No one said it was going to be easy...
Dr. Wes Hanson is pictured with his granddaughters, Kali and Krisi, and members of a Guatemalan village. Dr. Hanson visited three villages while on his mission trip.
Roan Mountain physician finds mission field rewarding
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* Story by Danny Blevins and Photos Contributed *
r. Wes Hanson has lived and worked in Roan Mountain for 30 years where he is the primary care doctor for countless members of the Roan Mountain community. During that time, he has helped to heal their wounds, comfort their spirits, and make a difference in many households in the community. In the summer of 2019, he decided it was time to take his act on the road and travel to Guatemala. The trip was part of a mission trip that his church had set up so Dr. Hanson decided to take his skills and medicine to the people of Guatemala where the mission trip was intended to serve. It turns out that the trip will be one that the physician will never forget. “My church, Roan Mountain First Baptist Church, decided to take a mission trip to one of the underdeveloped nations. We decided to go to
Guatemala because we saw a need for medical care and for medicines there. “We took 13 people from our church including our pastor, Geren Street, and we met four people from Alabama who went along to help. Once we got in Belize, we picked up a couple who went along to translate the language for us.” Along with being away from home and in a location where little was to be known of what to expect, one of the greatest obstacles the group had to face was how to communicate with the people in the area that the mission group was going to. Fortunately for the group, the decision to pick up the couple who served as interpreters was the most important pickup on the trip. “We discovered that though most of them speak Spanish, the Mayans of Guatemala have their own dialect so the interpreters were invaluable.” 34
