Day 2

Greetings,
 Today we went to the school and the service team and the medical team stayed really busy.
 The medical clinic cared for 140 patients today.  70% of the patients were the children from the school and the remaining patients were from the mothers and teachers of the students.  The medical professionals (Jackie and Colleen) had interpreters working with them to help make sure the patients could clearly communicate the care that they needed. Many of the students were in need of shoes and socks.  The shoes that many of the children were wearing without socks were worn out and too small.  This was leading to some health concerns with some of the students.  Shoes were donated from a couple of Jr. High students from Wooddale that collected many pairs of shoes for this ministry.  The children were so happy to get new shoes.  

The service team was asked to fix the cistern, as it needed a float replaced.  As the team worked on the plumbing, it was discovered that there were other needs with how the pipes were run and valve was not working.   In addition to working on the plumbing on the cistern, the toilets also needed repair, so the team went to the hardware and picked up the tank kit for one of the restrooms and repaired a crank in the tank in the other.  The team also replaced some broken windows with chicken wire to prevent a pesky cat from getting into the classrooms at night.  The chicken wire over the open windows also provides good air ventalation in the room, so it doesn't get so warm and uncomfortable in the classrooms in the afternoon.

 After the workday, we met Victor who was a man that had a leg amputated after a bus accident from 5 years ago.  He has been using crutches to get around since that time.  We were able to provide Victor a cart/wheelchair, which enables him to be able to use the hand crank pedals to give him better mobility.  The cart was delivered to him and his family met him and shared their greatfulness with us that their Dad could have better mobility.

 The day was capped off with a birthday celebration with firecrackers in the street and a birthday cake for the team to enjoy.  Many thanks to the Guatemala hosts for the celebration.

 Dios Bendiga,
Terry