Guatemala MMM | 06/17/2017

6/21/17 EARTHQUAKE UPDATE: We have spoken to the team and they felt an earthquake last night. Everyone is in great shape. You may hear a report of an earthquake in Guatemala - it has not negatively impacted our team or the area of Guatemala that they are in.  

Medical Missions Ministry and Mana de Vida Split teams look a lot alike. We just get to see a little different action for a couple of days of the week. With Medical Missions Ministry, the medical clinics are set up in churches in the villages of Guatemala and the pastors invite the neighboring communities to come for the free clinic. With Mana de Vida School, we serve the school in various ways, as they need us.

Here is a quick peek at the schedule of events for the week:

Saturday: Depart for Guatemala, arrive and settle in. Some on the team may go grocery shopping for the week.

Sunday: Church in Antigua with Dr. Alb (our ministry partner), lunch, visit an orphanage and play with the kids in the afternoon. Evening at the ministry center to relax and prepare for the week.

M-Th: Up at 6:00am or so to be ready for devotions from 7:00-9:00am. Then the team departs for the clinic. These days are usually long days. The drives to the villages for the clinics can be long. Occasionally the teams will stay overnight at the church that is hosting the clinic if the next village is closer than returning to the ministry center. The team leader will know closer to the departure date if the team will “sleep out”. Once you arrive at the church for the clinic, each participant helps set up the pharmacy and with any other set up need and then begins to greet the patients. 

The doctors see as many patients as come and the team works in one of the areas mentioned below to help the patients. At the end of the day they pack up and return “home”.

The clinics include helping the pharmacist dispense medicine, prayer walking, prescription runner, working with the kids’ program, assisting the dentist, and finally, what Dr. Alb considers the most important part, the Sharing Stations. As the patients wait for their prescriptions to be filled, most of the team is waiting to pray with them and to share the gospel. Team members rotate between all of these positions.

OR: Off to MDV School, where you will help the team there with various projects. Could be painting, helping with English lessons, working in the kitchen, administrative work for the sponsored children getting their records updated, and any other thing that the staff there needs help to accomplish. You’ll drive back and forth to the ministry center each day. It’s about a 45 min-1 hr drive. Depending on traffic. You stay the full day and drive back to the ministry center for dinner. 

Evenings are spent enjoying the team with games and conversation.

Friday: Market day. The team heads to Antigua for shopping at the market and possibly a climb up a volcano. This is one day that we want to give the teams a chance to interact with the Guatemalans and learn a little bit about the culture. A fun day but also a great cultural experience.

Saturday: Return to the US.