As 2014 promised, it is a year of change. A year of differences. A year of patience testing. Starting with the return trip during the polar vortex which delayed just about every plane in the airport, I headed back to embrace the differences.

When one door closes, another is sure to open and we are waiting to step forward right now. With the opening of the school set for this month, the teachers have come and we’ve been further training them in clinics and working with them to know their levels of competency and teach them the side of nursing that they don’t get here, compassion. The school is cleaned up and ready, and we have a class of students eager to begin. The piece missing is cooperation from the Guatemalan government. They have threatened to take back the seal of approval that was given last fall. This is not just happening to us but to others in the country as well. We have learned that it is a byproduct of the corruption here. Thankfully there is a Guatemalan friend that knows the system who has been daily speaking with governmental officials. And so we wait and pray at this time…. Diligently, feverently , knowing that what is happening is illegal but we cannot make enemies with the system yet work within the system.