All I Need Is a Hospital

Hello from Guatemala,

Well, it has been a while since I wrote a news letter and to be honest I just have not had time. There is quite a bit going on around here and as you know there are only 24 hours, which is just not enough time in the day. I got up early this morning to get some things done before we head out with the team to do a medical clinic up in the mountains. Since I was downloading Riechelle's camera, I wanted to share a little bit of what is going on.

Last week we had our Pastor from NC and a Paramedic Friend come and help us out. Now you will not find finer men on this planet, but you talk about good ole mountain men. They talk with a southern draul that our kids love to hear. They thought they might be coming for some rest time, but it didn't turn out that way.

They not only helped us with electrical and plumbing and gas problems. (Meaning the gas stove, not me!) But they were a big help to me with Emergencies. We also went to pray for one of our pastors in the villages that had come under a witch doctors curse. A witch doctor was very angry because of the work in the village for the Lord and the church had now doubled in size, so he is not happy. But God is in control and we are pressing on. The Pastor needed transportation and a Christian family from Charlotte donated the money to get him a motorcycle.


Here is Pastor Mundo praising the Lord and very thankful for his new Motorcycle. He was so overwhelmed with this gift he almost could not speak and then offered us the only thing he had….. a chicken….. I got choked up and said thank you but keep it for your family. This was from the Lord not us….

This is their home and they have 9 children living in a small shack. That is their stove in the back, where the black soot is going up the wall.

We then got a letter from Nicole, a nurse in Boston, saying there is a good possibility we could get Ronaldo into a burn hospital in the States. So we went out to his village to talk with his parents and get the information we needed to get the process going. Our hope is to send Ronaldo and his father to the States for this surgery. Please keep him in your prayers. He has to wear a long sleeved shirt when he is outside because the children call him a monster and tease him. We need to trust God to help us get his arms repaired so he can use them.

His parents are very humble and grateful people. They could not stop thanking us and we kept telling them, "this is our job, but it is God who will provide, don’t worry He will take care of you." The father said, "how will I feed my family when I am with Ronaldo in the USA?" I said, "how much do you need a week to feed and take care of the family." He said, "175 Q" (the equivalent of $25.00 a week). My Pastor said, "it is a done deal we will take care of it." I said, hey don't you need a committee or something to approve this decision. He just winked and said "it is taken care of". God provides huh?

We had a lady with twins that lives in our village and they are so small they were dying. We took them in and tried to get milk into them and they took it. The mother was very sick and could not produce milk. After we got them some nourishment and cleaned up they look a lot better. Then Riechelle had to give them some of her motherly love that she was born to do.

Riechelle doing what she loves doing…Being a MOM!

Here is Debora trying to be like Moma Miech ( Riechelle)

Let me tell you a story. There is a man and his wife who are in their late sixties. They live here in my village and they have both been patients of mine for 5 years for one thing or another. Last month they were sitting somewhere in town and a woman came up to the people and said I have 5 children and have seizures. I have no husband and no money. I have a 1 month old baby and does anyone want it? The old couple had never had any children and said "yes, we will take him", as they had always wanted a child.

They named him Jose and took him home. However they have no money and if I showed you their home you would not let your pet live there. They cannot take care of this baby. They are too old and getting dementia and have never had a baby so do not know how to care for it. But they love him as their own.

We gave them some baby things and tried to help them when the last team of nurses were here from Boston. But they fed the baby with a baby bottle filled with coffee and sugar. They did not know how to clean or care for the baby and when they brought him to us two days ago we all were horrified.

We went to work on him and had to make an NG tube to get fluid into his stomach. He was so dehydrated we did not know if he would live much longer. I cannot even show you his body because it is too graphic for most people. We worked on him for about 2 hours and then when we got enough fluid on board we gave the parents more powdered milk and medicine for the baby and said bring him back tomorrow so we can check him. They would not take him to the hospital. They just thought we could fix him and they could take him home and if he took his medicine he would be fine.

The next day (yesterday), when we got in from doing a medical clinic, they came with baby Jose and he was almost dead. We jumped in my truck/ambulance and took off for the hospital. I know they cannot do anything there either but it was all we could do. While we were on our way Jose's heart began to slow down and his breathing almost stopped. It was then they realized he may not live. The old man leaned over and stroked the babies head and with tears running down his face kept saying, "I am your father, I am your father, I am , I am". It was hard for me to see to drive.

On our way home, as we came into town (Rio Dulce), and found a 76 year old woman had been hit by a motor cycle and left on the street. We jumped out to help her. She had a bad head injury, blood in her lungs and was vomiting blood from internal injuries. So we turned around and headed back to the hospital again.

Oops! Sorry, I'm out of time. The team is done with breakfast so we have to get up to the Village of El Bongo for a medical clinic. They are pretty sick up there and so I have to go.

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 10/23/07