Journal 2
Sunday, January 23, 2017
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, Luke 4:18- Isaiah 61:1
A great first day on the mountain serving the Mojarras, Zacapa, Santa Barbara community. After a 90-minute ride up the mountain, down the mountain, up the mountain, down the mountain, and then up the mountain again, we arrived to the community. We saw 291 patients ranging in age from 1 month to 85 years old. Dr. Curry was on the spot to perform the newborn physical for the 1-month old.
The day started off with a lot of flexible opportunities due to staffing needs. The community was so appreciative and took time to thank many of the team members.
The new team members, Drew, David, Courtney, and Christina hit the ground running. Christina’s first patient walked 3 hours to get to the clinic with her 2 young children. She started her journey to the clinic on Sunday, spent the night in the village so that she could be first in line because she needed to get an early start to walk another 3 hours home. David really enjoyed his start to the week, because, unlike the hospital setting, he found the doctors to be open and willing to help at any time. Courtney opened the newest station of measuring head circumference and height for the Zika data base.
Dr. Curry saw an 85 year old who was found to have heavy thick callouses on her knees. She explained these came from her praying 2 hours every day for members of the community. She was escorting her 62-year-old daughter with a mental disability to the clinic.
Roger and Drew enjoyed working in the dental clinic and getting to know each other. Drew was so tender with the children, holding their hands, and speaking encouraging words in Spanish.
The team enjoyed the long ride home as Drew provided a sing- along of ballads, Christmas carols, Neil Diamond’s “sweet Caroline”, and Michael Jackson rendition. Everyone joined in and Bert provided additional sounds with his whistling.
During our evening devotions, each member of the team shared joys and highlights from the days work. All look forward to tomorrow’s adventure and service.
-Linda Hart
