I’m not fond of going to the doctor’s office.  Even less, a hospital. But Felipe Ramos has had an experience that puts my reluctance to shame.

 

He had been diagnosed with a highly inflamed prostate, and an operation was scheduled in a hospital in the state capital of Puebla, where the urologist is located. Costs are modest by our standards, but he needed help with the 35,000 pesos involved. The exchange is roughly 10 to 1, so some friends helped to make up the $3,500 needed.

 

In the meantime, Felipe recorded his weekly radio program for a month ahead, and took it down to Poza Rica to the radio station. On his way home, he was hit with abdominal pain, so severe they had to take him to the hospital in Zacatlan. They gave him medicine for his pain, but decided he should go to the hospital in Zacapoaxtla to get an ultrasound. That was forty miles farther from home, and by this time he was really suffering.

The ultrasound showed he had gallstones and an infected gall bladder. The doctor wanted to operate immediately, but the hospital didn’t have the right equipment for the operation. By this time, the family realized they were running short of money, and had sent their son (with the car) back to Zacatlan to get more money. 

So Lola, Felipe’s wife, bundled him into a taxi, and they went 30 more miles to the hospital in Tezluntlan.  The doctor from Zacapoaxtla, who had made the diagnosis, followed shortly thereafter and the operation was performed.  She said the gall bladder was so deteriorated she was surprised she was able to take it out in one piece.

Felipe was able to return home in five days, but with a catheter in place because of the unresolved prostate problem. Once again, though, they had to take him to the closest hospital because of very low blood sugar, apparently caused by the interaction of some of the medicines he had been prescribed.

 

Still, his letter began: “It is with gratitude to God that I can tell you what He has done in my life, and in the work in which He has placed me to serve.” Then came the above account. And I don’t like to go to the doctor’s office!

There is more: this medical emergency used up all the money sent down for the prostate operation. Initially, that was delayed so that Felipe could recover a bit. Then, someone locally suggested a native remedy. It is working! The inflammation is gone, and with it the catheter.  So Felipe probably will not have the prostate operation immediately.

We worry about Felipe, now 65 years old. He plays such a key role in the whole Totonac ministry. He revised the New Testament in Highland Totonac, translated the Jesus film and other audio-visuals into the language, has been the voice on the Totonac radio program for twenty years, planted scores of new congregations, and trained new leadership. What would we do without him?

 

I think he is thinking about that, too. In his letter, he gave special thanks for Pastor Sylvestre, who is visiting the congregations in the Coyutla area, and Pastor Porfirio in the area of Patla, and Daniel Luna, who is now instructing the young leaders in Nanacatlan, as well as taking over the growing congregation in Olintla.

 

Please continue to pray for Felipe, Silvestre, Porfirio and others who are taking leadership roles in the Totonac churches. It appears that there may be more than 1000 local groups scattered through the mountains and valleys of the Totonac Sierra. The “congregation” often is just one or two extended families, worshiping God as they listen to the weekly broadcasts, listen to the cassettes, and read the New Testament that has been delivered to them.

 

These are our Totonac brothers and sisters in Christ.

--Dale W. Kietzman