Hola familia y amigos!
Our last full day in the Dominican. Let's just process that for a second. Thirteen days ago we barely knew each other, didn't know how clinic would go, and didn't know how much the human body could sweat. Now we're used to each other's slight stench, we're clinic masters who helped hundreds of people physically and spiritually, and we've become a CMMA family! What a difference thirteen days can make! Today we were able to sleep in before gouged through morning devotionals. Such a treat since we were exhausted!! Then we headed out to the oldest parts of Santo Domingo for some shopping before lunch. The weather was cloudy with scattered showers, but this made sure no one got sun burnt today! We broke up into small groups of 4-5 people and explored the shops, took pictures, and tried to work out Peso-to-Dollar conversions. We had lunch on our own and met up to all go to one of the oldest Roman Catholic church's in the Western Hemisphere! It was absolutely stunning! The ceilings were probably three or four stories high and had several alcoves each dedicated to a different saint. Then we split up into two groups-- one group explored the fort and the other went to Christopher Columbus' mansion museum. The entire city was full of such history and amazing culture-- and we only saw a small part of it!! We headed back to the SCORE hotel around 3 and finished packing up/organizing our luggage (and making sure each bag was under the weight limit...). Then we all sat down for one last dinner together and one last evening devotional. Most of the people reading this blog are probably the friends and family of many of the people on this trip. For those who are parents and reading this to hear about what your child is doing in the Dominican, I want you to know that you've raised an incredible person. Everyone here has been so amazing, thoughtful, and friendly-- exactly of the kind of healthcare worker I would like to be some day. Everyone here has given this trip their all, has reached out and helped others in need, and has made this trip so impactful! Please pray for our safe travels tomorrow! And we'll see you soon, Alabama!!! :) Our last day of clinic. I have no idea how this day came so quickly. It seems like just yesterday we were figuring out how to take a shower without making the Dominican bathrooms humid (well ok, maybe we never really figured that one out). Everyone was quite tired today from getting up early for two weeks and being in the hot environment for two weeks. But the team pressed on to have a great last clinic day!
Today we travelled to San Pedro to go to a new church plant. It's only been in their community for two months. The people here were much wealthier than previous villages! We saw a lady with an iPad taking pictures and it reminded us of home! While it was a wealthier village, it still had the touches of Dominican poverty that we are used to-- dirt roads, stick fences, trash in the gutters. But the people are always so nice! Our last day in clinic was one of the best! Christina (one of our clinic leaders) made the comment that we have all figured out how to work the clinic so well that she may be out of a job! This was such a huge compliment for our team since our first day seemed like everyone ran around like a chicken without a head! Our best example of how our team worked together was with a patient named Rosa. She came to the clinic today for shoulder pain but the people in triage noticed she was crying harder than expected. When she was passed along to her physician and medical students, the triage person told them how much Rosa was crying. The physician team healed her shoulder pain but they went a step further-- they asked her about her life, her faith, her family, etc to find out why she was so upset before sending her to Evangelism. When she got to Evangelism, she was still crying. One student in Evangelism noticed and dropped everything to be with her in this moment to talk to her and be with her. After talking to her and working her out of her crying state, she accepted Christ as her savior! Rosa's story isn't uncommon in our clinic-- our team works together so well and our team works for the patient as a whole instead of just their clinic needs. They've been such an asset to these communities and they've been exemplifying the wonderful deeds God can do in the world! Tomorrow we travel to Santo Domingo to unleash our touristy side and see what the city has to offer! Prayers for safe travels and that we may find some good souvenirs for our family (hee hee)! Happy hump day!! *insert Geico camel joke here*
Today we travelled far and wide to a place called Honduras. Who knew you could get there without a passport?? (Just kidding! There's a village called Honduras that's not too far. Trust me, there were all kinds of puns about it today) This village was rather quaint but overall it was well taken care of and the people had put a lot of respect and pride into their community. The clinic went off without a hitch! The children had lots of fun today-- you could hear their laughter from inside the church building! A lot of students got to work together today on one case: a man came in with a lesion on his neck that needed to be resected. The physician led two students in doing stitches and another in finishing the wound care! One small mass for medicine, one giant leap for Med student kind! And there was lots of OMT (osteopathic manipulative treatment) done by the DO students! They're such an incredible asset to our clinic and they provide such great relief for the patients! Tomorrow is our last day of clinic. Everyone is starting to get tired from all the hard work we're doing, but no one wants to think about it being our last clinic. It's crazy how fast this time has gone by! We've all learned so much-- medically and spiritually! Tomorrow will be a bittersweet day but we're all excited to have another clinic day! Please pray for our continued care for patients and that we are used for God's plan! Hola familia y amigos!!
Today was a very special day in clinic! We returned to the John 3:16 church (the church we went to on Sunday for worship service). We set up our usual clinic flow but with a surprise: THE CHILDREN'S MINISTRY HAD ROOM TO BE INSIDE OUT OF THE HOT SUN!!!!! PRAISE!!! The kids were laughing all day and you could tell they were just having a blast learning about the gospel! The rest of the clinic ran pretty slow and smoothly! This came as a blessing in disguise since everyone was still exhausted from yesterday's clinic. We've noticed that it's getting easier and easier to set up clinic and break it down after it's done. We've all worked so long as a team that we're the most efficient machine! One notable moment today came from a student whose patient came in complaining of acid reflux (if I recall correctly). The student worked up the patient for this complaint and was about to send them off to the pharmacy station to get their medicines when the patient said something was bothering her in her ear. Being the awesome student they are, she looked in the patients ear and noticed there was a cancerous lesion in her ear canal. At our small clinic, there's nothing we can do to biopsy or treat a cancer lesion. So the patient would have to go to a hospital to have it treated. But the student didn't stop there-- she walked this patient over to the Evangelism station and explained the situation in detail so that she could be prayed for. The students on this trip consistently remind me how great God's love and mercy is and that this experience isn't just about the medicine we're learning-- it's about doing His work and spreading His good news through the gospel. When we arrived back to the SCORE hotel, we had a wonderful dinner and joined the rest of the ministries for SCORE night. This is a night to join the other groups staying in the hotel and to worship and share testimonies. It was wonderful to hear about the other groups share their experiences in the DR and to sing worship with the SCORE leaders!! Afterwards, there were some tables set up for people to buy some local goodies and I'm sure everyone was tempted by the cupcakes and Dominican coffee! Only two more days left in the clinics! My how this time has passed!! Please pray that our last two days are just as incredible as our other days and that we travel safely! And praises to those who were able to be helped in clinic and prayers for those who have yet to be helped! After the very hard, very laborious, and very strained weekend we had (wink wink), it was very tough to get up by 6:15am for devotionals. But luckily we have three amazing musicians to help kick start our coffee in the morning! Shout out to Annabeth, Kevin, and Sarah Young for that!
Today we travelled to a village that's nicknamed "The Dump" and accurately so. This village is located right next to a landfill. The people living here build their "houses" from the remaining trash in the landfill. Many people used tarps and bags to build structures to live in. Although one good storm would probably cause a lot of damage to this village. The village smelled exactly how you would expect a landfill to smell. There was the added bonus of smoke in the air from trash burning not too far away. Every once in an while we'd see wild pigs roaming around (and they were the biggest pigs I'd seen a while!) Clinic ran very smoothly! One thing we noticed immediately is because these people come from so little, they were the most gracious for medicines and the most receptive to hear about the gospel. One student noted that one lady "lit up when I asked if she was a Christian! And she lit up even more-- which I didn't think was possible-- when I said we were brothers and sisters in Christ!" The attitude that these people had was astounding given their destitute living situation. I guess that goes to prove that even when your physical wealth is lacking, when you believe in Christ, you have all the wealth you need! And everyone on the trip embodies this notion! Typically we have an Evangelism station at clinic where patients go to address their spiritual health. However, the students on this trip are addressing spiritual needs right during the medical stations! It's not their "job" for that station but everyone knows it's our "job" as Christians to spread the Gospel and continue His work through our work! It's amazing to see everyone work together for one common goal! Once back at SCORE, we had an amazing dinner and nighttime devotional. Tonight was game four of the NBA finals and we were able to Facebook Live that event! Other people played a card game called Nerst (which turned out to be the most hyped and sweatiest game of solitaire I've played in my life)! Prayers for more amazing days ahead and prayers for our words to speak as God wants them to so we can glorify Him! This morning was the perfect day to observe the Lord's day! The weather was incredible-- not too hot, not too humid, not a rain cloud in sight! Absolutely perfect! We were able to sleep in before grabbing breakfast and then putting on our Sunday best (who knew CMMA could clean up so nice after a week of sweat??) to go to a local church and join them for their worship service. The service was much like ones we see in the states (except in Spanish). We started off with a few announcements, some singing, and then the CMMA group sang "It is well" for the congregation. It was so touching! (I may be a bit biased, but I think CMMA may have a future in the recording studio) Pastor Bobby then gave a beautiful sermon regarding faith and trusting in God before the kids recited a psalm and we sang our final song.
Once back at SCORE, we ate lunch, packed up our scrubs for the upcoming week, and had the afternoon off. Many people went to a local place called Lilly's House. It's an organization that saves women from prostitution and teaches the women to craft, garden, cook, etc. Then they sell the items the women make to raise money for the organization. If you ever get a chance to go, get the chocolate chip ice cream! It's life changing! We ended the day in prayer and prepared for our week ahead! It's hard to believe we only have one more week of serving the Lord here in the DR. Please pray for our safety and health as we hit our halfway mark and prayers for safe travels! Hola familia y amigos!!
Today we travelled to the beautiful place called Catalina Island! We were able to sleep in, eat breakfast, and then take the one hour bus ride to the port where we took a catamaran boat to the island (entertainment provided by the crew). First we snorkeled for about an hour (and learned how strong ocean waves can be), then we went cliff diving (where Cliff became catch of the day), and then we were beach bums for the remainder of the day! It was a veeeeery tough day as you can see! We left the island with full bellies, sunburns, sand in our ears, selfies with palm trees, and overly priced DR souvenirs. We came back to the SCORE hotel and rested for a minute before splitting into groups and going to some local restaurants for dinner. Everyone had a good meal and we got to have an ordering experience in another language haha!! (Also: if you ask for the bill, make sure you say "cheque" and not "chaqueta" or the waiter will wonder why you're requesting jackets for the group...) Praises for a wonderfully slow day of rest and relaxation! Tomorrow we will venture to a local church to see more of His glory!! Prayers for continued safe travels for our group leaving and entering the DR and prayers for more beautiful days! Dear familia y amigos (family and friends)
How has it been one full work week of clinic already?????? Today was one of the most humid days we've seen! The church we used for clinic was quite spacious and had enough rooms for everyone to be in (well except children's ministry... but at least there was a large tree to provide shade!). However, the ceiling fans stopped working after about half an hour. Seems like if we want a spacious place, we give up the nice airflow hahaha! We only ran clinic for a half day today so we could use the afternoon to rest. But during our half day, we saw almost as many patients as we do in a full day! It was busy!! And it was tough. It felt like today was the hottest day yet and it's the end of the week, meaning our fatigue has been piling up. But everyone in our group has been working like a well-oiled machine. And even better, everyone looks out for each other. It sounds cliche, but it's like we've become a little family over here! One notable patient that we saw today had just lost her mother yesterday. Somehow (in her grieving state), she still made it to clinic to be seen by a physician. She had said she was a Christian and was about to leave after getting her medicines when a student in pharmacy noticed the special note on her chart saying she had lost her mother yesterday. The student acted quickly and brought the woman back to talk with our Evangelism station. I think it really was the work of the Holy Spirit in that moment because everything that happened for this women today happened as it should have and we were placed before her to help her heal spiritually and emotionally. The rest of the day was filled with naps, swimming, naps, reading, naps, and visiting. Did I mention naps? Tomorrow we go to Catalina Island to do some tourist and leisurely activities! Our wonderful physicians that we've worked with this week are leaving on Saturday and new physicians are meeting us! Please pray for their safe travels and praise for their incredibly kind work for their patients, these communities, and to us at CMMA!!! They'll be more than missed! Today we traveled to a different village about thirty minutes away. This village was a nice melting pot of Dominicans and Haitians and the church we used for clinic had a nursing home right next door! It was eye opening to see the differences in geriatric care between home and here. The living conditions were similar to any other home we had visited (concrete floors and walls, bumpy cracked floors, unreliable electricity) but this time there were upwards of 50 elderly people living in the large building. We found one lady who said she had been abandoned by her family for becoming Christian and was placed in a nursing home to be looked after. But she was content because even if she didn't have her family, she said she had Jesus.
The church we used for clinic was the largest one yet! The catch? The fans quit on us after about an hour... Say hello to frizzy-haired pictures featured above this blog entry! Today was a relatively "slow" day but after yesterday's excitement, we needed it! Everyone saw a myriad of patients and diseases. The children's ministry bared the heat once again but today seemed to be one of the happiest days because you could hear the kids playing from the back of the church! We returned to the SCORE hotel to rest a bit before dinner. Dinner tonight was called the Argentine BBQ. Pastors from local churches (including Pastor Gregg, who was from our first clinic day) made us an amazing meal of fried plantains, pork ribs, chicken legs, potato salad, and some kind of pork sausage sandwich! And homemade chimichurri sauce!!!!!! (Which I'm very tempted to take home but I don't think customs would appreciate that) The pastors and their families shared their testimonies with us and touched us with their kind words of praise and blessings. It's incredible to know the difference God made in these Pastors' lives for them to come to Christ and it gives us guidance as to what the people here need from the gospel. Please continue to pray for us as we share our own testimonies and heal people as best as we can! And prayers for our families and friends reading this that they may know how much we love them and miss them! eDear family and friends,
Our third day at the DR started just like the others (except with a twist, we could sleep in 15 whole extra minutes!! Whoop whoop!!!). We went to devotional early in the morning, got our assignments for the day, ate breakfast, and loaded up on the buses to travel to our next village destination. Today we went to a small poor village outside of Boca Chica (which doesn't actually mean "Girl mouth", it actually means "Small mouth" because it's slang... one translator graciously corrected me after I had said that for only the entire day...). This village had primarily a Haitian community so their culture was very Haitian-influenced. The village was very poor; most of the houses people lived in were made of scrap metal that was fabricated together in various ways. About half (if not more) of the villagers spoke Creole instead of Spanish. The church we arrived at was our smallest yet and made entirely of scrap metal (making it essentially an oven), but still a fairly good size with a few fans. Luckily, our children's ministry station had more shade to be under and the kids had loads of fun!! The day was packed full of people-- literally! People would try to get through the fences to make sure they were seen by the clinic. It made for a very hectic day but praise to our clinic leadership and Creole translators who could help keep it under control! We always have one person in our team working as what we call a "floater" meaning they float around and make sure everything is flowing right and help out when needed. Today, our floater pointed out something incredible: even though the day was hectic and even though there was another level of language barrier added to the pile, and even though many people weren't interested in hearing the gospel, she said: "I looked to my back and there was the triage unit taking in names and assessing patients needs; I looked forward and saw Pastor Bobby helping people be able to see again with new glasses; I looked to my left and saw students listening to patients hearts; I looked to my right and saw a physician and his students praying with a patient. It's amazing to see all of God's work being done even if it isn't through you directly." I honestly can't say it better myself!! Tomorrow we continue to go to a village and help the people there. Please continue your prayers for us and pray that we continue to make a difference in the lives of the patients we see! Hello friends and family!
We opened our second day at the DR with lots of coffee and prayer and excellent breakfast courtesy of the SCORE hotel! For our second day of clinic, we drove to a village not quite as far as the first but still just as enriching in experiences! We set up our clinic in a one room church full of white lawn chairs and made do with what we had. And it worked perfectly! The children's ministry today had plenty of trees to stand under to keep out of the hot sun; that was a cool blessing (pun intended)! And those of us in the church had those fans working harder than ever before! A few people were able to do some house visits to some of the community members in the village who were too sick or old to walk to the church where clinic was set up. Those who went were able to experience firsthand the cultural differences and the living style of the average person in the DR. One patient in particular (we'll call her "P") was an elderly woman who had survived multiple strokes that left her unable to use the right side of her body and without the ability to communicate with words. With the help of her daughter and the translator, we were able to figure out that her glasses had broken and she couldn't see very far at all. It was clear P had a tough living situation minus her vision problems. So we found a wheelchair nearby, dressed the woman in her Sunday best (per her request haha), loaded her onto the wheelchair, and wheeled her down the dirt street towards the clinic we had set up! P was fitted for glasses by some other students and she found a pair that really improved her vision. We wheeled her back and made sure she was comfortable before leaving for the day. But P's face was so full of joy and light when we left! And what's amazing about this mission is that there's hundreds of these incredible moments-- every student and physician here is willing to do the most seemingly difficult tasks to serve their patient. We saw 142 patients in total today. It wasn't easy by any means, but everyone has put together such an incredible team mentality and put their trust in each other and the Lord to make our days at clinic worthwhile for the village. It's always amazing to me to see the faces of the villagers as we enter the community and leave-- when we enter, we are greeted with confused and stoic faces BUT when we leave, everyone waves and has the biggest grins on their faces! It's such a satisfying day to see that transformation!!! We returned to the hotel for dinner and devotional (and some free time where some people went to the beach or the pool). Our day ended with Dr. Bob giving us an excellent sermon about Moses' early life and talking about our relationship with God. Please continue to pray for us here as we continue to serve these villages and please pray that we continue to grow in our worship and relationship to God and to each other as a mission team! Hello friends and family!
First day at clinic was a resounding success! We started the day in prayer before we drove about 45 minutes to the village where we set up clinic in the local church. (For those keeping tabs, there's no a/c in this church but there were fans!) We were able to fashion some stations for triage and patient care from the pews and the pharmacy was set up near the altar. We even had a children's ministry station were the kids could play and learn more about the gospel! The village was small, but everyone in the village had an incredible sense of family and community which made it feel bigger than it was. While the area wasn't wealthy, the people who lived there were in great spirits and they were very kind to us (especially since this was our first day of clinic!) We saw all kinds of varieties of diseases and all kinds of testimony-- everything from "gripe" (basically, the "crud") to high blood pressures to pregnancy care to cataracts. One of the members of our group had a special encounter today that illustrated our challenge with working against a language barrier. This patient had some kidney stone-related pain, but getting this information was difficult-- both due to the language barrier and having to speak through a translator omits some of the nonverbal communication that we use in conversation. But at the end of the encounter, she asked the lady "do you know Christ?". The woman instantly perked up and had so much joy in her face when this student asked her about her faith. Her response was so strong that even though there were two completely different languages being spoken, it was clear that this woman was praising the student, her work, and praying for her! We helped about 100 people today in the hours we were there. There certainly were some bumps along the way (literally, the dirt roads are real bumpy y'all), but all-in-all I'd say we were prepared for it with God's hand! Please continue to pray for us and the people we see and pray that our second is as successful as our first! Hello, family and friends!
5 things we learned in the first thirty minutes of landing in the Dominican Republic (DR): 1) the average person sweats 0.8 to 1.4 liters per hour during rigorous exercise... and also if you land in Santo Domingo in June after a 3 hour flight. 2) the motorbike is the fidget spinner of the Dominican-- everyone has one! 3) the lines painted in the road are truly optional (and I'm pretty positive horn honking is required) 4) you may or may not be greeted in the airport by drums and trumpets and cheering 5) God is great and this trip is going to be incredible!! This group is incredibly kind and passionate about glorifying His work! I'm really blessed to be able to write down our tales during these next days! Day one at the DR has been eye-opening to say the least. There's so many cultural differences and so many different walks of life here. Not to mention the humidity! (Also kudos to my fellow comrades for dealing with my growing hair frizz) Luckily, the SCORE International missionary center is air conditioned!!! (I can't thank God enough for cool air being blown into our rooms tonight!) Tomorrow is our first day at the clinic. After a tiresome day of traveling, we sorted through our equipment and were debriefed on the sort of things we may see tomorrow. While we're all exhausted, everyone is excited for tomorrow's adventure! Prayers that we travel safely to the clinic and prayers for the patients we encounter tomorrow that we may be able to help them with God's hand! Also-- we are getting used to international cellular phone use, so some cell phones may be having some trouble. Don't worry though-- we're all safe and sound (and likely sleeping since I'm writing this after 9pm hee hee!) |
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