Nicaragua team

Nicaragua '13 team members

As of now, the team members who have traveled to Nicaragua will now have a new name, Global Passion Ministries-Nebraska.  You may follow us at www.globalpassionministries1.blogspot.com.  Thank you for your prayers & support!

Nicaragua

                                   This little girl almost drowned last year when we were there.

These are some of the beautiful children we saw during our time at the hospital.  You can only wonder what their lives will be like as they grow up.

 

 Pastor Earl & his wife, Damaris.  They own the compound where we stay at.  They were having a date night on Valentine's Day!

Dr. Kurt Berry, Plastic & General Surgeon and Dr. Augustin Tellez, ENT surgeon.  Wonderful doctors!  Good examples of kind, loving Christian doctors. Both are from Bluefields.

 Dr. Arturo Gomez, Plastic Surgeon from Leon.  He also runs the medical school in Leon and is one of the founders of Nicaplast.  This was taken when he & I went to Ash Wednesday services at one of the Catholic churches in Puerto Cabezas. 

Team picture with groups from Nebraska & California, the doctors and several of the Nicaraguan doctors and nurses who worked with us all week. 

 

Before & after pictures of Dennis, our favorite patient.  He had a very, very sad story and we hope & pray that he will have a much improved life after his surgery.

In surgery with Dean giving anesthesia and surgeons, Dr. Carstens & Dr. Berry.

Tamra polishing nails!

Thank you God for today, a blizzard, warmth in my home and time to reflect on the trip I just safely returned from.  As like my previous trip to Nica, I re-live each thing that took place which included laughter and tears of joy and sadness.  I am so humbled and honored to have shared this experience with this unique team comprised of fellow Christians.  Yes, it seems as though we are attempting to empty the ocean one eyedropper at a time but...we did make a difference.  I had such a wonderful time working with "my sister" Carolyn.  Dean is right, we work hard but we play hard too :)  Karl, Sue,  Catherine, Dean and Cole all worked overtime in their respective areas.  At first I had regretted that I hadn't been back to Nica since 2010 but in the end it was okay.  I saw OUR TEAM, members from California and Nebraska be one, work together without any hiccups AND to work with 4 new docs??  Yes, God was the travel agent and did a great job!  Thank you to each person who helped make this trip possible, who supported us with money, prayers and good wishes.  We absolutely couldn't do this without you.  Your friend in Christ, Tamra Boettcher

Nicaragua Reflections

Well we made it home. What a trip it was! I apologize for not blogging during the trip but it seemed I was always looking for something like a shower (even a cold shower) and sleep.
This trip was different than any of the previous three but thay have all beeen different. The bonding of the Califonia contingent and the Nebraska contingent is complete. We are one team. Working with the Nicaraguan doc's was amazing. They were so devoted to making a difference in the lives of their people not just medically but also spiritually which is what always calls me back to this place. We did a huge number of what to us might seem like minor procedures but to those patients it was very important. I think they really appreciated the fact that we travelled so far to care for them in ways that they would not get if we were not there. Obviously the need is endless but to those we touched we made a difference. We showed them that a group of people lead by God care enough to come and minister to there needs if only for a short time.
I cannot begin to say enough about my fellow team members but I will give a little insight. It was great to see the Tamra and Carolyn show back together. They get great things done but no one has more fun getting things done than those two. It was great to get to know Dr. Cole. He was always available to help in what ever way he was asked. He is a great example to the Nicaraguans of what a good God fearing young American is like. Karl does not get near enough credit fot the lives he touches with his mechanical and carpentry work. They may seem like small things to us but  again it shows these people that there is a group of American's that care enough to travel year after year to help them in what ever way we can. Catherine was the Pied Piper of Puerto Cabezas. She was always surrounded by what seemed like dozens of children showing them what the love of God looks like. My OR sister Sue was amazing. She probably had the most pressure to perform of any of us. We were without Keveta from CA who has always run the OR and we had Nicaraguan doctors that we knew nothing about (no pressure). Sue handled it like this was nothing new.
My thanks to all of you that supported us though your donations, your prayers, your messages of encouragement or just reading this blog. You have all read about Dennis's story and the work that God went through to get him to us. This is exactly the reason  I go and will keep going as long as I can. It is your support in the ways I have mentioned that make this trip what it is.
Dean

We will try to get more pictures posted.

Nicaragua Team is HOME!!

I am happy to report that the last of the Nebraska contingency of the medical mission trip is home, at last.  Dean & I got back to Columbus just before 1:30 this morning and Sue & Karl would have made their way to Lincoln before that. 

Our day of travel yesterday on Little Corn Island started by arising around 5:00 AM to be ready to walk to the other side of the island.  We followed a teenage boy who carried our bags in a wheelbarrow to the dock where we hopped on a panga (water taxi) to take us back to Big Corn Island where we would catch a plane back to Managua.  We were about 5-10 minutes away from landing when the motor cut out.  We spent a couple minutes bobbing around in the ocean till the driver was able to get it going and we crawled the rest of the way in. 

We flew to Managua, had something to eat and a couple hours later got on our flight to Miami.  Everything is going very smoothly at this point.  We got through customs and immigration & picked up our bags and were very pleased how well the day was going.  We were going to be leaving for Dallas when the pilot mentioned over the loud speaker that there would be a short delay because a light needed to be changed.  We knew we were going to have a tight commection in Dallas so that was a bit worrisome.  A half hour later we leave and we're all hoping that they hold the plane for us especially because, by this time, we had heard Dallas was going to have bad weather move in there and Omaha was expected to get 9-12" of snow during the night & Thurs. morning.  Well, we ran to the gate and were hearing last call for boarding to Omaha for "the party of 4".  We made it on with NO time to spare.  So needless to say, we're happy to be home!!

What an amazing 2 weeks we had.  Our medical mission trip was awesome.  The need in Puerto Cabezas and the surrounding region is so huge and the work seems never-ending.  We can only touch so many people in the short time we're there but we do what we can and the people are so appreciative.  The "Dennis' " are why we keep going back.  I haven't had time to read the other blogs but his story is somewhat different that what I reported earlier.  Apparently, he & his caretaker felt they had to lie (not really sure why because he still has a very sad story) in order for him to get medical care.  But his mother is alive but kicked him out of the home because of his disfigurement from his cleft lip.  His dad is dead but the stepdad beat him.  Thank goodness for the wonderful man who took him in and took the time to seek out care for him.  It was said that he would be going to the orphanage to live but can't because he & his caretaker would get in trouble in the village they live in.  Instead, they will return and discuss it all with the elders of the village and hopefully Dennis will get permission to go and live there. 

How Dennis got treatment is a miracle in itself.  He & Enus (sp?), the caretaker, traveled to Puerto Cabezas but didn't know how to find the hospital.  They were wandering the streets when one of the nurses from the hospital (Alice, who was a huge help to us during the week) took a different way to work that morning to the hospital and saw them.  She saw his cleft lip & immediately took them under her wing and got them to the hospital and then he was brought to the compound to see the doctors for evaluation.  From there everything moved very quickly and Dennis had surgery that day.  Can you imagine how scared this poor boy was having a bunch of strangers flashing lights in his face, to see his mouth and palate,  taking pictures, sticking him with needles and hauling him to surgery only to wake up from the surgery in pain with his face so swollen?  But he was the best patient and we can only hope he can have a somewhat "normal" life, whatever that could be for him. 

I could go on and on with stories of our time in Nicaragua but there's too many to tell.  We were very busy so didn't have the time to blog a lot but hopefully we were able to give you a peek into what we did and why we do what we do.  We have many pictures and will post some.  Stay tuned for more.  Thanks for following our story and keeping us in your prayers.  We hope to return to Nicaragua next year!   Carolyn

Nicaragua

Our mission is complete...Karl, Sue, Carolyn and Dean are on their way to Little Corn for some much needed and deserving R&R.  Cole, Catherine and I will take the second flight to Managua, spend the night and head to NE tomorrow.  This has been another mountain top experience.  We truly are ONE team here even though we come from different areas.  Dennis is doing extremely well and is staying with the Orphange nurse for a few weeks to monitor his recovery process.  God has blessed us beyond belief and it has been an honor serving HIM.  Until next year...Tamra

Nicaragua 2013

Nicaragua 2013

Nicaragua 2013

Nicaragua

Sorry but I forgot to mention how busy Karl has been.  He has been working on the house for a nurse who takes care of kids at the orphanage.  He house has been broken in several times and is quite delipidated.  Karl, along with RJ, have been working on fixing up her house and making it safer for her.  He is the all around fix it guy and is surely the most popular person here.  EVERYONE wants Karl!  We could not get along without him. 

Now, off to supper.    Carolyn

Nicaragua

Can't believe we've been gone a week!  We have been VERY busy so unfortunately, we didn't have time to blog on Wed.

Our day started off yesterday with a young boy (Dennis) being brought to the compound from a village in the jungle a day away north of here.  He was accompanied by a man who was his present caretaker.  He had a very nasty looking cleft lip.  He was evaluated by the doctors here and was immediately sent to the hospital to prepare for surgery later in the day.  As his story unfolded, we learned that he was 16 yrs. old and looked no more than 12 due to years of malnutrition.  His mother had died and his stepfather had beaten him.  Dennis had been wandering through the jungle.  It was very emotional for all of us to see such a sweet boy and know that he has a miserable life.  He got to ride in a pickup to the hospital and didn't even know how to open the door.  He hid his face as he was ashamed of the way he looked.  Many a tear were shed over him yesterday and last evening.  He is doing well post-op and was expected to leave the hospital this afternoon.  We hope his life will be improved with his "new lip".

Tamra and I have been working almost non-stop helping the Dr.'s with minor procedures such as scar revisions, mole removals, biopies to evaluate for skin cancers, keloid removals, etc. We have worked with all 4 of the doctors but primarily Dr. Gomez who was one of the co-founders of Nicaplast and who runs a medical school in Leon. Today we did 22 procedures by 1:00.  Would have done more but we had to give up the operating room that we were working in to a Nicaragua dr. 

Dean & Sue have kept very busy in the OR's, Catherine with the children's ministry & Cole has been everywhere helping wherever he has been needed.  He has done a great job and we're all hoping he chooses medicine for his career.  He would be a great assest to any medical community he would choose.  He has the loving and caring spirit that would make him a wonderful dr.  Catherine's experience as a teacher has served her well.  The children have enjoyed their time with her and have been blessed by her talents. 

We have been so blessed to be working with 4 wonderful doctors.  They LOVE their patients and it shows.  They are very caring and take special care with each and every one of them.  Dr. Kurt shared with us last evening some of his story and said that his faith in God has become much stronger because of his experience with us this week.  He was very touched by Dennis' story as well, and felt very honored to have been involved with his care and treatment.  Dr. Taez (not sure if spelling is correct), ENT, is a pastor in Bluefields and has been a joy to work with too.  Dr. Gomez has shared many of his experiences with us and is a very interesting gentleman.

A special treat for me last evening was being able to attend Mass and Ash Wednesday services at 1 of 3 Catholic churches here in Puerto Cabezas.  It was a big church and was completely full.  That was a pleasant surprise to see so many people there in spite of the heat.  I found out during a procedure with Dr. Gomez during the day that he was Catholic and was hoping to go to Ash Wed. services.  He invited me to go along if time allowed and it all worked out.  I was a bit nervous on the cab ride back to the compound though.  It's pretty scary being out at night here in PC and we've heard stories!  Services started at 6:00 and we didn't get back to the compound till almost 8:00.  Dean & others were worried when I was gone so long and I promised that I wouldn't go out again when I would be after dark getting back.  I surely didn't realize services would be so long.  But it was a good experience. 

The surgery crew is still at the hospital but those of us that are at the compound will be eating pretty soon.  Hope all is well back home.  The time is flying by quickly for us here. We're all well here!
Carolyn

Nicaragua

Hello, my turn today.  It was another busy day at the hospital today.  From what I could see,things moved more smoothly today, but a lot of that is being in the rhythm on that second day and knowing what you are facing.  However, by way of a disclaimer, I am in the childrens ministry end of things, so have a very different perspective from the docs and nurses.  I have the wonderful job of coloring with and meeting the children who throng the hospital, children who are patients, children who are with patients, or children who just wander in from the neighborhood because the hospital is a safe place to hang out.  They are precious.  My Spanish may be useful, but today I found that it would have been a lot more useful to know Moskito.  Most of the children that came today spoke Moskito as their primary language.  Luckily there were bilingual children, too.  Yesterday I was very distressed that there were any kids there because here it was the first day of the new school  year and they should all have been in school.  According to many of the children they do not go to school because they cannot afford the uniforms and supplies.  Others say that education is not a priority for many of the people.  Either way, by today I had had an epiphany.  I was there to do school for them.  We covered a wall with beautiful art throughout the day and I think we succeeded in raising the morale for some of the patients and families that passed by also.  The place is so bleak, peeling walls, trash everywhere, dogs eating the trash in the middle of the courtyard in the middle of the hospital, an old army barracks, open plan with outside corridors.  Our team is a model of efficiency passing by the chaos with patients on gurneys, doing incredible things.  We have a new nickname for Cole, which is Dr. Cole.  He has been observing in the OR and has been witnessing some amazing things.  Today he spoke of the removal of a cancerous tumour on a ninety year old, which involved some plastic surgery for reconstruction.  He said it was incredible to watch.  Something quite interesting today.  There was a team from Lincoln, Nebraska, Union College, in fact.  They had run into some trouble and had had a large amount of money stolen, which was holding up their trip, but they were learning about things at the hospital, and then two of the California team members took them on a tour of the orphanage here at the compound.  Speaking of the California team, they are so much fun to work with.  I for one am learning a lot from them.  Karl and RJ continued their work on Maria Elenas house after getting everyone shuttled to and from the hospital, and shuttling drinks and lunches and fixing things as needed.  Ask Karl to tell you about the six head cattle drive along the main street followed by a vaquero cowboy on a bicycle. Sue said to say that surgery is going remarkably well and we are blessed with some amazing surgeons and she is blown away by their expertise.  We have also commented that the doctors are some wonderful human beings that are great fun to get to know, who are not at all standoffish, and happy to share their knowledge.  It is a blessing to be here to be a blessing.  Thanks to everyone for their support and prayers.  Catherine

Nicaragua Monday evening

Monday February 11

We are finished with Monday - At the hospital it went good the docs did amazing work and it got off to a great start for the week.  There were tons of kids at the hospital and about wore the childrens ministry out.  This is the day to do our shopping trip around town and get a few things that we were not  able to get in the totes.  Right now we are done with supper and we are getting showers and doing our skyping and our magic jack phone calls.  So far it has kept up the tradition of raining - much but enough to raise the humidity that is already at about 90+ .  Tomorrow RJ - Oscar and I are working on a house that belongs to the nurse at the orphanage.  It has been broken into several times and has had their pots and pans stolen and etc. Steve from the church put in a new door on the front today and new knobs and locks that RJ brought from Cal.  Tomorrow we will put in the back door and put some new siding on and do some work on the windows - shutters - windows - bars-  Thank you all for all of your support -  we could not be here without your support.   God Bless You. 

Love Karl

Nicaragua

Sunday
Greetings!  What a day!  We went to a 3 hour church service, lunch after and then finished gathering supplies to take to the hospital.  It is always quite a job sorting through totes and organizing what we need to take. 

We had a ditzel clinic which consisted of scar revisions, skin cancer excisions, mole removals, etc. and lots of teaching from the docs. We worked with 3 Nicaraguan doctors and an American living in Nicaragua.  For those of you Iowans reading this, he just happens to originally be from Ackley, IA!  He is a world renowned physician and is the founder of Nicaplast which is a group of plastic surgeons who do cleft lip and palate surgery in Nicaragua.  One of the doctors is a general and plastic surgeon, another and ENT dr. and the other is the founder of the medical school in Leon, Nic.  They are wonderful doctors and we have had a great time working with them already and have also enjoyed our interactions with them away from work.  We are looking forward to the week once the surgeries start in the morning. 

Sue, Tamra, and I helped the doctors in the clinic today and it is good to get back in the groove with old friends at work again. 

There have been some difficulties with no water in some of the bathrooms on the compound or no air conditioning.  Most of the rooms that missionaries stay in have air conditioning now which has been a blessing but equipment just does not last here.  Dean and I have been without it the last few nights and got moved to another room today after a Virginia team left.  Tamra and Cole have been without water off and on and I think Catherine and Sue and Karls accomodations have been good. 

Time to shower and get to bed.  Hope is all well with everyone at home. More blogs to follow as time allows.     Carolyn

Nicaragua 13

We arrived in Puerto Cabezas yesterday afternoon and hit the ground running. The California people arrived as well and all our totes made it through customs! Have been very busy!  We have met the Nicaraguan doctors we will be working with and they are absolutely wonderful.  So friendly, helpful and accomadating in every way.  Today we had our clinic and saw several hundred patients and have a very full schedule of surgeries for the week.  With several doctors, we will also be having a large ditzel clinic which will amount to a lot of mole removals, scar revisions, etc.

It is great to be back to Nicaragua and connect with old friends again and we will definitely have many new friendships when we leave here.  We are very anxious to get started working with the doctors.  They share the spiritual commitments that our team has and that is as important as the physical care that they will give their patients. 

Keep us in your prayers as we begin a long week.   Carolyn

After supper tonight we were invited to one of our favorite Nicaraguan nurse Rigbys home. It was her 60th birthday.  The evening was filled with music, dancing and laughter.   Our doctors this year have proved to be very entertaining leading the dancing.  They are joy filled and we are looking forward to a spirited week.
SUE

Nicaragua '13

Good Morning from Managua!  We have had some difficulty getting to this point of being able to post so bear with us.  Tryng to navigate through all the questions, problems of e-mails in a 3rd world country is frustrating.

We arrived in Managua last evening around 8:30 with good connecting flights the whole way.  Our totes arrived with us (sigh of relief) and then we got through customs after 3 were searched (another sigh of relief!).  They were looking for drugs and since we didn't take any medications with us, we were OK.  We had pretty tight connections so didn't have time for meals yesterday so were glad to hear the restaurant at our hotel was still open.  We gathered for a late evening meal before going to bed.

We have just had breakfast at the hotel and will be going across the street to the airport to catch our last leg of our flight to Puerto Cabezas.  We will have 2 doctors from Nicaragua joining us and the rest will come later with the California group. 

This afternoon will be very busy going through totes, trying to organize things for our clinic tomorrow, getting surgical trays made up, etc., etc.  And hopefully the sterilizer will run after a year of idle time.  Lots to do and hope we will be able to continue to post.  Continue to keep us in your prayers.       Carolyn

Nicaragua '13

JANUARY 13, 2013
The Nicaragua team met today in Lincoln at Sue & Karl Tillinghast's.  We were commissioned at their church, First Presbyterian at the 11:00 service.  We had a great meeting with lots of discussion on our travel plans, finances, supplies & totes, gifts, devotions, etc.  Tamra has lots of neat ideas on things that she has in store for children's ministry so that will be fun to see what all she has planned. 

At this point, it looks like we will be working with 4 physicians from Nicaragua; plastic surgeons & ENT physicians.  We don't know yet how the surgery schedule for the week is going to be worked out but we have learned how to be flexible and will deal with whatever is handed to us. 

Everyone is getting so excited for the trip.  Our medical supplies are all packed in totes & we have 1 or 2 more to pack with misc. supplies.  But once again, one of the worst parts in preparing for this trip is to figure out how we can get everything we need for 10 days into our own personal carry-on size bags weighing no more than 30 lbs.  Believe me, it is NOT easy (especially for us girls)!  

Our mission trip will be Feb. 7-17th.  We will be posting to this blog site as internet service is available.  

Keep us in your prayers!
Carolyn Athey

Nicaragua '13

We learned from our first trip to Nicaragua, that the word "flexibility" is a key word and one that we have come to be very familiar with.  Just a few nights ago, we learned that, due to unforeseen circumstances, the 2 physicians with the California part of our team are not able to go to Nicaragua with us in February.  Of course, that news blindsided all of us but we still knew that we all wanted to go back in whatever capacity that we could be used, whether it was medical or non-medical.  We now have learned that we will be working with Nicaraguan doctors, plastic surgeons from Managua.  That is great news and will be a blessing for the people in Nicaragua who have been waiting for our team to return.  We don't have a lot of details yet so are anxiously waiting to hear more news.  But our hearts are with the people of Nicaragua so we are happy to serve them in any way we can.  Please keep us in your prayers.
Carolyn Athey