Starting each day with worship and singing Gods praises lead by Jimmy Fenwick, keeping focus on our purpose “To SERVE others in need”! Beautiful sunrise overlooking the hotel and Mt Fuego volcano, a hand reach away!! Team 832 synchronized “12” key individuals from Texas (10), California (1), Atlanta (1) partnering with our dynamic, outgoing Guatemalan Team set to “Serve” the Guatamla community providing mobility needs together! Our site PRAY AMERICA (Manos de Jesus) located by Chichicastenango set a welcoming aurora through its beautiful relaxing environment; while the local team prepped how to setup stations to check in patients, ensuring iPads are secure and ready for input, and creating an amazing bond through fellowship! Minor the resident expert trained Brett, Beto and Bill how to build wheelchairs!
We are expecting an average 30 patients a day over the next 4 days traveling long hours from remote villages, to see our incredibly compassionate, focused, highly-skilled Physical Therapists~Laura, Claudia, Marlene (resident expert for Pedi needs) assessing their mobility needs. As well as having Dr. Perez offer his expertise evaluating alignments. Patients come with their family for assistance and support, including the young children! To help keep children busy we provided coloring books and a variety of books to read, this was a big success~ the children are so well behaved especially having to be there all day patiently waiting!
Our patients came from villages (San Gaspar Chanel, Zona Reini, San Juan Cotzal, Catarta Santa Avelina) high in the mountains traveling long hours with their families or translator to get to our site speaking Spanish, or other Myan dialect (K’iehe or Lxil) leaving as early as 1:30am traveling on a bus to be seen and leave with the grace of self~movement! The first day was full of fast paced movement welcoming a bus bringing 30 patients~ it was amazing to witness the mobility needs meet and humbling when they called the Team to stand beside them for a grand picture reflecting faith to God’s glory from working hands in motion! Our 3rd day the group coming wasn’t able to pass due to the mudslides, but God kept wheels in motion! Claudia our Senior Mobility Program Coordinator from Guatemala worked her magic and had locals ready for us to serve. that day was magic…. Imagine-being on a waiting list and getting a call you can come to the be assessed for much need mobility needs, needs that are long awaited and soon to be come your reality to change your perspective of how you move daily, changing the family dynamics! The smiles abundant with self pride and gratitude for the team and Gods glorious gift of mobility!
Dr. Fernando Perez has been amazing, he reaches out to help assess and creates a comfortable trusting environment~ the young boy smiles as Dr. Perez checks him out..now has a wheelchair. His single mother has a foot problem and has had to help move him despite the pain, now they both move in sync forward!
God was everywhere moving, praying with reflection of individual gifts God instills in our hearts! The gratitude filled the skies as we intertwined our lives! Look at the faces from all ages, from Pediatric (children who had never sit up to see their families face; only being carried everywhere) to elderly (paralyzed unable to walk, arthritis so bad they cannot move without being carried in pain). Walks of all ages come with trust, hope and leave with full hearts of love and gratitude!! …..there are no barriers when it comes to serving unconditionally from our hearts!
A mothers love and thankfulness to God is expressed seeing her young child who could only lay down and be carried, forever blessed..her young child can sit up allowing both of them a new life of mobility!
A father who walked with back pain now has a cane; his son who only has homemade stick to help keep him stable now has a walker that gives him stability! The young grandson patiently waits all day greatful for these mobility gifts that will help his loved ones!
A young boy with Down Syndrome who drags himself since age 6, now has a wheelchair; he can sit up at eye level~the smile speaks for itself!
The mother with one leg, walked away with crutches.. her smile of gratitude priceless!! Her beautiful daughter in the golden top was able to assist several families in translating from Spanish to Mayan dialects to help the PT assess for the right needs.
Jessica (18) is a light to all she encounters! Her smile is infectious touching everyone one she encountered, she doesn’t let her disability stop her! She came with her uncle to get a new pair of crutches (not a wheelchair) she loves her freedom to move quickly! She’s strong, positive and the shinning light to the Team! She hugged everyone and you could feel the love and gratitude from her heart to yours.
God showed us many miraculous transitions his week, our hearts were full with his blessings opening our eyes to how the Team serving together is the Gift of God!!!
Teresa-had a bullet hit her spine that left her paralyzed in 1970 from the internal war of Guatemala -she hasn’t walked in 40+years..Today she gained mobility allowing her daughter Petroma to see her mom have mobility!
Sebastian felt challenged by his inability to move around, now able to feel positive about his mobility; his BIL Pedro so appreciative for the blessings of mobility through a wheelchair which will boost Sebastian’s moral to be self sufficient!!
Our last patient-God’s calling: Her father came by early in the morning to check out the facility, God’s calling~Gods Wink…Chona (24yo) has Cerabal Palsy, arrived in the bed of a truck since she could not sit up and has to be carried everywhere by her parents. The wheelchair Changes the family dynamics giving her the ability to sit up straight, healthier for her digestion and family freedom to travel as needed!
The father cried and was so appreciative of the Glory of God for the team being here waiting until they arrived, giving mobility to sit up and see the world! The momma was overwhelmed as she looked at her daughter smiling for Gods gift!! It was a beautiful connection with the family!! Speechless and forever memory of strength, belief, faith and power of prayer to God!! Amen!!
The 2024 #faithinpractice Precision Mobility Clinic is a God given Mission-the Helping Hands of TEAM 832 touched lives in many ways! The team sends off the patients with Hope~Faith~Grace~Gratitude for a new sustainable life! Everyone holds on to these moments …looking up giving all the glory to God….faithful servants gaining the trust of families as the team assessed needs, built mobility devices and taught families the proper way to walk with walkers/crutches/canes and maneuver wheelchairs.
Overall results:
102 Patients; 288 different medical needs
Walkers: 14
Crutches: 8
Canes: 12
Pedi-wheelchairs: 6
Regular wheelchairs: 60
Always look up, be in the moment, and listen with an open heart~God has you where you are suppose to be….right place, right time….God is always in motion working to use US as His vessel…..changing lives! How blessed are his children!
Ephesians 2:8-10
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
-Batina Fewell, Team Blogger
