I am presently sitting at the table at the pastors house. It is very noisy with all the conversations. I would love 30 minutes of alone time.
This morning started off just as yesterday. We actually saw the same amount of patients as yesterday. It is physically and mentally exhausting. The ground is rocky and uneven and it hurts your feet. Not to mention that there is no air flow. Actually, I may have mentioned that yesterday.
My sister, whom many of you know wears glasses. She has since she was very small. My mother had saved all of her glasses. She found them recently while cleaning and had the brilliant idea to send them with me. So, I have been able to take glasses my sister has not worn in years and give them to people who would otherwise have none. It really adds a nice personal touch.
*
Lunch is over. We had chicken, rice and veggies. surprise. I'm sitting out on the sidewalk in the sun. It feels amazing. There is a persistant ocean breeze and its just cool enough that the warm sun feels great.
*
The first patient I had after lunch was Desi. She is one of the OM team. She is also rooming with Marium, Amanda and me. I was able to give her a pair of my sisters glasses. That meant a lot to her. I have given out about 5 pair of her glasses so far. I only have 4 pair left, but they are small and will have to go to the right person.
*
It is now 9:45pm. I am exausted. I felt a little feverish after lunch and took some meds and felt mostly better. But waiting on dinner I started feeling bad again. I took some more meds, but still feel a little down. Please pray for strength no matter what. That even if I still feel bad in the morning that I will press on.
We had pizza for dinner. It was sort of like a frozen pizza from the states. Not as good as it sounded, but still a welcome change from chicken and rice. After dinner we came back to the hotel for our nightly meeting/debreifing.
During this time we are encouraged to share stories from our day. The most interesting story was of a woman with leprosy. I saw her waiting to see the doctor. She had no fingers and it was obvious even with shoes on her feet must have problems as well. She had several open sores on her hands. She was nearly blind from the disease. The doctors she had gone to told her she had a fungus. She was 12 when she first started having symptoms and she is currently 35. She has spent the last 23 years of her life suffering with a horribly dilapidating disease because of a missed diagnosis. They said she was the happiest person they had met. Even with all the suffering she still had her joy. What a lesson to us all!
Another lady was being checked out in triage when the nurse noticed she was having a heart attack. Needless to say, they thought it best to take her to the hospital. On her way out the door she stopped them to tell her she had also needed to have her eyes checked!
She came back later and was doing much better. She did get her glasses too. Any, one of the OM leaders asked her where she would have gone if she had died today. She responded that her husband was a christian. Any told her that didn't matter, that it was about her relationship with Jesus. She then made a profession of faith! Who knew a heart attack could save your life!
The last story I want to tell is about the pastors daughter. She has a baby around 8 months old. Totally cute, but her eyes move around rapidly. She has no control of them. The daughter was in Laura's room, along with her mother and the baby talking, for about the fourth time, about the baby's eyes. There is nothing to do, but Laura was patient to talk with her. The mother took the baby out of the room giving Laura and the daughter time to talk.
Once the mother left she really opened up. She is 18 and not married. So had obviously made some bad choices in life. She told Laura that she had lived with a man and that her sin was unforgivable. She also expressed that this was why the babies eyes were messed up. She thought God was punishing her! Laura was able to talk and pray with her and give her better understanding about forgiveness of sin. She said you could tell a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulder.
How amazing is our God! I am so thankful that he even allows me to be part of such important work! Other prayer needs are for health and strength and energy for the team. Also, we are running low or are out of certain lens prescriptions. Please pray we will have what we need to help people. I pray that God blesses you all abundantly for supporting me!
Hasta Manana,
Heather
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment