Thank You Father

Hello Everyone from Guatemala,

I am sorry to keep writing to you so often but I just have to share with you the amazing things that are going on here.

I need to start off by giving the glory to God for the things He has done. When I lay down in bed last night and just thought of all the things He has done in our lives it is really overwhelming. For those of you who know me, you know that if I got what I deserved, I would be burning right now, right? (Hey before you shake your head, you need to clean the dust off your wings there angles)

But seriously, thanks to what Jesus did on the cross, I and these people here can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But someone needs to take the message to them, right? Well, as you also know, I am woefully weak at Evangelizing. These people not only speak 21 different languages, they all have different customs and traditions and so I have just been loving them and taking care of their medical and dental problems for 4 years now, and planting the seeds, but as I have indicated in the past it is time to actively bring the message of Jesus Christ to the Mayans of Guatemala.

But who could preach and teach to these people better, me, a Gringo who can’t even speak more than 10 words of Quetchie, or a native? Of course a native can relate to their own people better. So as you know we have been praying for a couple to come and help us with that part of the ministry. Well, a friend of ours named Phil from Chicago called me up the other day and said hey I want you to go to my missions camp on the ocean and meet this couple from Chicago who specialize in training local pastors in foreign countries. So I hopped in my launch and headed for the ocean. Two hours later I got to El Farro (the Lighthouse) and met this couple.

Folks, the man is a fantastic teacher to the native Mayan pastors. I watched him teach a class and he had these guys so excited and encouraged, it was truly unbelievable. He also was a music minister and plays classical guitar. His wife not only loves and works with kids but is a RN (Nurse). She also writes and produces Dramas. Folks these two people would be perfect for helping in the areas in which we are so weak. (I just can’t believe we met them by accident). Please keep them in your prayers as they decide if they are to come here. I can tell you that when we met we had fried chicken, French fries and coleslaw with a Coke but I can’t for the life of me remember their names. (Man I hate that)!

So why am I telling you this and wasting your valuable time? Because yesterday more pieces of the puzzle fell in place. Now hang in there. I’m so excited I can’t stand it.

Do you guys remember anything about a bus that we have here and use as a mobile medical clinic? Well anyway, yesterday I took a team of 6 boaters along with the local government doctor and three of her staff along with me to go do clinics in a village that had been cut off from food and water by the flood here. You cannot imagine how nice it is to fire up the bus and drive to the village with everything in its place and the right meds and equipment and supplies.

But that is not all. Take a look at our malaria lab!

Now I can see patients and if I suspect Malaria or Dengue Fever I can take a blood sample and check right in the bus to see what they have and give the proper medicines. Folks this is a big deal to me.

We drove through areas that had 3 feet of water over the road and then set up a clinic in 10 minutes. So within 10 minutes of arriving at villages we are seeing patients. You may notice the orange generator behind the bus. That gives us electricity for our AC units and microscope and other medical / dental equipment.

I put the doctor inside and she saw only patients who were very sick. The others were given vitamins, skin care, worm medicine, and eye and ear care. When we have a doctor, I triage the people so that the doctor can see 1 out of every 10 or so people, instead of using valuable time seeing people who just need worm meds or vitamins etc. By doing this and having a doctor, we can see many more patients in a day. (Who knows, maybe some day we will have a surgeon and an ER Doc here. I know it sounds too good to be true but it could happen) wink, wink, to Dr. Bill and Dr. Jeff.

Yesterday we treated 140 patients by 1:00 and then moved to a second village and treated another 140 people all in the same day. It was fantastic! Thank God for this Bus huh?

Dr. Marta seeing patients in the mobile clinic

This little one is why we are here

At first I thought he was just full of worms, but after examining him we realized the mother had another baby right after she had him and she could not produce enough milk for both. So she feed the newborn and this little one is starving to death of mal-nutrition.

My hope is that someday we will have enough people helping us to take these kinds of children in for 3 months and nurse them back to health and then return them to their mothers. This little boy tore my heart out. He could not even produce tears he was so dehydrated.

One of the major problems here with the flooding and water is trench foot and fungus.

If you would like to help us with Anti-Fungal cream, I could give you the address of the next team coming and they could bring it down with them. If you want to send any let me know OK?

One last thing to share with you. I got home and was working on the wiring of the bus and a man and wife pull into the driveway. He gets out and introduces himself to me as the local pastor in a church here in our village! So I show him the Emergency Room and dorm facilities and he asked me if I could help him to train local men in the villages to be pastors. I start looking for a hidden camera thinking this is a set up just to see the hair on my neck stand up. I said, "Are you serious? I have been praying for a local man of God to be able to receive the training and support to go into the villages of my area and do this very thing!"

I can hardly speak because it is like for years I have only seen the back of a woven rug. I see frays and strings of different colors and patterns that don’t match. But today the Lord turned the rug over and I saw a beautifully skilled perfectly woven piece of art.

It is all coming together. Now, if I can just keep my hands off the steering wheel, and let Him guide the Bus! I know we will see His hand has been at work all these years to complete what He has started.

So on July 21st, there will be 9 young pastors here on the top floor of the dorm in a class room having their first pastors conference and training here in our area. I am just flipping out! Who but God could have done so much and planned this so well? I wish I could tell you, "OH Yes, yes I had this all planned out and had set goals and business plans and projections bla bla bla ." But the truth is, I didn’t. God has truly brought these things to pass and for that I give Him all the Glory. Amen!

God Bless,
In His Service,

Bryan & Riechelle & Family

Junglemedic Missions
Rio Dulce, Izabal
Guatemala Central America

E-Mail: Bryan@JungleMedicMissions.org
Web Site: http://www.junglemedicmissions.org/

This page was last updated 07/13/06