Back to Bocachica

Jorge was super happy to return to Bocachica on February 16.

(I will be joining him in a few months.)

 Jorge and his little helper, Moises (Samy and Marley's little boy).

Together again at our weekly staff meeting.

Elisabeth (our Norwegian staff doctor) and Laura (our Brazilian staff nurse) working at the clinic. 

Elisabeth attending to a patient at the clinic.

Clinic Dedication Video

This is a video that we showed at our clinic dedication ceremony that shows the 11+ year construction process all the way from the very beginning when we were clearing the land.  Many, many people labored and gave and prayed to make this a reality.  We give thanks and glory to God for all that He has done to bring us to this point and we trust that He will continue to do the impossible to make this place a blessing for the island communities of Tierra Bomba.

Clinic Dedication Today!

Today we are hosting a special ceremony in Bocachica to celebrate God's faithfulness and provision in this 11+ year process of building the clinic.  We still have a few details to go to completely finish but today we are celebrating and dedicating the use of these facilities to the Lord's service. 

Catching Up...Medical Brigade

Last month we had the privilege of hosting a medical team from North Heights Lutheran Church from Arden Hills, MN.  This was their second year to come and a lot of the original team members were able to return.  We had an awesome time with the team and were blessed in many, many ways by their presence!  Here are a few photos from the week:

 Dr. Jack

 Anita checking in a patient.

 Dan entertaining the kids while they wait for their parents to be seen by the doctor.

 Translating for Edi as she gives a talk on pregnancy and childbirth to a group of pregnant women.

 Jessica, Mandy and Sue

 Dr. Jim at work.

 Dr. Jim and Yolanda looking for just the right medicine.

 Praying for a patient after his appointment.

 Maryjo with one of her surgery patients...a growth removed.

 Leni taking a patient history at check-in.

Guillermo!

With Erika and Pili!

(PHOTOS BY PILI BUNSTER)

Medical Brigade Video

Guillermo made this 4 minute video which will give you a great overview of our week at the medical brigade earlier this month! Check it out!!

More Medical Brigade Photos!

Click here to see more photos of the medical brigade!

Also included are some pics of clinic construction, first aide classes and a few other random shots.

Minor Surgery at Medical Brigade

Check out this video clip of Dr. Greg removing a fatty tumor from behind a girl´s ear at our medical brigade last week.

Medical Brigade

Last week we were excited to have a medical team from North Heights Lutheran in Arden Hills, Minnesota. They held a 5 day medical brigade at our new clinic facilities (still under construction!) and with only 2 doctors, 5 nurses and a handful of support staff we were able to attend to approximately 430 patients from the community. In addition to their medical expertise they offered such patient and loving care to the community and each one who passed through was blessed by them. We saw God´s provision in such neat ways as certain medicines and supplies were exhausted with the last patient who needed them.

Dr. Jim

You´ve heard of living out of a suitcase. But have you ever heard of practicing medicine out of a suitcase? The whole team was very resourceful and took it all in stride.

One of Dr. Jim´s specialties is pain management and he was a big blessing to a lot of people with chronic pain issues!

Dr. Greg is an ER doctor and he did serval minor surgeries. Some of my photos got deleted by accident so I will put up a a better shot of Dr. Greg a little later.


Sue and Colleen assist Mary Jo as Jon stands by as translator and official light holder.

Edi is a nurse mid-wife who dealt with a lot of the female patients.

The team in front of the clinic site.

Back in Bocachica

Back in Bocachica clinic construction continues under the direction of Ricardo de la Rosa.

Clinic Construction Continues

After the roof of the second wing was finished we started on the the interior and exterior walls. We should be finished raising the walls within another week or so.

The Latest in Bocachica

Here´s an overview of what has been going on in Bocachica the last few weeks...not necessarily in this order:


BASKETBALL WORKSHOP

A last-minute contact brought a basketball team from the USA to do a one-day workshop with the kids in Bocachica.

PHYSICAL THERAPY

For those of you who didn´t know, our new staffer, Guillermo (from Brazil/Chile) is a Physical Therapist and God is using his profession to help the people in Bocachica. What an incredible blessing it is for the them to have this opportunity right on thier door-step!

BUTTERFLY WORKSHOP

Yolanda is back doing her decorating workshops with the local ladies...this time they are making butterflies.

YWAM SWITZERLAND TEAM

We had a DTS outreach team from the YWAM base in Lausanne, Switzerland with us this month. There were 11 of them but none of them were Swiss...we had 1 Brit and 10 Koreans. They did all kinds of activities with the kids, youth and elderly.

CHILD SPONSORSHIP

Last month was the beginning of the second semester of the local school and our staff girls got together school supply packets to hand out to the kids in our sponsorship program.

KID´S STUFF

Every Thursday night during our cell group meeting Pili and Josefina take the kids out for an age appropriate activity while the youth and adults stay to hear the teaching. They usually really have their hands full but they are very gifted to work with kids and it´s a blessing to have them!

CLINIC PROGRESS

Last week we took down all the scaffoldings and supports (I don´t know the correct terms in English so I hope you know what I am talking about) from building the concrete roof on the second wing of the clinic.

MISSION IMPROVEMENTS

Samy and Guillermo built a few new sidewalks in the mission, just in time for the rainy season when things get muddy and yucky!