Brian, Nico and Chad were still hanging around and getting ready to go. Chad and I began talking, and as God lead, I had the opportunity to share my testimony and story with him and Nico. As always, the difficulty of sharing my arrogance and stupidity, my shame and guilt, was not very easy. It seems the better I know people the harder it is because I guess I care about what they think about me. It was another lesson in recognizing that it is really not about me, and if God gets the glory for my failure, I will glory in that.
Around 9:00 my tutor arrived, Jose Leon, and we got back to
work. He is a very gracious tutor, and I
am not so sure that I am a very good student.
I will keep trying though.
Today is Theresa’s birthday, so the nationals came out at
lunch time and sang happy birthday to her.
She really enjoyed them. We plan
to have some cake after dinner tonight.
The rest of the day was filled with 10 total surgeries for
the team – 5 for each group. In all they
have completed 20 surgeries, which is the equivalent of a week’s work here, and
we have 2 more days to go. They still
have over 20 surgeries planned. We will
see how the rest of the week goes. They
have had to disqualify a few because of temperatures, and they had to educate a
few and let them know surgery was not necessary (for instance, one lady wanted
her hemorrhoids removed before they became cancer – they had to tell her that
hemorrhoids don’t become cancer).
I was able to see Antonio and Celestine again as they wanted
to play ball again. Kids keep coming by
to see us, and probably more importantly, to get candy. It is a joy watching the doctors and nurses
taking opportunities throughout the day to stop and give a piece of candy, or a
toy, a tattoo, or a hat to the children.
They are having a wonderful impact on these people.
Dinner was delicious – fried chicken and this amazing potato/carrot/green
bean salad - but what happened after
dinner was even more amazing… I had the
opportunity to go to the pastelaria earlier today and get 2 cakes with white
icing and fruit on the top for Theresa’s birthday. We put the candles on the cake and brought it
out to her as we sang. She was
overwhelmed. As the candles burned, she
sat almost in tears. Later in the
evening I had the opportunity to talk with her and she shared the emotion she
was feeling at that time. God is good
and she was experiencing His love through the rest of the group.
As some of the team sat and talked, others walked the
neighborhood and got some ice cream, I had the privilege of doing the laundry
for the team. I know they don’t
understand, but it was a great opportunity to serve the ones who have been
serving the people here this week. My
role is so minor in all of this, and I can’t help the team with much other than
making sure they have drinks and snacks, etc. - having the honor of working on
their laundry, getting their scrubs ready for the last 2 days of surgery was a
joy. Every part of the body doing what
it is designed to do builds up the body in love. That is what we are experiencing here as each
part does what it is designed to do.
It was a late night, but what a joy it is to see God working
in the lives of this group. I am looking
forward to hearing more from each of them as they are experiencing God this
week. Enough for now… time for bed.
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