Today is Sunday, January 12, 2020, day 3 of our mission trip this year. The word for today is PREPARE. The related scripture comes from Matthew 3:3 which says, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.” and from John 14:3 which says, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Today has been a great day of preparation. (I feel compelled to mention that the weather here is partly cloudy with a light breeze and a temperature of about 75°.) This morning, we worshiped with the church in Ciudad Espana to prepare our hearts, minds and souls for the clinic this week. Typical of Latin services, there was lots of lively music and praise. The pastor gave an inspiring sermon from Philippians 2:12. Making our outer selves match our inner spirit and our inner spirit conform to God’s will was his message. Our outer selves should be an example to non-Christians about God’s message of love to others was what he preached. The message was translated into English for us by Marcella, the daughter of the previous minister and the daughter of Dr. Patricia, our supervising Honduran physician. After the sermon, the pastor and church blessed our group and the clinic this week. What an amazing group of missioners we have here working! After the church service, the group began transforming the church sanctuary into a clinic area. Without further urging or instructions, each area leader and their team members began this transformation immediately. The sanctuary area will be partitioned with wires, ropes, tarps, and shower curtains into a dental area, an eye care area, and dental sterilization area. The narthex of the church will serve as the intake area and the upstairs, where the grade school classrooms are, will be medical exam rooms. Up a short staircase outside, where the high school classrooms are, will be the patient education area and pharmacy. Children’s art will be outside in a covered area. As I write this, the remarkable transformation is happening before my eyes. This morning about 8 AM, Helen went to the operating room in what is considered to be the best hospital in Tegucigalpa where she had her hip fracture repaired. Thankfully, the hip had minimal arthritis and the fracture was stable so the hip could be “pinned” instead of requiring a prosthesis. This is great news as there should be less chance of complications and a quicker recovery. She tolerated the surgery well and is expected to be released from the hospital on Wednesday and go home on Saturday, as planned. Special thanks were given to several of our group who, being health care professionals, gave Helen close attention in her time of need and her hospital a thorough inspection before granting approval. This evening, we are up late counting medications for the pharmacy after a dinner of excellent salad and pizza. A very moving summary of Helen’s fall, trip to the hospital and surgery this morning was given by Steve Farley before he gave the invocation for the evening meeting tonight (please see the picture for today). Mary Ann gave a devotion from Pope Francis and I spoke from 1 Corinthians chapter 12 about how each missioner here is an essential “member” of the “body” of the mission team just as Christians are all “members” of the “body” of the church. We have planned for the clinic to start early in the morning and are optimistic that our opening clinic day will go well. Although we are tired, all has gone well, and we are thankful for the day’s success and particularly for Helen’s progress. Please continue to pray for our health and safety (especially Helen’s) and that we may be in the center of God’s will as we go about His work this week. Please see the link below for some images from today:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/167537108@N03/albums/72157712646150402
Blessings to all of you. Roger