A Call To Leadership

EP264: Answering the Missionary Call with George and Tammy Roller

• Dr. Nate Salah

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How do you bring faith, education, and healthcare to one of the most underserved regions of Guatemala? In this episode, Dr. Nate Salah sits down with George and Tammy Roller to explore their incredible mission work, from sharing the Gospel in public schools through the Real Joy program to tackling the urgent need for better medical care. Together, they discuss the challenges, victories, and the power of faith in action. Their journey is filled with both miracles and obstacles, but their unwavering commitment keeps them moving forward. Join the conversation to hear how lives are being transformed in ways you wouldn’t expect!
 

 Key Takeaways To Listen For

  • How Real Joy is bringing the Gospel to thousands of students in Guatemala
  • Why rural communities fear medical care and how to change it
  • Personal sacrifices and unwavering commitment behind full-time mission work
  • How Bible-based programs are reshaping education in underserved schools
  • Why donors, doctors, and volunteers are vital to this mission’s success



 Resources Mentioned In This Episode



About George and Tammy Roller
George and Tammy are full-time missionaries and the founders of Send Me Ministries, dedicated to serving rural communities in Guatemala. With a deep passion for spreading the Gospel, they lead initiatives that provide Bible-based education, discipleship, medical care, and community development. Their Real Joy program brings the message of Christ to thousands of students in public schools, while their medical mission work addresses critical healthcare gaps in underserved regions. Leaving behind their careers in the U.S., George and Tammy embraced their calling to serve, relying entirely on faith and the support of donors to sustain their mission. Their work continues to transform lives, offering hope and tangible support to those in need.
 


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[00:00:00] Dr. Nate Salah
Hello, my friend, and welcome back to this episode of A Call to Leadership. If you're a returning listener, if you're new, welcome to the program. We've hosted a couple episodes with our friend, George Roller, who's one of our missions partners in Guatemala, who serves the K'iche Indians in rural areas of Guatemala and brings education to the people there to help them to sustain a better life. What an amazing ministry. And in the past, we've interviewed George, today we have a special treat. We have Tammy, his wife, alongside, and we're going to share some aspects, of course, as they update us on their progress in Guatemala, as well as the call to answering how he and Tammy became missionaries. Wonderful story and I believe it's going to be insightful and truly inspiring to those who desire that process as well as know how to contribute by prayer and by support. Can't wait for you to listen in. I'm Dr. Nate Salah. This is A Call to Leadership. George, Tammy, welcome back. Tammy, your first time. 


[00:01:18] Tammy Roller
Yes. Thank you.


[00:01:19] Dr. Nate Salah
Welcome. 


[00:01:21] Tammy Roller
Well, good to be here. 


[00:01:22] Dr. Nate Salah
All the way from Guatemala. Yes. How's the weather in Guatemala? Warmer. Yes. 


[00:01:29] George Roller
That's it's typically, you know. Maybe 65, 70 in the morning, about 80, 85 in the evening. 


[00:01:37] Dr. Nate Salah
Is that consistent? Does it ever get really cold? 


[00:01:39] George Roller
They have two seasons down there, summer and winter. And winter is maybe five, eight degrees cooler. So it's not a lot, but just a little bit. 


[00:01:49] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. Yeah. Well, are you in the mountainous region? Yes. Yes. Yes. The K'iche? Is that correct? Yes. Very good. You remember. I like that. There'll be a test at the end here. And you guys have been busy. Ministry has been busy. What's, what's new and what's happening in, in God's work and what's going on with you?


[00:02:08] George Roller
You know, God's just really given us a privilege to serve him. And one of the things that we've been working on. That's really encompassed a lot of this year has been a new ministry called Reel Joy, R E E L, Reel Joy, and it's been from the Jesus film, and, um, we have been invited into all the public schools in our county. To share the gospel of Christ. Repeat that. We have been invited into all the public schools in our county of Hoyama. And so we put together a program, and the Jesus fund help fund this. And we hired to a really incredible. Christian educators, people that worked with the kids ministry, and we started, um, in January, and this last year we just finished two weeks ago. The school, school year is February to October, so it's a little different, you know, foreign country. Things are different, and we were able to go into 53 schools and about 4900 kids heard the gospel of Christ. And we go in as sort of a vacation Bible program, we play with the kids, we hand them out snacks, we do songs about Jesus, and then we sit down, and we watch the Jesus film for kids, which is about an hour and 20 minutes, and it's basically the entire book of Luke.


[00:03:40] 
You know, Warner Brothers did the movie in 1979, and it has then been translated into their version of language, which is K'iche And so we play it in K'iche or Spanish, depending on the school. And we play this, and then we say to the kids, do you want to accept Jesus? And we've had over 4, 500 salvations this year alone. So we're on track to do all public schools in about three years. 


[00:04:11] Dr. Nate Salah
So here in the U.S. then we, first thing that comes to mind is separation of church and state. And so that does not, that's not necessarily happening there. What, what, yeah, what's the temperature with that? 


[00:04:22] Tammy Roller
One of the reasons we're able to do that is because the Guatemala schools don't really have a real formal education. The teachers don't necessarily have a formal education. Um, the condition of the church is pretty weak. And so from a public school superintendent standpoint, they invite us in because they want to hear about the values of Jesus. They want to hear about the biblical training. They want to increase the morality of the children and of the teenagers, and even of the teachers. They want that morality teaching because they want the stability that that brings.


[00:05:02] Dr. Nate Salah
Amazing. So they're making the connection. 


[00:05:05] George Roller
They're, they're making the connection. One of the things that we do through that program is provide Bible teaching, or if you're in the United States, you would use the verbiage discipleship. Okay. And so we provide some literature that has several lessons in it. And the teachers love that even though they might be Christian, they might be Catholic. They might be non-Christian. They love it because they are required by the country of Guatemala to have a reading time whereby you would read the same thing once a week. And the country schools typically have no books, which, you know, that alone would explain the educational system with a lack thereof. And in that case, uh, they use our literature like a secular teacher, a secular principal would use our literature. To use reading time because we provide books for all the kids. And so think about this for a second. This really kind of racks your brain from the U. S. standard. We have, in some cases, non-Christians teaching the kids about Jesus. Because they're going through our discipleship Bible training program as a reading, and then they, of course, fall right into the puzzles and then the questions and then the application.


[00:06:19] 
How does this affect you in your walk with the Lord? How does this affect you and how you deal with your kids and your brothers and sisters and so on and so forth? We've actually had a couple teachers, and one principal saved this year. And we've done the metrics on that, and they're oftentimes in these country schools, parents will come and watch the movie with us, or people driving by will stop and walk into the school because the school is a very community-driven thing in the countryside of where you are, and they'll walk in and just participate. Just kind of, Hey, there's a crowd over here, and there's food. I'm going to walk in and see what's going on. And they'll walk in, and they'll watch it, and then they'll give their life. Jesus. We actually had a principal give his life to the Lord during the program for kids. 


[00:07:01] Dr. Nate Salah
So someone listening is asking the question, how do you even get to that point? What's the thought process of even approaching the school system for ministry? I mean, it's, it's so foreign to think of that here in the U. S. 


[00:07:19] George Roller
Well, I, I think it has to do with the principle, you know, of the seed. Okay. So we had a, um, gentleman that was before us, before Sinme named Bill Vasey, and he served from 1968 to 2012. And during that time, he translated the entire Bible into their language. And then, of course, you know, raised up. Churches and schools and a lot of good works. His wife was heavy into medical. And so they had a large contribution to that. And so there was a nice handoff between send me and bill. And so, as we started getting more involved in the early 2010, 2012, 2014 people got to know us. Educators got to know us, teachers got to know us, school superintendents got to know us, and then when we, uh, tap the community to translate the movie into key che in 2016, that became a huge event that was almost started a revival and I've given my testimony on this broadcast before. That, that's what brought Tammy and I to go full time when we realized that we had 11 or 1200 people get saved in a two week period, and I couldn't go back to my job.


[00:08:29] 
And so, that's all been building, and now you're, now you have the movie in their indigenous language as well, Spanish, and now you have a reputation that's now going on 15 years deep, and then they say, somebody says to you, hey, could you come out to my school, we don't have any books. And do a program, and we come out and do a program, and then another school says, well, could you come out to my school and do a program? And these people are so desperate for resources for a way to educate their kids. And then you bring in a mission team from the United States and keep in mind in Hoyava, Tammy, and I are the only Americans there. So when they see American, it's like you're sort of like rock star status. And so they're like, Hey, you're going to bring 15 rock stars into my school, give us food, give us a lesson, and show a movie to many kids that have never seen a movie.


[00:09:25]
 Okay, and that's why I'll just even, and then you're going to present the gospel. I mean, like Tammy said earlier, our pitch, once we had went into been invited into a few, was to come back to the masses and say, Hey, we would like to come into like the superintendents of the 137 schools. I think there's six of them. So they're divided up, whatever that is, 20, 30 schools, a superintendent. We go into the superintendent and say, Hey, we come in, and we bring. Character traits. Do your kids need character traits? Yes, they do. Do they need to learn values? Yes. Yes, they do. And then immediately, I segue right into, well, of course, we get our character traits and our values from the word of God. And we'd like to show you a movie about that too in your language. 


[00:10:13] Tammy Roller
Well, I think in summary to your question, you know, where do you start? You start by living by example, you start by helping, you start by serving your community, and you start by earning the reputation that Jesus calls us to walk. And with that reputation, doors will open. Yeah, it's simple.


[00:10:28] Dr. Nate Salah
It's not complicated. It's just not easy. Correct. Correct. It's not. I think part of it is, Preconceived notions and expectations. We all come from middle-class America, and taking our mindset and setting it aside and just being open to God's will, that's, I think, part of the, part of the greatest challenges that we have is because it's like, you know what, we have to look at things from God's eyes and not our eyes because our eyes are so limited on what we think is possible. What are God's resources? They're unlimited. Right? That doesn't mean necessarily that they're numerical, right? That it's everything is measured by number. It's simply a matter of limitations that we self-impose. And even the story of, of how you're able to spread the gospel through education, through the educational environment. And I mean, a movie, like you think about how many movies have you seen and how these, some of these many, if not all, have never been made. I've never seen this technology before, and to be able to give a visual representation of the good news, it's got to be so impactful for. However, at the same time, I trust, and I suspect that there are still roadblocks 


[00:11:47] George Roller
that you experience. Well, there's spiritual warfare and through all that with staff, with logistics, with course, financial funding, you know, all these things are. A struggle at times, sometimes more than others. I feel personally a huge amount of responsibility. Uh, if you would be an urgency to accomplish this because you never know from a political standpoint, from a military standpoint, from, um, religious standpoint, when one of the superintendents are going to say, You didn't do a good job. Don't come to any of my schools. And then that spreads to another superintendent. And then pretty soon, the Board of Education says stop coming. I don't see that happening, but I, I feel, you know, in the spirit that things can change. And so I feel like we're a little bit of a push to get the word of God out there and to spread that seed.


[00:12:45] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah, I think a sense of urgency is, is always necessary. It's like, don't worry, don't live in anxiety. Correct. Yes. At the same time, don't tarry. Keep vigilant, keep moving, keep, keep at it. And so, and what, what are the markers of this is working from that perspective? Is it, do you, do you see real evidence and impact? Through the education in terms of the moral integrity and life's changed. 


[00:13:14] George Roller
I think that's a little hard to get from because of the girth of the program, you know, because it covers an entire county and, say, for instance, the last two showings was with the Jesus film and an organization, Christian Motorcycles Association of America, and we were 45 minutes outside is already in the sticks. So it's like going to a town that's in the sticks and then going in the country, in that town 45 minutes further. And so it's, it's hard to see that. Now we, we hear about it, but you know that community is 45 minutes outside of our community. 


[00:13:52] Dr. Nate Salah
When, when you say in the sticks for, for us listener, so the sticks would be, oh, there's an Amoco, or there's, you know, a dollar general, and that's the stick.


[00:14:01] George Roller
Well, Hoyva is the town in the County. So it's like New York, New York. So it's Hoyva Hoyva and inside Hoyva, which is maybe three-quarters mile wide by maybe three miles long, three and a half miles long. Is probably around 15, 000 people, okay, and then the county is about 150, 000 people and, uh, looking to the west, there is a large mountain range that you go up over, so it's about 20 minutes that mountain range, and then you go up from about 4500 feet to about 8000 feet. And then over and then the schools are peppered in and around on both sides of the mountain range on top of the mountain range and over the mountain range so you can easily go to the West. You can go about 2 hours and 15 minutes in a dirt road with your four wheel drive truck in four low and pulling 60 percent hills. And from that point on, there's not a single grocery store. Or gas station. So it's one of those things where you, you look at your gas tank before you leave because you got to go up and then you got to come back. Looking to the east, there's two mountain ranges that you go over. And so you go up and over the mountain ranges. And then one of them climbs up to a little bit over eight or almost 9, 000 feet. So it's secluded. There are TNS or what they call little stores where you can buy sodas and chips and maybe some stables. You know, the school. Is really kind of a central of that community, and many times the Tiana, if there is one in that area is right by the school in the old days. The Catholic church is built right in the schoolyards, so there's usually an abandoned Catholic church there, and that's kind of the center of these would be communities.


[00:15:52] Dr. Nate Salah
So Tammy, when you decide to be a full-time missionary with your husband and leave all of these comforts at home, how did those living conditions differ? And what did you miss most? 


[00:16:08] Tammy Roller
 I think the living conditions, we knew, we knew that they would be different, but, you know, it's also important to, I guess, maybe differentiate that, you know, I didn't follow George. I had been praying that we would follow the Lord. I knew that we had been called to missions for a while, and I know that you've heard George's story. Um, but during that story, you know, he had a wife that was praying, praying that he would come to a place of recognizing what his calling and what his place really was in the Lord. And so I, I did not follow, nor did I push. I was just. thankful. And, um, you know, it's a journey that you have to do together. I had to embrace everything that that required. I couldn't, I can't do it by, you know, following George. We have to be willing to say, you know, yes, uh, you alluded to that earlier, I think, in the conversation and, you know, about how do you, you know, you hear from the Lord and how do you be obedient. And it's definitely one of the hardest things, you know, I have ever done is, you know, you're praying for something, and you're praying for this and then when the day actually comes. And you realize, man, I gotta, I gotta leave a home with running water, I've gotta leave a home with hot water, I've gotta leave my family, I've gotta leave my grandkids.


[00:17:24] 
That gutted me. All of those things combined, but Jesus makes it so clear, unless you take up your cross and follow me, unless you are willing to leave behind mother, brother, and sister and follow me, you're not worthy of me. All of these things hit home. You have to decide, who do I love? Who is first in my life? And in that decision, what can you say? But yes, is we know that there is a day and this, this image is forever in front of me. I mean, I can't tell you probably how many times a day it's there, but I always imagine that there is a day of, I guess, reckoning, if you will, but there's a day that we will face Jesus. We will be in front of him. And we are going to have to answer to whether we responded to the Holy Spirit or not. And even if I'm saved, if I'm saved and I'm standing before him and he said, and he says, why didn't you go? Why didn't you listen? And I said, well, I had a job, and I had health care and I had an income as opposed to giving all that up to walking by faith. And we can only survive now by the donations of people. That goes against everything that we were raised for. We work for a living. Well, we are working, but we don't have that guaranteed check or that guaranteed income anymore. We don't get that paycheck. It's dependent 100 percent on the body of Christ supporting this work. So we are 100 percent dependent on the provision of Jesus Christ to make this move. And you can't do that by following man. It's you have to come, I have to come face to face with God every time I start to panic. I have to come, and I have to surrender, and I have to lay it down, and I have to say, Jesus, I trust you. I trust you to do this. And I get to take up the joy of the Holy Spirit in the middle of it. 


[00:19:13] Dr. Nate Salah
Amen. Amen. It reminds me of Jesus and this, these discords of all these people who he called to follow him and they had different reasons why they couldn't in the moment, right? One guy's like, I have to bury my father. And of course. You think, oh, well, that should be like pretty easy, like a day. But that wasn't the point. I believe it was like, I've got to wait for my dad to die. It wasn't like he's dead now. It was. I got to take care of my dad until he's gone. And so it's like, basically, look, I got other things to do, or, you know, I've got this to do. I've got that to do. And it's like, okay, well, when is it ideal? And that's the question, right? Is, is there ever an ideal time? To follow Jesus, right? 


[00:20:03] Tammy Roller
Yeah, I think there is. 


[00:20:05] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah, it's like, you know, the ideal time is now. It's now when you're called when you're called. Yeah. And he's always calling you, by the way. Yes, he's always calling you because ministry is not a destination. It's an orientation. It's not a place to go. It's a person to be. And he's gonna take you wherever that journey goes. In your case, it was Guatemala. Someone else's case. It might be like over the fence with their neighbor. Exactly. 


[00:20:26] Tammy Roller
Yeah. Exactly. I know when George was describing the landscape and, you know, we've talked about the, the schools and the churches, sometimes you're up there on the top of a mountain 8, 000 feet high, looking around at, you know, the lack of modern, the modern facilities in any and every way, shape or form. And you can't help but sometimes wonder, How did I get here? Why am I standing here in this moment? There's no reason for me to be here and share the gospel or be a witness to these people. There's no reason for my feet to be on this mountain, except that God put me here. 


[00:21:04] Dr. Nate Salah
There's got to be a release. You think about even in Western culture and all of the demands on our day when we are going to the office, having to I don't want to say compete, but there's so much that is called a view, even in passing when we're talking, when you had talked about just getting here back in the U.S. and seeing different vehicles on the road and all these cultural demands that really are there in some ways, they're empty, empty chases that you, you step off of that. You stepped off of that. Yes. You don't have to. There's no more. What is the Joneses? Who are the Joneses now? Right. Not that you ever have to compete. However, we live in a society where it's just. There's always the next thing that has to happen, whether it's the games or the sporting events or the TVs, or all of the different things that are just, that our day is. Revolving around and you had a hard stop on that on a mountaintop to me, it's liberating. I think about, wow, wouldn't that be nice? Of course, it comes with cost comes with cost. 


[00:22:14] George Roller
I think that's the important thing, Nate. I, and I, I do think there's some. Freedom that comes with that, I often say, you know, on the good days, which are many that like, Hey, I'm the most blessed person in the world to be standing here in this school when 150 people raised their hand to, to follow the Lord. And I know some people would say, well, they're a kid. They just heard about Jesus an hour ago. How authentic is that? Decision and, you know, as I've wrestled with that over the years being involved with kids all these years, I've all of a sudden become very peaceful about the fact that. It's a process, and then they make that decision. God determines who is accountable and who's not accountable. 


[00:22:57] Dr. Nate Salah
And Jesus said, counting me like the children, like there's a reason for that. 


[00:23:00] George Roller
You start moving that direction, and you start learning about the Lord and acting in that world. So it's, in some respects, it's just. Amazing. And then there are the days when there's no funds in the account, and you've got to pay yourself, and you have to pay your employees or pay your, your overhead. And you're going, God, do I have to live here in a foreign country? And do I have to be having back to stress, stress to financially, especially those of us that have been trained in certain areas that could make good money in the marketplace? And you're like, okay. You know, do I go back and put my foot over here? And I'm like, no, no, I don't.


[00:23:41] Dr. Nate Salah
because it's, it's, it's, and you could. I mean, in a heartbeat, you could, especially with technology, working from home. Oh yeah. And, and, and you're highly skilled. Both of you. It's gotta be, yeah, it's, it's, so it's gotta be in the back of your mind. Absolutely. How easy it would be. 


[00:23:56] Tammy Roller
Absolutely. But it's a divided focus. Yeah. And we can't do that. 


[00:24:02] George Roller
You have to stay focused on our calling. Yeah, we've, we've seen and heard of missionaries and people that wrestled with these same challenges and they stepped off. They're like, I'm just going to do this same part-time, you know, I'll just do this. And you can just watch their effectiveness start to. The dwindle they, you know, it's back to the, the world's answer to things kind of like you were talking about sort of the rat race of, of life. And so I know there's a balance in there. I know there's a balance when I was back here in the States living and serving God and, and taking care of my family and, and like you said, participating in all the things that. You need to, and the norm, you know, cars mowing your yard, you know, those type of things, but, uh, walking with God, there's some respects of that. It is easier because you're like, you're all in. Yeah. I jumped, and I'm still falling. 


[00:24:55] Dr. Nate Salah
You're, it reminds me of Jesus himself. Of course, we know that he had, he was, he was a tradesman, uh, in terms of his abilities. We often say carpenter, but I think the, the, the original, the Greek is tekton, which would mean artisan. So he certainly could have been a Mason. Nonetheless, he could have been like the same thing, said, you know, I think I'm just going to go make some cash. Yeah, all this healing stuff and this ministry stuff, and it's a hard job. 


[00:25:26] George Roller
Or, or here's the one I like, if I go make some more money, I'll be able to give more. Yeah. How much, how many times has that happened, but yeah. 


[00:25:34] Dr. Nate Salah
However, he, he completely, uh, was obedient to like, as you said, as the calling. And, and the cause, you know, is the cause worthy enough and it got you there and someone listening, where is that cause for you even rewinding a bit because, you know, you didn't start with full-time ministry, at least on mission in Guatemala, it was process, it took time. And I think that's important to distinguish that things don't always happen in an instant, and you have to be patient with the Lord and timing for that. However, at the same time, when He is calling, and you make the decision, stick with it. 


[00:26:21] Tammy Roller
That's one of the things we used to say when we were just beginning or, you know, we were building homes for widows, and that was as far as our vision was. The important thing is, is that you follow God on that next thing. You know, we're here. We never expected to be here. We never expected to have so many different arms of ministry or be so integrated into the community. We just thought we were doing some good works, bringing a few people to the Lord, showing the love of Christ. But, you know, what God did was he took us piece by piece, step by step, with what we were ready to handle. And with what we could do. And as we were faithful with that next step, God just added to it. He added to it much faster than we would, as we look back, we see that God has added to it actually pretty fast, even though the processes at times felt really slow and agonizing. It's actually, the growth has been pretty incredible and it's all by God's hand. 


[00:27:19] George Roller
It's, I think, I think it's interesting, Nate, that you point that out because if you look at it, what did our savior do from the time he was you know, 16 or 17 to the time he was 30. So there's 12 or 13 years there that we don't have a lot of recorded details about, other than, than he was doing some type of vocational thing and, and no doubt studying the scriptures. So if, if our Lord and Savior took some preparation time, some natural maturity, I, I don't, Pretend to know what, what would cause that. But I look at the Bible a lot, and I look at patterns. I don't make a theology about it, but I just say, here's a pattern. The Lord was in the ministry for three years, and he was 30 years old. You know, cause people say to me, I can't believe. You know that you're doing all this, and now you're in your sixties, and I'm like, I don't know, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now. 


[00:28:19] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah, well, and that's, I don't see, I don't see retirement anywhere in scripture. I don't see the word retirement. I don't see it being a. We use the term because there's vocation that we, we want to stop doing. Most people don't want to have the same vocation, granted, if you're, say, an entrepreneur, and you love what you do and you, et cetera, et cetera, but most jobs, let's just say, there's a shelf life on it, like, you know, there's a time where I can't wait to X, Y, and Z, and when it comes to doing God's work like there's no, there's, there's, there's no end to it. Like, there's no place where you're collecting seashells and just sitting on the beach waiting for the last sunset. Like I want to blaze in the heaven. I want to, I want to like, I want to be literally like the last moments of my life are doing his work. And it's not because I want to impress the world. It's simply because I, you know, there's one, I think. For all, for all Christians, there's one phrase that when you meet Jesus, it's more important than any other phrase, and you know what it is. It's well done, good and faithful servant. Did you multiply? Did you increase what you were entrusted with? The numbers don't matter, right?


[00:29:37]
 The numbers are irrelevant. It's the labor. It's the effort, and don't bury my gifts. Don't think that I am a mean taskmaster. I just want to provide you with the pathway to make my name known. Do that. And guess what you'll get. You get to die with, I mean, who doesn't want to be at that table, right?


[00:30:03] Tammy Roller
I think, as you're talking about that, you know, the, as I mentioned, the image I always have of, you know, answering to the Lord. Only thing that I personally want is to see, the joy of Jesus. You know, for example, as we know, there is nothing in this world we can take with us. That's right. Not a thing. But guess what we can take with us? People. Our family. That's right. The people we love or the people that God endears us to. People. And people are at the center of God's heart. And if we're after God's business, then when we're in front of Him, to have an opportunity to bring Him joy at something for something that we've done. Is that's just, yeah, it's everything. It's everything. 


[00:30:53] George Roller
Amen. 


[00:30:55] Dr. Nate Salah
So you're, so you're busy at work down there with the schools. Did the, uh, update us on anything with the medical work? Because last time we spoke, it was a real, real challenge with just the state of. Of how things are done medically, and we'll make sure in the show. Now it's the last episode when you spoke about that, because you gave such a vivid understanding of just how despairing some of the medical practices are.


[00:31:24] George Roller
Well, absolutely. Nate, that's probably been our second most focused this year. So just a little bit of history. So. It was during COVID that, um, that I had asked God what we should do next in Guatemala, and we were looking specifically at three items, a school or an orphanage or a clinic slash hospital, and in about a two-year period. Almost mirroring COVID because we couldn't do a lot of things outside the area. We did a, let's just call it a, a large case study on the needs in which I talked about in the previous podcast. And so during that process, it came around that medical was that need. And so then I felt that the Lord said to me to build a hospital. It was a little overwhelming. It, I felt kinda like Noah, you know, it's just like, you know, walk out in the forest and build me an arc. And it's interesting that some people believe that Noah's first action was to plant the trees. I think there's 125 year different from the voice of God to the rain. 


[00:32:29]
 Yeah. So you think about that, there's probably a good sermon series there. Yeah, it is, you know, but for us, from that point in time, which was, I think, 2021, when that. Kind of happened for us. I just decided by faith I'm going to declare we need to build a hospital. The need was there, like we talked about previously. And during that time, uh, God has laid it on the heart of the local community leader, the mayor, to give us some property. Which I mentioned, and then a donor came along and gave us money to buy a medical bus, and the strategy has been that, um, there is a, not that we're talking negative, but just the realities is that there's a huge reputation problem with medical in the Guatemala area, specifically with the national hospital. And so the indigenous just pretty much decided to stay home. They'd like, I'm going to stay home and die with dignity. That's their mantra. I'm going to die with dignity. And so, in the process, there's a lack of trust, and there's a lack of trust in the medical system. And unfortunately, for the most part, we've seen firsthand that, that, that is real, that is real.


[00:33:37] Dr. Nate Salah
And, and, and, and I mean, we're talking organ harvesting and we've heard some of that.


[00:33:41] George Roller
Mostly it's, it's like they, the, the 12 and 14-year-old girls that are pregnant, which is very common over there, you know, uh, get their tubes tied without them at being asked. Because the doctors view the K'iche Indians as like a dog or a cat. So like, if you got a stray cat, it gave birth, you just tie its tubes. So, it doesn't make a mess. 


[00:34:04] Dr. Nate Salah
We're talking spade New York-type thing. Exactly. That's the mindset. Well, horrific. 


[00:34:08] George Roller
And, and so consent without. Oh, absolutely. Without consent. And then it's mostly because of that racism between the Spanish and the key chain. Okay. Um, and remember the key chain didn't have a written language until my, my friend, missionary bill. They see, actually create the alphabet, and then yeah. Converted to language, and that was in the 70,s and then in the 80s came the New Testament, and the year 2009 came the full Bible. So this is a relatively new society that's and that's why the translation to the Jesus film is so huge. It's on the heels of the Bible, but to the point of the medical. So we got this bus. It's been about a year and a half ago, and during this period of tim,e we've been raising money, and we've been remodeling it. So it's about 20-year-old bus. That was a dental bus, so it was completely, it had all the good, what they call good bones, you know, had a good generator, it had water, air, and so in the last year and a half, we've completely went through it without going into details, floor, ceiling, walls, electrical, mechanical, compressors, everything.


[00:35:13]
 So it is basically a mobile hospital, and it's getting wrapped next week around here, and then we're shipping it down here within about five weeks. To Guatemala, um, starting about a month later after its arrival in March, we're holding a missions medical month in March, where we're bringing down two teams from different churches that bring medical doctors, one is both had surgeons and also triage doctors and RNs and some dental workers are going to use this bus on our property. To assist those and to start working now, I am, I am just really thrilled that I feel like I have all the pieces to affect change now. I don't have a hospital, and I don't have a staff in the hospital, but I have a mobile bus. It's rather big. It's 40 ft long. It's, you know, 8. 5 ft wide, you know, it's got four rooms in it. It's gonna have an x-ray, an ultrasound, a dental chair, a full-blown, operating table, and all the things that come with that. We just received another donation for dental and medical procedures for triage, and we just unloaded last night 18 boxes in our living room of all the Danes, toothbrushes, floss, fillings, a little cases that you like, you can give kids, you know, fillings or, you know, crowns or whatever.


[00:36:35]
 And so this is real exciting for me. And so we're going to be able to start this, uh, right by right away. I'm saying within four months, we'll be using the bus in Guatemala, Lord willing, it comes down safely. And makes it up to what you all say fleet. And so this is just super exciting for us. And as far as the hospital goes, I really, I don't know the mind of God and I've learned a long time ago not to put a time frame because I'm sure Moses or Moses. I'm sure Noah didn't think this could be 125 years. You know, when he started that, you know, maybe he knew, I don't know, but God didn't tell me on the hospital. So I feel like I've got everything to affect change. So we're going to use what we have.  


[00:37:21] Dr. Nate Salah
Tammy, I want to ask you a question around this. Rewind to when you were praying for your husband to this bus. What kind of feelings does that give you from that time to today and seeing God's hand? In this ministry. 


[00:37:38] Tammy Roller
Oh, just awe. Yeah. Just in awe. You know, God does tell us, you know, in his word that he has more for us than we could ever think or imagine. And this was never on my drawing board. I mean, I didn't have any plans other than knowing that we were called to go, but I didn't even know where we were going to be going to at first. So, when God opened up Guatemala, I never had a heart for Guatemala. I mean. 


[00:38:03] Dr. Nate Salah
Did you even like Mexican food? No. Or Latin food, I should say. 


[00:38:08] Tammy Roller
Honestly, I didn't. I didn't like, I didn't like Mexican food growing up. And I grew up in Southern California. I had every opportunity to learn Spanish, but I didn't want Spanish. I wanted a pretty language, so I took two years of French. And I was not in, in that level. Prepared in any way, shape, or form for God to break my heart for Guatemala. But when George was ready, God broke my heart for Guatemala. 


[00:38:33] Dr. Nate Salah
And here you are. 


[00:38:34] Tammy Roller
And here we are. 


[00:38:37] Dr. Nate Salah
So as you, as you continue to move forward, what does 2025 look like for what God is, what God is orchestrating? What do, what do you see? 


[00:38:48] Tammy Roller
I, what I see, I'm going to metaphorically compare it to taking the promised land. Uh, we've got the mobile clinic it's coming, and everything is brand new. I'm Um, we're going to be forging new territory in every way from needing to create, uh, medical systems and documents and records and hiring employees and establishing processes and coordinating the volunteers. I mean, it's just, it's a whole new ballgame and I don't really know what that looks like. 


[00:39:16] Dr. Nate Salah
You just know that we're doing it. That's it. That's it. Amen to that. George, you're a, you're a systems guy. Is there even a system for this? 


[00:39:30] George Roller
You know, I, I think I'll find out, I, I've, been having several conversations with some of the doctors that have really come alongside us as a ministry, and there's, um, of course, when you get that kind of brain power in a room, it challenges you, you know, and, uh, some of the doctors have already had mission experience, so they've operated and done mission work in places like Haiti and, Thailand and, you know, all around and, um, so some of the thoughts just, just entertain some of the system ideas is that, you know, when you have a surgeon. You know, you're going to need a two containers of this type of stuff, you know, like if you're doing, you know, are you doing appendicitis is, are you doing, you know, um, hernias? Are you doing cleft palate? You know, you know, what are you doing? And then you would have a certain amount of surgeries that you'd have supplies for. So there's the system that comes into it. I think some of the things that is on Tammy and I's mind the most is a health care system because, again, not, not to be negative, but just the reality that there's no records kept at the National Hospital. So if you come in three times a year with a stomach infection, nobody ever says, I think we need to look deeper because there's a chronic problem going on here. They just deal with the surface. So one of the things we feel like because we believe that. We believe in excellence, you know, and we believe that God can give us the strength and the technology to provide good health care. And so to do that, another one of the systems is going to be developing from scratch a medical system that encompasses each patient.


[00:41:16]
 And each patient's, you know, you know, legal records, their, their date of birth, their driver's license, or the equivalent, Guatemala's equivalent, then, then you can document each time they come in. And so you can build upon that, you can attach x rays and, and prescriptions to that, because we're already doing that with our special needs ministry, which is 82. So, 82, we have 82, you know,  if you would be medical records, which sounds very simple, but this is a huge deal, and nobody else has it in our area. So we have, we have a half an inch binder or half an inch folder on every one of our special needs kids, you know, for instance, the two that get prosthetics are getting their fourth prosthetic because you grow and then you need a bigger like, you know, the people that have spinal biff, you know, the people that have, um, uh, the, have all the what's the word I'm looking for there when they break down and they have a seizure. Sorry, they have seizure medicine. They got a monitor that really close to. So they're doing brain scans and x-rays. And so, to be able to do that, not just for the 82 kids in our special needs ministry, but for the 


[00:42:28] Tammy Roller
Well, we're doing everything by paper. And so, what we need to do with this clinic is we need to build, we need an electronic system where we can have, you know, iPad type of thing that we can actually, you know, make a record for the patient that has all of their information. Whether we're taking them to Guatemala City or whether they're getting care at the bus, we need to. We need a patient-level programs because there are no centralized systems. So we need to create that, and we need to do it electronically, or we won't keep up. 


[00:42:55] Dr. Nate Salah
Absolutely. So I'm, I'm, I'm seeing logistics. I'm also seeing even changing the, the, the, the mindset and the perspective of people, because if I'm a person living in that community. And I don't trust the medical system. I'm not going to trust you either. Exactly. That there's a consistent Results that others in the community are saying, Hey, these guys are legit. They're the real deal. They're, they're anti, um, doing things the wrong way. So it sounds like, you know, that's part of the, the challenge to overcome. And of course, I, I suspect not only, um, prayer first, but resources, financial resources, and so tell, tell, tell our, our, our listener, you know, what, what do you need?


[00:43:40] George Roller
Well, what we need is we just need donors to come beside us, really two things, donors, and then those that would be in the medical field, literally almost any area of medical. I mean, I'm talking a medical doctor. You know, especially, an internist, a surgeon, a stomach doctor, OBGYN doctor, nurses, absolutely, nutritionist, psych, bsolutely. Trauma would be my number one need is someone to help us deal with the, the, the trauma. I think I said nutritionist, but that, that's a, that'd be way up on the list, right with a surgeon. And then I think I said dental. Those are some things, so, so dollars, well, just to put a number to it, you know, this year, this year being, I guess in 2025, a few months, few weeks to go here, uh, you know, if we had an extra 50 or 100,000 to be able to, to develop inventory and develop the system right out of the box, what a powerful place this would look like three years from now.


[00:44:52] 
You know, when we go from, you know, 82 paper copies of a patient file to 5, 6, 7, 8, 000 electronic copies with x-rays to the point where we have systems where when a surgeon comes down and says, well, we know there's going to be 10 of these surgeries and five of these surgeries and we can actually just go out and, and buy those product. You know, one of the surgeons had said to him that, you know, every time he would operate in his hometown, they would pull these. You know, storage containers out of his tools and then, of course, you know, clean them up and sanitize them and stuff. So just having that, you know, if we have a dentist down, we need to have 25 tools sanitized ready for him. 


[00:45:33] Tammy Roller
I  think we're looking for, I mean, not just the immediate needs that George is mentioning, but I think we're also looking for. The funding, those donors, you know, monthly donors or, you know, we're looking, we're starting to try to figure out how do we look for grants because what we want is we want to establish the program in longevity. We don't want to do just a project. Hey, here's a medical missions month. We have an entire community that needs all of these resources. They need them consistently. And in order to do that, we really need to, in all honesty, we probably need to create a fund. Um, that we can draw from so that, you know, the money is there to pay your salaries, to pay your surgeons, to buy these materials. So we are, you know, that's, that's exactly what we need. I believe that's how Billy Graham built his ministry. 


[00:46:19] George Roller
Yeah. And it was pretty successful. I think, I think it was 1 for endowment, 1 for construction. Yeah. You know, um, so, so to be specific to your question, probably 50 to a hundred thousand. In 2025 just to kind of get this thing up out of the water. Yeah. As far as looking forward to the hospital, the last quote I had was just a little bit under 2 million to build a four-story 20, 25,000-square-foot hospital. About 2 million for an endowment and about another seven 50 for, you know, you know, desk and x-ray machines. 5 million. I get you. 5 million get you, get you rolling and, and that 5 million is not a one-and-done that is building it. Yep. And using the 2 million endowment to pay the salaries of, say, 10, you know, uh, medical people. So you're looking at probably. Divide that out for me really quick, Nate, and say, if you have 5, 000 people a year, what's that service costing over a 20-year period? Probably, when I've done the math, it's less than 5 a visit. And that's whether you're doing a surgery or just a head cold. 


[00:47:26] Dr. Nate Salah
And just to put into perspective for us here who's listening in the United States, of course, people are listening all over the world. However, most of our listeners. Can walk into any clinic can walk into any hospital, and their area receive medical care that is quality that that is, that is trusted. You're providing that where there is none. 


[00:47:49] Tammy Roller
Yes. I would like to on that just very quickly give you one, maybe two very quick illustrative stories of what of what is common in the area. A good friend of mine in January, um, her daughter was complaining of pain, uh, pretty severely, so she took her to the hospital. They waited, they did some tests, and the hospital said that she needed to have a basically a urinary test and the hospital didn't have the cup. And so she had to call her husband to go to a local pharmacy to buy the cup so her daughter could have a exam, have the urinary test taken. They did it. Everything came back okay. They told her it was gastritis, and they sent her home. And my friend was like, something isn't right. So she drove him to a hospital, had his better reputation, about an hour and a half, two hours away. And they immediately felt her and said, she has appendicitis. And they did immediate surgery.


[00:48:45] 
This girl is 10 years old. They did surgery immediately because her appendix had already ruptured. And it was seeping. And had my friend not had the presence of mind. To go to this other hospital and have an examination. She would have lost. I would. We would have lost that little girl. And that is very common. There's I, you can call it misdiagnosis, but it's it's so much more severe than that. There was just no, you know, what can I say? It's absolutely. And the, the other is happened to our own employee, we had a, we had a reward day for one of our, our kids. We were doing this program and at the end of the school year, um, those who had improved their grades, we took them to the zoo, their first experience at the zoo. And one of our employees was accompanying her and, um, she got off the bus that night and she got off the bus for the final, all the kids were dropped off. She collapsed. She couldn't breathe. I mean, we all of everyone was sent into action. She could not breathe. She had an inhaler. She had asthma. The inhaler wasn't working.


[00:49:46]
 George put her in the truck. We drove her to the hospital and the hospital said, there's nothing, there's nothing wrong with her. See if, if it was asthma, this inhaler would be working. And so they, there's nothing wrong with her. And so she's struggling to catch her breath. And, um, it looked so serious, just very scary when you're watching someone who can't breathe. And they said, Oh, there's nothing wrong. So as she's in the hospital, not being able to breathe, one of the other patients came along. I wasn't in the room, but they told George and, uh, they said, you need to get her out of here because they've just called the psychiatric hospital to come get her because they think she's making this up, and it's all in her head. And so this is our employee who is not having a psychotic breakdown. And so we pulled her out of the hospital as quickly as we can. We honestly think it was all because she has asthma and she was dehydrated. So she did recover. We got fluids down her, but you can see that the hospital is of little to no value, which is scary, which is very scary. 


[00:50:48] George Roller
Located where we're at, where you have a, a group of 150, 000 people that are at closest an hour and a half, really more like four hours from medical care.


[00:50:58] Tammy Roller
We have many other horror stories. 


[00:50:59] George Roller
It's actually worse than not having a hospital at all. Yeah. I think about it in some ways, because at least if you had a medical condition, you would head towards somewhere where if you lived, you're going to get care, whereas here you're kind of, it's almost like a fake move. You're in there and, you know, and, you know, of course, some things are handled there, you know, if something needs to be sewed up or something or a break or something, but we just can't wrap our heads around how ineffective the diagnostic. process is. Hence the need. Hence the need. How can people find you? Well, they can, they can go on the web. sendme.org., sendme.org. or YouTube channel. YouTube channel at Sendme Guatemala. 


[00:51:43] Tammy Roller
Sendme.org, yeah. Yeah. 


[00:51:44] George Roller
Sendme, Guatemala. And so, Facebook page is. Facebook page. 


[00:51:49] Tammy Roller
Sendme org. 


[00:51:51] Dr. Nate Salah
So, wonderful. And, and prayer is always welcome. 


[00:51:57] George Roller
Absolutely. Nothing happens without it. As you know, Nate, nothing happens without it.


[00:52:00] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, we appreciate you. We appreciate your ministry, appreciate sharing the wonderful things you're doing and the wonderful things that God has in store for you that will ripple through both sides of eternity. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having us. It's a pleasure. Well, my friend, we did it again. I'm so glad you joined me on this episode of A Call to Leadership. If you've been with me on the show, listening in, you'll know this, but if you're new, you may not know that I created a free course for you, that you don't need to provide an email address. You don't need to go anywhere but to stay right here in the podcast. I created the very first six episodes of the podcast because I wanted you to have the kind of value that you need to take advantage of to thrive as a leader. Be happy. If you haven't done that yet, listen to episodes one through six, and I'll see you on the next episode. I'm Dr. Nate Salah, and this is A Call to Leadership.

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