Anatomy of a MOST Ministries Medical Team

Each MOST Ministries medical team has its own character and layout, but all have the same components.

We take all our supplies and most of our meds in suitcases to the country where we’ve been invited to serve. In the case of Team 2511, 27 suitcases of meds, supplies, and health/hygiene gift bags came with the team of 14 from Sioux Falls. Light-weight quilts, yarn dolls and wood cars also were brought as gifts for the children. Who’s responsible for organizing them and keeping track? That would be our Team Medic, Deb and Pharmacist, Ann.

Wow, how many suitcases?

Ann put the team to work prepping bags of meds

Deb, greeting long-time friend Nury

Ann, with a grateful patient

Evangelism materials are brought for use by the local church in explaining to our patients the Plan of Salvation through Bible verses. We have bracelets with beads that remind us of this Plan, soft crocheted finger-puppets to keep tiny children distracted, and other methods of explaining the Gospel to all. Our very capable Guatemalan leaders were Pastor Luis, Pastor Luis Jose, and Deacon Ubaldo. Another great helper was Miguelangel, a third-year student in the Dominican Republic Seminary’s distance-learning program. He is on track to graduate and be ordained as a pastor in 2026.

Pastor Luis Jose, explaining Bible verses to waiting patients

Our witness bracelets and finger puppets

Registration forms in the local language, in this case Spanish, are used by the host church members and our team to record name, age, weight & height, chief complaint and any meds currently used, providing background information for the medical team. The form is numbered, for ease in figuring how many we served and to find any patient that might need follow-up from the pastor. In our week in the two churches at Los Limones and Gualan, we saw 317 patients and did short medical evaluations of 65 school children. Two assistants from the church, Ubaldo and Lourdes, registered most of the patients.

Our S.F. father-son duo, Kelly & Isaiah, moved people about the clinic, took all weights and measurements, and generally had a wonderful time playing frisbee and “futbol” with the children.

Heather was our expert teacher of health/hygiene/and nutrition recommendations, informing many who had never before seen a toothbrush exactly how it is used with toothpaste. She discussed the components of a healthy meal, explaining generally affordable sources of protein (eggs, beans & rice, cheese), and how to avoid sugary drinks and too many carb-rich tortillas. Each community member left her station with a gift bag containing items to keep them healthy and fit.

Heather and friend work together to crochet a new basketball net.

Three teams of doctor-nurse-translator, working together, triaged, treated and prescribed for our patients. Our M.D.s are Dr. Patty, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kyler. Working with them have been R.N.s Deb, as coordinator of all supplies and equipment; Karen; and soon-to-be nurse student, Julia. They have listened carefully, assessed measures of health, questioned to draw out details of the pain or illness, and sent the patients to our pharmacy for meds, to our physical therapist, Jill, or to Deb for help cleaning out impacted ears. Patients with treatable joint pain may receive cortisone injections from Dr. Kyler, who’s in his residency for Orthopedic Surgery. Patients have opened up to our doctors to share their anxieties and problems, which is rare in many medical settings. They also are happy to receive prayers offered by our doctors.

Dr. Patty, with young patient

Dr. Kyler, injecting a sore knee

Karen, R.N., with appreciative patient

L to r: Dr Kate, nurse-student Julia, translator Keila

Our Physical Therapist, Jill has been a wonderful help on this mission trip. The many people with joint and bone pain are learning exercises to help strengthen muscles around the pain, or are given wraps and bandages for affected areas. That Jill has been occupied with patients almost all day, all week, is a testament to how useful her specialty is to our team.

Our pharmacy is an awesome machine, consisting of Ann, R Ph, (center), and assistants Bryan and Jenn. They are detail-oriented, always checking each other’s work, and personable as they work with a translator to give just the right information to each patient, so the meds will be used correctly. The pharmacy is the last stop on a patient’s visit through the clinic. Our pharmacy team often receives hugs from grateful Guatemalans.

Nancy has entertained dozens (hundreds?) of children this week with crafts, games, jump rope, smiles and friendliness, while using her growing Spanish vocabulary. Her tables of crafts and/or games have been in constant use this week.

Cristian is our guide and companion this week, always with us, helping us learn about Guatemalan culture, translating in the clinic, and directing our travels through the country and Guatemala City. His self-taught English is excellent, and his unflappable demeanor and humor have been very welcome. We will miss him!

Cristian, here with the two pastors, Luis Jose (center) and his father, Luis

Another Guatemalan we’ll miss is Rodrigo, our very capable driver. He has our bus clean, serviced and ready to roll whenever we need to move. We appreciate his safe driving skills, as he navigated many traffic jams without complaint or annoyance.

Most patients and families leave the clinic with smiles, hugs for us, and thank-yous that we took time to travel to their country to provide this assistance. All of us know how to respond with “Dios te bendiga!” (God bless you!).

Church and “Cultural Day”

Church services: Teams always have Sunday scheduled during our trip so we can attend the worship service of the church hosting us. On this occasion, the service was Sunday morning in Iglesia La Resurreccion, Gualan. The white board on the wall gave us the pages of the liturgy and hymns. What was not so easy to follow was the liturgist’s announcement of the scriptures. Acts is “Hechos” in Spanish; and Revelation is “Apocalipsis.” That’s okay. We enjoyed worshiping with these fellow believers. At the end of the service, Pastor Luis gave our team the “nod” to sing a song we had prepared: “Here I Am, Lord.”

Our “Cultural Day”, also our last full day in country: Wednesday we learned, with all Guatemalans, that Volcano Fuego (Fire) was erupting and spreading lava over certain roads and areas that would make it impossible to spend Thursday and Friday nights in Antigua with our long-time friend, Nury. Her home is only 10 miles from that volcano! So we pivoted to stay in Guatemala City, since our flights still were on track for Saturday. Nury joined us as our guide in Guatemala City for the day.

We enjoyed a visit to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mercies; seeing a half-acre relief map of Guatemala created by a geographer over one hundred years ago; a tour of an early Maya city excavation, Kaminal Juyu; a lunch in which we saluted Kyler with a birthday cake; and then a visit to the beautiful market near La Aurora Airport. The shopkeepers got a good sum of money from us and we’re happy to be taking home handicrafts and freshly roasted Guatemalan coffee.