WOW! What a week!
I have not had the varied experiences of others in our group because I have been working in the medical clinic all week. But I have so enjoyed our devotional time each night where we learn what the rest of our group has done that day. And the work in the clinic has been a very rewarding, and yet sombering experience. Each day we have set up a medical clinic in a location that does not usually have anything to do with medicine: twice in a church, once in a tiny three room schoolhouse, and today in a structure with 4 walls, a dirt floor and half a roof. And each time, it has worked somehow. When we arrived at today’s site, it took some imagining and pondering to figure out how in the world we could set up the two doctors, dentist, blood pressure station, deworming station and pharmacy on the rocky, uneven dirt floor in the space we had to work with. But Glenn, along with the wise and experienced Dominican folks quickly figured out a workable setup. Then, we were told that VBS, which is usually held in a nearby but separate location, would have to be held within the same 4 walls and half roof as the medical clinic! But God and His people can always make things happen, and over the next hours, 113 patients were seen (the most we’ve seen in one day all week), over 300 prescriptions were dispensed, multiple teeth were pulled, and a great Bible School was held!
This week, we have seen people struggle to get to a medical clinic, wait in both rain and blazing sun to see a doctor, and we’ve seen the relief and gratitude on their faces when they’ve received medication to ease their pain and suffering. Others in our group have seen faces light up when they taste clean water in their own home for the first time. Still others have felt the satisfaction of helping build sturdy homes for sugarcane workers in Batey 106, and a school in a desperately poor barrio. We’ve all seen the joy and excitement felt by the local children when we come to their neighborhood, whether it’s for VBS, construction, water or medical clinic. They know that we will play with them, hold them, paint their fingernails, sing with them, color with them, share snacks with them, and do our very best to share God’s love with them. We have also made new friendships with the students and their leaders from Schreiner University, as well as the interpreters, doctors, and all the staff of Casa Pastoral.
WOW! What a week!
Julie Wills
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