Atotonilco is a small Chatino village about 3-4 hours from the Roca Blanca Base.  Pastor Clemente, who had been pastoring the church there since its inception 12 years ago, invited us there for a medical outreach.  We left Tuesday morning and planned to arrive in time to set up the clinic in the church and to see members of the church that afternoon.  On Wednesday, we planned to see patients invited from neighboring towns.  There were only 8 of us, including another physician and his wife from Tulsa, OK who have been long-time supporters of the Base, often visiting 3 times a year.  We had 3 translators and a person to staff the pharmacy.  Being a smaller group, we were able to mix well with the church members administering the clinic, including the Pastor, his wife and 5 children.  It was lovely to see the devotion, respect, and love within the pastor’s family.  We stayed in a compound that contained at least 3 or 4 families (with many children) and it was humbling to see the cooperation among the women, in a communal kitchen, as they prepared plentiful and delicious meals for us.  The children were very playful and engaged us in Frisbee games, Chinese jump-roping, working on Sudoko problems.  In addition, they taught us the song “God is so good” in Chatino, a very different language from Spanish.  We are now able to sing it in 4 languages: English, Spanish, Mixteco, and Chatino.

Bertha, surrounded by children

We learned on Wednesday morning that we had just made it through to Atotonilco   before a road block was erected in San Gabriel to the road between Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido to protest the defeated mayor’s refusal to hand over the town seal to the new mayor of the same political party.  Many truckloads of people had gone down to San Gabriel to participate in the demonstration.  As a result, we had many fewer patients than we had anticipated on Wednesday morning.  By 1 pm, we had seen everyone, including two house calls, and were packing the truck for departure.  One house call was a pregnant woman, near term, who had developed headache with high blood pressure; we gave initial treatment and referred her on to the Central Salud (local government health clinic).  The other was to a man who had sprained his knee a month earlier and it had not gotten any better.  He had a significant amount of fluid on his knee, and he was referred for an x-ray and offered an appointment at the Base to try to drain the knee.

Mary Kay examining a robust 7 month old.

Ordinarily, we offer spiritual care to each patient after he has been seen and is waiting for medicine.  Usually the local pastor or church members provide this.  However, they were busy with other tasks, so each team of physician, Spanish translator, and Chatino translator offered prayer at the end of the consultation.  As is the custom here, everyone (including the patient)  prays simultaneously-3 different languages at once.  At first this was a little disconcerting and distracting, but then it began to feel very natural and appropriate.  At one point, a 70 year old wizened woman, with a bit of a sharp edge to her manner, came in for a consult.  Our translator advised that she was well-known as a vocal opponent to the church and its activities. We dealt patiently with each problem she presented and she seemed to warm up slightly.  We were briefly interrupted during which time the translator (17 year old girl) and the woman spoke in Chatino.  When we returned, we asked her about her sleeping, was it restful and restorative?  Finally, the dam broke, and she started describing that she was unable to sleep because she would see children, all dressed in black, in menacing and threatening postures.  She was unable to make them go away, and was exhausted and terrified.  We gently presented the Gospel (not new to her), and suggested He could help her with her fear, and she accepted Christ into her life.  We taught her some simple prayers to repeat when these night-time terrors appeared and told her that others would be praying for her as well.  The encounter ended with her smiling and weeping at the same time, and the exchange of many hugs.  About an hour later, while we were with another patient, she burst into the area to give us a present-a big bag of frijoles (black beans).  Again, smiles and hugs, and also a photo.

Consulting team with beaming Fortunata.

With the road block not expected to lift for 5 or more hours, we prayerfully accepted the suggestion that we return to the Base by another dirt road in the opposite direction, over the mountains.  Pastor Clemente accompanied us, for he was expected at a conference back at the base that evening.  Since he had never traveled this route, we stopped at several settlements to confirm we were going the right way.  It took 4 hours to drive 31 miles, over bumpy and curvy mountain roads; despite that, we all enjoyed the gorgeous vistas, and trees of coffee, bananas, and palm.  Clemente brought his 5 year old son who proved to be a fierce and persistent teacher of Spanish.

Two sisters-they really take care of each other.

Grinding the cooked corn into Tortilla dough, a daily task.

And a praise report!  We drove 2 vehicles the 2 ½ hours to the airport and picked up the Elim students last Friday.  They soaked up the warmth and sunshine and enjoyed the beach and a visit to Puerto Escondido, before starting classes on CHE (Community Health Evangelism) being taught by an American pediatrician who has lived in Mexico for >10 years and is involved in training people for this program, which concentrates on people learning to identify needs in their communities and develop plans to help themselves.  It is an integral ministry that includes ministering to the spiritual, physical and social needs of communities.  Next week a dentist will come to give a week of classes, culminating in a 3 day outreach to a Mixteco community.

Que Dios te Bendiga!  Mary Kay and Dave

Yucucha’a  is a small Mixteco village about 3 hours from the Roca Blanca Base.  The last hour involves driving on curvy, rutted, at times steep roads for about 12 miles.  Traveling with the regular team from Roca Blance was a team of 8 nursing students and faculty from Oklahoma Baptist University.  As we travel, we learn the life stories of those traveling with us, always interesting and edifying.  This village has been attended medically by Lupe (Laura’s adopted daughter) who has nursing assistant training, but who has learned additional diagnostic and therapeutic skills.  Our visit there is a way to support her and the local church which has been there for 10 years.  We were warmly greeted by the village Pastor and his family and members of the local church who helped us unload and begin to set up clinic in the church with strings and sheets.  Though they had not made a general announcement that we would do consultations that afternoon, we nonetheless saw members of several church families (most being rather large and multi-generational).

Later in the afternoon, we were served a delicious meal by the pastor’s wife and some women in the church.  There were 19 of us as well as about 6-8 Mixteco translators supplied by the village.  Preparing meals for this size group is no mean feat (remember, no modern stoves, sinks, dishwashers, etc), but they did so generously, with joy and a spirit of service in their hearts.    In the evening there was a lively service during which we were introduced.  Following that, there was an even more lively birthday fiesta for one of the parishioners, with food, loud music and dancing, and a cake.

Almuerzo, or 10 am meal

Children at the birthday party

The birthday celebrant and her spouse. She danced a lot!

We slept in a tent set up on the porch of one of the houses, while others slept in rooms graciously vacated by the family. Two puppies managed to find the side wall of our tent-a good place for warmth, comfort, and a sentinel  post from which to bark occasionally.  A pig patrolled the courtyard with his own cadence of grunts. We arose relatively early, there being no dearth of local alarm clocks like roosters, pigs, dogs, etc.  Some arose in time to see clearly the alignment of the moon with several planets.  After devotions, coffee and “Marias” (a kind of cookie), we again set up the clinic, teams of providers and translators, the pharmacy, and the spiritual care area, anticipating a brisk day of seeing patients.

Spiritual care team

Children engrossed in drawing scenes from the Christmas Story

From Sunday 2 pm to Monday 7 pm we saw about  115 patients, 35 of whom  chose to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Pastor Balthazar will follow up with them.  From our perspective as physicians, there was much pathology.  A cachectic 15 year old girl presented with fever, cough, blood-tinged sputum, weight loss, poor appetite, night sweats – tuberculosis until proven otherwise.  A referral letter to the local hospital was written to facilitate her evaluation and treatment.  A 44 year old woman presented with a blood sugar of 600 (normal <120), on no medicines now, having failed on various regimens of oral diabetic medicines.  Insulin had not been tried, and it is problematic in this area because of a lack of refrigeration in many homes.  We wrote another referral letter to the local hospital, suggesting a trial of insulin to get her diabetes under control.  A 24 year old woman presented with a complaint of headache; additional history revealed symptoms suggestive of early pregnancy: prenatal vitamins and general advice was given.  We saw a 68 year old man, still working in the fields, with marked evidence of emphysema (had smoked for many years, though had stopped some time ago).  He had the most abnormal lung exam (wheezes, ronchi, and rales in all lung fields.  It was a good teaching moment for the students.  We visited his home the next morning, and as suspected, there was smoke from the cooking fire and dust.  We had chosen to give him an evening dose of furosemide (a water pill), as his sleep was troubled by coughing.  That next morning he reported less cough and better sleep, so we gave him more furosemide.  We made the house call to see his wife who is bed and chair bound due to a long affliction with rheumatoid arthritis.  His love and compassion for her was evident in his eyes and in the way he carried her from chair to bed.  For what the family said was the first time, she accepted medicine to ease the pain.  And also, there were no bed sores!

One memorable patient was a young woman, very slight, looking more like a child, and obviously anxious and easily distractible.  Her chief complaint was “mareo”, or dizziness.  Now this is an extremely common complaint, especially among women, and is often secondary to low blood pressure because of inadequate fluid intake (maybe 8 oz. a day).  So it is tempting, especially towards the end of a long day, to do a perfunctory history and exam, recommend increased fluids and be done with it.  However, in her case, we learned that she would often “fall down” when she became dizzy.  More than once this has been the presenting description of seizures, so we continued.  These spells had begun at the age of 1 ½ years of age.  Eventually, they took her to a doctor and she was diagnosed with “spells”.  They do not call them “seizures” because those are attributed to Satanic influence.  She was seeing a specialist in Oaxaca City (8 hours away), who had her on a very reasonable,” American-style” regimen of medications.  She reported that if she did not forget any doses of pills, she did not have spells.  She was visibly distressed and sad when we said the regimen was a good one and she should stay on it. Further history revealed evidence that she was treated differently in her family, and denied opportunities such as attending high school.  We tried to encourage her that she could live a perfectly normal life, with a career if she wished it, marriage, family etc.  By now, she was on the verge of tears.  We finally asked her directly, “When you came here today, were you expecting and hoping that we would have a cure for you and you would not have to take medicine again?”- a tearful nod of the head.  Such an amazing, innocent expression of hope!  She then went to spiritual care, where she eventually broke down crying and was embraced by Marisol (our pastor’s wife) and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.  Perhaps out of that will grow acceptance of her condition and mature care of herself.  Who knows? Perhaps more.

Family team that was so hospitable to us.

Mother, infant daughter, grandmother, great grandmother

God bless you!  Que Dios te bendiga! Dio nasoka chu’u! (Mixteco).

Dave and Mary Kay Ness

We are safely at Roca Blanca. Our thanks go to God and all of you who sent us on our way with warm wishes and prayers. We took a new route via Roanoke, Birmingham, and Houston through the States.  A huge benefit of this was to meet more of Bertha’s family: two sisters in Roanoke, VA, l brother in Birmingham, AL, and a nephew in Houston. We also visited with another of her sisters in Monterrey, Mx. We then traveled on to Puebla to stay with Dan, whom we had picked up in San Antonio. He brought his American car back to the states to sell, and needed a ride back to Puebla. We enjoyed visiting with him and his wife, Dr. Angelica and son Jacob. We were thrilled to see the progress in their ministry center just since we visited last March.

Besides the family contact, the other overriding consideration was the weather. It seemed as if we were riding a tidal wave of cold and snow as we rushed southward. From church on Sunday we had snow and snowy roads until Rte. 17 joins Rte. 15. We had snow and freezing weather through PA. There was snow on the ground into southern VA. We drove through flurries in Tennessee. In Birmingham it was still 15 degrees, but the snow on the ground was gone. Not until we were about 100 miles from the Gulf, near New Orleans, did it climb above freezing. Houston was below freezing when we arose to leave Wednesday morning. It was chilly in Monterrey, MX, and the day after we left there and ascended past Saltillo to the central plateau, the road was closed due to snow and freezing temperatures. Others behind us destined for Roca Blanca were unable to get through, but hopefully will arrive in a day or two. A friend called from Kansas Thursday night and said truly frigid conditions are coming upon you up north, so we will believe and pray for your safe travel and warm homes. But as we write this, a coolish breeze (maybe 78) is coming off the ocean and we have overcast skies. But finally, the sandals and shorts are out.

Crossing the border is always an adventure, and this year was no different. Our preparation was a bit different in that we have obtained our FM3 visas, which legitimizes the work we do down here. We had also obtained a letter from the President of the village where Roca Blanca is located; he invited us down to do medical work and to bring in the necessary supplies and medicines-not a fully proper importation document, but better than nothing. We packed all the medicines into 3 very large suitcases as instructed by him. We had an inventory list of both supplies and medicines. As we approached the customs booths, we prayed for a green light, but instead the red light appeared and we were pulled over for further inspection. They took more than a cursory look and asked a lot of questions about where we were going and what we would be doing. They looked at the papers and we had to unload about half the truck. Ultimately, we ended up having to pay duty on the supplies (accepting our list and prices), but they allowed all the medications a free pass (after we reminded them of the regulation that each person was allowed to bring in a suitcase full of medicine). The final bill of $90.00 seemed like a gift. Once across the border, we were stopped by federal police within half an hour. It all seemed like an inauspicious beginning to our travel in Mexico.

Today we are continuing to unpack and organize. Tomorrow we go out on a 3 day outreach to the mountains. From our perspective our prayer needs are: 1) Good health and rest for us after our travel. 2) Safety in travel for the several parties coming and going this weekend, including our medical outreach. 3) Preparation of all our hearts and minds to perceive every bit of goodness in His will as we seek to be obedient to His calling.