Hospital de Guatemala.....

This week has been a long week to say the least. It all started when we had a team arrive from the states. It was the first week that we have worked with another team, and for some reason, it was not what we expected. I think that the fact that we hit the halfway mark of our trip this week, was something that made this week a little bit of a lag for each of us. My team and I were tired, had a lack of energy and enthusiasm, missed the kids in Hue Hue, and some of us were sick. This is where the interesting part of my week starts.

All day on Thursday, I was not feeling well, but I just thought that it was because I was tired. Afterall, I had been playing with children all day everyday. These children are not the best behaved children so you become their jungle gym. It can be very painful to say the least. On top of that, this week, we were painting the inside of the baby home. So, there was lots of manual labor and this is the reason that I thought that I was not feeling well. Needless to say, I was wrong. I came home on Thursday night and I had a high fever and was in the worst pain I have been in in a while. I prayerfully took some tylenol and went to bed, hoping to wake up renewed and refreshed. My team and I were going to Antigua the next morning, and I have heard about the amazing shopping in this town. If you know me at all, you know that I rarely pass up a shopping trip!

The next morning I awoke only to have a higher fever. To my dismay, I exchanged my shoppping trip for a trip to the hospital. This was an interesting experience to say the least. A lady named Alice drove me to the hospital. She is a very nice woman and she speaks English well so this was immensely helpful in communicating with the doctors. When I arrived at the ¨hospital¨ I was slightly nervous. This looked more like a doctor´s office than a hospital and I was concerned about the sanity. To be honest though, at this point, I did not care what they did to me or how sanitary it was...I just wanted to feel better (at the end of this trip, I realized that even though it was very different from American hospitals, it was very clean and the doctors were incredibly knowledgeable). I was immediatly taken back to the room (the perks of having the director of Buckner´s husband own the hospital) and began the questioning. I will not go into details for fear of boring my gracious readers. I will just say that the doctor thought that I had an appendicitis. Luckily after a long doctor´s visit, a blood test, 2 x-rays, and multiple other tests later, they found out that I had a severe infection. As a result, I had three shots and was prescribed three medications. As you can imagine, I would have much rather been shopping.

Even though this experience made for a long day and for unpleasant poking and proding by random people that I did not know, this was a neat experience for me. This seems odd, I know. First of all, I got to experience the Guatemalan hospital and not many people can say this. Second of all, and most importantly, I got to experience the hospitality of the people in this culture. They truly are so giving and amazing. I spent so many hours here and I did not pay a penny for any of the services or medicines I received. On top of this, Alice spent most of her day with me at the hospital. As I mentioned earlier, the director of Buckner´s husband owns the hospital. So, while we were waiting for the blood results, we walked behind the alley way to the doctor´s home for some toast and hot tea. Here, I got the chance to talk to Alice about the culture here and how it differs from America. I also got to get to know her and hear about her life. It was such a neat experience for me.

When I arrived back at the house, my team members had already left for the fun day of shopping and tourism. I slept from 1 until 7 straight. This is so unlike me because I hardly ever take naps. This was probably due to the medication I was on. When I finnaly aroused from my slumber, I awoke to see the Mission Coordinator and his daughter hovering over me to make sure I was okay. My team was eating dinner at the hotel with the team from the US and this would have left me by myself at home until very late hours in the night. Luckily, Amed was there to tell me that his daughter (who is a fourth year medical student here) was here to stay with me all night and give me medicine as needed. This was such a blessing, as you can imagine. Once again, this was another time when I got to bond with a girl (who was exactly my age for the record) who is from this country. It was such a neat experience.

So, while the past few days have not been fun for me physically, it has been a learning experience and a time that I have grown to truly treasure. If I had not gotten sick, I would not have gotten to bond with these two amazing women of this culture. I would not have gotten to fully experience the amazing hospitality of the people here, and I would not have gotten to see God working in these people´s lives. It truly was so wonderful to have these women take me under their wings, minister to me, treat me with such kindness. Being so sick and so far away from my own home, I was immensely homesick, but these young women made me feel like family and like I was at home. I am continually finding myself being blessed by these people, even though I came to minister to them. It is this kind of selfless love that I aspire to attain . So my trip yesterday did not end up all that bad. And I feel about ten times better today (shots works miracles!) And I found out that our team is going to Antigua again next week. So Lord willing, I will get my shopping trip after all!