GCC Guatemala 2011
Mission trip to ChichicastenangoKen’s Medical Clinic
It has been a great trip so far. From Monday through Thursday we have held clinics in four different villages at varying distances from Chichi. For all of these villages this was the first time a medical clinic had been held there. The clinic on Tuesday was very remote and the clinic yesterday was held at a church in a city about a two hour drive from Chichicastenango. All clinics, as always, were hosted by the local church and it is so great to help support the local pastors and their churches in this outreach effort as well as be able to serve Christ and show the Guatemalan people the love of Christ by the members of our clinic team. The Guatemalans are such beautiful people and so very grateful for the medical care and medications we were able to provide to them. But they are even more appreciative knowing that these wonderful people from Grace Community Church, with whom Diane and I are most privileged to serve, have given of their time and talents on their spring break to serve Christ in Guatemala. Each day our clinic team has been outstanding and each team member brings their own God given gifts and talents to serve these people in need in their own unique way. But I continue to grow in my appreciation of how well our Grace teams not only love and serve the Guatemalans but also how well our team serves each other. The clinics are so busy and at times a little chaotic but each person on our team is constantly checking in on each other to make sure they are OK, to see if they need anything, and most of all to provide encouragement. Yesterday we did not bring enough lunches with us and several of our team members were without a lunch. Then our team began sharing their power bars and granola bars with each other and as soon as one of us got one we were willing to give it up to another who had not had a lunch even if that meant we would go without. It was really cool to see how much everyone cared about each other. Linda saw a renal patient yesterday who did his own peritoneal dialysis on himself and only saw his doctor once a month to pick up his dialysis catheters. He had not had labs checked for a year. His blood pressure was very high and he had a lot of swelling in both legs. We were able to call one of our nephrologist colleagues at the hospital at which we work and get a renal consult from him while here in Guatemala and then provide the patient the needed instructions to share with his local physician to help resolve his current problems. We have identified several patients who need surgery and will work with Matt Capehart to refer them to the Chichi hospital to get the care they need. I won’t have time to mention everyone who has served in such an outstanding manner at our clinics. Kathy and Karen have been such awesome nurses in our triage area every day. They have been so outstanding in the love and caring they have shown to the patients all week and their great nursing skills that has added so much to the quality of care we have provided to our patients. Karen also brought a number of items with her to Guatemala, including some glasses that her daughter had once used and God had led her to bring those eye glasses to Guatemala. One young girl checked into clinic with symptoms of difficulty with her vision. Karen gave the glasses to the girl and she was suddenly able to see clearly and no longer had a need to see a physician as her symptoms had resolved through this one act of kindness. Linda and Connie have been outstanding as my physician colleagues and the patients, the local churches, and our entire team have been so grateful to have such great physicians serving with us here. The pharmacy has been led by my beloved wife, Diane, who has served with such great joy and caring and she has truly blessed not just the Guatemalans we have served but everyone of us that has been so grateful for the infectious joy with which she serves. Amanda and Greg served in the pharmacy at various times this week. Both are fluent in Spanish and were in their element in being the person providing instructions to the patients in their own language telling them what each medicine was being prescribed for and the correct manner to take their medications. They served in this capacity with great joy and that was clearly evident to the patients whose lives they touched and all of us as well. Many other members of our team served in the pharmacy throughout the week, counting pills, filling, and dispensing prescriptions. This included Kate, Alisa, Cam, Aaron, Mia, Emma, Austin, Doug (back for an encore performance), Claire, Kathy (when not in triage), Connie (when not being a doc), and Tim. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out and if so will add them on a subsequent entry. We saw between 116 patients on a day when we had only two docs serving to a high of 147 patients on our busiest day. Another really cool part of each clinic was the activities for the kids. Many people from our team were involved in leading and playing with the Guatemalan children. Abi was outstanding with the kids as were so many other team members. I can’t write much about what happened as the docs are mostly in their exam rooms seeing patients and only come out occasionally so I missed most of what happened with the kid’s activities. I will leave it to others to blog about all of the great things that happened.
Ken.
Thursday Home Building:
Another incredible day in Chi chi- the weather was fantastic as we got an early start. We had a big day as we set out to build 2 homes with only a team of 9. But unfortunately 1 of the team, our leader Doug was suffering the Mayan revenge for something he ate. after a good fight, we lost him by 10.
But the Group, Tim Glass and his family, Wife Connie, son Cam, daughters Emma and Mia along with Austin Guevera and nurse(now hammer expert) Amanda Endicott, did a great job. I was proud to be on the team. Our 3 local helpers, took on extra as well.
And after a lot of hard work, and some sore arms, all pounding – no nail guns, and yes some fun and learning – Bam the house is done and we are handing keys to the door to a family, often a widow with multiple children. They are so happy to be home owners and on their way to providing a little more of the good life, the security and the hope for the kids and future generations.
Something special happens to you when you have a family, or a group of children praying for you in another language , and thanking god for their dreams being answered. you realize how big our God is, and how important each of us are in his Kingdom. Remember Jesus saying “what you did for the least of these you did for me”? God is working here, we just helped out. And it feels good.
And so I bring this post to an end: This mission trip blessed so many people, our brothers and sisters, God’s children, and all of us who were here. I cannot thank enough our team- Matt and Leslie Capehart our host’s and leaders at Mission frontier, Doug, Tim, Connie, Cam,Emma, Mia, Greg, Kathy,Alisa,Austin,Arron,Abi,Ken, Diane,Linda,Claire,Katie, Amanda and Karen. The 2011 Grace CC / Guatemala trip team. This group has some amazing kids, Katie, Claire, Alisa,Austin,Arron,Abi,Cam, Emma and Mia. To see the love and faith of these young people has moved me. Thank you guys- You rocked
Strength and honor – in his name
Dale
Be careful what you pray for
Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God…”. So this was my prayer today for the team at breakfast. As we spend our last work day in Chichi, I encouraged everybody to take in the environment around them to see where God is present.
So God, being the humorist He is, made sure I was really still as a bout of Mayan revenge overtook my innards. For a time I thought El Diablo himself was have a wrestling match in my stomach.
So another great reminder from God he does desire us to “Be still, and know him…, because in this posture we can experience the second part of the verse “… I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” And this is God’s desire for us to exalt Him in all that we do and say.
So as the teams continued to serve in and around Chichi for the last day, I look forward to hear their stories of stillness.
Grace and Peace to all. -Doug
Here are some random pictures of the team not being still. Cam Glass at a Building project, Austin, Dale and Amanda washing feet at the shoe ministry.
Shoe ministry update from today Wed.
Beautiful travel today as we went almost 3 hours up into the mountains. However as beautiful as it was, it is a bit scary, and caused much of the team to encounter car sickness. Oh by the way, we are traveling in a look-alike mini van. The terrain is built for nothingless than a hummer, and I mean a real one. But get this, there were 19 of us in this van, 18 inches from the left side of a 1000 foot cliff drop. its rock and dirt, and not real roads. Oh, and the chicken busses will pass you anywhere, regardless if it is safe or not. This is the land of 180 degree switchback turns, every 1/4 mile.
But we got there, and we fitted and provide shoes for about 90 children.
Then we left, down the mountain, drove for 2 hours, an into a dirt road, left turn onto a dirt road. We passed a few small villages, and turn after turn got deeper into te country. Then there it was, a church, and kids everywhere. This is their life, they do not leave there, and they are self-sufficient. The kids are so Beautiful!
We prayed, sang songs, and shoe ‘ed another 70 or so. then it happened, we ran out, it was time to go.No anger, no nasty words, they just prayed for our safe travels, and rayed that we would return to see them next year…… Yes, they are beautiful
The motion sickness got us all. This is our awesome team of young ladies getting needed fresh air on the roof. – Moms,it’s ok - we were parked.
Strength and honor – Dale
Morning in Chichi
I suppose a morning in Chichi is similar to a morning anywhere in the world, but when you remove yourself from Hamilton County aka the USA, your sense of yourself is diminished. You know you will leave the end of this week but a piece of your heart will stay behind and a piece of Chichi’s heart you will take home.
For me this is reminder that Our God is a God of the universe. As the Chris Tomlin song says “Into the darkness You shine out of ashes we rise there is no one like You none like You” Sometimes it is our own darkness and sometimes we are Jesus’ light. This week in Chichi I would have to say the people of Guatemala have pushed the darkness that ofthen times is part of my life. For this I’m grateful.
Grace and Peace to all.
Doug
Our day at the clinic
We started our day at 7:00 am to get to the village of El Narnjo about 1.5 hours away and 8500 feet. We had the opportunity to serve and be blessed by 135 Guatemalan children, women and men. The view was spectacular, but more than that people were beautiful. Here are a brother and sister waiting to see Dr. Connie Glass.
As you serve in the village, you experience the God they trust in is the same God we trust in. You see it in the way they trust you, the way they let you become a part of their family by letting you hold their baby, and the expression of gratitude in their eyes has you serve them. My prayer is as they say prayers of thanksgiving for us for being there, is that they recognize they give to us some much more. He is a picture of the baby and her nurse. 
The wonderful thing about the clinic is you see everybody on the team jumping in where ever they can serve. Whether it is triage, the pharmacy, giving instruction to a patient, playing a game or doing a craft you can see the teams selfless nature in all that they do. You get to experience what Jesus called us all to do, to be servant, and give our service to others to glorify the god we all know and love. Here is part of the team in the Pharmacy that backed up Amanda. Emma Glass, Kate Testerman, Diane Klotz, & Mia Glass.
We are all looking forward to what God has in store for us tomorrow. Grace and Peace to all.
God at work in shoes and jump rope
Part of the team headed to a medical clinic and the other part went to two local chuches to particapte in a shoe ministry today. The picture above was from the first church in the village of Chuabaj about 20 mintues from Chichi towards Gauatemala City.
The unfortunate thing is there was a semi truck accident which block the road which required us to take an 1.25 hour detour. But on the plus side we got to see a part of Guatemala we would not have seen. Our detouor allowed the team to see or two vehicles pass each other on a dirt road where the overall width of the 2 vehicles are 25 feet wide and the road is 20 feet wide. It is magic you can’t even seen in Las Vegas.
We were all humbled to be able to serve the kids at the 2 villages and saw in all of them a real gratitude for what we were doing and their patience to wait for their shoes. The team was very humbled by the surroundings where the people lived, but again saw them want to enjoy life as any other person would want to live. You can see this with Clarie laughing and playing with jump Rope with the kids.
Some Observations from Dale
I am going to attempt to blog often this week, but already I can tell that my senses are confusing my minds pre conceived notions. Like all of God’s creation, the country of Guatemala is beautiful, the weather is awesome and being in the mountains +/- 7000 there are few bugs, and pests, but green lush vegetation, fresh fruits (local- within a mile). The town of Chichicategnango is right at our feet, so are the metal roofs of the 216 SF homes of the townspeople. There is a beef slaughter house (wide open) on our walk to town, and only 500 yards away. Hence the amazing quantity of stray dogs, lots of stray dogs! – but these are not your pet’s -
We had some time in the market yesterday – no not your tourist market – but your local market for locals - if you like your lunch to be sold to you alive this is perfect for you.
Sorry for the rambling but there is so much going on- Guatemalans do a lot with a little, and are very industrious with the concept or Re-use of items into a new use - cars are abused due to bad roads, motorcycles are made of copied parts and imported plastic, and the people work every day to live..
Our team is impressive, the families are kind and helpful, and the kids have more heart and understanding than I had for many years, I am proud to be serving with them and I am looking forward to the shoe mission and clinic this morning. Cam,Austin, Mia. Abby,Arron,Alisa, Kate and Emma you guys rocked on the shoes!
Strength and Honor – Dale
Coffee Cup You call this a coffee cup
Where all the diehard coffee drinkers are relishing the hardiness of Guatemala coffee, there is one consummate coffee drinker questioning the size of the coffee containers. Dale thinks there might be a market for large coffee cups in Guatemala.
Today the team experienced Chichi’s Market Place. Deals galore. Many stories of creative and strategic negotiations, but my favorite was Tim Glass’s. He being a new amateur photographer anything he bought, and he bought quite a bit, he negotiated a request to take the person’s picture; which to my knowledge all the candidates obliged.
When we got back and had another excellent meal at Casa del Rey we sorted meds and shoes. Just for clarity we sorted them separately.
We all are anxious with the anticipation of what god has in store with us tomorrow. Keep us in our prayers in all that we do we glorify God.
In the land of Eternal Spring
We arrived safely in Chichicastenango today to a beautiful day. Our biggest concern was getting through customs. I would like to say we got through unscathed, but Tim Glass being the suspicious character he is got caught with undocumented shoes. Well after Tim gave a $130.00 donation we got on are way. He was duely impressed with his performance as he stayed calm as a young Guatemalan lady spoke to him in Spanish about his law breaking activities.
As I travel back for my 5th trip, I am always amazed on how my stress level ratchets down. A level of comfort and familiarity comes home to roost. I’m excited for the team and the experiences they are yet to have, but enjoyed the kids wide-eyed enjoyment as the ran around the grounds of Casa del Rey.
Continue to keep us in our prayers as we wait with great anticipation of what God will reveal to each and ever one of us on the team.
