Boston Medical Team / Jungle Kids for Christ
Hello Everyone from Guatemala To be specific from HOT 104 degree Guatemala!

We had a medical team of students from North Eastern University’s Physician Assistant Program
in Boston come for a medical mission trip.
Those poor guys came from Boston where it was in the 50′s to 104 degrees.
I picked them up at the airport and the AC belt on the bus exploded leaving us a four hour ride in a mobile oven.
I had to stop half way and let everyone out to get fresh air and then we all jumped in a river coming down
the side of the mountain.
It was cool and we all felt much better even though we had to go through customs soaking wet and got some funny looks.

But then they got to the dorm and everyone had I-phones or some kind of fancy device like a James Bond movie
that they could check e-mails, text family and friends and I think one could even talk to the space station.

But the news from home was not good.
They found out that two bombs had gone off near their friends at the Boston Marathon.
So they were quite concerned understandably.
Thankfully everyone they knew were OK.

They were not really prepared for what they were about to embark upon by going deep into the remote areas of Guatemala.
You see my bus is on it’s last leg, but I needed it because I had 17 people and I had promised these villages
that I would do dental work on them.
But the roads were indescribable.

These pictures do not show the 2 ft deep ruts and sides of mountains. These are the good roads.
But would you drive a bus load of people across this bridge? Not if you were sane.
But the village was waiting on us and no one else will go there. ( I can’t understand why?)

But we also had to stop about every 30 min and fill the radiator with water from a river or creek as
I have a big leak in the radiator and did not find out until we got half way to the first village.

We hit so many deep holes and rocks that it literally had the back tires off the ground and tore out my cabinets
and counter tops and demolished my sink.
But the worse part was when the cooler with our food for lunch fell over.
It was then I knew I had taken the old girl too far. This bus is 28 years old and still purrs like a kitten.
Well OK there is no muffler so may purr is not the right word. But she still has power and can climb a mountain like a jeep.
She is old and leaks and everything squeaks and rattles but I still love her. ( I am talking about my bus here not my wife)

As always we had tons of patients to take care of and this team did a great job. One of the girls was from the
Dominican Republic and spoke Spanish so she could take my place and work with my wife Marleni
to do the diagnostic station and then send them on down the line for worm meds, vitamins, antibiotics etc…

This freed me up to do dental work inside the mobile oven, I mean bus….

This let me not only pull a lot of teeth but also teach some of the students how to pull teeth that were non-complicated.  This lady had such bad infections in her gums that the anesthesia did not completely numb the teeth.
But she wanted those teeth out because they hurt so bad.  I love to do dentistry because they live with pain for years and it only gets worse.

I feel like when I pull sometimes 8 to 10 teeth and then suture them up and put them on pain meds and antibiotics they can finally live with out that terrible pain every day. I feel like it really makes a difference.

The Chief’s of the villages usually want to feed the teams. They can only kill their chicken and make soup with tortillas but I cannot let the team eat it since I know the women who prepare it mean well but do not wash their hands after using the bathroom. So as not to offend them Marleni and I eat what the chief brings us.

I personally love it. But as living in a 3rd world country would have it. I went to a lab yesterday and found out I am full of Amoebas and Parasites. ( B.Hominis (T) and Levaduras. So now I am taking Flagel 100 mg 2 x day and it is worse than the parasites.

( I am pretty sure that is why I am fat. It cannot be that I over eat or something like that, it has to be parasites.)
But I will be fine in a few days and will have to eat at the next village so I am stocked up on Flagel.

We did have some very long drives that were extremely rough and look at the comfortable seats they got to ride in.

But even with the rough and long hauls and heat and dust, here is why we do it….

To support this work financially you can send a check made out to:

(Our name needs only to be on the address of the envelope. We receive $0.95 of every $1.00 donated and you will receive a receipt for tax purposes.

Bryan Buchanan

Missionary Companion Ministries

PO BOX 26237

Fayetteville N.C. 28314