The past week was filled with new opportunities to allow God to work in our lives. What impacted me the most was on Thursday, I was working with Josephina, one of HTI's physicians, and only a few patients came to the clinic that day. God places us where we can work for him the most, as there was a 6 year old child that was bought to the clinic by her mother. For the past 2-3 days she had nausea, vomiting and some diarrhea. When we examined the child the abdomen was tight, there were no bowel sounds, and there were several positive physical signs for appendicitis. Josephina instructed the mother to take the child directly to the hospital and we prayed for them before they went their way.
The last patient, was a 50-55 year old women who was extremely thin and her husband stated she had been "ill several years but worse now" She weighed 80 lbs and was skin and bones. On examination her liver was very large and her abdomen was slightly tender at all points. There were no other significant physical signs. Josephina ask him if he would take her for an ultrasound and lab work to determine a possible diagnosis of cancer. He conveyed that we did not want to, that his wife was the shepherd for the family and they would leave it in the hands of God. We gave them some supportive medications and ask them to please come to Clinica Caris for follow up, and again it was time to pray to God for this very sick women and her family.
Neva spent the day Thursday with Dr. Lisa at her referral clinic at Caris. They saw a young man who is in similar shape and his labs and clinical presentation raise concerns about about the possibility of leukemia. He, too, was sent to the hospital for further testing and the hope of treatment. Then, a little guy, four years old and only 20 pounds, was brought to the clinic by his mom in obvious distress related to malnutrition. He was treated for parasites and his mother was given information on nutrition and hopefully he can be referred to a milk program that is available in Chichi. If we had any questions about why we are working in Guatemala, they were all answered in one day!
Saturday, we headed for the coast for a week of eye surgery. More from Montellano in the next few days.

Getting Settled in Chichi

Since our last blog, we have covered a lot of ground! In September we returned to the states to see our son baptized and married (yes, all in one week, wow, what a time of blessing!) Then we attended the October surgical clinic with a wonderful group of people who obviously love the people of Guatemala.

A few days later, we took a shuttle to Chichi to look at where we will live, a nice place, which used to be a bed and breakfast. We will rent the upstairs and will share a kitchen with a lovely woman, her son, and the 97 year old father of the owner of the house. Every morning while we were visiting that week, we woke up to the sounds of older Christian hymns, like the ones we grew up singing and in the evening to the reading of the Bible in Spanish. We also had the opportunity to meet the Guatemalan staff who work in the highlands. What a treat! We have attached a couple of pictures that we took as we sat in a restaurant having coffee and desserts. On Friday and Saturday of that week, we went out to mobile medical clinics and spent this time shadowing Lisa and Sheri as they saw patients. After the weekend, it was time to return to Antigua to finish a few days of Spanish school and as my teacher said, now it is time to practice!

This past Monday, October 26, Lisa and Kemmel arrived at our door with two trucks and we loaded up and headed to Chichi. We are getting settled here and looking ahead to several busy weeks. We are going to attend a youth conference in Santa Cruz this coming weekend. We are told to anticipate somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 attendees! There is a group coming from Oklahoma, too, so it will be a time of fellowship, meeting many new people from across the country, and worshiping the Lord. We continue to be thankful for the opportunity to serve with Health Talents.






God Bless All of You, we are so thankful for your support.


Love,


The Berkeys

Southern Comfort

We finished a surgery trip which completed 53 cases. The focus for surgery was for ENT, Plastic and General Surgery. The majority of team members were from the south, Alabama,Georgia,Tennessee and other states. This was the first time for many of the members and once they were assigned, they were busy at making the whole body work to the glory of GOD.

I know you have heard this before but the cases seem more difficult because of the amount of time span people have lived with the illness affecting them. Regardless God used his people to repair/remove thyroids, cleft lips, cleft plates and hernias, lumps and bumps.

It is so great to work with a group of Christ focus people who put others first. The last evening one of the anesthesia team members stated he was so move to see the staff praying with/for patients prior to going to surgery, he was going to offer to pray with patients when he went home.

We have attached some photos and one is of Rosario, one of the nurses scrubbed on a surgery case. This was her first time and she stated she really enjoyed it and I promised she could scrub again with us in October for GYN cases, when her schedule allowed.

In 2 weeks, we pray to test out of the present section of Spanish which has more verbs than Carter had pill for the aches and pains of life. It will be good to move on and expand our understanding of different tenses for speaking.

In Christ love

Glenn & Neva

Home in La Antigua

We returned from an eye surgical trip at Montellano, were approx 46 patients shad cataracts removed or overgrowths of tissue removed from their eyes. The staff group was a small in number but very efficient and we were able to translate when needed. Neva and I had a chance to go with Dr. Walter to a medical clinic and evaluate some patients.

Next week we return to Montellano for an combo Plastics/Ent/General surgery. One of the nurses, Shery, in ChiChi, her home church is sponsoring a 2 year old for a cleft palate repair. She has as us to assist with the coordination of the visit, paying the bill and transportation. We are really looking forward to the trip, Neva knows a few of the people on the trip. Should be an encouraging trip and a chance to meet more christians from the states.

We are in school for this week and are focusing on reviewing the section so we can test out and move on- please pray for us the God put spanish works in our brain and on our tongues.

Love
Glenn & Neva

From US to Guatemala

Sorry it has been awhile since we have written. In May we went home to visit parents, and church friends. Megan has visited her academic studies and came home a few weeks prior to her internship starting in DC for 2 months then on to San Francisco for 1 year. Jess was working and busy planning wedding details with Brooke. Neva’s parents are doing well per se, Bob needed a partial knee replacement and is doing well post-op. Marje continues to be feisty as usual.
When we returned to Guatemala, Megan came with us for approximately 10 days and we visited many of the ruins in Antigua. Neva and Megan acquired some ameba but, this was corrected with medication.
This past week was very busy as we had Spanish school in the afternoons and in the mornings I went on a local medical mission trip to 2 villages surrounding Antigua. Preston Crest Church, in Dallas Texas has an annual trip to Antigua the first week on July. Dr. Raul, Physician/Evangelist supported by Preston Crest Church ; Neva and I have grown fond on him and his wife. Dr Raul invited me to attend clinic with him when I was not in school. Four people were baptized and countless of contacts were made. Approximately 1,000 were seen and evaluated for medical, surgical and denital problems. It was very encouraging to see the combination of medicine and evangelism. This is the great example Christ used in the Bible.

Love Glenn & Neva

Dia de Madre-Mother's Day

Dia de Madre (Mother's Day) is a grand celebration in Guatemala We were surprised by the special events of the day when we arrived at church. Each women received a rose and the church had been decorated very festively by the children the day before.


Children young and old had a gift for their mothers (and husbands for their wives when children weren't present) as seen in this picture of the preacher giving his mother a gift. All mothers received a Guatemalan bible cover, which fit Neva's bible perfectly. The members laughed and clapped when I spoke a few words to Neva in Spanish after being prompted to do so by one of the members. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the special program of the day.


After the service, it was time for a tipico Guatemala meal of pepian con pollo
(a special sauce, chicken, veggies and rice) plus tortillas. All the women and children were seated and waited on by the men (a practice which I personally can not find in the Bible:) but it was the custom of the day. We had a lot of fun and there were lots of laughs. We went home feeling very much a part of our new church family.

Onto Grado B

With the tremendous help of GOD, we have passed our test on the first part of our Spanish lessons, Grado A. Neva being more gifted of tongue than me passed her test last week and I passed mine today. The next session is mostly working with verbs (verbos). There are approximately 501 verbos and we hope to learn them all (just kidding).

Enclosed is a picture of our teachers (maestras) who have patiently taught us during these past weeks. Notice they are now smiling as opposed to crying, this is a good thing, muy bien. On the left is Sandra (my teacher) and on the right is Blanca (Neva's teacher). We appreciate both of them so much for putting up with us for four hours each day and for the program at the Christian Spanish Academy, which is an wonderful way to learn a new language.