Clinic Day One!

Good Morning Friends and Family!

First – thanks to all of you that have sent notes, I love reading them!!!

This has been an amazing experience, and there are still four days left!  Never in my life have I been with a more intelligent, spiritual, moving group of people.  It’s good affirmation that there is a God in this world, and all of us are here to do something much bigger than what are minds can generally fathom.  Yesterday, we had a question in the morning to reflect on all day, and that was “How has God worked in your life today?”.  Let me tell you, the Guy has been busy!  I know I couldn’t have done yesterday without him.  The clinic was packed.  In previous years, they have seen 100-150 patients on the first day.  We saw 370 yesterday, and there were 20 that didn’t show up for their appointment.  On top of that, the “official” temperature recorded in the clinic at noon was 118 degrees.  Gotta love that!

Yesterday I worked in medical triage, taking in each patient, recording their name and age, and then deciphering what it was they needed the clinic for.  I think I may have heard everything under the sun, and there are no limitations!  I was glad I got the heads up from previous years that there are a number of mothers concerned for the size of their little son’s male parts.    That was my third patient yesterday.    That’ll get you some new vocabulary words!!!

I also had a great experience with my brother yesterday – we were both speaking Spanish to some little kids and even talking to each other in Spanish, and we understood each other!  He goes more the way of Spanglish, but it was still awesome to have that experience!  Together we learned the word for “boogers” (moco if you’re curious) and the kids thought it was hilarious that we said boogers were food for kids – that totally got more than one smile!

The people here are so grateful for our service, it’s unbelievable.  I’ll share pictures when I’m home, but it’s amazing to think where they live and how it corresponds to their attitude.  By our standards, you’d think they want for nothing – they’re so happy!  And they think WE smile a lot!

One other quick blip about yesterday – part of our clinic is a photo ministry where families can have their pictures taken.  I was invited to be La Rubia (the blonde haired girl) in a number of photos! It was pretty funny – sometimes you feel more like a zoo animal, but if it makes their day, I’m more than happy to do it!  The two working in the photo clinic didn’t get past about the first hour or so without being in nearly every photo!  It’s a pretty cool ministry!

Gotta run – thanks again for the notes, the prayers, and the support!  I FEEL THE LOVE! 

Saludos,

Meredith