April, 2005

Mike sharing Christ to patients

Last month, Sandy, David and I had the privilege of participating in an outreach with students from John Brown University (Arkansas) in Santa Cruz, a small village in the central highlands of Guatemala.  I conducted a dental clinic while others were involved in a medical clinic, a vacation bible school as well as the construction of environmentally friendly wood burning stoves.

Sandy and David with the medical team

David worked as a translator for the medical team and Sandy helped in all aspects of the dental clinic and with the VBS.  Juan Antonio Martinez, a dental student from the national dental school, worked alongside me and was a tremendous help.  There were so many patients that on the last day we worked from 8:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. without a break, and we still had to turn people away.

Mike and Sandy with the dental team

The final statistics at the end of the week were:  500 patients treated in the medical clinic, 100 dental patients treated (an average of 2 teeth extracted per person), 45 stoves built and installed and hundreds of children ministered to during the VBS.  We were all tired but very happy with what the Lord allowed us to accomplish.

We hope that we have the opportunity to be a part of another team from John Brown.  Sandy, David and I were very impressed with their tireless and uncomplaining commitment to each task that they were assigned.  And much of the credit for that goes to their faculty adviser, Dr. Joe Walenciak, who has been involved for several years with the planning and execution of these projects.  You are doing a great job, Joe.

Prayer requests:

• For Joe Walenciak's back that may require surgery because of an injury suffered on the last day of the outreach.
• For an outreach organized by the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, April 16-23, with the San Carlos Dental School (Guatemala).  I will be coordinating this student exchange along with Dr. Michael Roberts, the CMDA student ministries representative for the Los Angeles area.
• For Melissa and Andrew Sturgeon's wedding on June 25th at the First Baptist Church in Fullerton, CA.
• For our furlough, May 30 - August 15, that we may divide our time adequately between family and ministry commitments.

   For the Saviour,

   Dr. Mike