Guatemala Day Two

I got to sleep in today until 9 am! What a treat. We woke up and got ready for church. The church is right across the street, within walking distance. They welcomed us right in. Carlos, who works for Health Talents, was leading the service. He greeted us in English but the rest of the service was in Spanish. We sang a bunch of songs, most Spanish...some English. It was beautiful to hear the uninhibited voices worshipping, even if I didn´t understand what they were saying. I didn´t understand any of the sermon, but at one point everyone laughed and we received translation...If only tall people were saved then only Americans would be in heaven. Thank goodness for Zaccheus! Guatemalans are definitely not tall people. In fact, I think I am looking tall for the first time in my life. Even taller than most of the men. Now I know how you feel Mel-Mel! After church we had lunch and then a meeting about policies and procedures. Still better than being at work at home! Before we could start surgery, the doctors had to screen all the patients. They had all been evaluated by our Guatemalan doctors as needing surgery, but our surgeons had to do the final evaulation. Unfortunately, not everyone gets surgery. Some are too complicated or not old enough, or not stable enough. We did meet two patients while we were wandering around the clinic looking for something to do. Edison is a 3mo old with bilateral cleft lip. He is so sweet. When he smiles he looks like a jack-o-lateren! His mom looked about 19 years old herself...don´t know how she is handling this! The second patient was a 9 year old with a unilateral cleft lip. His surgery is not scheduled until Thursday, but he lives so far away they are staying here. I´m sure it is so boring for him, but he still looks happy!

Judy and I then took some time to rest. We volunteered to work the night shift so we decided to nap in the afternoon. There was a fabulous rain storm that aided our sleep! The surgeons were still operating around dinner time, but we went ahead and ate anyway. I will not wait for food!! After dinner, Judy and I took a brisk walk around the campus. The weather was beautiful post-rain. The best place to be most of the time here is outside...inside it is too stuffy! Then came our big group devotional. You can tell that this organization is COC when you opened the songbook. There were listed parts for bass, tenor, alto, and soprano. I´m not sure I fit into any of those! I almost wrote in my own part, but restrained myself! During our devos, we reviewed what surgeries had been done that day. Ten total. Not bad for starting at 3pm! Judy and I are now working the night shift. We have four Guatemalan aides here, but we are not sure what they are supposed to be doing since they don´t speak English and we don´t speak Spanish. Guess we´ll have to do our best....not sure what I´ll be saying though! Hope I don´t offend anyone!!