Go North Young Woman

Late last year Salud y Paz received another big gift from above in the form of a 26 year-old nurse named Heather from Minnesota. Heather was working at the Mayo Clinic when she felt God call her to share her talents to help the people of Guatemala. Carey and I and the rest of the SyP staff have really enjoyed getting to know her and are so thankful for all she's already done and plans to do in the coming years...

Heather performed her first miracle by helping me get our operating rooms and surgical storage room ready for our 5 upcoming surgery teams this year...

...you wouldn't believe some of the stuff we found while cleaning up. Holy Pampers! Can you imagine changing this diaper!?

In January Heather coordinated getting Bartola, a 27 year-old disabled woman from Zacualpa, a brand-new and specially-designed wheel chair. Bartola was so happy she couldn't stop smiling (and what a smile it is!)

The really big news is that Heather will be opening our new clinic in Cunen (about 3 hours from the clinic Carey and I work out of). She'll travel up to this isolated town twice a month for 2-3 days at a time. The people of Cunen are SO excited about finally received regular medical care and medication.

It may not look like much from the outside, but inside it's our nicest and best-designed clinic. Please pray for Heather as she makes this long journey each month and gets to know the people of Cunen. You can follow her adventures at http://nowthatihaveseen.spaces.live.com

Vaya con Dios, Heather!

In other news...

I've been with teams now for 16 straight days and am pretty whooped, but in that time Carey and the team from Florida opened the preschool for year two, Jay and the two construction teams built new patient bathrooms and nearly finished the new office space for the preschool workers, and the Bible school teams had a great time with hundreds of local children over the past two weeks.

Prayers are appreciated for: the new clinic opening, the surgery team coming on Saturday from San Antonio, Carey's interviews in the States, and the children of Guatemala as they begin another school year.