One body many parts!

Working with my new friend Dr Luis Aquino in San Andres

The last week has continued to fly by here in Guatemala. Our days our filled with homeschooling the kids, keeping the continuous dirt off their clothes clean, Spanish lessons of our own, assisting with the local and village clinics, and helping a little with some of the construction.

It has been fun to see the construction site almost daily. We have been watching as the landscape continues to change. When we first arrived we only had freshly excavated hospital ground, with no dug out footings. We have since seen hundreds of bags of concrete, sand, water, and rock mixed and poured into the ground in the form of footings and stem walls. The footings are nearly half way dug out, and poured. The stem walls continue to go up regularly as the Guatemalan crew, with the help of the Fickers, is learning how to use concrete forms for the first time. The Guatemalan crew continues to work diligently twisting re-bar into the structures that will tie together and strengthen our walls and foundation. This collaboration of materials will make it possible for this building to withstand the traffic of thousands of footsteps over the years, as well as the instant power of an earthquake. The progress is exciting and encouraging and another example of God's continued faithfulness.

Gracie is "all smiles" outside our apartment in Chichi

Recently, my family and I were able to spend a week in Chichicastenango(Chichi for short), working with an American trained general surgeon named Tom Hoak (I wrote about him in my blog last year). As always, Shea and I enjoyed taking a road trip. It was great to head out on the long winding, primarily dirt, mountain roads of Guatemala. It again, allowed us to see the beautiful country up close, and gave us an opportunity to practice the Spanish we keep working so hard to learn. The biggest challenge isn't the 4-wheeled drive worthy roads, but trying to navigate through the cities of Quiche and Chichi with a long pickup truck. The roads in the city are very narrow, poorly marked, filled with people, and I too often found myself backing up for long stretches after realizing I had went the wrong way down a one way street. It gave me great appreciation for the countless trips the Fickers have taken through these cities with Mac trucks and tractor trailers over the years.

Picture of the Chichi market

Our trip to Chichi was great. We were able to spend a lot of time with Dr Hoak, not only learning more surgery and medicine, but trying to absorb as much as we can on how a Guatemalan hospital should be set up and run. As I see the construction site continues to progress, I realize how soon we are actually going to have a hospital to equip, staff, and organize. The realization, gives me more questions than answers. Many of these questions will have to be answered by the Lord in time, but Dr Hoak no doubt provided valuable insight to many of the things we continue to process on this journey. Thankfully, throughout our week-long journey the kids stayed healthy and safe, and we once again enjoyed exploring the famous Chichi market, and trying an array of local cuisine (at least no one got too sick)

The last 6 weeks have provided me many valuable insights. The most valuable has been watching God's people with their individual gifts and talents work together for the glory of His Kingdom. Over the last 6 weeks we have had people from all different backgrounds with a multitude of skills working together with beautiful orchestration. We have had farmers, floor layers, mechanics, nurses, physicians, pilots, cooks, musicians, teacher, childcare workers, and a many other talented people  work together for the common purpose of His Glory. I have to admit there are times I've watched in envy over someone else's craft and wished I had that skill. I've wished I could fly a plane, fix a truck, drive a skid loader, weld a piece of metal, or even prepare a delicious meal to feed 40 people(ok maybe not that one). To my chagrin, many of those are talents I'll never have. I constantly remember that God has given all of us different skills for a reason. The beauty of Christ's Church is that when we use our individual gifts in unison as intended, not only are we truly content as individuals, but corporately amazing things can be accomplished for His glory. I've also been reminded during this time, that its easy to focus on the end product, or goal of having a finished well functioning hospital. The reality is, the journey is the destination. Watching people work together at what they are designed for while serving Him is the ultimate goal. That is why we build this hospital.

Paul says it well in 1 Corinthians 12:14-26:

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body", it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body", it would not  for that reason cease to be apart of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arrange the part of the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body...