Guatemala Mission Trip September 2026

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3 hours ago

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It is always special to return to my country of birth, Guatemala, despite the political turmoil, which spills over to the general population and travel.

I arrived at Patzun St. Francis Assisi Hospital, located at Chimaltenango Guatemala. The Franciscan Sisters and the children welcomed me. My niece, Paola, was able to help me. Dr. Marlon, the local Mayan dentist, and I worked together to take care of the children and the Sisters. Some of the Sisters' dental needs include crowns, fillings and partial dentures, because the hard work and stress of taking care of so many people has taken its toll on them.

I was very pleased to see them wearing the shoes we gave them last year from the charity. The Dental clinic have received all the dental supplies we had sent them plus a new curing light and a Cavitron ( a scale water machine for cleaning teeth)

The children received puzzles, hats, and shoes ( that were donated from the USA). The children were very happy, especially with the special dinner and Piñata we provided for them.

We moved to Mixco, Guatemala, located at the city Hogar de Los Ninos Nuestra Señora de Los Carpinello, run by the Italians nuns for orphan boys. I was very happy to have Dr. Victor Morales who offered to help me during the mission. The Dental Clinic here also received dental supplies from the charity and they were running very low. At this location. 35 Sisters were living there and they all received a gift bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, comb, lip balm etc. and were very pleased. The number of orphan boys was 70 and they all received dental care.

After living Mixco, Guatemala we proceeded to Cuilapa, Santa Rosa which is about 2 1/2 hours from the city. Because this location is close to the ocean, it is always hot and humid. Dr. Victor Morales and I took care of the 80 orphan girls' and 10 Sisters' dental needs. Mother of Superior will be leaving in 2 weeks to Somalia to take care for an orphanage there. Because of the hard work and stress, she has a problem of grinding and clenching her teeth. I took and impressions and I had a Night Guard made for her. She accomplished many improvements and effective changes for the girls and her very positive attitude made her easy to work with. I will miss her.

We appreciate Dr. Morales continued efforts to care for the Sisters and Girls for 3 months. With a changing population, he is able to work on the new students who often have many dental needs.

Since I was there during Independence Month, the students were involved in dancing events if the different nationalities in Guatemala. It brought beautiful nostalgic memories of growing up.