Matthews Mission in Guatemala: One month and the work continues

Jan. 15, 2018

It's hard to believe that we've been in Guatemala for one month now! The days seem to go by slowly but the weeks fly by so fast. Last Monday we finally moved into our new apartment. It's really nice and big and is by the CCM and the temple. We can see two of the temple spires, including the one with the Angel Moroni on the top, from our 5th floor window. The apartment has 4 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms and lots of floor space. It is sparsely furnished but has all the basics. We've found that you really can get by with less furniture, and it actually makes life more simple. We plan to buy a few more needed items for the apartment which we will leave behind when our mission is over, but hopefully the next missionaries or people who live here will enjoy them. There's a little local grocery store, a few restaurants, and a hair salon right across the street from our apartment which is convenient. We feel very spoiled and safe!
We've found that senior missionaries have a lot of freedom and flexibility. We can pretty much do what we want as long as we keep the commandments, do our assignments, don't get into trouble, and don't hit anyone or anything while we are driving (which is a hard requirement). Morris and I decided that it is important to develop a routine every morning before we go into the office, so around 7:00 we read scriptures and say a prayer together, exercise for about 30 min. (mostly stretching and strength building), eat breakfast together, make lunches, and get ready for our day. We are allowed to use the exercise room at the CCM, but we would need to go at a time when the missionaries aren't using it (so very early or very late). We haven't attempted to use the exercise room yet! We usually leave for the area office around 9:00 and stay until around 3:00 unless we decide to leave early to go to lunch somewhere with other senior couples or to go shopping. Our day is flexible and we have a pretty good life!
Last weekend we went on a road trip with the Curtises to Retalhuleu which is in the southwestern part of Guatemala. It took us almost 4 hours to get there, not because it is far away but because the roads are so bad! The local people actually try to fix the holes in the roads by shoveling dirt into them, but that only helps a little. It was a pretty wild ride! However, the scenery on the way there is beautiful and kind of reminds me of Hawaii. We got a taste of the local culture, and we were able to see people washing their clothes in the rivers, women carrying heavy loads on their heads, lots of stands with delicious pineapples and other fruits, many sugar cane fields, and a couple of the active volcanoes with plumes of smoke and ash intermittently belching out.
The main reason for our trip to the Retalhuleu mission was to visit with the mission president and his wife and to meet the mission nurse. President Goodman is LaFaunda's cousin so she was easily able to line up a meeting with everyone and arrange for us to stay overnight at the Goodman's beautiful home. At the meeting, we discussed medical issues in the mission and answered questions. It was very productive! The nurse is a young girl from Alaska who finished her nursing degree before coming to serve in Guatemala as the mission nurse. Her assistant and missionary companion was born in Rhode Island of Guatemalan parents. She has also had some medical experience. They make a good team! We were very impressed with both sisters! During the day they do missionary work, but the nurse carries a phone for medical calls. She only calls Morris when she doesn't know how to handle a problem, she feels she should prescribe an antibiotic, needs a lab result interpreted, needs permission for hospital admissions or if the hospital wants to do a procedure she is unsure about, or for any emergency. The nurses are invaluable in the mission and a big help to the mission president and his wife.
I was quite flattered after our meeting when President Goodman asked me what medical training I had. I had tried to contribute to the conversation during the meeting by sharing my vast medical knowledge (ha ha), but I had to confess that my only medical experience was discussing Morris' cases with him over the years and raising 6 children. He seemed to think that was quite adequate! I actually could have added that I have heard Morris advise and help neighborhood friends and extended family with medical problems over the years, and I've seen many people stitched up on our kitchen table! President Goodman said that he could tell I was really interested and knowledgeable in medical issues, and he also said he thought LaFaunda could actually open up her own medical clinic when they returned home! The AMA's wives are learning a lot here in Guatemala!
After our meeting, President Goodman took us to see and tour a local medical clinic and to meet one of the doctors. The clinic had several patient rooms and 2 operating rooms. The medical equipment was a little outdated but the clinic was clean and seems to provide adequate care. After our clinic visit, President Goodman took all of us to lunch at a nice local restaurant.
One of the hard parts of being an AMA is occasionally being asked to accompany a missionary back home who needs to return early from his mission, either because of medical problems which can't be resolved in the mission in a timely manner or because of emotional and anxiety issues. The decision to send a missionary home early is not something that is made lightly, and many people are prayerfully involved in the decision. The ultimate decision is made by the brethren in SL. This past Saturday Morris accompanied a missionary home to Utah. At first I was kind of jealous because he was going to stay at our house on Saturday night and fly back on Sunday, but he didn't have a chance to see any of our kids or grandkids while he was there so I felt better!
One thing that happened to Morris while he was home was that he lost his AMA international medical phone. It is very crucial that he carries this phone with him at all times so he can receive important medical calls. He and my nephew Robert who is currently living in our house looked for the phone for several hours. Morris called me on Robert's phone, and I tried to help by suggesting places they could look. About midnight and after a few prayers, they finally gave up and went to bed. We both prayed fervently that the phone could be found before he had to leave the next morning. The first thought that came to his mind when he woke up was an apron that he had put on while he was eating dinner the night before to keep his clothes clean (which were the only clothes he had for this trip.) He immediately checked the pocket on the apron and found his phone! A definite answer to prayers!
Most of his AMA responsibilities include advising mission presidents, their wives, and the mission nurses on medical problems, overseeing medical problems at the CCM, helping the senior missionaries with health issues, training all the nurses in his 9 assigned missions, doing a health presentation once a month at the CCM for the newly arrived missionaries, visiting missionaries in the hospital, and doing a weekly report which is sent to the general authority over the medical missionaries and the IFR(infield representative. He stays quite busy and has probably advised on the care of over 80 missionaries so far.
I was wrong in thinking that I wouldn't have much to do as the wife of an AMA. I try to be a listening ear and support to Morris, go with him when necessary to visit missionaries in the hospital, and travel with him to do the nurse training. If a sister missionary needs to be accompanied home early, I will also go with him. Recently LaFaunda turned over to me the job of checking the recommendations of new incoming missionaries to make sure they have had a TB test. I also was just asked to manage the newborn baby kits service project. A couple of years ago, the dental missionary wives saw a need and an opportunity for service in the local free hospitals in their maternity wards and started this project. Mothers were walking into these hospitals to deliver their babies with only their street clothes on their back and with nothing for their baby. Family visits were few. Most of the time the babies were wrapped in newspapers to take them home. The dental wives started making and delivering newborn baby kits to the mothers in these hospitals. Originally the kits were funded from some of the money the humanitarian missionaries received from the church for their projects, but this is no longer the case. I am trying to keep the project going through private donations and people willing to make and donate the kits. Several groups from Utah also make kits and bring them to Guatemala during the year. I will be in charge of picking up their kits and delivering them. If anyone is interested in becoming involved in this project by donating money or kits, please email me and I will give you more information. We especially need flannel blankets 36x36 and newborn baby hats. It is a very worthwhile project!
I was really sad to hear of the passing of President Monson. While we were in the MTC in Provo, it was mentioned several times that he was very ill. Even though I knew he would pass away soon, I was still heart-broken when I learned of his death. I've started reading his biography To the Rescue. Throughout his life he searched out and cared for ""the one"who needed his help and encouragement. He has asked each of us to do the same and to serve others. We feel that on our mission we are rescuing those missionaries who are struggling with medical problems which prevent them from adequately fulfilling their missions. As we help and care for them, then they are able to spiritually rescue those they search out and teach. We hope that during this coming year, you will each go "to the rescue" and find ways you can help and serve others.
Sending our love!