The medical mission trip to Guatemala from St. Peter’s could not have been more
successful. Twenty-three of us left early on March 20th, and returned eight days later.
We were blessed with an incredible sense of teamwork and good humor which lasted
the entire trip. We began seeing patients on March 22nd in the small village of Palacal,
in southwest Guatemala. On March 24th, we moved to another small village, Paquila,
where we saw patients for another two days.
We treated between 550 and 600 patients in the course of the 5 days in the villages.
We handed out every pair of shoes that had been donated, and every pair of eye
glasses. Many, many children went home from the clinic in Toad Suck 2008 T-shirts, as
we were giving medicated baths to children with skin infections. The vitamins were a
precious, precious thing and your donations were very deeply needed and appreciated.
The work was hot and hard and physically tiring, but the reward of serving in a place of
such need was priceless. We made many new friends and forged bonds with one
another that strengthen us and ultimately, strengthen St. Peter’s. We hope to build on
what we have begun and to see many more such projects in our future.
In the coming weeks, we will do a presentation of slides and narrative about our trip.
For the many people of St. Peter’s who supported us with your gifts and your prayers,
we are deeply grateful and we know that it could not have been done without you.
Marianne Welch