Today was a full day for the Guatemala Medical Team. When they arrived at the village of Vista Hermosa there was already a long line of people that needed to be seen. So the team hit the ground running. They saw 160 patients.  All of them received the medicines they required.

The Guatemalan people have been wonderful to work with and minister to. They are so thankful to have the team serving in their community.  The local team of leaders have been very strong in supporting the efforts of the team. They got the word out about the medical team visits and have done a wonderful job at registering patients and controlling the crowd.  The local pastors have come each day taking time to speak with, pray with and when the opportunity arose to share the Gospel.

The team has been blessed with the immense hospitality of the local people. The team was invited to a local leader’s home for lunch daily, providing an opportunity to experience home life in one of the most remote areas of the country. The joy the people of Guatemala express when they are able to share what little they have with others has touched the hearts of each team member. One of the elderly patients treated yesterday returned today to give the team bananas from her garden as a thank you for providing care.

The team really worked together today supporting each other, going out of the way to help one another and even stretching themselves in support of the whole effort.  Pediatric specialists were seeing adults and vice versa which in the medical field is a stretch.  It’s been a joy to see non-native Spanish speakers step up and speak in broken Spanish to get the job done.  There has been a willingness to pitch and do things out of their comfort zone to help each other out. The overall attitude of the group was to push hard together to bring the maximum glory to God.

That attitude was seen in the way they ministered and served the villagers. There were some very sick children seen at the clinic that the medical team was able to help. One little baby girl had severe breathing problems. It was a wonder to watch her facial expression change from struggling to breathe and crying to smiling while she was getting an aerosol treatment. It was truly humbling to have the opportunity to pray for these little ones knowing that they had received care they so needed.

Tomorrow they will conduct the last half day of clinic then get back on the road toward the capital. The journey tomorrow will be over the same terrain that the team had to travel on to get to Vista Hermosa. It is a rough road.  But, undoubtedly, the team will be rejoicing that they got to serve God by serving the Guatemalan people.