God is Good

This weekend was a wonderful reminder of just that... starting with the drive out to Canilla on Saturday morning. These pictures are from the road, and don't really even do the scene justice! Had to share them anyway...

What you are looking at is taken from the side of a mountain ridge, looking down in to the valley, with another ridge off in the distance. The clouds are almost completely covering the valley, except for where the mountain peaks poke through in the distance and the bottom left-hand corner where the clouds look like they are literally just pouring in to the one little town.

In real life, it almost looked like a waterfall in the foreground, with a "city in the clouds" in the distance. When we have the privilege of witnessing such marvels of nature, we are left to wonder how anyone can truly believe this all happens by accident.

Anyway, clinics this weekend also went fairly well. Prayer requests go out for the young lady in San Andres with the anencephalic infant, Isabela Mateo. We are much more sure of the diagnosis now after a second ultrasound. The plan was to discuss it with her and her family this week, but she again showed up alone to clinic. Her husband left two days ago to go do seasonal work on the Coast (harvesting sugarcane or coffee on the plantations...), and her mother-in-law was busy.

It's hard to imagine how alone this young mother must feel holding the information that her baby will not live for more than a few hours at best. She knows nothing of the love of our God, either. She has never been witnessed to in any way by any Christian. Again, we cannot imagine how alone THAT must feel! We spoke with her briefly and prayed with/for her in clinic, but it is hard to know how much that seed can grow in the midst of all of the other information she received that day. Leslie does know a local pastor that can go out and see her this week, and we will continue to work hard to build a relationship with her and care for her during this pregnancy. Please pray for wisdom and guidance and for this young lady to receive Christ's love and salvation in her heart, perhaps through this experience.

This young lady's story, along with a beautiful worship service Saturday night at the Fickers, served again as excellent reminders of the primary reason that we are here. It is so easy to get caught up in "practicing a trade" (as Matt prayed on Sunday) with these patients when you have spent so much of your life just learning how to do that.

With 60 people waiting to see you to talk about the same four or five health problems, for the most part, over and over again for the day, it is also very easy to forget that the medicine should really be the smallest part of what we do for them. The education about their problems and how to avoid them in the future is, of course, even more important. But the most important thing, of course, is to show them a tangible example of God's love for His world and His people. Please pray that this continues to weigh heavy on our hearts and remain always our primary focus in our mission here.