Sometimes We Have Fun!

Hello from Guatemala,

I really don't know where to begin to tell you all of the things the Lord is doing here. But let me share a few things with you. We just had a team here from Charlotte, NC. They have been friends of ours for years and we love having them.

There is a chain of fast food that is only in the Carolinas called Bojangles. They make Cajun fired chicken that is heavenly. The biscuits are real southern biscuits and well I can't go on with an empty stomach.

Well the folks on this team have heard somehow. (I don't know how) that I loved eating Bojangles chicken when we lived in the Carolinas. So they got off the plane with a bucket of Bojangles chicken and biscuits. I fell to the ground and wept uncontrollably. OK, OK, so maybe I didn't weep but, well, OK I didn't even fall to the ground. I just patiently waited for them to say, "Oh Bryan, by the way, we have some Bojangles chicken." Then I knew they were a team from God.

So as I was driving the shuttle bus loaded with the team and their luggage and a weeks worth of groceries down a very steep and long hill leaving the city, here is what happened. I had the AC units on causing the motor to go into high idle. This causes the bus to go faster and it is harder to stop. Plus the bus was loaded to the maximum. And the traffic was very heavy due to construction and we had to stop and go every few seconds. All while going down hill in about 98 degree heat. The road was probably 110 degrees. It took about 40 minutes to get to the bottom of this hill. Now if you remember the laws of thermo-dynamics, you can compress air but not liquid, right? So when you hit your brakes in your car you compress hydraulic fluid and it causes your brake pads to use friction to stop your wheels and you come to a stop. But if you have a ton of weight, and heat and use your brakes constantly the brake fluid (Hydraulic fluid) can actually boil! Have you ever seen what happens when you boil water? That's right, it creates air bubbles. How or why I don't have time to explain. (And I really don't know).

But I do know you cannot compress fluid the same as air. So when my brakes got so hot they boiled the brake fluid, I had no brakes. So imagine, you are driving a bus full of people who have trusted you to take care of them in a foreign country. You are eating Bojangles chicken like it is your last day on earth because the traffic is slow and you can eat while you drive. All of the sudden the tractor trailer in front of you takes off and gets about 500 yards ahead of you. So you hit the accelerator and take off to catch up. But as you realize you need to slow down so as not to hit this truck in front of you, your brake pedal goes to the floor and your bus does not slow down! You now have 3 to 4 seconds to make a decision as to what you can do. To your left is oncoming traffic of other tractor trailers, however if you do miss them there is no curb but a 30 ft cliff. So you look in front and there is still a solid steel dump truck. To your right is a 3 to 4 ft. pile of gravel left by the road construction crew and to its left a cement telephone pole? You think in this now 2 1/2 seconds you have to process this information, I'll shoot the gap between the cement pole and the pile of gravel on the right. Only one problem though: There are two young boys walking in between these obstacles and they are walking away from you so they don't see your bus bearing down on them. You are now off your driver's seat with every ounce, OK, pound of flesh you own standing on the brake peddle to try and stop this bus.

But it will not stop. There is no emergency brake because this is an automatic transmission made to take people from the LA airport to the Marriott Hotel on level paved highways. So, I shoot the gap missing the two boys by not inches but centimeters. But fly over the pile of gravel like a four wheeler on a motocross. They jump out of the way at the last second and for some reason that cannot be explained by physics, right before we hit the cement wall, the brakes work and we come to a stop.

I tried and get up to check to make sure everyone is Ok but my knees are weak and I am shaking like a 90 year old man in a nursing home. Seriously, the only thing I could do was Thank God for His Angles and Protection.

The river to the remote ranch area.

I called a man I knew who owned a trucking company to check the brakes for me and after they cooled off they were fine. But he took half the team and most of the luggage in his vehicle with a trailer so we would not have any problems going down the mountains getting home. We all made it safe and the bus is in the shop now getting work done.

The rest of the week was incredible. We did a clinic very deep in the remote areas off the river. These people have never received help of any kind since they went to live there and hide during the civil war 25 years ago. Some of the patients we saw had walked four hours and stayed overnight in the jungle and then walked 4 hours the next day to our location.

After miles of river running we got out to then travel by tractor.

I thought when they said a 'motorcade' they meant a limo!

This family walked 8 hours total to get medical care.
(I felt bad. I complained about riding a few hours.)

These people walked in the heat and did not complain at all if they had to wait.

Some even come across the boarder from Belize. Incredible!

This makes it all worthwhile huh?

We honestly could not believe it. We were so remote, we stayed over night in a wooden house with hammocks and cot on a big ranch. The team loved it. I asked for a king sized bed, AC and a wake up call but all I got was coffee the next morning in a sock dipped in hot water. Oh well, this is life we asked for right? At the end of the first clinic day, the owner of the ranch came to me and said, "I have to go round up about 100 head of cattle and move them to the next pasture. Would anyone on your team like to hop on a horse and help?" I could not keep them from running to get on a horse. They went crazy. I like riding horses about as much as i like hitting myself in the head with a sledge hammer, so I said, "OK, you guys can all go and I'll stay here and watch the ranch." Riechelle, being the kind godly wife I have, started calling me 'scaredy cat' and other names. (Riechelle can really ride a horse). She knows I got on a horse one time that took off and I could not stop it. I was yelling and screaming for help and pulling back the reigns as hard as I could but the horse would not stop. Finally, (Thank God) Phil the manager from Wal Mart came out and unplugged it and I got off shaking.

Well anyway, everyone got a nice horse except me. The rancher came over with an animal that resembled a horse. I said, "Is this a horse". He said, "Kinda." I said, "You are not giving me a donkey to ride are you? He said, "Well, kinda, it is a Mule, half horse and half donkey but he is really strong for, shall we say, big man." (I don’t know how the pictures of me got deleted, but this is as close of a picture as I could find.) So I got on this stupid looking mule that would only walk very slowly. Everyone else is riding like the wind and chasing cattle into the fields and I am behind everyone yelling like a Comanche Indian and twirling a rope around my head like a real cowboy. The problem was my mule was barely moving. I was OK 'till 6 year old Debora passed me on her donkey like I was standing still, yelling at me kick him Papa Bryan and he will run. (Imagine a 6 year old trying to tell me, (Clint Eastwood), how to ride a horse, I mean mule. Just when I thought I could not be any more embarrassed, my mule goes into a hole and bang hits the ground. So there I sit on top of this mule on the ground looking like Homer Simpson and everyone is loosing it. My beautiful wife laughhed so hard she could hardly stay on her horse. But man, Riechelle loves to ride. I have to say, she is a natural and watching her ride really was beautiful.


Riechelle	Riechelle in Heaven


My Three Cowgirls	Gaby and Debora with a NEWBORN calf

Well, I let the stupid mule up and he looked at me like “you are not really going to climb back on are you?” In a flash I was back in the saddle and ready to fly like molasses. When we got back to the barn, the mule and I were both walking bow legged. I told the rancher he needs to get some real horses like on Bonanza. Hoss Cartwright was a real cowboy on a real horse. That is what I need, next time I'll show em. OK, well, I could tell you about all the villages we went to, and the people we helped but it is probably getting boring to hear about it over and over huh, so let me just say that you never know what to expect here at our place. I can tell you, God is bringing people and organizations into our lives that are helping us to accomplish more for God than we ever imagined. So as soon as I can I'll send you an update of our next adventure.

God Bless and thanks for your prayers,
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 08/16/07