The medical mission trip to El Salvador in which I participated is history now, but was as much a blessing to me as the trip to Peru last November. My sincere thanks to all of you who supported me prayerfully and financially. As many of you know, Peru was my first ever medical mission trip and so I was thrilled for the opportunity to go on another mission trip I went with the same organization, Immeasurably More, but, except for four members, the team members were all different this trip.
The trip got off to a rocky start when about three-fourths of the team didn=t make the flight from Houston to El Salvador. Those team members were all coming from Lubbock and due to bad weather their flight was delayed They were actually on the ground in Houston when the rest of the team began boarding our flight, but the airline refused to hold our plane for them to get across the airport to make the scheduled flight. Since all the crates of medical supplies were already loaded and we had local contacts waiting for us in El Salvador, those of us who were not delayed by the weather went ahead and took the scheduled flight. We did have to spend an unscheduled night in San Salvador (the capital of El Salvador and the location of the airport) as we waited for the rest of the team to arrive the next day on the earliest flight they could get.
After the team was all together in San Salvador, we had a three and one half hour bus ride to our hotel in San Miguel, which is in the eastern part of El Salvador. We were to set up the week long clinic in an elementary school building in the countryside about an hour from San Miguel in a community known as La Cruz. We were supposed to have arrived in San Miguel on Saturday, attended church Sunday morning and driven to La Cruz (about an hour away) early Sunday afternoon and spent all afternoon setting up the clinic. Believe me, there is a lot of setting up to do! However, since our plans were delayed, we had only about two and one half hours of daylight in which to get things set up and organized. The decision was made to take just the medical staff members (about one third of the team) to get things set up so we could hopefully work faster. There was supposed to be electricity at the school, but for some reason, our lighting and their electricity did not work together, so we spent the last hour setting up in the dark, using what flashlights we had.
However, the clinic opened the next morning at 0800 as planned. The schools were actually in session in the area, but since we were literally out in the country with no public buildings, the Minister of Health for the area closed the elementary school for the week and let us use the building. We had fewer medical staff members on this trip than on the Peru trip; we has three physicians, two dentists, one nurse (me!) and a pharmacist. The rest of the team were non-medical volunteers who assisted the medical staff and who also did all the exams for eye glasses and then put the frames and lenses together. Even with a smaller medical team, we still saw about 2300 people in the five days. We had a total of five rooms in which to work: I and the people helping me triage were in the first room; the three physicians were in the next room, with sheets strung up on ropes dividing their separate areas; the eyeglasses room; the dentists in one room; and the pharmacist with all his medicines.
For those of you who have seen me and asked AHow was the trip?@, you know my first response is AHOT!!@ It was very hot and humid, even worse than Huntsville. But, as always, the Lord sustained us, and though I can=t say we ever got acclimated, we did manage not to think about how we were every minute of the day. The rooms of the school were brick half way up and the top half was open, with wire coverings, so we occasionally had a slight breeze, which was always joyfully received, and we did have a tiny fan in each room. I was fortunate in that the Bible school lessons and crafts which were held for the children were held right outside the room I was in, so every day I could hear the children sing as they learned AChristo Me Amo@. That was a blessing in itself. As always, the children were a delight to me and I enjoyed them being close.
In comparison to the people we saw in Peru, these El Salvadorans were much shyer and seemed more fearful. Living conditions for most of the people were very primitive, with almost no one having electricity or running water. Most of them get their water from local streams or ponds and as result one of the most common treatments we gave was for intestinal parasites. One of the questions we ask on the forms they fill out to be seen (yes, there are forms everywhere!), is about church or religious affiliation. Many of the people seemed reluctant to complete that and when I asked my translator why that was, he said many of them were afraid they would not get seen or treated if they didn=t answer the Aright@ way. I pray that we dispelled that idea before we left.
When asked what their main problem of medical complaint was, many of the people also stated they were angry or afraid. That provided lots of opportunities for teaching the gospel, and there were also four or five ministers from area communities there every day to offer Bible studies for any who were interested. We are very careful to make sure that medical care is offered first, however, so on one thinks they must participate or be coerced into a Bible study before they can be seen. Many seemed truly hungry for the gospel, however, and were eager to learn more. Although many people professed no religious faith, there were some who were devout Christians. I especially remember one frail grandmother who brought her grandchildren to be seen; she entered the room saying ADios le bendiga@ (God bless you). We had brought many Spanish language Bibles, and when I asked her if she had a Bible or would like one, she reacted as one of us would if someone offered us a million dollars tax free. In fact, several instances like that brought home to me how much I (and probably most of the people I know) take for granted our easy access to the written Word of God.
One of the children that touched everyone=s heart was a little boy, about six years old, with albinism (lack of skin pigmentation.) He was just as happy and carefree and full of mischief as any six year old boy, and came back every day to play around in the school yard. With his medical condition, however, he is very likely to get skin cancers and cataracts. Most everyone on the team gave their sunscreen to him, or his mother actually, and we tried to fit him with sunglasses too, which he promptly lost.
One of the best parts of this trip to me was the morning devotionals, which were held at 0515. Unlike my Peru trip, everyone on this team came to the devotional, and the singing was just fantastic. We were a very cohesive team and worked well together; of course, twenty of the team members all attend the same church in Lubbcock, so they had a head start. We had the usual mishaps and unplanned ocurrences which make things memorable. On two days we had terrible thunderstorms in the evening which made the dirt road to the clinic impassable by our bus, so we had to hitch a ride on the back of a flatbed truck and had to go miles out of the way to get to the clinic; the storm also knocked out the power to our hotel, so we had no electricity, but worse than that, no hot water, or water of any kind except bottled drinking water, which is had to take a shower in; one of the team members came down with Atourista@ for two days and couldn=t go to the clinic; one of our elderly team members fell on the stairs to the clinic, which were very steep, but had only minor injuries. All in all it was truly a rewarding experience and a blessing to me and I thank God that He provided the opportunity for me to participate. As many of you know, I have long had a heart for medical missions and it seems that the Lord has chosen this time in my life to provide opportunities to participate. I would encourage any of you who are touched in the same way to pray about it and call me if you wish to find out moreBI=d love to have some of you go with me. I found out you don=t have to have any special skills or abilities or experience to be used, just a willing heart. Again, thank you for your many prayers on our behalf. God willing, I=ll have another report next year!