Hello Everyone from Guatemala,
Sorry it has been a while since I have had time to sit down and write a news letter but idle hands are the devils
workshop. And I don't like working in that workshop.
A lot has been going on here but I want to just share what is happening with the kids that we are trying to get
medical and surgical help for. We got up early Monday morning and drove the Medical bus to El Estore, a village about
45 miles away by gravel road. In the village there are two cement roads and here
one of them.
We took on the patients and their parents and then drove on to the next
village of Aqua Caliente where we picked up more patients and their parents.
Since the seats have been removed from the bus to make room for medical and
dental equipment, the people had to sit on the storage cabinets and a few
portable chairs setup in the floor. After we got everyone one board we
headed down the gravel road.
After we
had driven about 10 miles down the road we heard what sounded like a shotgun blast. My first thought was someone
was shooting at us! But then I felt the bus pull to the side and realized my right front tire had blown out. So we
were stranded in the middle of no-where with a bus load of kids and their parents looking at me like
"now what?"
So I called Riechelle and said, "Honey are you awake and dressed and looking beautiful yet?"
It was still early morning at this time. She says, "Who are you calling honey?"But Riechelle
being Riechelle, jumps in the pick up and came to rescue us. She uses the pick up to "pick up"
me and we returned home so I could get the shuttle bus to go pick up the stranded patients. I drove
back out to the middle of "no where" and loaded everyone on the shuttle bus. Now
at least we have AC and comfortable seats, so I am feeling like this is OK. Two of the guys
helping me from David's church stayed behind in Rio Dulce to go get a spare tire and fix the bus while I drove
the patients to the hospital in a town about an hour and a half a way.
We finally
arrived at Bethesda, the Christian Private hospital. (I think it is Hebrew for
"Whew we made it").
Anyway, we got the kids and their parents up to the second floor and the director of the hospital who is a doctor
from Cuba saw all of our kids for free! Yes Free! I had to pay for a few tests and some medications but his
consultations were totally free.
Everyone waited patiently to be seen by the Doctor. The doctor is now preparing a report for David and I on each
child so we will know exactly what medicine they need for seizures or surgery and everything in between. What a
Godsend he and this hospital have been to us. They are going to help us find the surgeons who can help us with
these kids either free or at a big discount.
Here is the hard part for me. I get all caught up in the stupid
little things in life. Like getting upset about the tire blow out. But then I get to the hospital and spend some
time with the kids and realize how blessed I am to be healthy.
What if I were born like Nelson. He lives in a
village where they think he is cursed and hide him in the house his whole life. The other children make fun
of him and call him a monster. He would not even accept a Coke from me because he was scared I would throw it
at him. I wanted to hold him and tell him I loved him but he was too afraid.
Then I saw Kimberly. If you were here with Kimberly for 5 minutes you would love her to pieces.
The bottom line for Kimberly is that she has deformities that cannot be fixed.
She will have to live like this the
rest of her life. Her mother came to me and asked if there was anything we could do for her.
I had to look her in
the eye and say, "I am sorry." She looked at me as if to say, "I know," and then
she hugged me and said, "Thank you
for trying." I had to go to the bathroom and wash my face.
After we were done with the consultations, I realized I need to feed these people but there is no Mac Donald's
here. What could I do? So, I called Riechelle again and said, "Hey honey, I am bringing 30 people over for
lunch, can you be ready in 45 minutes?"
She again said,
"Who are you calling honey?" (She is a riot huh?)
But she worked like a trooper and got a lunch ready for everyone. They were so thankful and could not believe
we would bring them to our home and feed them, because to them we are rich people, and we are compared to them. Quetchi people do not show emotion like we do. They rarely even say thank you other than a head nod, but when
they got off the bus after taking them home, every single one came to my
driver's seat and said "Bantioush",
(Thank You)! I guess our job is to just preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and sometimes if we have to, even use
words huh?
We also had our friend, Dr. Bill Schnurr come here and he is helping me re-arrange our Emergency Room. He is
teaching us some new suturing techniques. Dr. Bill Teaching Riechelle and Gaby some real suturing.
Gaby is getting in some new learning skills for when she takes my place someday. Our hope and prayer is that
Gaby will become a doctor (she loves medicine) and take over the ministry here and be a doctor to her own people.
I still get to keep my skills up but Riechelle is trying to do all the suture cases and so now that Dr. Bill is
here we have to fight over who gets to do the case.
Keep us in your prayers as we get these kids the surgeries and meds they need OK? We will pick up the next two
villages next week.
Our friend David Harrison is here now setting up a WIFI wireless network system
to allow visiting teams to have
Internet access from either of the dorms on the 2nd and 3rd floors. This will allow them to access their e-mail
when they are here. We have a couple of laptop computers available for this use. This will free up the main
computer in the office/ER for my use. He is a Godsend. David is the
webmaster for my website. All of the photos in this newsletter were taken by David also.
And lastly, we are down 100 feet on the well and the sides are falling in due to the soil being wet. So we must be close to water. Please pray
that God will give us the water we need so badly.
Well I've got to get going. You all take care and Gods Blessings to you.
God Bless,,,
In His Service,
Bryan & Riechelle and Kids
Junglemedic Missions
Rio Dulce, Izabal
Guatemala Central America
E-Mail: Bryan@JungleMedicMissions.org
Web Site: http://www.junglemedicmissions.org/
This page was last updated 06/16/07
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