Today Joe continued the morning devotional with a reminder that Christ prepares us for the Call he extends to each of us. In keeping with this theme, I asked three team members why they answered the Call to come to Guatemala on this particular trip.
Mindy, our Pharmacist Assistant, said she has a servant’s heart and wants to honor the retired Pharmacist Reed, who recruited her to her first trip with Faith In Practice in 2015. Dr. Davidson, a General Medicine Physician, wants to keep up his Mission Medical Skills to be able to return to Faith In Practice on a future trip with his daughter, currently a Pediatric Resident. His hopes are they can serve together to care for the peoples of Guatemala. Anneke, an Interpreter, came on her first Faith In Practice mission one and a half years ago to just learn about the experience. She realized her translating skills were so integral to making a difference with the patients. She wanted to facilitate the patients care by retuning once again. Each volunteer had their own reasons for answering the Call as they did, and these sentiments were expressed throughout the trip.
As a follow-up to our patient seen in Pediatric Clinic Day 1, with a severe infection resulting from a Dental Procedure, Shelby in our sharing time after dinner, expressed that God had put us here at this time, at just the right time for this little boy to get a very strong intramuscular antibiotic that hopefully would save his eye and his life. This encounter reflects the essence of Faith In Practice.
Today we had another pediatric patient who captured the hearts of our staff and volunteers. Estefany, age 4, was brought to the clinic by her Mother for possible surgery on a right clubfoot. She is from Escuintla in another Department far from the Clinic. She had on very supportive shoes that helped maintain the foot until surgery could correct the problem. Dr. Dimmick, a Pediatrician, examined Estefany and realized she was nonverbal (only able to say “mama”) and had developmental delays in addition to the need for surgery. Referrals were made to Fundabiem, another organization that treats pediatric developmental problems in Guatemala. The Faith In Practice Team will arrange for the Foot Surgery and this will be done at The Obras Sociales Hospital in Antigua at an arranged date.
Each of the clinics were so well organized that patients were able to have their lab tests, referrals complete, and medicine dispensed with a minimum of waiting. Josh and the Mobility Clinic personnel are proud of the now three pediatric wheelchairs they have dispensed.
We had a special person at our clinic today, Luis Flores, the new Chief Operations Officer for Faith In Practice in Guatemala, who is with us to meet each team member and will be with us at dinner tonight. We welcome him as a member of our Team.
Tomorrow is a very important day in Guatemala. It is the Bicentennial of Guatemala and celebrates Independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. We will leave that story for tomorrow.
