Monday, July 3, 2006

What an awesome day!  It all began at 5:45 am when Tracy, Kristin, and Lyndsi joined Denise in the kitchen for breakfast duty.  Each meal, team members take turns assisting with meal preparation. This morning it was banana pancakes, and were they GOOD!  Thank you ladies! By 7:30 we were all packed up and on the bus ready to head out for our first clinic of the trip. This day would take us downtown to the Mayor's office. This was not only a good location, but a good PR move as well.  We often rely on the local government to help us get our groups and gear into the country.

When we first got there, there was an elementary graduation of some type going on and we had to wait for it to end... but it was so worth the wait! They were so cute in their little blue graduation outfits!! And you could tell, it was a very BIG day for them.

As the clinic began, people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds came to partake of the free medical services.  When they first arrive, they go through the triage area.  Here they vitals are taken and their needs are evaluated.  They were then sent to the prayer center where they were prayed for and the Gospel is shared with them. It was truly inspiring to see these prayer warriors in action. They prayed for their minds, bodies, and souls. We saw a little over 200 people and 27 of them were saved and 146 of them claimed a healing of whatever was bothering them today! Some physically, some psychologically and some spiritually.

There was a woman named Rosa who came in with bad pain in her hip. She used a cane but really couldn't walk very well at all. Margarita prayed over her and when she was
finished she told the woman to try to stand and bend at her hip. The woman stood and started squatting up and down with no pain at all and she walked out with out the use of her cane!

After being prayed for they went to see the doctor, many of which no longer had any pain to tell Jonathan about because God had healed them.  Well, that was ok with him! There was one lady who fell while she was waiting to be seen and broke her wrist, so Jonathan had to reset her bones and give her a cast.

After talking with the doctor/nurse they were sent to the pharmacy to get the medication they needed.

Our team did an excellent job today! Everything ran very smoothly and calmly. And all the people were very appreciative of the care they received.

Those that were not working in a medical area were helping with the children. We brought puppets, crosses, stickers, suckers, and face paint for them. They were all so adorable!! The puppeteers did skits about Jesus and why you should be a Christian, and they played Christian songs that the puppets would sing along with. During the songs some of the kids got up and began moving along with the music. Even the little ones could feel the stirrings of the Holy Spirit.

Then we played games and painted faces! The face paint was a big hit too! All the kids would come over and want pictures drawn on both cheeks, both hands, and up their arms. They were soooo cute! They were all having so much fun and frankly so were we!

When we finally finished up with all the patients and packed everything up, we went out just out side of the building were we watched two groups do a dance and the Whitwell youth got up and preformed two of their songs as well.

When all was over, we loaded the bus and headed back to the Mills'.  When we arrived, dinner was waiting on us. We all ate a well earned meal and then relaxed for a bit.

At our team meeting before bed, Jonathan told us all what a great job we all did and wonderful today went. Then he told us that one of the patients was a man that worked for Soy Ruminahui, a national magazine, and he was going to do an article on us.  Talk about possibly opening doors for future trips!

And that, I guess is a great way to sum up the day... It was a day where we saw the hand of God... a day we saw the face of Christ... and a day where the spirit moved all of us in some way.

Miracles happened, doors were opened, souls were harvested and seeds were sown for this ministry and the Kingdom of God.