Hear and Believe

By Mary and Dr. Skip

Hear And Believe chronicles the stories and experiences of Dr. Skip and his family as they traveled to Guatemala during the civil wars of the 1980s in order to provide medical assistance to rural Guatemalans who had no other access to medical care. During their stay there the family found their faith both tested and renewed as they dealt with the challenges of missionary service.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512751758

Mary

Mary and Melissa Lemke are identical twin sisters from New Hampshire who married identical twin brothers from upper Michigan. They are former critical care nurses who now enjoy their roles as stay-at-home wives and homeschooling mothers. They feel blessed to be able to share encouraging words with others.

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Copyright © 2016 Memories of Dr. Skip and Mary.

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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-5174-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5176-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5175-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016912320

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/4/2016

Contents

Chapter 1 Who Are We?

Chapter 2 Churches

Chapter 3 Pensacola 1975

Chapter 4 My First Trip To The Mountains, October 1980

Chapter 5 Second Trip, February 1981

Chapter 6 Our Third Trip Preparation, Summer 1981

Chapter 7 Trip Four, August 1982

Chapter 8 The Trip Through Mexico

Chapter 9 Language School

Chapter 10 Short Stories

Chapter 11 The Buses Of Guatemala

Chapter 12 Dog Stories

Chapter 13 Ywam

Chapter 14 Infant Mortality

Chapter 15 So Long, Old Friend

Hear and Believe

Memories of Dr. Skip and Mary

I am eighty years old now, and along with my wife, Mary, have begun to think about our lives and our faith walk with God. We are thankful to Mack and Peggy McKeown, whom we met in Bible college, for including us in their dream and their ministry. They laid a firm foundation thirty five years ago, and the ministry continues to grow today. God used us in the early part of that ministry. The medical branch of their program, which was begun by us, is now run by Guatemalan physicians and is thriving. Brother Mack died in 1990, and Globe Missionary Evangelism asked Ron and Pat Kelly to continue the ministry. Under their leadership it has now expanded to Living Water International with programs in Egypt and Albania, as well as Guatemala, the primary site. We have tried to include in this book some things serious, some things funny, and some things hazardous that we encountered. We treated hundreds of people in the time we were there, but this is not intended to be a treatise on tropical medicine or a theological dissertation. There are men far more qualified than I to write about those subjects. Neither is it intended to be totally autobiographical. I will simply tell you how God used us to help start this ministry and how we were influenced by the dedication and devotion of Mack and Peggy. These pages were written by Skip and Mary, and neither claim to be a professional writers. Some chapters were written by one and some by the other, but most of the pages were written together. We just want to tell what it was like for us to hear and believe the Word of God.

CHAPTER 1

Who Are We?

I had dated in high school, college, and medical school but could never find the right girl for me. After one unhappy relationship in medical school, I had problems academically, emotionally, and financially. I prayed for God to choose a compatible woman for me to marry—and waited.

I talked to a physician who had spent two years as a medical missionary. I prayed to God and said that if He got me through medical school, I would serve two years as a missionary. I worked in the summer at my hometown hospital to earn money for school. My senior year, I worked at the blind school in Little Rock for room and board. I was able to get a loan for my last year of school.

Mary’s Choice

In high school I was quiet and shy, and I didn’t date. My dad had a stroke and died when I was thirteen. He left the family without much to live on. I earned my own money for clothes and spending money by babysitting. I wanted to be a teacher, but my mother sent me to x-ray school in Memphis because graduation required only two years. I made good friends there but still did not date much and was thinking I would not marry. I was a good student and was offered a job at the hospital where I trained. My family expected me to come home and take care of my mother, who needed financial help. After graduation I came home and talked to our hospital administrator about the possibility of working there. He did not have a job available. I left his office and went home. The job offer at Memphis looked as if it would be the best thing for me.

Even before I really knew Him, God was working in my life. Soon after I arrived home, the telephone rang. It was the hospital administrator. He said, Mary, a strange thing just happened. Right after you left my office, one of the technicians resigned. She is getting married and moving away. The job is yours if you want it. I took the job.

Later that summer, Skip, who’s six years older, and I began dating. Several months later, he proposed to me, and that is when I told him this story. Part of the procedure for employment was to have blood tests done. When I walked into the laboratory for this procedure, I looked across the room, where Skip was doing a series of urinalyses, and these words came into my mind: You are going to marry him. We married on June 27, 1964, after his graduation from medical school. Nine months and three days later, Beth, our first child, was born. After Skip’s internship and three years in the air force, we returned to southeast Arkansas to begin a family practice. Our second child, Justin, was born March 21, 1969. We have been married fifty-one years, and we have been happy with each other. God continues to bless us and our children.

The Two of Us in 1975

My friend Jim Bennett was an Assembly of God pastor. He later became a missionary to the Middle East. I talked to him about my desire to go to Bible college. Mary and I had discussed it and were not sure it was what we should do. After all, I had a good medical practice in my hometown. Jim’s only advice was to follow to the leading of the Lord. He gave me a card he received in the mail. He had read it and thrown it away. When he tried to empty the wastebasket, the card would not come out. It was lightly stuck to the bottom of the basket. God did not want me to throw this away, he said. He then gave me this quote from Oswald J Smith: "I have seen the vision and for self I