Salvador's "Taller"

I told Salvador and Maynor that they should open their own bicycle "taller" (tire repair shop). They probably didn't appreciate me taking their picture, but after I explained the internet to them, I think they understood that it was good for business. Actually it's just Salvador's flat tire that he's had for two weeks, and we were just finishing picking up trash after clinic.

Whew was clinic eventful today! There were over 70 people, which is normal, but we also had some strange cases. My first strange case was the crazy lady who comes through every two months. After treating the illnesses I could see: high blood pressure, yeast infection (I didn't look but took her word on it), and ringworm, she began to tell me about all kinds of things I couldn't see. Leslie warned me as I gave the lady her blood pressure medicines that I was getting ready to hear that her ear hurt, head hurt, and that she couldn't sleep. Sure enough, as I handed her her pills she told me that a bug was in her ear. I looked (it was clean), and told her that the bug must have left. Content with that, I asked her if she wanted to pray and then sent her on her way.

The next case was a little more grave. An older lady with a blood glucose level over 500 (80-120 is normal) came in with her son and daughter. She was all skin and bones from living at a such a high sugar level, and her body was starting to shut down. Her blood pressure was 60/40 and she also had blood in her stool. In the past she had come to us, but says that she wasn't able to come back regularly because no one could take her. Well, today her son (who just got back from the States) was with her and said that he wanted to start taking care of her now that he was home. Our advice was for him to take his mom to the hospital, but they said they had gone before and the hospital had done nothing...probably because they were a poor indigenous family. Anyway, they weren't going to go, so we did what we could. We started the lady on IV fluids, gave her insulin, and moved her into the clinic living room for about four hours. Before they left we were able to pray with several members of the family and share Jesus with them. I don't think they had ever been in church of any kind, but the son (who was the only one who could read spoke good Spanish) asked for a Bible. After advising him to start reading about the life of Jesus in of the book of John, I charged him with the duty of pastor for the family! His sister laughed when I told him that it was his job to read to everyone else and teach them what the Bible said...

The third surprise came in the middle of giving the last lady her IV fluids. Someone started pounding on the clinic door and a young man carrying a 9-year-old boy ran into the room. The boy was shaking like he was having a seizure, but it turns out he was just really scared. We put him on the exam table and found only minor scratches on his arm and a small bump on his head. It turns out the young man was driving too fast on his motorcycle and hit the little boy in the road in front of clinic. Everyone was just really scared. The mom came in crying, the young man was shaken up almost as bad, and there was a big crown trying to find out what was going on. In the end everything ended up OK, but it could have been bad mainly because of the underlying racism that still exists in many people's minds. The young man was a latin, and the boy was mayan. Also, if you hit someone here and don't go to the authorities it's possible that a couple months later the injured party will come back demanding money. In an effort to do everything right, Leslie actually took both parties into town to get everything in the open and stop rumors from spreading. The guy ended up giving the family some money anyway probably just to keep peace. The whole experience just showed me how much people can make a big deal out of nothing, especially in a crowd.

So after picking up trash in the courtyard and taking a picture of Salvador's tire shop, we went in to get lunch ready. Duane had just got back from a medical flight to the City. A man from the Zona Reina fell of his horse and needed an emergency flight during the morning. For the first time in our history of emergency flights an ambulance actually beat Duane to the airport and was waiting with a stretcher when he arrived. On his way home, Duane brought some Americans back for our friend Tim who runs the orphanage in San Andres. Tim and Sebastian came over in the afternoon to pick them up, so it was good to see them. Then we ate a late lunch and went to play some more volleyball at the river. I won twice and lost once...but we don't keep count :).

Hannah leaves back for Houston tomorrow. We'll definitely miss her in clinic tomorrow in San Andres. The diabetic lady who got the IV fluids is still heavy on my mind tonight, and I know there will be more people tomorrow who have a lot of needs. When I think about the future, and everything that's going to come my way, it's easy for me to feel overwhelmed. But as I wrote in a previous Blog, I think that's because I normally imagine the future without God in it. I'm not going to have to meet all of those people's needs tomorrow, God is the one who will be there to do it. I just have to follow His lead. This morning was the same way. I was nervous as usual about what to share with the people before we started clinic, but I felt like God was asking me to make a visual prop to help me explain what Jesus does in our lives. He comes to live in our hearts in the place that only He can fill; His heart comes and joins itself with our heart, and we are a new creation. I only had about 5 minutes after breakfast to put something together, so I used cardboard from a box in the garage and my pocket knife to cut these out. I think the people liked it because they thought I was a terrible artist, but it really helped me hold their attention! Later I used the same pieces to share with the diabetic lady's family. At first only the son was listening to me share about Jesus, but when I pulled out the cardboard pieces the whispering in Quiche stopped, and they watched as only Jesus' heart fit into the void of the human heart. You know, I was really close to not making these stupid cardboard pieces, but I felt like God had urged me to do it. How many times do I feel Him directing me, and I shake the feeling off? If we listen, I believe God is always speaking to us....Sometimes maybe there's nothing big, but His word (the Bible) is always there with us to guide us in what's right. If nothing else I know he is always just saying that He loves us.