Scheduling

I guess scheduling has more to do with where God needs to be than where you think you're supposed to be. Our first stop was supposed to be our last stop and our last stop was supposed to be our first and by the time we got to our last stop, it was too late. Still, it all worked out and I think we were where God wanted us to be rather than where we thought we should be.

I'm not sure that all makes sense, now that I type it out.

I would say that our first stop was in the middle of the boondocks, but I'm not even sure you can see the boondocks from there. It was a long trip from our hotel and the roads were pretty much non-existant. Thirty-two people were waiting for us, mostly men. They set up benches and chairs in a central location of the village and I presented information on malaria prevention and asked if there were any questions. I then had to act like I was a doctor as the questions ranged from malaria to cancer. I made it clear that I wasn't a doctor, but still tried to offer the regular advice my doctor gives: eat healthy, avoid alcohol, and don't smoke. And then it turned real when someone asked "What about cancer in a child? They've never drank or smoked and they eat healthy." This was as they presented me with a 12 year old that had cancer. It was heartbreaking as I didn't have any answers. All I could do was try to give some comfort and then turn it over to Jay, who, I told them, could give them some answers that might help them cope with cancer.

Jay and his interpreter Markos did a fantastic job. Markos is originally from this area and if Jay gave 10% emotion in parts of the gospel story, Markos interpreted it with 80% emotion. The gathering were enthralled with the story and at the end all of them stood up to accept Christ. Quite a few of them were Catholic, but in name only. They didn't go to church and know nothing from the bible. Their claim to Catholicism is simply that their children go to the Catholic school. We then handed out nearly all of our eyeglasses and then prayed over the young boy with cancer. They asked for someone to come later and share bible stories with them and we arranged for that to happen. The follow up workers will begin bible studies there in the next week and I'm sure a house church will spring from the encounter.

Our second stop was several miles from the first, though not in quite as a remote of an area. There were about 40 people assembled and they were expecting a doctor and medical clinic like we did last year. It was sad to disappoint them, but they were very understanding and cordial. I shared malaria information and then turned it over to Jay and Markos. No one came forward at the end of the presentation, but they did ask for more and said they really appreciated us coming. They treated us to hot, sweet, milky tea and some homemade donuts that looked like onion rings. As honored guests you are always shown to the main room in the house and you sit and have tea........without your hosts present. It seems kind of odd, but that's how it's done.

By this time it was nearly 3:00 and we still had quite a drive to make to get to our rendezvous point. We still had one scheduled appointment for the day. We decided to stop by and make a brief presentation but when we got there, only a very few people were there. It turned out that they were supposed to be our first stop for the day and by this time, most everyone had left. We apologized over and over and they were disappointed but pleasant about it. We promised that they would be our very first stop tomorrow. The hosts then showed us to her father. He has been laying in a bed, mostly paralyzed and nearly unconscious, for almost three months. Honestly, he looked as if he would die any moment. It's very hard to see these good, hardworking people suffer so much because they have no money and no access to healthcare. This old man needed to be in a hospital or somewhere that he could get quality end-of-life care. We prayed over him and again promised to be back first thing in the morning.

Overall it was a good day. Even though we screwed up our appointments, God put us where we needed to be, when we needed to be. I'm looking forward to our first appointment in the morning and hopefully giving this family information that may be of some comfort to them.

 

Posted with Blogsy