Spring in the Land of Eternal Spring

We have been busy this Spring Break season with two surgical teams and three university teams. With the additional help we were able to offer eye surgery, orthopedics, general and gynecologic surgeries to 182 patients at Hospital Ezell with Abilene Christian University helping out and mobile medical/dental teams in the Chichicastenango area with Lipscomb University  and Harding University PA school students that attended over 600 primary care patients in the communities.

Our star recovery team with Aaron and Jessica keeping things calm.

Mobile medical/dental in Xepol. Tight squeeze but a good day!

We did well-baby checkups on our Nutrition Program babies.

Harding PA's biggest fans!

Family Counseling Services

Our counseling services in the highlands has gotten off to a good start this year with our two psychologists working now. One of of my recent referrals was an 8 year old epilepsy patient who didn't want to take his medicine and was having some anger issues. His grandfather shared with me that his  his single mother re-married and left him to be raised by the grandparents. I invited them to go talk to our pastoral counselor Gaspar, and they had a good long talk together. He suggested they visit one of our psychologists and the patient and his grandfather were eager for the help. 

Cancer Care Services

We have a great relationship with the people from Faith in Practice--a non profit working with the Hermano Pedro hospital in Antigua. They have offered to help our cervical cancer patients get the work up needed to get enrolled in the cancer hospital. This usually consists of CAT scans, labs, etc. And they help get the patient to the cancer hospital. We are grateful for this coordination of services, as we frequently see cervical cancer cases. This month we referred two women for treatment and pray for God's guidance and healing and for their faith to grow in this time.

Diabetes Care

Our area has a very high incidence of diabetes type II. It is a common occurance for patients to present with blood glucose over 500 and severe weight loss. One of my patients Maria came in with a 12-year history of diabetes, not tolerating oral medication and dense cataracts in both eyes. She had lost over 30 lbs. weighing in at 87lbs. After a long talk with her and the family, we convinced them to try insulin. Although they come from 3 hours away, they asked to come back the following week to check her sugar in our clinic. Thankfully she got down into the low 200s and had already gained back 3 lbs. They were so surprised how easy the insulin was and how well she tolerated it. We prayed together and thanked God and prayed for her future cataract surgery. 

Equipment repairs

Making do until our wall oxygen regulator gets repaired in the recovery area.

In the healthcare arena we work with a lot specialized equipment and instrumentation. Finding repair technicians isn't always the easiest thing here. Thankfully God had provided us with several gifted maintainance staff. When possible Kemmel encourages them to continue learning about our medical equipment as well. They have worked on our dental equipment, autoclave maintenance and are learning how to care for some of our OR equipment. We thank God for always providing for our needs in this ministry!

Not exactly a pearl gate, but still a welcoming sight for patients all the same! (photo credit: Jessica Jocoy)

Febrero Loco in Guatemala

Lots of good things have happened this month for us and Health Talents. They call it Crazy February around here because of the unpredictable weather this time of year. We  had some cold, some rain, some earthquakes and bee swarms. It's a great bird watching time too.  Enjoy the update.

View from the Paxot II Iglesia de Cristo

Chachalaca bird (local game bird) gracing us on the hospital drive.

Bloodmobile

At Hospital Ezell we are about 45 minutes away from the closest blood bank. That's by car--on a good traffic day. But by motorcycle we can get blood here in 30 minutes. We have a runner take blood samples  of our higher risk patients to the blood bank early on surgery days. He stays there and waits to hear if we need to order blood and brings it back on the motorcycle. Our runner kept having trouble with his moto so we decided to get a new one just for blood bank runs. Very exciting! Please keep our surgeries and blood needs in your prayers. We are grateful to God for the protection we have had over our patients and staff.

Dermatology

Our star derm team with a happy pateint.

Dr. Johnson showing us some of his tips and tricks.

From time to time we enjoy visits from different specialists. This month we had dermatology services to offer, thanks to Dr. Martin Johnson. He saw a good mix of clinic patients and had two cases in the OR. We are also excited to use the liquid nitrogen gun that he left for us! 

Church Plants

Iglesia de Cristo in Chiche' 

One of the newer church plants at Chiche' had been struggling and at one point decided to stop meeting. But after several visits and encouragements from our evangelist Gaspar Chan and Sebastian Yacon, they were able to come together again and have agreed to meet in the building where we have clinic in their town. Be praying for these families and the new contacts that have been made there as well. This is a busy clinic site for us and it gives us hope to see the church decide to unify like this. 

Cesar Daniel Quino--Licensed Psychologist

A few of us from work celebrating Cesar's achievement.

One of our longest term staff members graduated from university with his psychology degree last year. Last week, his family invited several congregations in the area for a thanksgiving service and lunch to celebrate. We are so proud of Cesar and know he will use his talents and gifts to serve the church, his community and the ABC program. We are blessed to have him working with ABC and also begin psychology services for our patients.

Bibles and Children's Bible Class Material

Thanks to Michael Shead for developing this great material!

Lots of Bibles!

Sometimes we hit on great deals for bible material, and this month was a real winner. Kemmel was able to get bibles at $2 a piece and Children's Bible class kits (1 teacher guide, 1 activity book, 10 lesson books) for $26 each. The individual child lesson book is only $0.75 each which is cheaper than making copies. We will be having a children's ministry training seminar for our area churches and gifing each congregation with a kit. They can use it to make copies or choose to buy booklets for each child. Thank you to all of you ABC sponsors and those who give to the evangelim funds. This material will be well received and utilized. 

Lake Time

If you look closely you can see KD doing his open water swim. 

February is Kemmel's birthday month so we enjoyed a weekend at Lake Atitlan for some relaxation and time in the sun. A great get away in God's creation. 

Thank you for your prayers and faithful support!

Great Start to the Year

Patient Care

Our new year has started out great. All of our clinics are back in action and we had a successful General and GYN surgery group despite some significant weather delays. We are grateful for the protection God has provided during our surgery weeks. 

Childhood Nutrition Program

Our Nutrition Program is going strong with classes and home visits to encourage the moms to prepare healthy meals for their children. We have also been working to get all of the families a water filter which limits the number of  diarrheal illnesses in the home. 

Mom and baby proud of their new filter.

Evangelism and Discipleship

Our evangelism teams have also been busy with home visits and pastoral counseling and baptisms. It makes us content to see God work through our small efforts to bring new Christians to the kingdom.  Sometimes we send our patients for pastoral counseling and prayer and they spend over an hour in the session and ask for followup time. Other times patients come asking for spiritual help. We continue to invite them and encourage them to tend to  their spiritual health as well as their physical health. And the Spirit convicts and guides.

Francisco putting on Christ in baptism.

This year we had our fourth graduation of the Pastoral Counseling Course that our evangelist Gaspar Chan leads. This is exciting to see how many have been trained and ready to minister in their churches and communities.

Thank you for your support and love! Here are some prayer requests for this month.

    1. Pray for God to bring more physicians and dentists, and to help us retain the ones we have until then. This is an ongoing need and we trust that God will provide for the future of this ministry.

    2. Pray for God to provide administrativly gifted staff--either U.S. missionary types or local Guatemalans. It will take time to raise up and adequately train future on-site leadership. And it is stressful to train people and worry about them wanting to move on or not want to take on the responsibility in the end. We are just thinking about the future and how to leave this ministry in good hands.

    3. Pray for our large fulltime staff and U.S. volunteer staff, that we will be united in vision and desire to grow the kindom of God through our patient interactions. 

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.