Day 3

This morning I awoke to the sounds of Angels singing to me and it was beautiful.
Last night I set my alarm to the first radio station that had reception. There weren’t any English stations, not that I minded so I figured this one would work.
My radio went off at 6 a.m. and I woke up to “Draw Me Close to You,” sung en espanol. It was beautiful and I started singing and praising God in English along with the song.
I hope the Angels weren’t offended by my singing!!
Day three was an absolute blessing from beginning to end and I pray each of you receives the gift of joy I received today. We saw 75 patients with various degrees of ailments and they were so happy we were there.
What amazes me is that we often complain about this or that when they go see a physician, myself included. (No offense Dr. Walker) Here they will wait hours and are just so happy to see you. Many were in tears, because they had been sick or injured for so long. It takes 4-6 months to see a doctor here unless you are critically ill or injured. They were simply overjoyed that we could try to end their suffering.

We also had plenty of opportunities to pray over others, which was a humbling and beautiful thing. For me, as I worked, throughout the day I would feel a hand on the back of my head and the pastor would be there praying for me. I’m almost in tears thinking about it.
OK – I don’t want to short circuit the computer.
I met many young mothers, 16 and 17-years-old and it was awesome to be able to see their children and babies with the smiles on their faces. You may have thought I was Santa Claus when I was passing out toothbrushes and that was very very cool. We saw people of many ages and received many hugs and kisses.
I will add we are eating like kings here. In fact, tonight we were still full from an excellent lunch and they brought fresh made tamales for dinner. Not wanting to dismiss their hard work and blessing to us, we ate…and ate…and, well, you get the picture. I’m telling you, it’s painful to do the work of the lord!!
As we waited to eat dinner, I played soccer with an orange inflatable ball with a group of children, probably 9-12 years old. I wasn’t very good and insisted I could only see in black and white. A translator told me they thought I was a loco gringo. Actually he described me as a clown. I guess I didn’t leave my clown face at home for this one.
To close, tonight is the Night of the Torch in anticipation of Guatemala’s Independence Day tomorrow. There are drums and singing and of course, children leading large processions while running with torches. Tomorrow there will be many celebrations throughout this city of 2 million people.
Please continue to pray for the health and welfare of the medical team, the people we are serving and also our hosts. They are so gracious and wonderful and it has made our work so much easier. Also, pray for my health. My throat has a tickle, hopefully it’s just my wounded pride from getting stomped the 9-year-olds and not a virus
God Bless – Que Dio de Bandego