Dearest friends and family,
Yesterday we successfully completed our first full day in the Dominican and our first day of clinic. We started the day with worship & prayer and then traveled about an hour away from where we're staying. We operated clinic out of a small church building in a village that's next to a city dump -- most of the village members make their living by selling & re-purposing items from the dump. Despite cramped quarters, we managed to set up clinic and with a few cedar planks and some terrycloth robes, it could have been misconstrued as a sauna. Though it was a bit steamy, our first day actually ran pretty smoothly and we saw almost 70 patients. In the midst of babbling babies and pregnant dogs weaving in and out, we set up stations for triage, patient evaluation, pharmacy, optometry, and evangelism and prayer. We saw everything from a 19-day-old baby who was progressing beautifully to an older man who had a very severe wound on his leg that has gradually gotten worse and worse over the past four years. A doctor and two of the medical students even performed a small surgical procedure on an elderly man, removing a fatty benign tumor from his head using local anesthetic. As in most foreign trips, some moments were hilarious and others were incredibly disheartening. One mama told us her baby wasn't eating well while he blissfully and vigorously stuffed cracker after cracker into his mouth, drooling all the while -- we couldn't help but laugh. But in the same room, we helplessly realized that the man with the severe wound could have been healed if intervention had happened earlier, but with our resources and how far the wound had progressed, there was very little we could do medically. Despite frustrations like these and the hyper-emphasis in medicine on "fixing" things and fixing them quickly, we must realize that Jesus is the ultimate and true healer. During our evening time of sharing, one of our team members said that during a patient interaction, she reached a mental block in which she couldn't figure out what to do next medically and figured that was the end of the road with their evaluation of the patient. She then realized there was so much more they could do -- they could pray for her, love her, demonstrate care for her, and most importantly start a dialogue about God and His deep, deep abounding love for her. Please pray that as we see patients this week, we will do our very best to care for their physical health but that we will also prioritize their spiritual health. God is the ultimate healer and we are commanded to call on him boldly and expectantly. We are called to fight for people and to fight for their souls. That is true healing. We are simply the writing utensils God is using to craft the story of His kingdom. Clinic day two will also be at the village by the dump. Check back for updates on our work & how God is moving! We love you and are thankful for your prayers.
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