Over the next 4 months, Caring Partners will be leading 3 international medical mission teams to the country of Guatemala. Our teams will be serving with three different churches - two in urban areas in sprawling Guatemala City, the third in a rural community in the southern part of the country. We are excited to work alongside our national church partners and see how God will use our healthcare partnership to further His Kingdom.
Our November medical mission team served with the Genezareth Church in Guatemala City. The Guatemalan government has labeled the streets surrounding the Church as "Red Zones", which means the area suffers from both gang violence and economic poverty. But with God's grace, the Genezareth Church has become a light in the darkness - ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of the entire community.
Numerous healthcare conditions were treated including children with lice, parasites, and even hepatitis. Scores of adults were also cared for, including one woman who was 5 months pregnant. Sensing the need for further examination, Drs. Lisa Ward & Adam Reed performed an ultrasound with some very surprising results - twins! What a thrill for our medical providers to see the ecstatic reaction of the woman and her young son Isaac, who closed out his mother's examination with a powerful prayer for his two new siblings-to-be.
Not all of the patients who visit our medical clinics come with a physical condition which can be cared for with a treatment or medication. Pediatrician Dr. Claire McDowell and her translator, CPI Missionary Karen Lambert, treated a young woman and her infant baby at their clinic station. Through the assessment process, Dr. Claire and Karen learned the young woman had been abused in her relationship with the child's father, and that the church she was attending had flatly told her "it was her fault".
Dr. Claire struggled to hide her tears as Karen led the young woman in prayer, assuring her that God loved her, as did she and Claire and the Genezareth Church. Following their prayer, Dr. Claire moved immediately to connect the young woman with one of the female workers serving in the Church's Clinic of the Soul. This worker from the Genezareth Church also prayed with the young woman, comforted her, and assured her she had found a new church home. And our entire mission team praised the Lord as we learned the glorious news that the young woman asked Jesus to be her Lord & Savior - to God be the glory!
"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name." Psalms 100:4
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Photos, Clockwise, from Top Left: 1) Dr. Adam with a patient he's helped with cervical pain the past few clinics, 2) Dr. Claire performing a check-up, 3) Physical Therapist Dr. Gary Bowman & translator Diego, 4) Praying for needs in the Clinic of the Soul, 5) Kettering Health Network Pharmacist Christa Hayslip & CPI Missionary Jon Lambert serving in the Pharmacy
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