet time or small group gathering. 

Proud to stand next these faithful servants of Christ, Rick and Susan and Julie Ann Harper .

Thank you for your many years of service and love for this ministry, hermano Rick!

Our second surgery week just came to a close with lots of cataract and hernia patients given the relief they have been needing. We are so thankful to our surgery teams for coming down and sharing their skills with us and our patients. 

We are also grateful to God for his constant help with complicated cases and help for our patients that need more specialized care than we can offer.

Drs. Ed and Eric Grogan with future Dr. Will Grogan--many years of  Christian service represented in this photo! Also with us this week are father and son Drs. Larry and Michael Patterson--continuing their legacy of tireless ophthalmology care at Ezell this week.

We frequently see people with cancers and complicated diagnoses and sometimes post-operative complications that require referral to other facilities like the National Hospital system. This is usually a  complicated process for them and their families and very stressful for our staff and visitors. We try to take the opportunity to pray with the patients and counsel them on the salvation message and the faithfulness of God to walk with them through the difficult time. Please be praying for those of our patients that can't be treated at our facility. Pray for them to feel peace and for their faith in God to grow. And pray for us as we minister to them.

Proud to be able to serve with good Christ followers like Dr. Ed Grogan!

17Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.8When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.19When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.
But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.
Psalms 94:17-19, 22

June Surgery Week

We have two surgery weeks this month, so we will be hopping! Last week was general surgery, gyn and ENT specialities. It's fun to get to know people who are here for the first time and those who have come for several years in a row. This week we enjoyed having Kemmel's sister Becky join us as a translator. She is hit with all of the patients with her games and reading time with the kids.

Hospital Ezell comes alive during our surgery weeks, with round the clock nursing care and 10-12 surgeries a day. Thankfully we didn't need to transfuse blood to any patients. It was a tranquilo week and lots of satisfied patients. So thankful for all of our volunteers!

Story time with Miss Becky

 

Full house. 51 surgeries for the week. 

Sweet smiles after succesful surgery.

International health care team--U.S. Guatemala and Cuba represented!

Our nurses make all the difference!

Hard working surgeons helping our patients feel better.

Dr. Tilton letting our anesthesia resident Dra. Alvarez get some experience this week.

Medical Evangelism Training 2024

Time to dust off this blog! We have four great summer interns with us right now, learning the ins and outs of missionary life. After a week in language school in Quetzaltenango, they are here with us at Hospital Ezell for orientation weekend before going to stay with their host families. We will be studying language, culture, culture shock, the Gospel Message and evangelism, and approaches to healing among other topics. Should be a great month!

Carson, Abby, Graham and Luke

"Getting to know you" time--let's just say some of us have some interesting quirks!

Welcome to the Family!

Working in medical evangelism, we get to see the different ways that God is adding to the church and strengthening individuals and families. Sometimes it's after direct bible study and preaching, many times it's from day to day contact and interaction with patients and coworkers.

Sheri let us know that we had a patient decide to be baptized into Christ this week after having surgery at Hospital Ezell. He told Dr Walter Sierra that he was moved by the love he saw he from the team and felt led to dedicate his life to Christ. Praise God for his decision. Welcome to the family, Luis!

Also this week one of our employees at the Hospital Ezell site decided to be baptized as well. He has been attending worship with his wife for a while but decided it was time to choose to follow Jesus. Welcome to the family, Julio!

In the highlands area, two women who have been studying with our evangelists decided to give their lives to Christ. They are part of a new church plant in the area. Praise God! Welcome to the family, Rosa and Brenda!

Our patients have shown a lot of interest in prayer time and pastoral counseling with our evangelism team and now our psychology team, and we are excited to see how God is working in their lives and families. Please be praying that our outreach will touch those who need the healing of the Good News of Christ!

Company

 We are coming to the end of  North American summer, which is still winter around here. Our visiting groups love our cooler weather and rainy days. Even on the coast at Clinica Ezell the clouds and rain give a welcome relief to the heat of the day. We have had several visitors in July and August and are welcoming our September teams right now. Here are a few snaps from our last months' work.

Family Visit

Our nieces Allie and Olivia came down to see us for a week. It was fun to have some teenagers hanging around. They worked hard and cooked for us and made me a birthday pie! 

Watch out world!

Allie and Liv enjoying the beauty at Hospital Ezell

Birthday spaghetti dinner.

Eastside Church of Christ--Clinica Caris

We hosted our friends from our church family in Colorado Springs in July. This is always a fun and creative team to say the least. They brought a reading comprehension team that worked in the area schools, a diabetic and prenatal nutrition class for our patients and Nutrition program mamas, and a construction crew that remodeled our prayer and counseling room at Clinica Caris and did a paint job on the clinic.  They also spring cleaned our house and did some gardening upgrades for us at the house! We really enjoyed the fellowship and the fruits of their labor. We are regularly blessed by this congregation in the way they faithfully support us financially and encourage us spiritually. Thank you, Lord!

Work crew ready!

After a long day, enjoying dinner together.

Kelly and Heather helping catch us up on vitamin packaging.

Jolee inspiring kids to love reading.

Crazy traffic from the Driver's Day holiday for all the truck and public transport drivers.

Heather and I at Clinica Caris

James, Bill and Kevin with Diego working on the Prayer and Counseling room.

Joyce and our translators Ana and Haydee ready for classes

McClain and Bryce on the go!

Kevin and Diego communicating without words haha!

Headed out for a "three hour tour"

Sweet baby from the Nutrition Program class

Richard patiently painting the hard to reach places.

Home visit to set up water filters.

A little stop at the local nursery.

Joyce encouraging a first grader.

Benita showing us how to work the new hemoglobin A1c monitors.

Kelly dusting off her pedi skills

Very warm welcome from the Chuchipaca II Iglesia de Cristo!

Shawna teaching the Nutrition Program moms about prenatal and early childhood nutrition.

August General/Plastics/Urology Surgery--Hospital Ezell

Our monthly surgery teams are going well at Hospital Ezell since re-iniciating services in March of this year. We are grateful for the visiting surgical staff as well as our Guatemalan hospital staff that keep things running mostly smoothly. We are also thankful to God for his provision and protection for our patients during these weeks. 

Happy Birthday, Sheri! You can't hide. 

For the glory of God!

Ready to go back!

Receiving patients in post op recovery area.

Our star general surgery team!

Plastic surgery

Recovery team

Hardworking nursing team

Ready to go back!

Urology

Thank you everybody!