Women's Health Clinic

Hello from Guatemala!

I understand you guys are in a deep freeze right now. So, for now I feel sorry for you guys but in a couple of months when it is 100 degrees here you will be having spring and then feeling sorry for us. So hang in there.

I have a few things to share with you that I am just really excited about.

First, this Saturday will be our very first Breakfast & Teaching program to one of the first of four target villages. I visited them this week and they are very excited about the program. I really believe this is the way to promote long lasting positive change in their villages. So keep us in your prayers on that one OK?

The Second thing I want to share is a new addition to our family. But let me explain. For some time now we have been limited to only allowing 12 people to come on a mission team. But we now have the dorm completed. We can now accommodate 20 people. Still working on the well but with all the rain we have had in the past 3 weeks our cistern is full. We now also have the new shuttle bus "The Max". That also holds 20 people. And of course the Mobile Medical Dental Clinic bus can take 20 people to the villages. Our only problem was that our boat would only hold 12 people. So I was praying about what to do and then it happened... I heard an Angelic voice say: Go ye and get the Yellow Boat! I thought what could this mean? Then I remembered seeing this boat at the ocean near Puerto Barrios. The name on the boat was “Barco Amarillo”, “Yellow Boat”. I know that looking at this boat you are on your knees saying this is the most beautiful boat you have ever seen right? Well Riechelle thinks it is the ugliest thing she has ever seen. So when the wife hates a boat what does any Red Blooded American man do? He buys it of course. I got the owner to lower the price in half. I am now working on getting a motor. This boat was originally made for the National Geographic organization and used for filming on the Amazon and Omoho rivers. But I knew it was from God when I saw it was rated for 22 people. That is 20 team members and because of my solid mass of rippling muscular frame weigh the same as two skinny people. Perfect! God answers prayer again huh? OK, OK, so maybe I embellished the part about a voice from heaven but it could have happened? (Like most preachers I have the gift of embellishment when it comes to boats). So the bottom line is, we can now take 20 people on our teams now once a month instead of 12 people on a team twice a month and this will help me with getting some down time for rest and the family.

I have to tell you about last week. One thing that has always been on my heart is the plight of the women in Guatemala. I have seen the way they have to live and it has torn my heart out of my chest at times. Last night I had emergency calls most of the night and one that really hurt was a young woman who had been beaten up by her husband. I had to suture her lip back on from the inside and out. I know that in this macho society the women have few rights or recourse for abuse against them. You can see it in their faces. They live a hard life. But they also get very little or no female medical care. Most of the villages I take care of are so remote that the women have never been out of their village.

Last week, 6 women health care providers came from Seattle Washington and Presque Isle Maine and worked tirelessly in remote villages in my area. We were able to take the bus and do clinics that let the women come in and get pelvic exams and ultrasounds and even Cryo therapy to stop cervical cancer.


They had air conditioning and privacy to protect their dignity.

Over 200 women received exams and tests for cancer. One lady had cancer of the uterus and did not even know it. This exam saved her life! Some received ultra sounds to check on tumors and also to check for the pregnant women's babies. We found several women had miscarriages and were still carrying the baby. It was a clinic that has never been done for these women and the team was all female medical practitioners. They were awesome and truly cared for these women. I went in the first day to assist and run the Cryo machine and even learned how to look for pre-cancer in women with the OB/GYN doctor. But even though I love medicine and work as a Paramedic, this female thing ain't for me. After the first day I just drove the bus and did work on the generator. I talk big but when it came to doing the procedures 'down there', I said "Hey, I think the generator is in need of fuel, I have to go."

Women waiting to be seen for their exams.

Even our lab was first rate. We had a portable ultra-sound computer that cost $30,000.00 loaned to us by a company for the trip. A Cryo machine was donated and stayed here for future clinics. (Thanks Dr. Don). I also think the women, especially the Indigenous Mayans, did not want a man in there at all even if they thought I was a doctor. So that was good enough reason for me to stay outside. But the medical team was fantastic! One day we had to go so far into the mountains that we could not take the bus and we had to 4 wheel it. They worked in a hot little room for 5 hours seeing women. I would have blown lunch for sure.

I admire these 6 women. They are the white women on the right. May God Bless them for their work here to women who have never had love showed to them before in this way. Thank you Josette, Karen, Debbie, Terrie, Debbie, & Maria.

OK, one last thing I wanted to share with you that I am still walking around saying "only God". You may remember I had to take the little boy Daniel to a private hospital to find out the test results to see if his liver and other organs were working. I thought it was going to be a very low price due to his economic status. (Nice way of saying he is poor) But when I got the bill I took a gulp and said "Lord, how can I pay this on a missionary income?" Plus, I needed to get a motor for the boat to haul my medical teams down river. Well, apparently the Lord spoke to different people 5000 miles away and my friend Phil from Chicago said, "Hey Bryan, my family wants to pay half of the cost of your motor. Then a 12 year old girl, Lynnie in Cincinnati, was having her 12th birthday party. She asked the people to donate money to Junglemedic missions instead of giving her gifts. (This is a 12 year old girl folks). They raised enough money to pay Daniel's entire medical bill and have some left over to bless his family with some food and clothing and I can now buy the medicine he needs to keep his fluid level down for the time he has left on this earth.

You would think with all of the things God has done for us here, He would get tired and say, "Ok that is enough for you", but He just keeps providing for all the projects and the needs of the families that we help. I really don't know how to say thank you enough to the people who faithfully send us support and pray for us daily so we can continue this work, but please know how much we appreciate it you.

And one last thing that I need to explain to you before you see it and think I am running a moonshine outfit here. There are new photo albums on the web site at www.Junglemedicmissions.org and more will be up this week from the teams from 2006. Last year a team from the Atlanta and Cincinnati areas came here for a missions trip. The day they got here to Guatemala City I had received a call from a lady who had some medical items and equipment to donate to my Emergency Room. She said, "If you can come to the El Shaddi church tomorrow morning you can pick anything you want and we will deliver it to your ER." So I asked the team if they would help me and they of course said yes. The DHL Company had donated a truck for the delivery but at the last minute had to back out as they were too short handed and needed their truck. So the lady knew a guy at the Gallo Beer Company and called them to see if they would donate a truck for the day to deliver our medical supplies. So when I took the groups picture, it was in front of the church but it was covered by the Gallo Beer Truck. (Guatemala’s equivalent to Budweiser). So when you see my Christian Medical Missions Team standing in front of a beer truck it is purely a coincidence that we used a beer truck to haul our supplies. Of course the team did get suspicious when they asked the driver if he needed directions to Junglemedic missions and he said, "Heck no, I know exactly where it is". Oops!

OK God Bless, and keep warm OK?
In His Service,

Bryan & Riechelle & kids

PS: Do you know why beer makes you smarter?
It made Bud wiser…… sorry I just had to say that.;-)

Junglemedic Missions
Rio Dulce, Izabal
Guatemala Central America

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

This page was last updated 02/08/07