Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Wednesday

This morning, Ethan and Josh shared a devotional over the Parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37. One of the things they emphasized was that compassion requires an action. For us, that action is spending our Thanksgiving break in Peru. It's so cool how the Lord gives us devotion topics to share that end up being a theme for our day.

Our drive to the new site was longer than our previous drive the last couple days, and our view turned out to be quite different as well. We went to a town north of Lima called Pachacutec and traveled up a giant hill to an area where the poorest of the poor live. The crazy thing is, there was an incredible ocean view from the top of the mountain. If it were in America, there would likely be million dollar homes lining the roads. Yet, here we were passing wooden shacks with tin roofs on a dirt road that wasn't made for the giant coach bus we've been traveling in. It's a paradox of sorts. This poor area on top of the hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A paradox just like many of the parables that Jesus shared, including the one we discussed this morning. 

It was a busy, tiring day for most of us. Filled with its own set of challenges and accomplishments. It was emotional in certain ways, and we wanted to share some of those stories from our first day in Pachacutec.

From Devon:
Sam, Jerry, and I had the unique experience of doing some home health today! There were members of the community that weren’t able to make it into the clinic for various reasons so we went to them. We got to experience first hand the home environments of the Peruvian people in this area. 

Our first patient had a stroke about two months ago and since leaving the hospital he has had no medial care. His support system was very eager to learn everything we had to teach them. We spent the entire time educating them on various exercises, how to get him sitting up, the importance of proper posture for eating, as well as good skincare. Our patient showed incredible potential for recovery and I’ll never forget the excitement and hope that his family showed when Jerry told them that his prognosis was good. 

Our second patient was a young man with a tough diagnosis of transverse myelitis. He has had the condition for 20 years and has been in his bed for the previous 6. He was in an extreme amount of pain but there was nothing that we could do to help him. So we turned to prayer. When we asked him if we could pray with him, he told us that he didn’t participate in prayer but that he would with us. Christina, the woman who runs the clinic, came running out after us to share how grateful she was that we prayed with him. In the last 20 years of working with him, he had only allowed her to pray with him one time. We may not be able to help every patient physically but through prayer we are able to help them emotionally and spiritually. I ask that you keep this patient in your prayers as my hope is that we were able to plant a seed within him and he will turn to the Lord to find strength and comfort.”

From Kailyn:
"Today we didn't have enough therapists for all of our team members to work with one, so Ethan and I jumped back and forth doing various things. We spent the whole morning doing wheelchair modifications for one patient, a total of 4.5 hours from start to finish. It was not a task for the faint of heart, but we got it done! We ate lunch late and were feeling pretty tired, but in the afternoon we ended up evaling a couple of patient's basically on our own, with the help of a translator of course. Our first afternoon patient couldn't walk well at all, and she came looking to get a wheelchair. She has 5 children and basically sits in her house all day because it's too painful for her to walk due to lack of strength and some deformities. All the wheelchairs we have given away so far were already assigned to certain patients who were evaluated last year. We told her that we could take measurements and hopefully get a chair for her next year. The disappointment that flooded her face made my heart ache. As we were talking more, I just about felt sick at the thought of sending her home with nothing. 

I looked over in the corner of the room and saw a beat up wheelchair that had been left by a man that had just picked up his new wheelchair. It looked a little beat up, but nothing was wrong with it that I knew of. I asked about the possibility of giving her that chair and ended up getting permission to do so. We had her try it and we didn't even have to make adjustments. It wasn't in great shape, but it was enough. The only thing I'm certain of is that the Lord was there in that moment. He orchestrated everything perfectly for the previous patient to leave behind the old wheelchair so that it could in turn be passed on to this dear woman who could barely walk. It brought me to tears, and I can't express the gratitude on her face. Nor can I express the thankfulness in my heart. I have no idea how much that wheelchair will impact her life as she waits for a new chair next year, but I hope she is able to interact with her kids more and leave her house more frequently. It was a long day, but it was so incredibely good!"

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our team - they are greatly appreciated! A few of our team members haven't been feeling the greatest, so please lift them up during the next couple of days! We have another day in Pachacutec tomorrow, and we're excited for what's in store!




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