Hello everyone!!

Thank you for following along our team’s journey as we provide help, care, and resources to the people of Guatemala. Our team is excited to get to work and we look forward to keeping you all up to date for the duration of our trip. We kindly ask for your prayers during this trip.

Day 1:

Our team has safely arrived to our destination in Guatemala and spent three hours in rush hour traffic. We stopped at a great fried chicken restaurant. Once we arrived to our residence for the week we had a devotion and another meal. After that we set up our stations the next day and organized our supplies that we brought along with us. We could not have asked for a better travel day. It was exciting to finally have our entire team together. We are eager to get started and start serving the best we know how with the provisions we have.

Day 2

We had an excellent first day of clinic. We treated 86 people throughout the day. After registration they start with an Evangelism station where the local doctor talks about Jesus. Following that they get to stop at the health and hygiene station where they learn how to brush their teeth, avoid germs, and precautionary steps to avoid diarrhea. Next, they go to get their weight, blood pressure, and temperature taken before seeing the nurses. The nurses then discuss a treatment plan with the patients and what further steps will look like for them to lead a healthy life. After they are finished with the nurses they visit the pharmacy to get the necessary medications.

Later in the evening, the children all came to the church for a message and songs. Our team enjoyed having that time to color with the kids, hand out t-shirts, and play games in the yard. The kids went home with full bellies thanks to doctor’s wife and we went to sleep with even fuller hearts.

Day 3

We had a wonderful day in clinic treating 59 patients for the day. The pace was steadier throughout the day as well. We continued with our evangelism, health and hygiene station, vitals station, nurses station, ending with a pit stop at the pharmacy. Following clinic we attended a church service that is very similar to the Lutheran Missouri Synod format. Even though many of us could not understand the words since it was all in Spanish, we all felt the presence of God in the room and in our hearts. We had the opportunity to play with the kids after church as well. We got out the hula hoops and they were a big hit. We ended the night with an awesome fish fry dinner!

Day 4

We had another successful day at the clinic. We treated 72 patients bringing the total to 217 altogether. We had a full day of all morning and afternoon clinic. But following clinic, we had to opportunity to do some team bonding over a fun game of Farkle. Sayra, one of our interpreters, was the winner last. We ate enchiladas and drank hibiscus tea for dinner and it was delicious. It was nice to have a night where we could relax and get to bed and recharge for what is to come for the rest of our time here.

Day 5

Today we had a steady day in the clinic treating 71 patients. We followed our same routine and everything is flowing smoothly. We are seeing quite a few children in the clinic everyday. We have already used up all of our coloring pages! The Guatemalan community is so grateful for our help and resources. After clinic, we had the opportunity to do a community walk to see where a few of our patients live and we got to visit our doctor’s sons sewing facility. It was eye-opening for us to see and experience since that is not something that we are used to seeing often. Our team s very thakful to be here to help this community any way that we can. Once again, we ended the day with a fun game of Farkle and Sayra was the winner again.

Day 6

Today we had our last day of clinic and treated 82 patients. It was an awesome day! One of the neat things about this trip is the steady flow of patients we had the whole time. Every single patient is at least going home with health and hygiene products and at least one prescription medicine if not multiple. Even more importantly, they are going home with a fresh message about Jesus from Dr. Elry. Our goal as a team is to touch as many patients as we can and we hope that they can see Jesus through us. Following clinic, another game of Farkle broke out and this time, Ann was the winner. Our trip is slowly coming to an end and we are so happy with what we have accomplished so far.

Day 6

Our last day of clinic! How did the time go by so fast?! We spent our last day treating patients at a different village further up in the mountains. We treated 25 people in El Pepinel, which made for a slower paced day than normal. This brings the total to 395 people that we treated. Everyone went home with health and hygiene products and at least one medication if not multiple. Aside from taking home tangible items to assist their health, we hope that they took home some knowledge about Christianity from Dr. Elry. Our goal as a team is to pray that they see Jesus through us.

Day 7

Today the team got to experience the culture of Guatemala. We started by walking up 333 steps to see a cross that overlooks Antigua, next we got to do some shopping where most of us got t-shirts to remember our trip. Then we had an amazing lunch of crepes filled with various proteins, vegetables, and sauces. Lastly, we visited a coffee plantation where we learned how coffee was grown, harvested, and processed. Our team has had the most incredible time here in Guatemala and many of us look forward to coming back in the future. The hospitality we received was unmatched and we are so thankful for Dr. Elray and his wife Liz.

Day 8:

Our last day was a very long travel day. Most of the team experienced not only the different time zones, but daylight savings time was also in affect upon our return. We started the day with our last team breakfast together around 7:00 a.m. then off to the airport. Wheels up for all of us around 12:15 from Guatemala. We got back to the United States around 4 ish. Following security and customs we had a nice dinner and from there some of our team members went to different gates for different flights home. After being home for a day I think I speak for the majority of the team when I say I am ready to go back. This team loves Guatemala and we love the people even more. This week was a breath of fresh air. Sharing Jesus and being his disciples is (in my opinion) the greatest joy a Christian can feel.

Thank you for following along on this blog, it has been a pleasure to keep everyone updated during our trip.