A Voice Crying Out In the Darkness

I plan to do several things with regard to the recent mission trip, post pictures, post some of the experiences here etc. As a start here is the article I wrote for the CEC August Trumpet.

The Sunday before we left, Father Sid gave us (Nancy, Jo Ann, I and Jerry in spirit) a blessing for our mission trip. For a year Jerry has been talking about the trip and last Sunday after the blessing we were asked to say what we would be doing. I spoke up and said we would be part of a medical mission and would take 4 medical teams to a different location each day for 5 days, and in doing so would see 20 villages in Honduras and WE did just that, in fact the medical teams saw just shy of 3000 Hondurans. But if at the same time you would have asked me what I was going to do, I am not sure what I would have said. In fact, I was not real sure why God had called me to this mission trip, I was not a medical person, I was not a musician, I did not speak Spanish, despite all this the message was clear, I needed to be there.

So how does it work? We would send teams which consisted of 2 to 5 providers (nurse practitioners, oncologist, pediatric oncologist, sports doctors etc) each with an interpreter, if needed. Some of which had medical background, many of which did not. Additionally, we had a RN who ran the pharmacy, an interpreter for the pharmacy, pharmacy workers, pied piper(s) who kept the kids entertained, sometimes a priest, minister or other religious person and an administrator of the day. We set up and began passing out the prescription pads; basically, we would see a family (regardless of size) for 10 Limps; the exchange rate is about 19 limps to the dollar so just over $0.50 per family to see a doctor. There were a number of families which could not afford this but we had a quiet way to help them out. The money raised goes back to the Episcopal dioceses of Honduras to be put back into the community.  Each family would be given a family pack per person; these usually contain some basic items, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, aspirin and vitamins. The provider would see the families and prescribe medicine as needed and as available. Additionally they were able to prescribe shoes and food (rice and beans) to the more needy families. On occasion they would refer them to a local doctor for a procedure that needed to be done. So we did that for just under 3000 people in 5 days. And has been done, by this group, for just shy of 30,000 people in the last 10 years, delivering about 2 million dollars of donated medicines.

Each person that was there could tell you any of hundreds of stories in which they saw God working, any of a hundred faces in which they saw our Lord. They might tell you of the Sunday morning service in which not a word of English was spoken, but the Spirit flowed and the message was received loud and clear, they might tell you of having spent time with individuals and despite not have a common language a beautiful conversation happened. They might tell you of the beautiful children, full of energy and life, who found great fun in the simple things in life (playing soccer with a blown up plastic grocery bag for example). They might tell you about seeing poverty filled with love and joy at what little they had and wiliness to share all of it.

I saw so many things; I think I will still be processing them for quite some time, maybe until I go back next year, what a glorious cycle.  Let me share one story, which to me made the entire trip, all 78 people, all the thousands of dollars, in both cash and supplies donated worthwhile. I will tell the story in retrospect so you can get the whole picture. On our 5^th day, we were in a very small village, which this group had not visited in the previous 10 years so we were not sure what to expect. We arrived and began setting up our pharmacy and doctors stations. We seemed to be getting off to a rough start then we called everyone together and gave the day to God and that did the trick, we had 3 providers and a smooth running pharmacy and beautiful weather. I was the admin and as it turned out the lay minister as we didn’t have an official minister.  In the early afternoon, a young lady asked one of the interpreters if we could come to her house to see her father, it was just around the corner, two things people in Honduras don’t have a good concept of time and distance, so we didn’t know how far around the corner was.

The interpreter came and told me that this gentleman was bed ridden and had fallen down a hill about three months ago, and had recently made it to the doctor but was still having some difficulty seeing and was not able to use his arm. I said sure and asked one of the providers, Kay, if she would mind accompanying us. Looking at it in retrospect that was God’s doing. Kay had just seen the young lady and so had a connection with her and as it turns out the next patient Kay saw upon her return was the man’s wife so we got the whole story. The man had been having seizures since he was about 10 years old, now in his 60s he was working in his garden about three months ago, when he noticed a brush fire down the hill from him, so he started trying to put it out by tossing buckets of water, while doing this he had a seizure and blacked out, then fell 20 meters down the hill, unconscious, into the fire. Luckily his daughter notice he was missing and found him at the bottom of the hill, she managed to drag him, still unconscious, back up the hill out of the fire and clean his wounds as best she could.  As it turned out he injured his right shoulder and broke is ocular bone below his left eye. Eventually he made it to the hospital where they cleaned out his eye and told him it was best not to read, they did nothing for his arm.

 So Kay, Nancy the interpreter, and I made our way “around the corner” as it turned out this truly was short distance. We walked into their one room house, which contained two beds and a dresser to house three generations, the man, his wife their daughter and husband and the granddaughter.  The man was lying across the bed, he attempted to get up, but Kay it assured him it was not necessary.  He was having double vision when he looked left and up and normal when he looked right and down, Kay assured him this was normal due to the muscle damage as a result of the broken eye (upper cheek) bone. She explained that this may or may not improve over time. She then asked him to take off his shirt so she could look at his arm and shoulder, I am not a medical person, but I knew as soon as I saw it he had not used his arm for over three months, as it turned out it hurt too much to move it, his left arm and shoulder were very muscular his right side however, was very flabby or atrophied. Kay examined his shoulder and after a couple of minutes determined he simply had a rotator cuff injury. And as God would have it, our interpreter, Nancy, spent a number of years as a occupational therapist, she and Kay was able to fill an empty water bottle with water and show him a few exercises, in addition to show him who to walk his hand up the wall, and ensured him that in a no time he would be able to fully use his arm.

This seemed to make him happy but there was still something bothering him, we were finishing up when he said he had one other question, the doctor at the hospital said because of his eye injury he should not read, to which Kay said, of course he can read! Nancy told him it was okay to start reading now it would be good exercise for his eye, at which point, I truly say happiness come over both him and his daughter, but I couldn’t understand why, he was obviously a strong man, and working was important to him, knowing he would be able to use his arm was good, know the double vision might correct itself was good but learning he was going to be able to start reading again moved him to tears. Why? He then, though Nancy explained to us the he was the pastor of the local evangelical church and had not been able to minister to his people or open his church doors since the accident because he could not read the bible. Praise God, he went on to say, for not only sending us to his village and their needs, but specifically to his house to heal him so that he could again take the good news to his village. Praise God indeed!  We were then able to pray with them and headed back to the clinic. That is a day I will never forget. As it turned out, the gospel reading that evening was the parable of the seeds. That day I saw seeds land on fertile land. Praise God!

So, what did I do there? I am still not sure how to answer that, I drove a truck, I had fun and made new friends, I helped where I could and I spread seeds. More than anything I was blessed.  Will I go back again? Try to stop me.  Is it enough? I don’t know. I know we are not the only group that goes, I know that this group is doing more than just taking medicine once a year, they are setting up health guardians, locals who are trained in basic medical checkups, blood pressure, glucose, etc and have a network of resources to help people get help when needed, they have set up a scholarship to help students get an education, school is government sponsored until the 6^th grade and then the students have to pay for it and find a way to get to it. It costs about $160 (US) for a student to attend a year of school, they then have to walk as much as 2 hours through the hills to catch a bus for a 30 to 45 minute ride to attend school then repeat the trip back home, provided their family can afford for them not to work.  The group is working with a school to use their campus on the weekend so that students can work at home during the week and then attend school all day Saturday and Sunday affording them the ability to provide for both their family and their future. They started with enough money for a few students about 4 years ago, the number has grown to almost 100, many of the student are asking about the possibility of college, Praise God!  They are also working with the local churches to provide books of common prayer, bibles, alter settings (candles holder, plates and vessels), musical instruments etc.

So what can we do, the one thing everyone can do is pray. Pray for their education, pray for their safety, with poverty comes crime, pray for their health and their ability to grow and become independent, pray for them to not need us to come back, pray about how God is calling you, not at all, go on the next mission, somewhere in between, there is no wrong calling.  Additionally the three Ts (Time, Talent and Treasure) your treasure may be as simple as some of your old clothes and shoes, kids old toys (happy meal toys were a big hit), over the counter medical supplies, if you are in the medical field, prescription drugs. Or perhaps you are called to sponsor a child’s education.  Your time and talent might be to go on the next mission; it might be to raise awareness. At a minimum, pray and be open to God, and take a few minutes to talk to Jo Ann, Nancy, Jerry or myself, we will be happy to share any our hundreds of moments closest.

Thank you to all who helped get us there this year and for all you have done, you seeds landed on fertile ground, Praise God!