[News] Guatemala mission, Feb.18, 2009

[Berkshire Mission]

Wed. Feb. 18, 2009

 

Greetings to the followers of the most high God!

 

Is it well with your soul?  We pray that the answer is a most definite “yes

we have been well watered.”

Glory to God, for we are saying the same thing.  The unity of our people is
so pleasing to see that I am sure there are angels walking around with
smiles on their faces too.  The owners here have a huge caged in hut filled
with little parakeets, at least 20 or so.  They are always so happy and
kissing, talking and preening each other.  Even the occasional squabble
sounds like they are still having fun and would never choose being any where
else.  It is a great reminder of how we should be with each other everyday.
We are the family of God.

There is a local man that comes to our construction site to sell pineapples
to our folks.  He peels them, leaves the stem on as a handle and it ends up
looking just like an ice cream cone. What a great healthy novelty on a hot
day.

Anna got to feel the wind in her hair today as a local man let her ride his
horse down the street, she was thrilled. I am sure she would have liked to
spend the rest of the day riding that horse but she responsibly got back to
her painting job. Marcie and Sue were having fun as they worked in harmony.
Painting away and doing a beautiful job.  They invited me to look at the
opposite side of the building where they had not finished yet so I could
compare.  There was a huge difference and by tomorrow that one will have a
coat of paint on it too. When I saw Amy she was hanging over the roof of one
building to paint the top portion.  She stopped long enough to show me where
she had painted her name on her arm.  This way when the paint is washed off
she will have her name on her arm.  She worked in the sun so her plan will
work well. Alexandria and Karolline were also busy painting the building to
house missionary doctors and others in the future. Emily, Ross, and
Christina were the supply people today, bringing cement and tiles to be put
down. Anthony, Paul and Steve were right next to them scraping mortar for
the tiles.  I have not heard a single complaint from anyone and even after
this many days our folks are still in unity. Pastor Dwight was used in
translating today as well as over seeing the painting.  Eric and Dave worked
on the septic drains that are blocking up.  We need to get a back hoe in but
as of this afternoon they want to charge us $90 an hour.  And that is
American money, so we’re talking big bucks here and are trying to work out a
solution that will please all.

Isabel who works where we are staying had to be taken to the hospital today
as she was having an anxiety attack.  Poor little thing, she has 3 young
children and a husband that beats her.  None of her family will step in to
help; she is trapped in a sad situation.

The TV station and the Mayor came to our medical clinic today and filmed the
eye clinic.  They interviewed Gladys from the pharmacy; she was nervous but
did a great job.  Glasses given out today amounted to 100 and the dozen
chairs they had in the waiting room were filled in an orderly fashion to
wait their turn.

Dr. Roy told me that he has seen at least 500 people with diabetes so far.
And many of those have numbers running up to 500.  They are giving them
injections of insulin at the clinic to bring the levels down quickly and
then setting them up with pills as an ongoing ritual.  The doctors will set
up blood checking stations at 3 different churches with the elder of that
church in charge of the procedure and equipment.  And then that elder will
be in charge of handing out the pills that will be needed.  This way there
is someone that will be responsible as many of these people just have no
real idea about what is going on with blood sugar levels.  This is a new
epidemic for these people and it will be the undoing of them if not
understood and changed, quickly.  Dr. Tim remarked to me that he would like
to have a team sent down here to study the situation. Within a 20 mile
radius we are met with two complete opposites.  The people that are near
civilization are diabetic to epidemic proportions and 20 miles away at the
Mayan village there was only 1 person who had diabetes and only 1 had
hypertension.  Besides gastroenteritis the only problems seen in the
villages were worm and parasite infestation.  All in the villages were about
30 pounds lighter in weight than those in Poptun.

The stool test results came back on the girl with the neurological
condition.  She is infested with 4 different kinds of worms.  Regular tape
worm, dwarf tapeworm, giardiasis and whip worm which is just never heard of
in humans. She also has other amoebas. The rest of the family will need to
be tested as they most likely all have them.  They were given medicine but
keeping the worms away will be the hard part.  These folks use a slop bucket
for their sewer and then dump it in the back yard, hence reinvesting them
continually.  A 42 year old woman came in with 8 children today to see Dr.
Tim.  The children ranged in ages from 1 year to 19 years old.  She did tell
the doctor that it was her plan to only have a couple of kids but her
husband and family put pressure on her to keep having babies.  At one point
the mom had to ask the 5 year old what the names of her children were.  The
poor mom wasn’t even mentally capable of doing that, there would be no way
she could follow through on medicine dosing schedules for her family.  She
was sweet but her behavior was inappropriate and it was only a few minutes
to access her mental abilities.  All of the family had bloody diarrhea with
round worm infestation and other amoebas.   Dr. Tim paid for the long term
medication for the family and gave orders for a neighbor from the church to
be in charge of seeing they all get it 3 times a day for 7 days.  This would
be something that would have been impossible for the mom to follow through
herself. Oh how much suffering in this world and it all started with one
decision not to trust the Maker in the Garden of Eden. This is not the way
it was ever meant to be and Jesus cries along with us.  We wait until that
great day when all sorrow will be gone along with the crying and dying. 

 

  A truck filled with about 8 policemen, complete with faces blackened,
camouflage fatigues and carrying machine guns stopped at the clinic.  Now
that was a little more than an alarming sight.  They came in and wanted to
be treated in the dental clinic.  Of course they had no intentions of
sitting down and waiting there turn, and I doubt it would have been a good
idea to tell them to do so.  So they were treated before the waiting people.
Dr. Mark, Renita, Carol, Stephanie, and Bev stayed long after the clinics
were closed to make sure that each of the people in line had been treated.  

The project we are working on here is called “God’s helping hands.”  The
land was bought 8 years ago by Dr. Lopez and 2 ½ years ago Dr. Tim Bainum
became involved with the project through  Dr. Lopez’ son  David who is one
of the staff members at Maranatha and a friend.

The plan is to have the clinic open full time with the use of a sliding
scale fee for patients supplementing the clinic.  Loma Linda Hospital will
be sending residents down here for rotation on a regular basis.  There will
also be doctors and other workers from Borleson Adventist Hospital coming
for rotation.  There should be room to house 25 workers to stay at a time.
And of course any medical people are invited to join the blessing of serving
and come to Guatemala.  The clinic is expected to be fully operational in 3
months. Dr. Tim had to fly back to the states this afternoon but will be
back here again to work in June.  May the Lord bless his selfless ministry
for others.

 

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the
bones.” Prov. 16:24

 

Have a peaceful night my friends. May angels sing you love songs of Jesus
and  may your heart be filled to overflowing with the goodness of His grace.

Remember, Jesus has always loved you best!

 

Smiles from the heart,

Jennifer Young, Mission Reporter

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