This has been a week full of travel! Saturday I was in Tijuana for a brigada - a health fair that Mexican Medical puts on in partnership with a Mexican alliance of churches. We do these three or four times a year and it is the coolest thing. MexMed brings about 50 volunteers from the States including all kinds of medical providers, and the Mexican alliance of churches brings about the same number of volunteers from their network. There is A TON of planning involved for each one, and that happens through many meetings in the months and weeks before each brigada. Everything is free, and there are lots of different services offered based on the providers that come - everything from medical consults to foot washing to nutrition and diabetes education to lab services to a children's area to a fully stocked pharmacy! The Mexican pastors follow up with each person who attended in the weeks after the brigada, which is the part that I love. This isn't a day where we (Americans) swoop in for a day and think we've fixed everything. We realize that we can do very little in a day, and instead rely on the people who live there - the pastors and local congregations - to follow up with the people who attended.
This time I finally got to translate for a nurse practitioner, Tina! I don't have that much medical Spanish (which really is a whole other language), but I have wanted to translate for a doctor/NP/PA so badly. I had been praying that God would somehow give me the words I needed to say and understand, but I was kind of nervous once I really thought about just how badly this could go. It's one thing if I mess up as I tell a story and people think I'm talking about a tree instead of a book. Funny, but not harmful. Messing up when translating for a medical provider can be really dangerous! Anyway, when I met Tina, she told me that about 95% of her patients speak Spanish - she knew all the medical words! But could hardly translate a verb. It was PERFECT. Together, we were a complete Spanish speaking machine! Such a clear answer to prayer...it was super encouraging.

The team - volunteers from both sides of the border - circling up for prayer before the brigada starts. 

L: Tina examining a patient, top R: sign advertising the brigada,
bottom R: Dr. Tamez meeting with the medical providers

Tuesday we brought a dental team to an orphanage we had never been to, a couple hours southeast of Tijuana. It was so different from Gabriel House. I can hardly describe it. The staff take really good care of these children (that's one thing both places have in common!) and their teeth looked great. It was a good experience. Lots more kids needed to be anesthetized than we're used to, though, so that was definitely interesting as we dealt with recovery and the meds wearing off!

Yesterday Amy and I went to Biola for the Missions Conference. We talked to a LOT of students. It was encouraging to be swept up in their saving the world mentality. Ha! It made me feel really old. Some of those freshmen could NOT have been 18. No way. 

Hopefully some teams will come as a result of this or students will be summer interns at some of our sites. We shall see!

I've got a team at Gabriel House the week after next and then am going to visit Rachel in the Dominican Republic in April! I am counting down the days...can't wait to see her life and work alongside her! She came to Gabriel House with me last spring...now it's my turn!

Oh snap. It's been another month, hasn't it?

Well here we go.

Baby Tomas, who I introduced you to a month ago, died after just one week with us. We were not expecting that - we knew he was sick and probably wouldn't live very long, but we thought we'd have more time with him. As sad as it was to see him go, it was also a blessing to realize that he no longer has trouble breathing or eating, and his pain is completely gone. Jesus is the ultimate healer and that's what this baby needed.

Jan and I dropped Sonia and Dubi off at Gabriel House - Sonia is a missionary with Mexican Medical and has been serving in Cabo for the last year. She's a nurse who just got accepted to grad school starting in July, and she's spending the next 3 months at Gabriel House. Dubi is the daughter of the missionaries that Sonia worked with and just finished PT school in Mexico. She'll also be at Gabriel House for 3 months, assisting Pati, who currently is the only therapist for our 31 kids. Ha. They are a huge answer to prayer and I'm so happy they're at Gabriel House!

I took Pilar and Marcos on the bus to the grocery store because I needed to get some stuff for the house. It was dark out and Marcos would NOT let us leave without the headlamps, arguing that we needed to see the street that we were walking on. Fair enough. Plus they looked adorable.

Marcos helping us unload - he loved pushing the diapers out the
back door and seeing who they landed on!

I brought down a van full of diapers (and I mean FULL - couldn't even see out the back window). Immigration charged us less than ever and at this rate, the next time I go, I won't have to pay a dime! Here's to hoping...

Guess who's learning how to use the potty?!? Never, ever, in my life, have I been so excited to see someone on the can. This chair was recently donated and it's the perfect thing for Jaime - gives him enough support so he can sit there unassisted for a few minutes after lunch every day. Yeahhhhh!!!

We had a great time with Dana Croxton of Enable Ministries who spent a few days with us at Gabriel House. He taught me how to repair and clean wheelchairs (very important to make them last!), but even more incredible is how well Jose and Alex worked with him. These boys were an integral part of the process and there were a few times where I literally could not figure out what to do next and Jose showed me. Incredible. So cool for those boys to have purposeful work. 

It was fun to have a group from Hydesville, California with us for a week! They played with us inside, helping us beat rainy day boredom, bought the kids fresh fruit and veggies, and helped make cupcakes for Renie's birthday!

I learned how to make empanadas, and Pilar proved to be a valuable asset to the kitchen!

Thanks for your love, prayers, and support! Make sure to follow us on Facebook for more frequent updates and crazy news about our stolen van... www.facebook.com/gabrielhouseofmexico