Medical Clinic San Andres de El Quechi, Guatemala

Last Sunday we held a medical clinic in San Andres El Quechi, Guatemala. The trip was nine hours long, we left at 4am and arrived in San Andres at 1pm. As soon as we turned the sugar cane farm we saw a multitude of people waiting on line. We saw 93 children, 277 women and 6 men, we were amazed at the amount of skin, gastrointestinal and back problems we found. The people of Quechi are very humble people, many can't read and write, or even speak Spanish. We relied on translators to help us communicate, and by some miracle we were able to see everyone in about 5 hours. As soon as we got out of the van we were greeted by the mayor of San Andres, she welcomed us with a very delicious spicy soup. The temperature was 96 degrees...yes hot soup for lunch! I have never experienced having a multitude of people watching me eat, apparently in their culture it is customary to watch a guest eat and wait for there reaction. Of course I smiled and slurped away, knowing that they used well water, and it was going to make for a very interesting ride home!Yes..you guessed it, I had Diarrhea for the next two days, but we are ready for more!

The trip however; didn't start without some kind of problem, on the way down the mountain our brakes overheated, but luckily there was pile of dirt and sand that we crashed into to stop. On our way back up the mountain the car overheated...three times! Dr. Salva and I had to go hiking to look for water to put in the radiator, luckily I packed a flashlight, something told me that morning to pack it.... I'm glad I did.  We found water, and managed to drive 20 minutes before overheating again...and again. Luckily we all had a great sense of humor, so that made the time go by quickly.
We will be returning in June to El Quechi to see 500 pacients, we will be concentrating our efforts here for the next few months, the Mayor of El Quechi estimates the population to be around 6000 people. All in all we had a successful clinic, everyone was treated, but most importantly everyone heard about the love of Jesus Christ!!!
Please keep us in prayer as we are currently planning logistics for the June Clinic, we need to rent a 15 passenger 4x4 van and a 4x4 pick-up for June's Clinic. We have received a generous donation of medications from Baxter and Bayer for June, but we still need $300 for transportation. Please pray with us for God's provision in June, but more importantly that 500 more people can come to know Christ!

Blessings,


David, Katherne and Alianna