February 11th, 2019

​Another day in Guatemala! I think I've come here now about 50 times. Every trip brings new adventures, new challenges and always joy! And have we been successful? Walt Whitman said "If the day and night be such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more immortal - that is your success." So yes, then if that is the definition, we have surely been successful. Every day and night here surely bring joy." 
So many of you have supported our work here. I wish I could give you just a small sense of how your support has really made it a better world for the people we work with. Today we went to a very remote village called Santa Amelia.  100 women dressed in beautiful Indigenous garb were lined up to suffer through their pap smears! There was so much giggling going on! For many of them, it was their first time so of course the giggling got them through the hours of waiting for a little torture! Too many of them knew of others who have died prematurely from cervical cancer and so the visit was wrought with a lot of apprehension. Myself and Courtney, our med student, and Mayra, our Project Director worked away trying to make sure everyone would be seen. Social workers from the Municipality were there to help us process all the paperwork. 
In the midst of the busyness, one young woman came in looking especially apprehensive. She was one of our previous patients whom we can honestly say will live a full life only because of this work. She previously came for a pap which showed a precancerous lesion which was very close to invasive disease.  After a procedure we previously did and extensive evaluation, we arranged for her to have a hysterectomy which was done. Today she came in with her pathology report which showed that THANK GOD her uterus was removed in time….
Of course she didn’t understand any of the words in the pathology report so when we told her that she was cured, she broke into such a beautiful smile. I thought about all the people who made her “cure” possible and how now her 6 children would now have their mother with them as they grow.  She was happy to let us take her picture and share her story with you all. 
So much to thank our God for here!