Journal 4
Thursday, July 13
Today we awoke to the aroma of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Wait, no we are in Honduras. What we smelled was Albita’s homemade tres leches doughnuts. After breakfast we headed to La Cuchilla for day 4 of our mission work. We were greeted by a large and friendly crowd eager to help unload the bus.
Our team experienced many holy moments. In the eye clinic, Dr. LeRoux examined an elderly woman who was afraid that she had diabetes. After examining her eyes, Dr. LeRoux gave her the wonderful news that she was healthy. The kind woman immediately raised her arms above her head and praised God. She then proceeded to hug everyone working in the eye clinic and to tell them how much she loved them. Another amazing moment occurred in the medical clinic. A Friends of Barnabas medical team had seen a five year old girl at this clinic six months ago. She was not able to walk due to spina bifida. On our visit, we brought a walker for her. When the girl first eyed the walker she was tentative. Once she started using the walker, her smile and confidence grew and she walked many laps around the clinic. Our team feels so privileged and blessed to have witnessed this moment. Praise God!
In the dental clinic, Dr. Kaugars and Dr. Arita saw 193 patients and performed 91 extractions. It was a tough day for the dentists but they were assisted by Tommy as a translator and Walker as equipment sterilizer. They made an awesome team!
After our bus ride down the mountain, we had another awesome meal. Virginia and Albita made perfectly crisp yet flaky tilapia. It tasted great with a hint of lime. For dessert we had warm pineapple turnovers. Most of our team retired to bed early but a few stayed up to play another round of Bananagrams.
Friday, July 14
Today we visited the beautiful community of El Cielito. This was extra meaningful for our team because our church, Reveille United Methodist, has recently partnered with El Cielito. The most exciting part of the day was when our medical team saw Friends of Barnabas’ 400,000th patient. She was a gentle 76 year old woman who was raising her great grandson. Before receiving her medication, she closed her eyes and said a prayer. When asked if she needed to visit the eye clinic, she shared a story about the miracle she had experienced at age 40. When she was 40, she lost her vision. A group of pastors and church members laid their hands on her head and prayed and she regained her vision. Wow! GOD IS GOOD!!!
After dinner we spent time sharing our thanks for the staff and our team members and recounted the holy moments we each experienced. Tomorrow we are off for a kayak tour and then we are on the bus to San Pedro. And we all said AMEN!
