The last group

This week has been the hardest of the entire trip. When the team of 19 got here we started immediately jumping into ministry. They arrived Saturday afternoon and that night we were out on the street of Guatemala City ministering to the homeless. There unfortunately weren’t many out that night, but it was great getting to see those who were. The next morning we went to Antigua for some shopping. Because Hannah hasn’t done a lot of shopping yet, we were busy running around the market finding what she wanted. I picked up a few more things as well. Then that afternoon we had church service. There were a lot of people there. The team had prepared a lesson about David and Goliath. They had little cards with Goliath printed on the to color and then they were given a bag of little koosh balls to throw at him. This represented knocking over the obstacles we have in our life with the help of God.
Monday was a big Medical clinic day. The whole team went to Zorzoya to set up a clinic that had two doctors, a dental hygienist, and a women’s health nurse practictioner for pap smears. Some of the youth did triage to get the name, weight, age, and main concern from each patient. There was also a hair washing clinic to de-lice some children. At this station they could also get their hair cut. I was claimed by Kathy, the dental hygienist, to help her for the day. I was really excited about that because the field really interests me. The first patient we saw was already an interesting case- she had fused teeth. I learned so much that first day about gingivitis, periodontal disease, bridges, root canals, abscessed teeth, tartar/calculus, impacted teeth, occlusions, and so much more.
Tuesday was the first day we did construction. Originally most of the guys were going to go do it, but the interns got selected by tom to go as well, because those on construction had to do the kids for Christ club as well. We went down there and first thing we had to do was cut the grass with machetes. The weeds were so high they were at least 4 feet tall. That just made them more fun to slice down. But when I really started cutting the grass for real, it was such hard work. That’s how everyone down here cuts grass. I was doing pretty good, I got a room done in like 45 mins….ok that’s not that great, but at least I was trying. Then Alfredo told me to go cut the grass up the hill in front of the building. Ok, not too hard. So I went but the machete I had was super dull. I got the sharpener and started sharpening. A guy on the team came over and tried to help me and showed me a different technique. I started that was and instantly sliced open my thumb. I could see some white stuff down in the cut….not good. So me and a couple guys went to the tienda right there and asked the lady for some water and a bandaid. She brought out a bowl of water which I washed the cut in because it was pouring blood! The she brought me a cloth napkin to put pressure on the cut. The she got alcohol swabs and she herself scrubbed the cut (which was very painful). And then she gave me some bandaids and extra alcohol swabs. And how much did she want for all of this? Nothing, even though she sells the alcohol swabs and bandaids. What a blessing she was for me! That night I showed the cut to the doctor, who was concerned that it might get infected. He had me splint the thumb as well because it’s on the knuckle and wouldn’t stop bleeding throughout the day. That afternoon we had the kids for Christ club. We told them the story of Jesus walking on the water and then we watched the movie Robots and ate popcorn. We didn’t get to finish the movie before we had to feed them and send them home. I think the kids really enjoyed it because it’s not something they get to do very often.
Wednesday we went to Embaulda for more construction and time to play with the kids. I had to scrub rebarb with a wire brush. Not the funnest job ever, but it was fun getting to know those on the team. The rest of the team handed out bags of toiletries, beanie babies, and bracelets. We weren’t there for long because we got to go ziplining that afternoon. It was the only touristy thing this group did, except shop in Antigua. It was a pretty scary ride up the mountain. We were in massive trucks of some sort and the road was awful! Once we got up there everyone put on the harnesses and we started down. There were 7 platforms we went to. I was somewhere in the middle of the group. It was really fun but about halfway through it began to pour like crazy. So here we are ziplining, in the rain, freezing! The last one wasn’t a zipline, it was a drop straight down. I had them drop me fast; I was so scared I screamed. But in all it was so much fun! That night we had church service. I felt like it was pretty short because we were doing so much with the kids. We did Noah’s ark that night. First they read the story, then read it again doing an interactive puppet show, and then we made noah’s ark necklaces. It was fun to help the kids in small groups.
Thursday was another medical clinic, this time in the Guatemala City Dump. Once again I was a dental hygienist assistant. We were in a lady’s house and the dental clinic was set up in her kitchen. It was actually the nicest set up we had all week. That day we actually had three doctors (which was good because they saw about 200 patients). Unfortunately our nurse practioner was very sick and couldn’t do the women’s health check ups. I saw one patient with the worst teeth I had ever seen. Kathy said that she doesn’t think the lady has ever been to the dentist. She was scared to death too and I held her hand the whole time. There was an old lady that we had gone to see before who was very sick. She was 72 years old when she died today. That was really sad but I was told that her wake was a celebration of her life.
Friday we had to get up super early again! This was the longest day of the week for me. We had the breakfast that morning with the street people at the Mary Magdelena house. Then we went next door to the clinic and had a medical clinic. Cindy, our nurse practioner was still sick, so I was once again with Kathy. We did about 10 patients there before we packed up. It was great because Janette (aka Pearl) was there and she helped translate. She’s the one we want to send to rehab. Also, we had Cherylleigh’s cousin and two of her friends to come translate as well. How nice for them to have so many translators! At this clinic when the patients went to get their prescriptions, they were taken into a back room to pick out a new pair of shoes. I got to watch this girl Sherly and her daughter Ashley pick out shoes. It was so wonderful to see the joy in their faces when they tried on a pair and got to take it home. Then that afternoon we went to Gorrion for another clinic. We set up in a small home so it was a very tight squeeze. It was cool though to see how everyone else operated in their stations. We did about 10 patients in the dental clinic and the doctors saw about 50 before leaving after 6 that night. The people of the village we pretty disappointed because they really wanted to get seen as well, but weren’t able to. We gave them clothes and toothbrushes, tooth paste, and floss and they were a little happier. That night we had our fiesta, but it was pretty short. It was nice to have a party before they left.
The next morning they packed up and left. It was pretty hard for us to see this team leave because 1) we really liked them just like the other groups 2) it was the last group. We don’t have another group to look forward to before we go home, but it’s nice to know that the next time tom sends some people to the airport it will be Hannah and me!
We have really had a great week and seen God move in the lives of so many! Please pray for us still! We have a couple weeks of ministry with just the three of us girls. It’s hard to teach and lead lessons when there are only a couple of us. Plus, we have no idea what it is we will be doing over the next 16 or so days! I miss everyone so much and am looking forward to coming home soon!