Bienvenidos Amigos de Bernabé!

Chesterfield, VA

Mountain Medical Team

Team Chesterfield continued to work alongside the local Friends of Barnabas staff to make inroads into new communities. Wednesday took the integrated team to La Quesera, Santa Cruz de Yojoa for the first time. As always the community was happy to receive much needed medical help.

While La Quesera has come together as a community to provide more for their niñas' and niños' education than the first two communities we visited, as seen by a computer in the two room school house and available electricity, they still need our help. Many whole families made it their priority today to show up and receive medical treatment. This involvement is a true testament to how much they want the services we are able to provide.

It was encouraging to see fathers reassuring scared children in the dentist chair before having teeth pulled, and to have mothers asking how they can continue to care for their children until Friends of Barnabas returns.

Kristy was able to witness first hand, the pure joy on an elderly woman's face, as received prescription glasses that allowed her to see clearly for the first time in years. Rachel, who just finished her first year of nursing school, was able to put her knowledge to use and hone her skills in the general clinic, taking blood pressure, performing ear irrigations, listening to lungs, and providing teaching for the community. Tammy's heart was stolen by a little boy on a hand powered scooter with a spinal anomaly whose younger brother provided constant companionship.

Wednesday wasn't all work though. The nursing staff met Tuesday night to work out a plan to increase their efficiency in case more families than expected came for treatment. Unlike the previous two days this did not happen, and Team Barnabas was able to treat the whole community by early afternoon. As a treat, Nury, FOB director, arranged for the team to visit a local coffee shop in Peña Blanca for some frozen treats and to support a local business. This was a double special treat as the coffee shop was across the street from Elmer's new hardware store. Elmer served as FOB bus driver for many years before starting his own business last year.

All in all, Wednesday was a very meaningful day for both La Quesera and Team Chesterfield. Thanks for following along with us – we appreciate your prayers for us!