Unidad y Fuerza

That's the name of the pueblo we worked in today. It is the same church where Beto was working last Fall/Winter that I visited with him for a few months. The church has grown and a lot of work has been done on it. It was exciting to be there again.
The clinic went well today. We are learning as we go and today was probably our most organized day yet. Beto got to go with us today as his house is right on the way to the church. You see pictures here of the line outside. They put their name, birthdate, age, and symptoms on a card with a number and we go in order. You can also see Amber translating for one doctor, and another of kids waiting outside. This time we used poker chips of three colors: White to see the doctor, Red or Blue just to get vitamins and parasite medicine. Most everyone had a white chip, even though some had to wait three or more hours. Also in a picture with some kids and Beto, you see a tall man in back. He's the dr. I translated for. We had some heart-wrenching stories today. One elderly woman came in with her three grandchildren. She told us she gets really bad headaches, and then went through the usual questions. We found out she gets these headaches from carrying heavy jugs of water on her head. After I asked if she had somone to help her, she started crying. I put my arm around her. She said she was alone in taking care of the kids and is trying so hard to provide for her family. She sells tortillas to survive. She was so tiny and works so hard all by herself. If I could help her carry water everyday and that's all I did, I feel my time would be well spent. We saw many people like her today and I feel they need spiritual counseling/comfort more than anything. I think a lot of people take the "white chip" and wait so long just to get that personal attention, even if just for five minutes.
We mostly handed out parasite meds and vitamins. The vitamins last a year but I feel the parasite meds won't last long because the people continue to drink the water that gives them the parasite. Please pray for everyone we saw today. Beto thoroughly enjoyed being there, talking with the patients outside as they waited about Jesus. You can see us in front of the church too. Praise God for another "good-kind-of-tired" day!