Wednesday
Today, we drove about 40 minutes to Castillo. There is a church member of Vida Nueva Iglesia Christiana who asked WWHO to come to their village and do a clinic. Their next door neighbor’s house is still under construction, and has a nice sized backyard, so we were allowed to set up our tents and run the clinic from there. This was our slowest day of the trip, since it’s such a small village. I think we saw about 55 people. One of the most involved church members, Juan, came to clinic with us every day and sang to the people who were waiting to be seen. Our whole team loves Juan! His voice is beautiful, and his passion for God is clear in all of his songs. Since we had a little time between patients, the team was able to talk with him and learn more about his testimony. We were all moved by his dedication to God and his joy, even with the difficult things he has been through. After clinic finished around 2:00 we headed into San Antonio, Mx to do a couple home visits. The father-in-law of one of the church’s elders has been having some health difficulties for the past year, so Dr. Sandy had an appointment with him in his home and had one of our team members give him an IV. The elder’s wife is one of the most hospitable people I’ve ever met. Our whole team of 13, plus the church members who were at clinic with us, and the doctors all came to their house for the home visit, and she happily fed all of us! The genuine kindness and hospitality of all the people we got to meet has been the most meaningful part of the trip for me. We spent at least a couple hours on their patio enjoying conversations and building relationships with the local church members. I also went with a portion of our team on a second home visit during this time. Another church member lives is the same city, and they told us, “He never misses church unless he is sick”. After he had an appointment with Sandy, our team leader, Regan, was able to give him an IV to help him recover more quickly. As we were packing up from the home visits, the Pastor Genaro and I were the first into the van, and I got to chat with him for the first time through a translator app. He was very appreciative to our whole team for coming to help and said that our visits are a great encouragement to them.
Thursday
Today was the first day that patients were ever seen in the hospital! (This is the same hospital that our Christmas Eve offering is helping to complete!) We were all very grateful to be a part of something as special as the soft launch of this necessity. While the building is still a construction site and won’t be completed till fall at the earliest, the lobby area already has flooring in and gave us enough room to have a waiting area, vitals station, and pharmacy. The patients were seen in what will soon be patient rooms, but those don’t have flooring or lights yet, so the doctors and nurses used some sunlight and flashlights as needed. The launch was an amazing success with about 130 patients in all! That is more than Drs. Esley and Sandy have ever seen in a day. There was a line outside before we even had our tables set up, and the people just kept coming all day.
Friday
For our final day in Mexico, our team had a free day in Saltillo and we get to spend more personal time with the church members and doctors who are coming with us. Saltillo is basically the size of Indianapolis, so it lets us see another side to Mexico than the more rural areas we were serving in. We started in the historic downtown at a souvenir market, then we headed to a nice lunch in the more modern section of the city. Our lunch was a fun experience for everyone, because they bring you a tiny charcoal grill for the middle of your table and you cook your meat yourself. Everyone had an amazing time and it was nice to be able to treat our hosts after all the hospitality they showed us this week! I will definitely miss everyone I got to meet this trip, and I’m already looking forward to coming back sometime and continuing to build these relationships.
Today, we drove about 40 minutes to Castillo. There is a church member of Vida Nueva Iglesia Christiana who asked WWHO to come to their village and do a clinic. Their next door neighbor’s house is still under construction, and has a nice sized backyard, so we were allowed to set up our tents and run the clinic from there. This was our slowest day of the trip, since it’s such a small village. I think we saw about 55 people. One of the most involved church members, Juan, came to clinic with us every day and sang to the people who were waiting to be seen. Our whole team loves Juan! His voice is beautiful, and his passion for God is clear in all of his songs. Since we had a little time between patients, the team was able to talk with him and learn more about his testimony. We were all moved by his dedication to God and his joy, even with the difficult things he has been through. After clinic finished around 2:00 we headed into San Antonio, Mx to do a couple home visits. The father-in-law of one of the church’s elders has been having some health difficulties for the past year, so Dr. Sandy had an appointment with him in his home and had one of our team members give him an IV. The elder’s wife is one of the most hospitable people I’ve ever met. Our whole team of 13, plus the church members who were at clinic with us, and the doctors all came to their house for the home visit, and she happily fed all of us! The genuine kindness and hospitality of all the people we got to meet has been the most meaningful part of the trip for me. We spent at least a couple hours on their patio enjoying conversations and building relationships with the local church members. I also went with a portion of our team on a second home visit during this time. Another church member lives is the same city, and they told us, “He never misses church unless he is sick”. After he had an appointment with Sandy, our team leader, Regan, was able to give him an IV to help him recover more quickly. As we were packing up from the home visits, the Pastor Genaro and I were the first into the van, and I got to chat with him for the first time through a translator app. He was very appreciative to our whole team for coming to help and said that our visits are a great encouragement to them.
Thursday
Today was the first day that patients were ever seen in the hospital! (This is the same hospital that our Christmas Eve offering is helping to complete!) We were all very grateful to be a part of something as special as the soft launch of this necessity. While the building is still a construction site and won’t be completed till fall at the earliest, the lobby area already has flooring in and gave us enough room to have a waiting area, vitals station, and pharmacy. The patients were seen in what will soon be patient rooms, but those don’t have flooring or lights yet, so the doctors and nurses used some sunlight and flashlights as needed. The launch was an amazing success with about 130 patients in all! That is more than Drs. Esley and Sandy have ever seen in a day. There was a line outside before we even had our tables set up, and the people just kept coming all day.
Friday
For our final day in Mexico, our team had a free day in Saltillo and we get to spend more personal time with the church members and doctors who are coming with us. Saltillo is basically the size of Indianapolis, so it lets us see another side to Mexico than the more rural areas we were serving in. We started in the historic downtown at a souvenir market, then we headed to a nice lunch in the more modern section of the city. Our lunch was a fun experience for everyone, because they bring you a tiny charcoal grill for the middle of your table and you cook your meat yourself. Everyone had an amazing time and it was nice to be able to treat our hosts after all the hospitality they showed us this week! I will definitely miss everyone I got to meet this trip, and I’m already looking forward to coming back sometime and continuing to build these relationships.