As I mentioned before, the border to Costa Rica is only
about 20 minutes from our hotel.
Evidently, Costa Rica has such stringent laws regarding bringing meds
into the country that it is not likely the MMO will ever be able to go there,
so Bradley wanted to cross the border to get his passport stamped. He figured he would never have another
opportunity to go. So, rather than our
normal 7:30 am departure time, we left around 6:30. When we got there we realized we couldn’t
drive across, but we could walk. We
started to walk over but were met by a Panamanian soldier who made us walk
around a small building, which only put us back in the same place, but
obviously that was important for some reason.
We had to cross a bridge that spanned a river, and it was in terrible
shape – missing planks, rusted out supports, and lots of things over which one
could trip and fall. But it was still
kind of exciting and fun. On the other side we met a Costa Rican soldier
who said he could not stamp our passports because the border wasn’t open yet –
it didn’t open until 8:30 am and Costa Rica is one hour behind Panama! What a disappointment! The soldier agreed to let us watch as he
raised the flag and then to take pictures with us. The Panamanian soldiers also let us take
pictures with them, and thankfully, I had tracts to give to the soldiers on
both sides of the border.
After the picture taking we walked back to Panama, got in
our van and went back to the hotel to grab our stuff and go to the clinic. The lady that ran the restaurant next to the
hotel (where we ate our breakfast each morning) came to us to thank us for
coming and for patronizing her business.
Very gracious woman. She would
give me two cups every morning – one for my yogurt and granola, and another of
hot water for my tea. When I tried to
pay, she refused. On the way to the
clinic we stopped at the banana factory (for lack of a better term) and got
some pics with the bananas hanging from the hooks on the conveyor belt. I’m sure the workers thought we were a little
crazy to want to take pictures with bananas!
Once again, when we arrived at the clinic Pastor Robles and
Mariela had the clinic set up – chairs and tables out and everyone was in an
orderly line. We knew we couldn’t stay
as long today as the other days because we were due to fly out in the afternoon
to return to Panama City. All morning we
saw patients, mostly people that wanted their blood pressure and blood sugar
checked. I got to recheck the last of my
sick kids, a little girl about 6-years-old. She was happy and bubbly, and her
lungs sounded better. I reinforced the
importance of giving all the antibiotics and then teased and tickled the girl
and took pictures. What a relief to see them all doing better! Bradley had to make a hard decision; I know
it’s his heart to see everyone and not turn anyone away, but the line was simply
too long. We quit with enough time to
let the pharmacy complete all the scripts, and Bradley gave all those we
couldn’t see baggies of vitamins and baggies of Tylenol. Pastor Robles wanted to host our team for
lunch at his house (the medical team and the team of soul winners from David,
approx. 20 people total), so we all walked across the street to eat. To my
knowledge this family is surviving on ~$600 per month, so I haven’t a clue how
he was able to afford food for all of us.
Nevertheless, it was a good chicken, rice and yucca meal with great
fellowship.
Bradley takes a collection from each team to purchase
something for the missionary with whom we are working. Our donations are strictly voluntary, but
it’s a great way to say thanks to the folks who labored beside us all
week. This time we were able to give the
Robles’ the plastic chairs we used for the clinic (which they will use for
their church services), and we were able to get them a small PA system for the
new church. They were so excited – they
had been praying for a PA system. It was
hard to say goodbye. Please don’t get me
wrong – missionaries go to the field to work and be used of God, but it’s hard
to have such an intense week of laboring together, and then suddenly saying
goodbye. I was not the one staying
behind, but I thought about what it will be like for the Robles’ as we leave
and go on our merry way, but they stay behind, maybe feeling a little lonely
and forsaken. These are the times you
draw just a little closer to the Lord and remind yourself that He never leaves
nor forsakes His own.
We went back to the hotel to shower, pack and go to the
airport. We said goodbye to the church
members going back to David, and Jeff Jones drove us to the airport and dropped
us off. He and Buzz would drive both
vans back to David with all the church members, about 5 hours. Jeff is a missionary, but Buzz is not. He is
more like a missionary helper. He
doesn’t know Spanish enough to translate, but he acted as crowd and animal
control (in every clinic there are always stray dogs coming in to check out
what’s going on), entertainer (he often did these silly little mimes to make
people laugh), evangelist (in that he was distributing tracts to everyone and
holding up signs with verses printed on them), and all around servant (he was
always helping out in some form or fashion).
When we got to the airport then came the glitch… Bradley and Byron Willis went to the counter
to check us in and found out someone had purchased the tickets for Friday
afternoon instead of Thursday. As Bradley
put it, now was the time to be fluid.
They very calmly starting making phone calls, and voila! – the Lord did
some amazing work on our behalf. The
hotel chain at which we were to stay in PC had hotels on this resort island,
Boco del Toro, not far from where we were currently located. They were willing to give us rooms at this
luxury hotel for the same rate we would pay in PC. This same island had an airport, and the airline
was willing to allow us to fly out of that airport instead of the one in Chanquinola. So, Jeff and returned to the airport for us
and drove us about an hour to a dock where we took a 40-minute boat ride to Boco
del Toro in the middle of the Caribbean!
This was amazing! In all my life,
I would never have guessed that I would spend time on an island in the
Caribbean.
I was amazed how they loaded that boat! We were able to send our medical trunks to PC
from Chanquinola on their afternoon flight, so we only had our personal
luggage, but there was still 13 of us, plus the other passengers. Two of the passengers even had bicycles. I sat next to a lady that lives on the island
and commutes on the boat to her government job.
She was interesting to talk with, and she willingly took a tract. As is so often the case, when I gave it to
her she immediately started reading it and afterward told me it was beautiful –
she wanted to share it with her co-workers.
So, I gave her four more to give to her co-workers!
When we got to the island it was obvious that most folks
were tourists. We toted our luggage a
little way before we got a taxi van and pickup to take us to the hotel where we
were greeted by bellhops that took care of our bags and gave us ice-cold
bottles of water before escorting us to our rooms. Wow!
The rooms were beautiful with very tall, cushy beds and pillows and a
view that overlooked the ocean. Of
course when you’re on an island it’s hard not to have an ocean view! The bathroom was all glass, tile and mirrors
– it even had a bidet. I took a nice,
long, hot shower before going to bed.
The Lord is so, so gracious!
For dinner we all went into town and ate at a restaurant
with which Brother Willis was familiar.
They had a fire dancer – a guy that juggled flaming torches. Dinner took so long to serve that we didn’t
have much time afterward to see the shops, but we were able to get a few
souvenirs. The shuttle got us back to
the hotel and those cushy beds!
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