I was assigned to give out hygiene kits, dental kits, and blankets for babies. I did OK on explaining the instructions -- but of course they couldn't really ask many questions with cotton pads in their mouth after extractions!

Two "teams" went to two different aldeas. We had four dentists in our group. There were five in the other one. We were busy all day long. This was the first visit by dentists to this aldea. The kids were fascinated and had a morbid curiosity to watch the extractions and fillings--so you had to make it look OK if you wanted any of them to show up for dental care.

Why are you pointing the camera at me again?

What?! You want me to smile after we realized that we left the cooler with our lunches back at the Benson Institute. At least we had pop (including Pepsi Light -- yeah), and we all pooled trail mix, chips, crackers, rolls, candy and whatever else we had stashed in bags and backpacks to count it as "lunch." But we found that we could survive and continue working just fine with our sandwiches.

Continue on to older posts for more of our adventures!

Two senior missionaries at the end of a very long day

Headed home from the aldeas with the dentists

February 7, 2010

Hi family,

Every since I came forth with my embarrassment of having suffered silently for 45 years with mushrooms (fungus—it is the same word in Spanish) between my toes and of this miraculous recovery, people have come out of the woodwork to declare their grief and ask how it is done!

Suffer no more! Fungus gets deep under your toenails and so all you are doing with your Tenactin and/or foot powders is controlling (keeping it from spreading further). Your toenails keep a ready supply of starter mushrooms to keep the crop alive—which you pass on to your loved ones forever!

Your toenails replace themselves about every four months. Terbvinafine (or Lamisil) is an antifungal medication that you take internally. It is harmless to everything except fungus and you take it for as long as it takes to grow a new set of lovely toenails. It might take care of a lot of other embarrassing itches as well and allows the external salve (Tenactin, Tervinafine ointment, etc.) to take care of the problem (with a few other measures on your part). Are you interested?

Here are the things you do:

·Use only sterilized nail clippers. Your loved ones would be well advised to not use yours—so very private clippers. Sterilize them after use so you don’t re-contaminate yourself.

·Keep your feet dry. A little medicated powder helps in this area.

·Alternate the shoes you wear each day and clean them inside with a rag with Clorox and soap. Let them dry out thoroughly before you wear them again.

·Wash and dry your feet thoroughly before applying the salve.

·Never tell anyone about your problem!

On the missionary side of things, we are enjoying our routine of teaching, proselyting, and our wonderful temple trips. Classes are going well. Life is good!

Just a note; being a temple worker in a Lamanite temple has to be the most exhilarating and rewarding thing we have ever done. The work is not without its frustrations, but the Spirit says, “You are working with the descendants of Lehi.” It doesn’t get any better than that!

Love,

Dad/Spencer

Spencer's "News from Chiquimula"

January 31, 2010

Dear family,

The second part of January hasn’t been too newsy. I’ll bring you up to date a little about this area. I’m sure you’ll find it enlightening:
• Onions here have more than doubled in price this month. They were Q150 a hundred weight in December and they are now Q340.
• The quetzal has gone from Q8.20 to Q8.45 and now it is down to Q8.36 against the dollar. I’m sure you needed that information.
• Cooler weather in January has caused some sickness and has affected harvests in western Guatemala. That is information for your knowledge base!
• Ex president Portillo is now in jail for allegedly laundering money through the banks in the United States.
• Gasoline is down 40 centavos (or $.05) this week.
• Honduras has a new president in place (Lobo) and the ex-president has been exiled to the DR.
• You may not know it, but Haiti is in a mess. People here who have so very little have turned their hearts from themselves and are following the news about people who are even less fortunate.
Now for more domestic (local) news:
• We’re grateful that Adam is on the mend. He is home from the hospital and doing well with his IV antibiotics. This has brought us great relief. Now maybe Jeanine will be able to sleep at night. Their ward is being wonderfully supportive.
• This week has been one of preparation and coordination at CUNORI. We do testing this week for the placement of students and we start our faculty classes.
• We’ve been pulled into the dissemination of information, arranging a fireside, arranging for members to be treated and lots of logistics for the group of LDS dentists who are coming in two weeks. There has been some breakdown in communication this time. It is a wonderful service that volunteer dentists and assistants provide at their own expense. They come twice a year to give services to the very needy people. I can’t imagine a service much greater than that.
• Our classes at the church are filling up without any advertisement. We are glad to provide this service to so many people.
• We are glad to hear of the birth of Blaze, Amy and Tim’s sixth son and grandbaby number 37 for us!
• Other big news! The mushrooms (fungus—or athlete’s foot) between my toes has supposedly cleared up. The dermatologist pronounced them clean! You know, I have carried that crop (or should I say “crap”) around since I left this area at the end of my first mission in January 1965.
That’s it for the news from Chiquimula.
May the Lord bless and keep you,
Dad/Spencer
PS When we arrived home today we didn't (and still don't) have water. It is turned off until they can repair a broken pipe somewhere in the apartment complex. It is all or none. No individual shut-off valves. Welcome to Guatemala! :)

Picture is poor--but hey it was midnight!

This week our classes at the church started again. We had huge turn outs. I hope not all of the kids' class returns--does that sound awful?! I now have 30 on the roll and that is to many kids at too many various levels and ages to prepare for. I have to pick a target audience. I had told them in December we would start at the beginning again, and some of the advanced students haven't been here this week--and I hate to say it but that is a good thing!

Friday we left very early and went to the temple. We are back onto our every-other weekend schedule. It was nice to see all of our friends and wonderful to be of service. This morning we led a session. Many of the participants had come from Quezaltenango--leaving on the bus at 12 midnight and arriving before 8 AM. Many of them were really struggling to stay alert. I've been there and done that - and I didn't have such a good excuse!

One very special experience was when one sister looked up at me and said "You look like an angel! You are all white and you are always smiling! You make me feel happy inside." What a kind and wonderful thing for her to say.

It is still a surprising cultural experience to live in Guatemala. In a calendar we had from last year it says the 18th - 25th is the presentation of "Danza Drama Rabinal Achi Patrimonio ....." We aren't sure what the whole paragraph means, but last Sunday we noticed lots of people going to church in very formal black suits and white shirts - men and women both. In the evening there were firecrackers and they were blocking off the traffic on 5a Ave. about when we were going to bed. At midnight, a procession and band started from the Calvario Church a block away. It was very loud and coming down the street outside of our apartment, so we got up to look. They were carrying the HUGE platform with the Savior struggling under the cross. The people carrying it had on purple robes and did a sort of swaying dance as they walked. Nathan and Christena saw this type of procession during Semana Santa before Easter--but we had never seen on here in Chiquimula. The one they saw was during the daytime. There were pine needles scattered all along their path. It was such a huge platform that it was a major undertaking to turn to corner. My camera was down stairs, but I should have run for it anyway. That must have been the beginning of this "Danza Drama..." Then tonight our door bell was rung and we could hear a band. I peeked out the front gate then ran upstairs, so I could see from our little balcony. There was a band and lots of spectators, but right in the middle of our intersection, there were people in costumes with masks dancing and having a good time. It was a fun dance to watch and had happy music. It must be part of this same week and it is drawing to a close.

I will have to ask my students what this week signifies. I did try to take pictures this time. However, it is night and I'm pretty far away, so you can't see much. You just have to be here to experience it.

Thanks for letting me share our experiences with you--both the good ones and the hard ones.

Love,
Mom/Jeanine

Harrowing week

I have been in frequent communication with many of you this week, but I need to do a simple recap for my journal/blog. Last Saturday and Sunday I was concerned--but not obsessively with the fact that Adam had an abscess on his elbow and was in the hospital. The orthopedic surgeon had come in to see him and said he would have an MRI done on Monday. Adam was frustrated because he had been there for two days and he was still in intense pain, he couldn't focus on anything or stay awake. Carolyn went to Ann Marie and Chad's house to drop off Elyott and Sheamus and they were having a family birthday dinner for Ethan's 2nd birthday. Ann Marie's brother in law, Kip Sharpe, an orthopedic surgeon was there and when he heard what was going on he jumped up, called OR and scheduled Adam for surgery late that night. He did surgery and drained the abscess from his elbow (bursa). I had been worried about it getting into the joint/bone and becoming osteomyelitis. But it was actually a worse scenario. It developed into necrotizing fascitis ("flesh eating bacterial infection").

On Wednesday the 20th things were not looking good. Here was that report: Kip had a general surgeon come in today on consultation. They are trying to determine if they need to open up his arm from the wrist to the arm pit to drain out infection. When Carolyn said, "well I just want to be sure it doesn't turn into necrotizine fascities and he loses his arm". They said they didn't want that to happen either, but it was still a possibility. That was sobering to hear. Then Adam heard Kip and another doctor that was consulting on the case in the hallway. The other doctor said she was glad he had done the surgery when he did. Kip said yes, that they had bumped him from OR one time but he wouldn't let them do it again, because he didn't think Adam would have lasted until the next day. You can imagine how sobering that was for Adam to hear.

At one point the consulting surgeon and Kip thought he would have have more surgery and open his arm up from wrist to arm pit (basically "fillet it", a term the doctor used in describing it) in order to save his arm and his life. But they went a more conservative route and did about 8-10 incisions into the pockets of infection in the fascia, and changed his antibiotic. The next morning I wrote this email

Things are looking up today! (21st)

Both Kip and the infection control doctor are encouraged this morning. Adam may need some more areas opened to drain pus (just small surgical incisions done with a local anesthetic), but he doesn't have to have the extensive surgery to open up his entire arm (which the surgeon described as "filleting" his arm! The infection control doctor confirmed that the infection was necrotizing fasciitis. [Google that if you want to be really grossed out.] The good news is he wasn't in the 25% mortality rate. And he will completely heal (over a long time).

It is such a miracle (no coincidence, a flat out miracle) that he got the aggressive intervention he needed. Here are some of our observations:

Ann Marie was only planning to make birthday cupcakes for Ethan's 2nd birthday last Sunday. But Jacob kept insisting that they had to have cousins over for a birthday get together for Ethan. Ann Marie had worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday and didn't have food prepared. Jacob was adamant that they needed to have the cousins over. Because of Jacob's insistence, they invited the Sharpe's over for dinner. Kip was in the right place at the right time to learn about Adam's situation when Carolyn took the little kids over to stay Ann Marie and Chad's house while she returned to the hospital and be with Adam. I am completely confident that Jacob was being prompted by the Holy Ghost. He thought it was about Ethan, but in reality it was to have his Uncle Kip there to learn about and then to be able to step in and literally save the life of his Uncle Adam.

Kip told Adam this morning that he needs to journal this experience and the divine intervention(s). He says he (Kip) would never schedule a surgery without even seeing the patient, but he felt so strongly prompted that Adam needed the surgery that he made the phone calls immediately from Chad's house to get the OR scheduled. He was compelled by the Holy Ghost to jump in and drain the abscess. You know the rest of story from there from our previous emails.

Because Kip became involved, and he knows the medical community so well, he was able to have the best doctors available called in for infection control, general surgery, etc.

Last night, after I talked to Adam, I was checking headline news on the internet. I was so touched by all of the suffering in Haiti. But the thought came into my mind and heart that even with Heavenly Father having hundreds and thousands of his children dying and suffering from the destruction of homes and the infrastructure in the county, a lack of resources and medical supplies, no hospitals, no food or water, etc. He still was aware of my "little" boy. He was listening to and answering our fervent prayers. It is humbling and heart-warming to know that during all of chaos in other parts of the world, the Holy Ghost was prompting Jacob and Kip, as well as Adam and Carolyn, to accomplish the goal of saving Adam's life and his arm. Wow--a very humble and grateful "Wow".

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father. I am thankful for the power of priesthood and the blessings that Adam received from worthy men who hold the Melchizedek priesthood.
I am grateful for the internet, so that we can keep you informed and solicit your support and prayers. All of those prayers have made a difference.

Adam will remain in the hospital at least through the week-end. And he will continue on IV antibiotics for six weeks and have nurses come in to do dressing changes and wound cleaning.

He says before his down turn yesterday he was feeling frustrated about being in the hospital (and away from his little kids). Today he looks out his hospital window and feels grateful that he is still alive to look out the window--no matter that it is in a hospital and not at home. Not that he likes pain, but hey, when you have a lot of pain, at least it means you are very alive.

I'm so glad (world class understatement) things are looking better today. But I will keep praying and hope you will too. Now most of my prayers can be prayers of gratitude. But I will also pray for continued healing and a good response to the medications and treatments. I will also put his name on the prayer roll in the Guatemala Temple when we go there tomorrow morning.

Later that day Adam wrote:

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the prayers and love. I truly believe that heavenly father was watching out for me and protecting me.

The doctors made two more cuts last night in my armpit and this morning it looked as though the infection was visibly gone. My blood work looks good and all three doctors are encouraged and have said that I “turned a corner”. They said I will be in here through Monday and will have the pick line antibiotics for at least 2 weeks, but the concerns are gone and I should have no long term affects.

This has been a long, emotional and draining process, but I am very happy to have received the care I did. There are so many things that could have changed the course of things that make realize how much of a miracle this whole experience was. My testimony has definitely grown from this and I am glad to have lived through it, because I have gained so much from it. Thank you again for all the love you have all shown me, not only through this experience, but through my entire life. I will always be grateful and proud of the family that I came from. Adam Dike

By Friday, the doctors felt Adam had turned a corner. His little kids were able to come visit him. He was off his major isolation. He has to stay in at least through Monday. But he is mending and the infection is on the run! Thank goodness for modern day miracles.

It has been a hard week to be away from home, but Heavenly Father was there and that is even better.

School shopping with the Ramirez family

It is almost time for the new school year to start. Two weeks ago I took the Ramirez family shopping for supplies, shoes and uniforms. What an amazing experience. When they arrived at the apartment, the kids were fairly bouncing with excitement. Walking down the street I had two girls hanging onto one hand and one on another. One of the girls excitedly informed me that this was their Christmas present - to go shopping with Hermana Brown; which told me that they hadn't received other presents for Christmas. It was literally "Christmas morning" for this family. My heart was touched when I could see them comparing prices and trying to always select the least expensive. They were very aware that they were spending someone else's money and they didn't want to take advantage of it. The older brother, Diego and I went shopping the next week, after he had received his list from the night school (he hopes to work during the day - when he can find work). He was going to buy even the cheapest eraser (and save me $0.35. I had to reassure him it was okay to get the eraser with the plastic holder and the little pencil sharpner that had a case to catch the shavings. And he could have adult scissors instead of kids' school scissors. They bought everything they could from discounted street vendors. Backpacks were $5 instead of $50 in the stores. Watching the kids try on shoes was so much fun! I suspect they have always bought from the thrift stores in the past. I even splurged and bought Anderson (4 years old) and $2.50 backpack and a new pair of shoes (even though he isn't in school yet). After all, a 4 year old deserves to enjoy Christmas morning! Gladys only bought one blouse for each girl and fabric to make one uniform skirt apiece. I went back and bought another blouse for each girl. How can you expect kids to keep a white blouse clean for five consecutive days? But she wouldn't hear of purchasing fabric for a second skirt for each girl. We got two pairs of pants and two shirts for Diego, because he can use the white shirt and pants for church as well as school. The total for school expenses for all six kids was $292. I hope to get a little table and chairs for the kids to sit at to do homework. As you saw in previous pictures, the kids sit on a board across some logs. The child size table and chairs will cost $12. Because of your generosity, I have a matching amount saved to get them into school next year. We will leave it with our replacements or with a counselor in the bishopric that has helped them a lot.
Saturday, for the first time, Gladys actually asked for something. Everything we have ever done, we did because of awareness of the needs. She never asked. But Saturday she asked if she could borrow $60 to purchase staples in order to start preparing and selling food again. You could see her pain in having to ask. As we sat at the table talking, she finally lost her composure when she told me that Anderson had been asking if he could have tortillas (and sometimes beans) two times a day (like his friend in the neighborhood) instead of just once. My heart broke as I watched her lip quiver and the tears slip down her cheeks. You can't imagine this kind of poverty. I gave her the money (gladly). I didn't make it a gift, because she needs the dignity of working to pay it back. But if it isn't paid back before we go home, I will tell her not to worry about it and make it a gift. Neither Diego or Porfirio have found even one day of work since December 31st and they had pretty much used up the food they received in the Christmas basket. THANK YOU once again for your generosity and kindness in helping this family get their kids into school. They are attending church and the teenagers are going to the temple on the 30th. They have the information ready so that Dania can be baptized for her grandmother. She is excited about it. You have made a difference to one beautiful Guatemalan family.