Many Hands Make Light Work

Mission House Construction Update

I want to start off with some exciting news! In November, we officially broke ground on the construction of the new mission house in El llano! It is amazing to see how much work has been done. The foundation is dug out and the columns are partially poured. You can see the form of the building start to come alive! Similar to the Clinic, the new mission house was built on a slope, so we have decided to add on a basement instead of backfill all of that space. The basement when completed will have a small living room, kitchenette, and three bedrooms with their own bathrooms. Our next phase is about to start now. This will include the pouring of the columns, backfilling the areas needed, pouring the main floor and pouring the roof to the main floor. It is estimated that this next step will take about two to three months. 

Wiskinlove

In the beginning of November, Wiskinlove’s tumor had worsened and grown too large; she suffered for several months with pain. When nothing more could be done, she returned home with her mother. On December 19th, after over a year of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgeries she was finally able to go into the presence of the Lord. My heart broke hearing the news but she died a brave girl, smiling despite the suffering she endured in her short life. 

Visit Home

It has been five years since I have gone to Michigan to celebrate Christmas with my family. This year I decided to fly home for a week! It was so great to spend time with my family. The trip felt very short but so fulfilling!  The majority of my family will be coming down for a week in April to visit me and see the work we are doing! I am so excited for them to all see the clinic in Rosa la Piedra for the first time! 

Teams

Holy Spirit

We have had a busy start to the new year with teams! Our first team that came down was Holy Spirit from Brighton Michigan. We spent the week doing mobile medical clinics, elderly visits, visiting the Missionaries of Charity, and building church benches! One of the days that we would normally do a mobile medical clinic was a holiday, so we went up to Rosa la Piedra to help build benches and repair the church roof. It was fun to see our American team working alongside members of the community to repair their church roof.  Since we were already up the mountain the team decided to spend the night at the clinic! We cooked dinner, learned some line dances, and star gazed! 

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

The next team we had was Good Shepherd Lutheran Church from California.The team was a very large team made up of Americans, Dominicans, and Haitians. I always enjoy mixing our three cultures together. On top of the medical care that we provide, this team was able to provide dental care! The amount of dental patients that they were able to see was incredible. Over the four work days, we saw over 1,000 patients; medical and dental. We have never seen that many people in a week! There were multiple difficult cases that came to the clinic during the week. We saw many children during the week and ended up taking seven severely malnourished children to the Missionaries of Charity.  We had a young 17 year old with diabetes whose glucose levels were so high they did not read on our meters. Thankfully, we have some insulin at our clinic so we have been working with her to get her levels under control. Another lady that showed up to the clinic had breast cancer. She had surgery scheduled in Haiti for this past April, but was unable to make it due to the gangs taking over the hospital. On Wednesday, a father came in with his two month old baby that we ended up bringing down to the Missionaries of Charity because the mother was very sick. The next day he brought his wife. Four men carried her to the clinic from her home on a small metal bed frame. The doctors did a quick exam before we rushed her down the mountain with her husband to the hospital in Elias Pina. They then sent her to a more equipped hospital in San Juan where she was in Intensive Care. She sadly died three days later. Getting her body removed from the hospital resulted in a bit of a challenge because we had to find a casket and an ambulance willing to transport her back to the border where she would be carried to her home.

St. Mary’s

Our next team that just left was St Mary’s from Pinckney, Michigan! This team had all returning volunteers except one. It is always wonderful to see familiar faces and get to know the new ones. I love how “go with the flow” this team always is when we face obstacles. On our first work day, we made it up the mountain just slightly before we ran into car troubles. We all sat on the side of the road waiting for a new vehicle to come up and transport us. Everyone was patient and flexible even when we ended up waiting for about an hour! The running joke was that even though we were on the side of a mountain without a tow truck, somehow it was still faster than waiting for AAA to come :) During the week we were able to visit all of our elderly in the different communities, mobile medical clinics, and visit the Missionaries of Charity. We even got to surprise Maritza for her birthday! At the clinic in Rosa la Piedra the husband to the wife who just died returned to thank us for everything we did for them. He also brought one of his other children; a three year old weighing 16lbs. We ended up bringing him down the mountain to the missionaries of Charity. 

We have more teams coming in March, April and May! Please keep our upcoming teams in your prayers! We are very excited to have such a busy beginning of the year. 

Prayers: 

• For our upcoming teams as they prepare to come down and serve with us. 

• For our two Doctors Angelito and Arturo, who have been filling in while Dr. Angel has been gone. They will be taking their medical exams on March 1st for their residency placements.

• For the children that were brought down the mountain to the Missionaries of Charity, that they get rest and nourishment while they are there. 

• For the Father who lost his wife and has two children at the Missionaries of Charity.

• For the next phase of construction that is about to begin.