Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to bring you up to speed on a few things going on here and tell you about an upcoming special clinic. I am very excited about a team of special doctors coming here in the beginning of April. This is a team of Doctors from UCLA who have been coming to Guatemala for years, working with David Alvarez and doing some great work on kids who need surgeries and of course would have no way of getting them. They have never come to our area before because of the distance (travel time) but this year they are coming. David and I are setting up five clinics.

We will be taking them and their equipment and lab in the bus to the villages and there they will do the full exams and consultations. They will then determine if the child is a candidate for surgery and then have it done in Guatemala City or if needed in the States all for free to the people of Guatemala. So, I have been busy going deep into the remote villages talking to the chiefs and leaders, urging them to come and bring their very sick children or those in need of surgery. Then, setting up the logistics of getting them by our 4x4 trucks from the villages to the bus. Some villages are too remote for the bus to get to.

You all of course know Daniel, but there are others who have things that are hard to describe and I do not feel comfortable showing you their pictures at this time as it is horrendous. Please keep this in your prayers, that the people will bring the children who need this. Some are still afraid that the Gringos will steal their children and sell their organs, so old customs and wives tales are hard to break sometimes.

Also, it will be Easter week here when they come so that will be an extra busy time for me as we have 22,000 visitors to the area during that time and I am the only hospital emergency room in the area.

Also a quick update on the well: We got down to 100 feet by hand digging our well. We did not hit water and it became too dangerous to continue digging by hand. Some dirt and rocks began to collapse, so I had to put a halt to the project. Please pray that we get some more rain to fill our cistern with water for the team. We will have 30 people here each night because besides the medical team and staff and interpreters, we will also have a 10 person evangelism team going to the villages each night showing a film and doing dramas to bring these people the message of Jesus Christ.

David and I will have our plates full but that is the only way we like it. I got up at 4:00am and drove to the city and got David and we did errands and work for several hours then I drove back home. David is really tired so keep him in your prayers. He was so tired today and I hated to ask him to help me in the city but he knows the city like the back of his hand and he gets better deals on things than I do because he is Guatemalan and of course knows a little Spanish. I need to improve my Spanish.

I am still not really good at Spanish and I get things mixed up. Last week when I was at one of the villages I was trying to explain that they need to wash their hands after they go to the bathroom, but I was telling them to wash their hands in the toilet! They kept looking at me like I was from Mars. I thought "Don't these people know Spanish?" But it is not as bad as the time I decided to try and speak in front of a church without an interpreter. I thought I was speaking very well and could not understand why no one was responding. Finally I said in what I thought was perfect Spanish "Please, if any of you are sick come forward and I would like to pray over you." No one moved a muscle. I thought they must not have heard me so I said it louder and more forceful. "If any of you are sick please come forward and I will pray over you." Still no one moved but kept looking at each other. Finally the pastor came over and whispered in my ear that I was mispronouncing “prayer”. He said I was asking them to come forward and I wanted to Pee over them. I turned red and said, "Oh My Gosh tell them I want to “Pray” over them. He told them but no one moved a muscle. I guess they didn't want to take a chance huh? Anyway I am just thankful I talk English very gooder, huh? I'll leave the Preaching and Teaching to the Nationals and I'll stick to medical and dental work, smile.

OK hittin' the sack, but remember if any of you need me to pray over you just let me know OK? Wink!

God Bless,
In His Service,

Bryan, the Pee Warrior, er, I mean Prayer Warrior

Junglemedic Missions
Rio Dulce, Izabal
Guatemala Central America

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

 This page was last updated 04/16/07

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