In the States, the big saying in medical school is C = MD, which translates, even if you graduate with a C you are still a doctor. Well, I found out yesterday that I am going to pass my first semester of rural medicine! I have never been so happy to see a C in my life! Actually, we have the final today, but it is only worth 20% of the final grade, and I have enough points with out it to make a 64! and 61 is passing. So thank you so much for your constant prayers on our behalf and I thank God for his mercy and faithfulness these last few months.
Tomorrow I head up to the hospital to the pediatric ward to find out who my patients will be. Shoud be interesting, and hopefully I can meet the resident I will report to on Friday.
Today, we also get to go sign our contract on the apartment and get moved in. It will feel good to get settled. Be praying for our friend Tom Hoak ( an american surgeon here) and his family as they are trying to get moved here too for his year of service at the other big hospital in town.
Our teams are doing well, and yesterday, Josefina and Sheri kicked off their first health promoter training class. 19 promotors showed up from our various clinic sites. See Sheri's website for details. www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com .
Well, better head out. Have a great day, and God bless you in your service to Him.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Guatemala City
We headed out on Friday to drop off Matt, Jenna and Reese in Panajachel and then continued on to Guatemala City to begin our search for a place to live and to also pick up Katie, a pediatric resident who will spend a couple of weeks in Antigua studying spanish and then will go to Chichi to work with Josefina and Sheri.
This weekend and coming week we are staying at an apartment of a friend who graciously lets us stay here anytime we come to the city, provided it is not occupied. The apartment is also used to help adoptive parents with a place to live during the process of adoption here. It is very clean and comfortable and is in Zone 10 close to restaurants, etc. We try to not abuse the offer too much and enjoy every chance we get to stay here.
Katie arrived with no problems and dropped her off at her host families house in Antigua Saturday afternoon.
Saturday morning we started our search for an apartment to rent. We had found some advertisements in the local paper and also a few on the internet. It is much harder to locate a place to rent here as there are no rental magazines or even real estate magazines. It is all in who you know or who you can contact. So our plan of action was to send an email to other missionaries living in Guatemala City and we received a few good suggestions but most were farther away than where we wanted to be. As we began to call, we found that most places had already been rented or had some very high prices for our current situation. Others were not willing to rent for just 6 months or the apartments were not already furnished and we are looking for a furnished one since we are only here for 6 months. We could move some things to the city but that would be a huge hassle here and probably anywhere since we are 3 hours out.
We decided to go look at a place that was out of our price range just to see what they had to offer and to see what kinds of places were for rent. We went to meet a representative for the owner at 10am and got there a little early. While there we ran into another man who thought we were there to see his apartment. So when our person arrived we all decided to go ahead and look at all of the apartments (we thought that strange as they would be in competition, but the local guatemalan friendliness allows for these otherwise awkward situations). This was to our advantage as one was much less expensive than the one we came to see, by 30%! As it turns out the man we met while arriving early was also the owner of the less expensive apartment. So not only were we able to find a potentially less expensive apartment, but the representative also met a future customer as well in the owner as he has other properties for rent. We continue to know God is leading us as he keep easing our path. We though about what we had just seen and weighed our options and decided to tell him we were interested, but we had to do it while the other representative was still there as well. What seemed awkward to us was no problem for them and we started to make plans.
The apartment is a small one bedroom with some basic furnishings and is in a nice part of town with some parks and during easy traffic times will only be about 10 minutes from the hospital. On Saturday we had some heavy traffic and it took about 20-25 minutes. We will be traveling opposite the really heavy traffic so it will work out better. Our final price on the apartment is $450 per month which is to our american standards is not bad, but to those living in Chichi would be hard to comprehend. This is a part of missionary life that is very hard to deal with as most of us always live in a situation much better than those we work with. As compared to other rentals it is a very good price as it is also furnised and has a washer and dryer, cable tv, maintenance, water and parking is included. Our only other acceptable option we had so far was a nonfurnished apartment at someones house closer to the hospital with a lesser rate but would have to do a 1 year lease.
We are now in the phase of applying for approval to rent the apartment but we do not think that will be a problem and hopefully we can move in by Tuesday or Wednesday. Here you must have a co-signer who is Guatemalan and who is willing to pay if you do not. Health Talents has a local board member who owns an advertsing agency who has allowed us to use his name to ensure we get the apartment. He has great references so should not be a problem.
We still have no pictures. We will get some of the apartment and of Hospital Roosevelt to share with everyone in the next few posts. Please continue to pray for Lisa and this new challenge that she has. We know God will be watching over us and she has been through this before, just not in spanish. She is not the first nor will be the last to have to go through government service.
Thanks for checking in!
This weekend and coming week we are staying at an apartment of a friend who graciously lets us stay here anytime we come to the city, provided it is not occupied. The apartment is also used to help adoptive parents with a place to live during the process of adoption here. It is very clean and comfortable and is in Zone 10 close to restaurants, etc. We try to not abuse the offer too much and enjoy every chance we get to stay here.
Katie arrived with no problems and dropped her off at her host families house in Antigua Saturday afternoon.
Saturday morning we started our search for an apartment to rent. We had found some advertisements in the local paper and also a few on the internet. It is much harder to locate a place to rent here as there are no rental magazines or even real estate magazines. It is all in who you know or who you can contact. So our plan of action was to send an email to other missionaries living in Guatemala City and we received a few good suggestions but most were farther away than where we wanted to be. As we began to call, we found that most places had already been rented or had some very high prices for our current situation. Others were not willing to rent for just 6 months or the apartments were not already furnished and we are looking for a furnished one since we are only here for 6 months. We could move some things to the city but that would be a huge hassle here and probably anywhere since we are 3 hours out.
We decided to go look at a place that was out of our price range just to see what they had to offer and to see what kinds of places were for rent. We went to meet a representative for the owner at 10am and got there a little early. While there we ran into another man who thought we were there to see his apartment. So when our person arrived we all decided to go ahead and look at all of the apartments (we thought that strange as they would be in competition, but the local guatemalan friendliness allows for these otherwise awkward situations). This was to our advantage as one was much less expensive than the one we came to see, by 30%! As it turns out the man we met while arriving early was also the owner of the less expensive apartment. So not only were we able to find a potentially less expensive apartment, but the representative also met a future customer as well in the owner as he has other properties for rent. We continue to know God is leading us as he keep easing our path. We though about what we had just seen and weighed our options and decided to tell him we were interested, but we had to do it while the other representative was still there as well. What seemed awkward to us was no problem for them and we started to make plans.
The apartment is a small one bedroom with some basic furnishings and is in a nice part of town with some parks and during easy traffic times will only be about 10 minutes from the hospital. On Saturday we had some heavy traffic and it took about 20-25 minutes. We will be traveling opposite the really heavy traffic so it will work out better. Our final price on the apartment is $450 per month which is to our american standards is not bad, but to those living in Chichi would be hard to comprehend. This is a part of missionary life that is very hard to deal with as most of us always live in a situation much better than those we work with. As compared to other rentals it is a very good price as it is also furnised and has a washer and dryer, cable tv, maintenance, water and parking is included. Our only other acceptable option we had so far was a nonfurnished apartment at someones house closer to the hospital with a lesser rate but would have to do a 1 year lease.
We are now in the phase of applying for approval to rent the apartment but we do not think that will be a problem and hopefully we can move in by Tuesday or Wednesday. Here you must have a co-signer who is Guatemalan and who is willing to pay if you do not. Health Talents has a local board member who owns an advertsing agency who has allowed us to use his name to ensure we get the apartment. He has great references so should not be a problem.
We still have no pictures. We will get some of the apartment and of Hospital Roosevelt to share with everyone in the next few posts. Please continue to pray for Lisa and this new challenge that she has. We know God will be watching over us and she has been through this before, just not in spanish. She is not the first nor will be the last to have to go through government service.
Thanks for checking in!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Sigamos Adelante! We press on!
Today we continue to move forward in preparing for our move to Guatemala City. We had a glimmer of hope that Lisa could possibly be moved to Antigua; however, that was quickly snuffed out this afternoon with a 30 second phone call from the office of the big boss - "there will be no changes in assignments".
We also got to be a part of a more important "sigamos adelante" experience in Paxot 2 today. One of the elders of the church, Tomas Sut Gonzales I, has made an excellent recovery from the death defying pneumonia he had over the holidays. This is a long story but to make matters short he was deathly ill and no one would take him to the hospital and he did not want to go, but after prayers and speaking with the family they finally went. Now he is doing much better although he is still weak. The community thought he was close enough to death that people from neighboring towns were coming to give their respects.
So today was the scheduled church service to give thanks and honor to God for his miraculous recovery. We went with the expectation that he may still look pretty ill, but he looked great and was up and walking around and helping set up chairs and tables, etc. The service was held at their home where 100 people piled into a room about 15 feet by 30 feet and there were still a bunch of people outside. We sang praises, prayed and heard a message about how if we have faith God will work in our lives. The preacher "forevermore shucked down the corn" to the point the Guatemalans were sending him notes that it was time to stop. :) You know it is long when that happens. So 2.5 hours later we were finishing up.
They gave the last words to Tomas Sut Gonzales I who stood up and thanked God and everyone for their prayers and the service they provided him during his illness. Members of the church took care of him 24 hours a day. This brought some tears to his eyes and then he started to lead some songs of praise which brought tears to some other peoples eyes as well. The last prayer was offered by Juan Riquiac Ordonez who is also an elder and on the Guatemalan Board of Directors for TSI. This is where it really sunk in how much this man, Tomas, means to the church and the community. Juan could not finish the prayer without breaking down himself.
What an excellent example of faith and service these brothers and sisters in Christ demonstrated to one another. And what a great way to "Sequir Adelante" - to press on - worshiping and thanking God for the wonders and blessings he provides for us on a daily basis.
We then ended our day by having Sheri and her parents (Jack and Jenny) and Matt, Jenna and Reese over for dinner. Great day!
Tomorrow we pack!
We also got to be a part of a more important "sigamos adelante" experience in Paxot 2 today. One of the elders of the church, Tomas Sut Gonzales I, has made an excellent recovery from the death defying pneumonia he had over the holidays. This is a long story but to make matters short he was deathly ill and no one would take him to the hospital and he did not want to go, but after prayers and speaking with the family they finally went. Now he is doing much better although he is still weak. The community thought he was close enough to death that people from neighboring towns were coming to give their respects.
So today was the scheduled church service to give thanks and honor to God for his miraculous recovery. We went with the expectation that he may still look pretty ill, but he looked great and was up and walking around and helping set up chairs and tables, etc. The service was held at their home where 100 people piled into a room about 15 feet by 30 feet and there were still a bunch of people outside. We sang praises, prayed and heard a message about how if we have faith God will work in our lives. The preacher "forevermore shucked down the corn" to the point the Guatemalans were sending him notes that it was time to stop. :) You know it is long when that happens. So 2.5 hours later we were finishing up.
They gave the last words to Tomas Sut Gonzales I who stood up and thanked God and everyone for their prayers and the service they provided him during his illness. Members of the church took care of him 24 hours a day. This brought some tears to his eyes and then he started to lead some songs of praise which brought tears to some other peoples eyes as well. The last prayer was offered by Juan Riquiac Ordonez who is also an elder and on the Guatemalan Board of Directors for TSI. This is where it really sunk in how much this man, Tomas, means to the church and the community. Juan could not finish the prayer without breaking down himself.
What an excellent example of faith and service these brothers and sisters in Christ demonstrated to one another. And what a great way to "Sequir Adelante" - to press on - worshiping and thanking God for the wonders and blessings he provides for us on a daily basis.
We then ended our day by having Sheri and her parents (Jack and Jenny) and Matt, Jenna and Reese over for dinner. Great day!
Tomorrow we pack!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Assignment made - Hospital Roosevelt
Well, Lisa did get her assignment today for the next 6 months. It is not what we were hoping for but we think we can manage the situation. Of course with God we can manage anything. At first we were more in shock and a little more on the negative side. We are now weighing the situation and seeing both positive and negatives. The issue is not necessarily living in the city but more living farther away from the work in Chichicastenango, separating with one of us in the City and one not from time to time, and the workload / conditions of working in Hospital Roosevelt.
So the positives are:
1. God is leading us here for a reason.
2. Lisa will come to understand more of the healthcare system in Guatemala.
3. The ministry in Chichi will continue to learn how to operate without our direct presence full-time.
4. Down deep we are city people, so the conveniences of a city are always a positive for us.
5. Lisa can say she has been through the process like any other physician when questioned.
The negatives:
1. Will have to keep 2 places to live. We have been graciously notified that an anonymous friend will assist with extra living expenses during this time, so that is a blessing we cannot even weigh.
2. Working in a less than ideal working environment for Lisa.
3. Kemmel being more removed from the local ministry which will place some things on hold.
4. Traveling back and forth to Chichi once a week for for Kemmel.
5. Logistical issues for TSI and local staff with groups or interns.
Sometimes it seems a little trivial that we worry about living apart since I traveled 50% of my time while in the US, many weeks 3-4 nights a week; however, it is just not the same here and that is hard to get used to. I grew up in Guatemala City and feel very confident there and have never really felt insecure or anything like that, but it is not the Guatemala I grew up in and there are situations that make me feel uncomfortable about leaving Lisa in the city having to travel at odd hours to the craziest hospital in Guatemala. :)
These types of situations always make us think about one thing we miss about the US. One nice thing about living in US cities is you can blend in, no matter who you are or what nationality you are, everyone can usually blend in somewhere; however, here it is hard to do so. No matter where you go, you are the odd person out. So traveling to the hospital at odd hours really makes you stand out. We remember last time we were in the Dallas airport having lunch and we looked at each other and said - look, no one is looking at us eat. :)
We trust that God will care for us and use us in His service. Please continue to pray that God will grant us peace and use us during our time in the city.
So the positives are:
1. God is leading us here for a reason.
2. Lisa will come to understand more of the healthcare system in Guatemala.
3. The ministry in Chichi will continue to learn how to operate without our direct presence full-time.
4. Down deep we are city people, so the conveniences of a city are always a positive for us.
5. Lisa can say she has been through the process like any other physician when questioned.
The negatives:
1. Will have to keep 2 places to live. We have been graciously notified that an anonymous friend will assist with extra living expenses during this time, so that is a blessing we cannot even weigh.
2. Working in a less than ideal working environment for Lisa.
3. Kemmel being more removed from the local ministry which will place some things on hold.
4. Traveling back and forth to Chichi once a week for for Kemmel.
5. Logistical issues for TSI and local staff with groups or interns.
Sometimes it seems a little trivial that we worry about living apart since I traveled 50% of my time while in the US, many weeks 3-4 nights a week; however, it is just not the same here and that is hard to get used to. I grew up in Guatemala City and feel very confident there and have never really felt insecure or anything like that, but it is not the Guatemala I grew up in and there are situations that make me feel uncomfortable about leaving Lisa in the city having to travel at odd hours to the craziest hospital in Guatemala. :)
These types of situations always make us think about one thing we miss about the US. One nice thing about living in US cities is you can blend in, no matter who you are or what nationality you are, everyone can usually blend in somewhere; however, here it is hard to do so. No matter where you go, you are the odd person out. So traveling to the hospital at odd hours really makes you stand out. We remember last time we were in the Dallas airport having lunch and we looked at each other and said - look, no one is looking at us eat. :)
We trust that God will care for us and use us in His service. Please continue to pray that God will grant us peace and use us during our time in the city.
Big Day!
Well today is the big day to find out where Lisa will be for the next 6 months. We are currently in the waiting phase and hopefully will know more within the next 3-4 hours. We traveled to Guatemala City last night getting here around 8:30pm due to some road construction where we missed the time to make it through. So we had to wait - bummer.
Over the last few days we have received some new visitors - Matt, Jenna and Reese Cope and also the parents of Sheri K. Matt Cope is a 4th year medical student who is here for a 2 week intership. He spent the last week with the surgical group in Montellano and is spending this week with us. It turns out that Lisa knew Jenna when she was little as her father Jim Reese was the College minister at the University Church of Christ in Austin while she was at UT. Lisa and I also had a few marriage counseling sessions with him before we got married.
The surgery trip in Montellano finished up on Thursday and the team headed to Antigua on Friday where we met up with them for dinner and visiting. They attended 70ish patients and performed 90ish procedures which is a busy week. We got to see some friends from before and also Nicole and her new husband Eric. Nicole worked here last year for 6 weeks doing a Physician Assistant Internship.
Lisa finished most of her research project on Sunday night about 2am and then we put the final touches on it yesterday afternoon and emailed it in. The emailing process was long and drawn out since our internet service is not very quick, but we did get it sent. Probably about 100 pages printed by the time you would print everything.
More news later today! Stay in touch and keep praying for good news.
Over the last few days we have received some new visitors - Matt, Jenna and Reese Cope and also the parents of Sheri K. Matt Cope is a 4th year medical student who is here for a 2 week intership. He spent the last week with the surgical group in Montellano and is spending this week with us. It turns out that Lisa knew Jenna when she was little as her father Jim Reese was the College minister at the University Church of Christ in Austin while she was at UT. Lisa and I also had a few marriage counseling sessions with him before we got married.
The surgery trip in Montellano finished up on Thursday and the team headed to Antigua on Friday where we met up with them for dinner and visiting. They attended 70ish patients and performed 90ish procedures which is a busy week. We got to see some friends from before and also Nicole and her new husband Eric. Nicole worked here last year for 6 weeks doing a Physician Assistant Internship.
Lisa finished most of her research project on Sunday night about 2am and then we put the final touches on it yesterday afternoon and emailed it in. The emailing process was long and drawn out since our internet service is not very quick, but we did get it sent. Probably about 100 pages printed by the time you would print everything.
More news later today! Stay in touch and keep praying for good news.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
And then there was water!
Well, we are getting closer to having our water cistern complete. Hopefully we will finish before we have to move out of the house! No really, we are getting close. On Monday evening after spending time in Paxot 2 when got home around 8pm to the sound of water running - lots of water. It was the sound of our water cistern filling up. That is a good sound! So it ran all night and finally filled up by mid-morning the next day. Sounds like a bunch of water and it kind of is which is good, especially when you are used to going without running water. So now we are just waiting for all of the other piping to be completed and the pump hooked up. Then we will be in business. For now we have water from the municipality, so we are happy.
Today our 2 teams were spread out all over the place. Sheri, Gaspar and Juan went to La Palma north of Santa Cruz in the hills - see Sheri's blog - http://www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com/. Josefina, Tomas and Manuel were 2 hours in the opposite direction with a clinic in Chuguexa which turned out to be very small; however they had a good conversation with the church to ensure they start including the community in the clinics and to begin announcing via radio. Kemmel and Mauri (new clinic all purpose assistant) were in Clinica Caris taking care of admin items and training Mauri on certain tasks that will help the clinics run smoother. Lisa was in meetings all day with the Health Department so she probably had the worst day of everyone. Nothing like sitting in meetings all day when you know you will be gone in a week.
Josefina and Tomas returned today from spending time at Clinic Ezell in Montellano assisting with a surgical week focused on GYN and General Surgery. When all is done the group will have performed between 60 to 70 surgeries. Lisa and I were not able to make it this week as she is working on finishing her assignments.
Some important dates to remember Lisa on are:
1. January 22 - we find out where Lisa will serve the next 6 months
2. Now until Jan 22 - Lisa is working on finishing her assignments including a large report detailing the health situation of the village she works in.
3. January 30 - final exam
4. February 1 - first day of new assignment
Thanks for checking in and your fervent prayers!
Today our 2 teams were spread out all over the place. Sheri, Gaspar and Juan went to La Palma north of Santa Cruz in the hills - see Sheri's blog - http://www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com/. Josefina, Tomas and Manuel were 2 hours in the opposite direction with a clinic in Chuguexa which turned out to be very small; however they had a good conversation with the church to ensure they start including the community in the clinics and to begin announcing via radio. Kemmel and Mauri (new clinic all purpose assistant) were in Clinica Caris taking care of admin items and training Mauri on certain tasks that will help the clinics run smoother. Lisa was in meetings all day with the Health Department so she probably had the worst day of everyone. Nothing like sitting in meetings all day when you know you will be gone in a week.
Josefina and Tomas returned today from spending time at Clinic Ezell in Montellano assisting with a surgical week focused on GYN and General Surgery. When all is done the group will have performed between 60 to 70 surgeries. Lisa and I were not able to make it this week as she is working on finishing her assignments.
Some important dates to remember Lisa on are:
1. January 22 - we find out where Lisa will serve the next 6 months
2. Now until Jan 22 - Lisa is working on finishing her assignments including a large report detailing the health situation of the village she works in.
3. January 30 - final exam
4. February 1 - first day of new assignment
Thanks for checking in and your fervent prayers!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Drum Role.....
Well, we still do not know where Lisa will be. :( She called today and was instructed to come to Guatemala City on January 22nd when they will have a meeting and announce the assignments in a group. Please continue to pray for positive outcomes. Also, please continue to pray for Lisa as she is finishing her research paper on her community, studying for her final test and just finishing her services in the Puesto de Salud (Health Clinic).
On a brighter side of life, I went to a conference in Paxot 2 of the local area churches of Christ. This was a great day of worshiping with about 1500 other christians and also getting to enjoy their hospitality and friendship. They had 8 baptisms today and although all of them well special, 2 stood out. The first is the grandmother of our health promoter Juan Quino. Sorry but I did not have the camera today. The second was Tomasito (small Tomas). Tomas is a teenage boy who is somewhat learning disabled who is always around to welcome you and ask how your are doing, etc. He does not go to school and is a field worker; however, the brothers of Paxot 2 have really taken him in and treats him as one of their own brothers or children. For those that have been to Paxot 2 you may recognize him as he tends to stare and cling to americans. Here is a picture with him in it. He is the one in the back on the left with the big smile. Sweet kid!
Also on the bright side, during Christmas vacation, we attended to one of the elders in Paxot 2 who had a extremely bad case of pneumonia who is now doing much better. When we first went to see him he had not eaten in a few days and we could not even get an IV in him. We had injected him with some strong antibiotics but they were not enough so we finally convinced the family to take him to the hospital, which they did. He received treatment for 3 days and went home. That was a couple of weeks ago. Now he has gone from a cannot-move-about-to-die-look, to sitting up and talking with visitors in his home. He is still very weak from his illness but continues to make progess - please continue to pray for Tomas Sut Gonzales I. Also for those who have been to Paxot 2, if you remeber a very skinny older guy with a huge cowboy hat, that is who we are talking about.
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