Guatemala Medical Missions Trip Update #4

We finished up our medical clinics and other activities today at the Lily
of the Valley Church.  We saw a few less patients today than on the
previous days with 58 being seen.  That permitted us to all divide up in
about 5 teams with some of the local church members to deliver bags of
food to some needy families.  Some of these were church members--including
some quite elderly folks in their upper 80s.  That something you don't see
too often here as life expectancy isn't that high.  We did get to see a
few folks who were friends or neighbors of church members and as
opportunity presented itself, we shared a brief gospel presentation with
them as well.

We packed up the left over medications and took them to a local dress
boutique for storage.  I'll share more about that business and its
ministry at a later time.

One of the amazing things that took place this week was being able to
minister to a young woman in her early 30s who has no legs.  Jason thought
she might suffer from cerebral palsy.  One of the ladies from the Judah
Baptist Church had recently met her and has been praying for and with her.
 The young woman pulls herself along on the ground as her only means of
locomotion.  The friend from Judah mentioned that it would be awesome for
her to have a wheelchair, but they couldn't afford to provide one.  It
turns out that the cost for one is only about $150 or so.  Our pharmacist
friends from FBC Farmington had told us that their church had sent them
with some extra funds to use as necessary.  When I mentioned this need to
them, they didn't hesitate to say they wanted to help.  The church member
asked the pharmacists if they could be present on Sunday to present the
wheelchair to the young lady and they agreed to do so.

This morning, one of the young ladies from Judah informed me that the
local TV station here in Quetzaltenango found out about this lady and the
provision of a wheelchair for her and they wanted to show up and film the
delivering of the chair to her tomorrow morning at church.  It seems that
this lady for years has been begging at the main plaza downtown and almost
everyone in town knows of or has seen her.  The lady from church asked if
it would be alright with the pharmacists for the TV station to film the
event and they concurred again, saying that it would be great publicity
for the church.

That's one of many neat things that God has done this week through the
efforts of the team here in Guatemala.  Tomorrow we wrap up with worship
services in both churches we've been assisting and then we head back to
Guatemala City after lunch.  My voice isn't much better so I'd certainly
still appreciate your prayers that I'll be able to preach.  The Lily of
the Valley Church is celebrating its 43 anniversary and is expecting a big
crowd we're told.