Things I Did NOT Learn in Seminary

The clog in our blog over the last few weeks is due to lots of long work days preparing for and working with one of our biggest and most important teams this year - a surgery team from Canada. I'm totally drained, but it's been an awesome experience seeing them in action. In the past 6 days they have completed 25 or so plastic surgeries (cleft lips, finger/toe repair, amputations) and 20ish gynecological surgeries (hysterectomies, tubal ligations, ovarian cyst removals).
I've learned so much while coordinating the trip for this team, but it has also exposed just how ill-trained I am for certain aspects of this job. I seem to find myself in unfamiliar situations daily, and as I do, one thought continues to come to mind: I definitely did NOT learn how to do this in seminary!

IN SEMINARY, THEY DIDN'T TEACH ME HOW TO...
1. ...answer the question, "My baby hasn't fed in over a day and my breasts are full of milk. Can you help me relieve the pressure?" Ummm...a little help over here please!
2. ...speak Ixil, K'iche, Kakchiquel, Mam or Tz'utuil - just 5 of the indigenous languages spoken by our surgical patients this week. Somebody find me a translator.
3. ...watch a big toe be amputated without feeling a little woozy. Totally worth it : )
4. ...drive 3 hours to an unfamiliar, dangerous city with said toe sitting in the passenger seat next to me bouncing around in a jar full of formaldehyde so it can be biopsied. Don't worry though, sucking in fumes from chicken buses over the past 6 months has killed my sense of smell.
5. ...speak in Spanish with patients about their irregular menstral cycles and other "female problems" without blushing.

Fortunately, however, somewhere along the way I did learn how to comfort a woman who had just been informed that she had cancer, hold the hand of a man who was having his toe amputated, and spend some time listening to and encouraging a friend whose husband is an alcoholic. I guess when it comes down to it I'm really just a pastor at heart - a pastor posing as a volunteer coordinator/pseudo-nurse guy/wanna-be translator in Guatemala.

The first group of patients arrive at the clinic. I don't think they understood a word I said, so I just kept smiling.

I'm in there about 6" from the big toe. I didn't touch it, but kind of wanted to.

Team Canada at work. I've found a whole new respect for our neighbors up north. Can you believe they can do something like this in what used to be an abandoned building?

Shout-out to our friend, Dr. Candice, from Austin who came down to help Carey with the preschool. They spent the week brainstorming ways to improve the school...and were able to work a little free-time into the visit too.

Carey with the kiddos one day at school. They're watching several of their classmates act out "The Three Little Pigs" as the teachers read the story. So cute.

Just to leave you with a unique cultural experience, check out this 70-second video I took of the Sunday market in Chichicastenango (the biggest market in Central America). Note the local's traditional dress, the incense coming from the church, and the indigenous language (K'iche) being spoken by the man near me...

Peace, Jay

ps. Carey and I feel so thankful for your love and support. How can we ever repay you for supporting us in this work?