Mission Trip Report Day Five:

After an exhausting day and a later-than-I planned evening writing about the events of yesterday, I finally went to sleep around 11PM. My mind was still reeling from the sights at Redemption Village - of the little children in their uniforms, their parents, and their living conditions. My heart hurts for them, and I pray for extra special blessings upon the teachers and administrators who will still be loving, caring, teaching, nurturing, and sharing the good news of the Gospel, long after the lingering odor of this gringo’s fragrant AXE deodorant has finally subsided.

Today, I got promoted. After being an orderly at the school yesterday and being tasked with the responsibility to herd, hunt, and help, today I was asked to take a seat in the triage area and assess patients. What a might privilege and awesome responsibility. The process went something like this: Greeters would record the patient’s name, their age, and general complaint(s) then give them a number. When it was time, an escort would bring the patient to one of four wonderfully skilled, experienced, and wise nurses, or to me, an old, retired EMT who is much more at home with a sucking chest wound than I am with a snotty-nosed infant with ear aches. Nevertheless, God is good, and provides for all our needs.

My saving grace today came in the body of a blessed saint and a humble servant of God, Dorcas Perez. She was my interpreter. She is a wife and mother, a native Dominican who immigrated to the U.S. as a young teenage girl, and now is a wise woman of God who oozes the love of her Lord from her every pore - not in a syrupy/sappy way, but with a calm and gentle-but-insistent desire for everyone to have a personal walk with Jesus. While I would be writing my notes on the patient, Dorcas would be talking with them about their relationship with Christ and explaining the plan of salvation using the colored beads on her special bracelet. With her every word and deed she radiates Christ.

See paragraph two above and guess what I was inundated with all morning. Yet, with the assistance of Dorcas, I was able to assess and treat several little “ninitos” with de-worming medicine, liquid acetaminophen for teething pains, and ear aches, and liquid cough syrup for their congestion. The reality quickly became that instead of shying away from children, I was actually taking too long with them. Occasionally I would get to assess a teenager or adult, but the wee little ankle-biting crumb-crunchers are now my favorite patients – and not just because every time I gave one of them a Dum-Dum lollipop, I got one for myself.

Never once did I ever forget that it was not my skills, nor my experience that made it possible for me to assess these patients and recommend a course of treatment, or perceive that they might have a greater need and refer them to a clinic Doctor. It was only by the grace of God and the skilled interpreting skills of Dorcas.

Tomorrow I will be at the clinic again. Half of the medical team is going to the village of Bombita, to hold a make-shift clinic in a school similar to what we did at Redemption. I am part of the remnant that will be left behind. I am excited and praying that I am able to provide not just physical assistance, but also spiritual assistance as well.

I can’t really believe that I have been doing this now for five days. Time is flying by so quickly. I know that your prayers have been effective. Although we have had some infirmities amongst our team, they have been relatively minor and treated quickly and effectively by our medical doctors.

Please continue to pray for:

…The entire team as we continue with our mission efforts, and that we would never forget this scripture: “For what shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, but lose his soul?” While we are the hands and feet of Jesus the Healer, by providing healthcare and medicine to the meek and lowly, we are also the voice of Jesus the Savior, providing the hope of eternal life to all who would believe.

…The children and adults of Bombita and Sosua, who will receive medical care, spiritual guidance and an opportunity to accept Christ through the efforts of our evangelistic team tomorrow.

…Me, as well as the specific patients that I will see tomorrow. I don’t know who they will be or anything about them other that they will have come to the clinic having some sort of complaint. Whether it is a backache from improper lifting, a runny nose from a cold, a skin rash, or some other malady, pray that I would have the wisdom to diagnose properly and provide help and relief for their malady.

…All of the families of the missionaries in our group from Orlando (and other places) who are trying to survive without their loved one(s) while they are in the Dominican Republic.

Finally, please pray a very special fervent and sincere prayer for the sweetest little angel I ever saw, who looked at me with that telling blank stare and that aloof ignoring-of-the-cacophony-and-chaos-around-us attitude that made me suspicious of her ability to hear “normally.” When she failed to react to a loud hand clap 4” above her head, and snapping fingers at several locations around her head and out of her eyesight, I had to have a doctor look at her. His exam was inconclusive but in general agreement that there was some degree of hearing loss that needed further testing. Sadly, we don’t have anyone with the special skills and equipment to give her a proper assessment with us, so we can only hope and pray that God will soon send an audiologist or someone similar who can diagnose and provide help.

Leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus,

Scott