Journal 3 - Tuesday, August 8th 2017
I’m a nurse, sometimes I forget what that means. Back at home, lives tend to get a bit routine. Patients at home have very different complaints than they do in Honduras, which made me nervous and I was afraid I wasn’t going to be of much help. I work in an intensive care unit and have relied heavily on labs, tests, diagnostics, and equipment to assist me with my job. Being in Honduras has really taught me to go back to the basics and the foundation. Whether that means within the family unit, medically, or spiritually. Now I’m kicking myself for not listening to grandma and her home remedies.
Today in Honduras we went to a larger community in Ceguaca, Santa Barbara, Santa Ana. It was a very busy day in the dental, vision, and medical clinic. The day started out with a lengthy bus ride which was about an hour and a half away from the House of Barnabas. While the clinics were being set up, the girls and boys of the community played games on the grass field while getting to know some of the volunteers. A short time later, those same kids were walking into the clinic to be treated for their symptoms. It’s incredible watching these children who have so many health issues playing so fearlessly with so much joy while at the same time their feet are hurting from a fungal infection, they have a fever of 101 F and they have the flu. I may no longer accept when my brother tells me he can’t get out of bed because the thermometer says he has a 99.0 F temperature (hopefully he’s not reading this).
The people of Honduras are so blissfully happy that it’s just contagious. I have heard many times from people that your eyes are the window to your soul, Honduras has proven that to be true. I don’t speak Spanish and I need an interpreter to carry a conversation with a Honduran, but I don’t need to speak Spanish to know what’s going on. They carry such raw emotion with their eyes that your heart swells. I’m not sure I can say I’ve ever been excited to wake up at 5 A.M. to start nursing, but with each day that passes I find myself no longer pushing snooze five times before dragging myself out of bed, but running down the stairs for coffee to get my day started. Team members are growing and learning things about themselves they never knew were within. One team member translated to an entire community today who previously would get sick before speaking in public out of fear- rockstar! The whole team brought an amazing energy today and we were able to treat double the amount of patients. When a person’s heart goes into a fatal rhythm, a defibrillator is a device that is used to shock the patient to revive them. It appears that we have all been shocked and the whole team has been revived and recharged. I think I can speak for everyone, even those that have been multiple times, that a part of their heart is forever changed from the people of Honduras. God has a way of knowing exactly where we need to be, and that couldn’t be more true for this team and these communities.
-Courtney McTeer
A grandmother seeking spiritual support for her and her granddaughter.
When departing a community brings tears to both yours and their eyes.
And when departure is not “goodbye” but rather, “see you later.”
