Now we have a new prayer request. Saturday a work team
arrived at the church. Sunday was the school’s graduation ceremony. Everything
went very nicely, though we were disappointed several students did not come.
Janelle, one of our teachers, will not be returning in the fall. She had gifts
for each student, so she decided she would visit the students that had missed
to personally deliver her gifts. She went to Vicky’s house that same afternoon
and discovered Vicky had fallen and injured her arm badly. She came back to
church and described Vicky’s arm.
Manuel, Librada and I went to see Vicky right then, and
wound up taking her to a general doctor (Jorge, our brother in law) who ordered
X-rays and other treatment. Librada kept Vicky overnight and yesterday morning
we took her for X-rays that showed a broken elbow. We went to see an orthopedic
doctor (César, Jorge’s son in law, who “just so happened” to be in town
because he was recently hospitalized himself and unable to travel). Who
said it would be necessary to do reconstructive surgery and insert pins. They
explained all the reasons the surgery needed to be done as soon as possible.
Obviously, it had already been too long. César offered to do surgery with no
fee, Jorge offered to be his assistant for no fee, and he also said he would
find an anesthesiologist who would give us a reasonable fee. So the medical
team was taken care of right then and there. They told me to find the hospital.
I remembered a small surgical clinic I had visited once, and
went to see what they would charge, and after waiting well over an hour, I was
able to talk to the director and come to an agreement. The school has a small
medical fund that we had intended to use to purchase glasses for two or three
of our students that need glasses. It’s not enough to cover the entire cost of
the hospital, but we stepped out in faith anyway.
Meanwhile, Manuel tracked down a family member willing to go
with us to sign all the paper work.
At 8 o clock last night, Vicky went into surgery, and came
out before 10. César was very pleased that everything went very well. Vicky has
two external pins that will be removed in a month.
Just before she went in to surgery, Manuel called to tell me
the wonderful news that the team had given him a gift to help cover the medical
expenses. We are so very thankful for this provision. By the way, the team is
here to lay tile in our classroom. We are excited about having an even tile
floor, because the concrete floor was very uneven and difficult for Javier to
maneuver in his wheel chair. The team is also doing a host of other things at
the church, including some of the things Librada and I would normally be doing
for them.
Librada has offered to keep Vicky at her home during this
time of recuperation, and we are hoping the family will accept her offer, since
Librada can provide much better care.
I’d like to tell you a little bit about Vicky. She comes
from a very underprivileged family. She is the middle child of a single mom who
has currently abandoned them to live with yet another boyfriend. Vicky is
living with her widowed grandfather and a single aunt that recently become a
mother. The grandfather tries to provide for all 6 of them as a brick layer. Nobody
in the family knows much sign language, so communication with Vicky is very
limited. Right now, Vicky herself is not quite sure how to communicate with
only her left hand. She’s very bright, though, and is catching on to how to
sign one handed. It was sweet to see her pray just before going in to surgery.
Would you please pray for her too? Thank you! God bless you,
Ruth for all of us
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