Today was even busier! When we arrived at the Tocoa site we already had quite a few people waiting to be seen for the vision clinic. It’s always a little daunting because you hate to get to the end of the day and have to turn people away or tell them to come back tomorrow. But they are the most gracious and patient of people and never complain if this happens. I love that about this culture.
We started off the vision clinic sorting some glasses and restocking inventory to give us the best possible chance of finding glasses that might work for someone. It took me a little while to remember the steps because it’s been a while but I soon got into a groove and had some fantastic help putting the glasses in their correct space. I have really loved having as many people as I have had in the clinic this time and our translators are invaluable.
I spent some time training Jenny on the equipment today so she could spend some time with the patients, scanning eyes and helping their vision improve. She was nervous but soon got the hang of it and got into a groove also. Her very very first patient happened to be a special needs girl whose right eye was shut and unable to open. Not the easiest way to start the day off. But we managed to get a reading on the good eye and the little girl did very well with the whole thing. She was barely verbal and unable to communicate whether the glasses worked or not but it was obvious the first pair did not work. She made a displeased expression. When we put the second pair on her, she paused and then there was a smile that developed almost in slow motion. Her eyes lit up and she looked around the room and turned towards her sister and said hi sissy! It was the most beautiful thing to see. She could not explain but she could smile. We wanted to be a little more certain that they were actually helping her so we had her put the other pair of glasses on, and the displeased expression came right back. Back to the other glasses and the smile reappeared. While we did know for sure that these glasses were the exact right prescription for her, we certainly did have some pretty strong indications to believe it was the case. Earlier in the day in our devotions we had talked about how its ok to not know and that being will to be okay and admits that you didn’t know, is a form of humility. And here and always we are to have humility in everything we do. Jesus knew everything and he was humble. The definition of humility is : freedom from pride or arrogance : the quality or state of being humble. And that I believe can lead to vulnerability. I trusted her smile and trusted that the Lord had her in His hands. Being vulnerable and having humility I believe is something we all need to be and can lead to great things. I’m ok with not knowing. Someone mentioned tonight in bible study that its exactly like our faith and what we are supposed to do when we share the word and spread the seed. We don’t know the outcome most times, but we are to trust that God has a plan.
The home visit crew/BECAS crew had a great visit with the ladies that help coordinate all the kiddos and spent the morning shopping and preparing for the celebration on Wednesday in La Ceibita. After lunch they visited about 5 homes and brought baskets to each of those family members. One of our group shared that the first house they went to had just had a huge house fire and that they lost everything. But there was one thing that survived. In the room where the fire started, the family bible survived. Only a few pages were not readable but almost the entire bible still was readable. The team shared with us that the family believed that they were being protected by God and even after everything they have been through they are still being protected. Wow, what faith. To lose everything like that and still have a faith that’s unshakeable. Amazing.
Construction continued on and they had the concrete pillars poured by the end of the day and are ready to put on a roof! It was a hard days work for them and we were down a missioner who happened to be sick and was resting back at the hotel. But they managed and they rested when they could. They have a great crew of people working with them.
What a wonderfullt busy and exhausting day! God is good!
Blessings
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