Once again the morning dawned bright and early. Birds were singing, the sun was shining brightly, and we were especially happy, because the bus started promptly this morning! We ate a breakfast of cereal and fresh fruit. Darrell reminded us to watch for the friends that bring persons to the clinics, because they might need a smile or encouraging word, too.
So, we were on the road by about 8:30 (even though our goal was 8:00). We travelled in a different direction this morning, going to a community known as Las Quebrasas. Had we been in Tennessee, I would have said we went to the “holler”. We were deep in the mountains following a road that lead us to wonder if the bus would make the hairpin turns or not.
As we pulled into the community, we noticed a large number of heavy machinery trucks. Not sure what that was all about, but they were definitely the “unexpected” in the tiny place.
A small crowd was waiting for us as we pulled up to the school. For a moment it was a little disappointing. At the other clinics there have been easily 200 persons waiting for us. Here, it was probably only about 75.
Once again, our set up was in a school so that we had separate spaces for dental, medical and pharmacy. At first furniture (tables and chairs) seemed hard to come by, but our contact from the village miraculously made them appear!
After the day was done (at about 2:45!) we all reflected that though the crowd was smaller than previous days (we saw about 335 patients), we all agreed that this group of persons needed our care more than our previous clinics. There was a higher level of general sickness (lethargy, infections, etc), and some more serious injuries/sickness that we were able to treat.
Sometimes, at the other clinics, we were not convinced that the persons who received the food were truly in need of the help. However, here we were confident the 800 lbs of food distributed was properly placed.
We arrived back at the compound about 4:00. The free time was so unexpected we almost didn’t know what to do with ourselves! But after our long day yesterday it was good to have some down time, and for the sick among us to have some much needed rest.
After dinner (barbeque chicken, rice, zucchini and salad), we attended Wednesday night church service. Darrell preached and Dr Ponce translated. How wonderful it was to worship the God of English and Spanish!
Brian told us during prayer time that one of the boys attending the service came up to him afterwards. The boy had been to dentistry on Sunday when we held the clinic here and had several teeth pulled. He pointed to his mouth and said “No duele”, meaning “No pain”! We almost never get to see our patients after treatment, and it was a great affirmation that we had helped him and he was feeling better.
Thank you for your prayers for our health. As I write this post, all but one of us are making the trip to the Valley of the Angels for our “tourist day”. He is confident that after another day of rest he will feel fine to travel home tomorrow.
2 comments:
Awww...poor little guy. No telling how long he had been in pain.
Libby, I have so enjoyed the blogs, and have longed to be with you guys this week. We have been to all of the places except the new one below Teguc, and I can just see what you have been talking about. :-) So sorry folks have been sick, and praying that they all have recovered well enough to make the trip home comfortably. Nellet is one of the most precious an young women one will ever meet, and has such a heart for her people and her Lord. I'm glad you had time with her. Will be praying for a non-eventful trip home!
Post a Comment