important update

LAST CALL FOR APRIL MISSION TRIP

Registration ends this month for the upcoming Four Friends International mission trip to Jalapa, Guatemala on April 25-May 1. Cost is $1,500, all inclusive. Both medical and non-medical volunteers are needed. If interested, text or call Randy Stewart (256-302-4296).
The itinerary for the week is as follows:

April 25 (Saturday): travel to Jalapa
April 26 (Sunday): worship and church support
April 27 (Monday): Los Pinos clinic + finishing pastor’s apartment
April 28 (Tuesday): Los Laureles clinic + furnishing pastor’s apartment
April 29 (Wednesday): clinic in mountain village + dump ministry
April 30 (Thursday): clinic in mountain village + water filter giveaway
May 1 (Friday): travel to Alabama

CLINIC UPDATE – December and January
Over 2,300 patients received free medical care, including medications, at the two clinics in December and January. Please pray for the nurses: Lilian (Los Laureles), Lorena (Los Pinos), and Dora (both clinics) as they faithfully administer medical care and give spiritual encouragement. Also pray for the office staff, the security guards, and the cleaning personnel. Say a final prayer for the churches adjacent to these clinics, that they will be able to touch many in the community with love of Christ.

A THIRD CLINIC?
The following slides highlight (1) how our two clinics came to be, and (2) the possibility of starting another clinic in the Jalapa area soon.

 Take off from Atlanta, and 3.5 hours later...

 ...you will land in Guatemala City... 

...From there, travel 3 hours eastward by van into the mountain ranges, and you will enter the city of Jalapa...

...In the center of Jalapa, you will find "Life in Jesus Baptist Church". This congregation, themselves poor, committed over a decade ago to establish mission churches in the poorer, outlying areas of the city...

...One of these mission churches was in Los Laureles, next to the city dump. In 2015, Four Friends International built a clinic 50 yards from the church. It offers free medical care, including medicines, Monday through Saturday each week...

...Nurse Lilian has served at Los Laureles since August 2015, living in an apartment at the rear of the clinic...

...The clinic pharmacy has over 70 medications, provided free to patients, for both acute and chronic diseases...

...In 2018, we opened our second clinic across the city in Los Pinos and provided land for an adjacent church building...

...Nurse Lorena (left) serves at the Los Pinos clinic Monday through Saturday each week. Nurse Dora divides her time between the two clinics...

...Over 15,000 patients received free care in the exam rooms of Los Laureles and Los Pinos in 2019...

...Last year Four Friends International ministered in a village near Jalapa high up in the mountains...

...Hundreds of people live in this mountain village. Among those treated were students from the junior high school who came and received vitamins and anti-parasite medicine...

...All around Jalapa are similar mountain communities who need to receive medical care and to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. How can Four Friends International reach so many people in so many places? The answer may be...

...a mobile clinic!

...A "Four Wheels Clinic" could bring medical care and the gospel to several communities each month. Staffed by a driver and a nurse, the clinic could extend the ministry of Four Friends International to areas otherwise unreachable...

Can this dream become reality? With God, nothing is impossible. Our mission trips this year in April and October will continue to explore the concept of a mobile clinic. Then, in 2021, wheels of healing and love may begin to roll into communities in desperate need of both. Until then, please pray that Four Friends International will receive God's wisdom and direction in this and all ministry endeavors.

A PRAYER REQUEST FROM NURSE LILIAN

Hola Doctor Randy, Espero que la bendición de Dios esté sobre su vida y la de su familia, Quiero pedir oración por la vida de mi madre Ofelia  que esta quebrantada de salud y por toda la familia pues esto nos preocupa mucho.. por la vida de padre Carmelino ya que esta semana que paso el día viernes el sufrió la pérdida física de su hermano mayor y como humanos es difícil aceptar la muerte de un familiar.  Pido sus oraciones por todo esto que ha pasado en mi familia.  Espero verle pronto. Bendiciones.

TRANSLATION

Hello, Doctor Randy. I hope that God's blessing is upon your life and that of your family. I want to ask for prayer for the life of my mother Ophelia who is broken in health and for my whole family, because this worries us a lot. I also ask you to pray for my father Carmelino, since this week on Friday he suffered the loss of his older brother, and it is difficult as humans to accept the death of a relative. I ask for your prayers for all this that has happened in my family. I hope to see you soon. Blessings! Lilian

As of today, donations have been received to fund both clinics through April 6. Thank you for generously supporting this ministry.