Creating Smiles,
Improving Lives

(Story by Lauren Holcomb and Photography by Leslie Spencer)   The 2016 Guatemala mission is coming to an end today with our last day of surgeries. The most exciting part of all the work that we do here is giving a baby or child back to the mother after the...

(Story by Lauren Holcomb and Photography by Leslie Spencer)   It’s the afternoon of day three, the sun is shining after a rainy morning and we’re starting the last surgeries of the day. The past two evenings have ended after 7pm, which makes for a long 12-hour...

(Story by Lauren Holcomb and Photography by Leslie Spencer)   Day two of surgery is coming to a close and I can’t stop thinking about my morning that started off in the operating room. I stepped in just in time to watch Dr. Crawford finish up stitches on the...

(Story by Lauren Holcomb and Photography by Leslie Spencer)   The sun was barely up this morning when we loaded the vans and left for the hospital at 6:30 for the first day of surgeries. It’s easy to forget what day it is here, but we quickly figured out that it...

(Story by Lauren Holcomb and Photography by Leslie Spencer)   The 2016 Guatemala Mission has officially kicked off with triage day! Four vans with almost 40 volunteers left our hotel at 6:45am today and headed to the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center. My head is...

(Story by Hannah Reed and Photography by Ellie Falcao) We first met Kevin on Sunday—Triage Day at the hospital.  It was late afternoon at about 4:30pm. The rain was rushing down and the sky went from being bright and sunny to dark and overcast. There were still some...

(Story by Hannah Reed and Photography by Ellie Falcao)   I’m sitting outside the hospital on a curb close to the entrance with one of our team’s translators, Marco, and his wife Daniella. The sky is sunny and the air is humid, yet there is a cool breeze under the...

( Story by Hannah Reed & Photography by Ellie Falcao) I ended my day at the hospital looking out over the city of San Salvador from a window on the 5th floor. The sun was setting over the city, the birds were singing, and my mind was whirling. Each time I...

(Story by Hannah Reed and Photography by Ellie Falcao)   The five o’clock alarm this morning was a bit shocking, nonetheless I’m so thankful for the mug of strong coffee at breakfast I was able to gulp down. At 6am sharp the first half of our group loads the bus...

(Story by Hannah Reed and Photography by Ellie Falcao)   Today was triage day at the hospital—very emotional and hectic for everyone. The doctors and team decided which children and adults were candidates for surgery based on their age, need, state of health, and...