Good morning everyone. I am sorry to be posting with such sad news, but I guessing most of you have heard about the eathquake in Japan by now. Be praying for all of the people that the quake and the resulting tsunamis have effected. It is heartbreaking to see the devestation.
Guatemala was on the list of countries that the tsunami is going to hit, but we are far enough inland that we are perfectly safe. The news is on at breakfast this morning so we can continue to be updated as to what is happening. The coast is under mandatory evacuation, and are in our prayers as well. This is a tense time for everyone involved so please keep the prayers coming.
After breakfast we are headed up to La Avanzada for our last day of clinic. Some tough scenes to deal with, but with spreading Christ's love as our focus and mission we have found the strength to keep going.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Stories
Here are just a few anecdotes that we have had the enjoyment of experiencing so far. I hope you at least get a smile out of them.
What a joy to serve our savior Jesus. He has put together an incredible team of servants and we are so blessed during this time. I have been teased repeatedly now after our episode in clinic with the babies who had coca-cola in the bottle. Grace and I both spent time trying to explain to the mother that it is very unhealthy to do this. Next, I needed to examine the baby who started crying as soon as I approached her. Naturally, I grabbed the bottle of cola and shoved it into her mouth and said "this will keep her quiet". Ah well--maybe I can be better about sending a clear message of health care and disease prevention tomorrow. Please pray for Heydey who was our sickest patient so far. We are hoping that her aunt can take her to the hospital as she needed much more care than we could give. It was an incredible privilege to hold her hand and pray with her. Thanks for all your prayers on our behalf...Blessings
Sarah
This is Carol. I have had the pleasure of meeting all the patients in Amatitlan and checking them into the clinic. Today we arrived in Gualan, went to the beautiful hotel, and continued up the mountain to the village of La Avanzada. Our goal today was simply to see the clinic setting (a community room) and bring the supplies to set up. About 20-25 children gathered to see what we were doing, and I saw the opportunity to play Duck, Duck, Goose with them. As I began to form a circle with the kids, I realized I didn't remember the word for Goose. So...there may be some some Guatemalan children who think the game is Pato, Pato, Oso (Duck, Duck, Bear) :) I did learn later that goose is ganso.
Blessings! I cannot even begin to express how awesome it has been here in Guatemala so far! God has truely been working in each of our lives, and in the lives of the people here. The biggest frustration for me personally has been the language barrier. I took some Spanish in high school, but had forgotten most of it. I am such a relational person, I desire to get to know and talk to everyone here, so not being able to was very frustrating. God works in such mysterious ways! He has showed that communication is so much more than words. I have successfully gotten to know some people without being able to understand each other. My favorite so far was a 3 year old boy. We played soccer together, he then followed me into the pharmacy where we played peek-a-boo, then we had a tickle fight. It was so fun. Words were not necessary to show each other that we were having fun and we enjoyed being with one another. I am excited to see how God will continue to work through the rest of the week. I am improving my spanish, which I am loving! Thank you all for all the prayers, keep them coming! They are much needed and appreciated! Muchas Gracias!! ~ Lauren
Hola amigos!! Guatemala has been life changing and absolutely wonderful! God is working in all of our hearts and this week will be something I will never forget. Just like Lauren said above, the language barrier has been interesting and pretty entertaining. One of me and Mia's jobs was to read the instructions that came with the hygiene kits, and it was written in Spanish. Andre who is from Guatemala was there to help Mia and I. Andre decided that after we had already read the instructions to maybe 10 different people, he would tell us that we were mispronouncing a word. He said it really lightly like it was no big deal. Turns out that we were saying "pene" instead of "peine". Let's just say "pene" happens to be a private male body part and peine is "comb". So when we were saying, "use your pene twice a day and use it to clean your hair and scalp" you can imagine the snickers we were getting. To make it even worse, before Andre told us what we were saying, Mia and I decided to practice our pronounciation on that not so appropriate word. She would say it and then I would say it, we probably repeated it out loud maybe 20 times.~ Megan
What a joy to serve our savior Jesus. He has put together an incredible team of servants and we are so blessed during this time. I have been teased repeatedly now after our episode in clinic with the babies who had coca-cola in the bottle. Grace and I both spent time trying to explain to the mother that it is very unhealthy to do this. Next, I needed to examine the baby who started crying as soon as I approached her. Naturally, I grabbed the bottle of cola and shoved it into her mouth and said "this will keep her quiet". Ah well--maybe I can be better about sending a clear message of health care and disease prevention tomorrow. Please pray for Heydey who was our sickest patient so far. We are hoping that her aunt can take her to the hospital as she needed much more care than we could give. It was an incredible privilege to hold her hand and pray with her. Thanks for all your prayers on our behalf...Blessings
Sarah
This is Carol. I have had the pleasure of meeting all the patients in Amatitlan and checking them into the clinic. Today we arrived in Gualan, went to the beautiful hotel, and continued up the mountain to the village of La Avanzada. Our goal today was simply to see the clinic setting (a community room) and bring the supplies to set up. About 20-25 children gathered to see what we were doing, and I saw the opportunity to play Duck, Duck, Goose with them. As I began to form a circle with the kids, I realized I didn't remember the word for Goose. So...there may be some some Guatemalan children who think the game is Pato, Pato, Oso (Duck, Duck, Bear) :) I did learn later that goose is ganso.
Blessings! I cannot even begin to express how awesome it has been here in Guatemala so far! God has truely been working in each of our lives, and in the lives of the people here. The biggest frustration for me personally has been the language barrier. I took some Spanish in high school, but had forgotten most of it. I am such a relational person, I desire to get to know and talk to everyone here, so not being able to was very frustrating. God works in such mysterious ways! He has showed that communication is so much more than words. I have successfully gotten to know some people without being able to understand each other. My favorite so far was a 3 year old boy. We played soccer together, he then followed me into the pharmacy where we played peek-a-boo, then we had a tickle fight. It was so fun. Words were not necessary to show each other that we were having fun and we enjoyed being with one another. I am excited to see how God will continue to work through the rest of the week. I am improving my spanish, which I am loving! Thank you all for all the prayers, keep them coming! They are much needed and appreciated! Muchas Gracias!! ~ Lauren
Hola amigos!! Guatemala has been life changing and absolutely wonderful! God is working in all of our hearts and this week will be something I will never forget. Just like Lauren said above, the language barrier has been interesting and pretty entertaining. One of me and Mia's jobs was to read the instructions that came with the hygiene kits, and it was written in Spanish. Andre who is from Guatemala was there to help Mia and I. Andre decided that after we had already read the instructions to maybe 10 different people, he would tell us that we were mispronouncing a word. He said it really lightly like it was no big deal. Turns out that we were saying "pene" instead of "peine". Let's just say "pene" happens to be a private male body part and peine is "comb". So when we were saying, "use your pene twice a day and use it to clean your hair and scalp" you can imagine the snickers we were getting. To make it even worse, before Andre told us what we were saying, Mia and I decided to practice our pronounciation on that not so appropriate word. She would say it and then I would say it, we probably repeated it out loud maybe 20 times.~ Megan
Travel Day
Hola everyone!
Wow, clinics were a huge sucess. No one had idle hands as we saw a total of 74 patients on Monday and 91 on Tuesday. What a blessing it was for us and for the community. Although we were treating people for their illnesses we figured out the most beneficial gift we can give is the love we have from Christ. If you focus on what we are doing physically for the people of Guatemala it can be discouraging because we know it is just temporary relief; but that is what is so exciting about our real reason for being here, and that is to share the Good News and love of Jesus Christ through words and actions.
This morning we are just waiting for our driver to arrive (learning to live by Guatemalan time) and then we will head to La Avanzada for our clinics on Thursday and Friday and the community assessment. Dr. Elry and Liz have shown us such great kindness, and it will be sad to leave Holy Cross clinic, but we have a bigger mission field. I think all of us agree as well that we have not eaten this well in a long time.....Liz is an amazing cook.
I am sorry that this post is going to be so short, and I wish we had ample time every day to update you as to what we are experiencing, but each day is just too short. When we reach Gualan we plan to give you some stories from the past few days just to give you a taste of our journey in Guatemala.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Guatever
Hello everyone!!!! So glad that we finally get to send an update home. I am not sad that we have been so disconnected becuase it is kind of relaxing not having internet, but I know that you all are anxious to hear how it has been going. So without writing five pages I will try to catch you up with what we have experienced so far.
We only ran into a little panic in our travels. We left Seward at the early hour of 3:00AM, (a special thanks to Pastor Matthias for driving us there) and all met up at the airport where we checked in our 17 bags! Our flight was late leaving Omaha and the slight panic hit when we had to briskly walk (run) through the airport to be the last ones boarding our plane to Guatemala. When we arrived everyone made it through customs.......except Sarah who had most of the bags. They did not want to let her through, but finally did when Pastor Eduardo Bonilla, who had come to pick us up, went and talked with them.
We were taken to the most beautiful hotel, which was formerly a Baptist Seminary. Our first day in Guatemala and we were all Guatemalan wedding crashers; there was a ceremony happening in the gardens right when you walk in. Most of us girls watched from the balcony as the bride walked down the aisle, and then took a little nap during the music and the sermon. After we all caught up a little bit on some sleep it was time for church. Castillo Fuerte (Mighty Fortress) was the church that we attended. That is where Pastor Eduardo Bonilla preaches and Dr. Elry attends. Worshiping in an entire Spanish service was an amazing experience. Most of us were familiar enough with the tune of the hymns that we could stumble our way through the words, and the litergy was pretty much the same so we could guess at what they were saying. Pastor Abdiel Orozco gave a beautiful message on the Transfiguration first in Spanish and then in English. Dr. Elry's wife Liz made us a delicious meal after church which wrapped up our hectic day.
Sunday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and packed all of the bags in a van again that was headed to the medical clinic where we are staying for the next few days. Our group was going to the old city of Antigua for some sight seeing and shopping. The first place we went was Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross). It was simply breathtaking- Aaron gave his devotion on Psalm 8 while we all sat there admiring God's creation. Our driver took us into the city through the old streets and to a marketplace where we recieved just a small taste of local culture.
That afternoon we were on our way to Amatitlan and the Holy Cross Clinic. We ate, settled in and visited some families around the clinic. I cannot speak for eveyone, but I know that it was definitely an eyeopening experience for me. It was so powerful and humbling to see just how differently families live. We are so blessed in the United States; and I know you probably hear this all of the time, but we take so much for granted. These families have adjusted to their situations as well as they can. One of the most innovative things we saw was a woman scalding her tomatoes in one of the hot springs from the lake fed by the volcanic water. I am pretty sure none of us had seen anything like that before. The rest of the evening was full of organizing supplies, eating, and debriefing. It was a long day, and ended by the majority of the group....including Dr. Elry doing the Insanity workout in the living room :)
Clinics began this morning; The patients start arriving around 7:45, so we woke up for breakfast at 7 and ready to get to work at 8. There are so many different jobs that need to be done, so some of us are rotating around to experience everything. Heidi and Dr. Matthias are seeing patients, Grace is helping Dr. Matthias translate, Dr. J was working in the pharmacy with Lauren and Dr. Elry's son, Aaron and Zach were entertaining and sharing Jesus with the kids, Carol and Adam were checking patients in and taking blood pressure, temperature, and weight, Megan,Tim, Andre (our translator) and myself were at the hygiene kit/education station. The three of us got a nice crash course in Spanish and were actually explaining the kits to the patients by ourselves with a little bit of Andre's help. (we were reading it, but it is still hard). One of the neatest parts was that we had the opportunity to pray with all of the patients; as they were leaving we asked if they would allow usto pray for their family, we then read the Spanish prayer Dr. Elry wrote out for us, gave them their hygiene kit, and said adios!
The day is only halfway over and so much has already happened. We can really see God working in this place. He has such loving and caring servants in Guatemala that he has allowed us the opportunity to work with. I can see the exhaustion setting in as I look over to the couch right now and 5 team members are sitting on the couch sleeping, yawning, and contemplating. It is almost time for lunch so I will wrap up for now, and will hopefully have connection tomorrow so we can update everyone sooner.
Thank you for the continued prayers. In Jesus Name (En el nombre de Jesus)
We only ran into a little panic in our travels. We left Seward at the early hour of 3:00AM, (a special thanks to Pastor Matthias for driving us there) and all met up at the airport where we checked in our 17 bags! Our flight was late leaving Omaha and the slight panic hit when we had to briskly walk (run) through the airport to be the last ones boarding our plane to Guatemala. When we arrived everyone made it through customs.......except Sarah who had most of the bags. They did not want to let her through, but finally did when Pastor Eduardo Bonilla, who had come to pick us up, went and talked with them.
We were taken to the most beautiful hotel, which was formerly a Baptist Seminary. Our first day in Guatemala and we were all Guatemalan wedding crashers; there was a ceremony happening in the gardens right when you walk in. Most of us girls watched from the balcony as the bride walked down the aisle, and then took a little nap during the music and the sermon. After we all caught up a little bit on some sleep it was time for church. Castillo Fuerte (Mighty Fortress) was the church that we attended. That is where Pastor Eduardo Bonilla preaches and Dr. Elry attends. Worshiping in an entire Spanish service was an amazing experience. Most of us were familiar enough with the tune of the hymns that we could stumble our way through the words, and the litergy was pretty much the same so we could guess at what they were saying. Pastor Abdiel Orozco gave a beautiful message on the Transfiguration first in Spanish and then in English. Dr. Elry's wife Liz made us a delicious meal after church which wrapped up our hectic day.
Sunday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and packed all of the bags in a van again that was headed to the medical clinic where we are staying for the next few days. Our group was going to the old city of Antigua for some sight seeing and shopping. The first place we went was Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross). It was simply breathtaking- Aaron gave his devotion on Psalm 8 while we all sat there admiring God's creation. Our driver took us into the city through the old streets and to a marketplace where we recieved just a small taste of local culture.
That afternoon we were on our way to Amatitlan and the Holy Cross Clinic. We ate, settled in and visited some families around the clinic. I cannot speak for eveyone, but I know that it was definitely an eyeopening experience for me. It was so powerful and humbling to see just how differently families live. We are so blessed in the United States; and I know you probably hear this all of the time, but we take so much for granted. These families have adjusted to their situations as well as they can. One of the most innovative things we saw was a woman scalding her tomatoes in one of the hot springs from the lake fed by the volcanic water. I am pretty sure none of us had seen anything like that before. The rest of the evening was full of organizing supplies, eating, and debriefing. It was a long day, and ended by the majority of the group....including Dr. Elry doing the Insanity workout in the living room :)
Clinics began this morning; The patients start arriving around 7:45, so we woke up for breakfast at 7 and ready to get to work at 8. There are so many different jobs that need to be done, so some of us are rotating around to experience everything. Heidi and Dr. Matthias are seeing patients, Grace is helping Dr. Matthias translate, Dr. J was working in the pharmacy with Lauren and Dr. Elry's son, Aaron and Zach were entertaining and sharing Jesus with the kids, Carol and Adam were checking patients in and taking blood pressure, temperature, and weight, Megan,Tim, Andre (our translator) and myself were at the hygiene kit/education station. The three of us got a nice crash course in Spanish and were actually explaining the kits to the patients by ourselves with a little bit of Andre's help. (we were reading it, but it is still hard). One of the neatest parts was that we had the opportunity to pray with all of the patients; as they were leaving we asked if they would allow usto pray for their family, we then read the Spanish prayer Dr. Elry wrote out for us, gave them their hygiene kit, and said adios!
The day is only halfway over and so much has already happened. We can really see God working in this place. He has such loving and caring servants in Guatemala that he has allowed us the opportunity to work with. I can see the exhaustion setting in as I look over to the couch right now and 5 team members are sitting on the couch sleeping, yawning, and contemplating. It is almost time for lunch so I will wrap up for now, and will hopefully have connection tomorrow so we can update everyone sooner.
Thank you for the continued prayers. In Jesus Name (En el nombre de Jesus)
Friday, March 4, 2011
Prayers
Hello everyone! Only hours now before we head out, I cannot believe it. Thank you for all of your love and support. We have put together a prayer list for while we are away on the trip. We appreciate the prayers and the thoughts.
Daily Prayer Needs:
- Health of all team members
· - God’s presence and growth in our team relationships as we share this special time
· - Blessing on our team members who speak some Spanish that they can communicate effectively with more use of the language each day
· - Peaceful rest each night
· - That the love of Jesus would be evident to all we meet
Specific prayer needs:
Saturday
· - Safe travel with smooth connections as we arrive in Guatemala City
· - Blessed times of mutual encouragement as we worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ at the Lutheran congregation-Castillo Fuerte
· - Blessings on Dr Elry and Liz Orozco who will care for us while in Amatitlan
Sunday
· - Thanksgiving for the time to experience the Guatemalan culture in the beautiful city of Antigua
· - Safe travels to and from Antigua
· Prepare our hearts Lord for the first day of service
Monday
· - Wisdom for Sarah and Heidi in caring for patients
· - We ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit in all the interactions we have with the people
· - Give patience and an open mind to the team members to look for ways they can help both big and small
· - Calm any fears about social or cultural differences and help us see more similarities than differences
Tuesday
· Help for making adjustments to our second clinic day after reviewing the first day --so that we can serve even more effectively
· Continued development of loving Christian relationships amongst team members
Wednesday
· Safe travel to our hotel for the rest of the week
· Continued presence of the Spirit as our team encounters various forms of poverty and begins to process these images
· Blessings on the staff of the Miravelle hotel who will care for us for the remainder of our stay
Thursday
· - Bless our plans for clinic in a new setting today—let your presence bring our medical team wisdom and guide us in ways we can teach the local health providers
· - For God to provide families with willing hearts to share with us their lifestyles so that we can identify the biggest health risks in the community
· - Give caring, non-judgmental attitudes to the team members conducting these surveys in local homes
Friday
· - Allow us to meet some physical needs of the people today so that we can have the opportunity to show them the love of Christ—give us wisdom and efficiency so that we can see many people in our last day of clinic
· - Bless our team debriefing as we discuss our week of service
Saturday
· - Safe travels to Honduras for a day of touring and relaxation
Sunday
· - Safe travel to Guatemala City and ultimately back to Omaha
· - Blessed reunions with family
· - For the ongoing work of the Lutheran Church in Guatemala and CALMS
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Packing Party!
Sorry that we have not kept the blog more up to date, but I am going to try and catch you up right now.
WE LEAVE IN TWO DAYS!!!!!!
I cannot believe that it is already here. We had a "packing party" on Sunday where we brought all of the supplies that you have donated and that we have collected and attempted to fit them in the fewest bags possible. Dr. J so kindly cooked us all dinner and we relaxed for a while before we got to work. We ended up packing 11 duffel bags full of supplies!! Thank you so much for all of you who supported us through your money donations, medical supply donations, buying a t-shirt, going to Amigos, all of the above, or most importantly your prayers.
We are scheduled to head out at 6AM on Saturday morning. For most of us that means leaving Seward at 3AM :) Nothing like getting a jump on the day, right? We just need to make sure that all of us get there, check in all of the bags, and get checked in ourselves. We fly out from Omaha through Texas and off to Guatemala:) I cannot wait to get there. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that I am so excited to be there and to see what God is going to do through us while we are there.
WE LEAVE IN TWO DAYS!!!!!!
I cannot believe that it is already here. We had a "packing party" on Sunday where we brought all of the supplies that you have donated and that we have collected and attempted to fit them in the fewest bags possible. Dr. J so kindly cooked us all dinner and we relaxed for a while before we got to work. We ended up packing 11 duffel bags full of supplies!! Thank you so much for all of you who supported us through your money donations, medical supply donations, buying a t-shirt, going to Amigos, all of the above, or most importantly your prayers.
Aaron is really excited about the hygiene kits!!
Thank you so much for all of the donations!
We had some extra helpers for the night.
Just one of the many bags we will be lugging through the airport.
Some of the medications we packed.
Just taking a breather.
About half of the bags that are travelling with us to Guatemala, what a blessing.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The second meeting
Last night was only the second time that we met as a full group, or as close to a full group as we can get. Our Physician's Assistant who will be coming on the trip with us was there last night and was able to meet us students. We went over some of the old business from the last meeting and handed out some new forms. We began the evening in God's word with a devotion. Then we discussed what we are looking forward to on the trip, what we may feel threatened by, or things that we not have thought about learning before. Overall, there was a feeling of excitement among us all to learn more about ourselves, our vocations, and our Heavenly Father. We brainstormed a few more fundraising ideas, and discussed the hygiene kits that we are going to bring. If anyone has any suggestions, or wants to donate anything, let me know! Keep praying for us as we continue to prepare for God to work through us in Guatemala.
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