Last night, after attending worship, our team gathered to
debrief the day. Debriefing provides a
way for team members to share their thoughts about what they experienced during
each day.
Since each clinic area spreads
across a large compound, it is impossible for everyone to be aware of all that
has gone on during the day beyond their individual work space.
Our team includes 3 pastors and 2 pastor’s wives in addition
to the medical personnel. The unique
gifts of these ministers to the help meet the spiritual and emotional needs of
our clinic guests have been heavily used this week.
Every day we heard accounts that reinforced our
“non-medical” reasons for being in Honduras this week. Early in the day yesterday, a woman
fainted. James examined her to make sure
there was nothing seriously wrong with her.
Once he was confident there wasn’t, he called Deb Duty (pastor’s wife)
and Jorge (interpreter and great guy) to talk with her. After listening to her, Deb easily diagnosed the
woman was pregnant. Jorge, as interpreter,
recognized there was more to her story.
The woman was 43, already a grandmother, and a doctor had told her to go
off her birth control pills for health reasons.
As a result, she made a deal with God:
she would go off the pills and He would protect her from getting
pregnant. Now she felt like God had let
her down.
This type of misguided theology is all too common in
Honduras. Hearing this story reinforced
the desire of Luke 9:2 Ministries to strengthen and continue the theology
training for pastors that began last week.
Education for the pastors is the very best way to bring Hondurans to a
deeper understanding of God.
More stories of ministry were shared of opportunities to
care for the spiritual and emotional health of clinic guests and the clinic
hosts (usually pastors). Jerry and
Janice (pastor and wife), had a long conversation with a local pastor’s wife
(she spoke English). They were able to
encourage her in her ministry and commiserate with the frustrations and
challenges of working with people.
Today in La Branza, we heard more stories that reminded us
that trials are universal. One mom
shared that her sister had recently died and she is now raising her niece and
nephew. The grief and financial burden are
weighing heavily on her and she is suffering from stress. Other afflictions related to aging and
poverty were prevalent over and over again among the clinic guests.
We started out
on the now-familiar gravel road, continued on a main two-lane highway, wound
our way through the crowded streets of Talanga, bumped down a wide dirt road
into the country side, and finally squeezed along the “not much more than a
bike path” road to the elementary school site in La Branza.
When we arrived, there were over 200 people already
waiting for us. It seemed all day that
the line would never end. By the end of
the day, we had seen 435 patients.
Physically and emotionally we are tired. Spiritually, we are both drained and
renewed. We are ready to go home, but we
are glad we were here.
Tomorrow is our day of rest.
For this and so many things, we are thankful.
1 comment:
A tremendous story of dedication under stressful conditions for everyone there, both those being helped and those offering that help. Makes this reader, home comfortable in the states, realize I really don't have any problems at all. By comparison many here with me would say the same. So again we are all proud of you and your efforts! And thanks for the videos and still pictures of all of you in action. Bless you all and we look forward to having you back home safe and sound!
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