It’s my custom to get up early, and as I mentioned before,
the birds were good to help me follow this custom! I always find it a bit humbling to have my
prayer and Bible time in the presence of others, but given that there really
wasn’t any place private I didn’t have a lot of choice. I remember reading the biography of J.O.
Frazier, a missionary to China several decades ago, and when he would stay with
Chinese families he said they watched every
thing he did, so he would rise at 2 or 3 am to have privacy with the Lord.
So, after breakfast, we headed to Condega on the bus. I think all of us were more awake and
appreciative of the scenery – lots of picture taking. The church was quiet on our arrival, and as
is Bradley’s custom, we had a short devotional each morning. This morning he spoke about Jesus’
compassion, and immediately I started fighting tears. I lost, and they ran freely. :} Of
late I have been acutely aware of my need to cast off the old man – not just
the ungodly acts listed in the Bible, but even my “filthy righteousness’”. My human love, at its best, is still tainted
with selfishness and self-interest. It’s
been my prayer that the Lord would truly give me His love for others. I remember in Haiti that I was overwhelmed
with the numbers of patients that we would see.
As I read the book of Mark that week I underlined all the times that
mentioned ‘many’, ‘multitude’, ‘much’ or any other reference to the fact that
Jesus ministered to very large crowds on several occasions. Oh for the compassion that moved my Savior to
tears!
After devotions, we set up registration, triage (where
weights, vital signs and the chief complaint were taken), our provider
stations, the evangelization area, the ‘pharmacy’ and the dispensing area
(where meds and the instructions were given to the patients). We were then introduced to more translators –
folks from the local area that weren’t necessarily associated with the
church. This is when I met Nola, and
boy, did the Lord bless me. Nola knows
everyone in the entire area and in many of the surrounding areas. The kids just love her because she gives out
stickers and such. While a few of the
translators really did not know English well, Nola had no problem, and often
times the others would come to her for Spanish medical words. The beginning of the morning was somewhat
quiet, and the way our conversation went led easily to presenting the gospel to
Nola. She had attended a Baptist church
in GA years ago and had some type of emotional experience and then was
baptized. I was concerned, however,
because she couldn’t really explain what all that meant to her. I wondered if she were just being polite in
listening to me.
Several times throughout the day I found myself very joyful
and thanking the Lord for allowing me to be in Nicaragua. I would have never dreamed I’d being doing
this! There was a wonderful spirit
amongst the team, which was one of my main prayer requests before we left. Joyce, one of my roomies, was stung by a bee –
to which she is severely allergic!
Kelleigh jumped in and treated her quickly, but I was shocked to see her
continue to serve. The meds she got
should have made her very drowsy and the strong reaction would have exhausted
most folks, but she just kept serving.
Over 300 patients were treated that first day, but it’s hard to know the
total of those saved because several people were working off and on throughout
the day in the evangelism area.
No comments:
Post a Comment