Hello Everyone from Guatemala,
I hope I am not out of line writing this but I am going to send it anyway. First of all, I have never gotten the kind
of wonderful response to any news letter I have ever written as much as this last one. I am humbled to have people
like you care enough to write and say Bryan "Slow Down and take a break".
I am trying and I am also changing my eating habits. Yes, I know you all think I am this
hunk of solid mass of rippling muscle but the truth is I am a fat boy and love to eat. But today I ate 2 apples and
a vegetable (I don't know what it was but Riechelle made it and it tasted… really uh,,, kind of like,,, uh… boiled celery).
I thought, you know if she breaded and deep fried this thing it may not be half bad, but that is the kind of thing that
got me into this overweight fat boy mess in the first place. So, I ate it and know that in time I will learn to love vegetables.
But seriously, I wanted to write back to you before my next team comes in and I don't have time to write because I'll be too busy.
Here is my dilemma. Let's say I am tired and I have seen 300 patients that day. I see that the team is all set for bed and
there is water and the toilets work and say I am going to bed. I go to bed and fall into a deep sleep. One hour later I hear
the ambulance siren at my front door. They say, "Bryan, sorry to bother you again but we have a lady here whose baby has 104
temp and is having seizures." I could say, "Sorry I am tired and everyone tells me I am crazy for not resting and taking care of
myself so the baby will just have to try and make it one its own." But something in my heart says,
"I may not be a doctor, but
if I have nothing else, I have been given a doctors heart." I can not say to these people who have no one or no where to go,
"sorry, you are on your own, I'm tired and ready to collapse, so see ya."
When I was a Paramedic, I did not like my job, I loved it. I still love it and still do it for free. I have never claimed to
have the intelligence of a real doctor, but I do have the heart of a doctor. So here is how you can help me:
Pray!
I have an Emergency Room doctor coming to spend time with me for the month of Jan. He is a Christian and was a fine doctor in
a prestigious hospital in Columbus, OH. He has a genetic eye disease that has taken away his sight from being able to see directly
ahead of him. But he can see from the sides (peripheral vision). He has a wealth of knowledge and will be an asset to me and
my work here.
I also have a friend who is a surgeon. He wants to come down here and help me so bad he can taste it, but he has been asked
to go and work at a hospital in Arizona. I believe God has opened this door for him to do this for a year them come down here
and help me on a more full time basis. But for now I do need your prayers that God would send the right couple to help us.
Opps got to go!
OK, I'm back. As I was writing to you, a pick up truck just pulled in. Its 9:39 pm here. They just brought a 71 year old man
in who cannot breathe with COPD. He has lived in a thatched roof house on a dirt floor his whole life. They cook their
tortillas over an open fire and they breathe smoke their entire life. He is skin and bones and even his skin and hands are
full of soot. I can't imagine his lungs. I thought about telling him to just go away and leave me alone, but here is the
question. Would you? And More importantly, What Would Jesus Do? So I set up the neb unit and gave him a treatment and he
could then breathe. I asked the lady who came in with him if she was he daughter. She said
"No, he had no family at all. We
heard him gasping for air next door and brought him to you." I said, "Thank you for your kindness to him." So the bottom
line is I'm going to try and go to bed again and hope no one else needs medical care at least tonight.
So to finish what I was saying, (You know I am forgetting a lot more things lately and also I am forgetting a lot more
things lately). Pray that God will send the right ones to help us in the work here in Guatemala. I know He will in His
timing. He always does, huh?
I’ll get back to you after the dental team leaves and let you know about the shuttle bus. I can't wait to see it tomorrow.
It still says Marriott on the side. (I'm thinking of going to the airport with a little monkey tuxedo suit on and picking
up tourists and taking them to any hotel and making a few bucks.)
OK, I really just wanted to say thanks to all of you who wrote, I appreciate
it!
God Bless and Good night again,
In His Service,
Bryan
Junglemedic Missions
Rio Dulce, Izabal
Guatemala Central America
E-Mail: Bryan@JungleMedicMissions.org
Web Site: http://www.junglemedicmissions.org/
This page was last updated 11/03/06
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