Mano Amiga

11/11/2021

With respect, honor, and gratitude – THANKS TO ALL WHO SERVED. Happy Veterans Day!

04/21/2020

Together we can make a difference in your community! Check out the impact made by Heritage Exteriors & Restoration in Spicer, MN

Thanks to Heritage Exteriors and Restoration Inc. for providing nearly 5,000 meals to Central Minnesota families. Check out the whole story here! https://bit.ly/2VKl40u

01/05/2019

An opportunity to serve our neighbors.
All are welcome

¿Listo para empacar tus maletas e impactar al mundo? Durante los últimos 5 años, Gateway Fellowship ha desarrollado una relación con pastores y misioneros locales de Yucatán. Esto ha abierto una gran oportunidad para servir junto con ellos para llegar a pueblos y personas que no han sido alcanzadas.

Para más información o para registrarte ve a www.migateway.tv/yucatan

09/05/2018

This is why we must go to the Yucatan:
A few years ago, while in the Minneapolis airport, I was heading to the Yucatan on a mission trip when another traveler read my mission t-shirt and asked "Why are you going to the Yucatan?" Immediately, without hesitation the words "Because that's where the teachers are adn they can't travel to Stillwater, so we must go to them." poured out of my mouth. Not my words, but the Lord's. The following words are from a dear departed friend, Sr. Moses Mena, who was a subsitance fisherman from Chuburna Puerto. During our trips he befriended many children from the St Croix Valley to help work, to extend friendship, to help with their Spanish, and little did we know but to also teach about faith.
"I think and I plan in God.
Therefore I have faith.
I have faith in his teachings.
That is why the Bible exists; for us to know God.
You know God if you read the Bible.
You learn to love.
You have faith in God.
You have faith is what you do.
You are not only talking about having faith in Christ.
You gain momentum to move forward; God cures you.
Therefore for that reason, my family and I have faith.
For that purpose we are united to demonstrate our faith in God.
God is powerful.
Without God we can do nothing.
In the times when we are sick; we remember God.
When we have difficult times; we remember God.
But when there is money, and many people have money, they can forget that God exists.
Therefore, faith is to have the money and the love of God.
I think that a church is the same as our house, or home.
If we pray together with the family we are showing that we have faith.
We should invite the children in order to demonstrate faith to God and for God to receive them in His hands.
For this reason I have faith.
When I need or not need His help it is equal.
God is always with me.
I have not been abandoned.
Therefore, yes I have faith.
My family has faith as well.
I think and I plan in God.
Therefore I have faith.
I have faith in his teachings.
That is why the Bible exists; for us to know God.
You know God if you read the Bible.
You learn to love.
You have faith in God.
You have faith is what you do.
You are not only talking about having faith in Christ.
You gain momentum to move forward; God cures you.
Therefore for that reason, my family and I have faith.
For that purpose we are united to demonstrate our faith in God.
God is powerful.
Without God we can do nothing.
In the times when we are sick; we remember God.
When we have difficult times; we remember God.
But when there is money, and many people have money, they can forget that God exists.
Therefore, faith is to have the money and the love of God.
I think that a church is the same as our house, or home.
If we pray together with the family we are showing that we have faith.
We should invite the children in order to demonstrate faith to God and for God to receive them in His hands.
For this reason I have faith.
When I need or not need His help it is equal.
God is always with me.
I have not been abandoned.
Therefore, yes I have faith.
My family has faith as well."
Sr. Moses Mena

01/17/2018

The story of Nikki & Nicolas:
The Mano Amiga 2018 Guatemala trip will be my 19th medical mission trip and my 2nd trip with Mano Amiga (both trips being to Guatemala).
I can honestly say that my experience last year was in the top 2 of all my medical trips and this year will be at the top as well.
It is wonderful to serve with a great group of people that get along effortlessly and work hard serving our neighbors.
These trips are exhausting. But they're necessary.
For me, so much of why I entered healthcare in the first place is lost in my day to day work.
These medical trips renew my passion for what I do.
They also allow us to provide safe and quality care to those that would otherwise have none.
With Mano Amiga, we will be working in Santiago de Atitlan, along the shore of Lake Atitlan. It is about a 4-hour drive from Guatemala City.
It is a special opportunity as Mano Amiga worked directly with the local people to help build the hospital.
Through their work, they have brought access to obstetrical, primary, surgical, and emergency care to a heavily indigenous area that otherwise was unable to access basic health care services.
I had a unique role last year, using both my medical and Spanish language skills I deeply engaged with our patients.
Through this experience I had unique insight into just how important the work of Mano Amiga is...and how much it truly benefits the community.
It is worth mentioning that anesthesia services are not typically readily available at this hospital in Guatemala. Anesthesia is obviously a field of medicine fraught with potential danger as the risk for patient harm is high if not done safely and properly.
The story of one of our patients, Nicolas, is one that ties all-of-these points together. He is a young man that had a fall. After his knee pain did not resolve, he had an X-ray which proved suspicious for large cell tumor.
In the USA, that would not be a big deal. A biopsy would be performed with proper course of treatment to follow, but in Guatemala it was a different story. Without a biopsy to guide a treatment plan the only option was amputation and to hope for life expectancy of one year. No radiation or chemotherapy is available.
To properly make this diagnosis, Nicolas would have to have a bone biopsy. It's an incredibly painful procedure usually done under heavy sedation (if not general anesthesia).
I interpreted for our anesthesia people who worked together with the Guatemalan staff to safely complete the bone biopsy.
Nicolas and his case spoke to me, because of my own cancer history.
I had always felt survivor guilt, and I was sure that he was going to die, mostly because of where he happened to be living. And that was not fair. Our conversations made me cry numerous times. We rejoiced when the biopsy revealed that the mass was not cancerous.
Helping people like Nichola is why we do what we do.
All I can attest to is the fulfilling nature of the work and the worthiness of Mano Amiga.
Time to sign off,
Nikki

09/14/2017

We only have a few spots remaining for our January 13-20, 2018 Guatemala Mission Trip. It's all about serving our neighbors: medical, facility upkeep,elderly foot care clinic. Team member applications are available.