Guatemalan Dreams

Guatemalan Trip 2017

It was a beautiful bright sunny day. The sun was out, the birds were singing. I had just finished attending church and was standing to the side, taking it all in.  As familiar as much of this sounds, this was my first week attending church as a young 19 year old missionary in Guatemala.  I had taken Spanish for two years in middle school and all four years in high school.  The lessons came rather easily to me in the two month preparation courses that I just completed but being placed in a community in a foreign country was something else entirely.  Even when words were spoken that I knew, I didn't understand them for the cadence and the accent.  It was all a bit overwhelming.

As missionaries we were always paired with a companion.  Mine was Guatemalan and knew absolutely no English.  While he spoke to the bishop of the congregation, there I stood feeling rather unneeded and overwhelmed.  I felt a tug on my hand and looked down to see the darling face of a four year old girl who noticed my predicament.  She pointed to a flower and said, "flor" to a blade of grass and said, "hierba" and to an ant, "hormiga."  She would wait after each one for me to say it and then give me a warm smile.  I was smitten.  That little girl instilled in me a love for the people of Guatemala that is hard to explain.  I was there to help and bless the lives of those around me.  I left feeling like I was the one who had been helped and blessed, having received far more than I gave.

The two years of being a missionary changed me for the better.  Not a day goes by when I don't think of that experience.  Helping others feel closer to their Savior Jesus Christ had an even greater effect on me personally.  When I finished my missionary term I returned to college and prepared for medical school.  My major was Spanish.  I was able to do both my prerequisite classes in medicine as well as dive into the hispanic culture, their art and literature.

After I finished my Internal Medicine Residency, I longed to do more for that community.  I thought of returning to Guatemala but as a Primary Care physician, my skills did not lend themselves well to appearing in the country for a few days and then leaving.  I found a Spanish speaking medical clinic here in St. Louis (La Accion Clinica) and started volunteering once a month in the evening.  It was not a huge time commitment but I persisted month after month.  When the recession hit in 2007, the clinic folded but within a year a new one started up sponsored by St. Louis University, "La Casa de Salud."  I scheduled my first Thursday of the month evening shifts and have continued ever since.  It has now been 22 years total. Though I feel like my steady contribution has been significant, I continue to feel that I have received more from the Hispanic community than I have received.

Through the years, my best friend from childhood has been going and organizing an eye center in a remote Guatemalan village, Nuevo Progreso.  He and others have done an amazing job of bringing high quality vision services to an area that would otherwise not have them.  Above and beyond the operations they have performed, they have set up a facility and been able to hire and train local physicians to continue to provide care on their own.  For the last few years, I have been invited to come along and this year I said, "yes."

I was to be in Guatemala starting last Thursday night.  The pandemic had other ideas. Our excursion has been indefinitely postponed.  In addition to helping the surgeons, I was very much looking forward to meeting with the primary care doctors there.  I am sure they would help me learn so much and hopefully I would be able to help teach them from my experience as well.  I look forward to making this happen in the future when it is safe to do so.

The foundation is called "Hospital de la Familia."  A link to its website is here.  There are many ways to help if you are interested.