Clinic Day One

Our first day at clinic was filled with moments and stories with each team member having different experiences or interactions through the day. At the end of the day, we all gathered around the table after dinner and began to voice the hills and valleys of our first clinic. It was then that Father David and Ali shared the story of a home visit that they made.

It began when a woman had finished the flow of the clinic and arrived to the prayer area. She was praying and Father David come over to talk with her. As she was praying, she continually mentioned her son Michael. To begin the conversation, Father David commented, “Micheal, that is such a strong name.” This brought a smile to her face. She and Father David continued to talk about her son when she mentioned that she only lived “just a short ways” from the clinic. Little did we know that a little ways is longer on Guanaja than back home. Father David then asked if him and a team member could go to her son and pray for him. She loved the idea and led him and Ali to her home.

After arriving to the house, Ali and Father David walked inside and saw Micheal sitting in a wheelchair in the center of the room. His chair looked well-used as he uses it to get around the hills and terrain of the island. His mother had told Father David of Michael's paralysis and how it affected their family. Father David sat beside Michael's wheelchair and said that he would love to pray for him. Michael smiled, slightly nodded his head, and closed his eyes. After the prayer and still smiling, he extended his hand to get a fist bump from Father David and Ali as his own way of giving thanks. Stepping back and looking at the family, they expressed relief as if a weight had been lifted off of their shoulders. They began to tell stories of Michael's childhood and upbringing and told our team how grateful they were that we would take time from the clinic to come and love on this boy.

On the way out the door, Ali recognized a worn-in Samaritan's Purse Bible which are given in every Operation Christmas Child box. Some of team members have worked with this organization to make their care packages. So how amazing to see the fruits of that work as someone has received one of these packages. A family member began to tell Ali about a Christmas tradition that this community does with these boxes. One of the doctors around this part of the island would dress up as Santa and gather all of the kids onto the dock to give the kids a Christmas experience.

After Ali had finished her story, the team began to talk about it around the table. Everyone echoed the same theme through their various stories: loving people unconditionally. Whether it was Taylor or Brita helping the babies during intake, David III playing with the children around the clinic, or Father David offering prayer and conversation, we all knew that loving on these people would always be at the front of our minds.

John 13:34-35

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”