Wow what a day. It was a roller coaster of complex heart wrenching moments after moments. We served over 150 patients today., Nearly all of these cases were things we Americans were not used to seeing, and us students relied heavily on our leaders for guidance and interpretation with the vast variety of diseases we do not commonly see in the USA. For example, we experienced our first case of worm belly today. The little girl was only 10 years old with the biggest eyes I’ve ever seen, with a complaint of stomach pain. In the states we have a wide variety of common things we would think of, but here the first thing I had to think of was if she had worms or not.
God spoke to each of us today, and it was beautiful. Person after person walked through those doors, each with threatening diseases and disorders, tumors and injuries. It was easy to become overwhelmed in the moment, and we all kept taking steps back to see each patient as the face of Jesus. Many times, we threw up our hands and said, “God, please give me your guiding light.”
“Bwana asifiwe”
Meaning glory to God because He hears our prayers! After many long exhausting hours, God gifted us with two women who visited our clinic expressing their gratitude. These women arrived to our clinic at 8am, unknowingly to us. They sat and waited the 9 1/2 hours we were there, insisting to wait until we were done because they “didn’t want to interrupt mama Gayle, she’s busy”. Just as we thought our work was finished, we walked out of the make-shift clinic and they came up to us. Physically, emotionally, and mentally, the team was sapped. We were ready to head home to get some rest. But God had other plans. One of the women was treated at Selian Hospital last summer by the Hope Ministries team for a gruesome wound to her left leg that was the result of an accident. Without this intervention, this woman could have easily lost her leg, much less her life! The other had been dealing with extreme ovarian cysts for over three years and needed surgery to save her life. It was very powerful to see the results and impact the Hope Ministries medical team had on these two women, and being so rewarded with the gratitude. I cried, actually, we all cried as she hugged and thanked God for ‘mama Gayle’. It made all of the difficulty we had endured today so worth it. It was an absolute answer to prayer, and reminded us powerfully of the reason we do what we do. God sent us a message in a very powerful way.
Thank you for your continued prayers and donations to Hope Ministries and allowing so many of God’s children to receive the medical treatment they never thought they could have.
Gayle and Julius said they may be robbing a bank tonight! We broke our personal record of referrals to our partnered hospitals for free medical treatments and surgeries. Please pray for these special people that we are sending to specialists., and that God sends us the necessary finances to help pay for these 36 patients that we referred.
Thanks for you continued love and prayers.
Alinda and Abby
