What a difference today – I was very aware of God’s grace
all day from the moment I got up till I laid back down. When we got to the ‘clinic’, chairs and
tables had already been set up, including some plastic ones Bradley had
purchased, and somehow they procured some benches. Some men had come and scrubbed the walls
where the urine smelled so terribly, so now we could smell the fresh soap they
used. The patients were waiting in an
orderly line, and Bradley had found and purchased some new scales.
Sara, my interpreter, and I both found ourselves laughing
and enjoying the patients more. We treat
almost all the patients with Albendazole, a medicine used to treat intestinal
parasites, and the kind we had is to be chewed, not swallowed whole. Thus the moms were trying to get the kids to
take the pill, and they would tell them it was candy. Then the moms would pop the medicine in their
own mouth and start chewing to demonstrate to the child that it was good – only
it wasn’t – it tastes terrible! The moms
were making these hilarious faces as they tried to control the contortion of
their mouth, and Sara and I laughed and laughed. I stopped more often to take pictures of/with
the folks and teased with the children. I met a doc on the trip to Nicaragua and was
impressed that he made a great effort to make each patient feel special, and I
wanted to emulate this. When I would look up to see the line getting longer (we
saw a little over 300 patients each day) I would remind myself of last nights
lessons – I don’t have to have all the answers or see all the patients or bear
all their burdens. There was such a
difference in my thinking and response today.
In my Bible reading this morning I read Jeremiah 31:16, Thus
saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for
thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord.
In my prayer time I had prayed and cried over these sick kids, and now
they were coming back, and it was obvious they were getting better. What a wonderful reward to see them smiling
and hearing the improvement in their lungs!
We were finished and back to the hotel around 5 pm, in time
to take a shower, eat and head to night church.
I was surprised that we were going to church because I didn’t think
there was a church in this area, but this one was a little bit of a drive. Pastor Robles preached, and although most of
it was in Spanish, I was so thankful to hear more of his testimony.
What an amazing difference between yesterday and today. Thank
you so much, Lord, for these lessons You are consistently reinforcing to me!
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