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The whole team picture
Friday, 22 January 2010 07:33 | 
Author: Administrator | 
The whole Team
Last Updated ( Friday, 22 January 2010 07:35 )
Thursday Friday, 22 January 2010 06:20 | Author: Administrator |
Thursday January 21, 2010 God is Good! All the time.We started the morning with praises for success in downloading the audiology program so that Dr. Lynda could fit most of the remaining hearing aids. For some, they had waited for two days; others had waited two years. God did not disappoint. Devotions were by Betsy and Lynda. We learned about faithfulness and obedience. Our Panamanian teen, Nina, sang us a beautiful song in Spanish and Lynda led the team in a praise and worship time, Grace Place Style. After revving everyone up with dancing and singing we were off to the clinic for one of our busiest days. All told we saw 180 people. Dr. Rufus rushed an infant to the ER for a Tylenol overdose. It seemed today most visits weren’t just well person check ups; they were really needy sick patients. There were some scabies treated; an elderly woman was treated for worms; a lady with cellulitis on her leg; a widespread eczema on a young lady; a vomiting child. Today was a day for real medical problems and it was a blessing to be at the right place at the right time to help. Christina had a formidable following of children who gathered to create crafts… God’s eyes and stained glass windows with tissue paper and clear contact paper. The children were so engaged, sitting quietly. The children of Bongo live to see her come with her crafts and stories. At Tropical Optical, the line was gargantuan, longer than Dr. Brad could imagine examining. Communication is so rudimentary that many of those who came had just heard the Mission was in town. So those who were truly from Bongo, the poorest of the poor, were given preference, while others had to be turned away. The need is so great. In the Audiology clinic it was a day for rejoicing. With a working computer and 11 patients eager to hear again, Dr. Lynda and Jeff went to work with a focused and systematic plan. When the day was done 21 hearing aids were fit. The counseling was done in a group all at once. There were smiles all around. One elderly lady went as fast as she could to the clinic to show Nurse Honey and the others her new hearing aids and told them how well she could hear. It was truly a blessed day. Randy, our dedicated, computer technician who worked all night to get the audiology program downloaded became ill today and had to leave the clinic. Though he had a fever of 102, he still made sure that the day’s events were posted.
Last Updated ( Friday, 22 January 2010 06:22 ) |
Wednesday Wednesday, 20 January 2010 21:49 | Author: Administrator |
It’s been a beautiful mission trip. I’ve witnessed things and heard things that have brought tears to my eyes. I work in Tropical Optical and work “next door” to the audiologist who is conducting hearing tests and fitting donated hearing aids to those who need it. Yesterday, I witnessed a mother who had just received a hearing aid and her 9-10 year old daughter motioned for her to lean down and she cupped her hands and whispered in her ear…and both were grinning from ear to ear… Yesterday, Dr. Cherrie had a 84 year old man as a patient. He was full of life and vigor but had an irregular heartbeat and he told us that he still worked in the fields with a machete and that he road his horse two hours to get to the clinic. (He still had two hours to ride back). Today, a 16 year old girl and her mother came to Tropical Optical for assistance, she has various problems she is mute, deaf and is going blind in one eye. She needs to see a specialist in regards to her eye as she may need a prosthetic eye. When her mom was told she needs to see a specialist and that her daughter may need surgery she burst into tears as she could not afford it. Working in Tropical Optical with us is 16 year old Panamanian youth, Maria Cristina, who watched this unfold and was moved to do something about it. She called a friend who she knew who helped people with little or no means to obtain much needed services and he is looking into it to seeing if he can help the family and the 16 year old girl… Hola amigos!!!! I just want to thank God for bringing my daughter and I together to this mission trip and to help our own people somehow. It is beautiful to watch my daughter helping kids, talking in English and it makes me so happy to receive this gift from God. It is amazing how God takes us and moves us to work in different places in our own country, to show us how our hands can be full of love and caring for others and how this can move our hearts and change our lives. So far this has being a great experience and I will never exchange this experience. What I have received from seeing the people of Bongo’s faces I would not exchange it for anything else. Thanks amigos for coming back always and thank you God for guiding us to give love. Maritza.
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