Archive for the ‘Announcements’ Category

What a Blessing to All Involved!

10.19.11

Words cannot express what an incredible privilege it was to lead this year’s team to Huehue. You all did such a great job of following your passions to serve others in Jesus’ name. Your hard work accomplished great things, including 105 surgeries, over 1000 clinic visits, several decisions for Christ, and multiple happy campers, interested in returning to another team in the future. Seldom was heard a discouraging word.

God was faithful in providing safety on our travels and keeping the group healthy. All of our equipment arrived and all our talents were stretched a bit as we learned to work outside our comfort zones. The group of strong personalities melted into a great team.

I measure the success of these trips not only in the numbers of people served, but also in the number of people who express an interest in a future team. Many of you gave me the ‘can’t wait ‘til next year’ or the ‘next year I want to….” stamp of approval. Thanks for those words of blessing to my ears!

In the next week or so, you will receive a survey of your experiences. Please be very honest and generous with your comments. We want to make these trips even better, both for our patients in Guatemala and for our volunteers who give so generously of their time, talents and hard earned money. We DO NOT take you for granted!

May God’s richest blessings fall on all of you!

Dr. Greg Imler

Team Leader

A mission well done!!!

10.20.10

On October 2nd the Iaomai Medical team set out on a journey to the Highlands of Guatemala with Helps International. Our team made way to Huehuetenango, Guatemala an area nestled in the valley of the highest mountain range in Central America. Along the way we saw and experienced the fragile conditions left by heavy rains. We witnessed up-close the devastating effects of massive mudslides, eroded out roads with steep drops below, flooded out villages, and those who suffered the consequences of such turmoil. The destruction was apparent and far from being over as the affects from the storm were still unfolding.

Only hours into our trip we saw first hand a massive mud slide that avalanched down onto the road in front of us. Two hours later the roads were still being dug out. In contrast, we also experienced the longest stretch of sun light in Guatemala since May 2010. I was asked about this coincidence and could only respond by saying, “sometimes you just have to put up your hands up and thank God.” God surely blessed us; one of our many prayer requests was for a break in the weather that we would have an entry and exit – we did – thank you God.

Today marks a week that we’ve been back from the incredible mission – “one for the books” as a volunteer put it. God was awesome. He was awesome through all of you and the people we served. It was so impressive seeing all of you in action and the team unity was incredible. We have so much to build upon as we continue to move forward in spreading the love of Christ to the poor through advanced health care.

The Iaomai Medical team included 55 from San Diego, 7 from St. Louis, 5 from Los Angeles, 2 from Little Rock, 1 from Phoenix and 1 from Norfolk – a total of 71. Along the way we added 1 volunteer from Jackson, Mississippi, 1 Canadian, 2 from Lake Tahoe and 10 Guatemalan student translators from the International school in Guatemala City. This brought our team total to 85.

The team experienced many successes during the course of the mission. The team treated a total of 2,054 patients, performed 112 surgical procedures and there were 8 decisions for Christ made (2 of which came from our own team).

Thank you for all of your effort and sacrifice on this trip. I pray God continue to bless each and every one of you. We also want to thank and acknowledge all of those who helped make our trip possible from family support to corporate donors – we thank you.

In His Almighty Love,
Sean

Do Medical Outreach – Guatemala 2010

05.18.10

Count down to Guatemala 2010 – the Highlands of Healing

Can you believe it? In less than 5-months we will be returning to the Mayan Highlands and serve the community of Huehuetenango. I am so excited about our 2010 Helps San Diego Team. We experienced our share of challenges last year; however, we came together and found a way to overcome them. This has built confidence and given us a great deal of energy. On the heals of one of the most successful medical teams I’ve ever been a part of we are poised to make an even greater impact in 2010. Many of you are now veterans, we will rely on your experience. We also have a good mix of new medical missionaries which keeps the balance of freshness and enthusiasm. We all remember our first experience serving; it always seems more dramatic and exciting. But I can assure after 14 years my excitement is richer than ever, I imagine this is true for you as well. I look forward to seeing you on May 22nd @ Sharp Memorial Hospital.

~Sean

Hello World, San Diego and Iaomai Medical Team!!!

03.16.10

With much excitement I would like to introduce you all to our new website and blog. The site was planned and created with you in mind – our designers at Skybox Creative did a phenomenal job. It’s our hope that the site serves as a source of information and a portal for active communication – it will grow as we do. I encourage all of you to browse the site, share it with friends and those you are encouraging to go on medical mission trips.

The site contains information about us, what we stand for, who we are and what we do. It has information on our upcoming trip to Huehuetenango, Guatemala and team photos from our last mission trips.

We also have video coming soon. The team video from Huehue turned out great. It will be shown for the first time on March 20th at the Guatemala 2010 Medical Team Meeting. We will post it on the site following the meeting.

I can’t express enough how thankful I am for all of you. Each one of you plays such a big part towards the impact that’s made in each of the communities we serve medically around the world. Your desire to Do Something, to Do Medical Outreach is extraordinary, the volunteering, the giving, the support and above all the sacrifice. Our call is simple to share the love of Christ in a practical way through the gift of advanced healthcare, and as all of you know it is a powerful thing to share. We have seen many miracles and lives transformed… including many of our own. Without you we couldn’t do what we do. Thank you and God bless.

I hope to see you all soon

In Christ,
Sean Burgess

Iaomai Medical Ministries medical outreach