Hello Everybody from Guatemala .

Well it is hard to believe the year 2009 is almost gone. It certainly has been a year of change for me personally and of course the world as I am sure it has been for you folks in the States.  However God is good and he has provided us the teams and medicine and contacts with people and organizations that we never imagined or could have orchestrated on our own.

When looking at our statistics it appears we have treated over 10,000 people in remote villages here in Guatemala and emergency cases where people would have died had we not had a well equipped ER and ambulance. I only say this to thank those of you who have donated your time and energy and equipment and funds to help us do the work God has given us to help the people who have no where else to turn.

Today the health care workers in the government health system are actually going on strike today and staying away from work to protest the fact their government has not paid them or given the supplies or medicine they need to work with. It is hard when people come from such long distances to a government clinic only to be turned away because they only see 15 patients a day. We have socialized medicine here so a Dr. makes the same pay whether they see 1 patient or 100, so they only see 15. Why not?

So the rest have two options. One is they can go to a private Dr in the next town over but most don’t have the money for the bus let alone pay a private Dr and then be given a prescription to go buy meds that cost 3 months wages, or they can come here and get free medical care and free medicine.

So how can I afford as a missionary to give out thousands and thousands of dollars worth of medicine to these people when donations due to the economy have dropped for me and all missionaries to the point many are leaving the mission field?

Well it is people like these…

Geoff and Sue Schultz up in Massachusetts spend untold hours collecting, packaging, sorting and then shipping medicines at their own expense to teams coming down which let us use money for prescription medicines that cannot be donated and need to be paid for.

Sue working on meds in her home.

Also the teams themselves collect meds from various sources and bring them down. Some have friends or relatives in the medical field and bring their donated medicines and some people who don’t even come on the trip save coupons and then go buy meds like antifungal cream and gauze and bandages and then donate them to the teams coming down.

           So this is how we are able to get our meds for free and then give them out for free.

I also want to thank Dr Amanda Gosman and all the people at the Fresh Start Program for doing the surgery on Marcos and Rodrigo.

They would have lived the rest of their lives as monsters in their villages had it not been for people like you who have prayed and supported and donated your time and skills to help people like Marcos and Rodrigo. They are both doing wonderful now.

Also we are extremely grateful to the King Family of Brian and Christine who connected us to their son Simon King the owner of Med Vision.

With out his equipment we could not do the many medical procedures we have been able to do with out the oversight of a real doctor guiding and direction us. We would not be able to bring in surgery teams to do tubal ligations or other surgeries without this equipment.

We also want to thank the teams that came down this year and donated their time and talents and finances to help the indigenous people of Guatemala . Thank You from the people and Thank You from us.  Or as they say

Thank You in Quetchi:  “ Bantiuush “

( I could be wrong this may also mean: “I have a urinary tract infection”) but it is the thought that counts…..

I also want to thank the Guatemalan business people in the city who have helped me with donations to help me form a Foundation. With out their help I could not have done this. One man in particular named Carlos Perez Albert is a very humble man, but he has done more to help us in getting a foundation than anyone and is a true friend of me personally and Junglemedic Missions. His lawyer said the Foundation should be approved and ready in Jan. ( Although he did not mention what year……just kidding… at least I hope he meant in 2010…) This will really make a big difference for us in how we account for our finances and tax status and may even help us in getting medical equipment donated and not have to pay duty.

We have also been blessed with people from Michigan who donated glasses and showed us how to do exams and give people glasses and the gift of sight. They also donated two audio units that play with out batteries or electricity. They can be wound with a handle to generate the power supply or even put in the sun and a small solar panel charges the power supply. These units look like a cassette tape recorder but in fact are loaded with the entire Bible spoken in Quetchie. Imagine taking this into a village and letting all of the kids and adults sit around at night and listen to the Word of God the Bible spoken to them in their own language, which they have never heard anyone else speak before.

Here is just one of the pastors we gave the unit to. He has a church in Guatemala and also travels to Belize to preach and teach at a Spanish church in Belize .

Pastor Eduardo receiving his unit to take back to his village.

We were also blessed with some donations of BP cuffs and Stethoscopes. So we have given some of them to some local nursing students from our village who are attending nursing school but could not afford to buy their own BP Cuff or Stethoscope. Also we have a man who lives very far up in the mountains in a village called Cash Lam Poon. He is their only help if they are hurt or have a sickness but he has no help from any one. So we have given him medicine and training and here we are giving him a BP cuff and stethoscope.

He put the stethoscope around his neck and I gave him a brand new Blood Pressure cuff.

He thanked me and I started to go back to work and he asked me to stop he wanted to give me something. He had tears running down his cheeks and said he had been praying for a stethoscope and Blood Pressure cuff for many years and something told him to call me and ask. He said I am sorry I cannot pay you but here is a bag of oranges and it is all I have. I was touched and again all I can say is thank you to the people who have donated and make this work possible.

Also I have a good friend Dave Main who is a commercial airline pilot and has always loved helping people and doing mission work. He truly in his heart wants to use his skills as a pilot to help missions. Well he actually went out and got his helicopter license and when he told his instructor what he was doing the instructor got all excited and wanted to be a part of his dream of bringing a helicopter down here and being able to transport and respond to emergencies that normally take 2 to 4 hours by land or river, and instead get their by helicopter in a fraction of the time.

They are coming down in March to do a scouting expedition and see if it is feasible to do this project.

                    There are two other pilots now interested and who knows what God may do.

So all I have to do is dig around for some funds, ( I have a lot of change that is fallen out of people pockets in my couch, that will add up quickly)

OK Like I say maybe it is just a dream but then again look what God has done already.

Marleni and I just read Exodus Chapter 14 last night and I thought if God can part the Red Sea, He can provide a helicopter……But we will leave that up to Him…..Causing the sea to open up and make walls on the Israelites right and left and walk across dry land is one thing, but getting a helicopter….that would be the same as the Red Sea for me….

I guess I could go on and on about the things the good Lord has done for us and how much people have blessed us but I would be here all day and I have lots to do, so I will sign off for the year of 2009 and just say:

Thank You all and May God Truly Bless You and Yours for all you have done to help those who have no one else to help them.

Until Next Year.

Have a Blessed Christmas and New Year!

All of this in Jesus Name!

Gracias ( That is Spanish for Thank You)

Bryan & Marleni

P.S.

   My web developer, Geoff Schultz, has been working for over a year to implement an on-line donation system.  The biggest problem was finding a non-profit organization in the US who would accept the donations and process them without taking a percentage.  Geoff also volunteers at the Marlborough, MA food pantry (www.mcs-inc.net), which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and they have agreed to accept donations in Bryan's name.  Geoff implemented a system which allows donations to be made though PayPal using a credit card or a PayPal account.  97.5% of your donation goes to the Jungle Medic organization and the rest is the PayPal processing fee.  You can receive a donation form via e-mail using this system.  You can find this page at my regular web site www.Junglemedicmissions.org and go to the donation page or use this link also http://www.junglemedicmissions.org/Online_Donation.shtml

I just wanted to let you know Geoff has done a lot of work to make things easier for helping us with the work here if you would like to donate.

Bryan Buchanan