Brett goes to Guatemala

Brett has the wonderful opportunity to go to Guatemala with his school during Spring Break this year. They went to provide Physical Therapy (PT) services to people in remote villages that are surrounding the city of Antigua. There was a group of 15 people, 10 students, 3 Professors, and 2 Residents (all PT) that went down. It was a great experience for Brett and he was able to help those people who are unable to receive the medical attention that they need due to health conditions of the country beyond their control.

To really help you understand his experience, and more for us to remember his experience, I have attached his journal entries that were written while he was down there. Sorry for the length but I hope that as you read you will be able to feel the blessings that were brought to these people in just a short amount of time.

March 3, 2013 (Sunday)

I am currently sitting in my hotel room in Antigua Guatemala.  We left yesterday morning from Sacred Heart at 0530.  We flew from JFK to the San Salvador, El Salvador airport, then caught a plane to Guatemala City.  The San Salvador airport was incredible, we started making the descent and when we broke out of the cloud cover we were in a mountainous/volcanous region with some beautiful lakes.  As we descended we came to a flattened plain then all of the sudden we were flying right over the Pacific ocean and some incredible white sand beaches.  We made a loop over the ocean and came and landed pretty much right on the beach…it was pretty awesome.  After a short 45 minute flight we made it to Guatemala city where we were met by some of the people from the mission Iglesia del Camino (Clay and Isiel?).  We loaded all the bags onto a truck, hopped in a van and took an hours drive to Antigua.  On the way there, I don’t remember the city but I did see and LDS chapel right off the road.  We arrived in Antigua about 1630.  We got unloaded, checked into our hotel then went and had dinner at the church.  The hotel we are staying at is a pretty nice little place, very nice woodwork and well kempt.  I am in a room with Gary Austin one of my professors.

            This morning we woke up about 0630 and myself, Gary, Phil, Chris, and Fio went for a little walk around our neighborhood…mainly for them to go get some coffee, but it was a nice way to start out the morning.  We came back had some breakfast then went to the church services for the Iglesia Del Camino.  They are a non-denom Christian church, so we had a little music to accompany the service.  Following the service we had a walking tour of parts of the town.   We went to the central park, then over to the markets.  Following the guided tour we came back to the church and did a clinic for some of the parishioners.  We worked on them for about three hours.  Following the clinic we went and watched a procession to celebrate lent and symbolize Christ carrying the cross.  It was pretty crazy with a lot of people crowding the streets, and these huge raft-like platforms that were being carried by the townspeople.  Following the procession we had a dinner and hung out for awhile.  Then we started sorting through all the shoes and socks that we brought down to get them in order for tomorrow.  In the middle of sorting, one of the church ladies told us that the volcano (Del Fuego) was erupting and you could see it well with it being dark.  So we all dropped the shoes and headed over to our hotel where on the roof there is a patio that you can see well from.  We sat and watched it for about half an hour.  It is a long ways away, but that was a truly awesome sight.  They were saying it hasn’t erupted like that for about a year now, so we were very lucky.  We went back and finished sorting the shoes and now we are back at the hotel finishing up for the day….and I am concurrently facebook messaging Chels, whereas it is about our only means of communication right now.

            Just some personal thoughts on everything.  What a truly amazing experience this has been to this point.  It is a very different world down here, but one that I really like.  It is very laid back, yet the people are incredibly hard working people…kinda reminds me of home.  I have felt very loved and appreciated up to this point.  With all of the hustle and bustle of everything going on right now with school and everything I have not been taking the time to just clear my mind and ponder.  It was really nice today to do just that and realize all of the incredible blessings I have received up to this point.  It was really cool to get to work with and treat a few people today.  I was able to co-treat an older lady and a younger lady with some low back problems.  Then also helped a gentleman with neck pain, and another gentleman with some shoulder impairments.  It was a bit of a whirlwind, and I think I pretty much forgot everything that I have learned to this point…but I guess I just hope it may have helped even just a little bit.  I am very excited for tomorrow…I really just hope that I have some strength and inspiration from the Lord to help me in blessing these good people’s lives.