Changing smiles, changing lives

In Guatemala, Jay doesn't have the kind of access to dental labs that he had in Idaho, but that doesn't stop him from trying his best to give patients great smiles by using materials that are available.

Before

After
(Jay used composite to
restore these teeth)

Leaders of our church work hard to teach young missionaries to dress professionally. In addition to clean white shirts or modest dresses, perhaps the most important thing an elder or sister can wear is a welcoming smile.

Before

After

Good luck on your mission..

Some of our patients are young men who are orphans. Others are students who come from families who live in extreme poverty. Often, these patients enter the clinic with closed mouths or hands covering rotting teeth. When these young people look in the mirror after Jay has completed their dentistry, they smile in disbelief and giggle with excitement. We like to think that having a healthy confident smile may even help these young people in the future as they try to find jobs in Guatemala's difficult labor market.

Before

After

Glad we can help.

Making a difference in oral health can make a difference in lives.

Pick-ups

After church one Sunday, Jay told me about an announcement that our branch president had made. I was positively giddy. Wow!  I thought, I can sleep in! No more leaving our apartment at 7:30 every Sunday Morning!

Jay explained to me that our mission president had instructed President Monteroso to shorten our Sunday meetings from three hours to only two hours. (This was months before this same switch would be announced to the rest of the church.)

Just two hours! Yea!  My giddiness, however, was fleeting.

Jay went on to explain to me that when the members of our branch had heard that sacrament would not start until 10 o'clock, their thoughts were different than mine. 

"What are we going to do with that extra hour?" they asked.

They quickly devised a plan: everyone would continue to meet at the the church at 9 o'clock as usual, then we would spend the next hour inviting less active members to join us. A few of the members had cell phones. These members would call any less active members who also had cell phones. The rest of us would invite people in person. The young women would invite young women. Young men would invite young men. Primary kids would invite their friends; and adults would invite adults.

Because there were only two cars in our branch (President Monteroso's pick-up and our Rav-4), Jay volunteered to drive people around so that they could ask their friends to come to church. After that, and for the rest of our mission, we drove members around Pueblo Nuevo Vinas starting at 9 o'clock each Sunday morning. Often, (especially with the youth) members woke up their sleeping friends. We would give them time to get ready. Then we would return just before 10 o'clock to give them rides to church.

With this improvised "program," the attendance in sacrament meeting grew from the 25-45 members who had been coming, to 50-70 members who regularly attended. To see this kind of growth in our sweet little branch made both Jay and I feel positively giddy!

"All aboard! Lets go invite some friends!"

While we drove, the young elders walked.

(The home of one of our member families)
"We're here to take you to church."

"Sure. There's always room for one more."

Some friends walked to church together.