Tough- All the Way Around

Today was a tough day. We headed out to a different tent city to set up clinic today because of "security issues" at the clinic and tent city where we were yesterday. Today's tent city is called Paris and it is about 30 minutes outside of town. We all agreed that this was a much more peaceful atmosphere. The people and grounds are much cleaner and they seem to have a greater sense of community.

The reason I titled this "Tough-All the Way Around" was because first of all I was amazed today at the toughness of the Haitian people. They come to us with infections and injuries that would have us in the ER immediately and they live like this everyday with no medical care. Sometimes a one time consult of PT seems like a band aid on a broken bone when you are talking to a person with fractures all along one side of their body because a wall fell on them and they spent 3 days under their home.

I spent 2 hours today pulling dirt and leaves out of a child's wound on her foot so I could clean and bandage it. Her mother, who wasn't even there because she had gone to look for work, had packed it with leaf pieces because she didn't know what else to do. This sweet child didn't even cry as I pulled at these items that had become part of her foot as layers of skin were beginning to grow over them. I gave her one of every toy in my backpack. She was so tough. I will never forget her.

After that, I was pretty done and undone. I had seen as much as I could handle but had to press on because there were people who had been standing in the sun for 4 hours waiting to be seen. I will never complain about a wait at the Dr's office again.

The nurses performed procedures all day too where they pulled roaches out of children's ears. It really does get overwhelming sometimes and that is when you have to choose to stop thinking and just do.

I guess the highlight of my day was a talk I had with one of our translators. It seems like the deciding point for a lot of Haitians when they are choosing between Christ and Satan is who can do more for them. My translator Stevens said he had chosen Christ and was hoping that Christ would get him to America or make him a singer someday. I made the statement that Christ had already done the greatest thing for him when He died on the cross. We talked about what it would look like for Christ to not make him a famous singer but to call him to use his gifts to serve the Haitians instead. He didn't like that thought. I told him that Christ may call him to live in America or sing, but He may not and that even if He doesn't, He is still good and He is still the way, the truth, and the life. You can pray that we have more good conversations like that. He was really confused when he heard that I had actually paid my own money to serve in Haiti and wasn't getting paid like him.

I need to go. Please pray for passion and energy tomorrow. It is our last clinic as we are running out of meds. Friday we will go to the beach and then Saturday and Sunday will be spent doing other forms of ministry that I am not sure of yet. I am still seeing a handful of patients on the base and those numbers grow everyday when I get in too.

Thanks for caring enough to pray.