Hola,

First of all, I am very glad you are reading my blog. It really means a lot that you are interested in the incredible things God is doing in Guatemala. Beginning where I left off last time…

So, Saturday afternoon we finally made it to San Miguel Chicaj, where we will be spending the majority of our time in Guatemala. A wonderful woman named Kathy Archer, who works with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), has allowed Marvin, Sophia, Tanya (a missionary from Mexico), Rachel, and I to live in her guest house. There is no running water, but it is nice to have a place to call home for a while. We actually got to unpack our luggage and settle in. The water issue isn’t so bad, we just use rainwater collected in barrels to bathe, and we just dump a bucket of water into the toilet to flush it. Unfortunately, the water pipes in Guatemala can’t handle toilet paper, so we have to throw that in the trashcan. It gets stinky.

Saturday night, we met up with the medical/physical therapy team (who had just flown in) at dinner to get organized for the upcoming medical clinics and to pray. Sunday, we had the privilege of going to the church of Pastor David Ixcopal. We had to cross an Indiana Jones-esque bridge over a river to get there, but it was great. David and Bart both preached and David invited the ladies and I to sing a few songs. I think we all had a great time worshiping our great God with our Achi brothers and sisters.

Monday, we got up, ate breakfast, and headed out to a village called San Fransicso, where we set up our clinic in some vacant classrooms in a school. I was not prepared for the things we saw, both heartbreaking and glorious. As the designated videographer, I spent most of the day conducting interviews of team members, filming everything that was going on, and occasionally helping the nurses and doctors when necessary. Are you ready for the heartbreaking? Here it comes. One elderly lady came into the clinic with a very swollen jaw. I was filming when she came into the room to have her vitals checked, and was only about 10 feet away when she took her head covering off and revealed a golf ball sized hole just in front of her ear. I have never been so caught off guard in my life. The doctors said it was from cancerous tumors that went untreated. They said it was terminal, and that she was going to die. There was nothing they could do except treat the wound and give her pain meds to help ease the suffering. What a sobering slap in the face. I have been to other countries before, but I have never seen such physical need. As for the glorious, later that day, a teenage boy spent over an hour talking and praying with Hector. We later learned that he gave his life to Christ. Praise God! I had never gotten to see the actual point of salvation in the Holy Spirit’s long process of redemption before.

Tuesday, we set up our clinic in a village called Tempisque. I spent most of the day painting fluoride on patients’ teeth and doing more filming/interviewing. I have numerous stories about various other patients we encountered, but you’ll have to ask me in person if you want to hear more about them. Otherwise, I’d be typing for hours. Just know that God is doing miraculous things here among the Achi. The water team also met with a committee to discuss and investigate future water projects by DSC.

Wednesday, we got to have pancakes for breakfast. I even found some milk at a convenience store to go with it (for some reason they don’t drink much milk here). Then, Damian was able to fix all the sketchy plumbing at Kathy’s house, so we have running water now!!! That was the best shower I ever had. It was even warm! It was a great morning. After lunch, we drove up to a town in the mountains called Tac Tic. We had a Skype session with all the folks from DSC (Desert Springs Church) in Albuquerque during the Lord’s Supper Dinner. By the time that was over, it was time for bed.

Thursday, we drove up even higher into the mountains to a small village called Chicholom. The drive was breathtaking – in two ways actually. One, being the unbelievably beautiful scenery, and two, the 10 foot wide dirt road (with hairpin turns over several-hundred foot drops) that our bus driver decided to take at highway speeds. Lucky the driver was really good. It seems that all the drivers around here are really good. My guess is that all the bad ones are dead. Chichilom was easily the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. I wish cameras could fully capture the beauty. We did clinics there Thursday and Friday. I painted more teeth with fluoride, filmed more interviews, played with more kids, helped the water guys test the filtration of the soil in different areas, sang some songs, and praised God for the beauty of the geography and the people. The clinics were packed both days, so everyone kept very busy. Rachel has become quite the nurse. She took vitals all week, and has gotten pretty darn good at it. We were sad to leave the Chicholom for the last time Friday. Half the team had to fight back tears when the local pastor gave us all beautifully woven pieces of cloth as a “thank you” for our work. We will all miss that village, and will be anxiously waiting to return on a future trip.

I am actually writing all of this on Friday. We just got back to our hotel in Tac Tic. We spent all yesterday evening walking around in the market, so this is the first chance I’ve really had to sit down and write all of this. In the morning , the medical/water/physical therapy team will head to Antigua for a day of recuperation before their flight back to Albuquerque. The rest of us will head back to San Miguel for another 3 weeks. I am exited to not have such an intense schedule anymore. Please pray that God will use the rest of our time living among the Achi for His glory, and for our joy. I suspect my future posts will be a little more in-depth and meaningful, and focus on certain events, rather than just giving a general summary of a whole week. I just wanted to make sure this last week was documented. Anyways, thank you all for everything.

Brian Whippo